Cornerstone Conversations

It has been a while! After a few months off, Pastors Rob and Jeff sit back down to regroup and to encoruage one another in the Gospel reality that we are "Complete in Christ." It is an awesome concept, but it is also one that can be hard to grasp. On today's podcast, our pastors give some real-life examples and explanations of this life-giving truth.

In this episode, Pastors Rob and Jeff continue their conversation responding to the controversial documentary Shiny, Happy People, addressing the distorted and dismal view of Christian parenting it portrayed and offering a Biblical, Gospel-Centered, and hopeful alternative. 

Sadly, Christianity is often presented and understood as primarily about us and what we do for God rather than about Him, Who He is for us, and what He has done for us. In this week's episode, Pastor Jeff sits down with an old friend to talk about their personal experiences with performance-based Christianity and renewal in the Gospel.

The recently released documentary Shiny Happy People is causing a stir in and around the Evangelical community. It follows the rise and fall of the Duggar family, who rose to stardom through The Learning Channel's (TLC) show 19 Kids and Counting. Since its release years ago, some of the dark secrets of family members have come into light and have caught the public's attention, pulling down the facade, and revealing that the perfect Christian family persona seen on TV was only part of the story. The Duggars are real, broken people with many evidences of fallenness and a profound need for grace like the rest of us. On today's podcast, Pastors Jeff and Rob sit down to talk about the documentary, what can be learned from it, and redemptive possibilities for it. 

June is LGBTQ+ Pride month. It forces to the forefront an extremely divisive and volitile topic, as the Pro-LGBTQ+ camp and the Anti-LGBTQ+ camp go to war with one another. In the middle of this cultural conflict, there is a good opportunity for clear, balanced, biblical thinking that takes into consideration Jesus message of grace directed at both sides in this debate. 

God created us in His image with intelligence and capability to invent many of our own creations. In recent decades, technology has fast-forwarded our advancements in significant ways, making life much different than it was just a decade or two ago. In some ways it is easier, and in other ways it is harder. How does God's redemptive plan, as recorded long ago in Scripture, help us think through the benefits and costs of technological advancements in our day. Pastor Jeff and Brian Prata recently sat down to think through this important topic. 

On today's podcast, Pastor Rob and Pastor Jeff talk about Pastor Rob's upcoming deployment, things to pray for, things to be thankful for, and how temporal changes are opportunities to rest in the rich provisions of Jesus. 

We really enjoyed "Holy Week" and its refreshing reminders of the amazing grace of our God to us. On this podcast, Pastors Rob and Jeff discuss the holiness of God and how it is displayed so stunningly through the events of the final week of Jesus' life. 

Many people quit on church, and they do it for a whole lot of reasons. One reason commonly cited these days is “spiritual abuse.” For example, someone has experienced a pastor to be controlling or domineering in some way and they have felt personally harmed and concluded that Christianity is a sham, or at least that church is. So, they walked away. Is there such a thing as spiritual abuse? How do we understand it? What does it look like? What does healthy, non-abusive leadership look like? We’ll answer those questions on today’s Cornerstone Conversation.

Who am I? It’s a question most of us ask ourselves at some point. We try to make sense of who we are and our place in this world. We all try to find or establish an identity for ourselves. While doing so, our natural temptation is to look within, to our own perspective and opinions, but that can actually be harmful. It can end up robbing us of security and peace. There is better way that starts, not by looking within, but by looking up.