Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 8, 2018

As we walk through the Easter season of the church calendar, we’re going to practice resurrection together. That is, for next six weeks or so, we’ve carved out time in worship for public testimony, sharing stories of how Christ is at work in the Cornerstone community.

We’re calling these public testimonies “resurrection stories,” believing that the resurrection Spirit dwells within us (Ephesians 1:19-21; Romans 8:11) and is continuously giving us resurrection power (Philippians 3:9).

It is our earnest hope that the Lord will use these stories to encourage us in the faith and to challenge us to walk in the living hope of the resurrection (1 Peter 1:3). Indeed, as you listen to these testimonies, we pray you’ll experience something of a mini resurrection yourself—that your heart and life will be renewed by the work of God in our midst. Even more, we hope this practice will cause you to look at your own life and ask the question, “What difference is the resurrection life of Jesus making in my life personally?”

If appropriate, go ahead and ask yourself that question now as you prepare for worship. Think back over the last few weeks, months, or even the last year. Where do you see God showing up? If nothing surfaces right away, try getting more specific.

·      Any new godly desire that’s rising up in you?

·      Any sin that’s becoming more loathsome to you?

·      Any loss or trial in life that’s bearing fruit in you?

·      Any new godly affection toward someone that you’re feeling?

·      Any new act of obedience that’s taking shape?

·      Any new insight into the truth that’s strengthening your walk God?

Later this afternoon or next week, return to these questions and ponder them. As you do, consider grabbing a pen and a journal and write out answers to these questions. That way you can reference these encouragements at a later time when your awareness of resurrection power is hard to find.

On that note, if you find it difficult to locate any resurrection stories in your life, don’t despair. God often works under the soil of our lives long before any demonstrable growth can be seen. And then pray for a fresh resurrection work of God in your life, knowing that’s just the kind of prayer God loves to answer.

Easter Sunday 2018 is past, but the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is just getting started. May God be pleased to increase the witness of his resurrection power through the transformation of our lives!  

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 1, 2018

“Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion.”—John Stott

“The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, what is uncreated, eternal, came into nature, in human nature descended into His own universe and rose again, bringing nature up with Him. It is precisely one great miracle.”—C. S. Lewis

“For if there is one thing the resurrection teaches us, it is that God is miraculous. If God can intervene in human history in such a dramatic way, it is a small thing for him to do so in other ways. In revivals, the church en masse experiences more fully the change made possible by the resurrection.”—Adrian Warnock

“The whole gospel is encapsulated in the proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”—George Eldon Ladd

“The resurrection of Christ is the seal of the great work that He came on earth to do. It was the crowning proof that the ransom He paid for sinners was accepted, the atonement for sin accomplished, the head of him who had the power of death bruised, and the victory won.”—J. C. Ryle

“So when you think of your new birth, think of it as the first installment of what is coming. You body and the whole world will one day take part in this regeneration. God’s final purpose is not spiritually renewed souls inhabiting decrepit bodies in a disease and disaster-ravaged world. His purpose is a renewed world with renewed bodies and renewed souls that take all our renewed senses and make them a means of enjoying and praising God.”—John Piper

“Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:

may it rule me,

may I walk in its power,

and be strengthened through its influence.”

—The Valley of Vision

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 25, 2018

A month ago or more now, the elders of Cornerstone approved our Assistant Pastor, Rev. Tony Giles, diminishing (slightly) his role at Cornerstone and extending his ministry reach to the church at large. Don’t worry—he’s not going anywhere! Take a moment to read his excellent report below:

Over the last few years God has been giving me a deepening desire to be involved in the work of helping raise up a new generation of ministry leaders.   

In three and half decades of pastoral ministry, serving in a variety of churches and roles, there is one thing I have consistently observed which pastors need to help them be truly effective in their work: the life on life impact of a coach or mentor. These lessons have been hard won in my own life and have come partly through the ministry of Serge, formerly World Harvest, a cross-denominational mission agency that works alongside U.S. churches to help their leaders experience the depths of the gospel through resources and mentoring of ministry leaders. https://serge.org.  

Over the last several years, Serge has started to become inundated with alumni from their intensive mentoring ministries asking these sorts of questions:     

·      The gospel has been personally transformative for me, but how do I serve well in a church culture that has not yet experienced the same?

·      How do we build gospel renewal into our leadership training – elders, deacons, staff?

·      How can we put into place an intentional church-wide discipleship plan that is missional as well?

At the same time, here are the kinds of questions I have been asking myself in recent months:

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·      How do I steward lessons learned in 34 years of pastoral ministry experience?

·      What should be my focus this season of life and most central to my sense of calling?

·      Where could I find margin to serve beyond my current pastoral responsibilities but still within the scope of my calling?

After an extended season of prayer and long talks with several trusted advisors including our elders – and most of all Mary Lynn – I am planning to reduce my hours as Assistant Pastor at Cornerstone in order to create margin for an expanded ministry outside our local church. Specifically, I will be working 25 hours a week here continuing to serve in the same ways I have been since day one. My hunch is that you may not notice much of a change.

Currently, I am working with Serge staff to develop a new ministry to offer gospel-centered coaching to church pastors and ministry leaders. Specifically, the task is to develop and maintain an effective coaching pathway that will help leaders integrate transformative gospel principles into every area of their leadership resulting in healthy, gospel-centered churches that are missionally engaged. This means

·      Investing personally in key leader(s) of a church

·      Bringing help and expertise to bear on their individual situation, to help them create a sustainable deepening pathway to create a culture of missional discipleship

·      Consulting with those key leaders as they implement plans

·      Eventually recruiting and training other coaches to work alongside me in this new initiative

Actually, these things are right in line with what I have been doing in recent years in my roles as interim senior pastor at Christ Community, as a consultant for a church between pastors in NC and currently as “a fresh set of eyes” for The Village Chapel in Nashville one day a week. I’ve reminded others over the years that calling is most often found at the intersection of passions, giftedness, need and opportunity. Now this open door with Serge is where I am finding that for myself. Please pray for this new ministry and for deepening of faith in my own life.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 18, 2018

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”—Oswald Chambers

Last week I challenged you to identify one prayer need in your life and then share it with Cornerstone prayer team by e-mailing prayer@cstonepres.org. If you forgot to do that, take a moment now before services or later this afternoon and fire off a prayer request to the prayer team. We’d love to be lifting you up to the throne of grace.

As we’ve grown in our commitment to praying together as a congregation, we’ve recognized an almost constant need for education on the importance and practice of prayer. With that in mind, I asked Marge Middleton, Co-Leader of the Prayer Ministry, to tell us about the new book the Prayer Team has been reading together with great benefit. Check out what Marge wrote below: 

A few years ago, God gave me a burden to participate in a prayer ministry at Cornerstone with others who have a similar burden.  After speaking with Nate and others about it, we all agreed it was a worthy and needed goal. The prayer ministry did not come together quickly, but after brainstorming ideas in January of 2016, our first weekly meeting for prayer occurred in April of 2016. We gathered simply to pray for the needs of our congregation.

In April of 2017, I attended the National Conference of The Gospel Coalition in Indianapolis and came back with a new book, Praying Together by Megan Hill.  This book was perfect for our new prayer ministry, but also valuable to anyone wanting to have a deeper prayer life. It focuses on praying in groups, our duty and privilege to pray together, the biblical mandate, and the blessings that God promises when his people are obedient in prayer.

The author started praying with her small church’s prayer meeting when her pastor-father brought her to the weekly meetings. They became a school of prayer to her as she listened to the prayers of older, more mature saints pouring out their praises and supplications before the throne of grace. She brings a wealth of biblical insight and wisdom of experience to this book. It is written in three parts. She writes about the biblical foundations of praying together in part one, the fruit of praying together in part two, and the practical application of doing prayer in groups in part three.

Full of inspiring stories, sound theology, and practical application, I believe this book will energize and motivate anyone who wishes to dig deeper and draw closer to God and other believers as they pray for one another.

Stop by the Bookshelf on the second floor landing this morning and pick up a copy of Praying Together by Megan Hill. It might just be the tool God uses to draw you into relationship with others and God through prayer.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 11, 2018

Have you ever noticed how much Jesus prays? Pressed on every side with needs and demands, He constantly pulls away from the crowds to spend time with His Father in prayer. He never allows the urgencies of the world to tyrannize His day. Prayer always takes priority.

When Jesus pulls away to pray, he sometimes goes alone, but very often he invites others to join him. For instance, just before the Transfiguration, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John on a mountain to pray with Him (Luke 9:28). On the night before His crucifixion, he takes his disciples with him to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray (Matthew 26:36). Jesus regularly prayed with others.

It’s no surprise then that the early church took up that same devotion to prayer. Listening to the Apostles teaching, fellowshipping around meals, and praying with and for one another; these were the means through which the church community thrived (Acts 2:42-47). When they gathered for prayer (Acts 3:1, 4:23-31, 6:1-5, 12:1-11), they prayed for all sorts of things—physical healing, provision for the poor, spiritual protection, nations and rulers, the preached Word, and the growth of the gospel. Like children to a Father, the early church took everything to the Lord in prayer together.

Clearly, prayer was the lifeblood of the early church. They knew that no significant work of God should be expected apart from the work of prevailing prayer. That prayer is the means God most often uses to bring about renewal and revival in the church. Since this is true, there’s simply no way to overestimate the importance of prayer.

Believing all this, a small band of folks from Cornerstone approached the elders two years ago about a desire to start a prayer ministry. They noticed we prayed faithfully in worship, in our men and women’s Bible studies, in our Home Fellowship Groups, and seasonally on Wednesday nights as a whole church. But they also noticed that we didn’t have a good way to gather in one place the needs of the body. Further, they noticed that we didn’t have a dedicated group of members who were regularly devoting their gifts, attention, and energy to praying for the needs of the church and the world.

In 2016, that began to change. Endeavoring to become a church more and more marked by prayer, the prayer ministry team was born. Since that time, men and women of various ages and stages have given countless hours to the receiving, compiling, updating, and praying for a wide range of critical prayer needs in our body, our local community, our nation, and around the world.

Permit me to share one recent personal story. When the onslaught of seasonal allergies descended on me last week and I began to lose my voice, I sent a text to the elders to ask them to pray for my health. Jim Payne, Chairman of the Prayer Team, sent my prayer request on to the prayer team. Within two hours, I had e-mail encouragements and prayers (as well as some helpful medical advice!) from several members of the prayer team. How great is that!

We want to see testimonies like mine to increase throughout our body! To that end, let me challenge you. What is it that you need prayer for right now? Identify just one thing. Now ask yourself, “Have I asked anyone to pray for me about this?” If the answer to that question is no, then right now stop and send the request to the prayer team by either writing it down on the prayer card in the pew rack in front of you or e-mailing prayer@cstonepres.org. In a matter of hours, you’ll have a dozen people lifting you up by name before the throne of grace.

Let’s covenant together to open up our lives in prayer and become more and more a church marked by a devotion to prayer.

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 4, 2018

In response to the increase of violent crimes at churches, the Cornerstone leadership informed you several months ago that we would be looking into ways we can enhance the security of our congregation while maintaining a warm, welcoming, and worshipful environment.

Under the leadership of Jim Robinson, Chairman of our Safety Team, a number of important security advances have already been made with more steps expected soon. I asked Jim Robinson to pen a brief security update for the Pastoral Notes this morning to keep you abreast of what’s happening. Please take a few minutes now to read Jim’s security update below:

We had safety assessments performed by the Franklin Police Department and a Christian based security company. These assessments helped us see areas for improvement for our facility and ministry procedures.

First, we installed a new locking system that allows us to set the times that the main side entrance (glass doors) is locked. The doors will be opened during our normal worship service hours on Sunday and Wednesday night. But to ensure the safety of the staff and students at New College Franklin, we will be initiating a policy that requires the doors to be locked unless there is a security Watchman on duty. There is a buzzer, camera and intercom at the door now. Our Office Administrator, Susan Bumpus, is able to open the door from her desk if she’s available. That said, if you are going to be visiting the church during the week, it would be wise to call ahead or make prior arrangements to eliminate any potential frustration in gaining entry.

Second, we have begun forming a team of men that we’re calling “Watchmen.” Our goal is to have one of them out front for the Sunday and Wednesday services. We are purchasing radios to establish communication between the Watchman, the Deacon on Duty, the nursery, and the High school class at Merridee’s. Ideally, we would like to have the team composed of men in the range of 39-50 years old. If you would consider serving on this team and have not been contacted already, please call or email Todd Russell at ctoddrussell@gmail.com. 

Third, we are looking for a short-term solution to better secure the two sets of outer double doors into the sanctuary. The building committee has plans to redo the doors, but any changes must meet city codes and the requirements of the Franklin Historical Society. 

Fourth, we are in the planning stages of forming a response team and a congregational plan in the unlikely event of a disturbance during a worship service. More information on this will be forthcoming.

Please pray for the leadership team as we consider and prioritize other safety measures. We could spend thousands of dollars on things like safety coatings for ground floor windows and doors, outside lighting, door alarms, etc. That said, we have limited funding for safety issues and building upgrades. We want to be sure that we steward our resources faithfully as we strive to make Cornerstone a safe and welcoming environment for all.

Let me take a moment just to say “Thank you” to Jim Robinson and the security team for the many hours they’ve already put into this initiative. They are doing a fantastic job, and I know we are all grateful for their work.

If you have any questions concerning security, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jim Robinson at jc2robinson@comcast.net. He would be glad to hear from you.