Equip Podcast

In this companion episode to our Old Testament conversation, Mark and Emily explore why the Spiritual Workout Plan has us reading through the New Testament three times a year. They talk about why rereading has always been the normal Christian practice, how to read both faster and slower than the average person, and practical tools for getting God's Word under your skin.Episode Highlights01:47 — Why the Spiritual Workout Plan reads the New Testament three times a year02:36 — Rereading Scripture is what Christians have always done03:49 — The New Testament as "hyperlinked" to the Old Testament05:37 — How comprehension comes with repetition06:25 — Reading one section out loud for 30 days straight08:56 — Plowing and troweling: where meditation fits in10:42 — Reading is a skill, and why steady standard reading falls short12:43 — Fast reading: always start with an outline14:51 — Slow reading: one-word meditation through Galatians 5:1316:53 — Why diving deep is safest alongside your church18:33 — Ranking the disciplines: sermons, reading, memory, and personal study20:33 — The goal isn't Bible scholarship, it's faith working through love21:21 — Quick tips for reading the New Testament wellResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen Online Spiritual Workout PlanBibleProjectESV Study Bible / CSB Study BibleEquip Podcast: Why and How to Read the Old TestamentAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

In this edition of Ask Mark Anything, Mark and Emily rapid-fire through listener questions on spiritual warfare, personality and roles in marriage, GLP-1 medications, school choice, adult children who have walked away from the faith, and reaching lukewarm friends and family. Plus, the most pressing theological question of the season: does Jesus have a fridge?Episode Highlights00:29 — Welcome to another Ask Mark Anything00:59 — Warm-up: Mark's holiday pet peeve01:52 — A question from a four-year-old: does Jesus have a fridge?02:59 — How does spiritual warfare show up in the modern Western world?06:10 — The Screwtape Letters and the enemy's work to dehumanize people07:18 — Is every glitch spiritual warfare? Why we pray instead of decode09:43 — Type A wife, type B husband: honoring God's design with different personalities13:47 — Why healthy marriages don't obsess over roles14:57 — GLP-1s, weight loss, and a Christian view of medicine19:09 — Public, private, or homeschool? Navigating school choice without guilt23:08 — How parents can lead adult children back toward faith25:03 — The rising trend of adult children going no contact25:36 — Reaching lukewarm friends and family30:40 — Wrapping up and how to submit your questionsResourcesThe Screwtape Letters by C.S. LewisCornerstone Sermons: Listen Online Ask Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

In this special solo episode of the Equip Podcast, Mark explores what the Bible says about government and why Christians have a responsibility to vote. He unpacks government as God's tool of common grace, the Christian's dual citizenship, and why no election should be treated as the end of the world.Episode Highlights01:06 — Equipping you to think biblically about voting02:06 — Does government matter if eternity matters most?03:42 — Government as God's tool of common grace04:22 — Romans 13 and Proverbs 21:15: government as God's servant05:43 — Saving grace vs. common grace06:53 — Restraining sin: why government can't make your wildest dreams come true09:05 — Promoting righteousness through good laws10:26 — Every law is a legislation of morality11:46 — God's special charge to protect the poor and vulnerable15:33 — Fear God, honor the emperor: our posture toward government17:49 — Dual citizenship and the Christian duty to vote19:30 — Choosing well: how to evaluate candidates21:02 — Not every election is an existential threat25:17 — Praying for Governor Kim Reynolds and her familyResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen Online Choose Well by The FAMiLY LEADERAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

Most Bible reading plans include an Old Testament column, but strange names, ancient customs, and unfamiliar history can make it the hardest part to read well. In this episode, Mark and Emily explain why the Old Testament is essential for understanding God, the gospel, and the New Testament. They also share practical tools for reading it with depth, from cross-references and study Bibles to paying attention to genre and the bigger story pointing to Christ.Episode Highlights00:40 — Why the Old Testament column in the Spiritual Workout Plan feels so challenging01:52 — Reason #1: It's part of the Bible God wrote02:47 — Why you can't fully understand the New Testament without the Old04:56 — The Samaritan woman and what Jesus meant about worship05:36 — Reading someone else's mail: the point is who it's from06:41 — What the Old Testament teaches us about God and human dignity07:54 — New Testament words as "hyperlinks" to the Old Testament09:45 — Best practice: Let people who know it well help you11:34 — Reading by genre: law, history, wisdom, poetry, and prophecy13:01 — Narrative describes, it doesn't always prescribe14:33 — David and Goliath in the bigger story of 1 Samuel16:20 — How the Old Testament points forward to Christ17:35 — Echoes, not allegory: Song of Solomon and Ephesians 519:26 — Encouragement for the lifelong work of digging into God's WordResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineSpiritual Workout PlanThe Bible Project: Old TestamentThe Bible Project: New TestamentAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

Mark sits down with Alex Tuckness, Iowa State professor and longtime Cornerstone elder, to talk honestly about church growth. They trace Cornerstone's history, talk about church growth, and unpack why big isn't necessarily bad, but growth isn't always good.Episode Highlights00:26 — Introducing Alex Tuckness, Iowa State professor and longtime Cornerstone elder01:17 — Alex's history at Cornerstone, from Ames Middle School to the South Auditorium02:07 — Early growth and years of constant building campaigns04:24 — Remembering the era of five services05:52 — The last auditorium and becoming a multiplying church07:19 — Recent growth and reaching the limits of the property09:47 — A feasibility study for growth12:45 — Meeting real needs in rural Iowa13:45 — Why Cornerstone doesn't treat online church as church14:33 — Local elders and a compassionate approach to multisite17:07 — Are there bad ways to grow?20:00 — The danger of pursuing growth for growth's sake21:08 — There is no perfect church size22:18 — Spectators and the call to real community24:31 — Different sizes, one body: gospel churches across AmesResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

In the final episode of the Essentials of the Local Church series, Mark and Emily talk about church leadership. Mark explains why Cornerstone is led by a plurality of elders, what the Bible says elders actually do, and how church members can be a blessing to the people who shepherd them.Episode Highlights00:26 — Wrapping up the Essentials of the Local Church series01:09 — Cornerstone's distinctive: elder-led, congregationally approved02:32 — Other models of church governance: single elder, congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Catholic06:01 — Why faithfulness to a model matters more than the model itself06:54 — How elders are chosen at Cornerstone08:35 — What elders do: model Christlikeness, guard doctrine, shepherd, and lead11:19 — Biblical qualifications for elders12:07 — Why a growing church needs a small, consistent elder team12:44 — Is administrative oversight too "businessy"?14:19 — How to bring a concern to the elders at a big church15:58 — View, voice, and vote: the layers of leadership at Cornerstone18:36 — How the elders protect Mark from trying to be everything for everyone19:59 — How church members can bless their elders22:12 — Becoming a "grace detective"23:50 — Five tensions every church leadership team navigates25:16 — Why the aim is faithfulness, not growth31:26 — The biggest takeaway: character over structureResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

Mark and Emily continue the Essentials of the Local Church series by digging into communion. They explore why a God who loves remembrance gave his people a repeated meal, what Paul's warnings actually mean, who should take it (including kids), how different traditions understand the bread and the cup, and why Mark wishes Cornerstone could celebrate it every single week.Episode Highlights01:01 — Baptism happens once, communion is repeated remembrance02:11 — Reading 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 and the Passover roots of the Lord's Supper03:15 — Baptism as initiation, communion as a gospel rehearsal03:41 — What the early church practiced06:19 — How often should a church take communion?07:37 — Who is communion for?08:52 — Eating and drinking judgment: Paul's warning to believers, not outsiders10:33 — Should a believer ever abstain from communion?12:19 — Kids and communion: should they wait until baptism?16:21 — Mark's communion cup confession from the Cornerstone stage18:02 — Who should administer communion?18:46 — Four views of the elements: transubstantiation to mere symbolism22:16 — Why Mark wishes we took communion weekly23:03 — Communion outside the local church: small groups, conferences, and weddingsResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

Mark and Emily continue the Essentials of the Local Church series by digging into baptism: what it is, why the church practices it, and what the Bible actually says about it. Mark walks through the biblical case for baptism by immersion upon a credible profession of faith, unpacks the differences between paedobaptism and credobaptism (including the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed views on infant baptism), and gets practical about who should be baptized, when, and by whom.Episode Highlights01:36 — Mark's core phrase: baptism is the New Testament way to say "I believe"02:43 — What the Greek word baptizo actually means: full immersion04:12 — Romans 6: the picture of dying and rising with Christ in the water06:11 — Defining the terms: paedobaptism vs. credobaptism07:42 — Cornerstone's position: credo baptism upon a credible profession of faith10:12 — Comparing the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed views of infant baptism16:30 — Comparing baptism to a wedding: taking it seriously without over-formalizing it19:56 — The Ethiopian eunuch's story and why context matters for readiness21:05 — Wisdom around timing: why Cornerstone doesn't rush a 13-year-old to the tank24:01 — Walking kids through the decision: Mark and Emily's own family experiences29:01 — Why a tank instead of a natural body of water29:56 — Why there's no such thing as private baptism31:28 — Who should baptize you, and why it's not always the pastor34:00 — Mark's take on rebaptism: "you're only baptized once"39:33 — Stories of transformation from Cornerstone's baptism servicesResourcesGet Baptized at CornerstoneBaptism StoriesCornerstone's Guidance for Children and BaptismCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

In this episode of the Essentials of the Local Church series, Mark and Emily get personal about prayer: naming the excuses, fears, and false theology that keep even seasoned believers from a vibrant prayer life. They unpack why prayer flows from who God is rather than how eloquently we speak to him, and Mark closes with news of upcoming nights of prayer and worship at Cornerstone.Episode Highlights00:59 — Why prayer is hard even when we know we're supposed to do it01:17 — Mark: What prayerlessness reveals about the heart02:00 — Two things prayerlessness exposes: self-sufficiency and a distant view of God04:01 — A hard confession about the American church's prayerlessness, compared to believers in Africa05:41 — The theology question underneath it all: do you believe God actually wants to give you what you need?06:02 — Why the first thing you think of about God shapes your entire prayer life06:35 — The Lord's Prayer: coming to a Father who is both holy and generous09:00 — "Start with God": prayer flows from who you're talking to, not how you talk09:26 — Emily: Losing childlike softness with God as life gets busier and more task-driven11:53 — Why Jesus ties real prayer to childlike dependence13:14 — Emily: God doesn't need a "put-together" church, he wants a praying one13:54 — Romans 8 and the Spirit of adoption crying out "Abba, Father"16:17 — Why it's worth praying "awkwardly" instead of staying comfortable and silent18:34 — Announcing upcoming nights of prayer and worship at CornerstoneResourcesCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!

In this episode of the Essentials of the Local Church series, Mark and Emily dig into a question every Christian eventually asks: why do we actually gather on Sundays, and what makes that gathering distinctly biblical rather than just a cultural habit? They unpack the difference between what Scripture commands and what it simply describes, walk through the non-negotiable essentials of a healthy church gathering, and make the case for why showing up in person still matters in a digital, AI-saturated world.Episode Highlights00:27 — Continuing the Essentials of the Local Church series: why we gather on Sunday00:59 — Prescriptive vs. descriptive: not everything the early church did is a command for us01:40 — The "casting out demons" test for telling command apart from example03:03 — Reading the whole New Testament together instead of proof-texting single examples03:32 — Transcultural essentials vs. the culturally shaped ways churches gather04:21 — Language, buildings, and church merch: culturally fine vs. actually anti-biblical06:39 — The essentials: the Word, worship, and prayer when the church gathers08:16 — The ordinances: baptism as initiation, communion as ongoing remembrance09:09 — Spiritual gifts and the tangible sense that God is present when his people gather09:54 — Why gathering is vertical before it's horizontal14:53 — What embodied gathering offers that even the best sermon on YouTube can't16:40 — Supplement, not substitute: using online church well19:10 — "Get to church": real compassion for real barriers, no patience for excuses20:21 — Why the "weaker" parts of the body are indispensable to the gathering21:44 — Come to give, not just to receive — and watch for the person sitting aloneResourcesCornerstone Connection GroupsCornerstone Sermons: Listen OnlineAsk Mark a Question!Suggest a topic or question for Mark to discuss on a future episode of the Equip Podcast!