Since those days, we have narrowed our focus on Sunday morning and throughout our communication strategy. Our goal is to make what we produce uncluttered, accurate and consistent. These are three qualities that our communication team knows are important to communicate effectively.

• Uncluttered- Every day we are bombarded with hundreds of messages; email, text messages, phone calls, junk in our mailbox, TV commercials… you know what I’m talking about. We don’t need to bombard our church family with more stuff. As a communication team we try to measure how much we say, how we say it and how often it is said in an effort to keep it uncluttered.
• Accurate- Accuracy in communication is about credibility. If the information we provide is not accurate, eventually our audience will lose trust in what we are saying and ignore us. Our goal is to have the basic information available and accurate for each event or program so our audience can easily take a next step to get involved.
• Consistent- We have only a few ways we communicate so people looking for information know where it can be found. Our website is our main focus of communication. To reinforce the information on the website, we have an electronic newsletter, banners in our building, an Information Desk, Cornerstone Community Buzz, Sunday morning bulletin, social networking and the occasional mail piece or bulk email. These are all secondary venues used to recycle and strengthen the information on our website.

Our ultimate message of hope and love in Christ is the most important message ever. It is very important for us to do what we do well. If we overload our audience with stuff, eventually we will be ignored. Doing it well for Cornerstone means effectively keeping it uncluttered, accurate and consistent.

The idea is incredible simple: love students. And the best way we love students is by inviting them in to our homes for a meal, having coffee with them to get to know them and hear their story or take them to breakfast after a tough week of tests. There is no program, no rules. This is simply a relationship with a student (or several if you decide to adopt more than one) where we, as the Church, get to say, You are valued, you are loved…and we’re here for you. College is a time of wandering, mistakes and figuring out just what in the world students want to do with the rest of their lives. The five to seven years after students graduate from high school are the most critical in determining the direction for their lives, and as older believers, we are called to train and raise up our younger brothers and sisters.

At a meeting this past Sunday night, I met with twelve families who are stepping out there with us and saying, Yes. My life is crazy busy, but I have the time and want to make a difference in the life of our students. You don’t have to look very far in this town before you see students who, whether they know it or not, are looking for a voice of love, of reason and of truth in their lives. For the next four years they will be here, living their lives in the town we call home. Our prayer is that, through the people of Cornerstone Church, even more will come to know Jesus as King, more will worship with us, pray with us, and live their lives as part of our families during this season of of their lives.

If you are ready, or just want more information on how you can change the life of a college student just contact me. You can send an email to Lee at lee@cornerstonebuzz.org.

Lee Cadden
Director of College Ministries

It’s easy, it’s quick and it’s secure.

1. Go to our website www.cornerstonebuzz.org.
2. Click on the “Give” button.
3. Register for an account or login to an already existing account.
4. You will see the screen in the picture below.
5. Fill in the blanks and submit.
6. It’s that easy

Our secure online giving option allows you to give once or set up a recurring transaction. Your tithe can be directed to your regular offering or you can mark it for our building fund for our current building. You can also check your giving history for the year. Right now we accept debit and credit cards but hopefully an eCheck option will be available by the end of the year. We encourage you to use your credit card only if you pay it off every month.

While the process of giving online is quick and easy, the impact is huge. Cornerstone has many active ministries from children to youth to small groups and much more. Our current budget is over one million dollars and we need your financial support to impact our community through these ministries.

As Christians we believe that we are stewards of God’s resources because He is the owner of all that we have. When used faithfully, money is a tool of a generous life helping people grow closer to God and each other.

If you have any questions about our online giving please send me an email.

2 Corinthians 8:2-3 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own.

Some Sunday mornings you might see Ronnie’s two boys Hudson and Jackson volunteering on the Recovery Team with Ronnie. Hudson is 13 and Jackson is 10 and they have been volunteering with this team for over a year. Every once in while they even greet and hand out bulletins.

The Hubbard’s aren’t alone in volunteering as a family. There are several others who serve either on Sunday morning or in other opportunities throughout the week. What most of these families have realized is that volunteering and serving together as a family helps everyone understand about sacrifice, commitment and empathy. Many have also realized the joy of serving together and growing in Christ as a family.

Not all families are at a place where their kids are ready to volunteer. But if your family is ready, here are a few opportunities to take next steps and volunteer at Cornerstone:

1. Be a greeter on Sunday morning.
2. Volunteer on the Recovery Team.
3. Talk to Jill Harris about volunteering with our early childhood ministries.
4. Talk to Michael McClendon about volunteering with our elementary ministries.
5. Volunteer with our Mission program on Second Saturdays (next one is August 14th).

There are more, but the best way to find out about volunteering as a family is to attend Cornerstone Connect. The first Cornerstone Connect is this Sunday but if you can’t make it, there are at least two more scheduled before the end of the year.

Ronnie has a lot to be proud of as a parent. He is modeling for his sons that volunteering and serving is what we are called to do as Christians, it is not an obligation to be dreaded. In turn Jackson and Hudson are raising the bar for other kids at Cornerstone in how they serve with maturity and focus.

If you have a question about volunteering with your kids just send me an email. I’d be glad to talk with you.

While the plan covers all children and youth any time they are in the care of Cornerstone staff and volunteers, it is especially prominent on Sunday mornings. Within the context of the plan, here are several steps you can take as parents to help us keep our children safe on Sunday mornings.

• When checking your children in to our Cornerstone Kids activities (Seaside & Kidztown) please make sure your child goes directly to their classroom or assigned area once they have a name tag. When a child is wearing a name tag, our staff and volunteers recognize that he or she is in the care of a Cornerstone volunteer or staff member. Please do not check your child in and then allow them to wander around the building wearing their name tag.

• We love our volunteers and we especially love youth who are willing to start serving in the church at a young age. The Safe Sanctuaries plan requires that volunteers working with children must be a minimum age of twelve years old. If you think your youth would enjoy serving on Sunday morning with our children, please contact our staff leadership (Jill Harris and Michael McClendon) during the week and not on Sunday morning. Contacting them before Sunday morning allows Jill and Michael time to get to know your youth and place them in an appropriate area for serving once they arrive on Sunday morning.

• Here is the “Big Ask”… please volunteer on Sunday morning. Safe Sanctuaries requires that “A minimum of two non-related adults will be utilized in all programming with children, youth, and at-risk adults.” Volunteering with our children on Sunday morning is a very rewarding experience. Not only will it help us keep our children safe, it can also help you grow closer to Christ.

Safe Sanctuaries is a great plan when it is followed in the manner it is intended. The design is not to limit ministry, but to enhance our ministry efforts and to keep our children and youth safe. You can download the entire plan here and if you have any questions just send me an email.

An excerpt from our Safe Sanctuaries plan:

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes (a) child…welcomes me.” (Matthew 18:5). Children are our present and our future, our hope, our teachers, our inspiration. They are full participants in the life of the church and in the realm of God.
Jesus also said, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones…, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

For most of this time we have provided childcare on-site at the Church on two nights of the week.  As we have grown and had more people engage in small groups, providing childcare that is both cost effective and excellent has become more and more challenging, causing us to re-evaluate and ask a number of questions.

We’ve wrestled with questions like, “Can we sustain this level of childcare as the church and small group participation continues to grow?  Are we doing our best at stewarding the resources entrusted to us?  Is providing childcare at the church a barrier for people to participate who live or would meet far away from the church?  What more intentional ministry to our children are we missing out on by pouring time, energy and financial resources into in childcare?”  This has been a challenge for our leadership to say the least, but we’ve been ready to address it.

Through wrestling with these challenges, seeking wisdom from the Lord and in consulting with several other like-minded churches of similar size we have come to a conclusion.  Starting this fall we will no longer be offering childcare for small groups at the Church site – but moving to a reimbursement system.  In essence, parents will now be arranging their own childcare and then be reimbursed by the church.  While this is offered to everyone, it is our hope that families who do not need this financial support in order to participate will not take advantage of these resources. (Some may also choose to submit to be reimbursed only every other meeting or only in particular times of need.) On-site childcare will continue to be provided for other normally scheduled large group gatherings held at the church (Wednesday’s Beth Moore Women’s Study, Cornerstone 101, Cornerstone Connect, Journey Bible Classes, etc.).  Attached you will find a terms and conditions document as well as the reimbursement form for you to review.  This form will be accessible from our “Small Group” page on the website.

Our overall decision to go this direction involved a number of complex factors.  So I wanted to offer some more background on the “Why?” of this decision.

1. To give leaders and small group participants more flexibility. Groups can now meet on any day of the week at any time they wish – and are no longer limited to the Sunday/Tuesday evenings when childcare has been available at the church.  This also provides better alternatives for families that live and groups that meet far away from the church (Imagine living in and participating in a group that meets in Camden Ridge or on the other side of Opelika.  Offering childcare at the church actually becomes more of a barrier to these individuals.)
2. To provide a system of childcare that will accommodate Cornerstone’s growth and the future growth of small groups. If we were to double the number of small group (as we hope to) we would not be able to sustain the level of excellence, funding, space, etc. for childcare.  The reimbursement system is one that will better support more people being involved in small groups as the church continues to grow. Our consulting with several other like-minded churches of similar size or larger confirmed this.
3. To be better stewards of Cornerstone’s financial resources. A common problem we experienced in staffing for childcare was that we were often overstaffed.  The number of children expected was rarely the same as the number that actually showed up – often much less.  For example, we would staff 6 workers for the expected needs when only 3 would end up being needed.  The reimbursement system will allow the allocated resources to more precisely match the needs.
4. To save money. This reimbursement system is intended for those people who otherwise would not be able to participate in a small group.  It is our hope that families who do not need this financial support in order to participate in a small group will not take advantage of these resources. (Some may also choose to submit to be reimbursed only every other meeting or only at times needed.) Going to this system will also eliminate other hidden employment costs that the church incurs with childcare staff (FICA and Unemployment Tax matching, background checks, cost/time of recruiting, screening, interviewing, etc.).  Overall we expect the reimbursement system to reduce costs and while this is not the dominant reason for this change it is a significant one.
5. To free up Cornerstone leadership from time in managing/coordinating childcare, allowing them to invest their time and energy in more meaningful ministry to our children.

I am fully aware of the many implications of a change like this.  Myself and others involved in this decision are aware of the sacrifice, extra effort and responsibility that parents must take to continue to participate in a small group.  For some, it won’t be as easy as before.  People will have to arrange their own babysitters, and maybe do things differently.  So for those of you committed small group folks – I’m asking you to stick with it, stay committed, adapt, and be creative.  What we are doing here is that important.   These are the kinds of things we as the people of Cornerstone Church rise up to.  So as we go forward I ask for your understanding and flexibility as we all seek to be better stewards of the resources entrusted to us.

Leading People to Know and Serve Jesus…

Josh Agerton,
Pastor of Connections

Small Group Childcare Reimbursement Form

Small Group Childcare Terms & Conditions

Each year, the end of summer marks the beginning of a busy time in the life of Cornerstone Church. Our members and attenders settle back in to a regular routine, and we see many new people coming through our doors each Sunday morning. To prepare for this time, we have made a few changes:

• Volunteer Gathering Room- We now have a dedicated room for ALL Sunday morning volunteers to call their own. This room will be available every Sunday morning beginning this week just before 8 am until the end of the last service. It will be a place for volunteers to grab a snack, a cup of coffee and just spend some good time with each other. We will also spend a few moments preparing for each service through announcements and prayer. We encourage you to bring your children but ask that you are together as a family in this room. The room is called Sampson’s Barber Shop, and you can find it next to the barber pole down the Cornerstone Kids hallway.

• Name change for the First Impressions Team- While creating positive first impressions is what we are challenged to do each Sunday morning, the name “First Impressions Team” can be confusing to new people. To better describe this team and make it more consistent with the experiences people have every day, we are now called the “Guest Services Team”.

• Three Things to Commit To Doing- We are asking all of our Sunday morning volunteers to commit to no less than these three things.

Volunteering on Sunday morning or, to be more precise, serving on Sunday morning, is ministry. It is an integral part of the worship experience each and every Sunday. What you do has the potential to change the heart of someone coming to Cornerstone. Be focused and alert, live out our mission of “Leading People to Know and Serve Jesus” and know that you truly make a difference.

I am excited to report that many activities have been occurring behind the scenes as we have been moving forward in our Youth Pastor search.

First, I will give a brief update on the search process for the Youth Pastor. Secondly, I will cover how we are handling the transition with Amy Coxwell – our current Youth Minister, and her responsibilities.

Great news! We have two highly qualified candidates visiting Cornerstone in July for an extensive assessment and interview process. We have structured the visit to be a lot of informal networking as well as structured interviews. For example, our Youth Pastor Evaluation Team is comprised of parents of youth, youth volunteers, youth, and church leaders. This team has several hours set aside to cover many key areas. In addition, there will be times when each candidate will be speaking with our youth along with spending quality time with Rusty and the staff team.

In preparing for the search, Rusty, Josh and this team spent many hours creating a document that provides candidates with specific expectations for the position as well as the culture and mission of Cornerstone. This document achieves two milestones: 1) It takes the special uniqueness of Cornerstone and describes it in writing and 2) It offers candidates a comprehensive understanding of the church and what will be expected from the new Youth Pastor. We have attached this document so that you may also be informed about this transition and position.

Now secondly, Amy Coxwell has graciously agreed to serve in the role until the end of August. If we have not selected a candidate by that date, we will be making a decision of how to manage through an interim period.

Please join me in extending a warm appreciation to Amy for agreeing to continue in this role and let her know how much we appreciate the work she has achieved with our youth. I personally, as a father to an active youth member, have seen so much growth in my son and I know it has all been under Amy’s leadership.

We will miss Amy in this role, but we wish her luck and pray for her as she looks to make steps towards a career in adolescent counseling.

So, please continue to pray for this major transition and as the process unfolds we will communicate the activities.

In God We Serve,

Ken Lott,
Personnel Team Chair
Cornerstone Church

Who knew Mimi was allergic to gladiolas? Not Michael! They looked beautiful on the dining room table, and when Michael had to “get rid of them,” there had to be another alternative than the garbage. Then the idea struck like lightning. Why not give them to Debra, the Jewish woman who recently moved in next door…So Michael and Mimi, flowers in hand, went to their neighbors. Debra and her husband, Richard, answered the door and were presented with an unexpected gift, to which they said, “Please, come in.” For two missionaries, these are welcome words!…For the next one and a half hours, some of the conversation was about “where are you from,” “do you have any children,” etc. Then it turned spiritual, where Michael shared with Richard about how the Jewish Scriptures, from beginning to end, flow toward the coming of one Jewish Messiah who will both suffer then return and judge the living and the dead, and will bring God’s glory to the ends of the earth.

Michael and Mimi Finesilver are missionaries that Cornerstone supports. They are Messianic Jews reaching out to the Jewish community in southern Florida. I read this story in their newsletter last week, and I was highly encouraged and excited about this simple story they shared. The Finesilvers continue and share about how Richard and Debra are not yet believers, but that they invited the Finesilvers to return and continue their conversation.

I wanted to share this story because it’s this kind of swift, other people focused, servant-hearted attitude that I hope I learn and continue to have with my own neighbors. Flowers, that the Scriptures say will wither and pass away, turned into a conversation that has eternal implications.

Please continue to pray for Michael and Mimi Finesilver as they seek to lead people to know and serve Jesus in their community.