Pastoral Notes for Sunday, April 6, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

I wish I could be in two places at once! Alas, if I must be away from Cornerstone on a Sunday, I am grateful to be gathered with a like-minded sister church in our beloved denomination. I am in the “holy city” of the south, Charleston, SC, preaching at Church Creek Presbyterian Church where my friend, Rev. Nick Batzig, is the minister. Pray I’ll serve these dear saints well. I look forward to being back with you next Sunday, April 13, for Palm Sunday!

Speaking of next Sunday, we will have a Cornerstone Family Meeting during the Sunday School hour to discuss advances in our shepherding ministry and ministry expansion. If you’re a member of Cornerstone, please make plans to join us.

One issue I’ll mention now and discuss a bit more next week is parking. As some of you have read in the Williamson Herald, the city of Franklin is moving forward with plans to rebuild Franklin City Hall across the street from the Chapel. The new 115,000+ square foot City Hall will be multi-story with an underground parking lot and an adjoining one-acre park, which will be directly across from the Chapel. If the finished product turns out anything like the plans, it will be an impressive upgrade to downtown Franklin!  

We’ve met with the city multiple times now to learn as much as we can about how our ministry will be affected during the building phase. Unfortunately, during the demolition and construction phase, which is slated for completion in spring 2027, we will lose the parking lot across the street from the Chapel as well as the parallel parking (roughly 15 spots) on 3rd Ave. between Church St. and Main St.

To help address this challenge, the deacons formed a Parking Team, led by Mr. Matt Michaud, to perform a parking study and investigate options for securing additional parking for Sunday mornings. Through their efforts, we were able to get an accurate accounting of how many parking spots we need on a Sunday morning and assess parking availability between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. within a block of the Chapel.  

The good news is there’s plenty of parking to meet our parking needs. It will take a minute or two longer to walk to church, but between both parking garages on 2nd Ave. and 4th Ave. and street parking, there are plenty of parking spots for Sunday morning.

For those who are older with mobility issues or moms with young children, we have secured the judges parking lot (17 spots) directly behind the Chapel for Sunday morning. In addition, we are expanding the gravel parking lot (roughly 20 spots) behind The Corner House, which will be complete—Lord willing—before Easter.

The date for the beginning of City Hall’s demolition has moved several times. If there are no more changes, our last Sunday with access to the parking lot across the street and street parking on 3rd Ave. between Church St. and Main St. will be Easter Sunday, April 20. Once the new City Hall is complete, we will have access to the underground parking lot on Sunday mornings.

As we move through this time of transition, the deacons will monitor the need for any additional parking measures including the possibility of designated drop off and/or pick up locations. If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback to offer related to parking, please contact Mr. Matt Michaud at michaudba@gmail.com.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 30, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

Thanks to all of you who attended The Praying Life Seminar last weekend with Rev. Dax Gibson from Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL. It was a wonderfully rich time of instruction and prayer practice based on Paul Miller’s excellent work, A Praying Life. If you missed the seminar, do not despair! There will be several opportunities over the next few months to glean the foundational teachings from the seminar and the book.

On that note, please pop by the Cornerstone Bookshelf in the Fellowship Hall this morning—there are copies of A Praying Life for purchase. In addition, there are quite a few new titles available, including several seasonal offerings like Tim Chester’s Our Radiant Redeemer and Jonathan Gibson’s O Sacred Head, Now Wounded. Don’t leave today without adding to your library!

Speaking of guest speakers, it was a treasure to have my dear friend and one of our supported church planters, Rev. Andy Young, with us this past Wednesday night. In 2018, Rev. Young was called by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of England and Wales (EPCEW) to begin the work of planting Oxford Presbyterian Church in England. The Lord has slowly but surely—and certainly more significantly over the last three years—grown the work of ministry. Today, Oxford Presbyterian Church has well over a hundred worshippers on any given Sunday, including upwards of 60 university students who meet for their college student fellowship meeting during the week.  

In 2023, Oxford Pres. Church secured a long-term lease (a very hard thing to do) on the North Gate Hall on St. Michael’s St. right at the center of the city. Originally a Methodist chapel built in 1871, the building was used for nearly 60 years as the Oxford Intercollegiate Christian Union before becoming a community center and later a pub. It’s a beautiful sight to see this lovely old church building restored to its original purpose under the ministry Rev. Young and Oxford Presbyterian Church.

Please pray for Rev. Young and for Oxford Presbyterian and for the UK more generally. The UK is showing signs of spiritual renewal. Having been there three years ago, I can testify firsthand to the growing spiritual hunger in the UK—especially among the younger generation. Oxford Pres. is strategically positioned to make a strong impact for the gospel in a place where the greatest minds from all over the world come to study. Which means that to make an impact for Christ in Oxford is to make an impact for Christ on the world.

As we pray for the gospel to spread in the UK and all over the world, don’t forget to pray for the ministry right here at Cornerstone. Pray even right now for this worship service—that the gospel would go forth with clarity and power. Pray that, by God’s grace, today would be the day of salvation for someone, maybe many, in this room, in overflow, and through the livestream.  

Until Christ becomes the praise of all the earth!

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 23, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

Rereading a section of the gospel of Mark this week, I was struck afresh by the power and authority of Jesus Christ. At one point, Mark tells us Jesus is the plunderer of the strong man’s (Satan’s) house, and he is the healer of the high fever of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 3:22-30). These two healings, one spiritual the other physical, one comic the other individual, are together a picture of the good news Jesus came to bring, to usher in the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).

At the heart of the “good news” is the Kingdom of God. Throughout the gospels, Jesus describes his whole mission in the terms of the Kingdom. His teaching and miracles—especially the cross and resurrection—is the inbreaking of Christ’s Kingdom in the world.

We learn that the kingdom Christ brings is not like any worldly kingdom. For to enter this kingdom, we must repent (Mark 1:15; Matt. 3:2), which is the leading theme during the season of Lent.  

What is repentance? We could answer that question several ways. But at its most basic level, repentance is turning from sin unto God. If you look at the phrase, “turning from sin unto God,” you can see that repentance is essentially a transfer from one power, rule, and authority to another power, rule, and authority. In repentance, you are switching allegiances. Paul put it this way, you are being “delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His Beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). Said another way, we are no longer citizens of earth. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). We answer to Jesus Christ alone. 

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to place yourself under the authority of Jesus Christ in increasing measure, to live according to the pattern and priority of the Kingdom that He is establishing. In the gospels, we are coming face to face with the pattern and priority of Jesus’s ministry, and we are being called, as his disciples, to join him on mission.

He preached the truth, opposed the Evil One, healed sickness, fed the hungry, confronted religiosity, revealed his glory, made disciples, raised the dead, and much more. He did all these things, but he left plenty for us to do. In John 14:12, Jesus says this, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” God has chosen us to be his witnesses and disciples, not to live selfishly but selflessly—to do the good that Jesus did.  

In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Bonhoeffer was right of course, but the Christian knows the secret power lying underneath that call to die. The Christian knows that to die the way Christ died is the way of resurrection. To enter the Kingdom of Christ and to live under His rule is to be free enough to die. When you are free enough to die, then you can really live.

As we enter the last half of Lent and hasten toward Holy Week, let this season be one that is marked in the way the whole Christian life should be—by repentance.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 16, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

Today in worship we’re looking at 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and the subject of spiritual gifts. As I reflected on how this subject intersects with Cornerstone, my heart swelled with thanksgiving for the literally hundreds of spiritually gifted servants God has given to us who are serving on the front lines of ministry.  

Each week, scores of volunteers are working behind the scenes welcoming visitors, making coffee, loving kids in the nursery, teaching Sunday School, prepping communion, leading musically in worship, visiting shut-ins, taking meals to the sick, discipling youth, praying for those in need, and countless other ways.

As we reported last year, more than 65% of the Cornerstone membership is involved in an identifiable area of service. That’s more than double the average percentage nationwide. For this, we give God all the glory!  

Over the last year, the Lord has drawn a host of new members into our midst. Some of you quickly found your way into an area of service in the body, but some of you are still looking for a place to serve. If you’re in that latter group, pay close attention to opportunities to serve announced in the Focus on Church Ministry Page in the bulletin. We always have needs!

It could be, however, that you need help in discerning spiritual gifts or would like to learn more about a specific ministry area in the body. If that’s you, let me encourage you to reach out to your shepherding elder and deacon to begin that discussion.

Every member at Cornerstone has a shepherding elder to help meet spiritual needs and a shepherding deacon to help meet physical needs. If you do not remember who your shepherding elder and deacon is in the body, please touch base with our Church Life Coordinator, Dan Fiedler, at dan@cstonepres.org. He would be glad to help you.

Speaking of shepherding, Cornerstone continues pressing forward in our shepherding ministry. Your elders and deacons are reaching out to you on a regular basis just to check up on you, pray for you, and learn how to better serve you. When you hear from your shepherding elder or deacon, please help them serve you by responding to their phone calls, emails, and invitations to meet with you. Your participation in the shepherding ministry of the church helps us grow together into the church the Lord has called us to be!

Finally, please go ahead and mark Sunday, April 13 on your calendar. We will have an important Cornerstone Family Meeting during the Sunday School hour that day. At that meeting, we are excited to share with you advances in our shepherding ministry and the early plans taking shape for ministry expansion. Do not miss this important meeting!

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 9, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

If you haven’t yet picked up the Cornerstone devotional, Confronting the Sins We Tolerate, for the Lenten season, do not leave today without a copy. It’s available at both entrances of the Chapel this morning. It’s our gift from us to you!

I want to publicly thank Greg Wilbur and Maxwill Shell for their leadership in pulling the devotional together and for the Cornerstone staff, officers, members, and former interns (now pastors) who wrote devotionals for this publication. It’s a beautiful testimony of the immense gifts the Lord has given to our body both presently and throughout the years. 

Speaking of Lent, if you are unfamiliar with or have negative connotations of the Lenten season, you might find the piece I wrote below for the online ministry “She Reads Truth” a helpful explanation for how we approach this season as a historically Reformed and Presbyterian church.

The grand narrative of God’s Word through history is more than a tall tale. It is a historical record of real events with real people in real places and in real time. Indeed, as Paul makes plain in his letter to the church at Corinth, if Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection did not actually take place in time and space, then all is lost. We of all people are most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:9).

God not only authored the Bible’s true story—He’s the lead actor. Behind the flood, the call of Abraham, the Exodus, the rise of King David, the exile and return of Israel, and every other redemptive act, God is present and the prime mover. On every page of the Bible, God is the hero of the story. As the author and hero of redemption, God calls His people to remember the great things He has done (Deuteronomy 8:1-3). 

One of the means God used to stir the mind and imaginations of His people to remembrance was a calendar. From the Day of Atonement to the weekly Sabbath, to the annual feasts and festivals, God calendared salvation history to help the prone-to-forgetfulness Israelites relive their redemption each year (Leviticus 23).

Rightfully so, the shadow of the Old Testament calendar faded in the bright light of Christ’s fulfillment (Colossians 2:16-17). Although God issued no new calendar requirement for the New Testament church, He gave His people the freedom to order their days while maintaining the commitment to remember the redemption of Jesus Christ (Romans 15:4-9, Galatians 3:1-14, Romans 6:5-11, 2 Peter 1:3-11).

Not as a biblical requirement but as a discipleship tool, the early church began marking the days by the life and ministry of Jesus (Advent to Ascension) and the life and ministry of His church (Pentecost to Ordinary Time). Many Christians throughout the centuries have kept the practice, finding it a helpful means of remembering and connecting to both the life of Christ and the reality of His church, reaching around the world and across generations.

In that spirit, we invite you to join us for the forty days of Lent as we prayerfully prepare for the heartbreaking and heart-mending climax of the Christian year—the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, March 2, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

I’m preaching at the Missions Conference at Christ Church (PCA) in Katy, TX, this weekend where my dear friend, Rev. Fred Greco, is the pastor. I cherish your prayers for the ministry of the Word as I preach morning and evening services. I will be lifting you, the Cornerstone family, up as we worship today—especially Pastor Abercrombie as he delivers the Word from a beautifully challenging text of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 11.

I’m sad to miss the opportunity to meet prospective students and families this morning from our closest partnered ministry, New College Franklin. In 2009, New College Franklin welcomed their inaugural class of twelve students. From those humble beginnings, New College Franklin has grown steadily, attracting students from coast to coast in the United States as well as Canada.

As a classical Christian college committed to the seven liberal arts, NCF is devoted to the study of truth, beauty, and goodness wherever it is found, and to submit every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).   

Since Cornerstone’s founding in 2011, we’ve had the privilege of hosting NCF in our building. Moreover, our own Chief Musician, Mr. Greg Wilbur, is the Founder of NCF and the current Interim President, Mr. Andy Patton, is a member of Cornerstone. We also have the privilege of having many NCF professors as members of Cornerstone including Dr. Carolyn Weber, Mr. Nathan Johnson, and Mr. Brandon Spun.

I hope the prospective students and families visiting us this morning are warmly welcomed by the Cornerstone family and spiritually edified by this morning’s worship service. If you’re a prospective student or a parent of a prospective student, please know we’re delighted you’re exploring NCF. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the church office if we can help answer any questions about Cornerstone or serve you in any capacity.

Finally, tomorrow is the end of early bird pricing for A Praying Life Seminar on March 21-22! If you haven’t yet signed up, what are you waiting for? Please, please do not let this remarkable opportunity slip by you. The content you will receive in this seminar is some of the best training in prayer you’ll find anywhere. Don’t wait! Sign up today through the Cornerstone website.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 23, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

One of the many joys of being a minister at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church is having the chance to work with young men and women who have interest in pursuing ministry vocationally. Though everyone’s call to ministry is different, it’s often true that interest in vocational ministry grows over time as one begins to exercise spiritual gifts and serves in the church.

To help assess a call to and aptitude for ministry, Cornerstone developed an internship program that is designed as a training ground for the work of ministry. Internship training includes but is not limited to theological, ecclesiological, and practical on-the-job ministry training. The intern will read, write, discuss, and be involved in practical ministry in order to test their head (intellectual), heart (spiritual), and hands (practical) in the work of ministry.

Over the 13 years of Cornerstone’s existence, the Lord has blessed Cornerstone with eleven interns. Currently, we have former interns serving as either pastors, counselors, or lay church workers in Oregon, California, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

We’ve recently added a new intern to our staff who is no stranger to Cornerstone. Mr. James Goddard joined the Cornerstone staff as a Pastoral Counseling Intern in January. James is a long-time member at Cornerstone and is actively involved in young adults and men’s ministry.

James holds a Master of Arts and Counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s degree from New College Franklin in the Liberal Arts. James is a therapist who has interest in working in the context of a church. For the next year, he is spending ten hours a week on staff to explore his sense of call and gain valuable experience in working for a church. We are looking forward to seeing how James grows this year and to benefit from his training and gifts in Christian counseling.

Before I conclude, I want to remind you that last year the Finance Committee established The Seminary Student Support Fund to help provide additional support to former interns of Cornerstone who have answered the call of vocational ministry and enrolled in seminary education. As a church, we partner financially with interns pursuing vocational ministry for a portion of the costs associated with seminary education. Over the years, we’ve noticed interns often hit difficult patches financially (a medical procedure, vehicle repair, etc.) incurring significant costs beyond what they or we can provide.

To help meet this need, The Seminary Student Support Fund was created. It’s a way for you, the congregation, to give in a designated way to meet these additional needs of students. The application process, approval, and disbursements from The Seminary Student Support Fund is overseen by the Missions Committee. Only students who were interns of Cornerstone and are pursuing vocational ministry are eligible to receive help from The Seminary Student Support Fund.

In addition to your regular giving to Cornerstone, please consider a gift to this fund. When you give, designate your gift for The Seminary Student Support Fund. If you have any questions about the fund, contact our Mission’s Committee chairman, Mr. John Millard, at johnfrancmillard@gmail.com.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 16, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

On March the 5th (Ash Wednesday), Midweek at Cornerstone kicks off. Like in the past, we’ll gather on Wednesday evenings for food, fellowship, worship, study, and choir. There will be opportunities for discipleship from the youngest to the oldest. Please go ahead now and mark your calendar.

For our evening service during Midweek, we will be in a series entitled Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. As much as we hate to admit it, there are certain sins in our lives we’ve ceased fighting. Sins with which we’ve brokered an uneasy truce. Sins that have moved into our lives and made themselves at home.

Which sins is it for you? Is it gossip? What about worry? Could it be anger, or maybe discontent? These sins are easy to pass off as no big deal, which is exactly what the Evil One wants you to do. You aren’t committing the “big sins” like murder or adultery. Compared with other people, you’re not all that bad, are you?

The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl. 5:11-12). In other words, sin is sin no matter if it’s big or small. Every sin is significant because it’s an affront to a holy God and is deserving of God’s wrath and punishment.

This is why James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it,” and why Paul says in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them.”  

Thankfully, we have a Savior greater than our sin, who, as the hymn writer put it, “nailed [our sin] to the cross, and we bear it no more.” Hallelujah! But just because we’ve been saved from sin doesn’t mean sin isn’t an issue anymore. Every day each of us deal with the reality of remaining sin. The penalty of sin is paid. The power of sin is broken. And yet, the presence of sin remains. Therefore, each day until we die or until Jesus returns, we must be putting sin to death and living unto the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In the six weeks leading up to Easter, we will consider what Jerry Bridges once called “Respectable Sins”––sins we don’t think are all that sinful. The sins we let slide. In this series, we will define each sin, consider the root of each sin, and explore strategies for putting them to death. If you’re serious about “laying aside…the sins which cling so closely” (Hebrews 12:1), don’t miss this important study.

Confronting the Sins We Tolerate 

·      3/5 – Pride and Selfishness 

·      3/12 – Discontent and Restlessness

·      3/19 – Anger and Frustration

·      3/26 – Anxiety and Worry 

·      4/2 – Envy and Jealousy 

·      4/9 – Gossip and Slander 

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 9, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

In Greek history and thought, a hero was someone who descended from the gods possessing superhuman abilities. Homer defined a hero as “an intermediary.” That is, someone who bridges divinity and humanity born with a nature that touches upon heaven and earth.  

Achilles, the lead character in Homer’s Iliad, embodies heroism. He is the fruit of the union of Peleus, a Greek king, and the sea nymph, Thetis, a Greek goddess. He possesses superhuman strength, performing tremendous feats on the battlefield. Most notably, his slaying of Troy’s most decorated warrior, Hector.  

Defying even death itself, Achilles was diligent, dependable, and disciplined. No matter the objective, he would not be deterred. In the end, his military exploits would enshrine his name in the annals of history, securing his chief end—the glory of immortality.

Believing himself to be a descendent of the gods, Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) received the Illiad as the Bible. He commited large sections to memory and, if legend is to be believed, slept with a copy under his pillow every night. It was his only rule for faith and practice.

If the Illiad was Alexander’s Bible, then Achilles was his muse and mimesis. If Achilles was a fictional character in Homer’s epic poem, Alexander would be the historical incarnation living an epic life.  

To temper Alexander’s ambition, Aristotle, his tutor, labored to distinguish the difference between history and myth. Sadly, the megalomania was already firmly in place. Imagining himself the son of Zeus, Alexander took to himself divine honors and titles and set himself on a course toward world dominion. Aristobolus, Greek historian and contemporary of Alexander, wrote, “…he was never content with his conquests, and he wanted to rule everybody.”  

These ancient hero stories reflect and distort in different ways the reality of Christian heroism. As men and women made in the image of God, we are descended from God. Our natures touch upon heaven and earth. Designed as God’s heroes, our chief aim was to live for God’s glory and spread his rule over all the earth (Genesis 1:26-28).

But at the beginning of time, our enemy exploited our Achilles heel. With compelling lies, the Serpent defeated us. “You aren’t here to serve God; you are here to be God,” he said. Despite the hiss, it sounded good. And we bit.  

Hiding behind trees, God finds us and says, a seed of the woman—a hero—will come and undo all the bad we did. He will be a better Adam with no Achilles heel. He will be God’s hero. He will rescue us crushing the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).

As we turn the pages, we learn it’s not Noah, Abraham, Moses, or David. These patriarchs are only shadows of the hero to come. When the New Testament opens, we learn the true hero—with God as Father and Mary as mother, touching heaven and earth—has come to crush the head of the Serpent, freeing us from the bondage of sin and death through the cross and the resurrection.

In worship today, we come to celebrate our hero, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are here to pay him homage, to hymn to him praise, to express our undivided devotion. For in him and him alone we find our glory and immortality.

Your servant,

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, February 2, 2025

Dear Cornerstone family, 

The Scripture teaches us that the Father sent His Son into the world to save for himself a people for his own possession (Luke 4:18; 1 Peter 2:9). Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the apostles were sent by the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to share the gospel to every nation under heaven (John 20:21; Matt.28:19-20). 

At Cornerstone, we believe the church is a sent people on mission for Christ in the world. That in different ways depending on the Lord’s call, every member of Christ’s church is committed to doing their part in advancing the good news of Jesus Christ—proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people everywhere. From Franklin to the uttermost parts of the world, we exist—the church exists—to make disciples of Jesus Christ through the preaching the gospel (Col.1:19-20). 

One of the many ways Cornerstone is involved in missions is through regular monthly support of missionaries, church planters, mercy ministries, and campus ministers. To learn more about who we support, please visit the mission page on the church website.

Today, we get the privilege of sitting under the ministry of Rev. Andrew Terrell, one of our new campus minister supports. Rev. Terrell works with our denomination’s campus ministry, Reformed University Fellowship International, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Andrew grew up not too far from Nashville in Georgia, but he spent most of his adult life in Spain and New York City. Before serving as the Campus Minister for international students at Vanderbilt, Andrew had the same role at Columbia University in New York City for eight years. Two of Andrew’s passions are cross-cultural friendships and deep conversations about faith and spirituality. He loves getting to combine the two in his work with RUF-I.

Andrew holds a B.S. in Psychology and a M.A. in Biblical Studies and is ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. When he’s not on campus with international students, you can find Andrew reading a book, walking in the woods, or alongside his wife Olivia chasing their three young boys around the backyard.

Please give attention to the message the Lord has laid on Rev. Terrell’s heart as he comes today to minister the gospel in our midst.

Your servant,