Founding and early history
Cornerstone was started in 1993 as a church plant by Rev. Bruce Hopler and his family upon his graduation from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. At the time, several Southern Baptist churches in the Columbia area envisioned supporting a new, contemporary church, one that might reach those in the community they could not reach. After several months of planning, local churches including Savage Baptist, Bethel Baptist, and Covenant Baptist (the initial sponsoring church) joined churches from Texas, Louisiana, and Virginia in making commitments for regular financial donations to Cornerstone. The Home Mission Board, a Southern Baptist agency that collects funds from churches nationwide to support start-up churches, also began a monthly offering. In March 1994, Cornerstone Community Church began holding regular Sunday services at Mayfield Woods Middle School.
Five years later, Cornerstone had achieved a measure of stability. The congregation had grown from a dozen regular attenders to over 100. The worship service had grown in many creative ways and included music, drama, dance, and multi-media presentations. Cornerstone grew more financially independent and established its own office space. From its first offering the church committed to tithing the church’s income to mission.
In fall 1998, the pastor felt led to consider moving Cornerstone to a more permanent facility, to provide a more attractive worship space, to allow a higher quality of service in the children’s program, to serve the community better, and to provide a facility for daily activities. A group of 20 church families signed covenants and committed to spiritual and financial support for the building program. Six months were spent planning, fund raising, and looking for an appropriate site. In spring 1999 a lease was signed for the Dobbin Rd. location, and renovation of the building interior began in July 1999. Mission teams from Mississippi, Kentucky, and Virginia came to help with the building and Cornerstone members donated several thousand labor hours. Worship began in the new space in December 1999.
In 2000, a grand opening was held on Easter. Cornerstone was heavily dependent on giving from outside churches and associations to allow us to afford the new facility. But the financial situation gradually improved each month as attendance grew. In the final weeks of 2002, we had a special building fund drive and paid off a building loan we had had since 1999. The loan grantor blessed us by matching the church contributions for the year as an incentive to early payment.
In 2003, Cornerstone achieved financial self-sufficiency for the first time since moving into the Dobbins Road facility and was no longer dependent on the contributions of external churches or individuals. During this time period we determined that being a non-denominational, networking church was the truest expression of our church and mission. We separated amicably from the Southern Baptist Convention while still retaining relationships and friendships.
Structural distinctives
The idea of partnership—the church’s version of membership—was established in 2003. Partnership was designed to be annually renewable and to ask for a high level of commitment to the church. Approximately 50 people signed Cornerstone’s first annual partnership covenant. As an independent church, Cornerstone developed and adopted a constitution by a vote of the partners. The constitution was most recently revised in 2011.
Mission focus
The church has been active in mission throughout its history, and tithes its offering to mission. The church’s first mission trip, to Juarez, Mexico, was in 2002.
Cornerstone has an ongoing relationship with Red del Camino in the Dominican Republic. We have hosted a pastor and his wife from the village of Santa Rosa in the summers of 2007, 2009, and 2011. In 2007 we completed an exciting and creative project to help build a well to supply clean drinking water for the people of Santa Rosa. More than $20,000 was raised. This well was completed in February 2008 and has made a big difference. We have sent mission teams to the Dominican Republic several times a year, usually with a particular emphasis, such as hurricane relief, construction projects, women’s retreats or teaching teachers.
We also have used our facility in mission. Since 2006 Cornerstone has hosted homeless families for a week at the church as part of the Howard County cold weather shelter program. It has become a major initiative of local mission in our church. Our unique Touchpoints ministry was an outreach day of pampering for disadvantaged women in our community. We have hosted children from Baltimore for a summer week of fun through our association with the Paul’s Place ministry.
We raised more than $8,800 for relief efforts for the tsunami that rocked Asia in 2008. We also sent people to Mississippi, assembled and sent close to 2,000 hygiene kits, and raised more than $6,000 for relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our members have sponsored 50 children in Zambia and over the years have been involved with Habitat For Humanity of Howard County and the Grassrooots homeless shelter in Howard County. We also work with the Samaritan Woman project in Baltimore.
Commitment to youth and church planting
Cornerstone has long had a deep commitment to children, youth and young adults, with special opportunities for each of these age groups.
Over the years people from Cornerstone have gone on to start new ministries with the support of the church. Cornerstone has a daughter church called The Journey in Eldersburg, Md. Two of our former members are missionaries in Asia, and another couple ministers to African immigrants in northern Virginia. Another former member is highly involved in urban mission in Seattle.
Cornerstone has offered its space to other new churches for their worship. These churches have included the Korean Living Water Fellowship church start and the Korean Harvest Presbyterian church start.
Currently…
Cornerstone’s founding pastor moved on in 2011 and the church is currently led by our interim pastor, Paul Benedetta. Many exciting things are taking place at the church. We invite you to join us and experience Cornerstone for yourself.