Cornerstone Simi Amphitheater

Found this info. on a blog I read a lot by Ben Arment. He is a church planter near Washington D.C.

I subscribe to Francis Chan’s podcasts from his church, Cornerstone Church, Simi Valley (CA). While Jenny and I were listening the other night to the podcast, Francis mentioned that the elders were kicking around the idea of an amphitheater that their church would meet in that would also double as a community park. He is really conscious about being a good steward of what God has given us.

Watch here to see why Cornerstone Simi decided to build an outdoor amphitheater instead of a building. You will probably need to watch it several times . . . to listen to the words to the song as well as the words on the screen.? He says on his website that they can save MILLIONS of dollars by doing the amphitheater and be able to give to the poor and needy! Their elders decided this last year to give 50% of their budget to ministries OUTSIDE of Cornerstone!! Unheard of!! Pretty cool stuff. I dig this kind of thinking!

As a church that meets in rented facilities, it is really hard to fight off the idea that we are not a church until we have a huge mortgage over our heads. It is almost a sense of entitlement or legitimacy . . . to have your own building is to be a “real” church. I get questions a LOT from people, mainly “churched” people, that say “so when are you going to build?” I say what we have said from the beginning, “don’t know?” But the question behind the question is, “when are you going to grow up and be a real pastor with a real church that has a building, a baptistery, and a parking lot.”

I think it is healthy for us to wrestle with the idea of “how much of this is truly about us and how much is truly about others. . . specifically our ‘neighbors’ less fortunate than ourselves.?” I am grateful to Godly examples that are truly wrestling with the passages that say we ought to care for the poor and needy and maybe we don’t REALLY need all of this stuff. That is what I love about the many churches that are portable . . . and don’t have plans to build any time soon because they are building the church, not a building.

Thanks for the post, Ben.