It was early 2009 when a small group of Baptist believers united together to start a new mission work in Centralia. Initially the group met in homes, however soon the Lord opened an opportunity to rent the Centralia Fireside Guard building in downtown Centralia thereby launching a new church. Cornerstone Baptist Church became the official name registered with the State of Missouri in May 2009 and was quickly affiliated with the Southern and Missouri Baptist Conventions.
In May 2009, Cornerstone called Dr Bob Payne as interim pastor and he was instrumental in leading the church to elect a building committee along with initiating the start of a building fund. The congregation dream or vision for a future permanent church facility was launched. The church motto chosen for Cornerstone was and still is “Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.”
Cornerstone congregation started with 27 members and has consistently grown both spiritually and numerically with the Lord bringing numerous salvations and membership additions.
Two major events occurred in the latter part of 2015. We were able to purchase our present building site from Tom and Eileen Patton plus the old Guard building was sold causing us to relocate. God is good. Quickly, the Centralia Masonic Lodge came to our rescue and provided us with their facility which we rented for several months while building this facility. The Oklahoma Baptist Foundation stepped up to help us with the needed financial assistance. Almost simultaneously, the Tyler Henry family came from Florida and joined our fellowship opening the door for a volunteer Florida construction group from FBC Milton, Fla to start our building construction in May 2016. The building construction was continued with a second volunteer mission group from Elm Spring Baptist church, Kingsville Mo. Several other local volunteers and sub contractors were utilized to complete the facility as we see it today. Our first worship service in this facility was on December 4, 2016.
God has been very good to Cornerstone. We have met many new friends along the way and most of all He has grown and expanded our church family to share the good news of Jesus Christ in Centralia and the surrounding community. He has blessed us with good pastors. Brother Jerry Field helped us complete the building project and was instrumental in helping us change our focus from facility to ministry. Our first full time pastor, Marcus Blair, joined us in latter part of 2017. Our current pastor, Tyler TeBrink joined us in January 2023. Our prayer is that God will continue to lead Cornerstone in the future as He has done in the past.