Bishop Minor and Other Dignitaries to Attend Groundbreaking Ceremonies at Cornerstone United Methodist Church Written by Douglas L. Dalton - June 4, 2001 - Fayetteville, North Carolina -- The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Cornerstone United Methodist Church will be held on June 10, 2001, at 3:00 p.m. on the Church's property on Rim Road, next to E. E. Miller Elementary School. This is a milestone moment in the history of this church and congregation. Beginning in October of 1995 Cornerstone United Methodist Church, under the leadership of the Rev. Ben Sharpe, began to gather a core group of people who shared the vision of new church that would be faithful to proclaim and follow Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, and would be intentionally multi-ethnic in its constituency. Originally the Cumberland County School Board refused to allow Cornerstone to meet in its facilities on Sundays. So, Saturday evening became the main worship time for this group of church pioneers. In June of 1996 the Cumberland Co. School Board changed its policy and opened the doors of E. E. Miller Elementary School for use on Sunday mornings. This was the break Cornerstone was looking for. On October 14, 1996 the new church held its first Sunday morning worship. As the Congregation began to grow the church was able to officially Constitute as a United Methodist Congregation on January 12, 1997. Since then the congregation has been growing and making plans for the day this church could build it's own building. (Click here for detailed plans and reports) Now their praying and planning has come to fruition with the upcoming groundbreaking ceremony. And if this was not blessing enough the membership of Cornerstone United Methodist Church will also be blessed with several dignitaries who will participate in the ceremony as we break ground on our church in a ceremony of prayer. Members of the congregation and guests can park at the school and walk to the field. Parking at the church office is reserved for those who have accessibility needs. Among the dignitaries
will be Ruediger R. Minor, the Bishop of the United Methodist
Church of the Eurasia Central Conference in Russia. Bishop Also in attendance will be the Rev. David Malloy, District Superintendent of the United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Recently the Rev. Malloy supervised the Cornerstone United Methodist Church's Conference that convened and granted unanimous approval to proceed with the building project utilizing the floor plan, elevations, and financing as recommended by the Building Team and Finance Team. The conference took place at Trinity United Methodist Church on May 29, 2001. The building process should take approximately 240 days, which puts us in our Church building mid February 2002.
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Minor is a native of Leipzig, Germany. He completed his
theological training at Leipzig University, where he received a PhD in
Church History, and at the United Methodist Theological Seminary in
former East Germany. In 1964 he married Gerlinde J. Mueller, and
joined the East Germany Annual Conference of the United Methodist
Church where he was ordained an elder in 1966. His service to
the church includes pastoring local congregations and teaching at the
United Methodist Theological Seminary. He served as Dean from
1984-1986. Bishop Minor was elected and consecrated a bishop by
the East German Central Conference of the UMC. He served the
Dresden (East Germany) Area 1986-1992. Following a decision of
the 1992 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, Ruediger
Minor organized the Eurasia Central Conference, where he became its
first Bishop, residing in Moscow, Russia. The Minors have three
children and five grandchildren.