Isn't She Beautiful!

19 years ago (yesterday) I received the most precious gift from Lord I will ever receive outside of salvation itself. She came into the door of the small chapel with purity (but not perfection), beautifully clothed (in a borrowed dress), and a smile of joyful anticipation (knowing that happily ever after would have many bumps along the way). Not only has Alicia been my companion, help-meet, and the object of my affection, she's been my best friend and my soul-mate. I say soul-mate because of all the things God had used to mature me, no human relationship has been more important in my own spiritual journey. Alicia, you are the gift I'll never deserve. The only thing better than 19 years with you is ... 20!

It just so happened that I was blessed to be asked to perform a wedding ceremony 2 days before our anniversary. Having had several conversations with the bride-to-be before the wedding, I knew just how much preparation had gone into the preparations for the wedding. The invitations were ordered, the programs printed, the dress picked out and sized, the rings found and purchased, the reception planned, and I could go on and on! The point is this, the beauty of the bride and the beauty of the wedding were not accidental! Brides are beautiful not just because of their facial features and wedding dresses. They are beautiful because of the tireless preparations they've made, the seriousness with which they are addressing their up-coming marital relationship, and because of their dedication to becoming the wife that their husband is hoping for!

This wedding not only served to remind me of how blessed I am as a husband of 19 years, but it also reminded me that Jesus is referred to as the bridegroom (John 3:29) and the church as his bride (Ephesians 5:25-27). And as a part of his bride, the church, we must do our best to be connected in fellowship, committed to service, awestruck in worship, dedicated to discipleship, and eager to evangelize! These are the things that make the church beautiful and fully engaged in our relationship with the Lord Jesus as his bride!

We all know that the media and others in our culture don't look to favorably on the local Christian church. Yes it's true that throughout history the church hasn't been perfect, has made mistakes, and has even misrepresented Christ at times. But we know that Christ has promised to make her holy and blameless (Eph. 5:27) and to equip her to be all she (we) is designed to be through fellowship, service, worship, discipleship, and outreach.

So regardless of what the world says... isn't she beautiful?*

*The Church: Isn't She Beautiful! A Sunday teaching series of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship. Sunday's, August 10 through September 7, at 9:00 & 10:15 a.m.

Family Reunion

Several years ago my wife and youngest son flew to the Nashville area for a surprise weekend visit with my sister and her family. And when they got home, Jenine told me about a situation that occurred on the plane before takeoff. She said that Luke, who was three-years-old at the time, had taken his seat on the plane (his first adventure in flight) and was excitedly swinging his legs when he accidentally kicked the back of the man’s chair sitting in from of him. The man then turned around and angrily yelled at my son, telling him to “knock it off,” to “behave,” and to “sit still.”

Well, that’s certainly not a big deal, but upon hearing this, my ire went up. I thought, “How dare that curmudgeon chastise my little boy.” Now, perhaps I was biased in my response, but it’s natural for us to protect and defend those we love. In fact that’s how it ought to be in a family. We look out for one another.

As Jenine and I reflected yesterday on our first official day at Cornerstone, the way that people have looked out for us, and the efforts that so many have made to welcome and embrace us, we both concluded the same thing:

This is our family.

We don’t have any parents or siblings in town, but we recognized experientially what Jesus said in Mark 3 (and I’m paraphrasing): “My true family is made up of those who do the will of the Father.”

See, in his brief earthly ministry, Jesus radically redefined family. Jesus de-centered biological family and instead emphasized the family of the Kingdom. Jesus roundly debunked the popular notion that “blood is thicker than water.”

As Rodney Clapp says in his excellent book, Families at the Crossroads, “the blood that most significantly determines our identity and character is not the blood of biological family, but the blood of the Lamb.”

The Apostle Paul recognized this. He was relentless with his familial language. The phrase "my brothers" appears more than 65 times in his letters. The church Paul knew met in households and they depended on one another. Here's the point: as believers in Christ, we're not extended family. We're family. Period.

And we want to thank you, our family, for looking out for us during this life-transition, and for making our first day at Cornerstone memorable. We’re looking forward to making many more memories together. By God's grace and for a long time.

John

A Day of Teamwork...and Fun!

A great choir, like a great church, knows that nothing great is accomplished without total commitment to teamwork. People working together, each pulling their own weight for the greater good of the team. Our Celebration Singers Student Choir knows this first-hand, and week after week it is taught, yes even drilled, into their heads and hearts. With every song they sing and every concert they give, it is teamwork and interdependency on each other that has caused them to rise above the mediocre expectations of the norm ("that's too hard") to the extraordinary heights of excellence and possibility ("we CAN do this!"). It is teamwork that causes them to know how to trust each other, to hold each other accountable, to lift each other up in the valleys and to celebrate with each other on the mountaintop. It is teamwork that allows them to create together what they cannot create on their own...harmony.

Today, we had the incredible opportunity to go whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River...yes, the ARKANSAS RIVER in Colorado. A few of us even "called the Hogs" as we set off on our course! If you are able to listen closely, you might hear the echo as far as Little Rock! And, in rafting the river, we were able to experience the beauty of teamwork.

Some say that our kids are too young to understand what this means. I beg to differ, and have multiple hundreds of examples to dispute that claim. Too often, we sell our kids much too short of their God-given potential...but I am here to tell you as an eye witness many times over: they are smart enough to do what we as adults are smart enough to teach them to do. Today they worked as teams, from the youngest to the oldest, boys and girls, young men and young women...they proved to themselves and to the world that, if given a chance, they can and will conquer the challenges before them: from beautiful sacred music filled with complex harmonies to the roaring rapids of the Arkansas River; from the difficulties they face in their educational settings to meeting the needs of hurting people: if you serve a big God, expect big things, dream big dreams and work "with all your heart, as unto the Lord" (Colossians 3:23), mountains can be taken like Caleb did, giants can be slain like David did, battles can be won like Joshua did...

and rivers can be rafted, like we did.

If you attend one event this entire year, be with us this coming Sunday night for their return home concert at 6:00 pm...and be inspired once again by the beauty of teamwork in the body of Christ.

Students Fly High at the USAF Academy

Eddie and choir are shown here as they prepare to sing in front of the beautiful organ in the USAF Academy chapel. The choir sang during the protestant service yesterday and sounded as beautiful as the chapel looks! (One of the chaplains who conducted the service told us that she had many people come and ask her if CD's of this magnificent choir were available.) After the service, we were escorted into a full tour of the chapel (including the catholic and Jewish chapel's) and then we were treated to a short personal orientation to the Academy by former CBFer Major Jim Pedersen. (The picture below is of Jim speaking to our students at an overlook of the Academy.) You probably recall that Jim and his daughter Ashley recently moved to Colorado Springs to be nearer to grandparents and other family members following the loss of Jim's wife Carrie and son Lucas in a car accident. The choir dedicated a beautiful rendition of "Here I am" to Carrie and Lucas during the service. It moved us all, especially Carrie's family in attendance.

Jim spent the afternoon with us at the home of Brian Little (former CBF elder) where we enjoyed a cookout, games, and relaxation. We were then on to Grande Vista Baptist church (Carrie's parents home congregation) where once again the Choir sang with passion and conviction. This loving church family then fed us home made lasagna! After 5 fast food days, this meal really hit the spot!

A good nights rest and today we're off to tour the "Garden of the gods", the US Olympic training center, and then to Focus on the Family for a tour and a concert for the staff and leaders of FOTF (rumor has it that Dr. Dobson will be there to listen as well!)

Thanks for your continued prayers. This trip has been everything we had prayed for, and then some. Enjoy a few more pictures from the trip. God bless you all!

Celebration Singers Choir Tour 08 Gets Rolling!

We take it for granted. Believe me when I tell you that no one else does! In three concerts in the first two days I'm reminded again how incredible our Celebration Singers Student Choir ministry really is. The responses from 2nd Baptist church in Liberty, the
Immaculate Conception Cathedral in KC, and the Beautiful Savior Nursing Home in south KC, MO have been nothing short of amazement. The Lord has once again used Eddie and his team to prepare not only the students voices, but their hearts as well as they have represented CBF and the Lord extremely well here through day 2 of this 10 day journey. I've never heard our students sound as beautiful as they did in the IC Cathedreal in beautiful downtown KC. Nor have they served so beautifully as they did at the nursing home. Don't ever forget how blessed we are as a church family to have such an incredible ministry to, and through, our students.

Oh, and the stories of fun and fellowship have surely begun to stack up as well. Yes, we've already had to have one of our team chase down the bus as it pulled away from a stop. No, it wasn't your kid, it was one of the experienced adult sponsors! (Don't worry, we count the students at every stop, it's the adults that are on their own :-)

Tomorrow we celebrate the 4th of July as a CS family (yes, there's no doubt these students relate to one another as a true family) at a great KC amusement park. The 5th we hit the road again for the long trip west to Colorado! Please continue to pray for our safety and ministry for these students and those of us blessed to be with them. If the next 8 days can rival the first two, there's no doubt that this will be a trip of wonderful ministry and memories.

Click the article title above to go to the official CS tour blog for additional pictures and updates and a note from Worship & Arts Pastor Eddie Airheart.

Love to you all. Wish you were here.