Cedar Ridge Community Church

A community of hope and transformation

February 18 E-Post

February 18, 2010 - 3:02pm

E-Post – February 18, 2010

CHURCH COMMUNITY NEWS

1. E-Post Award

This E-Post Award is shared by the Young family, Gary and Kristen, and their daughters, Audra and Leisl. There is no way to enumerate all the ways that the Youngs have contributed to life at Cedar Ridge. Most of us can recognize Gary and Kristen from the many times we’ve seen them lead worship music on Sundays. In addition, Gary’s technical experience has made a contribution to the improvement of the sound in the auditorium. Gary, Kristen and their daughters have beautiful, friendly attitudes, enthusiasm, and servants’ hearts.

2. Winter Weather Cancellation Information

It has been a snowy season already. One important update is that our call line for weather cancellation has been changed to extension 28. So when there is ice or snow, you can call the church and listen to the closing update at 301-384-7444 extension 28. Or you can go to the front page of our website (www.crcc.org), and we will post any closings or church service cancellations. Below are a few points to keep in mind:

For Sunday services, we will post closures by 7AM on Sunday morning.
For midweek evening activities, we post closures by 5PM.
Youth activities follow Montgomery County schools for closures so listen to the radio or go to the county website for county school closings.
Please help us spread the word and be sure to inform your small groups or ministries when you know Cedar Ridge is closed.
As leaders of ministry, you can cancel meetings even when the church is open but please contact your people and, if possible, let your staff ministry leader know too. (Having an email list or phone tree is helpful to contact Cedar Ridge people in advance of bad weather).
Finally, if you are a key holder and are the leader of your ministry, please be on time for your winter gatherings by arriving at least 15 minutes prior to any meeting to prevent people from being locked out of the building. Our smaller sized staff may not be here when you arrive to let you in the door. Be safe and always use caution; we hope to see you at Cedar Ridge during this winter season.

GETTING CONNECTED: OPPORTUNITIES TO LIVE, LEARN, AND GROW WITH CEDAR RIDGE

3. Journey through Lent at Cedar Ridge

On February 17 we marked the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday service. For 40 days we are observing this traditional season of self-examination and personal reflection where we acknowledge our human frailty and weakness (“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”) and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and inner transformation. For some, going without an outward item (like certain food or certain practices or activities) can help reveal a deeper inward reality or need. Fasting in this way is another tradition of this season. (Sundays are traditionally excluded from days of fasting)

During Lent we will focus on the issue of “commitment” and what healthy, life-giving commitment looks like among a community of followers of Jesus. This will be centered around the current discipleship series material (“Our Journey of Hope”) and will give us all opportunity to engage more broadly and deeply with the themes in the content.

Each Sunday we will follow Jesus on a “Journey Through Lent” by looking at themes based on traditional Lenten scriptures:

Series: Journey Through Lent

Sunday         Theme                                                    Speaker
February 21   Devoted to Following Jesus Together          Matthew Dyer
February 28   Into the Wild                                           Matthew Dyer
March 7         Stories from the Journey                           Personal stories from our community
March 14       Hope for the Prodigal                                Patsy Fratanduono
March 21       Who Are You Following?                             Matthew Dyer
March 28       Palm Sunday                                           Matthew Dyer

4. Small Groups during Lent

Throughout this season we are encouraging all our small groups to meet to finish the discipleship series material and discuss the Sunday themes.

Other important activities during this season are:

5. Winter Discipleship Series Open Discussion Forums

The current Discipleship Series "Our Journey of Hope: Following the Dangerous Way of Jesus" has been an important time for examining our values and what it looks like to pursue our vision of following Jesus together in real life as a community. It has proven exciting and also challenging at times. Anyone is welcome to come to one or all of the open forums to dialogue about themes from the series, talk through questions, raise concerns, listen to and engage in discussion with senior pastor Matthew Dyer and other leaders of the church. These dates are:

Tuesday, February 23 7-9PM Cedar Ridge Barn
Thursday, March 11 7-9PM Cedar Ridge Barn

6. The Journey

We are offering an opportunity to attend a Journey seminar for anyone participating in this recent series who is interested in becoming a member of Cedar Ridge. This three hour group time is a chance to get to know the pastors and discuss our vision and values together while considering a more serious commitment to following Jesus at Cedar Ridge. This abbreviated Journey seminar is Sunday, March 14, 12:45-3:45PM. RSVP required. Light snacks and drinks provided, but no childcare. Contact Patsy Fratanduono to register or for more information.

7. Prayer Practice: Thursday, March 18

If we are serious and intentional about our Journey following Jesus, focused time of resting in God’s presence is essential if we are to know God through the “still small voice” within. There are tried and true methods of prayer that engage the mind, heart and body in centering in our oneness with God and learning to rest in Divine stillness and peace. Through times of discussion, silence, guided meditation and breathing, Prayer Practice evenings help us spend time together focusing our whole selves on receptively resting in the Loving Presence of God. During this season of Lent we will focus especially on what it means to be a community of prayer and living with an awareness of the sacred in one another, especially important in this season of Lent. All are welcome; no registration or prior experience required. No food or childcare. Contact Patsy Fratanduono for more information.
March 18: 7-9PM Barn first floor

8. Parent Potluck

On Sunday, February 21, we will have a potluck for parents who have children in elementary school, preschool and under two years old. The potluck will be from 12:45 to 2:30PM in the Barn. During our last potluck in November, parents enjoyed the opportunity to meet and connect with others, and experience a greater sense of community. There will also be an opportunity to hear about upcoming Sunday plans in Children's Ministry. Wednesday, February 17, was the deadline to RSVP for this event as childcare is provided. If you were planning to attend, but have missed the deadline to RSVP you can contact Leigh-Ellen Curl via email on Thursday, February 18, before 2:00pm. We hope to see you at the potluck!

9. Quarterly Leadership Gathering

Our next quarterly gathering of leaders from all areas of our church community is on Sunday, February 28, from 12:45 to 3:00PM in the barn at Cedar Ridge. At this important meeting we’ll share with one another how things are going and discuss upcoming plans. A simple lunch of homemade soup and bread will be provided. If you are a leader please register for this event on our website. You can also let us know if you can bring some soup.

GETTING INVOLVED: MEETING NEEDS IN OUR CHURCH, COMMUNITY, AND WORLD

10. A Simple Way to Help Someone: February 21

We REALLY need your blood contribution this Sunday for the American Red Cross. Each February the Red Cross comes out to Cedar Ridge to make it simple and easy for us to donate blood to support our local hospitals. This year, because of the extreme weather conditions, our local hospitals are low and even out of many blood types. More than ever, your donation is needed and appreciated. We only have 30 people signed up to donated when the Red Cross normally requires 60 donors. But they are in such need that they will be in room 105 from 8:30AM-2:30PM no matter who shows. If you haven't signed up yet, please contact Beth Burgess directly to choose a time slot. Or please look at the sign up sheet posted in the Commons to pick a time. Only the first and last timeslots are taken so large windows throughout our services are open: 9AM-10AM and 11:15AM-11:45AM and 1PM-1:45PM (choose any 15 minute interval).

Donors MUST BE in good health (no colds), be at least 17-years-old, weigh more than 110 pounds and US born.
You SHOULD NOT donate if you received a tattoo this past year, have donated blood within the past 56 days, been on antibiotics the past 2 weeks.

11. Shooting Video: A Unique Opportunity on Sundays

For more than 10 years, Russ Delaney has been heading up our Message Video team at Cedar Ridge Community Church - shooting the message nearly every Sunday, editing the video and posting the video and audio files to the website. You may never have noticed the sermon videos on the website, but for people in our community who are ill, or who are working or traveling on Sundays, they're a vital link; really important, both for individual growth and for feeling like part of our church family.

With Russ leaving this position, it's time to expand the team. I'd love to have 4-6 more people who are all capable of shooting and posting sermon videos to the web, so that we can have a regular rotation with subs to cover vacations and illnesses. If you're a recreational home video shooter, this is a great chance to help people, refine your technique and learn some new technology.

This team is open to teenagers as well as adults. (Middle schooler...let's talk.)

Team members need the following qualities:
1. Some experience shooting live video or still photos.
2. Willingness to learn and be guided by staff and other team members.
3. Internet access, so that you can post information to our website (it's easy, we'll teach you.)
4. You must be dependable and able/willing to coordinate schedules with other team members.
5. You should be a person who sees the importance of these teaching videos and the website in our mission of discipleship, community and inclusion.

If you're interested, would like to suggest someone, or have any questions, please contact Betsy Mitchell Henning.

12. Nursery Questionnaire

If you are interested in using the nursery, will you please go online to answer a questionnaire? We'd like to have some feedback from parents about our nursery. The link can be found on the Children page of the Cedar Ridge website. For more information, contact Leigh-Ellen Curl.

13. Leader Needs for Children's Ministry

We currently have opportunities for leaders to join some of our teams. If you are interested in being a part of ministry to children in Elementary school and younger on Sunday mornings, please contact Leigh-Ellen Curl.

11AM Nursery Team
9AM Preschool Leader
11AM K/1 Leader
11AM 2nd/3rd Grade Leader

14. Lend a Hand for Snow Removal

If you live close to Cedar Ridge and enjoy spending time outside in the snow, we invite you to be part of our snow removal team. The role is flexible. We could use help during the week if you are off from work, we could use your help as soon as it snows, and we can use help on Sunday mornings before church starts to ensure safety for everyone! We can train you our equipment or we’ll take good old fashion hard working shovel support. There is much to be done when it snows: we have to clear the main drive, parking spots, walkways and all fire exits for our church and barn, plus spread salt or sand. If you have any interest in helping out for a one time snow or throughout the winter weather, please let Mark Hartley know. Until then, Stay Warm!

15. We are Planning our Spring Plantings

That's right! We have already had TWO farm meetings so if you missed them, you need to catch up and get involved! We launched our first meeting January 31 and our second meeting was this past Sunday, February 14. Our next all church monthly farm meeting is Sunday, March 14, from 12:30-2:30PM. All are welcome to listen in. We are in the process of planning our Spring plant list and planting layout. Plus, we are looking for people willing to build raised beds with wood we provide so we can use them for our Spring plantings. For questions or to get you or your family involved, contact Beth Burgess. Also, go to the crcc.org website and click Farm on the front page to find out how our meeting went and ways to support this community effort!

POSTSCRIPT
Contact Information
Cedar Ridge Community Church
2410 Spencerville Road, Spencerville, MD 20868
Phone: 301-384-7444
Website: www.crcc.org

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