From Living Room to Cornerstone: The Journey of Our Faith Community
In 1990, the church was renamed Cornerstone Assembly of God, marking a period of significant growth. By 1995, it had become a vibrant, multicultural community with around 120 members from diverse nationalities. This era underscored the church's mission of inclusivity and evangelism, embodying unity and faith.
In 1982, Les and Clarice Bishop started a church in their living room. One of the early members, Janice Porter, joined them. The church, initially called Home Missions Church, later moved to Andover Newton Theological Institute in Auburndale. After another move, the name changed to Creation Assembly of God. In 1986, Les and Clarice Bishop resigned and the church membership decreased. In May 1986, Pastor Jack Briggs and his family took over and changed the name to Newton Assembly of God. Under Pastor Jack's leadership, through prayer, the church grew to 35+ attendees.
The church moved to Burr Elementary in Newton where the congregation continued to grow. Initially mostly Caucasian, the church saw an increase in Filipino members, leading to a more diverse congregation. After leaving Burr Elementary, the church leased space at Whittemore’s Christian Bookstore in Needham in 1990 and changed its name to Cornerstone Assembly of God. The congregation was incorporated on April 14, 1991, and by 1995, had grown to around 120 members with a diverse mix of nationalities attending.
In 1995, the church had to relocate again because the bookstore they leased from in Needham went out of business, and Cornerstone could not lease or buy the property. Within the same year, one of the great leaders of the church, Ernie, passed away after a long battle with cancer. These two major events hit the church hard. After a long search, the only viable option was to lease a space at the Greendale Avenue Worship Center where four different congregations shared spaces at different times. This forced Cornerstone to change the time of worship to 5 pm on Sundays, which greatly affected church attendance and membership.
Pastor Jack asked Pastor Kenneth Villaluz to serve as an Assistant Pastor, and Ken answered the call. Shortly after this, Pastor Jack suffered serious health problems. These health problems negatively impacted his physical strength and ministerial responsibilities, but he pressed on. Pastor Jack worked closely with Pastor Ken and relied heavily on him as his health declined. As a result of the challenges of moving to this new location, the overall church membership declined from approximately 120 to 50, but slowly rebuilt to around 75 before Jack retired.
In 2013, Pastor Jack retired, and Pastor Ken was voted in as the new lead pastor of Cornerstone. He led the church through difficult transitions, leadership changes, the effects of location changes, and the great migration of people.
In 2019, Cornerstone Assembly of God had to move again due to changes at Greendale Worship Center. The church leadership negotiated and signed a new lease with Grace Lutheran Church on Greendale Avenue in Needham.
Shortly after the move, Covid-19 hit hard and disrupted the church as we knew it. It was in the middle of Covid-19 that Pastor Ken decided to resign from the lead pastor position to attend to some family members who were dealing with serious health issues. By the end of 2020, Pastor Robson and his wife Mary moved from Maine to help the church with the transition out of Pastor Ken. They worked together for about three months, after which Pastor Ken transitioned to Texas while Pastor Robson served as an interim pastor for another three months.
On June 27, 2021, Pastor Robson was voted in as the new lead pastor of Cornerstone Assembly. In 2023, Grace Lutheran went out of business and sold their building. At this point, Cornerstone had to move again to our current location. Throughout all the challenges the church underwent, the faithfulness of God has been evident. He (Christ) is indeed the Cornerstone!
