In this episode, Mark sits down with his friend and fellow pastor Shane Rothlisberger to tell the story of how the Acreage Church, a church plant in northeast Iowa, came to life in the most unexpected way. What began with a sick father, a family in need of community, and a living room livestream became something neither of them saw coming. Shane and Mark also discuss the spiritual state of rural Iowa and why it matters deeply for the future of the gospel.

Episode Highlights

00:26 — Introducing Shane Rothlisberger, pastor of the Acreage Church

01:39 — How a family crisis and a move to northeast Iowa set everything in motion

02:33 — Streaming Cornerstone from a living room

03:17 — Wrestling with whether to call it what it was: a church plant

04:26 — A moment in John 21 and Shane's calling to shepherd this flock

05:33 — Cornerstone's role as the sending church for the Acreage

06:00 — What a typical Sunday looks like at the Acreage Church today

07:17 — Using Cornerstone's teaching series, one week behind, and how Shane contextualizes it

09:31 — The spiritual landscape of rural Iowa: overchurched but unreached, and how that's shifted

11:06 — A generational turnover: from cultural Christianity to irrelevance

13:22 — The decline of mainline denominational churches in rural communities

15:16 — Faithful pastors in rural Iowa stretched thin across multiple congregations

16:13 — Easter at the Acreage: 175 people, four baptisms, and lives changed

17:26 — Running out of room, and what a glorious problem that is

18:28 — What Cornerstone is praying about next: rural church planting as a growing vision

19:16 — "We didn't even pray for this", and what that stirs up for what God might do intentionally

20:00 — A call to pray for rural Iowa and the harvest waiting there

Resources

Cornerstone Sermons: Listen Online

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