Our Purpose | Current Funding Priorities | How We Work | Two Rivers Pavilion | Whom to Contact

Background on our Purpose and Values

Our choice of the purpose for Cornerstone Foundation of Knoxville—to be a catalyst to reach our God-given potential as a community—has been greatly influenced by the following references:

• “I lay a stone in [God’s City], a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.” From Isaiah 28:16.

• “Christ Jesus himself [is] the chief cornerstone.” From Ephesians 2:20.

• “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  Jeremiah 29:7.

• Isaiah 65:17-25 provides the best detailed description of God’s vision for a city:

“17”Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. 
The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
19I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days
or an old man who does not live out his years;
he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
 So will be the days of my people;
My chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
23They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
24Before they call I will answer;        
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together,        
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,        
but dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy        
On all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

• Summary of God’s Vision for a City from Isaiah 65:17-25 (in today’s context):

  1. A place of joy—of creativity, beauty, fun, festivals, art, music, and celebrations.
  2. A place that is healthy.
  3. A place where people have good housing.
  4. A place where people have plenty to eat.
  5. A place of economic prosperity and opportunity for all.
  6. A place of justice and fairness.
  7. A place of spiritual vitality.
  8. A place of unity and peace.

" Put simply, if this is what God says a city ought to look like, and if God’s Spirit lives in me, this is what I want [my city] to look like.”  Ray Bakke, A Theology As Big As The City (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press 1997), p. 82-83.

 

Our Purpose | Current Funding Priorities | How We Work | Two Rivers Pavilion | Whom to Contact