Cornerstone Community Church in Kresgeville celebrated its 25th anniversary Sunday by dedicating its new children’s wing. People who helped in the process were recognized, including two who passed away in the last year.

The church began in 1996 when six families from First Baptist Church in East Stroudsburg met to plant a church in the West End.

They began meeting in the West End fire hall, moved to rented quarters across from Chestnuthill Nursery and moved into the new building on Easter Sunday in 2005. In June 2019, the congregation broke ground on the expansion for the children’s wing.

The Rev. Brian Weber, executive minister at Converge Mid­Atlantic, was the guest speaker.

“The church is the people of God and the work of God to build his kingdom. God has a big plan for this congregation,” Weber said.

The new wing was named Heritage Hallway, a name selected through an internal contest.

The expansion cost $900,000, with $500,000 raised through sacrificial giving by the congregation.

The Rev. Stuart Szmaciasz, church pastor, said it took seven years from the first time the building expansion committee met to the day of obtaining building occupancy permit. They went through “everything from A to Z when there was nothing except parking lot.”

He added, “It’s amazing they journeyed together for that long.”

The members of the committee who were honored:

• Sally Batchelder, who had retired as secretary in 2019, died June 17 of this year. Szmaciasz said she took care of many details and could occasionally be heard talking to contractors in a stern voice, saying, “That’s not acceptable.”

“She got things done,” Szmaciasz said.

• Nadine Hinton, who Szmaciasz said “brought her wisdom and joyful attitude to every meeting.”

• Chris Borger, an engineer, was “indispensable” to the project. “Chris put in untold hours,” he said, meeting with surveyors, the township and going over details. “He saved us significant money,” Szmaciasz said.

• Todd Peterson, helped with spackling, painting, and putting in water and sewer lines. “He was everywhere doing everything,” Szmaciasz said.

Peterson also thanked Szmaciasz for the hours he put in.

Other people recognized included Lou Domenico, Ron Heinze, Gary Batchelder, Steve Wassmer, Phillip Rasmussen, who died Sept. 29, 2020; Diane Dougherty, Nick Masker, Dave Dion, Dan Hazen, Larry Weingartner, Murand Fabre, Jose Mendoza, Clark Tuttle, Bob Handy and Russ Hoch.

“I love what God continues to do at Cornerstone,” said the Rev. David Cornell, retired from First Baptist Church.

He concluded with prayer. “May many be saved here, may many learn the Scripture here, may many experience the power of prayer here,” he said.