OUR PASTORS
Bill Kitrell ~ Senior Pastor
Bill has served as Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville since its inception in April, 1990. Although he grew up in West Virginia, he returned with his family in 1980 to the family farm and East Tennessee where he graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. degree in Forestry in 1983. For more than twenty years Bill has served in occupational ministry, first leading a campus ministry. This ministry later provided the nucleus for Cornerstone Church of Knoxville, of which he became senior pastor. He continues his pastoral studies through the ongoing training programs of Sovereign Grace Ministries. His responsibilities include general oversight of the church, training and care for the pastoral team, Sunday morning teachings, and church planting for Sovereign Grace Ministries in this region. Bill married his high school sweetheart, Cheri, and they live in Knoxville with their four children, Will, Daniel, Lauren, and Brient.
Howard Varnedoe ~ Pastor
Howard has been a member of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville since 1995 and was ordained in 2000 after graduating from the Sovereign Grace Ministries Pastors College. Howard is the administrator and business manager for Cornerstone Church of Knoxville and is a regular speaker at the Sunday meetings. His ever-expanding responsibilities also include leading the Singles Ministry, Home School Support Ministry and teaching classes for its members. Prior to this, Howard was a CPA and in management of a small business. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1991 with a Masters in Tax degree. He continues to pursue pastoral studies through the ongoing training programs of Sovereign Grace Ministries and is an active student at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. Howard lives in Knoxville with his wife Dawn and their five children, Josh, Andrew, Ashley, Phillip and Katherine. Matthew Lindsey ~ Pastor
Matthew has been a member of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville since 1997. He graduated from the Sovereign Grace Pastors College in May, 2004. He oversees general administration, the Care Group Ministry, and other increasing responsibilities. Matthew graduated from Appalachian State University in 1995, with a degree in Marketing. He and his wife Michelle live in Knoxville and have four girls: Mikayla, Hannah, Carolina, and Rhema.
Jeff Hodgson ~ Pastor
Jeff has been a member of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville since the spring of 2002. He graduated from the Sovereign Grace Pastors College in May, 2007. Jeff received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee in 1986 and a master’s degree in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas in 1996. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1988 to 1997, then flew as an airline pilot until 2006. As one of Jeff’s main duties he will be overseeing care group leaders. Jeff married his high school sweetheart, Melissa, in 1987. He and Melissa are natives of Farragut and grew up here in East TN. They have two children, Ashley and Henry.
Mike Plewniak ~ Pastor
Mike became a member of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville in 1997. He graduated from the Sovereign Grace Pastors College in May, 2004. He oversees the campus ministry, Volunteers for Christ (VFC). As a student at the University of Tennessee, he discovered Cornerstone Church of Knoxville through VFC. He graduated from UT in 2000, with a major in Business (Logistics and Transportation) and joined the Volunteers for Christ Ministry Staff. His responsibilities include coordinating the campus ministry's weekly meetings and other events, offering ministerial direction to students and other staff members, leading bible studies, and performing numerous administrative duties. He and his wife Elizabeth live in Knoxville and have two children, Ezekiel and Lillian.
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STATEMENT OF FAITH
The Scriptures
We accept the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, as the written Word of God. The Bible is an essential and infallible record of God's self-disclosure to mankind. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Being given by God, the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free of error in all it teaches. Each book is to be interpreted according to its context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through it in living power. All believers are exhorted to study the Scriptures and diligently apply them to their lives. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice and doctrine. They are totally sufficient and must not be added to, superseded or changed by later tradition, extra-biblical revelation or worldly wisdom. Every doctrinal formulation, whether of creed, confession or theology, must be put to the test of the full counsel of God in Holy Scripture.
God is Triune
There is one God: infinite, eternal, almighty and perfect in holiness, truth and love. In the unity of the godhead there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-existent, co-equal,co-eternal.The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. One God‹Father, Son and Holy Spirit‹is the foundation of Christian faith and life.
God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By his word and for his glory, he freely and supernaturally created the world from nothing. Through the same word he daily sustains all his creatures. He rules over all and is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He is faithful to every promise, works all things together for good of those who love him and in his unfathomable grace gave his Son Jesus Christ for mankind¹s redemption. He made man for fellowship with himself and intended that all creation should live to the praise of his glory.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He was perfect in nature, teaching and obedience. He is fully God and fully man. He was always with God and is God. Through him all things came into being and were created. He was before all things and in him all things hold together by the word of his power. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and in him dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. He is the only Savior for the sins of the world, having shed his blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary's cross. By his death in our place, he revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day he rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness and for a period of forty days appeared to over five hundred witnesses, performing many convincing proofs of his resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at God¹s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head of his body, the Church, and should be adored, loved, served and obeyed by all.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Through the proclamation of the gospel he, persuades men to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit, a person is led to trust in divine mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who in turn came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God's Word. He is to be respected, honored and worshiped as God, the Third Person of the Trinity.
Man
God made man‹male and female‹in his own image, as the crown of creation, that man might have fellowship with him. Tempted by Satan, man rebelled against God. Being estranged from his Maker, yet responsible to him, he became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved and, apart from a special work of grace, utterly incapable of returning to God. This depravity is radical and pervasive. It extends to his mind, will and affections. Unregenerate man lives under the dominion of sin and Satan. He is at enmity with God, hostile toward God and hateful of God. Fallen, sinful people, whatever their character or attainments, are lost and without hope apart from salvation in Christ.
The Gospel
Jesus Christ is the gospel. The good news is revealed in his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. Christ's crucifixion is the heart of the gospel, his resurrection is the power of the gospel, and his ascension is the glory of the gospel. Christ¹s death is a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God for our sins. It satisfies the demands of God¹s holy justice and appeases his holy wrath. It also demonstrates his mysterious love and reveals his amazing grace. Jesus Christ is the only mediator betweenGod and man. There is no other name by which men must be saved. At the heart of all sound doctrine is the cross of Jesus Christ and the infinite privilege that redeemed sinners have of glorifying God because of what he has accomplished. Therefore, we want all that takes place in our hearts, churches and ministries to proceed from and be related to the cross.
Man's Response to the Gospel
Man's response to the gospel is rooted and grounded in the free and unconditional election of God for his own pleasure and glory. It is also true that the message of the gospel is only effectual to those who genuinely repent of their sins and, by God's grace, put saving faith in Christ. This gospel of grace is to be sincerely preached to all men in all nations. Biblical repentance is characterized by a changed life, and saving faith is evidenced by kingdom service or works. While neither repentance nor works save, unless a person is willing to deny himself, pick up his cross and follow Christ, he cannot become his disciple.
Man's Inheritance Through the Gospel Salvation, the free gift of God, is provided by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Anyone turning from sin in repentance and looking to Christ and his substitutionary death receives the gift of eternal life and is declared righteous by God as a free gift. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. He is justified and fully accepted by God. Through Christ's atonement for sin an individual is reconciled to God as Father and becomes his child. The believer is forgiven the debt of his sin and via the miracle of regeneration liberated from the law of sin and death into the freedom of God's Spirit.
Sanctification
The Holy Spirit is the active agent in our sanctification and seeks to produce his fruit in us as our minds are renewed and we are conformed to the image of Christ. Though indwelling sin remains a reality, as we are led by the Spirit, we grow in the knowledge of the Lord, freely keeping his commandments and endeavoring to so live in the world that all people may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. All believers are exhorted to persevere in the faith, knowing they will have to give an account to God for their every thought, word and deed. The spiritual disciplines, especially Bible study, prayer, worship and confession, are a vital means of grace in this regard. Nevertheless, the believer's ultimate confidence to persevere is based in the sure promise of God to preserve his people until the end which is most certain.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit
In addition to effecting regeneration and sanctification, the Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service. While all genuine believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at conversion, the New Testament indicates the importance of an ongoing, empowering work of the Spirit subsequent to conversion as well. Being indwelt by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit are theologically distinct experiences. The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power for Christian life and witness, and imparts his supernatural gifts for the edification of the Body and for various works of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first-century are available today, are vital for the mission of the church, and are to be earnestly desired and practiced.
The Church
God, by his Word, and Spirit creates the Church, calling sinful men out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ's Body. By the same Word and Spirit, he guides and preserves that new redeemed humanity. The Church is not a religious institution or denomination. Rather, the Church universal is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ and have personally appropriated the gospel. The Church exists to worship and glorify God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It also exists to serve him by faithfully doing his will in the Earth. This involves a commitment to see the gospel preached and churches planted in all the world for a testimony. The ultimate mission of the Church is the making of disciples through the preaching of the gospel. When God transforms human nature, this then becomes the chief means of society's transformation. Upon conversion, newly redeemed men and women are added to a local church in which they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the Lord's Supper and prayer. All members of the Church universal are to be a vital and committed part of a local church. In this context they are called to walk out the New Covenant as the people of God and demonstrate the reality of the kingdom of God. The ascended Christ has given gift ministries to the church (including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) for the equipping of Christ's body that it might mature and grow. Through the gift ministries, all members of the Church are to be nurtured and equipped for the work of ministry. Women play a vital role in the life of the church, but in keeping with God's created design, they are not permitted "to teach or to have authority over a man" (1 Tim. 2:11). Leadership in the church is male. In the context of the local church, God's people receive patoral care and leadership and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in his service in relation to one another and to the world.
Sacraments of the Church
Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ's atoning work and become his disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ's command and as a testimony to God, the Church, oneself and the world, a believer should be immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual demonstration of a person's union with Christ in the likeness of his death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts a person's release from the mastery of sin. As with water baptism, the Lord's Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of his blood on our behalf and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ's death. As we partake of the Lord's Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls and signify our unity with other members of Christ's body. The Consummation
The Consummation of all things includes the visible, personal and glorious return of Jesus Christ; the resurrection of the dead and the translation of those alive in Christ; the judgment of the just and the unjust; and the fulfillment of Christ's kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the Consummation, Satan with his hosts and all those outside Christ are finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with him forever. Married to Christ as his Bride, the Church will be in the presence of God forever, serving him and giving him unending praise and glory. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled and the whole Earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new. ©2004 Sovereign Grace Ministries |
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