At Cornerstone, we are fortunate to have an extended fellowship time after the worship service on Sunday afternoons.  It is a great time to get to know new people who attend our church as well as strengthen relationships of long-standing friends.

In addition to being a time of fellowship, this time after the worship service is a great opportunity to talk to the elder who preached that day.  Especially when I preach, I would welcome opportunities to talk about the sermon after I am finished.  Let me provide 4 reasons why I think this is beneficial:

1. In the excitement of preaching I may have said something with a different emphasis, or I may have left out something that I had intended to say.  In a perfect world, I would only say something that I had planned to say; nothing more, and nothing less.  However, in the process of preaching, things may come out a little differently than planned.
2. You may have heard me say something I didn’t actually say because you were thinking of an earlier comment, or your wife nudged you, or your kid fell off the chair, or any of a 1,000 different reasons why you didn’t hear every word I said in its complete and correct context.
3. You might have an errant or incomplete understanding about what I said, and a discussion will help flesh that out and possibly be an opportunity to learn something new.
4. I might have an errant or incomplete understanding about what I said. As much as I try, I don’t always have a 100% airtight understanding of all possible angles on everything I say (especially given point number 1 above).  I have been blessed so many times by conversations with my brethren whereby I learn something new or hear a different perspective which I hadn’t fully considered in my limited preparation time.

In light of this, I encourage you to talk to any of the elders who preach at Cornerstone after they finish, and our regular fellowship time after the worship service can be a perfect time for this.