Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 15, 2026

Dear Cornerstone Family,

We’re less than two weeks away from Holy Week. If you haven’t already marked the dates and times on your calendar, do so now! Please prepare to fully participate with us as we worship our crucified and risen Savior.  

  • Maundy Thursday (April 2) at 6:30 p.m.  

  • Good Friday (April 3) at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (registration required)  

  • Easter Sunday (April 5) at 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., and 10:45 a.m.  

During this season, our unbelieving friends and neighbors are often more inclined to consider spiritual matters and participate in church services. With that in mind, please invite unbelieving friends and neighbors to join you for one or more of our Holy Week services. Even now, take a moment to consider who the Lord has placed in your life who needs to hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are praying for the Lord to use this season to draw more people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Finally, last week I wrote to you about my recent meeting with Mission to North America, the Presbyterian Church in America’s agency for church planting. After four years of diminishing numbers of church planting coming out of COVID, it was encouraging to see a significant uptick in church planters entering the field and planting new churches.  

In that same pastoral note, I mentioned that, as we continue to pursue Ministry Expansion as a local congregation, we also have opportunities to partner with others in church planting efforts in our area. If you haven’t been around Cornerstone very long, you may be unaware of our sustained commitment in leading and supporting church planting in Middle Tennessee. Here are a few highlights:  

  • We gave long and strong support to All Saints Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Brentwood led by Rev. Matthew Bradley. I’m pleased to report that All Saints will celebrate their ten-year anniversary as a congregation in April. The Lord continues to widen the ministry footprint of All Saints!  

  • We gave long and strong support to Crossroads of the Nations (PCA) in Cool Springs led by Rev. Tim Tan. Many of you were blessed to hear from Tim during our recent Missions Conference in February. It is heartening to hear how the Lord is sustaining and growing this multiethnic church plant!  

  • We also partnered deeply with Mercy Fellowship (PCA) and Rev. Ryan Doyle in 2015 hosting their congregation in our building on Sunday evenings for nearly 18 months. Then, in 2017, Cornerstone led the planting of Spring Hill Pres. Church in Spring Hill, TN with Rev. Mike Fennema. We sent roughly 40 members from our church to help establish the work. Sadly, both Mercy Fellowship and Spring Hill Pres. were negatively affected by the pandemic and wound up closing their doors in 2021.  

I reiterate this history to remind us of our long and sustained efforts at church planting. Further, I want to emphasize that whatever shape Ministry Expansion at Cornerstone takes in the days ahead, we will continue to remain committed to the vital work of church planting.  

Toward that end, I’m pleased to announce that Rev. Brittain Brewer will be with us on April 12 to open God’s Word and to share more about the new church plant starting in Columbia, TN. Rev. Brewer is no stranger to us! He served as an intern at Cornerstone in 2013, and your session took him under care as a candidate for gospel ministry sending him to seminary. It’s exciting to see how the Lord has used Cornerstone––nearly thirteen years ago––to lay foundations for the new work about to begin in Columbia.  

Stay tuned, there’s more to share!   

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 8, 2026

Dear Cornerstone Family,

The last ten years have brought dramatic shifts in church health and growth across North America. From 2014 to 2019, the number of churches closing their doors in the United States grew from 3,700 to 4,500, while the number of new churches planted dropped from 4,000 to 3,000. As you might imagine, those numbers worsened during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Today, the church growth rate nationally is about half that of the population growth rate.

Despite this challenging news, we are beginning to see encouraging signs of life. As I mentioned a few months ago in a previous Pastoral Note, younger generations are showing renewed interest in the faith. Church attendance in the United States has begun to climb slightly, and this increase is already having a positive effect on church vitality and church planting.

At the PCA’s Mission to North America Permanent Committee meeting this week, we received an analysis of church planting in the PCA over the last five years. Taken as a whole, the updated statistics and trend indicators were quite encouraging. Here is a breakdown of church planting in the PCA over the past five years:
·      2021 – 16 churches planted
·      2022 – 26 churches planted
·      2023 – 10 churches planted
·      2024 – 40 churches planted
·      2025 – 56 churches planted
As you can see, there has been a significant uptick in church planting over the last two years. Our denomination has also had record attendance at our church planting assessment center over the past twelve months, which suggests we will likely see strong church planting numbers again in 2026.

As we continue to pursue the Lord’s leading for ministry expansion at Cornerstone, He is opening fresh opportunities for us to partner with others in church planting efforts in our area. In the days ahead, I look forward to sharing more with you, so stay tuned.

Before I run out of space, please take a moment to review the high-level financial update below. While we are slightly behind budget, we remain grateful for how God continues to provide for Cornerstone’s growing ministry through your faithful giving. As we approach the end of the third quarter of our fiscal year, please help us stay on track by generously supporting the Lord’s work at Cornerstone through the month of March.

2025–2026 Cornerstone Financial Update
Year to Date
Giving              Budget              Difference         Percent of Budget
$1, 395,053      $1, 413,000      $-17,947          98.73%

Thank you for your continued faithfulness and partnership in the gospel.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 1, 2026

Dear Cornerstone Family,

I was reminded this week again of a quiet danger that never announces itself with scandal or open rebellion. Instead, it creeps in unnoticed like carbon monoxide for the soul. It’s the danger of spiritual sleepiness.

Spiritual sleepiness is not outright unbelief. Rather, it’s drowsy faith. The spiritually sleepy attend worship, but they are no longer listening. They pray but only from rote. They recite the truth but no longer tremble at it.

As the Lord withdrew to the Garden of Gethsemane in preparation for the cross, he warned his disciples, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). They loved Jesus. But still they slept. And when the trial came, they scattered.

Spiritual sleepiness is imperceptible at first. A subtle drift, a slowly descending slumber. Then, the evidence starts showing up. We neglect time with the Lord. We excuse small sins. We’re soulishly blah. Not awake enough to delight in Christ or to sense the spiritual danger we’re in.

For all you studying Judges, we’re Samson. Our strength is drained through a slow and steady drift of repeated compromise. When Delilah finally cuts his hair, Samson “did not know that the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:20).

In reading these words today, do you sense this could be you? If so, take heed. Do not be like the foolish virgins who fell asleep waiting for the bridegroom and were not prepared when he came (Matthew 25:1-13). Wake up and take these instructions to heart:

1.    Bask in the light of Scripture.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet” (Psalm 119:105). Do not merely read—linger. Query the Lord as you read. Seek him. Read until the text comes alive, until you awake and hear the loving, urgent plea of your Savior’s voice.

2.    Pray specifically for awakening.

The Psalmist cries, “Will you not revive us again?” (Psalm 85:6) Name your dullness. Confess your coldness. Ask the Lord to revive your heart. God will hear your heart’s cry.

3.    Practice immediate obedience.

James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the word.” Nothing dulls the soul like delayed obedience. When the Spirit convicts, act. Remove temptation. Forgive the offense. Practice repentance. Like cold water on a sleepy face, obedience awakens.

4.    Fast from distractions.

We’re in a season of fasting in preparation for the feast of Easter. Jesus assumes we will be a fasting people (Matthew 6:16). What distraction maybe lulling you into a spiritual stupor? Fast from that. Give close attention to the noise you’re letting in—social media, endless entertainment, constant busyness. Cut it out and satisfy your hunger for God.

5.    Examine yourself regularly.

2 Corinthians 13:5 urges, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” Ask yourself soul-searching questions: “Is Christ precious to me? Do I grieve over sin? Do I long for His return?” Humble self-examination can shake us into sobriety.

6.     Seek earnest fellowship.

Who really knows you? Hebrews 10:24 calls us, “…to stir up one another to love and good works.” Let’s draw close, praying with and for one another. Embracing one another in love. Speaking honestly about sin and suffering, pressing the hope of Christ into one another’s lives.

7.    Above all, look to Christ Himself.

When the prodigal “came to himself” (Luke 15:17), he rose and went to his father. Awakening compels us to go home to a father who runs toward returning children.

Shake off your sleepiness. Rise and wash your face. Go to the Christ who is wide awake. He is interceding for you right now.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 22, 2026

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Today is the first Sunday of the six-week season in the church calendar known as Lent.

The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon term for “length.” It’s a term commonly used for springtime when the day light lengthens and the days grow longer. This is why the season of Lent begins in the shorter days of winter when it’s cold and dreary but ends when the daylight has increased and the signs of spring are everywhere.

The move from cold and dark to warm and light is the spiritual story Lent tells. The emptiness and deadness of winter eventually giving way to the fullness and life of spring is a creational picture of the cross-to-empty-tomb story. The season of Lent trudges through the wintertime of the cross, full of pain and death, unto the skip-in-your-step springtime of the resurrection, charged with healing and hope. 

As Christ followers, our lives are shaped by this story, for this story is the story. It is the true story of the world. And we, creatures recreated in Christ, we live the Christ story day by day, ordering each moment by our Savior’s footsteps (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Imagine your whole life as trailing Jesus Christ. He cut the trail having gone on ahead of you in the cross, resurrection, and the ascension. But now he’s come back to be with you by the Spirit and walk the whole way with you. Every moment he speaks to you by his Word. Assuring you of his presence and love. Warning you of danger. Encouraging you forward on the path. Showing you where he stepped. Guiding you by the pattern of his life.

As you listen and look to him, you begin to see the cross-to-resurrection story take hold in your life. As you recount your past, different bends in the trail, you interpret them according to your Savior’s story. As you encounter trials and joys, dark valleys and mountain tops, each turn is illumined by your Savior’s story. As you look ahead to the uncertainties that await in future legs of the journey, your imaginings are shaped by your Savior’s story.

In a word, you are learning to take up your cross daily and follow him (Matthew 16:24). You are learning to live by the strength and the surprising peace and joy of the resurrection Spirit who lives within you (Romans 8:11). You are experiencing more of what it means to be afflicted, persecuted, and struck down, but not crushed, despairing, or destroyed. You are carrying in our body the death of Jesus while increasingly the life of Jesus is manifested in you (2 Corinthians 4:8-12).

For you are learning to live life how it’s supposed to be lived––looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith (Romans 12:2). When you start living that way even the crosses begin to feel a little lighter. For his yoke really is easy. His burden really is light (Matthew 11:28-29).

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 15, 2026

Dear Cornerstone Family,

In our recent Cornerstone Ministry Expansion Survey, we queried you about what you most appreciate about Cornerstone’s ministry. Far and away, you mentioned two things––our approach to worship and our staff/leadership.

Considering that revelation, I believe you’ll be encouraged to know that over the past several years we’ve been intentionally training church musicians and worship directors as a congregation. Our own chief musician, Greg Wilbur, is using an increased measure of his time each week in helping train and develop a new generation of church musicians and worship directors. 

I asked Greg Wilbur if he would take a few minutes to talk about the new Worship Fellows program that began last year. Here is what Greg wrote:  

In the summer of 2025, the Session approved an intensive nine-month Fellows program to make that opportunity more widely available to assist in providing needed integration of faith and practice to the weekly ministry of worship planning and leading for the Church at large. This program commenced in the Fall 2025 with the plan of adding more participants in subsequent years.

Our Vision Statement is as follows: To equip and prepare ministry leaders, personally and professionally, for reformed gospel ministry in worship and music for the edification of the Church, in service to a local congregation, and under the authority of local church leadership. The Fellows Program is an intensive nine-month study and preparation for folks to develop knowledge, wisdom, experience, and skills in the areas of worship and music—whether currently serving, aspiring to serve, or for personal growth.

We have four participants in the program in addition to Maxwill Shell and myself. We’ve been reading books on the theology and philosophy of worship and music as well as discussing very practical weekly concerns such as planning, leading, arranging for instruments, and thinking about audio needs. One of our weekly assignments was to write short scriptural reflections for the Cornerstone Lenten Devotional—which they presented together, talked through, received feedback, and edited. This is a tangible way in which their studies have blessed our congregation and will bless theirs as well.

I am grateful for the efforts Greg is expending in this noble cause, and we look forward to seeing how the Lord may be pleased to bless this endeavor more in the days to come. Please join us in praying that this initiative will produce long-term blessing for Cornerstone, other churches in our area, our denomination, and even the church at large.

As Greg mentioned, the new Cornerstone Lenten Devotional produced by the worship fellows is available for you to pick up today. You will find copies at both entrances. It’s our gift to you! Go ahead and grab one for yourself and one for a friend or a neighbor. We hope and trust it will be a great blessing to you during the Lenten season.

Your servant,