History of Cornerstone
On July 9, 2000, Pastors Steve Scheibner and Seth Johnson opened the doors of a church plant from Calvary Baptist Church in Pennsylvania. life at the Topsham Grange began for Cornerstone Baptist Church.
Bible Studies were held at community buildings and in people’s homes. Members and friends showed their God-given talents and gifts, singing specials, giving concerts and working hard on beautiful theatrical productions. On Thursday nights during the school year Awana filled the grange with laughter and the blessing of seeing children hide God’s word in their hearts. in 2003, before we knew it, our budding church family had outgrown the Grange and moved into the Orion Performing Arts Center.
Church gatherings continued to meet in satellite locations such as schools, homes, and backyards. The church family continued to grow in service, friendship, and numbers. Our members and membership continued to grow as we worked and planned together for our new building on Route 196 in Topsham.
Kennebec Builders and various contractors were hired, but the volunteers were an invaluable source of inspiration and determination. They painted, spackled, cleaned, tiled, dry-walled, and painted some more! Finally on August 8, 2004, Cornerstone Baptist Church moved into their first very own building. The next week, on August 15, there was a grand opening celebration. Folks came back to see what God had done since they’d been away.
In the years that have followed, we have hosted many special events. Military re-enlistments and retirements, baby showers, (lots of baby showers!) dedications, weddings, graduations, baptisms and funerals. Year after year we’ve experienced a variety of discipleship opportunities; Bible studies, Marriage Matters retreats, Precept conferences, Awana Bible Quizzing, Yokefellows and Yokeladies studies, Parenting Matters courses, Financial Peace University, and the list goes on. In November of 2006, Pastor Fenton and his family joined us to help carry the Pastoral load. It has become our tradition to schedule an annual visit to the Topsham Grange to chase away the midwinter blahs with our beloved Talent Show.
On January 24, 2010, Pastor Scheibner announced his decision to follow God's calling into a new family conferences ministry, Character Health. Soon after, a pulpit committee was formed to fill the spot being vacated by Pastor Scheibner. On May 23, 2010, God moved the people of Cornerstone to elect Pastor Lael Fenton as the senior pastor.
We have laughed and cried and we’ve missed our church family members when they’ve gone. There is one thing we know for sure. As each soul comes and goes at Cornerstone, we want them to know that we are rooting for them. We want them to succeed in Christ. We want to help them along the way. We are thankful to God for giving us His Son. We are also thankful that he has given us each other for the journey he has set before us.
The Cornerstone mission is to magnify God’s glory by bringing people to Christ, exalting God in worship and prayer, and by raising mature disciples for membership and ministry in His body.