Steve Anderson: Testimony & Eldership Affirmation Form
As you may know, on January 23rd, we presented Steve Anderson to the church body as someone we believe is qualified to serve as an elder/overseer. We asked you to join us in praying for Steve during the month of February. We also asked you to give us feedback regarding Steve’s readiness to serve as an elder at Cornerstone, based upon the qualifications and responsibilities listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Peter 5:1-4. Please use the form below to share your affirmation or concerns with us by February 28th.
You can read (or watch) Steve's testimony below. Please continue to pray for Steve and seek God’s will with us, and please take time to complete the eldership affirmation form (below) by February 28th.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at info@cornerstonesimi.com. And if you're wondering how you can reach out to Steve personally, please let us know, and we'll do our best to get you connected!
The Anderson Family
Steve’s Testimony:
Hello Cornerstone,
My name is Steve Anderson, my family and I have been attending Cornerstone Community Church since 2006. I’m married to my wife Jackie and we have 3 kids, Gunnar (14), Lukas (12), and Elin (9). While we know many of you, there are also many we don’t, as we have been commuters into Simi. We spent 10 years in Camarillo, leading community groups and commuting into Simi, and then in 2015 we moved to Thousand Oaks and again, commuting into Simi, so we have always been a little outside the Simi core but still committed to this body. In 2017 we moved to Tampa FL for 2 years but in 2019 we moved back and came home to our church once more.
I was born into a loving Christian home, in Pasadena CA, and raised in Arcadia CA, the oldest of 5 kids. My early life was surrounded by believers, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, all were church-going and following Christ. My desire would have been to stay in that place forever, so it was a bit of a shock when my dad got a new job and we moved north up the coast to Santa Barbara. But I continued to grow in my faith there, active in youth group, baptized at 13, but as I entered college, for the first time, I started to rebel a bit. In the first two years that I went to Santa Barbara City College, I made poor choices, lived selfishly, and inside my heart was growing rotten. There was never a time I stopped believing in who God was, I was just blinded by ego and selfishness. But I knew this wasn’t ideal, this wasn’t healthy, so I prayed that God would make it possible for me to attend a small private Christian college in town, I knew if I could be surrounded by other Christians that this would help steer my life back onto a healthier course. God, in His goodness, answered my prayer, by sending me to the hedonistic pit that was Isla Vista and attending UC Santa Barbara. But there I met incredible Christians, I was integrated into an active fellowship of strong believers, and my faith grew enormously. It’s also where I met my wife, Jackie, and a year after graduating we were married.
One of the key things I began to learn was God’s way, which is often not my way, is so much better. As I looked at my life, I realized I wasn’t desiring something evil or wrong, I would have stayed in Arcadia surrounded by a large extended family of believers, safe and comfortable. I would have gone to a Christian college, not a large party school and secular university, and sought God in that way. These things felt like good things to desire, but God had a better plan. I have continued to learn this, along with my wife, over these last 20 years of our marriage, as we saw God continue to take us on paths we wouldn’t have necessarily chosen for ourselves. In 2006 we got involved in a young married small group, sure that these would be our best Christian friends forever, our kids would be raised together, and a year and a half later God took us out of that group for the sake of leading a Community group at Cornerstone. But then that group felt like it would be a blessing we could find a forever community and fellowship with, sure this would be our safe place. But then one by one God moved families and couples away, dear friends, and close relationships, either moved out of the area or on to different churches. Again, what we would have desired, God continued to change, but it was still good. Then one day, he took us and moved us out of state. We had just moved into a new home in Thousand Oaks, once again feeling this would be our home forever, our kids had friends, we were excited about our community, everything seemed good. But two years into living in that home, my company (Amgen) moved us across the country, 3000 miles away from any family or friends, where we knew no one, to Tampa FL. But once again, it was amazing, it was great, it was such a blessed time. So after all of these years, I think I have finally given up trying to plan my life in terms of a forever plan and acknowledge that God really does know what he’s doing. It only took 40+ years of walking with the Lord (LOL).
The last thing I want to share this, and it is something God has been opening my eyes to recently, is my constant and unending need for His grace in my life because the reality is that I’m really just not as good as I think I am at this Christian walk. All of us see ourselves as the hero in the movie of our lives. We are the protagonist, the main character. And if I’m honest, though I don’t know that I ever articulated this until recently, I have probably always seen myself as the Luke Skywalker type hero. I was a good kid, I just needed to learn more about my faith (like Luke learning the ways of the Force) and I would grow stronger, become better, do good and grow to be a better man. That was how I saw myself. However, the reality is that this wasn’t me at all, it’s easy to think I was naturally good, and I knew I was a sinner, but I always thought I wasn’t “that” bad. But now as God has opened my eyes more, through His word, it’s clear I wasn’t Luke, who started out good and just got better, I was Ebenezer Scrooge. Selfish, careless to the needs of others, greedy (maybe not for money, but greedy about my comfort and my selfish ways) and it was only through the Spirit opening my eyes to this reality, that God has rescued me. It’s an odd, but wonderful feeling of recognizing this now, because it causes me to re-evaluate so many things in light of who He is. I’m so excited about what God may do next, but also, finally, cognizant that what God may do, may not be what I would initially be excited about. It’s difficult, but God has proven His goodness so many times I can do nothing but trust in Him.
– Steve Anderson