What began as a small church on a hill in Wildomar in 1992 has grown into a thriving community of people committed to following Jesus and helping others do the same. Below you'll find information on our founding pastor and the history of our church.

Debbie and I were a couple of 29-year-olds with two little boys when we drove into the Temecula Valley, and we were a couple of 60-year- olds when I turned the Lead Pastor role over to Pastor Andy and drove out.  A lot of celebrating, worrying, struggling, praying, grieving, baptizing, marrying, and burying happened in those 30 years of pastoring Cornerstone.  
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The idea of Cornerstone started while I was working for my dad at a small church in downtown Orange, CA.  I was working for him during the day and going to law school at night.  Dad and I were driving to lunch one day when he told me he was going to turn the church over to me when I graduated law school.  We had loosely planned that eventually he would retire and I would lead the church, but this was only about a year away.  As it got closer, I asked Dad if he was retiring because he felt it was the right time for him to retire or was it just to benefit me.  My dad was an incredibly generous guy, and I was worried that he might step down to help me step up.  Turns out, that’s exactly what that generous sneaky guy was up to.  I suggested that he stay at the church and Debbie and I would go plant a church.  That conversation was the birth of Cornerstone, and it turned out pretty well for all of us.  The Lord allowed my dad to stay another 17 years as pastor of that little church and started my family on its journey with you, the Cornerstone family.
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February 2, 1992, five families that had moved to the valley had our first service at Margarita Middle School in Temecula.  We didn’t know anyone in the valley when we had all moved there over the few previous months, but we sent out mailers, talked to people in coffee shops and grocery stores and anywhere else someone would listen.  On that first weekend we had over 300 people show up.  We were so excited.  Now because of my vast experience and great talent in the pulpit we were able to turn 300 on that first weekend into only 200 on the second one.  (I thought “if I lose a third a week, we should be all wrapped up in under a month.”)  But the church stabilized at around two hundred people, and we started the work of turning a crowd into a congregation (church family).
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We were in the school about a year and then a rented building down of Front St. in Temecula.  Our big move was when we were able to acquire a tiny little building on 7 acres in Wildomar.  It was an incredibly rough looking building and property when we got here but my dad and friends from the church in Orange came out and helped us remodel the building and we added a few modulars for classrooms and even though it was small, and the property still looked rough on the outside, it was ours and we were so grateful to have it.
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We worked really hard and the first 3 years of giving it our all we saw the church grow all the way from that initial 200 hundred people to a grand total of about 232.  That equaled about 10.6 people per year.  I figured it would only take about 70 years to grow to a 1000.  But our plans are not God’s plans and I’m so glad that my math is not God’s math.  The church began to really grow.
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We kept adding services and were finally able to build a new sanctuary (the Chapel) and that filled up so we started doing services in that one plus the old one.  At one point we were doing 3 services in one building and 2 in the other.  While I was still speaking in one building the legendary worship Pastor Ron Clinton would go start the service in the other building.  When I finished one sermon, I would walk over to the other building and start the sermon there.  I would just keep going back and forth until we were done.
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The Lord helped us keep adding buildings, start a K-12 school, add a preschool and the facility has grown from that original little building (Kid’s Theatre) and 7 acres to 85,000 square feet of building space and over 45 acres of land.  I am incredibly grateful to the Lord for providing such wonderful tools to use in ministry.  But that’s all buildings and land are to a church, tools.
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The church itself is a family of believers that have committed themselves to the Lord and each other.  People who work together, worship together, learn together, and share each other’s lives.  That’s what Cornerstone has been for my family.
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During my three decades of leading Cornerstone there were thousands of families that came through the doors.  They were wonderful, and crazy, and broken, and celebrating, and triumphing, and each struggling in their own way.  They were real people who needed help.  And we gave it to each other.  It’s amazing how Jesus wraps his arms around all our imperfections and heals our broken places.
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Dad was talking to me one day in his office just before Cornerstone launched and here is what he told me: “Son, you’ve been a big help to me here but being the Assistant Pastor is different than being the Senior Pastor.  You won’t understand this now, but when you’re carrying the ‘whole elephant’ you will.  Just make sure you never quit till you’re done.”
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I never carried the “whole elephant,” the people of Cornerstone and the other pastors and staff shouldered the load of the church right along with me.  But to be honest, there were lots of times that I felt like I was, and I understood what Dad meant.  All Lead and Senior Pastors do.  But it became a running joke with Dad.  Something bad, or discouraging would happen at the church, and I would call him and ask, “Am I done yet?”  He would always say, “Not quite yet Son.”  One day I asked him, “Seriously, how will I know when I’m done?”  He just chuckled and said, “You’ll know.”  He was right, I did.About three years before I stepped down as Lead Pastor, I knew it was time to plan the next chapter of Cornerstone.  I also knew the key was to find the right person to step into my role as speaker and vision caster.  Previously I had brought a couple people on staff that I thought had potential to be that person but even though they were great people, I knew it wasn’t the right fit.  I talked with a couple of church staffing companies, but I knew that there was no way I was going to interview a candidate three times and turn over my church family to a virtual stranger.  So as a last resort, I began to pray about it.  (Please don’t try to tell Good Ole Pastor Ron that you haven’t ever tried to work something out yourself and then when you couldn’t, began to pray.)
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So, I began my year of saying “yes.”  No matter where I was asked to teach, speak, or share, I would say yes.  I never really enjoyed speaking at other places besides Cornerstone, but I figured it would be a lot easier for the Lord to put the right person in my path if I was willing to interact with some new people.  (All the introverts like me are cringing right now).  So I started saying yes to every speaking invitation.
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I ended up in some strange places.  I ended up teaching in the business school at Azusa Pacific University.  I taught seminars at UMass on public speaking.  I taught a session at the Association of Related Churches conference on church planting.  I even preached at a little tiny start-up church in San Diego.  But then I got a call from the Director of Calvary Chapel Bible College who asked me to meet him for coffee.  (Saying yes did not include a willingness to drink that vile brew but I figured I could have an iced tea.) College Director Andy Deane showed up and asked me if I would be willing to teach a class at the Bible college.  I said yes.
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A few months later, Andy and I were chatting and I invited him to come on staff as an Associate Pastor.  He was on staff for about 20 minutes when Covid hit and he never wavered.  He was committed to the local church in a way that a person only gets if he is truly called to ministry.  I knew within just a few months that the Lord had sent our next leader.
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It’s true that I mentored Pastor Andy and taught him one or two things about how to pastor a large church, but Andy was a fully formed leader the day I met him and a man of godly character.  I am privileged to call him one of my closest friends who I talk to almost every week.  I am so incredibly proud of him.  I stood on my dad’s shoulders as I began ministry.  I like to think that Andy has stood on mine.
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When I felt the Lord leading us to plant Cornerstone, I said yes.

When struggles came, I asked, “Will you stay till you are done?”  I said yes.

When it came time to look for God’s next leader of Cornerstone, I said yes.

When I asked Pastor Andy, do you feel called to be the next leader of Cornerstone, he said yes.

I’m excited to think about what God is going to do through Cornerstone as Pastor Andy and all of you continue to say yes to him.
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I love you a lot.  It has been my privilege to be a small part of your lives.
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Pastor Ron Armstrong