Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 23, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

I asked Meredith Suits, our Children’s Coordinator, to share with us about the soon-in-coming Cornerstone Vacation Bible School for this week’s Pastoral Note.

Summer is quickly approaching, and I hope you are relishing these 70-degree days before it gets much warmer here. The children’s ministry at Cornerstone will be kicking off our summer fun with Vacation Bible School, and I have lots of information for you today—including how you can sign up your children, be a volunteer, and help even if you can’t volunteer during VBS week.

This is Cornerstone’s third VBS! We’ve had such fun the last couple of years hosting our Cornerstone kids and their friends at Jim Warren Park. The theme this year is The Wind and the Waves, and we will look together at Jesus calming the storm from Mark 4:35-41. We will be learning what happens when we look at the big waves instead of looking to Jesus, and we will be thinking about how our fears often prevent us from trusting in the only One big enough to overcome any storm that might head our way.

Hopefully, you’ve seen the save-the-dates in our newsletter, but if you haven’t, VBS will be May 30-June 2 at the Jim Warren Park enclosed pavilion and surrounding grounds. May 30 is our family kick-off night— we will have pizza for all, a craft for the kids, and a great time fellowshipping. VBS formally begins Wednesday, May 31, from 5:30-7:30 and will continue at the same time and place on Thursday and Friday nights. All children, ages 5 to rising 6th graders, are invited to join us. Parents, please sign up as soon as possible with the QR code below. We want to have plenty of materials for your kiddos and enough volunteers to make it all possible. Knowing who’s coming is pivotal in our planning right now.

Our next request is for volunteers! I am currently looking for three more group leaders—these are the adult volunteers who lead a group of kids from station to station each evening and get to know and encourage their group through all the events. This is an easy and fun way to serve our kids during VBS and be a part of all the action.

Lastly, please pray for VBS. Pray for the safety of all our children, for their hearts to hear and receive the good news about Jesus, and for God to use these early experiences with scripture and with the church to form them into adults who walk faithfully with Christ all of their lives. Thanks, everyone, for your support and your prayers as we prepare for such a large, multi-day event.

Sincerely, Meredith Suits

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 16, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

Last week was amazing. From the solemn sweetness of the Maundy Thursday service, to the sacred sadness of Good Friday, to the overflowing joy of Easter morn, it was, in my humble opinion, one of the most edifying Holy Weeks on record.

I want to personally thank the New College Franklin choir and the Cornerstone choir and musicians for their outstanding performances. Words fail to express how deeply we were blessed by your ministry. Behind the work of both choirs is our chief musician, Mr. Greg Wilbur, whose tremendous talents were on full display last week. What a gift he is to all of us! Let me also mention how grateful I am for our worship interns, Mr. Noah Aikens and Mr. Maxwill Shell, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes and upfront all weekend.

I’d be remiss not to mention Palm Sunday, and our lovely children’s choir led by Mrs. Jessica Michaud and Mrs. Jennifer Westerbeek. Not only did the students perform excellently in both worship services, but they also performed for the residents of Morning Pointe nursing home for our afternoon service. Needless to say, it’s always special to be led in worship by our covenant children.

Shifting gears, let me briefly update you on the work of your Security Team. In the wake of the Covenant School shooting, our security team revisited the current practices and protocols of our Watchman Team. After that evaluation, it was decided that in addition to the work of the Watchman Team, we would partner with the Franklin Police Department in order to secure an officer presence in front of the church each Sunday from 7:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. As you may have noticed, this new addition started on Easter Sunday. Our officer each week will be Lt. Clayton Cates, who is in the Special Investigations/Intelligence Unit. Though an important step forward in our commitment to maintain the safety of our fellowship, this is not the last step. The security team continues to work on additional protocols, including a lockdown plan in the event of an attack. If you have any questions about security or would like to know more about the Watchman Team, please contact Mr. Todd Russell. His contact information is on the back of the bulletin.

Finally, your Finance Team has pulled together a 3rd quarter financial summary. Please review it and rejoice with us, for the Lord has provided abundantly! On the behalf of the leadership, thank you for giving faithfully to the church. Through your tithes and offerings, we are able to invest in the expansion of gospel ministry like never before! May God give the grace, wisdom, and courage to do just that.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 9, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

We are delighted to have you with us on this glorious Easter morn. Our prayer is that through today’s worship service, you will encounter by faith the risen Savior and come to know the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10). To that end, take a few minutes now to thumb through the worship bulletin, orienting yourself to the service. Then, come back here to meditate on the quotes below, reflecting on the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways, they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but of the dawn.”—G.K. Chesterton

“Neutrality is not an option. Either Jesus rose and rightly demands your attention, repentance, trust, and obedience, or he stayed dead. If he only became a rotting corpse why should you follow him?”––John MacArthur

“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the foundation stones of Christianity. It was 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

“The resurrection means not merely that Christians have a hope for the future but that they have hope that comes from the future. The Bible’s startling message is that when Jesus rose, he brought the future kingdom of God into the present. It is not yet here fully but it is here substantially, and Christians live an impoverished life if they do not realize what is available to them.”—Timothy Keller

“It is a simple fact that throughout the history of the church, the single most important witness to the resurrection of Jesus has been the witness of the risen Christ within the heart of the believer!”––Robert Stein

Having prepared our hearts, let’s approach the throne of grace and worship God together.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 2, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

Today is Palm Sunday. On this day, we remember the shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. We also remember that in the midst of this celebration, tears were streaming down Jesus’s face. The juxtaposition of joy and tears has led centuries of Christians to ask, “Why was Jesus crying?”

Were these tears of joy at the receptance he was receiving? As men, women, and children rejoicing at his arrival, was he overcome with tears of joy? Or were these tears of fear? The hour of crucifixion was fast approaching. Was Jesus crying because he was unable to enter into the festivity for fear of the soon-in-coming cross?

Turns out, these were neither tears of joy nor fear. These were tears of grief. As Jesus entered the Kedron Valley, he glimpsed the Holy City in the distance. When he did, the Scripture tells us he broke down in tears, for the people did not know the time of visitation (Luke 19:41-44).

On the surface, it sure seems like people knew this was the time of visitation. They were singing and dancing in the streets. They were laying down their cloaks in the road and waving leafy branches in celebration. They were even quoting Scripture and applying it to Jesus Christ appropriately. What’s the problem?

Suffice it to say, Jesus wasn’t fooled by all the excitement. He knew the people had ideas about who he was. He knew they had expectations about what he would do. He knew that the texts of Scripture they quoted were tied to very particular and earthly expectations of fulfillment. He knew all this, and he knew they were wrong.

He wasn’t coming, as they supposed, to reestablish the glories of David’s kingdom as an earthly political ruler. He wasn’t coming, as they surmised, to destroy Rome and free Jerusalem from Roman oppression. Instead, he came as a spiritual Savior, establishing a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). He came to free his people from the oppression of sin and death, to secure for himself a people from every kindred, tribe, and nation (Romans 8:1-2; Revelation 7:9). His concern wasn’t, as they assumed, for the earthly stones of Jerusalem’s temple but, rather, the living stones of a new Jerusalem––a city whose builder and maker is God (1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:10). In a word, Jesus was the deliverer the people needed, but he wasn’t the deliverer they were looking for.

As we enter Holy Week together, that haunts me a bit. I wonder how often I fall into a pattern of worshipping a Jesus of my own personal imaginings rather than the Jesus revealed in the Scripture. I wonder how much of the world’s assumptions have filtered into and shaped my perceptions about Jesus and the Christian life. I wonder as Jesus Christ approaches us today by the Word and Spirit in worship, does he weep? Does he see us quoting Scripture, singing, and waving palm branches, and yet misunderstanding who he is and what it means to follow him?

As we walk through Holy Week together, may God strip away false notions and prune earthly assumptions about Jesus and his mission. And may the Lord restore in our day a robustly biblical vision of who Jesus Christ is and what his kingdom is all about––that together we might declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (I Peter 2:9-10).

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 26, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

In Timothy Witmer’s work, The Shepherd Leader, he makes the argument that under shepherds––officers in the church–– are to pattern their work after the ministry of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Studying the ministry of Jesus and the New Testament’s instruction to officers, Witmer distills the calling of under shepherds to four essential tasks:

Knowing the Sheep – “I am the good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father” (John 10:14-15)

Feeding the Sheep – “I will feed my flock, declares the Lord” (Ezekiel 34:14-15)

Leading the Sheep – “He led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock” (Psalm 78:52)

Protecting the Sheep – “Be on guard for yourself and for the flock... I know that after my departure savage wolveswill come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:28-29)

Based on the instruction above and the qualifications for the offices found in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, it is our custom to regularly nominate, train, and elect men for the two offices of elder and deacon. These two roles are designed by God and set apart to provide the necessary spiritual and physical oversight the church needs.

Toward that end, Mr. Mitchell was nominated by you, the congregation, for office during our 2022 nomination cycle. Over the last year, he has been trained and then recently examined in the areas of Christian character, the Bible, the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, the Book of Church Order, and the qualifications for church office. At our March meeting, the elders of Cornerstone unanimously recommended that you elect Mr. Mark Mitchell for the office of deacon.

In order for you to get to know Mark better, important biographical and familial information as well as notes regarding Mark’s past and present church service is provided below. If you are a member of Cornerstone and would like to know Mark better before the election, please know that he would welcome you reaching out to him. We want you to have all the information you need in order to vote your conscience during our congregational meeting on Sunday, April 16, at 9:45 a.m. in The Chapel.

  • Born: July 13, 1984 - Havertown, PA (outside of Philadelphia)

  • Vocation: Director, IT Project Management at Surgery Partners, Brentwood TN

  • Family: Married to Emily (seven years), son, Mark William (4), daughter, Margaret

    (21 months), Baby #3 (due May 2023)

  • Ministry Gifting: Administration, Creative Communication, Knowledge,

    Shepherding

  • Church Service: Mark serves as Home Fellowship Group Co-Leader, Men’s

    Ministry Team, and Music Ministry. Emily serves on the Women’s Ministry Team,

    Nursery Volunteer, and Children’s Sunday School Assistant.

  • Recommended Office: Deacon

    If you have any questions about the nomination, training, and election process, do not hesitate to reach out to the church office. We would be more than happy to answer your questions.

Your servant,