The story of Cornerstone United Methodist Church begins in the 1980’s with the purchase of twelve acres of land at the intersection of Highways 34 and 154 in Coweta County by the New Church Development Committee of the North Georgia Conference. The committee foresaw the future need for a new congregation in this area between Newnan and Peachtree City, and Palmetto and Sharpsburg. The need to start the church development process became apparent due to growth in this area during the late 1980’s and the projections for the 1990’s.
In June 1991, Dr. Alton H. McEachern was appointed as pastor of the new church to be developed. With no congregation or meeting facility, he and his wife Virginia accepted the challenge of building, first, a congregation, and then a meeting facility on the 12-acre site. By July interested prospective members were meeting informally in homes until the 7th Day Adventist Church on Highway 34 East became available for use on Sundays. Once a regular meeting place was available, growth was rapid— increasing the membership of 45 in September 1991 to over 100 by March 1992. At that time, Bishop Earnest Fitzgerald officially constituted the congregation as Cornerstone United Methodist Church.
In the fall of ‘92, the congregation moved to East Coweta High School— having rapidly outgrown the 7th Day Adventist’s facility. Growth in the area continued to support an increase in church membership, and the need for a permanent church home became urgent. Back in ‘91 the first funds for a future building program were given at a fish fry hosted by Warren and Evelyn Leverette at their home. Now, a major effort would be required to initiate building. A building fund program was started called “Together we Build”. This program was for giving above and beyond a member’s regular support and was for a 30-month period covering three taxable income years. Support was strong, and while building funds accumulated, plans were developed and financing arrangements made to commence construction.
In May 1992 the first Bar-B-Q fund raising event was held on Highway 34 near the Belk Shopping Center. The proceeds of this event— which is now an annual event— generated considerable income for the initial, and subsequent, building programs.
In 1993 after securing district approval, a contract was let for a Celebration Center, narthex and education building. Due to skyrocketing construction costs caused by the upcoming 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the project was scaled down, and a modified Celebration Center/multi-purpose building was constructed. The first service was held in the new building in November 1995.
The congregation continued to expand and space for Sunday School classes was more critical each week— with some adult classes meeting off-site in commercial buildings near the church. Another building fund program was instituted and “Together We Build II” received generous support from the membership. A strong giving commitment, and funds from the sale of right-of-way to the Georgia DOT for the upgrade of Highway 34, allowed a contract to be let for the construction of an education building in 1996. The new building was completed and occupied in July 1997. The membership had increased to over 400 by this time.
The growing number of junior and senior high students created the need for a more focused effort on their spiritual needs. In 1996 Jenni Horne was hired part-time as Youth Director. She developed programs and activities that enhanced the youth’s spiritual growth and participation in church activities over the following two years. The success of this effort, and the continued increase in youth participation, generated the need to hire a full-time director.
In August 1998, Mr. Brian Loper was added full-time to the church staff as head of the youth ministry program. The congregation continued to grow with a number of young adults and their children making up a substantial percentage of the membership.
Dr. McEachern retired in June 1999, and Dr. David Campbell was appointed to continue to guide Cornerstone United Methodist Church in doing God’s work in the community it serves, a church family in every sense of the word.
In September 1999, the CornerstoneKids Preschool opened under the directorship of Kathi Noreika. Starting with 10 two-year-olds and two teachers, the school has since grown to 120 students with 15 teachers, including a music teacher. The preschool continues to maintain an excellent reputation throughout Coweta County due to its well qualified teaching staff and programming.
In March 2000, Cornerstone changed its organizational structure at a church conference to an Administrative Council/Council of Ministries structure in order to give greater emphasis and support to the ministries of the church.
Mike Peevy was hired in 2000 as Director of Music and Adult Studies. Under his leadership the adult choir, youth choirs, bell choir, praise band and many other church programs greatly enhanced the total worship experience of our congregation.
In 2001 we initiated our most recent building addition to provide much needed space for Sunday School classes and additional space for our preschool program. Looking ahead to our next building program, we also built a narthex to connect our current buildings together, and to provide needed fellowship space for our congregation to gather before and after the Sunday worship services. With this addition, our facilities meet the current needs of our congregation and also supports our community outreach efforts by providing a meeting place for many organizations, activities and programs.
In April 2002 the church and staff welcomed Janet Pouelsen as our new church secretary with duties too numerous to mention. Her cheerful, helpful voice greets everyone who calls the church. Recently her position title was changed to Administrative Assistant.
Virginia McEachern was added to the staff July 2002 as Director of Children’s Ministries for infants through the 5th grade. Today over 100 children are regular participants in the many programs and activities under her direction. This effort requires an ongoing staff of volunteers to support infant care during services, Sunday School, children’s church, evening child care when needed, musical programs and numerous special events, as well as Vacation Bible School. The 2005 VBS had over 200 children participate. This group included over 50 children from the local community outside of our regular church fellowship. The Sunday evening program, “Faithweavers”, was started for children age 4 through 5th grade. It is based on building lasting friendships, growth in faith, service and outreach.
In August 2002 Brian Loper left Cornerstone as Minister of Students. Jason Sansbury took over this position as Director, Youth Ministries. Under his leadership the Youth Ministry focused on several key areas for growth:
- The existing team of adult leadership was grown numerically and spiritually. The church’s decision to invest in training youth counselors led the team to have some excellent opportunities at conventions in Charlotte, Atlanta and Nashville. The focus of empowering lay people to be involved in ministry can be seen in the 12 adult counselors that work with this group.
- The focus of youth ministry discipleship was centered on the need to create small group ministries. As the group has grown and expanded, the need for students to have small groups where they can spend time discussing issues of faith, growth and life has been realized. Currently there are lots of groups of students (divided by age and gender) meeting with caring adults in prayer, study and sharing life.
- The youth ministry has focused on strengthening its Sunday night programming. Since 2002, we have split the larger youth ministry (6th through 12th grades) into three smaller groups. Our Route 56 program is designed to help students move from the 5th grade and our children's ministry to middle school and our youth ministry. Also during the Route 56 program, confirmation materials are covered. Our ministry to 7th and 8th graders is called the Trail. It is marked by enthusiastic worship, games and an age appropriate lesson. The Point, our ministry to all high school students, is much the same, with the lessons tailored to their age level. Sunday nights at Cornerstone have always been marked with great Sunday night youth ministry events and we have worked hard to continue both the Christ-centered focus and excellence for this group of over 70 youth.
In 2004 our Pastor’s Army Reserve Unit was activated, and he was called to serve as a Chaplin in Iraq for a year. During his tour of duty the church supported his efforts with Bibles and other materials. Filling in during his absence was one of our own members, retired Methodist Minister Ray King.
Today the growth of the church has generated the demand for an ever-increasing number of Sunday School classes. Eight sizeable adult classes meet on Sunday mornings, plus an evening adult class. The large number of children has generated numerous classes from preschool through 12th grade. A large number of adult volunteer teachers support the many Sunday School programs, and the need always exists for even more as new classes are formed. We are blessed to have a membership that responds when additional manpower is required to support this important work with the youth and their many programs. A nursery is provided for all Sunday School and worship services.
Utilization of our facilities has never been better. The church provides facilities for many outside organizations and activities including several Scouting programs, Alcohol Anonymous, and a variety of other community events, activities and meetings.
In June 2005, Reverend Joe Watson was assigned to Cornerstone from West Point UMC, replacing Dr. David Campbell, who moved to Trinity UMC in Rome, Georgia. Joe has quickly moved into the mainstream of our very active church. He strongly supports the renewed emphasis initiated to stress the importance of the stewardship of our members of their time, talents, gifts and service to the ministries of the church in order for us to be faithful to our obligations to God for His blessings. The strength of our stewardship drives our role in meeting the needs of our community and people in the world at large. We look forward to Joe’s enthusiastic leadership and guidance as we move aggressively into the future growth of Cornerstone with the renewed drive to be good stewards.
Updated: November 2005
