Cornerstone Church (Ames)

Cornerstone Church
Location	56829 U.S. Highway 30, Ames, Iowa
Country	United States
Denomination	Southern Baptist Convention
Weekly attendance	2,657 (as of 2014)
Website	cornerstonelife.com
History
Founded	28 August 1994 (1994-08-28)
Founder(s)	Troy Nesbitt, Harold Nesbitt, and Peter Matthews
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Mark Vance
Pastor(s)	Jeff Dodge, Troy Nesbitt

Cornerstone Church, is a multi-generational church with a passion to reach the next generation of college students. The church building is located near the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 35 in Ames, Iowa. The church’s mission statement is “helping people know and obey Jesus.”^[1]

History

Cornerstone Church was established in 1994 from its roots as a ministry for Iowa State University college students that was connected with Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Ames. Since this college ministry, The Salt Company, was becoming larger than the church's congregation, Grand Avenue Baptist Church gave approval for the leaders of The Salt Company to plant a new church that was named Cornerstone Church. This name was based on Ephesians 2:20 which states, “…with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.” ^[2]

The first service was held on August 28, 1994 in the evening at Grand Avenue Baptist. The core membership at that time consisted of 24 community people with an additional 200 students who attended regularly. Within six months the service had to move to a larger auditorium located in the Scheman Building at the Iowa State Center to accommodate for the increase in numbers. A year later, Cornerstone again grew out of their space and moved to the largest available auditorium space located at the Ames Middle School. The church continued to grow as The Salt Company also grew, and when the funds and land were available, the members came together to support the construction of a new building that they could call home.

In September 1999, the first service was held in the new building that Cornerstone Church continues to reside in.^[3] In the fall of 2007, Cornerstone announced an expansion project, which has included a 1,500-seat auditorium (as opposed to the original 637-seat auditorium) to furnish the tremendous growth that this church continues to experience.

Since then, Cornerstone has continued to grow, and has an average weekly attendance of 2,657.^[4] Ministry to college students at Iowa State University through the Salt Company has remained at the forefront, and that ministry has now expanded to many universities across the Midwest. In partnership with the North American Mission Board, church-planting has become a major focus of the ministry of Cornerstone. The Salt Network was formalized in 2016 with the goal of planting a church and Salt Company at every major campus in the Midwest.

Today, Cornerstone Church is a multi-generational church with a passion to reach the next generation of college students with the Gospel. They are a church that loves Iowa State University and the community of Ames.^[5]

Vision^[6]

• A Next-Generation Church: They will focus on college students as the top priority, in order to mobilize the next generation.
• A Gospel-Fueled Church: A family of broken people who worship Jesus.
• A Gathered Church: They will teach chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse through the Bible.
• A Connected Church: The members strive to be intentionally and deeply relational at every level.
• An Outward-Facing Church: They focus on the community and people around them.
• A Multiplying Church: The primary goal is to fuel a multiplying Gospel movement through church-planting on university campuses.

Ministries^[7]

Cornerstone Church of Ames has many activities or ministries provided to an assortment of age groups as well as people groups. These groups allow for people to have fellowship in small group settings or "connection groups", and they also equip people with Biblical principles in large group settings primarily through worship and teaching.

• D6 Families: A ministry that provides care and classrooms for infants through 2nd graders during our Sunday services and while having a ton of fun as they teach about Jesus through worship, age-specific lessons, and a variety of exciting activities. D6 also offers 2, 10-week courses for 3rd-5th graders covering basic theology, Old Testament and New Testament.^[8]
• 180: A ministry that helps build and strengthen middle schoolers' identity in the good news of Jesus Christ by learning from the Word of God and practicing living it out in community.^[9]
  

  The Salt Company Logo
• Escape 22: A ministry for high school students with a desire to know God in a real, personal way.^[10]
• International Friendship Connection (IFC): A fellowship of international students from all over the world and American friends who seek to care, welcome, serve, and support international students, scholars and their families.^[11]
• The Salt Company: A ministry for college students that meets Thursday nights. The Salt Company is an official student organization at Iowa State University and is its largest campus ministry, averaging an attendance of 1,300 students each week.^[12]
• Cornerstone School of Theology (CST): An equipping ministry that offers a Master's in Theological Studies in partnership with Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) in Kansas City, MO.^[13]

References