Join us as Pastor Keeyon shares a powerful message from Luke 19:1–10 (CEB), the story of Zacchaeus, a man who climbed a tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus, only to find himself seen, known, and called by name.
This episode invites us to reflect on what it means to be truly noticed by God and challenged to welcome His presence into every part of our lives.
On today’s episode, Pastor Keeyon’s message highlights Luke 18:1-8, CEB.
Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
Join pastor Keeyon as he leads us in the ancient practice of Lectio Divina
On Embodiment Sunday you are invite to engage in the sacred practice of Lectio Divina- an ancient practice that can help us slowly and prayerfully attend to and respond to Scripture. Check out the podcast to be guided in four postures of Lectio Divina on Embodiment Sunday.
Read (or in our context - listen to the text!)
Reflect upon the text and any words/phrases that stand out to you and why these may catch your attention and what feelings or thoughts surfaced. Allow time for the text to sink deeply into your soul!
Respond by offering anything that rises up to God and listen for any inner nudging
Rest in God’s loving presence and consider how you may return to God’s word throughout the day ahead
Join Alice Murray, Pastor of Care & Hospitality at FaithLife Church in Cedar Rapids as she dives into Luke 17:5-10.
On Embodiment Sunday you are invite to engage in the sacred practice of Lectio Divina- an ancient practice that can help us slowly and prayerfully attend to and respond to Scripture.
Michele is the Pastor of Missions at FaithLife. Growing up in a small farming community in Kansas, my grandmother instilled in me when I was a child to, "Love God and love others." I am a wife, mother and will be a grandma at the end of November. At FaithLife, I feel incredibly lucky to have a front seat to all of the incredible ways God is working through his people in our community and in our world. My hope is that the Holy Spirit continues to move and inspire more people to serve others in Jesus name and at the same time listen, learn and encourage others.
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager is often considered one of Jesus' most perplexing teachings, especially in a world that's preoccupied with wealth. While our focus tends to be on using resources for immediate comfort and power, God calls us to be shrewd managers with an eternal perspective. This parable is a powerful call to action, urging us to use the resources we have been given to build his kingdom.
You are invite to engage in the sacred practice of Lectio Divina- an ancient practice that can help us slowly and prayerfully attend to and respond to Scripture. Check out the podcast to be guided in four postures of Lectio Divina with Ephesians 6:1-10, MSG.
Join guest Anthony Betters Jr. for a conversation on Reconciliation, Neighborhood Development, & Worship.
Anthony is a Sales Specialist at American Family Insurance, aspiring to obtain his own agency one day. A proud Baylor University alum, that holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Corporate Communications, achieving this while balancing the demands of being a student-athlete football walk-on.
Originally from Waco, Texas, Anthony made the move to Cedar Rapids to start a senior in-home healthcare franchise. His dedication and impact in the community have been recognized with the Corridor Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 accolade. He is also a part of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., that is focused on developing leaders, promoting brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.
Beyond his professional role, Anthony actively engages with the community. He serves as the PTA Vice President at Washington High School, Vice President of the African American Museum of Iowa (AAMI) Board of Directors, and Treasurer and Chaplin of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He has also created a community initiative called GoodFellas, that helps bring black men together to network, and collaborate in a safe space environment.
In his personal life, Anthony, alongside his fiancée Cynthia, embraces the role of being a dad to four kids: Amora, Brylee, Mariah, and Jacob. He considers it a privilege to pursue his passion for community service, while providing representation for youth who look up to him.
During his time as a minister overseeing small group leaders, Pastor Keeyon sat down for lunch with one leader who had been faithfully serving the church since its beginning. He and his wife had led over a dozen groups, often with 20 or more people gathering in their home. From the outside, it looked like a life filled with connection. But when Pastor Keeyon asked him about friendship, his answer was unforgettable: “I don’t have any friends.”
In this episode, Pastor Keeyon explores The Friendship Crisis in Christianity.
On this podcast episode you will be guided through an imagination activity, to imagine, to hope, to dream what it looks like to embody all that we have learned throughout the Immerse sermon series.
This epsiode is a reflective guide to the our collective experiences of the Derecho.
We believe that baptism is a gift from God. It is something God gives to us. St. Peter says that it is the mark of a good conscience toward God—that we are saved through the resurrection of Jesus. So when we are unsure, when we feel far from God and our conscience is a wreck, we can remember our baptism in Christ and what He promised through our faith in Him.
Baptism isn’t something we do for God, but something God has given to us as an assurance that we are marked as His through baptism.
God saves.
The water doesn’t save—but God does.
It is not the water, indeed, that does these things,
but the Word of God that is in and with the water,
and faith which trusts such Word of God in the water.
For without the Word of God, the water is simple water and no baptism.
But with the Word of God, it is a baptism—
that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost.
As Saint Paul says in Titus, chapter 3:
“By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;
that, being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
This is a faithful saying.
This Summer during Sunday Service we are offering space to reimagine and apply the key components of life and ministry within a framework of Christian Community Development. These Sunday gatherings will offer space for worship, conversation, insight and practical skills for engaging in the renewal of all things.
This Sunday we will be leaning into the key component of embodying a prophetic presence.
As CCD practitioners we often find it necessary to raise awareness and raise our voices for reform or systemic change. We are called to dismantle lies, greed, broken structures, and unjust laws. It is time to intentionally practice prophetic presence as CCD practitioners. But what does it mean to be a prophetic presence in your community? In the broadest sense, prophetic presence is publicly standing up to harmful policies or practices that damage an individual or group’s human dignity and quality of life. Being a prophetic presence signals to others that you are not only calling out an injustice, but are committed to taking the necessary actions to see that change takes place.
For CCD, prophetic presence responds to the age-old question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God shows considerable concern for breaking the strongholds of injustice and false frameworks that operate in this world by correcting, redeeming, and restoring all that has been lost, broken, distorted, or unfairly gained.
Visit CCDA.org to become a member and take the full immerse course.
This Summer during Sunday Service we are offering space to reimagine and apply the key components of life and ministry within a framework of Christian Community Development. These Sunday gatherings will offer space for worship, conversation, insight and practical skills for engaging in the renewal of all things.
This Sunday we will be leaning into the key component of being church-based
Church-Based Definition - Stephanie
Being church-based means that CCD bases its philosophy and practice on the belief that the community of faith in any neighborhood is a natural sustainable entity to contribute towards the redemptive and restorative purposes of God for the benefit of everyone in that local vicinity, neighboring communities, nearby cities, and beyond.
A nurturing community of faith is “the gas, the guts, the glue” that hold the community development principles together. The gas provides the energy, the guts provides the core purpose and the glue keeps everyone on track, moving in the same direction.
Flourishing Neighborhood Index Video
This Summer, during Sunday Service, we are offering space to reimagine and apply the key components of life and ministry within a framework of Christian Community Development. These Sunday gatherings will offer space for worship, conversation, insight, and practical skills for engaging in the renewal of all things. This Sunday, we will be leaning into the key component of Leadership Development.
For CCD, the goal of leadership development has historically been to embolden and develop local leaders where CCD practitioners are present and working with residents to build a thriving community.
Our role as CCD practitioners is to create a safe space for people to be inspired, reach their full potential, and recognize their God-given purposes. The point is to identify and encourage existing leaders. We must also find potential leaders who might need guidance or resources to build their capacity and confidence. CCD emphasizes the importance of building into budding leaders, especially youth. Leadership development in CCD is not about a hierarchy of power. It is not about title, position, or credit. It is about building up those around us and letting others build into us as we all seek to become who God created us to be. Developing leaders and being developed as a leader are not short-term programs, but built on long-term mutual relationships.
This Summer series of Embodiment Sundays is inspired by Richard Foster who wrote in his book ‘Celebration of Discipline’:
“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”
This series will provide guides to grow deeper with God in the ordinariness of our lives in connection with the Immerse Series during Sunday Service where are offer space to reimagine and apply the key components of life and ministry within a framework of Christian Community Development.
As we paying attention to the movements of God in the ordinariness of our lives, the more and more we are able to recognize God’s movements in all things. On this Embodiment Sunday, you will be (re)introduced to a habit worth cultivating at the end of the day as a of reflecting and remembering our experience of life. This reflective practice is loosely based off of the Examen Prayer and guides us to end the day with the grace, gratitude and awareness of God’s movements in the ordinary of our lives.
This Summer, during Sunday Service, we are offering space to reimagine and apply the key components of life and ministry within a framework of Christian Community Development. These Sunday gatherings will provide space for worship, conversation, insight, and practical skills for engaging in the renewal of all things.
This Sunday, we will be leaning into the key component of listening to the Community.
The CCD practice of listening to the community may be one of the most practical components, yet it is one of the most challenging to execute effectively. We often sabotage the sacred act of listening because we feel the pressure to produce results, whether the tension comes from external institutional constraints or our internal drive to make something happen. It also seems counterintuitive to sit, listen, and wait to act in situations where there seems to be so much that needs to be done. Listening to the community involves a posture of learning and empathy.
“A listening heart is always open, sensitive to the joy and pain of others, offering a space within itself for the other to enter. It gives each person what is so badly needed—an affirmation of their place in this world.” —Eliezer Shore
On Pentecost Sunday, we invite you to engage in the sacred practice of Lectio Divina—a slow, prayerful reading of Scripture—as we reflect on the powerful imagery of wind, a symbol of God’s divine presence and movement.
In the Pentecost story, the disciples are gathered in prayer, awaiting the promise of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, a violent wind rushes in from the heavenly realm—a roar so overwhelming, it fills the entire house. This wind is not just noise; it is a divine force breaking into the ordinary, signaling the arrival of something entirely new.
As the Spirit descends, Jesus' followers are empowered to speak in languages they do not know, connecting them with people who are different—in voice, culture, land, and story. This moment marks the birth of the Church—a new way of being together, shaped by God’s boundary-breaking love.
Luke, the author of Acts, paints a picture of the Spirit disrupting settled ways of living. It is a holy wind blowing through comfort and control, ushering in a revolution of connection, compassion, and courage. The Spirit does not wait for our plans—it moves through pain, longing, struggle, and hope.
As we embody Lectio Divina, you will be invited to allow the element of wind to guide us. Let it stir your soul. Let it awaken you to the unexpected and uncontainable movement of God. Listen. Breathe. Be open. Where might the Spirit be blowing in your life?
Stories Among Us Vision
At Wellington Heights Community Church, we believe that God’s transforming and abundant love is revealed through the lived experiences of His people. Through our Stories Among Us series, we are intentionally offering individuals the creative freedom to share their unique journeys of embodying peace, justice, reconciliation, and hope. We trust each storyteller to speak from their heart, aligned with the spirit of the Good News and the mission of our community. Their voices will help us see more clearly how God is at work among us, inviting us all to live more fully into the resurrection life. May these stories awaken us to the beauty of the Way of God breaking in and inspire us to join with courage and joy in the stories unfolding around us.
Scripture Focus for Stories Among Us: Ephesians 1:15-23
15 Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, this is the reason that 16 I don’t stop giving thanks to God for you when I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, 19 and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength. 20 God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens, 21 far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future. 22 God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church, 23 which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way.
