CORNERSTONE CHURCH TO BUILD AT NEW SITE

The shelves of reference books behind his desk are full, and the baseball memorabilia is taking over the walls in Kim Ferguson's office.

But his office isn't the only cramped space in the Cornerstone Church building. The sanctuary is filled to near capacity each Sunday, and parking lots are overflowing each week.

Cornerstone Church simply needs more space.

"We've outgrown where we are at and there is no room for expansion," said Ferguson, the church's pastor. "We are ready for a complete relocation."

Currently the church meets at 298 N. West End Blvd. On Sunday, the congregation will hold groundbreaking services for a new building at 933 Koch St. The worship service starts at 10:30 a.m., and the congregation will meet at the new property around 11:45 a.m.

The new building will be situated on 11.5 acres of land already owned by the church. The church, which was founded in 1991, bought the land three years ago with the hopes of building. The property abuts the Shawnee Parkway or Route 74.

When excavation work begins Monday, the church's hopes will be closer to reality. Construction could be complete by April.

"We will build as we have needs," Ferguson said. "This is a new step in our history."

The new building will almost double the space the church now has. The 11,000 square feet of space will be used for a sanctuary, education classrooms and a fellowship area. Plans are only for phase 1 of a construction effort.

"We were really flexible with the plans," Ferguson said. The sanctuary will seat about 250 people when complete, which is 100 more than now available.

Although the church has seen growth over the years, Ferguson said that a new building will help draw more people to the congregation. "We have a real equity of ages," he said. "It's a really even spread."