Introduction
The Mission
How You Can Help
Watch
Reaching Beyond Ourselves
Campaign Update
April 1, 2007
(Talk delivered by Ed Parrish in the 9:30 A.M. Service at the Dutch Fork Campus
and the 11:00 A.M. Service at the Bush River Campus)
Work is moving ahead at full speed on “Reaching Beyond Ourselves”, Cornerstone’s campaign to define the future of our church and its two campuses. As I mentioned last week, we currently have more than 120 members involved in the campaign. You’ll get a chance to see the fruit of their labors when the campaign officially begins two weeks from today on April 15th.
This morning I would like to spend a few minutes giving you a glimpse of what you’ll see in the coming weeks.
Throughout our campaign you will see an emphasis on Prayer. In fact, on April 15th, we will distribute a Prayer Guide developed by our Spiritual Awareness Team led by Bob Cantrell. Using devotionals written by 28 different members of Cornerstone, this team compiled a daily devotional guide designed to augment the four weeks of special campaign activities. This guide is truly an impressive piece of work. It showcases some of the talent that God has so richly blessed Cornerstone with.
Mark Curl has a group involved in developing a video that will be shown on April 22nd. This video features interviews with Cornerstone families describing the impact that God and this church have had on their lives.
Ed Crosby, Steve Miller and the Communications team have written and coordinated all of the printed material that you’ll be seeing in the coming weeks. Pamphlets, brochures and newsletters are all currently in progress. The Question and Answer tri-fold we mailed out in late January is a good indication of their attention to detail and quality.
Bet Miller and her Student/Children team are in the process of deciding how our children will participate in the campaign and at what points during key events. While this segment of our church family is sometimes overlooked, our children can play significant roles and be greatly influenced by activities such as this campaign.
J. B. Rivers and the Major Event Team are working to make all of the campaign events special. They are involved in the planning, budgeting and production of a number of important meetings in our homes, at the church and at other locations. All of the elements of the campaign will build toward our major event- Celebration Sunday, May 20th. J.B. has some very special things in store for us on that day. We’ll be talking about that more at a later time.
I continue to be overwhelmed by the depth and diversity of talents within our church family. The commitment and dedication of our team members and leaders such as Bob MacNaughton and Steve Lanham has been inspirational and humbling. We are fortunate that God has blessed our church so richly with faithful servants who are willing to give their time and talents to further His work.
While scores of us are working on many fronts to make the campaign a success, I would close by asking you for your help. Please pray a heartfelt prayer for this church and its future.
Thank you.
Reaching Beyond Ourselves
Congregational Input
March 25, 2007
(Talk delivered by Ed Parrish in the 9:30 A.M. Service at the Dutch Fork Campus
and the 11:00 A.M. Service at the Bush River Campus)
On January 28th I gave you a brief introduction to “Reaching Beyond Ourselves”, Cornerstone’s campaign to define the future of our church and its two campuses. Over the last eight weeks our Steering Committee has accomplished a great deal. At this point we have more than 100 people working on this campaign in various positions. I would, in fact, like to stop at this point and thank those that are putting in so many hours to make this campaign a success.
In the weeks leading up to our kick off on April 15th, I’ll be giving you quick reports on our progress.
This morning I would like to comment on Input From The Congregation.
One of our goals in “Reaching Beyond Ourselves” has been “to offer all members the opportunity to take an ownership position in our vision.” We are working toward that goal by soliciting input. On February 11th we held a Listening Session after the worship service at each campus. That effort netted us 51 comments and suggestions to consider as we plan the initial development at Dutch Fork and the improvements needed at Bush River.
Several people missed that opportunity but wanted to provide input so we included a comment form in the bulletin several times recently.
Your response has been inspiring. To date, we have received more than 110 individual comments. What this proves to me is that you care about this church and the work that it is doing.
For this reason, we intend to leave the door open for comments throughout the campaign. So, theoretically you have up until the end of May to offer your thoughts. I would ask that you do it in writing, however. Telling me something in the hallway is not quite as effective as filling out a comment form – remember, I’m 55- my memory is shot.
Some of the comments are repetitive and that is totally ok. We plan to put the list on the website so that you’ll be able to see the complete list without any names associated with it.
Let me close by saying how excited I am to be a part of this effort. God is at work here at Cornerstone. If you have any doubt about that, come to one of our steering committee meetings and see for yourself.
We do indeed have much to be thankful for.
Reaching Beyond Ourselves
Commissioning Service
January 28, 2007
(Talk delivered by Ed Parrish in the 9:30 A.M. Service at the Dutch Fork Campus
and the 11:00 A.M. Service at the Bush River Campus)
On March 2nd, we will have a special dinner celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. Over the past three decades, we as a congregation have worked tirelessly to extend the reach of God’s Kingdom. We have not only sent missionaries around the globe, we have built facilities to house our activities. Working together over these years, we built the sanctuary complex at Bush River and Woods Edge for the youth; we added playgrounds and parking facilities, and most recently, we built the entire SOAR complex. And so it is that we now begin yet another chapter in the development of our church.
Just before Christmas, we began assembling the team and developing plans for “Reaching Beyond Ourselves” - Cornerstone’s campaign to define the future of our church and its two campuses. At the outset, I would like to read the Mission Statement for our work:
Reaching Beyond Ourselves is a membership driven campaign designed to help us understand and define God’s plan for the future of our Cornerstone Family at the Bush River and Dutch Fork Campuses. This campaign offers all members the opportunity to take an ownership position in our vision through work, prayer, and heartfelt giving. We recognize that this endeavor is a defining moment in the history of our Church as we strive to meet our goal of bringing glory to God through the expansion of His Kingdom.
Let me be the first to say that our team doesn’t have all of the answers at this point. In fact, we don’t even know all of the questions. But one thing we do know is that over the past 35 years, God has consistently used this Church and its members to “Reach Beyond Ourselves” to build His Kingdom and we believe that He intends for us to carry this commitment forward yet again.
The actual role that each member of the church will play as we move forward will be discussed at a later time. At this point, however, we would ask that you help in whatever way you can and pray for those involved. Also, please feel free to talk to me at any time during the months ahead if you have questions or input.
Although all of us on the team are excited and anxious to put our plans into action, we recognize that this is truly an important time in the life of our church. The decisions that we make as a congregation in the coming months will impact the lives of thousands of residents in Northwest Columbia for years to come. This task is a serious matter and a Holy thing. For this reason, I would like to ask all of the “Reaching Beyond Ourselves” team members present this morning to make their way to the front to allow Dr. Perrin to pray for us.
Thank you.