When we walked in the doors of Cedar Hills on January 2, 2012, Ben was 4, Kara was 6, and Bree was 8. Jeanette and I had been married for nine years and we were excited for what God was going to do in Cedar Rapids. Needless to say, God did not disappoint.
Over the last seven years, the student ministry has built a firm foundation on the truth of God’s Word and telling others about Jesus. We have gone to evangelism training conferences nine times and have held multiple outreach events here in Cedar Rapids in an effort to share the gospel in our community.
We have been on two service trips to South Dakota and New Jersey to help those in need. We have watched lives be transformed at seven Fall Retreats, and we have held over 300 student ministry nights here at the church.
My family and I would like to say thank you for the last seven years and we are still excited for what God has in store for Cedar Rapids and now also Allison, Iowa.
Jeremy Van Genderen
Director of Youth and Young Adults
This season brings April showers, May flowers and May graduation parties! If you or your student is graduating this Spring, we’d love to hear about it in the church office and acknowledge you/them in the June Cedar Chips newsletter.
Thank you to everyone who purchased a sub sandwich for the annual Super Bowl Sub fundraiser. The Journey youth and leaders assembled 175 subs sandwiches.
Sunday, Dec 9 was our 2nd annual Chili Cook-off, after 2nd service! People from the congregation voted on their favorite chili and favorite bread with cash to support the Youth Group.
There were nine people who entered the contest with chili recipes and five people entered with homemade bread. The winner of the chili contest was Bruce Crowther and Dana Chapman won the bread contest! Again, thank you for your generous support for the Youth Ministry!
Jeremy Van Genderen
In 2019, we are happy to join the church mission in Transforming the Corridor. We will continue to do this through prayer and gospel conversations. Over the next year we are going to focus on how Paul encouraged the local churches to transform their communities by studying the books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.
Jeremy Van Genderen
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.
You are invited!
~ Jeremy Van Genderen