Cornerstone Family,

What a joy it is to be here and begin work as your pastor. Shelley, Kaylee, Caleb and I would like to thank you for your reception to the Cornerstone family and let you know we look forward to serving the Lord alongside you here.

As we begin this journey together, I want to share how the Lord is focusing my time and energy among you. As I sought the Lord for what he would have me focus on from the start, he gave me values, not tasks, goals not steps or strategies. I have taken that to mean he wants me to focusing on being and not doing. He’s given me six values clearly and consistently in that ongoing conversation with Him. However, with continued prayer and wise counsel, it has become clear to me that trying to embody all six of these values in one year is too large a task. So, I believe He is focusing my time and energy around two of these values in this first year.

Before I share these values with you and flesh them out some, let me first say that I truly believe that these are values that God intends for us all to embrace at Cornerstone Baptist Church. So, prayerfully reflect on these and simply ask what God would have you do with them.

Focusing Values:
1) Worshipfully Engaged – captured by God’s glory; regular, meaningful private and corporate encounters with God – “Yes on the table”
2) Relationally Close – unity, trust, care, accountability – “close the gaps” “Build a bridge”
3) Missionally Active – common serving experiences, everyone involved in the Great Commission – “All hands on deck”
4) Spiritually Healthy – wholeness, wellness – Shalom, – “battle ready and rested”
5) Strategically Focused – vision, strategy, direction, priorities, etc are becoming clearly identified
6) Administratively Vibrant – trusted leaders being identified, equipped, empowered; shared responsibility for carrying out vision and mission.

While God continues to show me new ideas around each of these values, He continues to affirm these values as tracks upon which to direct our ministry and efforts at Cornerstone Baptist Church. So, being convinced God has spoken these values for me and for us, I will follow His leadership and lead according to these values.
In particular, this first year, I plan to whole heartedly focus on becoming Worshipfully Engaged and Relationally Close and to lead us as a church family to be captured by the unimaginable glory of God, particularly in the face of Jesus Christ, and to reflect His glory in our relationships with one another by closing the gaps between brothers and sisters in Christ and building a bridge between believers and a lost world.

I believe with all my heart that God is leading us this way and I believe with all my heart that God has a purpose and plan to call lost and unchurched to Himself through Cornerstone Baptist Church. I wait with eagerness to watch what the Lord will do here in our midst. As we stand on the shoulders of those who have led us to where we are and as we are led consistently by the Good Shepherd, we will declare His glory and give Him every ounce of credit for His work among us!

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

How will God have you respond?

In His Grip,
Pastor Carl

James 3:4-5 -  “Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

In World War II, German engineers built a mammoth battleship called the Bismarck.  This boat could carry over 2000 in her crew.  British reconnaissance one day spotted the gigantic sea vessel.  They attempted to sink the ship but the seemingly impenetrable craft held its own.  Then, one particular torpedo hit the ship’s port rudder, leaving the battle destroyer unmanuevarble.  The result?  British air strikes against the vessel eventually sunk the great warship!

Just like rudders which steer ships, so to the tongue steers the body.  Control your tongue and  you can control the body.   James, the half brother of Jesus, who is penning the practical book of James, illumines us to the potency of our tongue, or our speech.   Just as the tongue can be used to build up, encourage and instruct individuals, the tongue can also be used to tear down, discourage and incite evil among people.  That is why it is imperative that we keep our tongues honorable as believers in Christ.

But where does such evil speech originate?  The answer is the heart.  As Mark 7:21-23 so aptly explains:

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.   All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

So from within the heart comes evil and our tongues spew wickedness which reveal our inner man.

So what are we to do?

1. Guard your heart.  As Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all viligance, for from it flow the springs of life.” We know our heart is filled with evil and are in desperate need of sanctification.  Therefore, let us guard our heart and ask the Spirit to purify our hearts.  Let us ask as David did after his sin with another man’s wife, “Create in me a clean heart , O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
2. Let us guard our speech.  We must bridle our tongues so that the words that flow from our mouths might not sin against the Lord. Let us take some exhortations from the Word of God on keeping our speech guarded from trouble!

Proverbs 21:23 – Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Psalm 141:3 – Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

Proverbs 13:3 – Whoever guards his mouth  preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 – Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

James 1:19 – Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak.

Proverbs 10:19 -  When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

When you use your mouth, use it to sing praises to our God.

Psalm 145:21 – My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Col. 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

-Pastor Jeff

On October 1^st, Caron and I, along with about 30 other members from Cornerstone went to see the film Courageous.  My thought before going to the film was, “I think I will end up liking Fireproof better.”  I was wrong.  I believe Courageous topped Fireproof.  The film will have you laughing one minute, weeping the next and gripping you throughout.  And the previews…well, they will have you begging for your money back!

The story line of Courageous is as follows:  Four police officers are struggling with fatherhood.  Each officer is at different stages in their struggles.  All of these men have different backgrounds.  Two of the officers seem to be believers in Christ.  There is also an entrance of a fifth gentleman, a Hispanic believer, who adds a great blend to the mix of officers.

I have three commendations about the film:

1).  Incorporating the Gospel – there is a scene at a gun range where a Gospel presentation is given.  The officer being witnessed to seems to hope his good works will outweigh his bad.   Yet the Bible says, ”For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).  I commend the filmmakers for their presentation of the Gospel in a natural and poignant manner.

2).  Realism of imperfect fathers – no father in the film is perfect.  Neither is any father on the planet.  The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  As well, Romans 5:12 states,  “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Every Christian father needs a daily dose of repentance to become a more Christ-like father. The fathers portrayed in the film are bona fide men just like you and me!

3).  Solid father – son / father – daughter relationships – There is a scene, in my opinion, that was the gem of the movie.  A father takes his daughter out for a date and promises to take care of her and allow God to show them the right man for her to marry (a Numbers 30 type moment).  Our need to nurture our kids with the Word and raise up Godly, Christ centered, praise filled children cannot be overstressed.  As Psalm 144:12 says, “May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace.”

My prayer for the fathers of Cornerstone Baptist Church will be from Ephesians 6:4

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

-Pastor Jeff

Romans 12:12 states, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer (ESV).  Cornerstone Baptist Church weighed heavy on this pastor’s heart over the past week.  Many of us face cumbersome times at this very moment.  I want to encourage you, build you up and cheer you on Biblically.  When I saw this verse, Rom. 12:12, on my desktop wallpaper, I thought, “that is it” – i.e., I found my next FPH!  So I want to take the next few paragraphs to dig into this verse.

The letter to the Romans is the magna carta of Christian doctrine.  In this letter, the apostle Paul’s central thrust is God’s plan to redeem sinners unto salvation.  As Paul writes to the Roman church, by chapter 12, he shows some of the marks of being a true Christian.  In the verse beforehand, Paul writes, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord (Rom. 12:11).  Hence, this sets up verse 12’s exhortation to virtuous Christian living.

• Rejoice in hope – The verb rejoice literally means to be full of joy.  Paul seems to be unconcerned about what dilemmas or circumstances one might be facing.  We are to rejoice in hope no matter how arduous the struggle.  When we can learn to count it all joy when we face all types of trials (James 1:2), then we have come to a level of true Christian maturity.
• Be patient in tribulation – The word in the Greek for patient means to stay under, or to remain.  For us to think about remaining in a trial is a rather staggering notion.  In fact, the only thing we want to do in a trial is get of it!  Yet, the profit of remaining steadfast under trial reaps rich results for believers. As Romans 5:3 says:

“we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurances produces character, and character produces hope.”

• Be constant in prayer – It should be noticed that one phrase leads to another. Rejoicing in hope, then being patient in tribulation, should lead to a consistency in prayer.  That word constant, in essence, has the idea of fervency.  There is no more fervent opportunity to be on our knees than in the worst of times.  The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17).  If we are in the thick of the battle, you are called to arm yourself with prayer.

Last Friday night, I spent almost three hours at the church interceding for Cornerstone. Then I made a late night Taco Bell run!  But I prayed for marriages, prayed for individuals to be strengthened, prayed for godliness with contentment (I Tim. 6:6), etc.  My hope is that we would not lose heart.  The war of attrition may be intense.  Persevere!  I call upon you more than ever to bend your knees and pray zealously as the Lord shapes you toward a virtuous Christian life!

-Pastor Jeff

Recently on a Wednesday night, I asked the congregation to forgive me for my lack of zeal in regards to evangelism.  I remember before service pondering whether or not I was going to do it.  I recall my heart was rather heavy.  I asked the congregation to forgive me and the deadening silence came.  Afterwards, I thought, “that must have come off looking rather bizarre.”

However, after some the thought, I believe that this is exactly the kind of culture I hope to create at Cornerstone.  You see, when we can get to a point where we have an attitude of forgiveness, can confess our offenses openly, and model Christ’s forgiveness of us, then we will be taking steps to create a culture of forgiveness.

1. The first thing we must realize is that we are a forgiven people.  God has forgiven us (Eph. 4:32,).  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (emphasis added). Notice the word if.  If we are born again believers in Jesus Christ, and if we have confessed our sins before Him, then indeed Christ has forgiven us our sins.  So if we remember we have been forgiven, then we will have the right launching pad for forgiving others.
2. Secondly, we must possess an attitude of forgiveness.  Jesus Christ retained this kind of attitude on the Cross when being crucified.  As the agents of our Savior’s demise were killing him, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).  When an offense has taken place against us, we should immediately think, “Father forgive them.”  And we should be ready and willing to extend forgiveness.
3. Third, along with confession, forgiveness has to be preceded by repentance (Luke 17:3). Forgiveness does not mean simply telling someone I am sorry.  In fact, when you say I am sorry, you are not asking a person to do anything.  Rather, with forgiveness, you are asking the person to take an action towards you.  So the repentant and confessional individual asks, forgiveness.    When that is displayed, the action we take is to grant forgiveness, not just seven times, but seventy times seven (Luke 17:4).
4. Fourth, when forgiveness is granted, we must not keep a record of wrong doing.  Once a person has asked for forgiveness and forgiveness is granted, that means that you will not hold that sin against the individual.  It is not to be brought up in conversation or pondered over again.  You will not talk about it with others.  The debt has been paid in full!
5. Fifth, let us remember that this is a model for how Christ forgives us.  Creating a culture of repentance proves we understand who forgave us our sins.  If we have confessed our sins and repented of sins, then Christ has forgiven us.  Here is creating a culture of forgiveness – bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive (Col. 3:13).

-Pastor Jeff

Inspired by Ken Sande’s The Peacemaker and Dr. Jay Adams of Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute.

Here is a scenario – You just had a fight with a good friend.  You wanted something, or you wanted your desire met, but he or she is not giving it to you.  Now, you are furious.  In fact, you are pondering the disagreement constantly.  It may be keeping you up at night, causing you to loose focus on the job or even interrupting your worship on Sundays. You have a conflict. What should you do?

The first thing we must understand is that everyone has interpersonal strife.  Everyone encounters squabbles in relationships, on the job, or even at church.  If unresolved, these strained relationships could lead to embitterment or even broken relationships. As fallen creatures, arguments, quarrels and hurt feelings will come about.  So, first off, we must accept this inevitability.

Second, let’s understand the origin of conflict.  James 4:1 says,

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

Also, Jeremiah 17:9 says,

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Sin is in the heart.  The heart is wicked. Within the sinful heart, passions war.  We want what we want.  But we don’t get it.  This will cause quarreling when desires go unmet.

Third, if evil desires begin in the heart, what will pinpoint them?  The answer is the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says,

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The Word of God puts a magnifying glass on our hearts and reveals the sins that are ensnaring us.

Fourth, once we recognize our sins, we must both repent and confess them to the hurt party.  You may be surprised how softened a heart can become, even in a nonbeliever, when you confess your wrongs and ask to be forgiven for offenses against another.  As a matter of fact, repentance and confession before unbelievers may open the door to tell them of Christ who forgave our sins and reconciled us to Himself!

Finally, we must ask the Lord to create in us a clean heart (Psalm 51:10).  Pray for evil desires to be eradicated during the sanctification process.  Pray that you will be like David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14).  Then ask the Lord for new desires in Him. As Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

-Pastor Jeff

Post inspired by Ken Sande’s “The Peacemaker”

The word correction is found only one time in the New Testament.

2 Timothy 3:16 says,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction.“ (emphasis added).

It is a word that means literally to get right, or to rectify.  Though only used once, the apostle Paul, who is writing to Timothy, tells him that the Word of God should be used as a correction tool to make something right.

In this day, it takes courage to correct someone of a wrong.  Why?  Because it runs the risk of offending the individual.  We, as a society, are very sensitive to hurt or offense.  Yet, we as Christians, if we truly would love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:39), would not only want a fellow believer not to fall into error, but rescue them if their wrong belief entraps them in sin.  As Galatians 6:1 says,

“If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him …”

But how do we correct someone gently yet directly?

The essence of Biblical correction continues in Galatians 6:1 “… in a spirit of gentleness” (emphasis added).  The attitude we must take is one of gentleness, humility and love.  The goal of correction should not be to pounce your opponent, boost your ego or win the argument.  It should be to see the believer restored to a proper understanding of Scripture, so that not only will they be protected from falsity, but also their walk with Christ might be made right.

Let me give you an example of a gentle correction – The story goes that on a recent Wednesday night, I decided to go through my statement of faith.  At one point the subject of abortion came up.  I made a statement that I believed abortion was murder.  I recall an immediate and deafening hush filled the sanctuary.  My thought was, “Did I just offend someone?”

After the service, a brother and I were talking.  I recounted the statement I made as well the deadening silence after the comment had been made.  This brother was very calm.  His response to me was, “What should have been added is that Jesus Christ’s blood can cover even that.  Forgiveness can take place.”

What this brother did was provide a gentle correction.  He did it out of love for the Savior and love for those who might have experienced abortion, something that frankly I missed.  This brother really corrected an error of omission, not an error of commission.  He corrected me, not so much for what I said, but what I left out. He was right on.  The Gospel can penetrate that situation.

What can we learn about correction?

1. It is necessary.  We must correct so that believers won’t be stifled in their Christian walk.
2. We are to be motivated by love.  To correct is to show true love.  It is like the Proverb says, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips” (Prov. 24:26).
3. We incorporate the Gospel.  At the end of the day, we are “made right” by God showing us our sins.  Once we see our sins, we see our need for the Savior!

-Pastor Jeff

I was watching the news two weeks ago and Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush, was on one of the networks.  He was promoting his book “Known and Unknown” and he caught my attention with what he said.  When he was interviewed he told the reporter something to the effect, “There were things that we didn’t know and there were things that we didn’t know we didn’t know”.  I thought to myself, “What kind of statement is that?”  It sounded silly and redundant so I had to listen for his explanation of the comment.  What he said actually made sense.  He said that there are always things in the world we realize we don’t know about, such as, ask me how to rewire your house and I’ll tell you that I know what a wire looks like.  For that matter, I know what a house looks like too.  But, to put the two things together and have them function properly… well let’s just say that I hope you have good homeowner’s insurance.

The latter part of his comment was related to finding out about things that you have no clue that you didn’t know.  He explained it as the things that occur in an operation that you could never plan for because you have no clue they even existed: things you didn’t know that you didn’t know.  Take for example cultural norms, I was told by our Philippino missionaries that if I come over to visit them that I could not take my index finger and gesture for someone to “come here”.  That is a huge insult to that culture.  By right, in return, they can walk up to me and slap me  and I’m not allowed to do anything about it: I didn’t know that I didn’t know that.

That brings me to the meat of my story.  A week ago Elijah was getting really fussy.  I have always told Natalie how he seems so strong and how he doesn’t whine like I thought babies would.  He does whine at times but it’s not excessive.  However, this particular week he was whining a lot and I picked him up and told him that he was a whiner.  I’m sure he understood what I was saying.  He kept on and on with it.  I couldn’t lean him back, I couldn’t hold him for more than 10 seconds, he wouldn’t eat much and he wouldn’t play with his toys.  All he wanted to do was wimper and cry.  So, we took him to see the doctor.  As she was checking him out I thought to myself, “Yeah, while you’re at it can you check for the mute button, or at the very least the ‘I’m not getting my way so stop it right now button’.”  She looked in his right ear and she said, “It’s a little red but nothing to be concerned about.”  Then she checked his left ear.  “Whoa!” she said.  I said, “What does ‘whoa!’ mean?”  She said that his ear drum looked like a piece of popcorn and it was about to burst.  It was very painful for him and she proceeded to tell us all the things that caused him pain: eating, leaning backwards, etc. etc., you get the point.

I felt really, really bad.  You see, Elijah couldn’t tell me what was wrong with him because he’s just a baby.  He could only communicate through sounds of agony and pain and I did not know what was going on.  I had not considered that he was that sick.

As I’m sitting in the doctor’s office I just started laughing at myself and thought, “Yeah, how do you feel now- you big dope.”  Then these thoughts started flooding my mind; I thought about my heavenly Father and how in Matthew 7 the Bible talks about Him knowing us and that we can approach Him anytime and how all we have to do is ask and He gladly gives.  But, the big verse that stood out in my mind was verse eleven,

“So, if you being sinful know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to them who ask Him.”

As I sat in that chair in the examining room I thought a few things:

1. I’m so glad that our heavenly Father cares for us better than we could ever care for anything else,
2. Even when I can’t communicate what I want to, He still understands and answers
3. I’m glad He knows me.  He knows my thoughts, what I have need of, my worries, my pain, my struggles and best of all He knows the end game (Romans 8:28)

“And we all know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them”.

Unlike Donald Rumsfeld, nothing will catch my Father off guard.  There is nothing that He hasn’t planned for.  He’s a great Father.  It’s good to have hope.  In updated news, Elijah is now fine, he’s back to normal, and I am still a big dope.

Writing a blog called “Pastor’s Heart” for me means that it has to be valuable.  It has to be passionate.  Take the word “heart”.  What a word. It’s one of the most used words in the English language; or my language for that matter.

We can use that word in so many different contexts:

• “I don’t have the heart to do that anymore.”
• “My heart isn’t in it.”
• “I have a broken heart.”
• “I love you with all of my heart.”
• “I didn’t have the heart to tell them.”
• “My favorite sports team plays with heart.”

There are so many more ways to use that word- I could go on and on, but for the sake of brevity I will stop there.

The “heart” in Scripture is used in many contexts too. We see in Romans 10 that the “heart” is necessary for belief unto Salvation, in Jeremiah 17:9 it cannot be trusted because it is corrupt and 1 Samuel 13:14 shows us that God has a heart “I have chosen a man after my own heart.”  How can God be spirit (John 4:24) and have a “heart”?  That’s because “heart” is used mostly in reference to someone’s passions as seen in Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is there your ‘heart’ will be also.” The heart is the core decision making process of the entire being.  You’ll notice I didn’t say “body”, I said, “being”.  All of the things we chose, do, say, think, and value come from this idea of “heart”.

I’ve said from the pulpit that I have a list.  It’s a list of priorities that I consciously try to work on every day.  It’s what I value.  It’s what I believe to be biblical and necessary.  It’s not original.  I learned about the significance of the list from some godly men.  They shared with me the importance of getting life right.  Many lives depend on the list- my wife wants a godly man, my child wants a loving father, my mother wants a devoted son, and more importantly my God wants a sold out servant.  It’s more than “church talk”, it’s reality- as a friend of mine once told me, “The older I get the more I realize I don’t have any more time to waste.”  He made this comment after realizing that he had wasted many years of his life on pointless endeavors.  Everyone should have a list- you don’t have to share mine.

There are two things you should really think about when making your list:

1. What really matters in life?

2. Is it pleasing to God?

These are choices from the command central of the human will: the “heart”.  These are the things we are most passionate about.  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

-Mike Owen