Cornerstone’s Compassion: Feeding Others in Jesus’ Name

Mark Burgess loves Jesus. He loves the Cornerstone Assembly of God in Weiser, Idaho, where he pastors and preaches every Sunday.

Burgess also loves the community. On the third Wednesday of every month, he moves from behind the pulpit and serves as the hands of Jesus managing food distribution through the Idaho Foodbank Mobile Pantry. Though funded by the federal government, the food bank is empowered by God in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of people.

Before Burgess and his wife, Nettie, came to Cornerstone in January 2017, the food bank was run by the Western Idaho Community Action Plan (WICAP). But it was faltering. WICAP planned to move the food bank to another location because no one wanted to take it over.  

No one, that is, except Burgess. Years before, when he pastored in Heyburn, Idaho, Burgess, 65, managed a foodbank through a domestic violence shelter. Now at Cornerstone, he went straight to the board and proposed that the church assume management of the mobile pantry.

“It's a volunteer organization,” he told the board. “We already have volunteers. If the church is willing to get behind it, we can do it, and it can become a great outreach ministry to our community.” 

The board was all in.

Joel Wendland, the Southern Idaho Ministry Network superintendent, has known the Burgesses for about 16 years when they pastored in other churches. “He doesn't have a Neutral,” Wendland says about Burgess. “He has a Drive. There’s Park and there’s Drive. I think Park happens at night.”

Shifting into high gear, Burgess restructured WICAP’s system for more efficiency. Once cars start arriving at the Cornerstone parking lot on food distribution Wednesday, they are greeted by volunteers, many of them dressed in t-shirts proclaiming, “Whatever you do, Wherever you go, GO JESUS!” 

Some cars arrive as early as 6 a.m. As others pull in, they wait, bumper-to-bumper, till the 10:00 a.m. starting time. By 12:30 p.m., 320 households have been served, as well as over 800 individuals, from children to senior adults. In addition, boxes of food are on their way to shut-ins and homebound cancer patients.

The entire process has the invisible stamp of Cornerstone’s mission statement on it: “Love Jesus. Love others. Change the world.”

Burgess gives all the glory to Jesus, but he also credits the 26-36 volunteers who faithfully give their time. While many of the volunteers are from Cornerstone, Christians from other churches also assist. Added to the mix are teens in the juvenile probation program who need to fulfill community service. Burgess welcomes them all.

Karyn Kyle, a member of Cornerstone, has volunteered at the food pantry since the church took it over. While her husband helps park cars, Kyle, 70, visits with people waiting in car lanes for their boxes of food. She “bebops around” with her music, spreading her sunny disposition among those who need their spirits lifted. She sees this as a way to encourage them and build relationships with those who return month after month. 

Wendland, 55, believes this outreach is critical. Like other food ministries in his network, Cornerstone’s mobile pantry offers hope for people who don’t have much. And it raises awareness that the church has more to offer than just free food.

“It creates a pattern of behavior for them to come to a place and get help,” he says. “So when things happen in their hearts and lives, they can come to the church and get the real help they need.”

This can be tricky. Because the mobile pantry is federally funded, no one working there can initiate spiritual conversations with those they serve. But that doesn’t stop those that come from sharing their burdens with the church’s volunteers. 

Burgess and the Cornerstone volunteers seize these opportunities. Kyle says that if people who come ask specific questions or mention a need, she offers prayer. Her offer is most always met with a resounding “yes” and they welcome the offer to have someone pray over them. 

Burgess describes the food bank as a “soft approach” in sharing Jesus’ compassion with others. And it has boosted Cornerstone’s reputation. 

“Our church is sometimes called the food bank church,” he says. “Other churches say that we're the church that cares about the community. I'll accept both of those titles because it's true.”

People have occasionally questioned the motive behind what Cornerstone is doing through the food bank. One woman who showed up on a Wednesday told Burgess, “I know you guys are a church. You're doing this because you want people to come to your church.”

In such cases, Burgess points to Jesus and His instruction to care for the poor. And to erase any doubt in anyone’s mind, he clarifies Cornerstone’s intent with the mobile pantry: “We're not in it to make a name for ourselves. Our goal is to see people receive a blessing they need, and we get to be part of the blessing of blessing them. Be blessed. Be a blessing. Go Jesus!”

Sherri Langton

Sherri Langton, associate editor of Bible Advocate magazine and Now What? e-zine, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Focus on the Family, Decision, Upper Room, Today’s Christian Woman, and other publications. Langton, who lives in Denver, also has contributed to book compilations.