A brief History

Cornerstone traces its origin to a church plant of the Congaree Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) in 1971, and established as McGregor Presbyterian Church in the Irmo area of South Carolina. Rev. Bill Solomon was called as the first pastor. The congregation grew rapidly as people came to know the Lord and lives were transformed.

In 1981, remaining firm in their belief in the inerrancy and authority of the entire scripture, and upon recommendation of the Session, the congregation of McGregor Presbyterian voted overwhelmingly to leave the PCUS and to join the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The following year the members began meeting at Irmo Middle School and took the name of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. Three years later, in 1985, Cornerstone moved to its current facility on Bush River Road.

During this time Cornerstone embarked on three major initiatives: Woods Edge; Sports, Outreach, Arts and Recreation (SOAR); and a second campus. Each of these initiatives reflected the spirit of the church, drew heavily on the considerable resources of the congregation and expanded the outreach of the church. Providing the labor and most of the materials, our church families spent countless weeks constructing Woods Edge, built primarily for the youth and expanded to other ministries.

Soon afterwards, a similar camaraderie was evident as members gathered to grade and develop the soccer and baseball fields for SOAR. This program continues as a 501c3 non-profit with a diverse board of which Cornerstone retains a number of seats. SOAR continues to minister to roughly 1000 of our neighbors per season.

The third initiative was the plant of a second campus. Desiring to reach residents of the rapidly developing northwest corner of greater Columbia, Cornerstone established a second campus, meeting at Dutch Fork High School. This led to the particularization of the second campus as a separate church, which became Grace Point Presbyterian Church.

To accept the call for another church plant, Rev. Solomon resigned in 1987. After David Bryan’s brief pastorate, the congregation called Rick Perrin as senior pastor (1991-2009). Following the pastorates of Jeff Brunsink (2011-2013) and Rob Korn (2014-2016), the congregation voted to extend a call to Rev. Joshua M. Knott to be Cornerstone’s Senior Pastor in June 2017 and Rev. Timothy Burden as Associate Pastor in June 2023.