A Year of Thank Yous
12/19/2025
Thank you God for preserving the Cornerstone family for another year.
Thank you Jesus for your Cross, our salvation, and the hope of the New Heaven and New Earth.
Thank you Spirit for sanctifying our souls and our church body.
It’s amazing to think of the changes, steps of faith, and sacrifices that we took together in 2025.
Here’s my 2025 Top Ten List:
#10: We’re served by an amazing staff team. I love working with Pastor Gary and Meegan Dyrland. In addition for 2025, Matthew Smith has brought fresh life, creativity, and passion in his role as pastoral assistant. (Also, big news…drum roll… Laura Olson will join us in 2026 as the other administrative assistant, working Monday and Tuesdays starting January 19.)
#9: Baptisms, new members, and discipleship. God saved souls this year. People professed faith in baptism. New saints have locked arms in local church membership. People seek Christ in 1-on-1 bible studies, micro groups, small groups, Sunday School, and in various gatherings every week!
#8: Our 3rd Christmas Party: another big round of thank yous to Lisa Weber and Boni Moore and their food/decoration team, to Travis Eagle, Pastor Gary, and Matthew Smith in the service programming, Sarah Messer and Abi Rambo for invitations, RSVPs, and ordering the chaos of seating a large crowd! Our speakers were a huge blessing; the musicians stirred our souls; and the Spirit brought joy to our hearts!
#7: Local outreaches, Berlin Missions trip, and a growing heart of Evangelism: We partner with those who share Christ. We go and share the good news. We pray for open hearts, open minds, and that we would open our mouths to declare that Christ saves sinners!
#6: Grieving and rejoicing together: What a privilege to grieve with those who grieve and to rejoice with those rejoicing. We walk together in funerals, weddings, hospital beds, and newborn babies.
#5: Growing youth and children’s ministries: We have an amazing team of volunteers and leaders (Matthew Smith/Abbi Lackey) who have made huge strides in investing in the next generation.
#4: New faces, young leaders, and a growing church: God has sent us Jesus-loving, church-serving, kingdom-minded people who want to make a difference in their generation!
#3: The Vision Team’s prayerful process: We marveled at God’s past faithfulness; we sought God’s face for how we can be faithful in our next season. Together we move forward “Equipping all to engage God’s call.”
#2: The generosity, wisdom, and unity it took to move forward with our Maintenance and Facade Remodel. Thank you for being a generous body! Thank you for the tons of work from the Facade Design Team! (We’ll have a variety of things to navigate once they begin work when the snow melts.)
#1: For me personally, I celebrated 15 years at Cornerstone. You have loved and supported me and my family. You have prayed for me. You have honored my leadership, forgiven me for my failures, and continued to grant me the rare privilege of being called, “Pastor.”
SDG
See you this Sunday and Christmas Eve @4:30PM.
-pastor matt
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