After teaching for about two decades Rachel (Sutton) Gray was looking for a change. While floating in her parents pool one summer, she was struck with a thought.
Floating around by the pool, I went over to the side and I jotted down the word Hebrews and I thought if I ever own a coffee shop I want to name it Hebrews like a faith based one for the book of the bible but also He being God and Brews for coffee. And I wrote down in there Hebrews 11:11. So as CoViD went through, I just spent a lot of time thinking about and seeking, reading the bible and praying and devotions and all this stuff on…is this something I can really do, should I do this…am I brave enough to do this…will this even work?
After a trip out west and her husband’s urging to move forward, they started looking at buildings even though she wasn’t completely sold on it and insisted she needed a sign from God. That prompted her uncle to advise that she didn’t need a sign; she needed faith. Unconvinced, shortly thereafter while waiting to pick up her daughter, she got what she needed.
I get to where my daughter’s at for this little bachelorette weekend, the house is full of girls and it was the cutest house. I’m waiting on her, wandering around and go to the front porch area and right there plain as day, there was a sign that read ‘If you’re looking for a sign, here it is’. And I thought, alright God with a sense of humor. My uncle just told me the night before I didn’t need a sign…I still wanted a sign and there it was.
Cornerstone Coffee House was born in July of 2021 at 107 South Division in Norris City. Gray dropped by the Carmi Kiwanis Club Thursday to tell her story. She says she ended up naming the business Cornerstone because she wanted it to be built on faith and connecting friends, family, business, and community.
And I found that little notebook and the Hebrews name; of course I changed it to Cornerstone, but I went back and looked that verse and chapter and it’s called faith in action. Everything in that chapter is about faith. It took a lot of faith to step out from what was safe with teaching and try something else.
Read more at Coffee Shop Opening: Welcome to Cornerstone Coffee House in Norris City, IL – Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea
Gray says she’s focused on the day to day and creating smiles. She leaves profit margins and what she considers the not fun part of business to her software developer husband, Joe. Nearly 4 years in, that combination appears to be working well as Cornerstone employs about 25 people in total and features an eclectic menu.
Most all of it is homemade. There are some bread items that are not. Our salad dressings are made from scratch. Our granola is from scratch. Our candied pecans that go on salads are all from scratch. Our cinnamon rolls are a big thing for us. And then our chicken salad is another big item that we have consistently; that and pimento cheese pretty much every day. And then besides our breakfast items we typically have a salad everyday and another kind of sandwich or a bowl. Some of those are a little different we have a blackberry bacon grilled cheese, turkey apple bacon melts, barbecue pineapple chicken flatbreads, Hula hammy hot ham and cheese, street corn pork and rice bowls, grilled cheeseburger wraps, taco salads, chicken on the beach, and then some of our main salads include an Asian Crunch Salad, taco salad, our Harvest Chopped Salad has a lot of goodies on it, summer strawberry salads, Caesar, and then we have a strawberry spinach salad, and a white cheddar apple bacon salad.
Those are just food options. Cornerstone also has a full line of drinks and sells Bliss Artisan ice cream as well. You can drop by Cornerstone Tuesday through Friday from 7am – 2pm and Saturdays from 8am – 1pm. Learn much more about the local business on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cornerstonecoffeehouse.norriscity/.
Kiwanis will stick with the food theme as next week the civic organization welcomes Charles and Kelsey Carter to discuss Carter’s Sauces.
