Dear Cornerstone Family,
Greetings from your Ministry Expansion Team! As most of you know, Cornerstone has for several years been praying and planning about how to address our “good problem” of growth relative to our facility. Our goal throughout this process has been to have a larger ministry footprint—one that would allow us to remain rooted in downtown while expanding our ability to worship, disciple, fellowship, and serve.
To that end, we recently announced that we have entered into a contract to purchase the historic property adjacent to our church (formerly Biscuit Love). We see this as a potential opportunity to accomplish our goals while remaining in the heart of downtown Franklin. By way of reminder, here are some of the potential benefits:
Gather more of our church family together on Sundays with less reliance on overflow;
Welcome more visitors and neighbors into worship and community life;
Expand discipleship, fellowship, and ministry programming throughout the week;
Strengthen our downtown gospel presence for generations to come;
Create flexible space for training, church planting, and future ministry initiatives.
Just as importantly, this opportunity is remarkably practical and financially responsible. Rather than pursuing a completely new land acquisition and ground-up construction project that could ultimately require $20M or more, this path offers the possibility of accomplishing many of our long-term goals through a significantly more attainable investment:
The cost is $5M for property acquisition (we are so fortunate to have nearly $1M in commitments from a small group in our church to help make the down payment).
We would then enter into a campaign to raise the additional $4M over the next 3-4 years while entering into an interest-only loan to finance those pledges.
At the end of that time period, we would be in a position to begin the Worship Center project without significant additional capital.
We will be able to take advantage of the downtown infrastructure already coming online, including nearby parking, public gathering space, and improved accessibility.
The potential addition of approximately 6,000 square feet behind the existing structure could provide expanded worship, fellowship, and ministry space while maintaining the relational and communal feel that has always characterized Cornerstone.
Our plan is not without hurdles. We still await approval from the city, and certainly, there is skepticism on part of some of the Design Review Committee about the impact of this proposed structure on our downtown aesthetic. At the same time, we remain in the process and have not received a “no” from any decision maker.
We are now asking that you as a congregation commit to three things:
Pray that we will act in accordance with God’s will for our church and make godly, wise decisions that allows us to glorify God and spread the gospel as an effective witness wherever the Lord would lead us.
Prayerfully consider how you could support our campaign over and above your current levels of giving. While $4M is not an insignificant amount of money, it is amazing how reasonable the numbers become when spread out across our congregation over 3-4 years.
Pray diligently that the Lord would work on the hearts of those in authority to support an expanded footprint for Cornerstone Presbyterian.
This is an opportunity to preserve our downtown presence, expand our ministry capacity, and invest in a long-term gospel witness in the center of our city. We believe opportunities like this are rare. And we believe this one may have been providentially placed before us. We’ll provide more updates during next week’s Congregational Meeting to elect officers.
In Christ,
Will Kesler