Pastor Andrew Cabasa Serves Marriages in the Church Where He Found Christ
By Amy Morgan
Pastor Andrew Cabasa caretakes marriages and families at Cornerstone Church in North Central San Antonio. The church, founded in 1975 by Pastor John Hagee, now led by Pastor Matt Hagee, serves 23,000 active members during six weekly services in English and Spanish at its newly expanded Stone Oak campus.
Cornerstone has played an integral role in both Andrew’s faith formation and ministry vocation. The church was his only consistent lifeline as a teen, providing a positive, Christian environment to help him overcome the dysfunction in his family. Jesus was the only healthy male role model he had. Andrew started attending Cornerstone’s evening services, got baptized and began volunteering in the college ministry. Although he was studying in the medical field, Andrew felt the call to ministry. He had been dating Marissa for a year, and they agreed to pursue his calling to pastor as they had committed to an even greater calling from the Lord — being married to one another. The two did marry and are now raising four young sons ages 9 to 4.
Despite his relatively young age, Andrew has been serving on staff at Cornerstone for 13 years. He originally joined campus staff in the custodial department, augmenting his budget with free-lance side jobs to pay for Bible classes and eventually, a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Nelson University.
He faithfully served as a custodian and warehouse manager and led college Bible studies. Eventually, Andrew served as the Youth Pastor, in Next Gen Ministry and then transitioned to Adult Ministry / Pastoral Care. It was through his years of dedicated service providing spiritual support to Cornerstone’s large flock that Andrew and other lay leaders voiced the need for the church to develop a regular plan for marriage ministry – something that went beyond a yearly event and the occasional Sunday school class.
“Marriage ministry was happening, but we needed an organized week-to-week and day-to-day effort that consistently complemented the total vision of the church and our Lead Pastors,” he noted.
“A healthy family and marriage ministry needs a daily and weekly resource that builds consistency,” Andrew said. “Even committed people only make it to church two or three weekends a month. We needed to make sure there was a weekly and year-round resource that’s always there.”
Andrew and a team of lay leaders started to develop a plan to offer a biannual six-week marriage class (The Better Marriage Class) to get a pulse on who needed help and encouragement from within the church. He also was keeping an eye out for those willing and qualified to serve in future leadership. Early in 2021 he created an 18-24 month strategic plan for what marriage ministry could look like at Cornerstone. At that time, there was no budget line item for marriage ministry. Andrew first met with his now supervisor, the Director of Pastoral Ministries, and then eventually presented a proposal to the Executive Board to create a budget and plans for “Cornerstone Marriage Ministry.”
He, along with passionate volunteers, kept chipping away, proving the need for marriage ministry by offering a Sunday School class and planning the first Still Do Dinner before asking for financial support or a program. He did not start by asking the pastors to get behind a marriage ministry agenda. He believes a program should first exist organically within a church before the pastor promotes it.
“If we get the grassroots organic ministry growing, it complements the pastor’s effort and the lead pastor’s belief in the supporting staff. If the pastor ‘has to’ push something, it is not yet valuable. I’d rather a pastor push toward something that’s already fruitful and not experimental,” he said.
In building Cornerstone’s marriage ministry, Andrew followed the process he recommends to others.
Find the need, then prove it with data. Start with a small resource and get a baseline for what need of your church is not currently being met.
Meet the need where you can, and when it’s beyond your bandwidth, connect with your leadership to show them how meeting this need complements the vision God has given them. God will never multiply or bless agendas outside of that church’s spiritual authority and leadership.
Make it a people ministry not a personality ministry – don’t focus on a certain leader, age group or demographic. Make it a Christ-centered resource for all people of all seasons.
“We started in a small classroom and kept documentation so we could show why we needed more space. I asked leadership for help to meet the need, not for money to launch. It wasn’t the ego-driven event of an individual(s). This is what I love about Cornerstone’s leadership. They ask, ‘What is the need and how and when can we meet it?’ It’s in Cornerstone’s DNA.”
Now every Sunday Cornerstone offers a Marriage and Family class at 10:15 a.m. between services that addresses day-to-day marriage life issues in a deeper and more practical level with more intention and time.
“I want that time in Sunday school or in discipleship moments to be the most pragmatic people have at church,” Andrew said. He generally suggests a topic that matches the weekly sermon emphasis but trusts leaders to write their own content. “I’ve known every one of these individuals for more than a decade,” he said. He prefers tailoring the teaching to complement “what the house is saying” to keep the message consistent rather than relying on packaged curriculum. “There are times and places for that, but not what we’re trying to sustain for the next several decades.”
For example, earlier this year. Pastor Matt Hagee preached a series on “Greater Things” The Sunday Marriage + Family Class then discussed Greater Communication, Greater Sex, Greater Boundaries, etc.
In March 2025, Andew was given the additional responsibility to oversee and grow the small group ministry: Cornerstone Groups. The Groups can meet monthly, biweekly, or weekly either in homes or on the church campus. A lesson is produced each week for Group Leaders that will reach both seasoned or new believers across a wide range of ages and backgrounds. Andrew develops content organically to provide a “perpetual wheel of discipleship.”
Cornerstone also offers free pastoral counseling for individuals, couples and families — for members of their congregation and the community at large. The counseling is clearly communicated as pastoral, Bible-based counseling only. “We keep the conversation Christ-centered with a biblical approach,” Andrew said. Staff members are not licensed therapists. When/if a situation develops beyond their pastoral counseling scope, they’ll refer to trusted, licensed voices.
In 2021, Cornerstone held their first Still Do dinner. Attendance at the inaugural event wildly exceeded expectation, attracting more than 250 people. And the event keeps growing. The second hosted 400, and the third, 500. The event where Andrew interviewed Pastor Matt and Kendal Hagee about their marriage took place in front of a crowd of 900 and was a blessing to many.
“We built the system and then brought the Lead Pastor in to talk about his marriage. It was so valuable not just for the ministry, but as an endorsement that our Lead Pastor fully champions our marriage and family ministry efforts,” Andrew said. “The traction of marriage ministry at Cornerstone is a miracle of God’s grace blessing the efforts of passionate volunteers.”
The Still Do dinners are designed to be an evangelistic outreach to the city, he added, offered to those looking for marriage help as well as those looking for a church. Easy selections on the registration page allow Andrew to follow up with those who designated they don’t have a home church. He’s noted more than 50+ churches listed on the forms. Cornerstone has been gracious to allow leaders and staff from other churches without their own events to reserve seats together as space permits.
The Marriage Initiative has been helpful to provide Cornerstone with support publicizing the Still Do dinners through their monthly newsletters, social media channels and Facebook advertising, Andrew said.
While the Still Do dinners are quite an undertaking due to their sheer size alone, Cornerstone is well equipped for the task, as the church is practiced in hosting large events such as their annual FEAST weekend in the Fall. In fact, the church recently remodeled and expanded to include a new 87,000-square-foot community hall with a coffee shop and restaurant (The Solid Rock Café) open during the week, as well as meeting space for public events.
Although there is not a dedicated Marriage Ministry staff or department, Andrew works alongside church staff members who specialize in managing volunteers, handling production, IT, and event planning. Andrew coordinates with church calendar schedulers to block in his two annual Still Do dinners and then allows the specialty teams to take over the details. “The pastoral and support services staff have built quality relationships over the years. Marriage events are not ‘Andrew’s thing,’ they have become Cornerstone events,” he said.
The team approach also saves wear and tear on his marriage mentors and leaders, allowing them to focus on shepherding, loving and ministering. “That’s why we are incredibly grateful for support services departments. They steward logistics and details so that marriage ministry couples can fellowship with the people.”
Preserving his mentors for shepherding may be one reason Andrew has no trouble recruiting couples to serve in marriage ministry. He personally teaches the last session of the six-part marriage series, which addresses the Mission of Your Marriage and often inspires couples to serve as Group or Table Leaders. “What’s the point if we are not giving back to the Kingdom?” he asks. His leading also helps overcome the objection of couples not feeling “qualified” to serve in marriage ministry. Andrew’s answer, “None of us have made it. But there’s always someone several seasons of marriage and faith behind you that can learn from you. The sooner we get our own insecurities out of the way, the sooner we can help the kingdom.”
Cornerstone’s size and storied history in the city of San Antonio and beyond does lend itself to attracting people who might wish to volunteer. Andrew very carefully vets those who hope to serve. His teachers have a proven track record of trust – Andrew’s known most of them for more than a decade. He sees himself as a multiplier, who despite his young age is gifted in shepherding and equipping others to lead.
“It’s not just how long they’ve come to church here but how they’ve invested time in each other,” he said. “We’ve been able to build a culture of what we expect from those teaching in our marriage ministry.” Cornerstone’s leaders realize the weight of the responsibility of their influence in their accountability before God. Their common ground is their passion for the Cross and for marriages.
When asked why he’s passionate about serving marriages, Andrew answered, “There’s such a need. Satan hates marriage and families.” In light of his testimony of growing up in a toxic home where he did not see marriage modeled or the Gospel advanced, he enjoys “witnessing God’s anointing transforming a home.” He also is encouraged by the way connecting couples back to the mission of their marriage can draw them closer to Christ, so they live as disciples rather than just performing Christianity.
Simply seeing a need and meeting it. That’s how Andrew walks daily in his call to minister to Cornerstone’s marriages and families.
Upcoming 2026 Cornerstone Marriage and Family Events:
Feb 15 - Better Marriage (6-Week Marriage Enrichment Class) – Sunday Group
Feb 18 - Better Marriage (6-Week Marriage Enrichment Class) – Wednesday Group