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Cornerstone University is a private, independent, non-denominational Christian liberal arts college located on the east side of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It offers programs in the humanities, sciences, business, religion, education, and fine arts, and includes a seminary.

All subjects are taught with the trinitarian belief in the triune God and the literal interpretation of the Bible. Students are required to abide by a strict "Lifestyle Statement" intended to reflect those beliefs.

In 1977 Cornerstone University is nationally accredited by both the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canadaand the National Association of Schools of Music.[http://nasm.arts-accredit.org/index.jsp?page=Member+Lists

History

Cornerstone was founded in 1941 as the Baptist Bible Institute. It was accredited in 1972 as a degree-granting college. It merged with the Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music in 1993. As of 2006, Cornerstone had an enrollment of approximately 2,700.

Cornerstone University has a rich heritage of equipping students with biblical truths to make an impact in the world for Christ. Founded in 1941, the Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids, Michigan, (now Cornerstone University) opened as an evening school with over 200 students enrolled. Classes were held two evenings per week in the educational wing of Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids. Fees for regularly enrolled students were $2.00 per term! Cornerestone's first president was David Otis Fuller, who was simultaneously serving as the senior pastor of Wealthy Street Baptist Church, a boardmember for Illinois's Wheaton College, and a boardmember for ABWE.

The institute continued to grow and develop into a day and evening school. Eventually, a seminary began and the Bible Institute became a 4-year Bible college and seminary. In 1964, the college and seminary moved to its current 132-acre campus, and the same year the college was received as a member of the American Association of Bible Colleges.

The day before students were to arrive with their parents on this new campus, the Administration Building was still an unbelievable mess. The college president, administrators and professors went to work with buckets, mops, soap, brooms, and dust cloths, working until midnight to make sure all was ready. "That first night," recalls W. Wilbert Welch (then-president), "we fed our arriving students oven-heated Spam!"

In the 1970s and early '80s, the school - then named Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary - continued to experience significant growth in enrollment, facilities and reputation. In 1972, the school was approved by the State of Michigan as a degree-granting college of arts and sciences. Accreditation was granted by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1977. During these years, construction on campus continued with the addition of several buildings.

On September 2, 1991, Rex M. Rogers was inaugurated as our 10th president. In 1993, Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music merged with the institution. Enrollment, programs and facilities continued to expand.

Today, Cornerstone University has a total enrollment of over 2,700 students. The university has programs for traditional undergraduate students; the Professional and Graduate Studies program, which offers courses across the state of Michigan; and a growing number of graduate programs including advanced theological training at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary as well as in southeast Asia. Cornerstone University Radio reaches millions of listeners daily through the outreach ministries of WCSG, WAYK, WAYG, Mission Network News and His Kids Radio.

Names of the Institution Since Its Beginning

January 1941-1944: Baptist Bible Institute of Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • (modeled after the Baptist Bible Institute of Toledo, Ohio)
  • (located in educational wing of Wealthy Street Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan)

1944-1948: Baptist Bible Institute and School of Theology of Grand Rapids, Michigan

1948-1963: Grand Rapids Baptist Theological Seminary and Bible Institute

  • (first seminary graduating class of 2 students, Spring 1949 -- one of whom was Victor M. Matthews, who immediately began teaching at the school)

1963-1972: Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College and Seminary

  • (Fall 1964, first students arrive at new campus/Leonard& East Beltline NE)

1972-1994: Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary

  • January 1977, the new Leon J. Wood Seminary Building opened
  • February 1977, the Leon J. Wood Seminary Building dedicated

1993 - merged with Grand Rapids School of the Bible & Music

1994-1999: Cornerstone College and Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary (3-28-94) (legally renamed as Cornerstone Baptist Educational Ministries -- C.B.E.M.)

1999-present: Cornerstone University (4-8-99)

Presidents of Cornerstone University

Unique traditions

  • The school offers a four-day-long freshmen orientation called "ROCK" groups, which stands for "Rigorous Orientation to Campus Knowledge," offered just prior to Fall team each year.
  • SNOC, which stands for Sunday Night on Campus, is Cornerstone University's riff on Saturday Night Live. It features SNL-like skits presented from a Christian worldview. It is on the first Sunday night that Freshmen are on campus (For 2005, it was on August 21), and traditionally starts at 8:17 P.M. Eastern. SNOC often ends with a large dance number featuring every person involved.
The main actors are the Resident Life staff of Cornerstone University. As such, RAs (Resident Assistants) and RDs (Resident Directors) feature heavily in every skit.
For 2005, the theme was Game Shows. Several of the skits were mocks of popular game shows, including Jeopardy, The Price is Right, and Family Feud. The dance finale made fun of Cornerstone University having its first upcoming dance, and featured all of the RAs and RDs dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
  • Candlelighting is a tradition linked to betrothal. When two Cornerstone students become engaged to be married, the bride-to-be is given a special midnight ceremony beginning in her dorm lounge and leading to the Bell Tower, where the groom-to-be is waiting with his dorm brothers. He must climb the bell tower, touch the bell, and then descend back down, where his brothers are waiting to take him down to the pond and throw him in. After he emerges from the pond, the bride-to-be hugs her drenched fiance.

External link

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada | Christian universities and colleges | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools | Universities and colleges in Michigan | Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Cornerstone University".

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