BAKING FOR A CAUSE – June 22 in the Gathering Space. Enjoy coffee, tea, sweet treats, and floral arrangements all available by free-will donation with 100% of the proceeds going to support this family on mission. We need YOU to help make a difference! Here’s how you can help: Sign up to bake | Donate flowers | Setup and serving
You are able to watch the main session live:
We are excited again to host the annual gathering of the Upper Mississippi Valley network. Our gathering will be June 13-14 at Cedar Hills Community Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(Hotel accommodations and special pricing reserved through May 14 – see below)
If you ever wanted to explore ways to “think outside the box,” join us on Friday, June 13th to hear from Verlon Fosner. Verlon is the Founder and Director of the Dinner Church Collective (dinnerchurch.com) and is bringing the gospel to the people of Seattle and beyond with new approaches to reach small, medium and large communities. You won’t want to miss this. The first session will focus on the role of pastors and church staff, we’ll have dinner then the next session will focus on pastors, lay leaders and members and how they can make a difference in outreach.
Child care available! Please indicate need on your registration form.
Ben Ingebretson is the Director of Church Multiplication and Vitality at CORAM DEO. He is husband to Karen, father to three adult kids and their families, and lives in Grand Rapids, MI. Since college and seminary days in Minnesota and Scotland (Bethel St. Paul and then University of Aberdeen) he has been a bi-vo church planter, pastor of a multiplying church and served as new church development director with two denominations: the Reformed Church in America and the United Methodist church).
Over those years he has taken part in the development of over 200 new churches in rural, urban, suburban and multi-ethnic contexts. Ben has published several books: Parent Church Landmines, Multiplication Moves, and most recently Plant Like Jesus, the church planters devotional. In his down time he loves to tandem bike with his wife, hang out with his growing family and sail the Great Lakes!
Verlon Fosner is the Director of Dinner Church Collective. Verlon and Melodee Fosner have been in church leadership for 44 years in Seattle, Washington. After several years in their tenure as lead pastors the church went into decline and they faced a decision: move to the suburbs or become an urban church. After much prayer, the leadership felt called to not only stay, but to dive further into the urban neighborhoods of Seattle.
What began as a single urban church plant quickly grew into a multi-site Dinner Church, and then expanded into a national Dinner Church Network. Then in 2016, Verlon and Melodee joined the Fresh Expressions team to lead the Dinner Church Collective.
Greg Alderman serves as the Executive Director for the Alliance of Reformed Churches. Greg was born and raised in Southern California and is a lifelong Dodgers fan. He received his BA from UCLA and M. Div from Fuller Theological Seminary. Prior to joining the staff at the Alliance, Greg served for 8.5 years as Lead Pastor at Centerpoint Church in Sioux Center, IA and 15.5 years as Senior Pastor at Christ Community in Carmichael, CA. After his time serving at Christ Community, Greg founded a non-profit, One Voice Board, in July 2022 to help churches and other non-profits in board governance at no cost.
Since 2022, Greg has served as an interim pastor at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church and then at First Reformed Church in Orange City, IA. Greg lives in Denton, TX with his wife Veronica. Together, they have four adult children and four grandchildren.
Dust to Dust.
Dust shows up in the Bible 100 times. The first is in Genesis 2:7. “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
We were made from dust and to dust we will return. This is the central theme of Ash Wednesday. The entire season of Lent can be framed with this same phrase. We are frail, temporary, transient. Life is fleeting like a mist or a vapor. Dust to dust.
And of course – we are sin-full.
One of the preparations for Passover is to remove all yeast from the home. This command is found in Exodus 12:15. “For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.”
To comply with this command, Jewish families thoroughly cleaned the entire home to remove all traces of bread, pastries, crackers, and anything containing yeast.
This process involves a deep clean of every nook and cranny in the house, including cupboards, appliances, counter tops, floors, and even furniture crevices.
In Jewish tradition, a feather is used to sweep up crumbs. The feather sweeps crumbs into a spoon.
The spoon scoops the crumbs into a paper bag.
The paper bag is thrown away – or burned.
Yeast in the Bible represents sin.
When I learned about the feather used to sweep crumbs of yeast, I thought about all the dust in my home. I wondered, would a feather help get in every nook and cranny. The feather might be particularly helpful in small crevices. Or with the window blinds.
A feather duster. Leave no sin behind.
Did you know that between 20-40% of the dust in our homes is skin? We leave little pieces of ourselves behind. Dust to dust.
The feather is also a symbolic tool representing the spiritual process of self-reflection. I hope you are self-reflecting right now – connecting the dots between yeast, dust, sin, and Jesus.
We grieve the sin in our lives. One way to show our grief is to sit in dust and ashes. This reminds us of our true condition. It is also a mark of repentance.
Of course, another central theme of Ash Wednesday – and the season of Lent – is that our real hope in our dusty lives is in Jesus. We can never account for every last crumb of sin – so Jesus took care of it for us.
In Jesus there is forgiveness. “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” Acts 13:38.
Dust to dust. We still find hope. In Jesus.
May the Lord be with you,
Pastor Kent
Kent Landhuis
Pastor of Teaching & Leadership
ANGEL TREE UPDATE: Cedar Hills had the opportunity to bless 25 area kids, who have incarcerated parents, with Christmas gifts. Caregivers commented, “I’ve never felt love like this before. I’ve never felt like I belong as much as I do when I walk through these doors.” This week, we received a letter from an incarcerated parent saying thank you! Thank you for sharing Jesus’ love, Church!
Every few months, a community I’m a part of holds a scripture memory challenge. We have one week to memorize whatever passage of scripture we want. How long the passage is, which book, the subject–those are all up to us.
Every time they hold this challenge, I try to work my way through a Psalm and have worked up to Psalm 4. I like this Psalm. It has a nice progression of feelings and emotions.
It opens with despair:
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
And ends in quiet rest:
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
The journey in between these two phrases is a wild ride of remembering and declaring promises of God’s faithfulness to his righteous ones. Promises of light, protection and his attuned ear when we cry.
I like this Psalm, because it follows a workable pattern of the human heart toward God: first despair, and then remembering who God is to remind ourselves of His faithfulness, and then relief and hope when we again remember his goodness to us, enough so that we can find rest for another day.
Many of the Psalms model this pattern, which is probably why it’s my favorite book to use when I am lamenting or depressed. The question, “Answer me, God!!!” is a cry of my heart to say, “I can’t see or hear you right now and I’m alone and scared.” I’m convinced God loves the question. He is not bothered by the asking nor the heart, but is excited to again show Himself and His goodness all over again.
Want to memorize Psalm 4 with me? I finished up putting it to music this past week and have it playing on repeat.
Leah Carolan
Pastor of Worship & Media
The Holidays are over and the winter blues have set in. We are dreaming of a mini vacation, some me-time with the ladies of Cedar Hills in a cozy place with TWO hot tubs, media room, and lots of places to read, reflect and Feast on the word of God.The Women in Fellowship & Faith team invite you to join us at “FEAST RETREAT – Taste & See the Goodness of God” at the beautiful Robbins Nest AirBNB in Monmouth, Illinois. The retreat will begin Friday, April 4th at 6pm and conclude Sunday, April 6th at 10am. Come enjoy a beautiful space with plenty of time to Feast on the word of God, food and beverages, quiet time to rejuvenate and to laugh with a few surprises mixed in!
Cost is $175 for the entire event, including accommodations, food and beverage, access to the Lifeway “Feast” seminar hosted online by Kristi McLelland with worship leader Laura Cooksey and fabulous breakout sessions facilitated by Lindsey Steinkamp and the women’s ministry team.
The first 20 women to respond will be registered for the event. Once, 20 spots are filled we will open a wait list. RESPOND NOW (As of 2/5/25, there are only 5 spots left).
Payment of $175 will be due by 2/15/2024 to Carmen Gronewold. Once we have your registration information, we will communicate the payment options available!
Here’s how it works:
The food pantry will be closed Monday, Jan 20 in observance of MLK Day. We will be open on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at our scheduled time of 10am-12pm.
Thursday, Jan. 23 the ladies will be gathering at the Barrel House in Marion. Appetizers begin at 6pm and music bingo at 7pm.
BARREL HOUSE WEBSITE
295 Tower Terrace Rd, Marion, IA 52302
Women of all ages are invite for fun and fellowship. Stay up to date with all our women’s ministry events by joining our Facebook group.
Join the Women’s Ministry Facebook Group
Come watch the big game on the big screen at Cedar Hills! We’ll gather around 5:15 in the Gathering Space for the 5:30pm kick-off.
We’ll provide drinks and walking tacos – feel free to bring a side dish to share and some table games. Casual come-and-go event.
Kids and all ages welcome!