Pastoral Notes for Sunday, July 20, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family,  

I remember when I was a new believer. I knew a few things: I was a sinner who deserved judgment, but because of God’s grace, he sent Jesus to live and die for me that I might be saved. As I began reading more of the Bible, I learned about God’s mighty works and his love. But in my mind, the Bible was just 66 books that were perhaps loosely connected. 

Everything changed in college when I discovered God’s redemptive plan—what we call in Sweden a “röd tråd” (red thread/unifying theme)—running through all 66 books. This unifying theme of God’s redemptive plan transformed how I read Scripture. 

Then in seminary, I encountered another crucial teaching: the significance of the Old Testament for the New Testament. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus showed the disciples that all of the Old Testament ultimately points to him. Throughout the New Testament, we see authors quoting and alluding to the Old to reveal Jesus’ divinity, show fulfilled prophecy, and demonstrate how God’s Word remains true and applicatory today.

We just wrapped up our summer Sunday school series on this very topic: “The New Testament use of the Old Testament.” My hopes for the class were simple:

·       To show why knowing the Old Testament helps us understand the New.

·       To share practical tools for seeing these connections ourselves.

·       To spark wonder at God’s Word that leads to worship. 

If this has piqued your interest, there’s a wonderful book coming this fall: the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament. It highlights NT quotes and allusions to the OT and explains why the New Testament authors chose those specific passages—an excellent resource to aid you in your study of Scripture.

May the Lord use your study of his word to help you “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:18-19).

Yours in Christ,
Sebastian

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, July 13, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

At Cornerstone, our vision for missions is rooted in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people from every nation—so that all may hear, believe, and receive the forgiveness found only in Him. It is our joyful privilege to support and walk alongside those who are faithfully carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. And we believe the “ends of the earth” begins in Franklin and extends around the globe.

Last Sunday, those in attendance heard and read about two practical expressions of our mission philosophy—one local, and one global.

Locally, we were invited to engage with GraceWorks through a variety of service opportunities. Whether it’s donating to their food pantry, participating in the annual golf scramble, or volunteering with their mobile food pantry team, there are tangible ways for our church body to love our neighbors in need. GraceWorks serves as an example of our local missions mindset.

Globally, we were introduced (or, perhaps, re-introduced) to Brett and Valerie McAlpin. Serving through Mission to the World, Brett and Valerie have been assisting Christ Church Central, a church plant in Leeds, England, where less than 1% of Yorkshire County’s 1.1 million people attend church. Brett and Valerie are currently searching for a new building for their church and have recently welcomed a new staff member to their ministry team. They continue to pray that lives might be transformed by the gospel and new communities of believers formed—gathering to worship God to the praise of His glorious grace. The McAlpins serve as an example of our global missions mindset. 

Today, we have the privilege during our worship service of commissioning two of our newest mission partners, Geoff and Molly Banks. In just a few days, they will leave for Kosovo to serve in a local high school in Prishtina through the Network of International Christian Schools. 

These are just a few of the many people we walk with as they carry the Good News—whether across the street or across the world. Visit our church website’s “Missions” page to explore a full list of supported mission partners. 

What does it mean to “walk with” those doing this good work?

  • We pray for them. You’ll often see a mission spotlight in our bulletin. These spotlights create wonderful opportunities for you, your family, your HFG to pray for specific people in missions.

  • We financially support them. Missions makes up 7% of Cornerstone’s annual budget. Your faithful giving enables us to seek out, encourage, and sustain those pursuing the Great Commission.

  • We connect with them. While those who serve in this capacity do so from a place of calling and a place of joy, it can also come with seasons of isolation or discouragement; we want to seek ways to connect well. In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce opportunities for you to engage more directly with our mission partners through Home Fellowship Groups, Sunday School classes, and other settings.

As a church, we are not simply supporters of missions—we are participants in God’s mission. Whether through prayer, giving, serving locally, or connecting with those laboring abroad, each of us has the privilege to help advance the gospel. My hope is that Cornerstone will continue to grow in our desire to make Christ known, both near and far, and that our church family will continue to be marked by this faithful commitment to the Great Commission.

Your servant,
John Millard

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, July 6, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

Last Sunday was the 2025 Day of the Christian Martyr. According to tradition, June 29 marked the martyrdom of the Apostle Paul. It’s only tradition, but this month Christians around the world remember the faithful witness of those who, like Paul, have given their lives for the advancement of the gospel.

I can never hear the word ‘martyr’ without thinking of Jim Elliot, among others. As a child growing up in Portland, Oregon, he was captured by the truth of the gospel. As a student at Wheaton College, he grew ready to give his life to a cause grand enough to demand his whole-hearted allegiance.  

Jim Elliot and good friend Pete Fleming sensed a clear call to go into all the world. As they prayed their hearts were drawn to the Huaorani people, an unreached people group in Ecuador known for their violence toward outsiders. Three more would join them and together they would arrive in Quito, Ecuador in February of 1952 before moving to the jungle where they took up residence at a mission station.

Elliot and his group of four friends and their pilot made contact from their Piper PA-14 airplane with the Huaorani using a loudspeaker and a basket to pass down gifts to the natives who reciprocated by sending gifts back to the plane. That was enough to for Elliot and his group to build a base a short distance from their village along the Curaray River. There they were approached four days later by a small group of Huaorani and even gave an airplane ride to one curious Huaorani whom they called “George.” Further encouraged by these friendly encounters, in January 1956, they began plans to visit the Huaorani. 

Those plans, though, were preempted by the arrival of a larger group of about ten Huaorani warriors. Jim (age 28) was martyred on the riverbank along with his friends by those he had come to evangelize. Family members would later find penned in his diary words which had propeled him forward in the face of danger, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

That was then. What about today? Open Doors maintains a World Watch List with an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. From the top 50 alone, 310 million Christians face very high or extreme levels of persecution. That’s one in seven Christians worldwide. Last year 4,476 were killed for faith related reasons. Currently, the nations presenting the highest levels of hostility in order of severity are North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Saudi Arabia. 

Would you join me in praying faithfully for those who are persecuted for their faith?

Your servant,
Tony

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, June 29, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

Greetings and blessings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you for praying this past week for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America in Chattanooga, TN. It was a joy connecting with pastors and elders from all over our denomination and witnessing first-hand the clear indication of gospel advance through the churches, committees, and agencies of the PCA.

In addition to our pastoral staff, I am deeply grateful for our ruling elder commissioners, William Tice, John Millard, and Jim Payne. They were up early and stayed up late deliberating over a wide variety of important matters related to the work of the church. As you have opportunity, please take time to extend appreciation to these brothers for their care and diligence in serving the church.  

At some point early in August, I will take time during the Sunday School hour to explore with you some of the most pertinent actions coming out of this year’s General Assembly. If you have any specific questions or concerns about this year’s assembly before that presentation, please reach out to one of your pastors or ruling elder commissioners. We would be glad to speak with you.

Now, it’s a joy to welcome Rev. Josh Reiger to the Cornerstone pulpit today. Josh is the Pastor for Riverside Church (PCA). He is married to Gina and they have three children: Jackson, Riley, and Rutherford. Josh is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary (Jackson, MS). Before coming to Riverside, Josh served with Mission to the World, the missions agency of the PCA, as a church planter in Hexham, England. Cornerstone was a supporting church of the Reigers during their years in England.   

Finally, on a personal note, Josh has been a dear friend for many years, and I am grateful for the many ways he’s been a support to me in ministry. Josh is a kind, energetic, and wise soul. He loves Jesus Christ and the church and is a model of what it means to be a pastor. I know you will be blessed sitting under his ministry of the Word today.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, June 22, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

This week is the Presbyterian Church in America’s General Assembly, the annual gathering of teaching and ruling elders from across the denomination. This gathering is June 23-27 just down I-24 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.  

Cornerstone Presbyterian Church will be well represented by seven commissioners: pastors Nate, Sebastian, Drew, and Tony, and elders John Millard, William Tice, and Jim Payne. Randy Allen and Joe Haworth will join the group midweek as observers. 

The PCA is a connectional church. That is to say—we are not autonomous. We are connected organically and organizationally to other churches throughout the U.S. working together to support one another as we carry out our mission and ministry.

The week at General Assembly is devoted to worship, fellowship, and the business of the church, including reports from the agencies of the PCA and responses to various overtures from presbyteries. An overture is a proposal from a lower church body (a presbytery) to a higher body (the General Assembly) requesting the higher body to take some particular action. There are fifty such proposals this year. To give you a snapshot: 

  • Some are as simple as redrawing presbytery boundaries to accommodate growth.

  • Some are as important as how to transfer ministers from other denominations.

  • Some are as weighty as addressing matters of racial affinity worship or how the church is to address immigration laws.

  • Some are proposing study commissions to deal with various matters.

  • Some are proposing amendments that seek to clarify, strengthen, or otherwise alter the Book of Church Order.

As the Assembly goes about its business, how we go about it is crucial. In preparation, I ran across these words written in 1898 (long before there was a PCA) from Rev, F. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian pastor, and for a time, president of King College in Bristol, Tennessee:

“In considering an Overture before the General Assembly, the Elders of the Church have a high privilege and responsibility, before our Lord, before the Lord’s people, and before a watching world. The calling to uphold the will of the Lord of the Church as revealed in Scripture, to love for the brethren, to reasonable engagement in a collegial spirit, and to seek not the good of a party, but the good of the church, would be hopelessly burdensome but for the promise of our Lord to work in and through our efforts at faithfulness.”  

Please pray that the Spirit of Christ would be among us, leading, guiding, and controlling our speech, actions, and decisions—and that the Head of the Church would be honored by this part of his Bride.

Your servant,

Tony