In early 1972 a small group of believers gathered to form what became Fellowship Baptist Church of Waterloo. They initially worshiped together in one of the small store fronts in the downtown area of Waterloo and later that year opened a new building at 1009 N Monroe Street. Between the years of 1972 and 1990 the small congregation experienced many difficult years, often with very few people in attendance.
In 1990 Fellowship Baptist Church called Todd Thelen as their new Senior Pastor. Shortly after, in 1992, the name of the church was changed to Prokopay Baptist Church. Through this time of blessing, God used Todd and Tammy Thelen to bring a fresh passion to Biblical preaching, refreshment to God’s people through shepherding, and a new vision for the community. The church continued to grow and by the mid-1990’s had around 100 in attendance. In 1999, Pastor Thelen and the leadership of the church proposed another name change, motivated by their ongoing pursuit for a biblical, independent and non-denominational future. Cornerstone Church was constituted in late 1999. After 10 years of faithful service, Pastor Thelen resigned and moved to another ministry in Nebraska in December 2000.
In August 2001, Cornerstone Church called a new Senior Pastor, Keith Doyle. The church continued to grow and by late 2003, Cornerstone purchased new property to relocate and build a more suitable facility for a growing congregation. In July 2004, Cornerstone broke ground on a new property located at 550 Portland Road, Waterloo and opened this new worship facility in December 2004.
Because of rapid growth and ministry needs, an education wing was added in 2006. After 10 years of faithful ministry, Pastor Keith Doyle and his family were led of God to move and minister to another church family in Winnetka, Illinois.
In January 2012, Cornerstone Church celebrated 40 years of God’s faithfulness. It was in September of 2012 that the church called Pastor Aaron Sturgill to join the elder team as the Elder of Teaching and Preaching.
June 16, 2014 the church building was destroyed by a fire that required the entire church to be rebuilt (except for the external walls). It took a little over 9 months to rebuild. So many in the Waterloo community offered assistance through this time. St. John’s Church housed the church family for a number of weeks until they were able to find a temporary place of worship at the Waterloo Tech Center for the remainder of the reconstruction. See more pictures here.
In March of 2015, the church family was able to celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in their newly remodeled building!
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Cornerstone today continues the heritage of strong expositional preaching and teaching, Christ-focused ministry, and a love to see the saving Gospel of Christ proclaimed throughout our city and region. We praise God for those who have come to know Christ and those who continue to grow in Christ-likeness. May God alone receive all the glory.
