|
Cornerstone International Christian Church (CICC) was "born" 20 years ago. It was established by Pastor Paul T. Lacanilao to meet the needs of a growing church he was leading then: the First Filipino Baptist Church (FFBC) on South Parkview, Los Angeles, CA. Although the church has its own property, its limited space was not enough to accommodate its growing membership.
After a series of meetings, the body decided to look for a bigger facility. At that time, the 1.4 acre property on 1130 California Avenue, La Puente, CA owned by the Los Angeles Southern Baptist Association (LASBA) was available for lease. The property, consisting of a parsonage, worship and Christian education buildings, used to house an all-White congregation and later by a Hispanic congregation. Both groups gave up their leases and their members decided to join other churches.
When the matter of moving to a new church location was presented to the body, almost one-half of the membership voted for it and one-half voted to stay. Later, a mutually beneficial solution was arrived at: "Those who wish to stay may continue to be with FFBC; those who wish to move to start a new congregation under the leadership of Pastor Paul are free to go." About 60 members decided to stay and about the same number joined Pastor Paul to start CICC.
CICC held its first worship service at its present location first Sunday of December 1988 with about 100 in attendance (including guests). During the first few months, church leaders and members were wondering how they could fill the sanctuary with worshipers. They also felt uneasy because they were used to worshiping in a congested worship hall. Worship attendance increased dramatically after the first year, and every year thereafter, new faces and families were added to the membership roll of the church.
Across the years, God has blessed CICC's ministry in so many and different ways. God has:
-Helped CICC to earn the distinction of being "one of the fastest-growing ethnic churches in California." The Lord not only brought Fil-American worshipers from various counties but also kept the place to overflowing. It has now close to 600 regular worshipers attending three services
- Tagalog, Youth and English. The first is being conducted in Filipino while the two in English.
-Helped the church establish 15 mission or daughter churches - 10 in California and five in the Philippines.
-Enabled the church to extend prayer and financial support to 68 missionaries in various parts of the world, apart from the pastors of five mission churches.
-Provided the funds to buy the 1.4 acre property from LASBA. The church is currently renovating the sanctuary to make it more attractive to worshipers and conducive to worshiping.
-Used the church mightily in bringing unbelievers "from darkness to light," minister to the needs of the weak, sick and hurting people, and helped mend broken relationships and led believers to mature in the likeness of Jesus Christ.
-Given the church a new generation of leaders and pastors who are faithful to their calling as well as members whose all-out and continuing support made it possible to translate into reality its God-given vision and mission.
Pastor Paul believes that "this 20th anniversary celebration is again an exciting time to look forward in anticipation of what God will do through CICC in the next decade or two."
"With God at our side, we look forward to reaching new heights and level of service and accomplishing more for His earthly kingdom," he added.
.
|
