Looking Ahead
It is amazing to me that 2008 has already come and for the most part gone. I don't want to rush into 2009, with the best days of 2008 still to come, but it is impossible not to be …
Topic: About CBC
WoW!
I was listening to a good friend, Paul Heier, speak recently and he said his favorite word of worship was "wow." Wow, is a word you say when words escape you or they can do little …
BIG Money
Last night at our prayer meeting I found out that there is a group of ladies who are specifically praying for God to give us 9 million dollars for the next stage of ministry here i…
Skoobalon
I ran across this great toy called Wordle.net that takes a document and summarizes it in a beautiful word cloud. I plugged in my notes from this past weekend's message and voi'la! …
How Moving!
In the next 90 days Cornerstone will be moving from the Elementary Lunch Room, over to the Middle School. Community of Faith is completing their building and we are hoping to be mo…
Elevated Now What?
Last year this time we saw a very disturbing trend at Cornerstone. Our attendance had increased from 2006 to 2007 by a whopping 1/2 a person for the month of August. As you can ima…
Camp Electric
The sign of a great leader is how well he leads in his absence. Our worship pastor, Gabe Dunlap is at Camp electric in Nashville TN checking 1,000 students into their specialized w…
3H
No, I am not talking about some knock off farming club for kids, or the pro wrestler HHH, or the gas guzzling SUV. The three H's refer to how I approach my preaching. Around 3 this…
Boy! I Missed Cornerstone
Yesterday, my family and I went to St. Petersburg to speak to Park Street Baptist about the things God is doing at Cornerstone. It is always a fun thing to go back to a church wher…
April's Big Give - Blog
This past Sunday our church distributed $1,000 ($5.00 at a time) to the congregation with the task of making a difference in the life of someone in our community. We believe that a…
Easter Update
Hello Everyone, Thank you for praying for our Easter Services. First, I want to thank all of our volunteers who worked to make this our best easter ever. Without your hard work it …
Easter Notes
1. Lots of calls this week about our Easter services. 2. Lunch with Scott Smith from Community of Faith to talk Parking (I love that guy) 3. We are having the Easter Egg hunt befor…
Saturday Night Worship
Our postcards are hitting mailboxes today announcing the launch of our new Saturday Worship Service. Unfortunately, my mailbox came up short. It is always a little troubling when y…
Fusion
This weekend we are launching stage two in our Elevate Campaign. Fusion will be a four week series on building intentional relationships. We will begin this Sunday as we examine th…
Out of Africa, for now
Due to the rise in violence in Nairobi, we have been forced to postpone our trip with World Hope to Kenya. Over the weekend the violence returned and incidents as close to 15 miles…
WE
One of the most valuable things in our church is the power of "WE." I think most churches have experienced the frustration of finding small group Bible Study material that is not o…
Elevating
I have received so much feed back from our church concerning our new elevate campaign. Phone calls, emails and greeting cards. I am just waiting for the singing telegram. It is exc…
Elevate!
You heard it here first. Our theme for 2008 will be "Elevate!" It is our goal this year to take our church to the next level of effectiveness. In order to accomplish this we will s…
"I've never been to your church before but..."
This past weekend was awesome. We began our Saturday night current worship service with a great turn out of our launch team. (It is our hope to go public in February.) We had visit…
Saturday Service Begins
I am so pumped as we anticipate the first of our Saturday night services tomorrow. If all goes well we will begin advertising and our public launch in February. I want to thank our…
Marathon
This weekend is the Disney Marathon, but that is not what I am talking about. Today I will be preaching 4 times to the youth group from New Testament Baptist Church in Largo. Pleas…
Saturday Night Trip to the ATM
Tonight we are having a special "preview" of our upcoming Saturday night Current Worship Service. I am not sure what to expect other than the unexpected. The festivities begin at 6…
Those Crazy Classics
Not only did we have a record crowd attending our classic service, but we also had quite an exciting time. The excitement came just minutes into my message when people began raisin…
Trunk or Treat Photos
Terry just sent me the first batch of photos from the Trunk or treat. Here is the link. Enjoy.…
Daylight waiting time
Daylight savings time is an extra hour of sleep for most people, but for me it is an extra hour of waiting for church to start. I know I can spend more time in prayer and look over…
What a Treat!
We had a great night at our Trunk or Treat tonight. Over 300 came out and 40 families asked to receive more information about the church. I was so proud of our church folks, and th…
Confession
I have a confession to make. Until 12 hours before our Trunk or Treat, I had no idea what I was going to dress up as. I announced Sunday that I was going to decorate my car as a gh…
Trunk or Treat
Today we delivered 3,000+ invitations to Trunk or Treat event. It is our hope that the children of Four Corners will have a safe and fun place to do their trick or treating. Let me…
Stranger Danger
Our church is crazy about keeping kids safe. I think we are the only church in the area who requires secure check in with photo ID for our kid's zone so it was disturbing last nigh…
Afraid of Ghosts?
October is just around the corner and it seems that Halloween will be just as big this year if not bigger than last. I have been thinking a lot of what we fear in preparation for a…
Jonathan Who?
I love being on the front lines of ministry. Since Cornerstone began just over 5 years ago we have seen God do some remarkable transformations in the life of ordinary people in our…
So much to celebrate
We have so much to be thankful for at Cornerstone. God has truly blessed our church over the past few years but right now it seems that we are hitting the summit of a large mountai…
Postcards
Well, our post office is amazingly efficient and managed to deliver our postcards in just 1 day. unfortunately it has led to several questions. Yes, we are going to be on our new s…
Just call me coach
Every year our church sponsors Ridge Youth Soccer. Last year I coached my son's Under 6 team and really loved it. I don't know a lick about soccer except for that the ball with the…
Music to my ears!
I am so excited about our opportunity to shift the style of the early service to reach out to those who love the classics. In just two Sundays we will be offering the classic servi…
This Sunday
I am excited to be back in the saddle this Sunday at Cornerstone. While we were gone I missed a Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study and all of Sunday Morning. We will begin a new mess…
Bible Fellowship
We are moving all of our present Bible Fellowship Tables to meet at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. This is partly to improve timing for the Classic Service, as well as a way for us to em…
Not much blogging lately...
CRASHing back from vacation is a scary thing for me. I usually cannot really vacate because of the heavy load of things that can pile up in a week added to the things already on th…
Commune
Tonight at Cornerstone we will be having a special communion service. There will be testimonies, lots of music followed by a time to receive the elements. Spend some time today pre…
Super Sunday
We are working hard this week in preparation for one of the biggest weekends Cornerstone has ever seen. We will be combining both the services into one super service followed by di…
When did Macaroni become pasta?
I receive an email subscription from this guy and he poses the question about when macaroni became pasta. What a great question. While eating at TGI Fridays a couple of months ago …
Sleepers RSV
Well, yesterday's post on sleepers created no little email storm of opinion. First, let me clarify that none of the aforementioned people were sleeping this Sunday, but they did ha…
I love people who sleep in church
From time to time some people do fall asleep during my message on Sunday. Every pastor has to face the fact that it will happen and get over the distraction of totally boring some …
Watermelooza Schmooza
What a fun event. Everyone was so helpful, from Extreme Jumpers who provided the water slide, to Larry the HOA president of Westridge subdivision who hosted the event. We were able…
Watermelooza
This weekend is going to be a blast! On Saturday we will meet at the school at 9, to go over the Westridge community and pass out fliers for our kidZone and free watermelon event. …
Too Late for Gardening
I told my kids that we would have to wait until after camp and vacation to plant a garden. They have been wanting to do something for years and now I will do my fatherly duties of …
Watermelooza Etc.
Here are some things we are working on for the rest of the summer 1. Conversations - Our new interactive message series where you the listener get to choose the topic. We will have…
"I was having dinner with Karen in Moscow last night..."
So I wake up this morning with an email from Greg Nelson. He and his wife are on the vacation of their life time and while sitting in Moscow he is thinking about his ministry at Co…
No Staff Meeting Today!
Tuesdays are our usual day for staff meeting and I canceled it for today. We meet religiously, well as religiously as a bunch of Baptists can, every Tuesday. In staff meeting we wi…
Sunday Spectators
Sunday was a great day at church with tons of vacationers. It is always neat to do church on the border of Disney and reality where the world comes to play. Yesterday two of the fa…
Sunday Reflections
What a great day! I won't go into too much detail, but it has been our best June yet. All of the numbers were good, but that is such a poor judge of what God is doing. The first se…
Junior Camp Report
We returned from Jr. camp yesterday and I have never slept so hard in my life. We had a great group of kids at camp this year and they really grew in their knowledge of God and wil…
Hello my name is Joel and it is my first time
While on vacation I attended my sister-in-law Michele's church in Athens GA. I was reminded of how terrible that it is visiting church for the first time. Now, don't take anything …
Summer Camp
Today we are leaving to take our kids to camp. I will try to blog some photos and updates, but am unsure how far I will have to go for Internet. Maybe each morning I will have to d…
Every Member a ...
This Sunday we will be talking about expectations at church and it has me thinking about what I expect out of the people of our church. As part of a church planting school that I a…
Ramblings
I am so excited about what God is doing at Cornerstone. The past few weeks have been amazing as God is working both behind the scenes and on display. Sunday was a great day with th…
Sunday Super Star
Todays Super Star has to be Pastor Gabe. 1. He did a great job teaching the kids and leading them today. 2. He wore a tie. 3. He closed the service with a new song that he just wro…
Nursery Photos
Amy, Gabe and I spent a few hours setting up the new Children's Wing for our Grand Opening on Sunday. Let me tell you that the transformation was wild. I am so happy that we can of…
Grand Opening
This Sunday will be the grand opening of our new kidZone wing. Yesterday, all but one of the pieces fell into place as we will have all the equipment, carpet, security, and signs. …
Pray for our Open House
We have been going fast and furious as we prepare for our open house on this coming Sunday. The banners will be shipped today, we have the new nursery furniture, yard signs are on …
Youth Pictures from MGM
A couple of weeks ago our youth went to MGM. Here are some great pictures that Sissy Short took. Enjoy! Here is a link to the rest of the pictures.…
Video Team
What did you think about the video transition yesterday? It is just something we are playing with. Video is the most powerful medium available today to convey messages and we are c…
Sermon Series Structure Strategy
Some of us had a discussion the other night and out of it I realized that most people who are "regulars" of CBC and you church planters who read this blog might benefit from pullin…
In The Daily
Yesterday we launched a new study through the book of Ephesians on our devotional blog, "In the daily" You can find a link on the right sidebar. Our small group Bible Fellowship ta…
Happy Mother's Day
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Spiderman
Well I took the plunge. Amy and I fell and went to see the latest Spiderman movie. There was a lot of good scenes and a lot of akward scenes. Probable the most akward moment is at …
Mother's Day
I like Mother's Day. Most of the pseudo holiday's created by card companies I can do without, but my mom is so great that I love mother's day. My gift is a little late this year as…
Happy Mother's Day Dan
Every year, I wish Pastor Dan Jeffers at Park Street Baptist in St. Petersburg Happy Mother's Day. I don't want to forget that they are the ones who gave birth to Cornerstone. The …
Cornerstone Wear
A new internet store featuring CBC apparel is now open. You can buy everything from T-shirts to hats and refrigerator magnets, all sporting our cool church logo. All the proceeds w…
Monday Meeting Download
What a great day off. We went to Joe Murray's meeting today and heard two outstanding messages from Russell Johnson at IBB in Miami and Mike Stancil from Calvary Baptist in Taylorv…
Heroes @ MGM
Some of my heroes went to MGM today. Just after the second service Seth and a team of 10 volunteers took the youth to MGM for the day. Seth and Robyn are doing a great job with our…
Tabernacle Sneak Preview
Our team has been working on some of the design for the Tabernacle Project and it is going to rock! Here is a sneak peak. We will have the full reveal for you on Mother's Day. Also…
Goodbye Bruce and Jacki
Today we say goodbye to Pastor Bruce. For those of you not from Cornerstone, Bruce is our Sr. Adults Pastor who works part of the year with us between October and May. They will be…
Children at Play / God at Work
Richard Baker began a study on the Tabernacle tonight and it is going to be great. I am really excited about this as we will be starting a new Tabernacle project of our own. Beginn…
The Tabernacle Projct
Cornerstone began with a clear vision from God to provide a place of worship for the people of Four Corners. With US 27 and 192 in the cross hairs we set out to find a place of mee…
Easter Photos Part Deux
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Faith and Family Night at the Ghost Riders
We had a great time this afternoon at the Osceola Ghost Riders game. It was faith and family night and they had pastor Gabe sing the national anthem. As expected, Gabe was fantasti…
Missional and Attractional are not Antonyms
One of the best things that I have learned this week at the Exponential conference is that exponential growth comes when we realize that missional is attractional . If we define mi…
Sunday Shout Out
This Sunday's shout out has to go to Gabe Dunlap. After being called out half way through the second service he wrote a song about being emotionally ADD and played it as the offeri…
Please forget about the church service; really!
Here is an interesting quote from C.S. Lewis. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament or repent or supplicate or adore. And it enables u…
Easter Photos
As promised, here are some Easter photos.…
Easter Photos
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Video from 2nd Anniversary cookout
I was looking for something to post that you might enjoy and I came across this video back from our 2nd anniversary. I dusted it off and posted it here for your viewing pleasure. I…
Welcome Home
We want every guest who attends Cornerstone to become actively involved on a weekly basis in the life of our church. We really want everyone to know our goals for involving them in…
Have Podcast Will Travel
I can't remember the last time I listened to broadcast radio. Since I got my iPod last year for my birthday, in which everyone chipped in, I am my own station manager. I recently b…
Of Marriage, Church & Mortgages
I got married in the summer of 1995. I guess if I had to answer the question of why, it was because I love my wife and I want to spend my life with her. Marriage was a good way to …
Do ya wanna come?
I grew up in a rules based circle. Not so much my home, but the church, and school, and the college I attended. At times I found myself on one side or the other of those rules. Som…
Easter Sunday Music
Here is a link to the MP3's of this past Sunday's special music. I said it Sunday and I will say it again. Our Music is awesome. You can download them by right-clicking on the link…
Easter Sunday
What an amazing day. After subtracting doubles we had 226 in attendance today in three services. Let me be the first to say that everything was awesome. It went so smooth that it w…
Behind the Scenes Pictures from Work Day
Here are some of our people making last minute improvements...…
Prayerful Preparations for Easter
Tonight we will be having a special time of prayer to prepare our hearts for Easter. In preparation for our prayer meeting we have added the following starter ideas to our prayer l…
CBC Photo
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Worship Service Picture
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Sunday Synopsis
Today's services were great. I am still in preacher withdraw from not getting to speak today. But Michael brought it. We were all inspired, and I think we all want to go plant a ch…
Pics of Easter Past
I thought you might enjoy a look back at pics of Easter '06...…
The Five Love Languages
In 8 days it will be Easter Sunday. I am so pumped about what God can do through our church on Easter that I am almost looking past tomorrow. I was up at the wee hours of the morni…
Survey Says....
Gabe has added a survey to our e-news page. Take the quiz.... here . I hope you pass.…
Still Growing
While working on our "Natural Church Development" process I had to do a little research on attendance averages for the last five years. What was neat is that every year since the b…
And thank You for Sundays...
Tonight Andrew prayed before dinner. Among other things he thanked God for Sundays. That does my heart good in several ways. One, as a pastor, my son thinks church is great. I am s…
Outback Upfront
"What will you do if you are not approved by the Missions Organization and if none of these churches support you?" That was the question that I asked Michael Nelson two years ago a…
We'll See
Growing up, We'll see usually meant no. Mom and dad used the term because life is so uncertain that what initially sounds good, does not always come about. I now find myself using …
Sunday Synopsis
Wow what a day. The worship was awesome, Great job Gabe and Praise Team, both services had a great spirit of anticipation and the music was tremendous. We had a full room for both …
Easter Insomnia
I am so excited about what God is doing at Cornerstone that I can hardly sleep. I am not kidding, for the past few weeks I have been up around 4, just planning and working towards …
Evangelism @ Work
This Sunday we will be talking about personal evangelism. God has called every believer to share their faith with the WORLD. Most of us struggle, with the mechanics, and have been …
Land Acquisition Team Meeting
Last night we met with Sean Fullerton, our real estate guru. He has been on the wholesale side of some of the largest developments in Four Corners such as Champions Gate and Reunio…
New School in Four Corners
Lake County is building a new elementary school which will be 3 miles north of US 192 in the Sawgrass Development. As there is a great need for more schools, more everything, now t…
Small Group
"We talked it over and when we get back home, we are getting involved in a small group at our church." I had lunch with a snowbird who was doing the last minute pre-flight check be…
Anadara
Wow! This past Sunday we were able to have the brand new recording artist Anadara with us for a concert of praise. Her music is deeply spiritual as well as inspiring. She happened …
Reproducing Churches Network
Reproducing churches is a network of pastors/planters who are highly motivated to see churches started along the I-4 corridor. The premise is that we will work together for prayer,…