The month newsletter of Cedar Hills Community Church.
October’s retiree breakfast is Saturday, Oct 6th at 8:30 AM at Tommy’s Restaurant. RSVP to Joan Koele, 396-6510.
This gathering regularly draws about 20-22 people and is a good time to connect with other retirees in the church.
Friday, November 2, 5-7pm Boy Scout Troop 85 cordially invites all members and friends of Cedar Hills to attend the annual spaghetti dinner at Cedar Hills Church. Scouts will be serving salad, bread, spaghetti, & homemade desserts. Freewill offering will support
the activities of this troop.
What a great start to the year we have had a Journey. On our kick-off night in August we had nearly 50 students show up to have fun and hear about Journey. Each week we will be walking through different books of the Bible. Before Christmas, we will engage with Galatians and James and after Christmas we are going to dive into Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. If you have a student in 6th-12th Grade, please make sure they join us on Sundays from 5:30-7 PM.
There are two big events to get on your calendar to that your students are sure to be there:
#1. Dare2Share Live
Sat, Oct 13, 11 AM-6:30 PM at Faith Bible Church in CR. This annual event consists of speakers, worship, and a nationwide canned food drive. The purpose is to train us to be able to talk to others about our faith. The cost is $20 and is open to all students 6th-12th Grade and their friends.
#2. Fall Retreat
Nov 16-18 at Sunstream Retreat Center in Ogden is our 7th annual fall retreat. This weekend is a great time of growing deeper in our faith and growing closer together. We will have an inspiring speaker, meaningful worship, and an opportunity to engage in games like glow-in-the-dark dodgeball, rock-climbing wall, and ziplines. The cost is $60 and more info coming soon.
Jeremy Van Genderen
Director of Youth &Young Adults
Many have asked this question and there are just as many responses online if you google it. What is worship? What qualifies and what doesn’t? What does transformational worship look like? Is there a right way and a wrong way? Who has it figured
out?
In all my years of classes and schools and degrees and traveling around North America, I think you can make a great case for this explanation:
God reveals Himself, and we respond.
Leah
Director of Worship & Media
We are excited that school has finally started! We currently have 48 students enrolled in our program. We do have some openings. If you know of anyone, who is interested, please have them call our office, 396-3125.
It’s been fun getting to know the little ones and learning their names. There are less and less tears as the children are getting use to us and finding out that we have a lot of fun at preschool.
All the children learned about a man named Noah and his great big boat and that he listened to God. We talked about friends and families and how not all families look the same and that is just fine.
Soon everyone will be looking for signs of fall.
Thank you to everyone who has brought snacks, supplies, and paid all their fees on time! I just want to remind parents to label your child’s jacket/coat and their backpack.
We are off to a great start on our 49th year at Noah’s Ark Preschool. Thanks for trusting us to care for and to teach your precious little ones!
In Christ,
Leslie Clauson
Noah’s Ark Preschool Director
Since J.R.’s resignation as Pastor of Spiritual Formation, the Consistory has been evaluating staff needs and possibilities. A special task force was charged with exploring short and long-term gaps and opportunities. This task force engaged a process
of discernment that included prayer, discussion, and feedback from the staff and congregation.
The task force made two recommendations to the Consistory in September:
The Consistory affirms the value of the long-term recommendation and will be convening this retreat soon. We also will continue discernment of the short-term recommendation by developing a job description and exploring the budget implications for the 2019 budget. We welcome your prayers for this process of discernment. Also, please pass your feedback or questions to any staff or Consistory member.
Our dream is that we will be disciples who make disciples in the everyday stuff of life so that every man, woman, and child in our community will have a daily encounter with Jesus in Word and deed. As this happens, God will grow us to be agents of Gospel transformation and we learn the vocabulary of Gospel transformation.
Sunday Morning Services: 8:30 AM and 11:00 AM
Meditate on John 3:1-21. Below are verses 14-20.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
At our most recent classis meeting, one of the speakers asked the question, “What are you dreaming about?” The question grabbed my attention because I was just starting to slip into a daydream. Was he reading my mind? Was I busted? What are you dreaming about?
The question was really asking about passion and calling. What is the dream that excites you, engages your imagination, and energizes you to take action? Do you dream about strengthening your marriage? Becoming a better parent? Getting healthy? Making more money? Learning a new skill? Climbing the ladder of success?
Do you dream about helping others? Visiting the lonely? Caring for the sick? Helping those who lack resources? Reaching out to those who do not know Jesus? Loving our neighbors? Transforming our community?
Do you dream about solving a problem? Conquering addictions? Solving poverty? Ending abuse and injustice? Stopping slavery and human trafficking? Resolving conflict and violence? Overcoming corruption and exploitation? Do you dream about growing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control?
What do you dream about? Do you have a personal dream that excites you or a bigger dream—a global dream—that energizes you? The speaker at classis said, “Everyone needs a dream.”
As a congregation we are developing a dream. You might say that we are dreaming again about making a difference in our homes, our neighborhoods, and the entire corridor. We are dreaming about transformation. This is a passion and a calling. That excites me. Does it excite you?
The Lord be with you,
Pastor Kent
“Thanks so much to the 40 volunteers from Cedar Hills who helped host a family at our church through Family Promise. This week was a huge success! It was incredible to see such an awesome team effort! The family was very appreciative to all of you for your kindness and hospitality! They told me over and over how blessed they were to meet all of you and to have the chance to stay at our church. The kindness you showed the family is a key part of what makes Family Promise a successful program.” ~ Bruce Boldt, leader