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It takes many hands helping and serving at Cornerstone Community PCA to fulfill God’s purposes here. All of our members minister (which means ‘to serve’) in one way or another. Every person is an important part of the life of our community. While the majority of our members minister in some way at Cornerstone Community, below are our more visible servants:

Our deacons are our special hands of mercy and grace. They are on the frontline of serving those in need. A deacon is a man who has been called, elected and ordained to an important position or office that specializes in mercy and helps. He has to have a character that resembles Jesus Christ, a mind that is wise, and a heart that cares.

Deacons

 

Elders are also men who have been specially called of God, elected by the congregation and ordained by fellow elders. An elder must have the right character, competency and call. You can read about God’s high requirements in the New Testament (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1). Elders fill an office that governs the local church with godly leadership, oversight and discipline. No authority is placed in the hands of one elder, but the authority that is delegated from God comes when the elders sit together in special sessions. This is why we call our board of elders the “Session.”

There are two types of elders:

 

Ruling Elders
These men serve the church with spiritual leadership. They have different hats, so to speak.  For example, when they oversee and guide the church they are called shepherds (which is another word for pastor) or bishops.  When they govern with policies or through discipline they are called presbyters.  This special office of church government watches over the teaching and spiritual-moral life of the members.  Our church is governed by presbyters, hence we are Presbyterian. 

Ruling Elders

Rob Chapa

John Kaddis

Bill Letson

Glen Mulder

Dave Perrigan

 

Teaching Elder

All of our elders may teach, but a special type of elder is the teaching elder more commonly called “the pastor.”   The teaching elder rules hand in hand with the ruling elders.  But God gives this special office many additional responsibilities and duties.  The pastor’s highest priorities are to publicly read, teach and preach God’s Word, to minister the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and to convey the Good News of Jesus Christ while faithfully serving people. 

 

Under the fine and talented direction of our music director, Dave Perrigan, our Praise Team faithfully leads our congregation in musical praise and prayer each Sunday.  We are grateful for our group that is made up of singers and instrumentalists (drums, guitar, piano, recorder and violin) as they guide us in psalms, old hymns and new songs that are biblically sound. What a joy it is to be able to sing from the soul, and to sing in ways that are appropriate to the occasion in our worship (such as with uplift and triumph in adoring God or somberness during a time of confession).   Currently our team which rotates each Sunday includes:

 

Women in the Church is a special ministry started by our PCA denomination. The PCA website says that “the Women in the Church's ministry portion is to encourage and equip women to think biblically and live covenantally.” If our elders and deacons are the backbone of our ministries, then our WIC puts muscle to so many of our services and programs. 

A Living Portrait - Women in the Church - (click to read) Ecclesiastes 3:2b - A time to die... and live again by Gerry Hemphill

 

 

The ultimate purpose of our ministries is to encourage and build people up so that individually and collectively we come to know and become more and more like Jesus Christ.  Our members are active participants but also servants in our local church.   There are many areas at Cornerstone in which to do good work, and new areas continue to be added as God leads.   Our present ministries that focus primarily upon serving one another within Cornerstone consist of audio-visual team, greeters, nursery, Praise Team, refreshment hosts, Sunday School teachers, and ushers. But there are additional areas to serve and be served.

 

Bible Studies	Adult Sunday School Hour
Friday Night Study	Meets in a local home on the second and fourth Fridays.
Men's Breakfast	Breakfast & Bible Study, meets every other Saturday morning At Off Street Cafe located on the southeast corner of Artesia Blvd/Studebaker Road.

 

Counseling	The pastor provides consel to those who are looking for help in resolving personal or relational challenges or conflicts.  This counsel is not a psycological or psychiatric service, but one that seek to find answers in the mercy of Jesus Christ and what is said in His written word.
Diaconate	Ministry of mercy to help those who have financial or other challenges.
Prayer Ministries	Ladies prayer and share - a monthly event of mutual prayer and encouragement for women and girls.

While we are currently seeking the wisdom of God for how we can administer mercy and be an effective servant to our local civic community, there are on-going ministries which focus primarily upon those outside of Cornerstone:

 

 

Diaconate

Our deacons will try to help others who have legitimate needs, even though they may not be part of our church.

These are ministries with whom we have an affiliation in serving our region, our nation and the world.

Arts & Entertainment Ministries	http://www.a-e-m.org - provides education, resources and dialogue for those wrestling through the issues of integrating faith and art.
Presbyterian Church in America	http://www.pcanet.org
Samaritan Medical Foundation	Providing periodic medical services to small towns or villages in Africa. SMF is a cooperative venture  with our denomination’s Mission to the World.
Vision L.A.	A church planting ministry specifically targeting the greater Los Angeles basin. http://www.vision-la.org/main.html