Cornerstone Community Church in Kresgeville recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special service and a church picnic attended by more than 400 people.

The church, an offshoot of First Baptist Church in East Stroudsburg, was started by seven families in 1996.The early planners included Bob and Nadine Hinton, Jim and Danna Ward, Fred and Andrea Jacoby and the late Gail Godshall.They found the place for the first service on Sept. 29, 1996 at the West End Fire Company in Brodheadsville. Soon, they moved to a strip mall across from Chestnuthill Nursery.In 2003, they broke ground on the current building at the corner of HTY and Polk Township roads. The final service in the store front was Good Friday 2005, and the congregation held the first service in the new building that Easter Sunday.Bob and Nadine Hinton spoke during the celebration service."We met in the boiler room at First Baptist during Sunday school time," Nadine Hinton remembered.She said 29 people attended the first service in the fire hall.They called the Rev. Kevin Green as the first pastor. When the church was established he moved on to plant other churches, and Cornerstone called its first permanent minister, the Rev Stuart Szmaciasz.The focus in the sanctuary of the church is a stained glass cross designed by Godshall. Nadine Hinton explained the colors on the cross:The misty blue depicts the majesty of the rolling oceans and sky.The green stands for the abundance of God's verdant earth.The purple diamond in the center stands for the royalty of our creator.The white stands for the Great White Throne around which we will gather one day soon.Bob Hinton said, "What does a true Christian look like? We love because God first loved us. This applies to a church as well, especially a growing church like ours.""Our purpose is to get to know him, and make him known to others.Dr. Don MacKenzie, retired regional director of Mission mid-Atlantic, offered a prayer. He said, "The church is not the building, but the people. It was established to reach the lost."Szmaciasz introduced the guest speaker, the Rev. Dave Cornell of First Baptist Church. "It takes a lot of faith and humility to let people go from your church."Cornell said, "The prime purpose of this fellowship is to be a lighthouse."He addressed the founding members: "It was not your brainchild. It was the plan of God whose Holy Spirit moved you to begin his work. I was thrilled to be a part of it."Cornell said the church was built by the grace of God. "The Lord was with us," Cornell said.He had a message for the future. "If you will preach and plug away, and share the love of Christ, the best days of this church are yet to come."You are all part of God's plan. It's no accident that you are here," Cornell told the congregation.The day concluded with a fellowship picnic, a dunk tank manned by the church pastors, a bounce house, pony rides and other games.Cornerstone Church has two services: 9 and 10:30 a.m. Sundays. Sunday school for all ages is held simultaneously with the 9 a.m. service. The church has men's and women's ministries, a youth group, programs for younger children and a Celebrate Recovery group. For more information visit

www.cornerstonecommunity.org.