October 2010

Dear Ministry Partners and Friends:

I received a text message at 11am Friday morning early this month: “Eric, we’re coming to Jackson to help out.” By noon, Jesse Peck and his brother Daniel had embarked on the 11-hour drive from eastern Washington. Meanwhile, 1000 miles to the southwest, nine students from The Master’s College were loading up a couple SUVs in preparation for the 16-hour push to Jackson Hole for seven days of service.

By Saturday morning, all had rendezvoused with Cornerstone in Teton National Forest to begin falling trees and gathering wood for our October firewood ministry and outreach. After many hours of sawing, falling, and loading trucks, the team gathered for a hot chili dinner and then departed to host homes.

Sunday morning, Cornerstone and TMC teamed up to serve the community by doing fall chores for our neighbors. Andrew and Johnny, after doing yard work, came alongside a young widow as she shared about some recent struggles. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Anna ascended an 8-foot ladder to wash windows at precarious heights. A half-mile down the road, Matt and Kevin spent the morning chopping wood for a single mom and her kids. Still others bridged gaps and built relationships with neighbors via manual labor and conversations about the Lord.

Then, after a week of cleaning church members’ homes, washing their cars, babysitting, ironing, making meals, playing music, and chopping and stacking some 2200 cubic feet of firewood, the climax of the community outreach arrived: Firewood Day. While the sun peaked over the mountains on the eastern side of the valley early Saturday, Chris rallied Cornerstone and the students, huddled around coffee and bagels. As steam rose from cardboard cups, so excitement rose as we anticipated the onslaught of locals needing free firewood.

They began to arrive, and the much-awaited question came early: “So why are you guys doing this? I’ve never heard of anyone doing this here before…” “Well, Jesus Christ offers salvation freely, through his death on the cross for our sin, to all… so we want to demonstrate that with free firewood.” It’s hard to say how many times the question was posed, but there was plenty of opportunity to illustrate the gospel in the answer as we measured out and distributed portions of the massive woodpile. We had the privilege of meeting residents who had just moved here and multi-decade locals and everything in between. Perhaps the most bizarre moment of the day was the stereotypical 30-something Wyoming guy who backed up his truck to the woodpile … with a few-hundred-pound dead deer in the back. “Ah, just stack the wood around it,” he said cheerfully.

When the wood chips had settled and the conversations about the Lord had dissipated in the fall air after this, our third annual October Community Service Outreach, a few new and unexpected relationships were built. Through chores, yard work, and firewood, the Lord allowed us to get to know single-moms, a yoga instructor, and several others. Praise the Lord. May he further his gospel to more and more people here.

Speaking of the unexpected, Cornerstone is facing a new problem. For the past 15 months or so, we have been renting the community center in Wilson for Sunday gatherings. The 10-by-20-foot room in the back of the building, used for the nursery, and the small hallway outside the restrooms (which we have been using for our children’s Sunday school) are now bursting at the seams. Three kids plus a Sunday school teacher just fit into the hallway space. Ten do not. No longer do we have adequate facilities for Sunday school. The weather has been nice recently, so teachers could corral the kids outside. However, teaching can only be so effective outdoors with all the distractions. Plus, here in the Rocky Mountains for seven months out of the year, the weather is not conducive to outdoor Sunday school. On top of this, as the ministry grows, places to store things are scarce. Nursery and music equipment, Sunday school supplies, extra Bibles, and so on, are being crammed into dubious storage spaces.

We know that Jesus is not breaking a sweat over this in heaven, but at this point we are not sure what to do besides pray. As far as we know, there is no other building in Wilson that is large enough to accommodate Cornerstone. And neither do we want families to be discouraged from plugging into the church because we cannot shepherd their kids. So we are passing this on to you, as our fellow-laborers for the gospel, so that you can join us in praying for this, and more:

1. Thank God for the outreach team from The Master’s College, that they made it safely here and back from California, for sanctification that occurred while they were here, and for the massive amount of work they were able to accomplish in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:18).

2. Praise God with us regarding the Wilson Community and Firewood days. Thank him for the privilege of serving our community. Ask God for fruit from the seed scattered during this time; pray for people to embrace the person of Christ and to become disciple-makers because of this ministry (1 Corinthians 3:7).

3. Praise our Lord that the majority of the ladies from church were able to attend our first women’s conference at the end of last month. Many were encouraged in the Lord and in relationships with one another as Pam Hardy faithfully taught from God’s Word over the weekend.

4. Ask God that we as Cornerstone would, by every detail of our lives, be filling up the community with the fullness of Christ, so that he is joyfully honored and accurately displayed (Ephesians 4:13).

5. Please pray for the Cornerstone leadership (Eric, Neill, Matt, Chris, Bryan), that we would, like the apostle Paul, have “so fond an affection” for the church, that we would be “well-pleased to impart” to them “not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives,” because they are so dear to us (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Pray that we would be “exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one” with all humility “as a father would his own children” (2:11).

6. Beg the Lord to give the leadership growing wisdom, humility, and fear of God in our shepherding and that we would be faithful shepherds (1 Peter 5:2-3). We need wisdom as we seek to faithfully care for the flock.

7. Pray for the entire church that the person and work of Christ would capture our desires and motivations more than anything else in the world, that we would all grow in sincere love for him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

8. Implore God to grow us all in joy and thankfulness especially when life and ministry and relationships are difficult; pray that the sovereignty and love of God would calibrate our hearts no matter what happens (Romans 8:28-32).

9. Pray for sanctification and fruit as a result of our small groups and local-church membership classes that just began. Ask God to use these to make authentic worshipers and disciple-makers (Colossians 1:28).

10. Please pray for our building situation: that God would allow us to care for all, especially the children, as Sunday school facilities seem inadequate to shepherd the kids (Proverbs 3:5-6).

11. Continue to pray for the Cornerstone Nouthetic Institute, for perseverance for the students, for wisdom and humility for the teachers, and for great sanctification for all.

We are humbled that so many of you continue to faithfully sacrifice financially for the ministry here. Thank you! Your gifts are critical as God’s means of furthering the gospel here. If you would like to team up with us financially, please make checks out to Cornerstone Church. All offerings are tax-deductible and may be mailed to: Cornerstone Church, P.O. Box 980, Wilson, Wyoming, 83014.

In Christ,

Eric, on behalf of: Leslie, Matt & Sera, Bryan & Ashley, Chris & Rebecca, Melissa, and Neill & Natalie