Tag Archives: sunday

One Picture of Living Out Faith Beyond Sunday Morning

Leave a reply
Cornerstone Church Lee Scott

Cornerstone Church at Lee Scott Staff and Volunteers

Anyone who has confessed to following the teachings of the Christ knows Sunday is just the day we come together to meet with other believers. Sunday isn’t the day the work of the church body takes place, that’s what happens when we engage people in our daily routine of life. Sometimes I think it’s easy to forget the work of the church body takes place during the rest of the week, especially when we have been so conditioned to the importance of Sunday being there for that one hour Sunday morning.

I am so privileged to get to work with staff and volunteers (group shot) that make their faith the work of everyday life. This photo above was just one of the countless meetings and conversations that takes place for the purpose of reaching others in our community and beyond. As I look at this photo from today, and recall the conversations that took place today to encourage and uplift each other, Hebrews 10:22-25 sort of jumps out at me.

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

These verses, which is normally used by the church to remind us we should be IN “church” on Sunday morning. This section of Hebrews is actually three exhortations in the “full assurance of faith,” or a call to believers to (1) come together, (2) be strong, and (3) to challenge each other, considering how to challenge each other to love and good works (v.24-35). The purpose of this is to strengthen each other’s faith in preparation for Christ’s return.

I’m a visual kind of guy and in my mind, this photo is just one small modern day example of Hebrews 10:22-25, and it didn’t even take place on Sunday morning, but instead on a Monday afternoon.

The Start of a New Multisite Church in Auburn Launches

Leave a reply

This past Sunday was an incredible day in the life of Cornerstone Church here in Auburn. This was the first Sunday we started worship in two different locations; one church, in two locations. After 9 months of planning, months of praying for all aspects involved in having two sites, we finally had our first regular worship service over at Lee-Scott Academy in Auburn. To me, it went about as well as anyone could have hoped and prayed for, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Over the next few weeks, everyone involved will refine the setup and tear down process before we officially open to the public on February 26th. It was such a great day. Everyone involved, in both locations, had a part in making this past Sunday great, but God made it all happen. Without God’s presence and involvement this would all be pointless. Can’t wait to see what’s ahead for our new site. If you are in Auburn, and are looking for a new place to call your church home, come check out Lee-Scott on Sunday 1t 10:30am.

The Friday Night Lights Live Album Recording :: Friday Feet

Leave a reply

Today’s Friday Feet comes from a live album recording here at Cornerstone Church in Auburn. I will probably post a few more photos of the shoot tomorrow but for now, here is a smattering of feet and music from the night. The live recording took place over two nights, last night and tonight, and was the first live worship recording for an album our band has completed.

I love the privilege of getting to worship throughout the week and not just on Sunday, or at least in the manner we do on Sunday. This was a special night in many respects, and I enjoyed the unique experience of getting to shoot and worship at the same time. The shot of the guitar 3 images down serves today as my Project 365 [Day 3] image (see the rest of P365.me :2012 here). Have a great weekend all.

Come Join The Cornerstone Church Food Drop 2012

Leave a reply

This year at our church to celebrate Christmas, instead of doing fancy decorations and traditional garland we have been planning for quite a while now to do a “food drop” for the Auburn area. So if you were to walk around the church right now you will see boxes everywhere. A Christmas tree made out of boxes, presents made out of gigantic boxes, and the filled and returned boxes we started to give out this past Sunday. The way we have tried to communicate this on our own website is that we are never more like Jesus then when we serve others. And throughout the month of December, Cornerstone members and attenders (or anyone who wants to be a part giving back to our community) will be given the opportunity to serve others using a simple box.  We are asking everyone to:

  • Pick up a box and packing list from the Cornerstone lobby.
  • Pack the box full of food for families in Lee County.
  • Return the filled box to the church by January 1, 2012.
  • Saturday, January 7, gather at Cornerstone and pack the SUV’s, minivans and pickup trucks with these boxes and head out to specific communities to pass out these boxes to families in our area. (We will work with the Food Bank of East Alabama to target the communities in the greatest need.)

This is an opportunity to make a tangible difference in someone’s life by offering basic necessities that many of us take for granted. We can make the New Year great for our community with our simple gift of a box of food, and we are trying to have over 1,000 boxes filled by January 1st. For more information you can also visit the Cornerstone Food Drop 2012 info page, or visit Lee’s blog post as well.

If you are reading this and saying to yourself, I don’t go to Cornerstone so that’s nice and all but who cares… well, you don’t have to, but you can still participate. If you are in the Auburn-Opelika area, just come by the church lobby and pick up a packing list and a box and return it before January 1st.

Either way, whether you participate or not, I hope you can make it a priority this Christmas to go beyond the normal gift giving and remember others who are not as fortunate. I love that about Cornerstone, and I love seeing the church be the church. We need to think, learn, study, and understand God’s word, but we also need to go… and do. How can we say we believe what the scriptures say unless we actually do what it says. I hate the commercialization that always goes along with this time of year, but I love this. Hope you will help make it a success as well.

Patience Results in a Magnificent Sunset :: Saturday Summary

Leave a reply

Above is how my day ended yesterday, but what was in between was almost a blur. I know today is Sunday, but I’m doing my photo Saturday Summary today. Sunday’s in the summer are usually a little more laid back but they haven’t been so far, and yesterday was pretty incredible, and exhausting. Within two services we had more baptisms than I could count (pics here), a Uganda team trip meeting (for the October trip), four video sessions shot for our small groups (see April’s blog), a quick trip to Starbucks in severe lightning storms (see photo below), then another Uganda trip meeting (July trip), which was semi-rained out but still took place.

Uganda 2011 July trip update: So our Uganda team is leaving at the end of July (details here), just four short weeks away now, and is commissioned to (among other things) put together a soccer camp of sorts for the kids. The team is all guys this time, and for the most part, skilled in coaching soccer, except for me who will be behind the camera. We follow a full mission team that leaves the U.S. mid-July and we arrive in Uganda about the same time they leave to come back home. We have been meeting together as a team to get to know each other and plan the trip, and yesterday was one of those this-is-what-we-planned but this-is-what-happened-meeting. We were going to meet at a local soccer field and everyone was going to get some practice in, including me with my camera. As lightning bolts rained down we all ran for cover, stood around for an hour getting to know each other better, got out on the field, kicked the ball approximately two times each and scattered when the next lightning bolt came down in close proximity. I did manage to get one shot of Jason kicking a soccer ball to prove that we both got our practice in, sorta.

Driving home about 8pm last night I was so tired I couldn’t really think straight at that point and then all of a sudden the sun burst out of the storm bank just above the horizon line and I pulled over to the side of the road where I could see the horizon (not an easy thing to do in Alabama where you can’t see more than 20 feet because of all the trees) and got the shot at the top. The beauty that only God can produce in the sky with a mix of clouds, rain, lightning, and sun was a truly magnificent end to the day (it didn’t matter that the storm had fried my gate and I couldn’t get into my own property when I got home… but that’s another story).

As some of you may know I am still trying to raise money for these two mission trips, and every single donation helps no matter the amount, even $10 will go a long way when combined with everyone else’s donation. If you would like to help visit the info page or make an online donation here. Thanks!

What Casting Vision at Cornerstone Church Looks Like

Leave a reply

Do you want to know what casting vision looks like at Cornerstone Church in Auburn? Then you will need to be here either at 8:30, 10:00, or 11:30, this Sunday to hear the details. This Sunday is a break from our current in-motion sermon series “Counterfeit Gods” to address how our church is moving forward with a vision on specifically how to reach the unreached people in our local community. Cornerstone has done this for years, and specifically in a missional sense, we have done this in Buloba Uganda. But I love when a church says we can’t just sit and do nothing, because doing nothing is specifically not what we are called by God to do. It just happens to be my church saying that. But this Sunday Rusty will cast a vision for the church’s future outreach in a very missional way. Last night (photos above) was the final meeting with the Executive Council, volunteers, lay leaders and staff members before Rusty goes into specific detail from the platform. So if you are interested in where the people of Cornerstone Church are headed, be at 2123 Hamilton Road in Auburn on Sunday, or at least pick up the podcast on Monday.

Cornerstone has always tried to have a positive impact on our local community and that’s exciting. The exciting part about this moving ahead from where we are as a church right now is not seeing programs or membership grow, the exciting part is being able to see people grow in Christ, mature as disciples, then reach out to new people. This is the church. To see God’s work taking place in people’s lives through the Gospel message. It’s about a mission. It’s about people.

Compare Gas Prices in My Area Then and Now at $4 a Gallon :: Photos

Leave a reply

For some reason I like to photograph gas pumps (see also Is the Auburn Opelika Metro Area Really Out of Gasoline :: Photos) they just seem like they are part of Americana. I took all three of these photos with my iPhone, on Sunday, and the last two photos are actually working pumps at a gas station about 3 miles from my house (all three shots were taken in the Auburn area). When the pump on the bottom was originally put into service they didn’t even have a way to charge over $2 a gallon, the dial didn’t include a number “3″ on it, so now they don’t use a decimal point, that’s actually $3.9899 even though you can’t see it (I asked). So when they manufactured that pump (had to be before I was born) they never thought there would be a day when they would ever go over $2 per gallon of gas. How’s that forward thinking for you.

The first pump was obviously out of order some time ago, but when I looked at it I tried real hard to remember when we actually paid $1.22 for a gallon of gas, not the $4 a gallon we are paying now. I’m sure it’s my age but I actually remember paying $.79 a gallon one time when a gas station in Dallas put their gas on sale for a short time. Just something a little different for the photo of the day today. Those pumps

Should Christians Rejoice over the Death of Osama Bin Laden?

1 Reply

I suppose this is as good a photo of the day post as anything. I took this shot around 11:30pm ET last night with my iPhone and it about says it all. It’s probably the biggest news to hit the “war on terror” in 10 years, but last night as we the country awaited a rare (and almost scary, unknown, speculative, bizarre) live news conference at 11:30pm on a Sunday night I did not share the overwhelming “joy” that Geraldo Rivera had or the giddy, almost tailgate-ish rejoicing, in the street in front of the white house and at ground zero. Yes, it was a victory for the United States, yes, it was necessary in the same way it was necessary to rid the world of Hitler or the like, but a time to a time to jump up and down like the U.S. just won an olympic event? No.

On a side note… this “War on Terror” is unlike previous wars where we can clearly define a victor, or a even when victory has occurred. That’s because this war is not a war over territory, or resources, but ideologies and ultimately at it’s base root, it’s a holy war. Those who don’t see the religious side can parse out the war to a way of life, or political freedom, but ask an Israeli and you might get a different answer than the average Joe Smith waving a flag in front of the White House. Because of this, the war on terror will not end until the second coming of Christ.

The Wisdom of the Psalms

So, from a Christian perspective, I just don’t see anything that teaches us to be joyful in the death of an enemy. In fact, it says just the opposite in Proverbs 24:17-18. This section of Proverbs represents the “Thirty Sayings” of “the wise” as clearly indicated in Proverbs 22:20, which covers from Proverbs 22:17 to 24:22. Proverbs 24:17-18 is the twenty-eighth saying, and where 15-16 are aimed at the wicked over the righteous, 17-18 is talking about the righteous gloating over the downfall of the wicked. Maybe rejoicing in the street or on TV isn’t gloating but to me that’s just semantics.

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. (ESV)

On the practical side, verse 17 tells us not to rejoice when our enemy falls and verse 18 tells us why, because God may turn around and bless our enemy, making us even more miserable. If that isn’t enough, God actually tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), and if God takes no pleasure in the death of Osama Bin Laden, than neither should we. The bible clearly indicates that God will “punish sin and vindicate his holiness and justice… but God also feels sorrow over the punishment and death of creatures created in His image” (ESV notes on Ezekiel 33:11). God would rather the wicked repent of their sins and live than die in their own sins without forgiveness.

Although this must be an almost impossible task for those who had family members killed on 9-11 (or the USS Cole or any of the other terrorist acts) by the hand of Osama Bin Laden, I find it hard to rejoice over the death of a (seemingly) lost and unrepentant soul. Rather we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). As impossible as this may sound, Jesus gave us the example and did this very same thing as he went to the cross.

Toomer’s Corner National Championship Mural on Magnolia Ave

Leave a reply

This is sort of just a random photo of the day for Sunday. The truck broke after church today so instead of my normal routine after the last service was over I headed to our favorite local mechanic’s parking lot to drop the truck off and headed (on foot) for Toomer’s Corner and lunch at Jimmy John’s (which was only because Moe’s Original BBQ was closed, who knew). There are so many great local places to eat in and around Magnolia Avenue and College Street, or Toomer’s Corner, but it’s also a great place to just hang out, even if you are well past college age. After lunch I snapped a few shots with my iPhone, yes, Ebby came to lunch to protect Deborah. I don’t know what the deal is with the wooden cutout cheerleader but it was odd enough to shoot (at least with a phone), but the Toomer’s Corner National Championship mural is always an impressive sight. Yes I know it’s been there a while but it makes a great photo unless your a Bama fan. Ebby looks quite Hollywood walking down College don’tcha think.

Mwangaza Children's Choir Today at Cornerstone

Leave a reply

Worship today was a little different at Cornerstone, Brian was teaching this morning, and the Mwangaza Children’s Choir (also on Twitter) was here in Auburn visiting from Uganda. Cornerstone has been partnering with a nearby community church in Uganda, Buloba Community Church, for several years now and this choir hosted by Africa Renewal Ministries was the catalyst for that partnership. The children leave Uganda in January to do a sort of reverse missionary trip to the United States for 6 months, and to bring awareness to the children in need in Uganda.

If you missed worship this morning at Cornerstone Church this is a quick look at what you missed, but they are also going to be here tonight for a concert at 6:30. Hope to see everyone there, if you are in Auburn you are more than welcome to come.