Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 12, 2024

Dear Cornerstone Family,

We are thrilled to welcome our dear brother and friend, Rev. Ben Griffith, back to the Cornerstone pulpit. Ben was born and raised in the hub city, Hattiesburg, MS, and is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. Ben attended seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS, and served at First Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg, MS, from 2008 to 2019. That same year Ben pioneered his way to Tennessee accepting a call to be an Assistant Pastor with us at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. Then, in 2023, Ben accepted a call to become the next Reformed University Fellowship Minister at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, where he has just finished his first year on campus.

Ben and his dear wife, Rebecca, and their three children Margaret, Owen, and Libby are some of the best people you’ll ever meet. They were a tremendous blessing to our fellowship from 2019-2023. It’s with great joy that we welcome them “home” to Franklin and Cornerstone today.

RUF is the campus ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). For the last fifty years, the ministry of RUF has reached students from all walks of life, sharing with them the good news of the gospel and equipping them to serve Christ in the church and the world. Today, there are more than 150 RUF’s nationwide staffed by over 400 campus ministers, interns, and staff. It’s one of the fastest growing and most influential outreach ministries of the PCA.

Since our founding, Cornerstone has generously supported the ministry of RUF. Below you will see a list of the RUF ministries we currently support.

Rev. Chase Daws – Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN
Rev. Ben Griffith – Samford University in Birmingham, AL
Rev. James Jardin – Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY
Rev. Will Cote – Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN
Rev. Lee Leadbetter – University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN
Rev. Weston Duke – Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN Rev. Ryan Angel – Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN

In addition to preaching in both services, Ben will be giving an update on the ministry of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Samford University in the chapel during the Sunday School hour. Please join us!

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, May 5, 2024

Dear Cornerstone Family,

As we receive an encouraging report today on the fiscal health of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (see report below), it’s appropriate to briefly reflect on three key aspects of the Bible’s teaching on giving.

1. Giving is a spiritual discipline that requires forethought and planning. At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of the collection for the saints, and he says, “On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come” (1 Cor. 16:2). Notice, Paul teaches the Corinthians to set aside a portion of their resources each Sunday for giving to the work of the Lord and meeting the needs of the poor. Paul knows that if we’re not intentionally setting aside resources and preparing to give, we will fall into the trap of using that money for other things. Setting aside your giving on the front end helps ensure that the Lord has first place in your budget.

2. Giving is to be commensurate with your income. In the passage I quoted above, Paul says to set “something aside” in keeping with how “he may prosper” you. He teaches the same principle in 2 Corinthians 8:12 when he says, “For if the readiness [to give] is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” Paul recognizes that resources rise and fall, and that our giving will rise and fall, too. He’s instructing us to give proportionally, and to not be bound by a certain number, dollar figure, or percentage. But to instead, let your giving track with the normal ups and downs of income.

3. Give generously, cheerfully, and sacrificially. In Luke 21:1-4, the rich were placing large sums in the offering box, but a poor widow placed just two small copper coins in the coffer. Jesus says of her, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” On the surface, this principle appears to undermine principle #2, but that’s not the case. Instead, the Bible is placing us in good biblical tension. We’re being called to look at what we have and consider our basic needs, and then sacrificially invest in work of the church. The fact is we’re not sacrificing if it doesn’t cut into our lives. We know we’re beginning to practice biblical giving if we’re restraining our spending in order to support the work of ministry (see Acts 2:42-47).

By placing these principles beside each other, the Bible’s inviting us into the wisdom of a giving pattern that’s discerning, generous, and sacrificial (2 Cor. 9:6-15). As those who have been given so much, let’s not try to get away with giving as little as we can. Instead, let’s joyfully prove our earnest love for Jesus Christ by giving to the church in a manner that reflects, even faintly, the generosity of the gospel.

Cash Position
Total cash position on March 31, 2024 was $565,000.

Major Projects
YTD renovation project expenditures were $540,000 at the end of this quarter.
The Chapel mortgage was fully paid off this year for $660,000.
These expenditures are reported on the balance sheet and are not included in the budget expenses above. They impact our cash position, but not our budget performance.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 28, 2024

For the Pastoral Notes today, I’ve asked our Children’s Coordinator, Meredith Suits, to tell us about our fast-approaching Vacation Bible School on May 28-31.

Dear Cornerstone Family,

After the gorgeous weather of last week, it finally feels like spring is here to stay, which also means (incredibly) that summer is on the horizon. Like many of you who have been busy making summer plans, the children’s ministry at Cornerstone has been busily preparing to kick off our summer fun with Vacation Bible School, and I have lots of information for you today— how you can sign up your children, how you can be a volunteer, and how to help even if you can’t volunteer during the events.

This is Cornerstone’s 4th VBS, and we have had such fun the last few years hosting our kids and their friends outside at Jim Warren Park. The theme this year is Torchbearers—a nod to the Olympics which will happen later this summer—and we will be spending our evenings together talking about light: what the Bible tells us about light as a created reality, how Jesus is the light of the world, and why we are called to carry on the light of Jesus until he returns.

Many of you have seen the announcements about VBS in the online newsletter and around the church, but in case you haven’t, I’ll share the most relevant details. VBS will be May 28-31 at the Jim Warren Park enclosed pavilion and surrounding grounds. May 28 is our family kick-off night—we will have pizza for all, a craft for the kids, and a great time fellowshipping with one another. The VBS events begin Wednesday, May 29, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and continue at the same time and place on Thursday and Friday nights. All children who are rising kindergarten through rising 6th grade are invited to join us. Parents, please sign up as soon as you can with the QR code below. We want to make sure we have plenty of materials for your kiddos and enough volunteers to make it all possible, so knowing who’s coming is really pivotal in our planning right now.

Thankfully, we have all the in-person volunteers we currently need for each evening of VBS. This is such an answered prayer, and I’m so grateful for a congregation full of people willing to spend every evening one week during May to minister to our children. What a gift!

Even if you can’t join us in person for VBS this year, there are many other ways to help. You’ll see the QR codes below for our Amazon wish list and a sign-up genius for supplies and snacks. We have some really fun crafts, snacks, and games planned for this year, and your contributions will help make this possible.

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 create adults who walk faithfully with Christ all of their lives.

Thanks, everyone, for your support and your prayers as we prepare for a week of learning and fellowship.

Sincerely,

Meredith Suits

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 21, 2024

Dear Cornerstone Family,

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

After last week’s message in our new sermon series in 1 Corinthians, Growing Together in Wisdom, I had several great conversations about spiritual growth. Two of the conversations were quite practical in nature. The questions were centered on how we grow more into who we are—namely, those who are “sanctified in Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2).

For starters, this happens by grace. As we saw back in January in our study of Titus, Paul writes, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self- controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). Notice, grace is carrying out the work of sanctification. Grace has the power to train you and me to say no to ungodliness and yes to a self-controlled, upright, and godly life.

At the same time, sanctification is going to require work—hard work, in fact. Though we are utterly reliant upon the power of God’s grace and Spirit to sanctify us, we do not just sit back and relax and wait for sanctification to happen. Rather, we “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). The Spirit and the work of grace compel us to “strive...for holiness” (Heb. 12:14) and to “make every effort” (2 Peter 1:2) to grow more like Christ.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul is going to urge the Corinthian Christians to put grace to work in their lives. One of the truths we’re confronted with over the course of the letter is that sanctification requires the wisdom of cultivating holy habits. If we are truly committed to spiritual growth, we will learn the wisdom of a sacred routine—taking up practices and disciplines that will direct our attention and affection away from the world and onto God and His kingdom.

No surprise, this doesn’t happen by osmosis. We must make intentional and specific commitments to not be conformed to the world (Rom. 12:1). For instance, it’s not sinful to be on social media or watch the news, but true wisdom knows that such activities exert a powerful influence over us and over time can have the effect of bending our lives away from the Lord and toward the world. The wise man or woman knows, for the good of their souls and in honor to God, that they will need to curb, place limits, even fast from media, news, sports, entertainment, etc., in order to give themselves more fully to the disciplines and practices that will form Christ in them (Gal. 4:19).

We need to hear this! Please be reflecting on your habits as we move through this letter. Ask yourself the hard questions. How much time am I on social media? How much attention am I giving to the latest presidential election news alert? Are memes and Instagram reels more regularly woven into my day than Bible reading, meditation, and prayer? Am I treating sports with more reverence than the Lord’s Day? Am I more committed to my couch and the new series on Netflix than my brothers and sisters in Christ and attending a Home Fellowship Group? These questions and others like them will help you identify where course correction is needed. As we embark on this study in 1 Corinthians, let’s recommit to helping each other become who we are—sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2).

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 14, 2024

Dear Cornerstone Family,

I have good news! After months of construction, we received a certificate of temporary occupancy to the downstairs Fellowship Hall from the city of Franklin. What that means is we can use the space for ministry while we continue to prepare for a final walk through and (hopefully!) a certificate of permanent occupancy.

We are utilizing the new Fellowship Hall today for the new Classics of Personal Devotion adult Sunday School class. But if you’re not in that class, take a moment soon to venture down there and check out the space. For the next few weeks, worship overflow will remain on the Third Floor while we’re working on getting the Fellowship Hall completely finished. We’ll notify you as soon as we’re ready to move overflow from the Third Floor to the Fellowship Hall.

But it’s not just spaces and classes that are new. We also have exciting news about new staff! But, some sad news first. After four faithful years of service, our sister, Robin Spychalski, is stepping away from her role as Office Administrator to address some ongoing health issues. We are going to miss Robin’s friendly demeanor and servant’s heart. We praise God for the last four years we’ve shared with her, and we’re prayerful for her health and continued effectiveness as the Lord’s servant in the days to come.

On the positive side, we are adding two part-time positions to the church to fill the vacancy left by Robin’s departure. First, Tammy McCoy is joining the Cornerstone staff as our bookkeeper. Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Tammy is no stranger to many of you. She joined the staff of New College Franklin in 2008 as Admissions Officer where she now serves as the Head of Operations. Tammy has been married to her husband, Tim, for 37 years, and they have four grown children and 2 grandchildren. In 2018 Tammy, Tim, and their two Canadian-born children became U.S. citizens. Tammy brings all the requisite financial skills to keep us running smoothly and is eager to be a blessing to the church. Welcome, Tammy! You are an answer to prayer.

Second, we welcome Whitney Ruff to the Cornerstone staff as Interim Office Administrator. Born in Memphis but growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Whitney moved to Franklin in 2020. Whitney studied at both the University of Mississippi (1986) and Vanderbilt (1988). She has 3 grown daughters in FL, KS, TX and 5 grandbabies with 1 on the way. Whitney is a servant of servants! She is excited about the opportunity to support the staff and the church. As those of you who know her can testify—you won’t find a kinder person. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Lord uses Whitney in our midst.

Last but not least, Jonathan Crampton is coming on as a new Youth Intern. Born and raised in Tupelo, MS (but that is in question since he prefers biscuits without gravy), he moved to Franklin to attend New College Franklin, where he graduated in 2023, and he now works at Renasant Bank. He and his wife Faith were married in October. One of his six siblings, Kelley Shell, is on staff with us already as our Administrative Assistant for Discipleship and Youth Assistant. Jonathan has been a youth volunteer for a couple of years and is already beloved by the students. He is excited about testing gifts and aptitudes for ministry as he seeks the Lord’s face for wisdom regarding a call to ministry.

Please pray for these new additions to the staff and this exciting season of growth and transition!

Your servant,