All posts by Cedar Hills Community Church

Funeral, News

Selma Williams Funeral

We are sad at the passing of our sister in Christ, Selma Williams.  Visitation is Monday evening at Cedar Memorial, with the funeral at 10:30am Tuesday morning, Sept. 17 at Cedar Hills Community Church.  Please continue to pray for Selma’s family and friends as they grieve her loss, but also celebrate her new place with our Lord and Savior!

Memorial

Selma Phillips-Williams, 75, of Cedar Rapids, joined the angels on September 11, 2019. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 16 at the Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home. A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 17 at the Cedar Hills Community Church.

She is survived by her seven children Renee (Michael) Miceli, Shawn (Jill) Phillips, Joel (Jenni) Phillips, Patrick (Karen) Phillips, Mark (Margaret Wong) Phillips, Robyn (Chuck) Luensman, and Amy (Chris) Schmidt; 23 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joe Williams.

Selma was born on October 11, 1943 in Duluth, Minnesota and moved to Cedar Rapids in 1961. Selma loved to quilt, crochet, read books, write poetry and play cards. Above all she loved spending time with her family. She was a spiritual woman and could find God in everything she saw. She has a deep relationship with Jesus, trusting Him for strength through many trials. Knowing that even with all of our imperfections as humans we are still loved by Him. She has passed down a legacy of faith to her family. She was resilient, strong and caring. She always had a smile and conversation for strangers and had the ability to make everyone she touched feel special. Selma loved her family dearly and her family will miss her immensely. Selma was looking forward for her reunion with her husband Joe and the many family and friends that have gone before her.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Unity Point Hospice.

And, we leave you with a prayer from Selma:
Lord, this is one of those times when
I just need to climb up on your lap.
Father/Mother God,
I just need you to hold me for a while.
I just need for your arms to circle about me
And to rock me. Just for a while…
And then I’ll be able to slip down and face the day again.
I’ll be able to go forth into what I cannot see ahead.
Because I have touched your love,
I will be strengthened with courage, and trust.
Because you have touched me
As gently as a breath breathing life once again.

Cedar Chips, Grow the Good

Grow the Good!

Grow the good!

The book of Philippians, written by Paul when he was in jail, is one of the most joyful, grateful, confident books in the Bible. Paul recognizes the good that God has done and knows that God finishes what God starts. The joyful, confident tone starts immediately, “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6).

God’s good work in us—and through us—transforms the past, present and the future. In the next couple of months, we are celebrating God’s good work, which started at Cedar Hills Community Church 60 years ago. God is still working to grow the good today and we know that God desires to grow the good for future generations. This fall we will focus on three specific opportunities for our congregation to engage in good
work.

1. Grow as a disciple! Join a Sunday class, a small group, a missional community. Also use your gift to serve others. We will explore opportunities to get plugged in at Discovery Weekend on Sunday, Sept. 8.

2. Celebrate Cedar Hills! On Sunday, October 13 we will celebrate 60 years of ministry in one service at 9:30 AM followed by lunch. We are blessed and we will give thanks for the good God has done.

3. Grow the good! We believe our best days are ahead and so we are launching a capital campaign to help us move forward in ministry. This campaign will address three key opportunities.

First, we will refresh the space God has given us to serve people. Second, we will replace broken and outdated equipment. After 13 years of heavy use, things wear out. Third, we will retire the remaining debt on our facilities, freeing resources to do more good!

God calls us to love and serve our community which we have been doing. I can’t begin to imagine the impact of the next 60 years!

The Voice translation of Philippians 1:6 says, “I am confident that the Creator, who has begun such a great work among you, will not stop in mid-design but will keep perfecting you…”

God is not done with us—He is just getting started!

Pastor Kent

Capital Campaign, Cedar Chips, Grow the Good, News

Cedar Hills Campaign 2020

Grow the Good

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:4-6).

God started a good work here at Cedar Hills nearly 60 years ago through the joyful partnership of a few families committed to God’s calling to Go Make Disciples. As we begin the next 60 years for Cedar Hills, we will use the same recipe to “Grow the Good” that God has already started.

This year, we will set the foundation to “Grow the Good” for the next 60 years by funding critical upgrades and mortgage reduction.

This will ensure that we are well prepared to serve the needs of our congregation and community. Below is our tentative campaign schedule, we’ll share more information as it becomes available. Your opportunity to participate in a committee and to support this effort
is coming soon!

  • Aug/Sept: Team organization and preparation
  • Sept: 40-day devotional reading available
  • Oct: Prayer Vigil for the campaign
  • Oct 20: Campaign Kickoff!
  • Oct 27 – Nov 10: Testimonials and Discernment
  • November 10: Commitment Sunday
  • November 17: First Fruits

John Davidson
Campaign 2020 Team

Cedar Chips, Communication, Connection, Missional Communities, News

Being Anonymous or Being Known

The idea that the pastor of the church should intimately know everyone, might scare some people and might be an expectation of others. Either way, if the local church only had ten people in it, that would be appropriate. But we have hundreds at Cedar Hills. So how can one be truly known or feel a sense of belonging?

Remaining anonymous by blending in to the hundreds of brothers and sisters on Sunday, is a choice. If you choose to go to Sunday service and never get to know anyone beyond a surface level, you will not be known or feel belonging, especially during times of crisis.

In churches all across America people are showing up on Sunday and remaining anonymous so they never have to be vulnerable. So no one knows if they don’t show up or are struggling with a difficulty.

Being known, finding belonging, becoming discipled (also known as becoming more Christlike) requires vulnerability. Missional Communities are made up of people willing to be known, to be discipled, and to be vulnerable. Consequently, they are your support system when the next crisis occurs.

Lindsey Ungs
Connection and Communication Architect

Cedar Chips, News, Uncategorized

I Want to Be A Runner – Pt. 1

I’ve been pondering a lot lately about identity and how one comes to identify with a group or a title. What got me started on thinking about this was a desire to begin training for a half marathon this Fall.

Though I may not look like someone who might frequently run, this will be my 6th half marathon. That’s part of my problem. I want to be runner but am somewhat convinced that because I don’t look like one, I am not. So I began listing the things I’m trying to do in order to become a “runner” (beyond the obvious thing of ‘running’).

  • I own a large attire of running clothes.
  • I have special running shoes.
  • I have a special running app for logging all my runs and stats.
  • I have a running playlist on Spotify that matches my running cadence.
  • I study running cadences.
  • I have special hair bands for running.
  • Running is a part of my weekly schedule. Short runs on Tuesday/Thursday/Fridays, and long runs on Saturdays.
  • I read running blogs and research strides, warmups, and recovery activities.
  • I make homemade electrolyte solutions for post-run recovery.

So I am a runner, right??? Why can’t my brain accept this list and identify with a runner’s identify?

Because I’m slow. And I look wimpy and kind of sloppy when I run. And I’m chunky. And I’ve only been in active training for seven weeks.

So what is the turning point of identity? When does one’s brain go from not identifying with something to embracing the identity? This is my question! There are soooo many parallels to our spiritual walks I don’t even know where to start! But I will keep pondering this and come back with more next month.

(see part. 2 here)

Leah
Director of Worship & Media

News

Discovery Weekend

September 8 is Discovery Weekend! On Sunday, September 8th, ministry groups and teams will be set up in the Gathering Space for us to walk around and learn about the different ministries and volunteer things happening at the church.  Coffee shop, Family Promise, Music Teams, Emergency Response Team, and many more!

Come at 9:45am to spend some time browsing the different booths available.  And if one peaks your interest, sign up for more information.

Journey, News

Journey Kick-Off (It’s gonna get messy)

Celebrate a new school year in style.  The Journey Youth kick-off is Sunday, Sept 8 from 5pm-8pm.  Cedar Hills Youth ages 6th grade to 12th grade and their friends are welcome.   Come prepared to make a mess! (Wear clothes you don’t mind messing up… and bring extra clothes and a towel.)

We’ll be at Cedar Hills Community Church (at the corner of E Avenue and Stoney Point Rd NW).

Because God loves you and we do, too!

News

Road Opening August 17!

Could it be true? Will it really open?

Word has it that the roundabout construction will be complete this weekend and that the corner will reopen THIS SATURDAY, August 17.  So maybe you won’t need that extra 5-10-15 minutes to get to church as of this Sunday!

If you make it through the intersection, please report back in and let us all know!

On the cedar-rapids.org website, it lists and open house for the roundabout Saturday at 10:30am:

ROUNDABOUT OPEN HOUSE

“CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – August 9, 2019 – The City of Cedar Rapids will host a “Mobile Open House” at the parking lot of Cedar Hills Community Church (6455 E Ave NW) on Saturday, August 17, from 10:30 a.m. – noon. The open house will give residents and community members the opportunity to learn more about the newly constructed single-lane roundabout installed at Stoney Point Road and E Avenue NW.

Residents are encouraged to stop by anytime and have the opportunity to talk with City staff regarding the roundabout, learn more about safety and efficiency features, see a simulation video of how the roundabout works, and even drive the roundabout with a City engineer. The open house is part of a public awareness campaign aimed at helping residents feel more comfortable with navigating roundabouts and learning more about their safety benefits. This is the third mobile open house hosted by the City.

Roundabouts help slow traffic speeds and reduce the severity of crashes, eliminating head-on and right-angle crashes with their slow, counterclockwise movement. They are more efficient than traffic signals, where signalized intersections are often not needed during the majority of the day outside peak morning and evening commutes.

Cedar Rapids installed its first roundabout in 2017 on Kirkwood Blvd SW, just south of 76th Avenue, which relieved chronic daily congestion for the College Community School District. A roundabout was also recently installed at Johnson Avenue NW and Wiley Blvd in 2018, and a roundabout is currently underway on Johnson Avenue NW and Jacolyn Drive.

To learn more about roundabouts or to download material or educational videos, please visit www.cityofcr.com/roundabouts.”