Senior Pastor Terry Meeks To Retire

After nearly 30 years as senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Hartwell, Terry Meeks is stepping down from the pulpit.  Meeks’s last official sermon will be this Sunday.

Meeks moved to Hartwell from Spring City, Tennessee, in 1991, to become pastor at Sardis Baptist Church.  Then in 1994, he along with some others founded Cornerstone Baptist Church in the old Smith Funeral Home building.  The church quickly outgrew the old building in downtown Hartwell.  So in 2003, they erected a new building on Anderson Highway.  That’s where they have been ever since.

Under Meeks’s leadership, the church has grown to approximately 1,000 members.  Meeks says he is grateful for the opportunity to lead the church.

Meeks says, “It has been a tremendous journey.  God has truly blessed, and it has been my privilege and honor to pastor at this great church.  I still plan to be in the community because this has become our home.  And I love this area of Georgia and plan to be a part of it from now on.

So, it’s just been an honor to have served and minister.”

Meeks says after he officially retires, he and his wife are going to do some traveling.  He says the church is beginning to form a search committee to finding a permanent head pastor for the church.  In the meantime, Cornerstone will have guest speakers leading worship services each Sunday until a new pastor is named.

After Meeks delivers his final sermon this Sunday, the public is invited to attend a drop-in celebration for him and his wife Pat.  The reception will be from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. in church’s Family Life Center at Cornerstone Baptist Church, located on Anderson Highway 29 across from the Hartwell Wal-Mart.