In 1990
, three long time friends got together to just share about their church experiences and how God was impacting their lives. They each had gone to a traditional church, but had experienced a different type of church and worship service in California where the pastor preached to their hearts and not just to their heads. As they began sharing with one another the amazing time they had there, they began to think if only there could be a church like that right here in Seattle.From that moment birthed a dream to reach Asian-Americans like themselves in a setting and atmosphere that would be more contemporary. They knew they had to learn more about this possibility, so they embarked on studying about Asian-American Ministry and how their culture, being both Asian and American impacted their lives and the way they think and more importantly how they responded to Christianity.
For the next few months, Joey Locke, Amy Chin and Diana Sum (now Diana Tam) studied, prayed, and dreamed. Then one day, they heard that Joe Yoshihara (who started taking Seminary courses) and Brandt Luke (who was in Seminary) were also thinking about one day planting an Asian-American church. To say the least, the three of them were so excited. They thought that maybe their dream could really come true!
After some time had passed, the five of them met and found out that their goals were one and the same. They decided to partner with one another and see where God would take them. Together they learned more about Asian-American Ministries in the Greater Seattle area. They decided that the most impactful place would be on the Eastside. Many Asian-Americans were moving to the Eastside, so they set their hopes to one day start their ministry there.
In 1993
, Joe and Joey began to form their core and values. Brandt Luke had decided to stay in the Portland area where he felt God was leading him. Due to Joe's ties to a church in Southern California, his former church Cerritos Baptist Church said they wanted to help through prayer and financial means, and they become our Mother Church!In order to start a church, they knew highly effective people were needed to help them lead it. Many people from around Seattle came on board after hearing about Joe and Joey wanting to start this new church through word of mouth. In the end, there were 23 people whose heart God had touched, calling them to what eventually became CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. This team of 23 people began meeting on Saturday mornings at the home of Joe and Rita Yoshihara. Together they prayed, shared their lives, were sharpened by God's Word and they prayed some more! Starting a church was viewed much like having a baby. They had Cerritos as their mother and God as their Father. Now they just had to go through the process of giving birth! A Baby Shower was even coordinated in February 1996, where family, friends and partners in Christ were invited so that the vision of Cornerstone could be shared, as well as to ask for prayer and financial support. The response was overwhelming! God worked in the hearts of those who came--over $4,000 was raised to help start Cornerstone!