About us

At Cornerstone, we do not use titles (Matthew 23:8-10).   In the body, we are all the same but have different functions.   While Jay Thompson is the preaching/teaching minister (minister means servant), we do not attach the title of reverend or pastor to his name.  Preaching and teaching is his ministry.  A group of godly men oversees Cornerstone.  They do the work of an overseer, a shepherd (pastor), an elder (dealing more with spiritual maturity than a physical age), etc.   While Christ is Head over His church, these men must ensure the word is taught correctly and nothing destroys the body.   When visiting Cornerstone, you will hear everyone referred to by name, with no titles.  When we list those who preach, teach, and oversee, you may want to meet with or ask one or all of them questions you may have about CCC.  But feel free to talk to anyone who is a member of this body.  Please contact any of this group if you have questions; better still, visit and get to know us firsthand.

Preaching minister & elder – Jay Thompson – email me

Jay  Thompson, with his wife Kelley and his two daughters Elisa and Meranda,  first came to Cornerstone Christian Church in September 2001 as our new  minister after serving as a minister in Kansas. Since then, Cornerstone  has been very blessed by the Thompson family, and Jay opted to take on  the duties of Elder as well. The church continues to grow with Jay’s  guidance. Kelley home schools Meranda and also has a quilting business  she operates out of the home. Elisa works at Goodwill Industries.

Elder – Larry McKemey – email me

Larry and his wife  Sarah have been with the church since 1979. They came with three  children that are now grown and two have moved away, while one is still  here and married and still attending Cornerstone. Larry has served in a  leadership capacity most of the time he has been at Cornerstone. After  many years in radio broadcasting (under the name of Larry Stevens) Larry  owns and operates an advertising agency in the Montgomery area. He also serves  as an adult Sunday School Teacher. Sarah works at the Montgomery Zoo as  PR/Marketing Director and serves as a teacher in the church.

Elder - Jack Jackson - email me

Jack and Linda recently moved back to the Montgomery area, and live in Elmore County. They have three grown children, and have grandkids and great grandkids. Jack retired from the Air Force with over 32 years service. After retiring from the Air Force, Jack worked as a USAF Junior ROTC instructor, School Principal, TV Meteorologist and College Professor (teaching in Montgomery area at AUM and Faulkner University). Jack has served as an Elder at two other churches in our brotherhood. Linda serves in the Nursery Ministry at Cornerstone.

No book, but the Bible. No name, but His Name.

James Garfield, the country’s eighteenth president and part of the Restoration Movement, described our beliefs this way…

We call ourselves Christians. We believe in God the Father.

We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Savior.

We regard the divinity of Christ as the fundamental truth of the Christian system.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, both as to his agency in conversion and as indwelling in the heart of the Christian.

We accept both the Old Testament and the New Testament Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.

We believe in the future punishment of the wicked and the future reward of the righteous.

We believe that the Deity is a prayer hearing and prayer answering God.

We observe the institution of  the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day. To this table we neither invite nor  bar; we say it is the Lord’s Supper for all the Lord’s children.

We plead for the union of God’s people on the Bible and the Bible alone.

The Christ is our only Creed.

We maintain that the ordinances should be observed as they were in the days of the Apostles.

We use the early church as our example and try to follow the pattern we see as written in the book of Acts. 

We don’t believe we are the only Christians, but we do believe in being Christians only. 

The dream to have an  independent Christian Church in the city of Montgomery began back in the  middle 70s. There was a small, but faithful group of people who wanted  very much to see a church established that used the Bible only as her  rule Book. In 1979 the Lord favored the group by sending a minister that  was fully funded by a friend of his, thus allowing him to work full  time in getting the church up and growing. Soon after his arrival  property was found on Virginia Loop Rd with a house that had been empty  for five years. The group had been raising money, but they had to put up  personal property in order to obtain a loan to pay the remainder. In  June of 1980 the congregation officially became Southeast Christian  Church and they began meeting in the little renovated house on Virginia  Loop Rd. (until this point they were the East Montgomery Christian  Church and they met in several different rented locations). From this  handful the congregation soon was over flowing the small meeting room in  the house. By now it is 1985 and again the group steps out on faith and  builds a sanctuary that was soon near capacity. However, the city of  Montgomery began to shift and soon families that lived in the  neighborhood and attended services began to move to other areas. Many  moved out into the metro counties of Elmore and Autauga. In order to be  more central to the congregation a decision was made to find property  either on the east side or northeast corner of the city. The property  was put up for sale. It sold in April of 2000 and the church  subsequently bought the current meeting place at 301 Dalraida Rd. in  east Montgomery. 

This was an emotional time for  the church, but God opened doors that no one could explain in locating  the current facility. On Easter Sunday in the year 2000 the group held  their first service in the new location. The body at Southeast is  growing once again, both spiritually and physically. Since moving in  there has been a new state-of-the-art sound and video system installed,  walls erected to create more Sunday School rooms, two large handicapped  accessible bathrooms, handicapped parking spaces, and a ramp has been  put in place to make getting in easier for anyone with a physical  disability. It was decided we needed a name for the church that didn’t  reflect an area of the city (i.e. Southeast Christian Church). At the  annual congregational meeting in August of 2000 there were several names  proposed and the name Cornerstone Christian Church was chosen. 

We are excited about what God  is currently doing in our church body! He’s been faithful to continue to  grow our church and we are currently in the process of expanding our  building to accommodate that growth. We are making several upgrades to  the current building as well as expanding the sanctuary to a 200 seat  auditorium.

This congregation has been the  home church for many military families stationed at both Gunter and  Maxwell AFB in Montgomery. These families have enriched our congregation  with their faith and love. Cornerstone welcomes any of our military  that may be stationed here for a time, or in for just a few weeks of  schooling.

Even though Cornerstone is not a  very old congregation we are part of a movement that goes back hundreds  of years. There were several Christians at that time tired of the  fighting between denominations. They also found many practices at that  time that didn’t seem to agree with what the Bible had to say. It seemed  that almost at the same time, in different parts of America, several  people came up with the same idea, “Let’s put aside all our traditions  and creeds and take a fresh look at the Bible.” Thousands of people did  just that. The Restoration Movement was begun with a dream of uniting  all Christians by emphasizing only those things clearly taught in the  New Testament. People traded in their man-made rules and creeds for  simple statements of the Bible. It has now been many years and these  principals that motivated so many in the beginning continue to motivate  people today. Cornerstone is now a part of over 6,000 churches and 1.5  million members across America.