Pastoral Notes for Sunday, June 12, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

I asked Meredith Suits, our Children’s Director, to write this week’s Pastoral Notes.

A few weeks ago, Nate anticipated that I would have a lot to share about Cornerstone’s “Rooted” VBS and put me on the schedule for the pastoral notes this week. Well, I should have asked for two weeks in a row—I have so much to share with you and even more great pictures!

The volunteers for VBS this year (20 adults and 11 youth) were truly impressive. They led relay races, managed craft stations, served messy snacks, played and sang songs, refilled water bottles, gave high-fives and hugs, kept groups together and on schedule, swept up LOTS of seeds, unfolded and folded tents, refilled coolers with ice and waters, and most importantly, shared the love of Jesus with all of our Cornerstone kids and visitors. We could not have managed VBS without them, and if I had more space in the bulletin, I could share a million more examples of how awesome they were. We also had a prayer team for the kids and speakers at VBS each night and a large group of church members who provided much-needed supplies to make the week a success.

The children at VBS this year—32 who regularly attend Cornerstone and 14 visitors—were so much fun. Before the devotionals each night, we let each team of kids see who could cheer (read: scream) the loudest, and we have some very sweet but very loud voices in this group. There were sweaty faces and big smiles each night, and we were so glad to have this special time with them to play, sing, and laugh all while sharing God’s word.

The most important thing about VBS is that God planted seeds. Nate, Ben, and Nancy led the devotions each evening about the seeds, roots, and fruits we hear Jesus teach about in the Bible, and we know that God used the messages each night to grow the faith of these children. The kids planted seeds in small terracotta pots the first night and eagerly watched the sprouts break through the surface of the dirt. What a blessing it is to know that God can use even small moments like VBS to grow something beautiful in our children. It’s so exciting to know that he’s at work under the surface, and as a congregation, we can continue to pray for and nurture these seeds in our Cornerstone kids.

THANK YOU so much to the many volunteers who made VBS such a wonderful event and to those of you who prayed for us and provided supplies. If you want to hear more, I’d be happy to regale you with additional stories about the amazing volunteers and kids we have in our church and the ways I saw God at work in the lives of his people at VBS.

Meredith Suits

Your servant,





 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, June 5, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Faith Gulliver

One of our commitments as a church is to raise up godly young men and women for the work of ministry. In our ten years of ministry, we’ve identified, trained, and sent six former interns to seminary, and four are currently serving vocationally in the work of ministry in churches across the U.S. These men and women are our children in the faith (1 Timothy 1:2), and there is no greater joy than to hear that our children are walking in the truth (3 John 1:4). With this in mind, I’m very pleased to announce the hire of two additional interns at Cornerstone.

Miss Faith Gulliver has been hired as a female Youth Intern this year. Faith has served as a volunteer youth leader for a couple of years, and we’ve seen firsthand her love for the young ladies of Cornerstone and gifts in discipleship. Faith will work 20 hours a week during the summer and 10 hours a week during the school year meeting with youth aged ladies in formal and informal discipleship settings and assisting in planning and leading a wide variety of youth events.

Maxwell Shell

In addition, Mr. Maxwill Shell is joining the Cornerstone staff. For three years, Max has been a regular volunteer on our worship team. He is a gifted musician with a heart for the worship of the church. Max is exploring God’s call on his life with regard to liturgy creation and worship leading. He will be working 10 hours a week with Greg Wilbur as a Worship Intern, serving behind the scenes and up front as a lead servant in our worship team.

If you’ve not met Faith or Max yet, please take time to introduce yourself. Also, begin praying for them! They need and cherish the prayers of God’s people as they serve the church and seek God’s face regarding future work in vocational ministry.

Finally, Cornerstone has enjoyed a very close relationship with Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) through the years. All your pastors are graduates from RTS Jackson, MS, and we’ve sent multiple interns to RTS Charlotte, NC, and RTS Orlando, FL, for training in pastoral ministry and counseling. Since its inception in 1966, RTS has been committed to raising up faithful servants of Jesus Christ who love the Bible, the Reformed Faith, and the church.

Dr. Guy Richard

Given this special relationship with RTS, we are delighted to welcome Dr. Guy Richard, President of RTS Atlanta, to the pulpit of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church this morning. Dr. Richard is a graduate from Auburn University (B.I.E), Reformed Theological Seminary (MDiv) and the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D).

Prior to his arrival in Atlanta, Dr. Richard served as the Senior Minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Gulfport, Mississippi (PCA) for almost twelve years. He had the privilege of leading this congregation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which completely destroyed the church facility and the homes of approximately one-third of the congregation. He has been teaching for RTS in varying capacities since 2010. Dr. Richard is married to Jennifer, and they have three children.

In addition to preaching for us this morning, Dr. Richard will be sitting down with me for a public conversation on the importance and challenges of training ministers of the gospel in our current cultural climate during the

Sunday School hour. Please join us!

Your servant,





 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 29, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

You made it. You survived the blitzkrieg of May! It was touch and go there for a bit, but it’s nearly June and you’re still clothed and in your right mind. Let’s call that a win. :)

Now, you’ve got Monday off with plans to fire up the grill with some friends and remember those who died in the line of duty. The pool will open soon. The fishing pole is in the back of the truck. The soon-in-coming beach vacation is circled on the calendar. You’re settling into a school’s-out-for-summer state of mind. Can I get an amen?

But before you dive headfirst into summer, may I offer a caution? Summer is an opportune time to slow down, spend quality time with family, and enjoy some R&R. At the same time, summer is an easy time to lose our way spiritually. Our Bible reading takes a backseat to beach reading. Our church attendance is replaced by pool time. Generally, we have a tendency to ease up on the accelerator spiritually speaking. If I boiled it all down, the temptation to live for self is stronger during summer than at any other point in the year.

It is true; this temptation is always present, lurking underneath each moment of every day. But there are certain times—like summer vacation—that are literally designed for us, so to speak. Think about it. Why do we go on vacation? We go for our own rest and enjoyment. In fact, our friends actually tell you, “Go enjoy yourself.” When we say that, we mean, “Go have a good time,” and that’s right in so far as it goes. But it’s easy for our sinful hearts to hear “Enjoy yourself!” and slip into “live for self” mode. Ironically, when we do this, we cut the legs out of true rest and enjoyment. The pleasure we gain when living for self is shallow and fleeting. It leaves us disappointed and discontent.

Truth is, God has not designed us to enjoy ourselves by living for self. This is where we go wrong. We go on vacation, and we try to rest like the rest of the world. If we’re honest, many of us “rest” from our Christian commitments on vacation. It’s crazy, but we go on vacation to rest, and we walk away from the Lord of rest! Not surprisingly, our vacations end up restless. We wind up needing vacations from our vacations (!) because we neglected the true rest our souls need.

With all this in mind, I want to challenge you to commit to move through summer differently this year. By all means, keep catching those lightning bugs and sipping that sweet tea on the back porch. Enjoy the good things God designed summer for. But as you do, enjoy the Lord of the summer most of all. If you do that, you might just have the best summer yet.

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 22, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

In February, the elders voted to begin a new officer nomination, training, and election cycle at Cornerstone. Later that same month, we opened a nomination period for officers that lasted until Sunday, March 13. After all the nominations were collected, contacts were made to the men who were nominated along with information about officer training. After prayerfully considering the nomination and speaking with their wives (if applicable), the men chose to either accept or decline the nomination.

In this election cycle, two men, Preston Brooks and Mark Mitchell, accepted their nomination and entered training. Both of these brothers filled out the Officer Readiness Questionnaire as a first step in the process and are meeting weekly in the first phase of officer training. If you would, please remember Preston and Mark and their families as they take this journey. Ask the Lord to grow them in and through training and provide them light on the path as they seek his call.

 In closing, I want to share some good news with you. At our Leadership Meeting in April, the Finance Committee presented an overview of Cornerstone’s financial health and published our 3rd quarter and fiscal year-to-date numbers. Please find the report below. As you can see, God has abundantly provided! Thanks to your faithful and cheerful giving (2 Corinthians 9:6-7), Cornerstone is in as good health financially as we’ve ever been. To God be the glory!

 As we press toward the end of the fiscal year (June 30), ministry leaders and the finance committee are busy crunching numbers and making projections for next year’s budget. A strong finish to this fiscal year will go a long way in laying foundations for an expanded Cornerstone ministry in the next budget year. So, let’s keep the course, trusting God to provide all we need. 

 

Cornerstone Presbyterian Church

3rd Quarter Financial Report

2021/22

 

                                    3rd Quarter 2021/22                                                     9 Months 2021/22

Actual        Budget         Diff                              Actual               Budget              Diff

Giving         $348,778   $242,350   $106,428                 $1,024,724       $810,650         $214,074        

Expense             $233,140   $256,064    -$22,923                $733,844         $782,814          -$48,969

Difference          $115,637   -$13,714      $129,351                    $290,879        $27,835           $263,043

 

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 15, 2022

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Many of you know that Tony Giles serves half time with Cornerstone and half time with a missions agency called Serge. With Serge, Tony serves as a coach for church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders all over the nation. I was greatly encouraged by Tony’s recent Serge newsletter, so I’ve republished it below for your encouragement. Please be in prayer for Tony and his daughter, Rebecca, as together they travel to Spain and attend Serge’s Leadership Week and Company Conference.

MENTORING PASTORS
I continue to meet with several pastors as they address issues, make decisions and steward gifts in their roles as leaders – while looking at each of those through a gospel lens. Leadership formed by the gospel has an aroma and an impact unlike any form of leadership we find in the world. It's more about transformation than leadership principles. PRAY that I would ask helpful questions and offer wise insight—but only after seeking the face of God in prayer.

DEVELOPING LEADERS
I continue to meet monthly with leaders from a variety of churches and ministries. We are now one third of the way through nine modules of Serge's Leadership Foundations Curriculum and have talked about developing vision and communicating that vision to others using case studies to make learning practical. Next up: empowering others, hard conversations, and leadership style. PRAY that I would facilitate dialogue in such a way that each participant falls more in love with Christ as they seek to serve his purposes.

UNDERSTADING BEHAVIORS
Thanks for your prayers for me in the new role I've taken on as a Certified RightPath Coach. I'm hoping that this will enable me to offer another level of coaching for those who are interested in understanding themselves better and their hard-wired behavior in particular. Pray that this ministry will enable leaders to become more effective as they come to understand their own strengths and struggles and recognize the natural motivated behaviors as those on their teams.

Serge Leadership Week and Company Conference, Huelva, Spain | May 22-June 4

If you have followed our story, you know that our daughter Rebecca is now on board full-time with Serge. She and I both will travel to Spain for two weeks to join others from all over the world serving with Serge.

Serge LEADERSHIP WEEK | May 22-26
PRAY for renewal and refreshment as leaders gather together in worship, prayer and workshops.

Serge COMPANY CONFERENCE | May 28-June 4
PRAY for divine appointments for me and opportunities to encourage others.

Your servant,