Remembering Chris Newman

A Message from the head of the Technical Department Stephen Avello … If you have ever been to a Cornerstone service or watched online in the last 10+ years, you would have witnessed the dedication and expertise of this man. Chris was my right hand in producing the services every Sunday, he was the first in and the last to leave. Chris treated every service like he knew the Lord would be attending, always making sure that everything was as perfect as could be. He would let me know of any issues he found or if something wasn’t right and most of the time would take care of it before he ever said anything. Countless times chris would fix or replace broken items in the church and do so out of his own pocket, when I would try to reimburse him he would never accept it. I will truly miss all of his quirks, how he would signal me with his hands to start a video or signal to Pastor that his bible verse was coming up on the screen, it puts a smile on my face just thinking about it.. The dedication Chris had to everything he did in life was unmatched, it didn’t matter if it was fixing a computer, changing a light bulb, making sure the chairs were straight, double checking Pastor’s powerpoint and bible verses for the service or simply playing with my kids as they waited for us to leave. We all lost something big and it will show how big over time. As I was making the memorial video and slides for tomorrows service I could not help but think that Chris would have done it better, he would have made it his way. I just could not believe I was making this for the person that always did this for everyone else, it just doesn’t seem right. I have so much regret over this past year and not having spent much time with him, Covid has robbed us of so much, it has taken away opportunities to spend time with those we love because of fear. I saw Chris for the last time the Friday before he passed, I was in the drive through line at Taco Bell and Chris was the car in front of me. I was going to honk and say hi but he drove off before I had a chance. I thought to myself, “I need to swing by and check on Newman”. I never got the chance. I never got to say the things to Chris that I would have like to said, I did tell him often that I appreciated all he did but looking back it just feels empty. I want to give him a big hug and tell him that he was loved and a very important person to me, that he was special and extremely talented. What a great friend he was to me, I just wish I was a better one to him. Thank you Chris for being a part of our family you will be missed deeply by us all.

As I would cue Chris on Sundays over com to start the service, I will say it one last time.. “Newman ready countdown, in 3, 2, 1. roll countdown” and his reply “Got it Boss”