Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 21, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

At the end of last year, your session erected a search committee for a Minister of Youth and Families. Ruling elder, Randy Allen, led an all-star cast of search committee members––Liz Taylor, Matt Suits, Lauren Smith, Elle Terrell, and Tony Giles––who have been hard at work collecting names and interviewing qualified candidates for the position.

Nearly two months ago, I asked you to pray for the work of the search committee as they narrow their list of candidates and take several important steps in the process. Suffice it to say, the Lord heard your prayers!

I’m pleased to announce that this week Mr. Drew Abercrombie accepted our call to be Director of Youth and Families. Drew grew up in Florida but spent his college years down the road in Dayton, TN, at Bryan College studying English. After college, Drew spent seven years on the mission field in Korea where he served in an international church doing campus ministry, teaching Bible studies, and leading home groups. It was also in Korea where he met and married his lovely wife, Kelly.

In 2019, the Abercrombies moved to Atlanta, GA, so Drew could begin his studies at Reformed Theological Seminary. Two weeks ago, that journey came to an end when Drew graduated from RTS with a Master of Divinity degree. While in seminary, Drew was a part time Student Director at Sojourn Church in Marietta, GA. In working with youth and families at Sojourn, Drew gained valuable ministry experience while his sense of call to pastoral ministry continued to grow and mature.

Drew is thoughtful, wise, and ministerial. He has a passion to see people grow closer to Jesus Christ and grow more into his likeness. He feels a particular call to work with youth and youth families, but he is grateful that this particular role provides regular opportunities for service to the whole Cornerstone family.

As you may have noticed, Drew is being called as Director of Youth and Families not a Minister of Youth and Families. That is because Drew is not yet ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America. Drew will begin the process of ordination in the PCA – a process that could last 18 months – when he arrives at Cornerstone. Upon completing the ordination process, Drew will become Cornerstone’s first Minister of Youth and Families.

Drew, Kelly, and their two little boys, Samuel and Silas, are planning to transition to Franklin in mid-July. In the meantime, remember them in prayer. They have a myriad of details to figure out––including finding a place to live. Furthermore, they will be giving many tearful goodbyes to their loving community in Marietta over the next several weeks while preparing to say hello to a whole host of new smiling faces at Cornerstone. It will be a whirlwind of a season, and your prayers will most certainly be a tremendous blessing to them.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 14, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

For nearly four years, Mr. Todd Russell has served as chairman of the deacons. In that time, Todd has been a servant’s servant, organizing and mobilizing the deacons for the physical care of the church and the wider community. Under Todd’s leadership, the diaconate has grown in health and effectiveness. In a word, Todd has been God’s man of the hour for us, and I can’t begin to express how grateful I am for his example of Christ-like leadership.

 Todd’s term as chairman is drawing to a close at the end of this month. Given his long and faithful service as an officer, the session was pleased to extend Todd an officer sabbatical. It is customary at Cornerstone for officers to be granted sabbaticals in order to be freed from any regular officer responsibilities for a season in order pursue rest and spiritual renewal. Todd will go on sabbatical June 1, 2023 until July 1, 2024.

 Looking ahead, the time has come for one of our other qualified deacons to take the helm. I’m pleased to announce that Mr. Wes Pittman is that man. Wes has a wealth of ministry experience in a variety of churches and leadership roles. Wes served as an officer previously in other PCA churches before being installed as a deacon at Cornerstone two years ago. Wes possesses the necessary leadership skills to carry the mission of the diaconate forward, building on the already strong foundation laid by previous deacon chairman. Please pray for Wes as he steps into this new role on June 1, 2023.

In other news, the long-anticipated renovations will begin this week! We’re starting with small augmentations to the platform in the chapel to slightly increase seating capacity. In addition to the platform changes, a number of other changes, including sound upgrades and new carpet, will be made over the next couple of weeks. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and according to plan!

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 7, 2023

Dear Cornerstone family,

Last week, you, the congregation, overwhelmingly approved the session’s unanimous recommendation to pursue the purchase of 203 3rd Avenue South, the gray two-story antebellum home cattycorner to the chapel. This past week we informed the current owner of your approval. As particulars regarding the closing date are firmed up, we will let you know.

In addition to the property across the street, the plans for slight changes to the chapel and renovations of the 1st and 3rd floor continue to move forward. Several meetings with the architect and various teams happened this past week. If all the various approvals from the city come through and the crews and materials can all be lined up, the plan would be to begin and finish the renovation over the course of the summer.

Now, you’ve probably heard the old Woody Allen line, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” That’s doubly true when talking about construction timelines! Thankfully, our owner’s representative, The Riverstone Group, has done a fabulous job ordering and directing the process thus far. That said, we still have a number of ducks to get in a row (ducks don’t queue easily!) before we get a clearer read on the timeline. So, for now, we’re diligently nudging things forward resting in God’s sovereign control every step of the way.

Before I go, a few thoughts on moving through a season of change. First, let’s own the fact that change can be scary. Whenever change is on the horizon, we know a “new normal” is coming down the pike, and life will be topsy turvy for a bit. Whether it’s sending a kid to college, moving cities, entering retirement, the reality is the same––there will be losses and gains, joys and sorrows.

When a community – like a church – moves through a season of change, those same realities are present. Add to that the complexity that people respond differently to change. Some love change, others don’t. In change, some will focus on the gains; others on the losses. People will even disagree on gains and losses. (One person’s gain may be another person’s loss!) This is normal and should be expected.

So, as we move through this season as a congregation, I want to encourage you (as you already are doing) to exercise an extra measure of wisdom and care with your fellow brothers and sisters. Due to space constraints, let me offer just two (brief) instructions.

First, be patient and respectful with those who respond differently than you (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). Just because someone doesn’t see or experience a certain change in the way you do, doesn’t mean they are wrong. The goal is not to convince everyone that you’re right and they’re wrong, but to ensure that Christ is honored and that your brother or sister is loved well and built up in the faith (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Second, stay focused on eternal matters in the midst of temporal changes (2 Corinthians 4:18). The physical church building pales in importance to the true and lasting temple of God, the church (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). Therefore, let’s set our mind on things above and commit to relate to one another as if the church and its mission is far more important than its meeting place. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). If we do these things, I have no doubt that we will grow together all the more through this season of change.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 30, 2023

I asked Preston Brooks, Cornerstone’s Acting Youth Director, to tell us about the upcoming Youth Mission Trip for this week’s Pastoral Note.

Dear Cornerstone Family,
A little over a year ago, the Women’s Ministry hosted a retreat and invited Martie Kwasny to be the speaker. That weekend was plagued with several issues, not the least of which was an ice storm that nearly prevented Martie from being able to come. But Martie made it, and after the close of the retreat, my wife, Martha, and the Women’s Ministry team went to dinner with her where she told them all about her role in Joni and Friends Ministries and the organization as a whole.

Martha came home that night telling us all about the camps they put on, how they always need volunteers, and how our family could possibly plug in. In fact, the whole Women’s Ministry Team was enthusiastic about this ministry and was thinking of ways to participate—specifically how we could get our kids involved.

Fast forward to January when Ben Griffith and I were making decisions about the summer. While we liked the idea of something new, with my position being temporary (see “acting” youth director) and the possibility that we might have new leadership by the summer, the thing to do seemed to be to go back to RYM (Reformed Youth Ministries) for the third time—the Youth love it, RYM does an amazing job at teaching and equipping teens to live for Christ, and it would be familiar should there be a new face leading the Youth by summer.

The day registration opened for RYM, Ben hopped online and couldn’t get through. RYM’s website was overloaded with users, and the camp (1,000 spots!) was filled in six minutes. Six. Minutes. Our group was waitlisted. We kept our name on the list but began to think of how we could pivot. Joni and Friends came to mind again. Martha texted Martie, and within an hour I was on the phone with her assistant chatting about a camp they put on a mere two hours from here in Dayton, Tennessee. They were opening registration for volunteers that week. My call could not have been timelier. Almost as if it were orchestrated beforehand...We took our names off the RYM waitlist.

We put the opportunity out to our Youth Group and quickly put a group of folks together. They have begun preparing for the trip, completing paperwork, submitting references, and participating in phone interviews sharing their personal testimonies with Joni staff members. It’s already been a growing exercise for our kids. We are all set to head to camp July 15 - 20. Our Youth will be paired up with a child or teen with special needs and serve as “buddies” for the week. As a “buddy” they will become a part of their family, participating in VBS and summer camp-type activities and even eating meals together. There will be times where our group will have time to enjoy the camp together as a Youth Group, and we will stay in cabins of our own, but most of our time will be spent with our buddies and their families. We are already so excited about this good work the Lord has prepared for us!

There are two main ways our congregation can help:

  1. Prayer: Please be praying that the Lord will bless the trip with safety and good health and that the Youth of

    Cornerstone Presbyterian can show the love of Christ to all those who will be in attendance. The names of our kids participating are listed below. Cut them out and stick them on your fridge or in the pages of your Bible—somewhere you are likely to see and pray for them often.

  2. Financial giving: The cost for each of our Youth to go on the trip will be $450. We are opening up giving toward our trip and ask the congregation to support us as you feel led. You can go straight to the giving page by scanning the QR code below, access the link through the church website and app, or drop a check in the offering box with “Youth Mission Trip” in the memo line.

Thank-you in advance for participating in this good work! We are grateful.

Preston Brooks

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