Category Archives: News

Marriage and Family, Missional Communities, News, Open Hands Food Pantry, Prayer, Sabbath, Saturate, Uncategorized, Volunteers Needed, Worship, Youth

How We Continue to Be the Church in Light of COVID-19

In light of COVID-19, we are convinced and convicted more than ever the need to be the church beyond the walls of our physical church building.  While our building may be a bit quieter as we wait out the social-distancing rules, our roles as the hands and feet of Jesus increases that much more.

A couple of unique and powerful opportunities for us to continue as a church:

Open Hands Food Pantry

We anticipate an increasing need for food in the next few weeks.  It is our desire to keep the pantry open and switching over to a ‘drive-by’ solution where pantry visitors stay in their cars and we go out to meet them and bring the groceries to them.  This means we need the help of more able bodies, able to carry groceries (or cart them) to and from the pantry to the front doors.  If you are off work due to the virus or have extra time on your hands, this is a perfect opportunity!  If you are able to help, please email pantry leader Darlene DeVries.

Pantry Hours: Mondays 5-6pm, Wednesdays 10am-12pm, Fridays 10am-12pm

WORSHIP – ONLINE

We’ll be both uploading pre-recorded content and streaming our worship services online, and not physically meeting onsite for worship beginning immediately.  Sundays will be live at 11am on Facebook.  Our Wednesday Lenten messages will be pre-recorded and released on Wednesdays with announcements and encouragement! As part of our regular worship, we encourage you to give online via the app or website, or to take time to mail a check.   Please continue to support the ministry of our church!

If you are unable to catch the live feeds, we post all our sermons online. They can be accessed in iTunes, Buzzsprout, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartradio, and on the website. (There is also a button in the Cedar Hills App – get the app!)

Watch Parties

We encourage you to keep worshipping with us on a regular schedule, and taking “Watch Party” pictures of your family or group as you join together to listen/watch online, submitting them in the ‘comments’ of the video feeds.

Facebook Groups

There are couple of Facebook groups we want to draw your attention to that you might like to join. We believe within these groups we can support each other, hear of needs, and respond from what we have! Toilet paper, childcare, meals delivered, etc.  We are especially excited about how we can respond to needs as they arise.

Children Singing Video

The children ages 3 to 5th grade have been working for weeks on a song they planned to sing Palm Sunday.  We would like to collect videos of your child singing along with the song to create a video montage.  The recording and lyrics are here.  When completed, send your video recording to Leah Carolan by March 29 (email, dropbox, ishare… whichever way you prefer!)

Journey Youth

Pastor Steve has created a YouTube channel for the Journey Youth.  He’ll also be touching base with the youth via texts and email.

Zoom Meetings, Marco Polo and Other Video Apps

If your small group decides to forgo physical meetings, consider setting a time once a week where you will all login together for a Zoom meeting or other video meeting app.  Or begin a Marco Polo group and stay in touch via video messages with encouragement, prayer support and community.

Stay Connected

Please call your friends. Check on your neighbors.  Connect with those who live alone and let them know they are not alone.  Respond to needs you hear as best you can! (Or share them with us in the Facebook groups.).  We need each other.

Pray

Continue to pray.  Join our prayer chain to lift up others in prayer.  Pray that God would help our lights to shine brightly as we minister to those around us.

Follow us on Social Media

Facebook – @cedarhillscommunitychurch
Instagram – @cedarhillscr
Twitter – @cedarhillscr

 

Cedar Chips, Journey, News

Journey Student Ministry – March Update

Journey youth kicked-off February with our biggest fundraiser, Super Bowl Subs. Thank you to everyone who supported us financially, as well as Bruce Crowther for passing on his wisdom about how to navigate the details. Over $700 was raised! This money will help pay for 6th -12th grade students to experience God’s love at camp and Rocky Mountain High this summer. More than money, it was a pleasure to have our students, youth volunteers, and parents work side-by-side to accomplish a unified goal. There were smiles, laughter, jokes told, and memories shared while serving each other together. Service is an essential element to our spiritual lives, as we heard from the Guatemala mission team. In service, we give feet to our faith. We practice self-denial, putting other people before ourselves, and unite ourselves with Jesus by letting His mind of humility be in us. Journey is so blessed to be supported by such a generous body of believers.

Steve Poole
Director of Youth and Young Adults

Cedar Chips, Communication, News

Initiate Belonging

When I first laid eyes on my husband, I thought he was the most attractive man in the bar. The question was, who would initiate the relationship? Considering he had not yet noticed me, I knew I would need to get us started. He was flirting with every girl at the table across the room, so I figured he must not be dating anyone. I was right and the rest of that story is for another time.

In this broken world, people often don’t feel they belong. If you ache for the smaller church community at  Gordon Avenue, small groups are where you will find belonging now. As a church grows, the social circles become smaller. It is not possible to know everyone in the church, but it’s essential you know a few people, intimately.

In order to be known and to belong, each of us must start building a small group. We must initiate the conversation. We have to go from waiting to be asked to becoming the conductor of friendships. Being able to  do this often takes a vertical perspective shift from the Holy Spirit and the horizontal nudging of brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you’re at a loss to initiate, start by asking good questions. People in our church are waiting to be asked and to be invited in. They seek belonging. Those who know they are loved by God should begin the conversation first. It is tiring at times to go first, but we can do it with joy because He first loved us.

Lindsey Ungs
Connection & Communication Architect

Cedar Chips, News, Noah's Ark

Noah’s Ark Preschool – March Update

Noah’s Ark is hosting a Blood Drive on March 3! If you are able to donate, please consider giving of your time. Not only do you help people in our community who desperately need that blood, but if we get enough donations, Noah’s Ark receives grant money that can be used for supplies in our classrooms. We run a pretty tight budget and every dollar helps us provide a great Christian education to our students.

Wickiup will be visiting us in March. They are always a favorite guest at our school. They bring birds and animals for us to look at.

Ice Cream in March? Our annual Ice Cream Social is this month also. Students and their families look forward to this event to meet other families at our school while enjoying a bowl of ice cream, and don’t forget the toppings!

Spring Break is March 16-20.

Other topics this month are: Dinosaurs, Bees, and our fun Teddy Bear Clinic!

Kris Crowther
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool

Cedar Chips, Lent, News

Do You Remember Prepositions?

As we head into the season of Lent, we are intentionally choosing to abide more with Jesus. In fact, we’ve made that a key goal of the season, to learn more about the practice of abiding with Jesus.

Sometimes when we create new sermon series and discern where we want to go as a church, we throw out fun titles, creative picture ideas, creative stage concepts and logo designs. One thing in particular about this next series is still causing me to think and I hope it has the same effect on you:

LIFE IN THE VINE

Wait, what? Don’t you mean Life ON the vine? Like… Jesus is the vine and we are a bunch of grapes hanging there with Him. Things hang ON vines, not IN vines. How can I be a hanging grape INSIDE a vine? See my frustration??!!!

It’s not just a catchy play on words, but an invitation to someone and something deeper. We are not abiding ON Christ. We’re not just sitting on His lap and gazing at Him. Though we could be. The invitation is to be IN Christ.

Do you remember the study of prepositions in school? I learned a preposition was anything that could fill in this blank: The squirrel goes ____ the tree. In the tree, around the tree, on the tree, up the tree, etc. Each one communicates something different and is distinct.

We are invited to be IN Christ. How can we do that and what does it look like? This is our goal for the Lenten season. I pray you will find time in your schedule to mark out Wednesday nights and join us to go deeper into the vine.

Leah
Director of Worship & Media

Lent, News, Women's Ministry

Women’s Lenten Breakfast – March 14

The annual women’s Lenten breakfast is Saturday, March 14.  This is for ladies of all ages.  Bring your mom, sisters, aunts, friends, daughters!

Doors open at 8:30 AM, breakfast served at 9 AM, and program to follow. RSVP required. Please sign up at the special Women’s Lenten Breakfast table in the Gathering Space between services March 1, March 8, or send an email to: women@cedarhillscr.org.

Cedar Chips, News

Abiding in Jesus

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9).

Following Jesus is all about the gospel. The gospel can be described in many ways and my favorite way at the moment is to abide in God’s love. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God loves us unconditionally and we know this is true because of Jesus. Rest in this love: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Gospel = Good News. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). Isn’t this good news? Sounds a lot like the good news of John 3:16 – “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.”

Abiding with Jesus is by grace, through faith. And of course, faith itself is rooted in the work of God, the divine Gardner, who has grafted us into the vine. (John 15:3) The vine gives life to the branch which then bears fruit. It starts with abiding. In this season of Lent, “abide with Jesus and see what great love the Father has lavished on us” (1 John 3:1).

The Lord be with you,
Pastor Kent

Easter, Family Adventure, Family and Children Ministry, Holiday, News, Noah's Ark

Candy Donations for Egg Hunt

It’s that time of year!  Easter is quick approaching and we’re planning another great Easter Egg Hunt for Saturday, April 11 a 9am.  The egg hunt is for ages preschool to 5th grade and is free and open to the public. Bring your own basket!

Help us with our Egg Hunt supplies and donate a few bags of candy! Just make sure they are individually wrapped and can fit inside a plastic egg (otherwise, the office staff has to eat the ones that don’t make the cut!)

Drop off at the bin near the Family Discipleship Table or to the church office anytime before April 9.

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!

Capital Campaign, Grow the Good, News, Worship

Grow the Good – February Update

*Special update below from Campaign Leader: John Davidson!

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to share a quick update for Grow the Good. To date, you have funded $211,033 for Grow the Good!  God is great and He is providing!

The Atmosphere Team is off to a great start!  In the Youth Room, the walls have been repaired and painted and the floor refinish is in progress, and it will also get the new LED light panels.  Thanks to the Atmosphere Team and the Men’s Group for all the hard work!  The room is going to look fantastic while providing a space that is resilient to the demands of one of our most active groups.  Next will be the Food Pantry room, which will also receive a fresh coat of paint, polished concrete floor, and new LED light panels.

The Tech team is very excited that we are able to fund and execute the audio upgrades for the Worship Center so early in the campaign.  I can’t wait to hear the difference it makes!  For the first few weeks you won’t see any changes in the Worship Center while our contractor finishes up their design work.  But soon, volunteers from the congregation will build the new sound booth and run some of the cabling to help keep labor costs to a minimum, then the contractor will come in to install, calibrate, and test the new equipment and provide training for the Tech Team.  And before you know it, the new sound system will be ready.

The next project in line will be the paint and carpet for the remainder of the building.  We would really like to get that finished prior to Fall Kick-off in August.  However, the funding projections we’ve calculated based on pledge cards received shows that we may not have sufficient funding until well into the Fall season.  To help keep up the momentum this year, Candi and I will be accelerating our own campaign commitment and submitting contributions earlier in the year than was noted on our pledge card.  If others would like to join us in that effort, please let the Grow the Good team know by submitting an updated pledge card or sending a note to the church office.  How cool would it be to start the Fall season off with brand new carpet?

That’s everything for now, we will update you again on March 22 during first and second services.

Thank you and see you soon,

John Davidson
Grow the Good
Campaign Team Member