Volunteering is a great way to get more involved in life and ministry at Cornerstone. You can help others and get to know other members along the way.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Cornerstone! If you know what you want to do, you can go ahead and submit the volunteer form, or scroll down for a more detailed description of the various volunteer opportunities.

Volunteer Form

1. Name

2. Email

3. Phone



4. Position(s) you’re interested in (see descriptions below):

A/V Tech

Historian

Nursery Helper

Refreshments Coordinator

Retreat Coordinator

Publications Coordinator

Sunday Usher/Greeter

Writer/Blogger

Youth Ministry Volunteer


5. Check all that apply:

I am not a Christian, but actively exploring the Christian faith.

I am walking in an active relationship with God.

I know and am in agreement with Cornerstone's VISION statement.

I know and am in agreement with Cornerstone's MISSION statement.


6. Comments (optional)

    (Once you submit the form, a church leader will be in touch with you soon.)

II. LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF VOLUNTEER POSITIONS
The following volunteer positions (unless otherwise noted) are open for the period Summer 2005 through Spring 2006.

• A/V Tech
  • [time commitment: weekly]
  • Provides technical support with audio/visual equipment for worship services and other appropriate events.

• Historian
  • [time commitment: periodic]
  • Takes and stores photographs and collects articles covering church events throughout the year.

• Nursery Helper
  • [time commitment: for two weeks at a time]
  • Take care of cute babies and play with them.

• Refreshments Coordinator
  • [time commitment: weekly]
  • Coordinates refreshments after Sunday worship.

• Retreat Helper
  • [time commitment: quarterly]
  • Be part of the team that coordinates retreats, conferences.

• Sunday Usher/Greeter
  • [time commitment: weekly for a month at a time]
  • Greet people at Sunday worship, welcoming newcomers and helping them get connected.

• Publications Coordinator
  • [time commitment: quarterly]
  • Helps collect articles for church website and/or print newsletters.

• Writer / Blogger
  • [time commitment: periodic]
  • Write articles for church newsletter and/or website.

Thanks again for your interest in serving with us at Cornerstone!

[The Lennox family has been going through the process of a new adoption for a long time and they are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We rejoice with them!]

...We got the final approval today!!!! Now we only wait for Sei Jin to get her emmigration visa and passport and we will get the travel call. Could happen soon, definitely April possibilities. We have nothing done! We have to get painting and shopping…all those things I said I would do when I was sure it was true… The Lennox family is so happy and grateful and full of praise tonight! God is so good.

Jen and Dave and Brynne and Sei Jin

Often, when we think of receiving a “call to missions,” or receiving a call from God to any particular career, relationship, or city, we expect also to be filled with passion. Ten years ago, it was all about feeling the “call” through requisite post-retreat “spiritual highs.” But after running hard in the race to pursue God’s purposes both at school and in the workplace, I arrived at the notion that there is passion, and then there is obedience. If passion is getting up in the morning, obedience is making it to the end of the day. Passion feels like a wish, a burning desire that gives you energy and makes you eager to get moving. Obedience feels like running a marathon, uphill through mud and sleet…without shoes. That may sound awful, but truth be told, after six years in Boston, I was more wearied by the East Coast ambition, which, though passionate, was tiresome to maintain. So while I held tightly to the purposeful outlook I had developed in college, I frowned on the kind of passionate ambition that tries to change the world. Instead, I chose obedience.

Quiet obedience, I thought, was a more realistic and sustainable, maybe even more honest way to live faithfully as a Christian. And then came Urbana 2006. For me, going to Urbana was less a search for passion and more a demonstration of quiet obedience—of my commitment to engage in global issues of suffering that break God’s heart. But Urbana was anything but quiet, and our God is anything but quiet about His call to us. Just as I learned in college that passion yields obedience, I realized at Urbana that the fruit of obedience is in turn passion for the Gospel, for God’s people, for His kingdom to come on earth—in short, it is a passionate ambition that tries to change the world. God’s mandate to Abram in Genesis indicates how He wants to bless the nations of the world through us as well. Our God of missions has a mandate for us, and as Christians, we are called to this passionate ambition for the Kingdom. As passion without obedience is like faith without works, obedience without passion bears no harvest.

But then I wondered, what exactly does this passionate ambition look like? It looks like courage—courage to be mobilized by God’s call. Despite our fears and weaknesses, being ambitious for the Kingdom means being instruments of Christ, demonstrating His love to the world with what He has given us. For Sharon Cohn (Lawyer, International Justice Mission), that instrument is the pursuit of justice. In her testimony during an evening plenary session, Ms. Cohn spoke of God’s relentless concern for the poor, the least, those the world has forgotten, for girls sold into sexual slavery who think God does not hear their cries. But He does hear, and He responds by mobilizing His people to action, equipped with both passion and obedience. For God’s mandate states that we are Christ’s ambassadors to the world, sent to be the instruments of His grace, to demonstrate His love through our pursuit of justice.

Reflecting on the ways God met me at Urbana 2006, listening to various speakers, talking with missionaries, and reminiscing with old friends from college, I came to embrace the importance of passion. More importantly, I realized that there is no real dichotomy between passion and obedience—they are inextricably linked and together they give us the courage and will to respond to God’s call. Isaiah 1:17 is a directive: “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Similarly, Proverbs 31:8-9 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” These may seem like tall orders, especially in the face of so much suffering in such a big world. But we are called to a greater courage and to the pursuit of God’s heart and plans. Studying medicine now, I am often discouraged by the ongoing battle against disease. Even with all the advances of modern science, people still suffer; even with all the creature comforts of our Western world, people still starve; even with God’s promise that He is at work, we still worry. Our concerns, our confidence, and our expectations may be stifled by the enormity of suffering in this world, but our God is not. We can’t all change the world, and we certainly can’t change it immediately, but we can be ambitious for the Kingdom, and it can start now, right where we are. Paraphrasing part of Dr. Ray Bakke’s prayer—to God be the glory, to the earth let there be peace, to Christians be courage, and to the world, hope.

—Kristin Hung is in her first year at the U of M Medical School.

Cornerstone is teaming up with Ann Arbor CRC, First Presbyterian Church, University Reformed Church, and Campus Chapel to spend, as a community, 36 hours to approach God and pray for his work in our lives, our churches, other churches and ministries, and all who live in the Ann Arbor community.

Being human, only under truly extraordinary circumstances could any of us expect to remain prayerful for 36 hours straight. But as a community, each playing our part, we can take this extended time to confess, intercede, rejoice, and simply listen together for ourselves and our city.

We hope many will be able to join us for opening worship at Campus Chapel, to be held at 7:30pm on September 25 (with the prayer vigil beginning at 8pm), or the closing breakfast at 8am on September 27. But we hope everyone will dedicate one hour during those 36 to pray for the advance of God’s kingdom here in our fair city.

For more information (and to sign up!), visit www.pra2yer.org

Our Summer Mission team returned last month from the Dominican Republic, each of them having grown in their faith and in their friendships with each other. Here two of them share with us something of what God did during their time away.

Jae Choi
As a World Missions first timer, I did not have lot of expectations as to how God would utilize me or how I would be transformed by participating in mission. My motivation was a sense of calling from God to participate, and my own desire to experience what it meant to go to another country and serve.
I hesitated at first about going on a missions trip. I didn’t want to take time off from work, go through the training, and everything elso that came with the trip. However, God’s calling overcame my hesitation and I eventually signed up.
As we met every week to discuss everything from logistics to what to expect, I started to look forward to my time in the Dominican Republic. Spending time with Rich and Christine helped me better understand why others wanted to go on missions, and gave me a chance to get to know each of them as individuals.
From our preparation to departure and our return from Dominican Republic, I sensed God’s presence. The missions trip reinforced my belief that God never leaves me. We may detour from our journey in life and in the midst may sense that God is no longer with us. However if we take a moment, we realize we are not alone. God never leaves us, no matter where we are in our walk. I was continuously reminded of this throughout the trip.
It was by his grace that we entered the DR without any problems. When rain threatened our movie night, we asked him to give us a dry night to show The Passion of the Christ and he provided. When the generator went out, he provided through a local pastor another sound system to use. As we lifted our prayers as a group, He provided; I was amazed at the power of group prayers. My experience on this missions team has reinforced my faith in power of prayer.

Rich Koh
I can still remember the first day I started to think about going on the Dominican Republic Mission trip. I didn’t know what to expect in details, but all I knew was we were going to Bateye Fao for God’s work and serve the people there. There are so many memories from this trip, but I learned much about following God’s will and about the power of prayer.
The first day in DR we decided to check the building site where 4 houses would be built. Bateye Fao lost 30 homes, which meant that 30 families didn’t have a home. We started helping by placing bricks and cement, but our understanding of how to build a house was different than the people of Fao. The people of Fao had a systematic way of building houses and God seemed to show us that we were interfering and actually making it harder for them to build. They were correcting our part of the work on the houses and it seemed we were making them frustrated. So instead of helping with construction, we felt God wanted us to just spend time with the people of Fao, from kids to adults. It was just awesome to play games with the kids and just get to know them. The kids were so energetic and always full of smiles. It was a blessing to interact with them and see happiness among them all.
In addition to being with the people of Fao, I also learned the power of prayer. On our last day in Fao, we planned to show The Passion of Christ, but during the day it was raining on and off during our prayer walk (visiting each home). We prayed that the weather would cooperate so Bateye Fao could get a chance to see the movie. It is to some of them a once in a lifetime moment to watch current movies. With prayer, the sky was clear, beautiful, and not a single cloud in the sky during the whole movie – it was just amazing. The people of Fao saw the movie and got to see how our Lord and Savior died on the cross for us. It was great to watch the movie with the people in the schoolyard and witness this moment.
On another side note, I didn’t know what a prayer walk was exactly, but I soon learned. Prayer walking is basically walking around the village, stopping by and praying for each house. The families of these houses would clean up their houses before we would arrive. Their cultural expectation was that we, as visitors, would enter their house and sit and talk with them. We asked them the following questions: What brought them to Fao? Who lives here? Do they go to church? What we could pray for them and their families? It was a blessing to stop by each house and listen to their experiences. I pray that God would work through them and believe in Him.
When I look back on my experience in DR, I know I was there for just a week, but I pray that the seed we planted in Bateye Fao will continue to grow in the village and within the people. I pray that they will continue to know that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. I also pray that in the future, there will be future trips to DR to continue to share in God’s work there. I would like to thank everyone for their support and hope more Cornerstone members will go to Dominican Republic in the future.