Photo: Matthijs Rouw

I had an interesting conversation last week with someone in the community who suggested that our church should change music styles so that more older people would start attending. According to him, “people” in the community had shared that our music style and volume discourages older people from attending. His reasoning was based on the fact that we need older people because they give more money. In other words, change our style and cater to those who have money.

It’s an interesting argument, and one that I have heard before. But his reasoning was faulty. Yes, we do want to be a church that encompasses and welcomes all ages groups.  But money is not the reason to be a multi-generational church. We need all age groups so that we can learn and grow from each other. Titus 2:1-8 is a good example of how old and young can learn from each other. But his reasoning was also faulty because it simply isn’t true.

Our church is an amazing group of people of all ages. We have young families and senior citizens and everything in between. Sometimes the perception is that if you have a contemporary style, then older people won’t like it. We have found the opposite. People who have grown up in church love the passion and energy of a new style, and they love seeing the younger generation hungry for God. Does it mean they have to put aside some of their personal preferences? Absolutely, but we do everything we can to make sure everyone feels welcome. They may prefer another style of music, but when they experience God moving and working, they can put their musical preference aside. The simple fact is that our church is growing and full of life, and our musical style does play a part in that.

We try to incorporate older hymns done in a new style, and we make sure to keep our volume to a reasonable level , but we know that everyone won’t like the style we choose. There are many churches that offer a traditional style of music and there is plenty of room in God’s Kingdom for all of us. It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people, and I am not bothered if some people don’t like the way we do things. Because I know that as long as we continue to listen and follow God that our church will be blessed. It’s His opinion that really matters.

We have started a new series at Cornerstone that challenges each of us to live as if each day might be our last.  If we want to live a life of no regrets we have to discover what is really important in life.  What if you only had one month to live? How would you make each day really matter? This question really forces us to re-prioritize our lives. For many of us, we realize very quickly that we lead selfish lives. Our challenge is to focus on the relationships that will leave a legacy that lasts far longer than our time here on this earth. I’m excited about what God is personally teaching me through this, and God is using this to stretch and grow our church as we take the challenge together.

We will be sharing how Jesus lived passionately, how He loved completely, how He learned humbly, and how He left boldly. This series is based on the best-selling book One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life by Kerry and Chris Shook.  If you want to watch or listen to the messages in this series at Cornerstone, you can check out the new sermon player we are testing. We will be integrating this into our church website in the near future.

So, let me ask my readers the question, “What would you do if you only had one month to live?” Would you change anything? Would you spend your time differently?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I thought I would post a link to my sermon from our Easter service. We plan on integrating these videos into our church website in the very near future. We have started using Vimeo to host our video sermons. The cost is only $60 per year for their plus service which allows you to upload longer length HD quality videos. I do need someone from Cornerstone to take our video files and upload them each week, so if you’re interested, please let me know.

Open Doors from Cornerstone on Vimeo.

Christ is risen, and that changes everything. We worship Jesus who reversed the irreversible by defeating death.  The resurrection is the dividing point of history, because we have been given life. The grave no longer is something to be feared! This Easter at Cornerstone, we celebrated that new life in Christ. I wanted to share a few things about our weekend at Cornerstone.

• This was the first week we went to two Sunday morning services. It was a big step of faith because it required more people serving and getting involved. I appreciate all of our volunteers who sacrificed and served in so many ways. We have a great group of people who want to see our community transformed for Christ.
• The greatest comment from our response cards came from someone visiting from out of town. Here’s what they said “I was only visiting for the weekend since I live in (…)  You were all so welcoming! I am from the north and not used to being so welcomed by other believers. God Bless you!”  I love it when people feel welcomed because it allows us to challenge them with truth from God’s Word.
• We had our biggest crowd with more children and young families at our 9:15am service. That surprised me, and it will be interesting to see if that changes next week.
• Both services were full but not crowded. I was excited to see that we still have room to grow even with our largest attendance ever this weekend. Next weekend we will start offering three services every week! 9:15am, 11am, and 6pm
• Our worship team did an awesome job as usual. I don’t think there is another church our size in the entire country that has as much musical talent as we do!
• I was also excited to see lots of new faces and families worshiping with us this weekend. And of course, it’s always amazing when you see people place their faith and trust in Christ and cross over from death to life!
• Not excited to see that our offering was low again this weekend.  Our local economy is really struggling and it has definitely affected the giving at church this year. We have to start making some tough decisions in our budget.
• We started a new series this week called One Month to Live.  We are challenging everyone to ask the question “What changes would you make in your life if you only had one month to live?” That question is powerful, because it forces us to look at our priorities and values in life.  Can you honestly say that you are living passionately for Christ? The truth of the resurrection changes everything. It causes us to change the way we live and change the way we love others.

Nothing can be the same again because of the resurrection. I encourage you to watch the video below to think about how the resurrection has changed your life.

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.

At the heart of the historical Jesus story is the provocative, compelling, subversive, beautiful insistence that nothing can ever be the same again, not after resurrection.

We are excited to start a new morning worship service at Cornerstone this weekend. For Easter we will have two services at 9:15am and 11am.  Please help us spread the word and let people know. We have grown to the point that we simply don’t have enough parking or seating for everyone who was coming to our 10am service.  For Easter, our children’s ministry has a great morning planned as well. We are not having our 6pm service since many of you are traveling and have family activities that night.

We will be starting a new series at Cornerstone this Easter called One Month To Live. What if you only had one month to live? How would you make each day really matter? What would you start, or stop, doing? How would you live passionately for Christ? We are excited about this series and we are hoping for a huge turnout to hear the life-changing message of hope, found only in Jesus Christ.

Starting April 11th, we will continue or 9:15am and 11am services, as well as start back our 6pm services. This will be a huge step of faith for us, but we believe that God has raised up enough servants and leaders to offer these services. We want to give you several opportunities to join us each and every weekend. God is moving and changing lives at Cornerstone, will you join us?