Being a Salty, Bright, Faithful Presence in Seattle (Serve the City on Saturday, July 9th)

Event, Mercy Ministries, Serve the City, Service | by Pastor Justin Keogh

Downtown Cornerstone,

In just over two weeks, on Saturday, July 9th, from 9 am – 1 pm, we'll gather at Myrtle Edwards Park as a body to serve and bless our neighbors through our 8th annual Serve the City event!

Being a Faithful Presence

As we've been studying Daniel, one of the themes that have stood out to me is being a faithful presence. Daniel remained faithful to God and served where he was—even serving the King of Babylon, who took him and his people into exile. Daniel didn't withdraw in light of the exile or the promise of future return. Instead, he stewarded his time and energies for the good of those around him while trusting in God's work above and through it (Dan. 1:17-21; 6:3; 6:22; 8:27).

We see this same theme throughout the Bible. Abraham, and later Israel, is meant to be a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:3). Israel, while in exile, was instructed to seek their city's welfare (Jer. 29:7). And we see Jesus himself embody and fulfill this purpose of doing good to those around him through his life, miracles, and ultimately, his death and resurrection—securing forgiveness and salvation for his people (2 Cor. 2:20-22)!

Being Salt & Light

In Matthew 5:13-16, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his disciples (and thereby, us, his church) to be salt (a preserving force) and light (a guiding force) to those around them. How are we do to this? He says: Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Of course, we understand that these good works come from hearts that have been transformed by the grace of God (Titus 2:11-14), in accordance with God's commandments to know and love him and love our neighbor (Matt. 22:34-39; John 6:28-29), and to give glory to God, and not to ourselves (Matt. 6:1-4).

Serving the City

One of the many ways our DCC family has sought to be salt & light is through our annual Serve the City event. We look forward to serving our city in this way each summer as we work together to make an impact in a short time while making meaningful connections with others. It's a time of joyful labor and fellowship as we live out our calling to be a faithful presence in the city God has placed us. And this year, we're able to resume our large-scale service while partnering with our neighbors in Belltown to serve in our backyard at Myrtle Edwards Park.

Whether you've been at all seven prior Serve the City events or have not yet had the chance to serve with us in these ways, July 9th is a great time to jump in. Our Serve the City event is a simple, tangible, fun, family-friendly way to serve—and it never disappoints! No specific skills or training are required; simply register, bring friends and family, and show up to help on the 9th.

Register Today!

So we can plan accordingly, please register to let us know you're coming. Please indicate any interest in being a team leader when you register. Bring your communities and friends!

Register

For the glory of our King and the good of many,
Pastor Justin

P. S. For a little taste of Serve the City, check out this video from prior years.

Join Us in Extending the Oldest Good News to the Youngest Hearts

Discipleship, Kids | by Pastor Luke Davis

Downtown Cornerstone,

Hey there! Whenever this message greets you, I am praying that your soul is finding nourishment in the promises of God, proclaimed by the angel Gabriel to Daniel. God stakes His name on finishing transgression, ending sin, atoning for iniquity, and bringing everlasting righteousness (Dan. 9:24). Count on it!

In just over a month's time, I will have the honor of stepping into a staff role as the Pastor of Families, Students, and Biblical Care. My delight in this new role is mighty and I am feeling humbled at the prospect of shepherding God's people in this new and expanded capacity. Pray for me.

I am sending out a note now in order to add my voice to the call for help in Cornerstone Kids.

As Pastor Adam shared this past Sunday, CKids is the ministry bearing the most weight in our move to one gathering. So, would you join us in helping our church love our kids by extending the oldest good news to the youngest hearts? The space is there, a gospel-rich curriculum is ready, and the kids are wanting to engage. Now we just need your help:

• We recently had to pause offering the K-1st grade class due to insufficient volunteers. We just need 6 more volunteers at the moment to open K-1st back up. But why stop there? The more volunteers we have the sooner we can re-launch classes for infants and older elementary children. Can you give one Sunday morning a month to help?
• To make CKids happen, we need a mix of volunteers who are and are not parents of CKids-aged children. Currently, just over a third of all CKids households have at least one parent volunteering. If we were to double that amount to two-thirds, we would have 14 new volunteers. Parents, ask yourselves, "How can I participate in the good news my kids are receiving?"
• Serving in CKids requires a bit of a process—this is a good thing! As the most impressionable and least powerful people in the church, it is only right that we institute special measures for adults working with children. Therefore, we want all CKids volunteers to be known and require them to have been present at DCC for 6 months. Additionally, there is special training on child abuse which is required of all incoming volunteers.
• Given the "known" requirement, many newcomers to DCC first plug into a service opportunity that is more readily available, like Greeting, for instance. That's terrific! However, now that many of you service-minded folk have been here longer than 6 months, consider moving over to CKids. My own service journey at DCC is similar. When we first arrived, I jumped into building clean-up. After several months I perceived the need in CKids and joyfully stepped into it. If you are thinking about a move out of a service role into CKids, please email first.
• Are you itching to help but so new that you have not yet been here 6 months? Go ahead and complete an application. You can get yourself ready now by completing the necessary steps in order to be available then.
• I have had more than one person say, "I want to help, but I'm nervous about not knowing what to do." Great news! That's OK. We are careful to pair novice volunteers with experienced leaders in CKids so you get the benefit of a competent partner right there with you.

Come on, click here now to start the volunteer application process or learn more about the role. Our kids need multiple Christian adults in their lives who have tasted the love of Jesus and want to extend that love to them.

All the best,
Pastor Luke

The Unexpected Exponential Impact of Our Evangelism

Discipleship, Uncategorized | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

Downtown Cornerstone,

Our friends up north at Canyon Hills Church put this short video together, of which I am a part, to highlight the unexpected exponential impact of our simple evangelism. It reminds us that God is able to do above and beyond all that we ask, think, or imagine through his everyday, ordinary people (Eph. 3:20).

Over 40 years ago, Glenn was sharing the gospel on an Arizona college campus and led Brian to the Lord as a freshman. Brian went on to join Campus Crusade, and later Bridges (a ministry reaching international university students for Christ), through which he has shared the gospel with hundreds of students over 30 years.

Nearly 25 years ago, Brian was sharing the gospel on the UW campus and, of all places, the Greek system. We met and he led me to the Lord while at the Husky Union Building. Shortly after, I too sensed a call into vocational ministry and giving my life to spreading the gospel in Seattle—and beyond.

This clip is a rare and profound glimpse into three generations of gospel movement. We all have stories like this. What is yours? For those of you who’ve come to Christ with DCC, this is part of your gospel lineage as well. Isn’t that amazing?

I hope this encourages you this summer as you consider who God is inviting you to reach with the unbelievable news of Jesus. What might he do though us in the next three months? Let’s pray!

Christ is all,
Pastor Adam

A Final Push to Finish Onward!

Onward Building Campaign | by Pastor David Parker

Downtown Cornerstone,

It was great to gather with you all this past Sunday! My heart was so encouraged by our time together singing, sitting under the preached word, and responding to the Lord’s initiating work. I can’t wait to do it again this Sunday!

During our gathering, I took a few minutes to give a quick financial update (more details here), and share some exciting news about our new building and our Onward campaign! If you didn’t get a chance to catch that update, you can watch it below.

A Final Push to Finish Onward!

By our reports, and since so many of you are new to DCC, over half of our church has not yet had the opportunity to give or pledge towards our new building.

Now that we have a construction permit(!), and before we close out our fiscal year at the end of this month, we want to make a final push to finish our Onward campaign and invite everyone to prayerfully consider pledging toward our future home. We are currently about $450,000 short of our $3.5 million dollar goal.

The more that is pledged or given now, the more we will be able to build out now, and the less we will have to borrow later.

Giving and Pledging

We know that above and beyond financial giving can take careful and prayerful planning, so pledging is a simple way of expressing a future commitment to give to this project over a period of time. Whether that be a one-time, weekly, monthly, or quarterly gift over a year or two, a pledge is a tool that helps us continue planning through each phase of this project wisely.

Pledges can be fulfilled in the future by either directly donating cash or other securities to DCC (company stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.).

If you are wondering how you can give or pledge to Onward:

First, you can give directly to the DCC Giving fund. Any giving above and beyond our budgeted need for this fiscal year (ending June 30th) will go towards our new building.

Second, you can go to the Onward page on our website or use the button below to submit a pledge. Again, every dollar pledged to be given in the future, will be one less dollar we need to borrow.

Would you consider partnering with us for the sake of the gospel in Seattle and to help see us get into our new home?

Submit a Pledge

Clearly, we don’t want this final push to be a substitute for your regular, ongoing giving to the general DCC Giving fund (so we can make sure we’re able to pay our staff and monthly bills), but we do know that many of us have opportunities throughout the year (through extra income, company stock vestments, and the like) to give above and beyond.

A Brief Project Narrative

If you are new to our church, in 2010 we planted Downtown Cornerstone Church as a Bible-believing, Jesus-loving, Gospel-centered church in the heart of downtown Seattle. Since then, we have prayed for an opportunity to purchase a permanent building that would serve as a gospel outpost and a beacon of hope in our city for generations to come. A place in which we could worship God, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, train leaders, build meaningful relationships, plant churches, and love our city to life.

By God's grace, it is becoming a reality! On December 14th, 2020, we purchased a roughly 24,000 square foot building in the heart of Belltown, just a handful of blocks from where we currently meet. This building was built in 1946 and served as a labor union hall for decades. However, due to the age of the building, it's going to require a complete gut and remodel. This includes everything from seismic retrofitting, to sprinklers, new roof, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and more.

Once complete, the building will seat approximately 700 people in the sanctuary, provide classrooms for children and adult education, an office level for staff and counseling, and plenty of spaces for our church to worship Jesus and help make disciples.

When we did our due diligence on the building in February 2020 before purchasing it, the renovation estimates came in at about five to six million dollars. However, because of Covid-19, inflation, and the skyrocketing prices of commodities and construction in Seattle over the last two and a half years, our renovation costs have practically doubled to about ten million dollars.

Over the last decade, and by God’s grace, our church has been able to save enough money to cover the downpayment of the property ($3 million), and to date, set aside and raise an additional $5 million towards needed renovations. Although we’ve come up with a plan for phasing the project and also secured an additional three million dollar construction loan to help fill some of this gap, we are still about two million dollars short. There is enough equity in the property that the bank is willing to lend us more money, but it’s our preference not to borrow any more than we need to. Hence this final push.

By God’s grace, we received our construction permit and are finalizing preconstruction details with the city in preparation to sign a contract with our General Contractor to get going as soon as possible. Lord-willing, our hope is that we’d be able to start construction in August.

If you have yet to see the plans and renderings of the project, you can view them here!

DCC, I am looking forward to seeing how the Lord is going to continue showing up, and can’t wait to worship in our new home together with you all!

For the Gospel in Seattle,
Pastor David

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at .