Meet Your Next Pastor: Craig Sturm

Community, Discipleship, News

Downtown Cornerstone,

Last Sunday we presented Craig Sturm to the church as a pastoral candidate. We are taking the next four weeks to give you time to meet with him, ask questions and/or express any concerns you may have. One of the over-arching qualifications for a pastor is that he must be “above reproach” (1Tim 3:1). This waiting period is our attempt to ensure all bases are covered and you have an opportunity to speak into the process.

The office of pastor (or elder) was created by God, for the leading, feeding, and protecting of his flock, the local church. Therefore, we treat the equipping and installation of such men with great seriousness – and joy!

Craig is a good man with integrity, love for Jesus, a passion for the spread of the gospel, and invaluable pastoral experience forged in the fire of the local church over the last 26 years. Personally, I have known Craig for over eight years and am profoundly thankful for he and his family. As elders we believe he is called, qualified, and ready to be installed as a pastor of Downtown Cornerstone. However, we are taking this time in case you know something that we do not.

That said, would you pray for the Sturm’s in this season? Would you also pray for our church? It is a sign of God’s grace to us that we have men, like Craig, being raised-up to lead, feed and protect Jesus’ flock. Let’s ask Him for more. Provided nothing arises that would cause us to stop the process, which we don’t foresee, we will install Craig as a pastor on Sunday, November 6th. It will be a great celebration and a joyous moment.

What follows (below) is a short interview with Craig so that you can get to know him a bit better.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns you can email me at .

Christ is all,

Pastor Adam
On behalf of the elders of DCC

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Q: How did you meet Jesus? How has he changed you?

CS: I grew up knowing about God, but never really knowing God. God was a nice concept, but certainly not real and certainly had no impact on daily life. At 16, God brought crisis into my life that this perspective could not address. As I wrestled with this, God was gracious to bring alongside me friends who patiently, graciously pointed me to the living, hope-giving Jesus. On Wednesday, June 13, 1981, the Spirit of God gloriously regenerated my heart — taking out my heart of stone (unbelief) and replacing it with a heart of flesh (belief), causing me to be born again to a new and living hope. On that night I joyfully yielded my life to my loving Savior, receiving his rescue from sin, freedom from wrath, and adoption as a beloved son. Through the gracious work of his Spirit in my life over the years, God has been transforming me to be more and more like Jesus!

Q: Tell us a little about your family.

CS: I am a man blessed beyond measure! God was so kind to bring the treasure of Kathy into my life nearly 27 years ago. Marriage has been a profound journey of joy and sanctification. God has blessed us with six children: Brian (26), Kelsey (24), Caleb (who died at one month), Phillip (21), Jonathan (19), and Luke (17) — and now one grandchild, Nathan (2), with another on the way! I have loved the gift of being a husband, father, and now grandfather.

Q: What are you most passionate about?

CS: There are a few lesser passions in my life, but I am most passionate to see God’s children come to know of his love, mercy, and grace in the Gospel, embrace it with their whole hearts, treasure Jesus above all else, and live out their faith alongside their brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church.

Q: How did you get involved with DCC?

CS: We have a friendship with the Sinnetts, Parkers, and Andersons that goes back to 2008. We watched as the vision for DCC began to grow and stayed connected even after we moved to Chicago. While there, Pastor Adam served as a pastoral advisor for a church I helped plant. It was during a conversation with him a little over a year ago that I shared I would be transitioning from that lead role, and subsequently, he and I began to talk of possible ministry for us with DCC. God’s sovereign hand was weaving our paths back together! We formally began ministry with DCC on February 1, 2016.

Q: What are your current areas of oversight?

CS: Currently, my main area of oversight is our Cornerstone Communities — mentoring the leads, shepherding towards healthy communities, preparing new leaders for new communities, etc. I absolutely love it! The second major area of oversight for me is our Mercy Ministries — working with our current mercy partners, dreaming about future partnerships and initiatives, and helping our communities develop their own mercy ministries. In addition, as a “generalist”, I serve alongside the pastors to help with preaching, teaching, and providing counsel and care when needed.

Q: How did you determine you were called to be a pastor?

CS: I was discipled well as a young Christian. A year into that journey, after having had chances to lead some friends to Christ, serve in up front leadership roles in the youth ministry I was involved with, and being spurred by the man discipling me, I left for university fairly confident that full time ministry would be in my future. God used those years and then my time in seminary to refine that ministry call particularly to pastoral ministry in the local church.

Q: How can we be praying for you and your family in this season?

CS: Kathy and I are humbled by God’s amazing kindness to us and the beauty of the church family at DCC. We take the call to the pastoral role very seriously. We would be blessed to have you praying for continued “humble confidence” that is rooted in God’s strengthening and provision for the call — that we would serve in the strength that he supplies, not according to human wisdom or cleverness. Pray that our joy would be in Jesus and therefore sure and immovable. Pray that our love for you all would continue to abound as he continues to knit our hearts together for the sake of the gospel and your joy in Jesus!

Thanks, Craig!

A Pastoral Invite to Man Camp

Discipleship, Event | by Pastor Adam Sinnett

Men of DCC,

By now you’ve heard we are holding a men’s retreat, aptly titled Man Camp. This is a pastoral invite intended to stir us to faith and action around this important event we have lined up next weekend. 

DETAILS:

When: Oct 14th-16th. There are also Fri-Sat or Saturday only options.

Where: Island Lake Camp on the Olympic Peninsula. 

Cost: $100 covers room, all meals, and supplies. Other recreational activities will be available, but at additional cost. If you need financial help, or would like to offer it, please let us know when you register. 

How: You may register here. 

WHY MAN CAMP?

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” – Ps 133:1

But, you may be thinking “Why pull all the men of DCC away for a weekend in the middle of October?” Answer: It’s good for us. Though we don’t like to admit it, we need one another. We are God’s ordained tools for sharpening (Pr 27:17), encouraging (1 Thess 5:11), correcting (Gal 6:1), serving (Gal 5:13), and pointing one another to Jesus (Heb 10:24). How can we do that if we’re never together in an intentional way? 

It has been four years since our last Man Camp. The vast majority of you weren’t with us then. We need a time to gather around the Word, in the woods, and consider afresh God’s call on our lives, families, church, and city. This past Sunday I offered four reasons to attend, I will repeat those here: 

#1 It is good for our souls. If we regularly take our cars in for oil changes, or visit our doctor for annual physicals, or regularly sit down to manage our budget, doesn’t it make sense to carve out intentional time to tend to our souls? As Paul instructs Timothy, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you wills save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim 4:16) At times we need intentional time away to examine our life and consider where we are at. 

#2 It is good for our relationships. Times away from the normal hustle-and-bustle of life serve to build and strengthen relationships in ways that few other things can. Men bond over shared experiences, particularly if they involve the woods and campfires. An intentional weekend away, like this, is much more relationally fruitful than an entire year of quick, surface-level Sunday greetings. Speaking to the church in Rome, Paul writes, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Rom 12:10) It is hard to live out what these verses are calling us to if we don’t even know one another. 

#3 It is good for the church. There is much that could be said here but, put simply, when men take responsibility for their souls, relationships, families…a local church flourishes. Times like this create space for us to consider who God is calling us to be and how He he has gifted us to build up his church (1 Cor 12:4-11; Eph 4:11-16)

#4 It is good for our city. What our city needs, though it doesn’t know this, is more men who’ve surrendered their lives to Jesus. Our city needs humble (Phil 2:3) men of courage (Josh 1:9), integrity (1 Tim 3:2), self-sacrifice (Eph 5:2), that serve women not consume them (1 Tim 5:2), who know their life is not their own (Acts 20:24). Intentional, time away with other men who are pursuing Jesus helps to stir godly aspirations in our souls for our good, the good of the city, and the glory of God. 

OBJECTIONS

Objection: “Well, it costs too much”

Response: Actually, it doesn’t. We’ll do what it takes to get you there.

Objection: “I’m busy.”

Response: There may be things that will hinder you from participating. We understand that. But, for the majority of us, we need to consider whether we will allow ourselves to be pulled along by the subtle undercurrent of hurry, or whether we will we stand against the current. Most things are flexible. In the majority of cases we can make it work, even if it requires some creativity. 

Objection: “I don’t know anyone” 

Response: You might not realize this, but most of the men in the church feel that way. That’s actually a reason to go, not stay behind. Man Camp is a great opportunity to meet other men. Who knows what kind of new relationships may emerge or how existing relationships may be strengthened through a time like this? 

Objection: “I have to help at home with our kids” 

Response: That is a good and admirable desire. Depending on the age of your children, that may be true. But, unless you have newborn twins or triplets, your wife probably wants you to go. You should ask her. 

Objection: “I’m kind of a big deal”

Response: Few would actually verbalize this, but the reality is that we have many skilled men who operate at a very high level in their field among us. So, the reality is that it can feel awkward to go from business prominence to being unknown, in the middle of the woods, sleeping on a plank. But, if this is you, deep down you know this kind of thing is good for us. We all need to be reminded regularly that we are just people too. That means, at times, we need to intentionally put ourselves in humbling circumstances for the sake of our heart. 

Objection: “I’ve been to one before” 

Response: I understand the sentiment here. It easy to commodify something like this and think of it as a good to be consumed, rather than a unique experience in which we are trusting Jesus to uniquely work. We don’t want anyone to miss out on what Jesus may do here. Just like we don’t settle for changing the oil in our cars once nor reading our Bible one time, in the same way, we don’t settle for a past spiritual mountain top experience but continue to look to Jesus in faith in the present. 

If you have any other questions, just let us know. 

I encourage you to register today and invite a friend

With brotherly affection and pastoral care, 

In Christ,

Pastor Adam

2016 BBQ & Baptisms | Recap Video and Photos

Baptism, Event

On September 1st, we gathered for our sixth annual BBQ and Baptisms where four people shared their testimonies of God’s radical grace in their lives and were baptized! Though the rain moved the event from the park to DCC’s Building, the weather didn’t dampen our celebration – we grilled out in the parking lot and picnicked on the Auditorium floor. Below are some snapshots and quotes from the evening:

I believe that Jesus was God’s son who lived a perfect life and died on the cross to take the wrath of God I deserve for my sin and bring me into relationship with God.” – Conrad

“I now know that my identity doesn’t depend on how successful or how smart I am, my true identity lies in Jesus Christ.” – Colin

“Because of what God has done, I don’t worry like I used to, there’s this natural feeling that I’m going to be ok, Jesus has it covered.” – Matthew

“Through Jesus Christ, God has brought me from death to life and has adopted me as His own.” – Jen

Special thanks to all the communities and volunteers who provided food, came early to set up, and stayed late!

Cornerstone Communities Are Expanding!

Community, News | by Pastor Craig Sturm

From the beginning, Downtown Cornerstone has envisioned radical, other-centered, loving community as central to who we are as those created in the image of God, called to be His children by grace through faith in Jesus. In order to equip end encourage us to live out implications of the gospel in every sphere of life, Cornerstone Communities have been, and continue to be, an essential part of our life together as DCC.

It’s our hope and prayer that everyone who calls Downtown Cornerstone home will belong to a Jesus-glorifying, Bible-believing, gospel-centered community. We are passionate to see communities arise wherever our people are. So, as more people gather to worship with DCC, communities also need to grow! As we head into fall, the Cornerstone Community landscape is expanding in exciting and significant ways:

• We are launching three new communities into new areas of the Seattle region: in Fremont, on the Eastside in Bellevue, and south of the city in Renton.
• Two of our existing communities will be replicating into five communities. The Belltown community will replicate into three communities: Belltown South, Belltown West, and Belltown East. The University District North Community will replicate into U-District North and U-District Central.

In case you’re counting, that means by God’s grace, we will now have 20 Cornerstone Communities! We rejoice in this not simply for the sake of growth, but because God is building His kingdom and creating space to invite others into meaningful relationship. That means more communities where more people can be known and know more intimately. More communities where we can eat together, pray together, laugh together, and study the Bible together. More communities that will build up the church by encouraging people to faith in Jesus Christ and build up the city through deeds of justice and mercy.

I am grateful that God continues to be gracious to sustain and raise up a great team of Community Leads. Please join me in praying for the four new community leads: Daniel Hallak (U-District Central), Jayson Jodrey (Shoreline), Ross Webb (Renton), and Kyle Dunn (Bellevue). I am also thankful to all those who will be leading, hosting, and administrating these new communities.

May God continue to build us into a Jesus-treasuring, people-loving family for the glory and fame of Jesus and for our deep, abiding joy in him!

You can learn more about our communities and why they are a central part of who we are HERE. To get connected to a community in your neighborhood, visit the Connect Desk on Sundays, or email us at .

For His glory and our good,
Craig