Category Archives: Music

Advent, Advent By Candlelight, Christmas, Event, Music, News

“The Women of the Christmas Story” – Advent By Candlelight 2021

Registration is now closed for this event.

Sunday, Dec. 5 at 4pm.  Doors will open at 3:30pm.

Join the women of Cedar Hills with a special “The Women of the Christmas Story” presentation at Advent By Candlelight.

Enjoy beautifully decorated Christmas tables, a special message with guest speaker Courtney Mesiner and music by the Lala Ladies.

Pre-registration is required.

Participants are asked to bring a donation to support Bridgehaven. Current needs: dish soap, laundry detergent, household cleaners, paper towels, hand soap, baby wash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and snack food items. (All items must be new and unopened.)

The highlight of Advent By Candlelight is the intricately decorated tables and details put in by each table hostess.  Doors open at 3:30pm so participants can come and explore the room and enjoy the decorations before the event begins.

Guest Speaker

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Courtney Misener

We welcome Courtney Misener as our special guest speaker this year.  Courtney is am a writer, speaker, and emotional health rebel. She is an advocate for emotional wellness and truth telling and tackles unhealthy emotional behaviors that give us a seat on the crazy train.  She self-describes herself as “a rockstar/pastor’s wife and the head negotiator and biggest fan for their three very spunky boys.”  Between football games, hip-hop dance recitals and work, she enjoys rapping, car karaoke, dancing  in grocery store aisles, and generally doing everything in her power to embarrass her kids.

(taken from www.courtneymisener.com)\

Special Music

Music will be provided by the Lala Ladies – a trio of ladies who regularly perform and provide music in the greater Cedar Rapids area, all with connections to Cedar Hills!  This trio formed about 3 years ago and began with a ministry to local nursing homes and care facilities.

Past year’s table decorations

Music, Worship

Consuming Fire – Worship Moment

Enjoy a moment of worship. “Consuming Fire, fan into flame a passion for Your name…”

Lent, Music, News, Worship

3-25-20 Lenten Worship Service

Tonight’s Lenten service is online and ready to go. You can listen/watch in a couple of different formats:

Two Spiritual Disciple resources we want to share with you related to tonight’s Lenten message:
And a special note from Kyle French, (tonight’s presenter): “Does all of the craziness of this time feel overwhelming to you? Have you ever been wanting to find a way to connect more with God? Or maybe you’ve got more time on your hands these days and you want to do something more productive with it? Well I’m proposing an option for all those feelings! In this time of disruption and rhythms being broken, I’d love to invest with anyone who is interested in growing in the practices of Jesus and developing our spiritual disciplines (whatever stage you are in your faith)! If you’re interested, feel free to join the Facebook group I’ve setup, and enjoy it however you feel led to participate. It’ll be a place for daily discussion, sharing inspiring content and a platform for community discussion.”

Wednesday 3-25-20 “Abiding in Jesus” Lent Service from Cedar Hills Community Church on Vimeo.

Easter, Music, News, Worship

Join a Special Easter Choir

SPECIAL EASTER CHOIR

If you enjoy singing, we invite you to be a part of a special Easter choir to sing at the first two Easter services Sunday, April 12.  The choir is open to anyone 8th grade and up who can read music.

Rehearsal Schedule (Must be able to attend TWO rehearsals):
Wednesday, March 18, 7:05pm
Wednesday, March 25, 7:05pm
Wednesday, March 31, 7:05pm
Wednesday, April 1, 7:05pm
Wednesday, April 8, 6:40pm – full run through on Stage

Rehearsals are in room 134/135.

The Easter choir sings along with the opening hymns in the services and prepares a few special music numbers.  On Easter, services are at 8:30am, 9:45am, and 11am. The choir sings at 8:30am and 9:45am.

If interested, send your name and voice part to Stuart Geiger via email along with any questions you may have!

Annual Report, Cedar Chips, Music, News, Worship

Worship & Media Annual Report

When I think about the last year, I think about the spiritual journey we’ve been on in worship. Do any
of these topics ring a bell? King. Just Love. First Love. Transformation Vocabulary. Just Love Transforms. Margin. Life is. Grow the Good.

This year, we learned vocab to help us in our quest to transform the Corridor, intentionally becoming
disciples who make disciples in the everyday stuff of life, in those places we already exist!

And then we shifted our focus to the baby in the manger… a King, but not in the sense of glitz and
glamor and pomp and circumstance, but in hay and animal smells in a tiny village.

We learned what Biblical love is, the role of love in our spiritual growth and how to extend love to our
neighbors. We were challenged to fall in love again with our Lord, returning to that ’first love’, and then
letting the power of love transform us!

We learned white space is good, that we are prone to fill our lives with so much stuff and that we need
to dial back and get back to God as first place in our time and priorities. We learned of the abundant
life promised to us in John 10:10. What is life? Life is… Jesus! And now… Grow the Good. There is so
much happening at Cedar Hills. We’re asking:

“How can our building and our ministries continue to be a blessing to our neighborhood and our cities
for another 60 years?”

And then the songs! O the songs! Together we learned “Let Justice Roll”, “Boldly I Approach Your
Throne”, “Build My Life”, “New Life”, and “Here For You”; and our kids wowed us again and again
with “Wherever You Lead Me”.

2019 has been quite the journey for us! The joys, the sadness, the victories, the defeats… and yet we
can declare with confidence, “GOD IS GOOD!”

Leah
Director of Worship & Media

Bright Spot, Cedar Chips, Fall Kick-Off, Music, News, Worship

Worship Ministries – Jump In!

Worship Ministries—Jump in!

If you have ever been interested in joining a worship ministry music team, this is the time of year to jump in.

Sanctuary Choir: This group sings about every three weeks in the 8:30 AM service. Choir is open to anyone high school aged and above who can read music (primarily SATB). Choir rehearses on Wednesdays, 6:40 PM in room 132A and will begin rehearsals August 21. All current choir members and any interested in choir are invited to sing at the Fall Kick-Off worship services August 18. The choir will sing along with the hymns at 8:30 AM service. Practice is just prior to the service at 8 AM that day. Choir is directed by Stuart Geiger.

1st Service Worship Teams: These SATB groups rotate and sing/play one week a month. Teams rehearse on Wednesday nights at 6 PM, prior to the Sunday they sing. Singers must be able to read music, as we sing parts on the hymns. We currently have openings for tenors and sopranos, but all are encouraged to apply, including pianists and organists!

2nd Service Worship Teams: These teams are a mix of singers and instruments (guitars, piano, keys, bass, drums, and occasional string instruments). Music at this service is led from chord charts, so some ‘playing-by-ear’ is required, and great for those who don’t read music. To participate in 2nd Service teams, the first step is to join a Worship Jam. (see below)

Worship Jams: Jams are open to all musicians and are held quarterly throughout the year. We pack all our voices and instruments on stage at the 2nd service and lead as an entire team! The next Jam is Wednesday, August 14 at 6:30 PM and will lead the 2nd service worship on Kick-Off Sun, Aug 18. To express interest in worship ministries or for more info, contact Leah.

Leah
Director of Worship & Media

Cedar Chips, Family and Children Ministry, Music, News, Worship

Bible Memory Songs (They Ain’t Just for Kids)

Bible Memory Songs (They Ain’t Just for Kids!)

If you grew up attending a church and Sunday School, most likely your childhood included lots of fun and silly songs on various biblical themes.
Many of these were Scripture verses, whether you knew it or not! But then something happened— and suddenly silly Bible songs weren’t cool anymore. As teenagers and adults, we moved on to more sophisticated things, songs, hymns, and the memorization of Scripture is something very few of us do. And if we do, it’s not usually in the form of silly songs. We have to repeat it out loud, over and over, and do it the “grown up” way. This works for some… this sounds like a chore to the rest of us.

That was me until about six months ago when my oldest child started Kindergarten. Part of the curriculum is memorizing a verse every week that corresponds with the alphabet. Being the cool worship-leading-mom that I am, we starting singing the verses at home for fun. This led down a path of setting the entire alphabet of Scripture to
music and turning it into a full album.

And you know what? It was EASY to remember Scripture! So easy, that I’m convinced these silly songs should not be reserved for kids—these are for all of us. So I talked to our Family & Children Ministry staff and put together a plan to write songs for our Cedar Hills kids to memorize their Scripture, too. We’ve occasionally added these to our worship service—have you noticed??

I can proudly say I’m up to 30 verses memorized because of these silly songs. That’s 30 more verses than I’ve memorized in my entire adulthood.
Ready to learn your Scripture passages to heart? Click to listen to the ABC Bible Verse album.

Leah
Director of Worship & Media

Cedar Chips, Fall Kick-Off, Music, News, Transform the Corridor, Worship

Kick-Off Worship Jam

All musicians and singers are invited to take place in the Fall Kick-Off worship service Sunday, August 19. The first service choir will gather at 8 AM to sing at the 8:30am service. All singers and instruments are invited to the kick-off worship jam team that will lead the music at the 11 AM service. Practice for the jam is Wednesday, August 15 at 6:30 PM. Please pre-register for the Jam.