Dear Cornerstone Family,
In case you missed the announcement two weeks ago, Sebastian Bjernegård, our new Assistant Pastor candidate, his wife, Ainsley, and their two children, Theo and Felicity, have landed on middle Tennessee soil. In between our two services today, please join me for a Q&A with Sebastian as we formally welcome the Bjernegårds to Cornerstone.
Looking ahead, the next three weeks at Cornerstone are special Sundays. Next Sunday, August 11, is promotion Sunday for our Sunday School ministries. Children of all ages will make their way to their new classes as we focus in worship on the importance of discipleship for every age and stage. In addition, we will conduct an important Officer Election in the chapel during the Sunday School hour. All communing members of Cornerstone are strongly encouraged to participate in the election. Please pray for our elder candidates, Mr. Sean Kelley and Mr. William Tice, and our deacon candidates, Mr. Matt Michaud and Mr. Carl Ware, as they look for the confirmation of the Lord’s call to officership through the election.
The following Sunday, August 18, we’ll have the distinct privilege of sitting under the ministry of Dr. Derek Thomas. Many of you will have benefited from Dr. Thomas’s preaching and writing ministry. Dr. Thomas recently retired as the Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. He is a teaching fellow with Ligonier Ministries and a Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic and Practical Theology with Reformed Theological Seminary. In addition to his teaching ministry, Dr. Thomas is a regular contributor toTabletalk magazine and Banner of Truth, and he is the author of more than twenty books.
Finally, if the officer candidates are sustained in the election on August 11, we will conduct an officer ordination and installation worship service on Sunday, August 25. This is a special service wherein officer candidates make vows of service, receive the laying on of hands, and enter formally into the work of officership. We will take time that Sunday to be challenged by the Scripture’s teaching on officers as shepherds of the flock of God. We will also conduct a Cornerstone Family Meeting during the Sunday School hour to give an end of the fiscal year report and present the 2024-2025 budget.
Please be sure these important dates are on your calendar, so you can fully participate in the ministry. Moreover, pray fervently for the effectiveness of the church’s ministry throughout the busy month of August. “Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
May God be glorified in all we do!
Your servant,
