Lancaster PA

This week, Kevin Bradford looked at John 13 and the way that Jesus calls us to humility.

Who we are together.
River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together.

What we practice together.
Our small church community is uniquely caring, simple, laid-back and intergenerational. As a church we want to be a welcoming, safe and healing community for those who are seeking, hurting, or need a place to belong. Our practices are contemplative (reflective) and charismatic (Spirit-driven), conversational and informative. The times we share together are intentional and intimate, and a mix between modern and traditional. We want to be a place in which love and honor are lived out, where humility is central, and where hospitality is woven into the threads of our community. There is room at the table.

When we gather together.
River Corner Church gathers weekly on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM to worship and experience God, study the scriptures, journey through life together and to partner with the Holy Spirit. We meet in a a simple worship meeting house at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. You are welcome as you are, just be yourself. There are other times that we hold small groups, events and more.

Our Pastoral Leader.
Jeff McLain has served as our pastoral leader since April 2022. He is currently a doctoral student at Fuller Seminary, where he also has earned two masters degrees - one in Theology and Ministry and another in Leadership. Jeff also holds a Graduate Certificate in Non-profit Management from City Vision University. In addition to serving River Corner Church, Jeff serves full-time as the Director of Pastoral Ministries at Water Street Mission. In addition to over 13 years of pastoral ministry, Jeff has enjoyed event promotion, leadership coaching, blogging and podcasting. For over 17 years, Jeff has been happily married to Katie. Jeff, Katie and their three wander-filled daughters, are avid fans of road trips, baseball, boardwalks, beaches and books.

Learn more about us at rivercornerchurch.com.

On July 9, Kevin Bradford looked at John 6:60, and what it means to expect to hear God's voice, to know how to discern God's voice and to make sure we are truly listening to God's voice.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On May 7, at River Corner Church, Pastor Jeff McLain reflected through Mark 1:35-45 in his message "The Outer Limits," as he continued our Sunday Morning series The Time Has Come, a study through the book of Mark.
 
Mark's narrative on the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus starts with Jesus declaring that it was time to change our way of living and to live into the way that the presence, goodness and good news of God (the Kingdom of God) had come tangibly into the present (Mark 1:15). In each of the stories told by Mark, after that proclamation of Jesus, we witness Jesus demonstrating how God's Kingdom was making a difference in their day.

The difference that God's Kingdom makes is more than just getting to go to heaven when we die. Through Jesus' inauguration of the Kingdom of God on earth, God's eternal heaven is now bringing glimpses of God's future restoration into today. In the ministry of Jesus, Mark shows us that Jesus was bringing about God's liberation and healing to demonstrate how God's Kingdom makes a difference today. 

Throughout this series, we see what it means to repent and believe that God's transformative hope of heaven is still bringing God's liberation and healing into the present. The time has come to see what it means for us that God's transformative Kingdom longs to work in, with and through us to not only make a difference in eternity but also today.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On Sunday, April 30, Kevin Bradford looked at John's Gospel, and the way that the life and ministry of Jesus was one with the Spirit. Jesus promises - along with John's gospel - that the Spirit is also with us and it sustains and empowers our life. 

River Corner Church is a group of everyday people, who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. You are welcome to gather with us on Sunday mornings, 10AM. Come as you are, just be yourself.

Find our more online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On October 9, Pastor Jeff McLain continued our series, "Kingship, Rule & Authority," by looking at the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl in Matthew 13:44-46. In these parables, we find Jesus illustrates the purpose of his ministry, and also that Jesus illustrates the reckless abandonment to all else, which is how we enter and collaborate with the Kingdom of God. 

This Sunday morning series, September 11 to November 13,  will be a study through the parables, on the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was the gospel message that was both at the center of Jesus' mission and ministry, and it was also the center of the mission and message he gave us.

The Kingdom of God is the invasive, subversive, way that God’s presence, priorities, and power converge on and in our world. It is an invasion and God is looking for co-conspirators to bring about his insurrection of this world's ideas through conversion of people and paradigms. As co-conspirators, we collaborate on bringing about or seeing to God’s presence, priorities, and power as they manifest through our commitment to compassion, signs and wonders, ethics and justice.

In Gospel of the Kingdom, Theologian George Eldon Ladd wrote, "The Kingdom of God is His kingship, His rule, His authority. When this is once realized, we can go through the New Testament and find passage after passage where this meaning is evident, where the Kingdom is not a realm or a people but God’s reign. Jesus said that we must “receive the kingdom of God” as little children (Mark 10:15). What is received? The Church? Heaven? What is received is God’s rule. In order to enter the future realm of the Kingdom, one must submit himself in perfect trust to God’s rule here and now. We must also “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matt. 6: 33). What is the object of our quest? The Church? Heaven? No; we are to seek God’s righteousness—His sway, His rule, His reign in our lives.”

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On July 17, Jeff McLain looked at at Colossians 4:5, exploring how Paul encourages the church to make the most of every moment; for it is any moment that the rule and reign of God has the potential to break into the present.  Throughout this series, Final Instructions, each week, we have explored Paul’s final instructions to the church in Colossae, looking at Paul's instructions on how to bring the church into a maturity of faith.

In a season of cultural earthquakes, Paul encourages the Colossian church towards maturity in Christ by learning to pray for the message and the messengers of the Kingdom. In the same way, Paul’s writing encourages us to pray that the rule and reign of God to break-in to the realities of our world. We are encouraged to pray that the obstacles of the messengers do not become a hinderance to the testimony of who Jesus is and what knowing Jesus brings. We must be a church that is dedicated to praying for the mission and messengers of God.

It is in Colossians 4:3-4, that Paul writes; "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

Jeff McLain looks at Matthew 5:13, on June 26, at River Corner Church, exploring what it means to be the salt of the earth, in a time such as the one we are currently living. This Podcast Episode explores a posture for followers of Jesus in light of the overturning of Roe V. Wade on June 24, 2022.

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." Listen to this episode to hear more about how this encouragement from Jesus, challenges us to reconsider our posture in this season.

In this episode, Jeff McLain refers to a Position Paper on Abortion from the Brethren-in-Christ Church movement. You can read or download that Position Paper on Abortion, here. (https://bicus.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/abortion1.pdf).

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On Sunday, June 12, Jeff McLain looked at Matthew 8:18-23, and what it means to respond to God's call on our life with immediacy. Though this passage, we see that truly following Jesus means we must fully count the cost of surrender. Jesus invites us all to follow him, but the cost is often too great for many.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On June 5, Jeff McLain looked at Mark 5:21-36, and discovers how Jesus models what it means to be interruptible. Through Jesus' interaction with the synagogue leader and the woman with a bleeding problem, we see what it means to live in a way that is spiritually sensitive in the present.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

We invite you to gather with us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.

You are welcome to come as you are, just be you. As a community of everyday people, we want to be a people who live and love like Jesus in the places we live, work, and play.

If you have a question about something you heard in this message, or you want to learn more about our growing church community, visit us online at www.rivercornerchurch.com.

On May 29, River Corner Church brought our series, Confidence, to a close. Jeff McLain looked at 1 Peter 3:15-17 and how spiritual confidence is both found and grown in community, but it spiritual confidence also witnesses to the places we live, work, and play.

For the past few weeks, we have been in our series, Confidence. This series looks at the word, elpō which conveys the idea of “living hope,” “sure footing,” or “confidence.” This word, confidence, is one that Peter uses five times throughout the letter of 1 Peter. Confidence is a consistent theme as Peter writes to his disciples and church communities who have been scattered across the region in situations that are robbing them of their confidence in life.

These early followers of Jesus were dealing with increasing problems, pandemics, poverty and persecution in the empire. They were also finding themselves now isolated in society and their families as they discovered new purpose in following  Jesus. It is to these beat up, bruised, and bedraggled ragamuffins that Peter writes a letter to encourage them in these tough situations, but Peter also wanted to give them a new paradigm, a paradigm of what it means to live confidently through faith. I hope that as we explore Peter’s ideas of confidence, that we are encouraged on how we can live confidently in some uncomfortable times.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

As part of our In the Shadow of the Cross series at River Corner Church, Pastor Jeff McLain explores John 20:11-18 on April 17, 2022 (Easter Sunday).

For the past few weeks, we have been in our series, In the Shadow of the Cross. Each week we have looked at some of the stories in John's narrative, each along Jesus' journey leading up to the cross. This morning we arrived at the climax of the story, the death and resurrection of Jesus, as it appears in John 20.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

As part of our In the Shadow of the Cross series at River Corner Church, Pastor Jeff McLain explores John 11 on April 3, 2022.

This week we start our series, In the Shadow of the Cross. Each week we will look at some of the stories in John's narrative, each along Jesus' journey leading up to the cross. This morning we start in John 11, with this story of Lazarus, and we find what it has to teach us about Jesus.

River Corner Church is a growing church community of everyday people who gather to worship God, follow Jesus, and journey through life together. We gather on Sunday mornings, at 10:00 AM, at 524 River Corner Road in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Learn more about our growing church community online through our website (www.rivercornerchurch.com) or our Facebook (www.facebook.com/RiverCornerChurch).

In this episode, Tony Morrell discusses one of his obsessions, home beer brewing, how his process has changed over the past eight to nine years to assure regular brewing awards, and how he is thinking about turning his past time into a commercial venture.

Tony Morrell received his first home-brewing beer kit eight to nine years ago. Excited to try it out, the results were pretty terrible. It could take a few weeks to taste one of his concoctions, and the results were often close to what brewers call “drain pour”—so bad that you have to throw it out. The learning curve was steep, and the ingredients that came in the initial kit were not the best quality. Tony was so discouraged that he stopped brewing for about a year. However, as Tony and his friends continued to test local options, he knew that he could do better. He also enjoyed drinking seasonal beers but have a wider window when these would be available. So, he studied up, bought new ingredients locally, and tried again.

One game-changer over time was access to a new yeast, from Norway, that speeded up the fermentation process. Tony no longer had to wait six weeks to test the results of his experimentation. Instead, he could try many of his beers after only four to five days, cutting the wait time by 50 to 70 percent. This miracle yeast also brought rich new flavors, called esters, that created exciting new flavor profiles. The new yeast and other procedural changes helped Tony create beers that have consistently won awards in local competitions. He is definitely on to something.

Tony enjoys brewing so much that he is contemplating opening one or more breweries. His latest two Brewers Choice awards will give him the opportunity to test his interest at scale, as he will have a chance to brew his Guava Strawberry Sour Ale in large quantities at the Pour Man’s Brewing Company. Tony will be able to use this experience and ongoing conversations with other brewers to see if he will enjoy turning his hobby into a career. He is already thinking about locations, combining a new brewery with another passion, outdoor living, as well as branding.

Tony discusses these issues as well as other thoughts about how he would set a new business up for success—some of which might seem in contrast to the advice of previous guests. Why, for example, might Tony think about starting larger brewery initially instead of a micro-brewery at a smaller scale?

You can find out more about Tony’s award-winning beers on his Instagram feed, at (https://www.instagram.com/tmorrell1/).

For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/, and subscribe to our email list (https://cotcup.com/lp) and receive our living document, the Eightfold Path Plus One Guide to Success for Home-based Producers, and future updates.