Today’s culture is marked by individualism. The iPod is the mascot for a culture where everyone wants to express themselves. The desire for personal distinction increases in a world where the population has become so large and communication so vast that the only thing you can claim as strictly, personally, yours is your DNA. It is into this culture that the church is challenged to run counter culture. The church is described in the Bible as a body; all working together for the common good. We may live in an iworld, but God has called us to become a weChurch. For the next four weeks we are going to look into our culture of individualism and see the lonely individuals around us who are starving to connect. People long to be a part of something that is greater than themselves, to belong to a place where true community exists. This community is what the Bible calls the church.

Coffee Snobs

Last Sunday we added Barnies Coffee to our Sunday morning refreshments table. We believe that good food and good coffee make for a great start to church. I noticed late last year that we have some real coffee snobs at our church. For those who may not know, these are the types that bring their own cup of coffee to church with them rather than drink a regular cup of Joe. (you know who you are) After much debate that ranged from Starbucks to Duncan Donuts, we landed on Barnies. This Sunday it was “German Chocolate Cake” flavored coffee and the aroma welcomed you at the front door. It was awesome. The coffee snobs will probably still bring their own 2 quart mugs of their secret blend. But now we are at least one step closer to reaching this elusive segment of our society.

What's the phone number for the AARP?

I am officially old. Last night we had our usual youth meeting at the Murray’s home and over 20 kids came out! We always have a blast, playing games, and talking about life. Last night, the game was full throttle basketball. There were four competing teams in a tournament of such. Being the leader, I stacked my team as to be able to win with the least amount of effort; which for me really means that I stand under the goal and tip in air balls. However, last night, something happened. I just wore out. I ended up having to tag out and bring in someone to take my place in the game. After the lesson, with my head held low, I came home to lick my wounds. Then, the phone rings. It is the little girl from my youth group at my first church in St. Pete. She will be graduating from college on Saturday and is getting married next month. Yep, make it official, I am definitely old.

Count Your Blessings

I love our Wednesday night prayer group. Last night we all met to share prayer requests and discuss the reaction of the Pharisees to Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead. One of the things that amazed us was that right after the biggest miracle to date. They were conspiring to kill him. It is totally ludicrous to me that even with the amazing evidence right before their eyes that they did not recognize who Jesus was or what He had done. It made me think, however, that we had just finished discussing answers to prayer requests that we have been praying about for several weeks and we did much of the same thing. Sometimes we get an answer to prayer and simply move on to the next request without really stopping to recognize who Jesus is and what he has just done. There is an old song that reminds us to count our blessings one by one. The next time you have an answer to a prayer request, stop and count that a blessing. Recognize that Jesus just acted on your behalf and consider it a blessing to serve a God who loves and cares so much for you. I for one counted it a blessing to be able to have some of Jacque Conard's wonderful rice pudding!

Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt

Next Sunday we will be continuing our new message series on doubt. In reality, if you are a Christian you have probably doubted your salvation at some point in your spiritual walk. If you are not yet a Christian, it is probably due to some unresolved doubt. Many have done much in recent days to cast doubt on Christ. Throughout this series we will tackle the issue of doubt and how we can move beyond the shadow of a doubt by understanding the presuppositions involved and weighing all the evidence available. I hope you will take time to join us this Sunday at 9:30 or 10:45 as we take on the doubts of John the Baptist and Doubting Thomas.

Greetings Baharain

Hey Jim and Celeste,
Just a quick note to thank you for staying up on the happenings at Cornerstone via the web. We miss your family very much and wish you all the best. Please email us and let us know how things are going for you there. We continue to pray for your family and look forward to seeing you when you return to the states.
- Joel

Easter Sunday Report

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to give you an update as to how God has blessed our church this past Sunday. First and foremost we praise God that Christ rose from the dead making our salvation and celebration possible. All three services were well attended, with only trouble seating everyone in the 10:45 service. The production team led by Mark Colvin was awesome really setting the stage for a great service. The praise team also hit a home run as well as all those on the welcome team. There were 7 who either accepted Christ for the first time or got reassurance of their salvation for which we praise God. We also found out that our little lunchroom can allow our church to grow to 350 on an average Sunday. For that we are grateful! If you subtract all the volunteers who stayed for two services and some for three we officially had 256 in church! Praise God for allowing our church to expand the ministry to so many of the wonderful people of our community. Also, hats off to the Easter Egg Layers. Or .... um... hiders. The kids had a blast! Today I will sit down and write thank you notes all day. What an honor to know that our team pulled together and set records that will someday, by God's grace by tomorrow's standards.

Easter Sunday

Wow! Not since the grand opening four years ago have I been so excited about Easter Sunday. So many of you have poured your time and energy into making Easter a great event for families all over oue area. This year we opted to pass out personal invitations instead of big mailouts and newspaper ads. I know it is old school, but I really believe that God blesses when we give time and personal attention rather than just spend money. I have been so impressed to hear stories of how God is opening doors for people to invite friends and neighbors and in the process share Christ. We are not only praying, but have planned for a big day. For the first time we will offer three worship services and most of our members have signed up to attend one and volunteer in one of the other two. We have the best Easter Egg hunt of all time planned, and most of the eggs will be filled with, or themselves be toys. We have yoyo eggs, silly putty, cash and even egg shaped bouncy balls. Hats off to the production team that has put in some long nights this week hanging curtains and lights in the auditorium and setting the stage for some really great music by our praise team. I heard them practice last week and my goose bumps had hoods bumps. We are kicking off a new message series called "Beyond the shadow of a doubt" that will address everything from doubting Thomas to the Da Vinci Code. Now it is up to you. What will make this Sunday a truly exciting event is to meet some of you who have never come out to one of our services. I will try to give a report of the day on Sunday afternoon for all of you who check in from around the globe to see what God is doing.

Changing Gears

I remember my first 5 speed. My brother- in law took me to the mall parking lot on Christmas Day to teach me to “Drive Stick.” It still just sounds cool. If you have ever learned to drive a car with a standard transmission you know the kind of fun it is to learn to engage the clutch, change the gear and slowly let up the clutch as you press down on the gas. Not giving it too much gas or it will conk out, or popping the clutch which makes you jerk and probably conk out. Then there is the whole problem of getting it in gear. If you are not careful in the transition from one gear to the next it is possible to grind it. That awful sound of gears grinding still haunt me when I get into a standard car.
Next week at Cornerstone we will be changing gears a little. Moving service times to accommodate a growing crowd. All shifts have the potential for a stall, a jerk or the ability to bring things to a grinding halt. But if done properly shifts are the only way that you can continue to move forward. We as a church know that this is what God has for us to do. We know that He has called us to reach more people and the only way to accomplish that is to gear up and create more room. All care is being taken to make it a smooth transition, but more than likely there will be some glitches along the way. We ask for your patience during this transition time, and want to remind all of you who make Cornerstone Baptist Church a great place to worship to be flexible and focused on the mission that God has for us.

Time Change Sunday

Dear Friends,

God is doing some amazing things at Cornerstone. Over the last 9 months the church has seen extreme growth due to your faithfulness and service, and God’s grace. In June 2005, average attendance was 91 in our one worship service. By October, we added an 8:15 early service to accommodate a crowd that had grown to 132. This trend has continued at a rapid pace, and this past Sunday we had 182 people worship with us.

As you can imagine, the rapid growth has created some unique challenges in ministering to the growing number of attendees. The greatest challenge is to create enough space in the adult worship services without overworking those who minister to the children. The addition of the 8:15 service and the sacrifice of those who volunteer at that time created 40 seats in the second service which have now been filled by new comers. We are thrilled that God has seen fit to bless us with more people with whom to serve our community. The challenge is that now the 10:30 service is again at capacity.

In January of this year we met in our monthly vision meeting to discuss the need to draw more to the 8:15 service. Many of you gave great ideas, and others made the commitment to come early to make more room at 10:30. However, in spite of the fact that 48 attended the 8:15 service this past week, there were 134 in the 10:30, a gap that needs desperately to be narrowed. Essentially, the room was at fire code capacity and there was not room for one more family to be allowed in.

The Leadership team has been working hard over the last 3 months to come up with the best possible solution; one that will adversely affect the least amount of people while positioning the church for continued growth. Beginning April 2nd, the church will move Bible Fellowship tables out into the welcome area. This will allow each Bible Fellowship Group the flexibility to meet at 8:15, 9:30, or 10:45 on campus, or at any time of their choosing off campus. This in turn will free up the lunchroom at 9:30 for the early worship service. It is hoped that the later start time will balance the attendance in the two services thus allowing the church to grow to over 250 in attendance as God continues to bless.

Those who are used to coming to the 8:15 Worship Service will still be able to come at 8:15 for Bible Fellowship and leave after the 9:30 service. Your schedule should remain the same with the exception of attending Bible Fellowship first and Worship second. Also, beginning at 10:45 for the second service will still allow the second service to be out by noon. The children’s departments will keep to the same schedule as before with 9:30 Sunday School and 10:30 Jr. Church. There will be no Sunday School for children at 8:15.

One of the added benefits of this move is that it will allow us to continue to grow without adding more services, and thus creating more pressure on existing ministries. Also, by adjusting the start times, it allows the church to once again add the 8:15 service, when 9:30 and 10:45 reach capacity. This would allow the church to grow to over 300 without having to make any drastic changes.

In summary, we want to be faithful with the ministry that God has given us now, and also lay out a vision for the future. As always, we are continuing to look for land that will meet the growing needs of the congregation. However, until God provides the land it is our duty to grow where we are planted. The staff is available to answer any questions that you may have concerning this change as we all look forward to seeing what God has planned for Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Together In Christ,
Joel L. Johns, Pastor