For those of you who have been involved at Cedarcrest for a while you have heard us say that the mission of our church is simply LOVING GOD & LOVING PEOPLE. This is not original to Cedarcrest Church. This statement comes straight from the mouth of Jesus in Matthew 22. In verses 34-40 Jesus silenced his Pharisaic accusers by reminding them of a law that is above all others. A Mosaic law that would be very familiar to them: “Love the Lord your God with all our heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Dt. 6:5)
Every thing that you and I attempt to do in our faith comes back to this truth. Love God with all that you are. If you love God with all that you are, the rest falls into place. This leads us to the most important question we could ever answer: Do I love God? This is not a casual kind of love. This is an all-encompassing love—a love that involves your whole being. Do you love God with all that you are?
Because it is impossible to love God without loving his most prized creation—man—Jesus follows up the Great Commandment by saying the second is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The way we show that we love God with all that we are is by loving people. We live out our love for God in the way we treat others. If you say that you love God and yet you don’t love people, you don’t love God. We live out our devotion and affection for God through loving people. Ask yourself, “Do I love people the way God intends?”
Loving God & Loving People is at the core of our mission statement at Cedarcrest. The next blog post will detail the second part of our mission statement: AS WE GROW.
“What does that hurricane symbol mean?” Referring to our old logo, this has been one of the most asked questions at our Discover Cedarcrest lunch. My answer, “Nothing! We just thought it looked cool.” How spiritual is that?!
Because we want our logo to be an intentional reminder of our mission and goals as a church, we’ve given it a whole new look. I want to share with you how we arrived at this new, more meaningful graphic. It all begins with our mission.
...in with the New!
For these first few years of our church we have held up the Great Commandment according to Jesus as the foundation for all that we do. The mission of our church up to this point has been Love God and Love People.
Over the past year as we have been praying through this we really began to feel like we needed to be more specific in our mission statement. In no way are we saying that we need to add to the Great Commandment! Jesus covers it with what he says in Matthew 22, but we have felt the need to clarify the goal of living the Great Commandment.
At Cedarcrest Church, we are modifying our mission statement by adding a to it, so that it better communicates not only why we exist but points to the goal of living the Great Commandment.
Updated Mission:
Loving God and Loving People as we grow together in Christ.
In the next couple of blog entries, let’s explore our new mission statement in more detail.
We are so excited that God has opened the door for developing the land of the future home of Cedarcrest Church!
Site work to begin on March 15
We were able to get the approval we needed to move forward with site work, which will begin on March 15th. Please continue to pray for the elders and staff as we formalize plans for the building over the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to posting our progress along the way!
As we begin 2011 I am excited to be kicking off the new year with a series on the vision and values of Cedarcrest Church. I hope you will make plans to join us as we look at the reason we exist and the values we hold as we seek to grow together in Christ.
This shows just a small example of one of the most impoverished places on earth. I have never seen anything like it! Over 700,000 people live in this slum in Nairobi. There are 4 other slums like this in Kenya of a similar size. This is poverty beyond description. There is no possible way to accurately describe the sights, the smells, and the dark oppression of the slum. These are conditions that no one should have to endure and yet for so many this is their life. It is hard to describe the emotions of spending time in a slum like this. And yet because of the ministry of Compassion I experienced something in this dark, hopeless place that I never thought I would find….HOPE! In the midst of poverty that is beyone imagination there is Hope because of Jesus Christ! Children are being rescued from poverty and are believing that there is a hope for the future because of the truth of the Gospel.
This video shows the home of a Compassion child, Edwin, that we had the honor of visiting. When asked about his favorite part of the Compassion project, Edwin said his favorite part of being a Compassion child is experiencing the love of Jesus!
As you look at these conditions reflect on the hope of Jesus. The light of Christ can shine in the darkest places on earth!
I am blown away by the hope that I experienced in a hopeless situation because the Gospel is alive and well!
This week is the beginning of our 30 day Gospel reading emphasis. As we read through the Gospels together I am going to share a few brief thoughts on some of our daily reading. I hope this will be an encouragement to you as you dive into God’s word and are reminded of the love of God revealed in Christ.
I am praying for you as we look together at God’s “Crazy Love” for us!
For a copy of the reading plan click on this link to our website:
This week is the beginning of our new series “Crazy Love” at Cedarcrest. I am so excited about the next 9 weeks as we dive into the incredible love God has for us all and focus on our response to His love.
There are so many ways for you to be involved in this series.
- Attend worship. Each week will be a memorable worship experience as we look at God’s relentless pursuit of us with his love.
- Get in a Group. We are launching new community groups that meet during the week as well as new adult bible study classes that meet on Sunday mornings @ Cedarcrest. If you are not currently in a group click this link to get plugged in! http://cedarcrestchurch.com/crazy-love
- Read the book. Francis Chan’s book “Crazy Love” will serve as the foundation for this series. Make sure you pick up a copy of the book to read during this series.
I cannot wait to see how God uses this series in the life of our Church. This is a great time to bring someone with you to get connected to the love of God. I am looking forward to seeing you for “Crazy Love”!
No I am not talking about cigarettes! Today on our way back to Jerusalem from the Dead Sea we stopped at a gas station where there where a couple of camels just waiting to be ridden by crazy tourists. Here is my exciting camel ride with Megan through the parking lot of a gas station in the desert of Israel.
On of the great things about this Israel trip is the people I am traveling with. Not only do we have a great group from Cedarcrest but there is also some of my family here as well. Anytime the Wright’s get together we have a great time. So this brief little video is especially for my cousins; Jobeth & Tombo, Sally & Taylor, Handley & Blake, & Land. Wish you guys were here!
