Who We Are
We are a non-denominational community church, seeking to create a body of believers who act on the words of Acts 2:42, "And they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and to prayer."
We often say that we are a people created to worship and reflect the glory of Christ.
If we were going to break that into smaller bits it would look something like:
We are a people: the church is people, not a place (1 Corinthians 12:12+, Romans 12:4-5).
Created to worship: the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” That’s a mouthful, so we just say, created to worship. This defines human identity. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
And reflect the glory of Christ: We believe that when Jesus called his disciples, he was calling them (and us!) to intern with Him, learning His ways, actions, and goals (Matthew 4:19, 1 John 2:6, Galatians 2:20).
Missions
A big part of our community is supporting both local and international missions. Locally that includes things like hosting neighborhood bike repair days, human trafficking awareness seminars, and a summer VBS. Internationally that looks like supporting Bible translation in Senegal, MAF pilots in the Congo, and taking a local team to Mexico annually.
Kids Ministry
Sunday school is available for preschool through 5th grade and begins after the time of worship. A nursery is also available. Your children are always welcome in the service.
The Cornerstone Youth meet every Sunday after church and are actively involved in serving the body and meet for fun events and activities.
Leadership
John and Melissa Thompson
John and Melissa have served Cornerstone in a number of roles including worship leaders, children's ministry, and since 2019, John has been senior pastor. Melissa is part of women’s ministry and teaches 6th grade science at Cole Valley Christian schools. In 2014/2015 their family spent a year on the mission field in Thailand.
John and Melissa met in their teenage years, unsure at first whether they were destined to be friends or foes. But over 20 years, five kids, and thousands of stories later they are best friends who enjoy travel, biking, and skiing at Bogus Basin.
John and Colleen White
John moved to Boise for college, where he met Colleen through mutual friends. They were late bloomers and started following Jesus in their 40’s. Through their participation at another local church, they became involved in men’s ministry, children’s ministry, home groups, marriage discipleship, as well as John being in leadership. In the fall of 2017, they started attending Cornerstone.
John serves as an elder at Cornerstone and Colleen is a leader in the women’s ministry, and has served recently as part of our remodel team.
David and Mary Beth Hollander
David and Mary Beth met while attending college at the University of Idaho in Moscow. They married in 2003 and have called Boise home for more than 20 years. They have five children and enjoy traveling and spending time with friends. David runs a software company.
David serves as an elder and Mary Beth is part of the prayer team, missions and kids ministries at Cornerstone. They love people and are usually the last ones to leave on Sunday morning.
Brandon & Leinei Sablan (on Sabbatical)
Brandon and Leinei have been part of Cornerstone since they moved from San Diego in 2021. They met at their church youth group as teens and have been involved in worship ministry together since. Brandon works for a cabinet shop and Leinei works in customer service and support. They have two sons and both secretly believe that ska isn’t dead.
Brandon serves as an elder and he and Leinei serve together in leading worship for the church.
Mike & Dawn Farrell (on Sabbatical)
Mike and Dawn Farrell have served in a number of roles at the church, including elder, bookkeeper, men's and women’s ministry. Mike holds the distinction of being the longest tenured member of the church, calling Cornerstone (and its predecessor Fellowship Baptist) his home since the late 1970s.
Currently they are taking a year away from church leadership to care for aging parents, and rest up for whatever the next season holds.
