A Cornerstone Summer…

For the typical American (if there is one anymore) summer has traditionally meant baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet Fiat.

For your family it may mean vacation, kids at the pool, homemade ice cream, 4^th of July fireworks, or some other enjoyable tradition.

For our church family at Cornerstone, we are once again being blessed by God with…

A Fantastic Celebration Singers Father's Day Concert

This past Sunday night, a nearly full auditorium was encouraged and inspired by a beautiful selection of songs sung by our very own Celebration Singers student choir. The musicians from CBF and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra played inspirationally as our students put scripture to music and ministered to every one of us in attendance. Cornerstone, be proud of these young people! Encourage them, support them, and appreciate them as they have once again displayed their willingness to work extremely hard in order to glorify God through the medium of music. They now take a couple of months off but before you know it, they'll be back once again working hard each Monday night to prepare themselves to be used by God to minister here and around the world.

 

An Energetic Music and Drama Camp

It was great to take a break and walk through our campus this morning to see the more than 100 registered M&D Camp kids singing, dancing, snacking, and cheering their way through another Music and Drama Camp. The volunteer adults and students who are working with these amazing kids may actually be having more fun than the kids themselves! What a great example and offering to our community this week is of how much children are valued and loved at CBF. Many kudos to pastor's Eric Day and Eddie Airheart and their adult teams who have labored for many weeks to prepare for such a tremendous camp experience. Don't miss the culminating performance this Friday night at 6:30 p.m.!

 

A "sold out" IGNITE summer camp

Ben and Cody shared with me this week the fact that all 40 reserved spots for the Student Life Summer Camp in Branson have been filled. This is more students than we've taken to a summer camp since 2006! With unprecedented support from the church for the student ministry rummage sale (which raised over $2500), this affordable camp experience will undoubtedly have a great spiritual impact on our students. Our student ministry is gaining in momentum and excitement as the summer roles on and plans are even now under development to make the upcoming fall semester one of the best in recent memory. Verbally and prayerfully continue to support and encourage this ministry and Student Pastors Ben and Cody Van Scyoc as they become fully engulfed in their first year of leadership in this crucial ministry!

 

Transformational Teaching from God's Word

I've seen written accounts and heard personal testimonies over the last few weeks of how God's word has been powerfully working in the lives of individuals, marriages, and families through the Sunday morning teaching here at CBF. Though there have been 3 different pastors who have taught recently, it's obvious that there is ONE Spirit directing the messages from the ONE Word of God in such a way that lives are being changed and transformed into a closer likeness of Christ. Being one of the 3 who have taught recently, I'll share one such testimony which is similar to comments the other two who have taught have also received. A gentleman approached me after a recent message and said "…during that message it was like no one else was in the room. I felt that you were talking directly to me and to no one else! I needed to hear every word spoken in that message!" To which I replied "… You and I are a lot alike. I had the exact same experience while studying for the message. I needed every word of if too!" (As I sit here, I can't recall the exact words used, but this is only a slight paraphrase of this actual conversation.) I often have the same experience when listening as John or others teach.

 

While the summer may be a needed break from school, busy schedules, and too much TV watching, the Lord's ministry to people through His church takes no breaks. Let's remember to praise God this summer for what He's doing through His bride at Cornerstone and for the lives that He's impacting (from the very young to the not-so-young) even during the summer heat!

Simple Things That Make A Difference

My wife Linda and I just returned from a trip. It has been a goal or desire (I call it a “Quest” because it sounds so macho) to see every major league baseball park in the US. This trip was to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit and Cleveland. Eight ball games – substantially heaven!! Anyway one of my concessions is that in each city we also visit the local zoo – Linda’s passion. I’ve come to the place where I really like them but I won’t admit it – though I think she has figured it out.

One of my favorite things to do at the zoo is to watch people especially little children and their parents. The animals outside the cages are even more interesting than those caged. As I watched folks it occurred to me how much we are all alike. We may look different – the dad’s with tattoos on every visible inch of their bodies look different than the dads with the shorts and polo shirts – but inside we are the same. We have needs.

There was not one person that I saw that didn’t need love and acceptance, not one that didn’t need to feel valued and not one that wanted to exist alone. But not all of them acted nice, acted like they deserved this love and acceptance and community that they longed for. Not all of them made me think I would even like them!

But I thought, as a believer I have this opportunity to let those needy ones see Him in me. A small assistance – like lifting a stroller through a turnstile, like buying cokes for a mom who is hot and haggard with three little ones, like holding the tray of drinks at a game while an elderly man gets mustard on his hot dog – might just be the little piece of “need meeting” that encourages another to go one more step, make it one more day, or be just a little more patient with that screaming three year old.
Do you ever think that just a simple encouragement might be the difference between a “good” day and a “bad” day for another person? The Good Samaritan story is just as operative today as it was 2,000 years ago. One good deed each day will make a difference in someone’s life and might give you a chance to tell another why you do what you do.

The Least of These

I remember her slipping outside, waddling back and forth ever so slightly in a tight, grey t-shirt that over-accentuated her pregnant belly. Small metal tables and chairs lined the restaurant window for those who earned peace or tranquility by eating near the warm and busy parking lot. She was breaking from a long morning of work and demanding people, most of whom were churchgoers since this particular day was Sunday. And she seemed tired. Not necessarily from mixing milkshakes or carrying heavy trays to tables, but from the extensive uncertainty and exhaustive thoughts of the production, the show, and the higher calibration of sociability her life required.

A white car, years un-tuned, pulled into the spot directly in front of her. I watched from my peripherals as a young man with short brown hair quickly pulled himself from the car. He was holding a large red Sonic drink in his right hand. From behind the car door, he began pointing, and from the motion of his fingers, I could tell he was saying, “How dare you.” As though she had stepped outside the boundary of whom he expected her to be.

I swallowed more sweet tea.

He continued pointing his finger and yelling, his body still half hidden behind the dented car door.

I poured the ketchup and ranch for my fries.

My mind, though consumed with the thought of devouring food and creating light conversation, kept glancing at the scene through the windows cluttered with ice cream advertisements.

He stormed from behind the door and placed himself directly in front of her. She did not move. I saw no reaction to his quick steps and boiling features. When he bent down toward her, yelling in her face, his forehead turned red and a vein became visible. He would start to walk away after an in-the-face outburst, but he came back multiple times to yell and point.

I knew this to be certain; after an over exertion of deep, uncontrolled emotions that had little to no affect on the mate in her current relationship, she was expressionless, a state at which I found to be the saddest and possibly the lowest position of one’s life. Having feelings, thoughts, and kindling desires with only a deaf ear to listen is completely wrenching on a soul. And he indeed was so careless in his speech, so controlling of her reality, that no social normality was enough to keep his actions contained.

And he mocked her. With his fingers and eyes and his flailing arms. He screamed louder than the screeching cars even though I heard no sound through the window. I sat at my table with my hands wrapped around a sandwich in awe of the emotional scene. Waiting for it to escalate, expecting it to intensify, I resumed my meal, trying to prove to my boxed-in world that security was present and that feelings of uneasiness were meant to be ignored.

This is where I want to say I did something to stop or distract his untamed anger. This story needs a hero. And as easy as it would be to simply analyze the horrific display this young man put on, I cannot. Though I’m astonished at his approach and the carrying out of his selfish feelings, I cannot speak any more of his certain mistake without revealing my failure to act against his illicit freedom.

He walked quickly back to his car, and this time he stepped most of the way inside. Just before he grabbed the door to shut it, he jumped back out, hiding behind his shield once again. With a smile, and one last attempt to destroy her dignity, he glanced at his drink, tore off the lid, and threw the red slushy with all of his strength toward her. I saw the cup fall to the ground and red liquid slowly make its way down the large window. She flicked the ashes from her cigarette, causing more of the red slushy to drip from her arm.

Though I sat and did nothing, I find myself searching for some instance of neutral ground in which I can justify my passiveness. But I find no peace in the excuses that thrust me on the imaginary side of this neutrality. In fact, I plainly ask, “Was I for her, or against her?” My heart screamed at my head, feet, and arms to get up. All my body could reply with was a frozen stare, and my inability to resurrect the Christ within me and respond to her cry proved I was no better than the irate and irrational man she once considered worthy of her love.

I did not think about the scorners or mockers that spat on Jesus. I did not dwell on the overwhelming sadness that consumed his family and closest friends. I thought of those who simply stood there and watched it all take place. I am like them more than I know. Praise God for his forgiveness.

Matthew 27:27-31

27Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. 30They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 25:40

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Ben Van Scyoc

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