Stories of Others Living Deeply
At Cedar Springs, we see you – and we’re with you. We know what it’s like to be overwhelmed with the hurriedness of life. We also understand the feeling deep inside you for something deeper than you’re settling for now. In fact, we believe God created us for those deeper things, and we want to help you discover them.
Below are a series of stories from people right here at Cedar Springs. Some come from great experiences while others were walking through hard times. The unifying thread through all of them is a life living deeply in pursuit of Jesus.
For years, I thought joy just meant filling my life with the right people & things- soccer, music, my friends. Then I began to see how thin that kind of joy really was; a lesson God drove home more deeply than ever the summer I held my best friend as...
I’m CSPC member Charlotte Womack, and this is how I’m living deeply. “In the 1960s, my husband Jim and I relocated in Bearden. That was when a friend told us about ‘a little church way out on Kingston Pike,’ and after our first visit, we were ready to join CSPC....
I’m Adam Counts. This is how I, along with my wife Jessica and family, am living deeply. “This summer, we experienced God’s kindness in an answered prayer a long time in the making. Our pursuit of baptism for our children, Micah and Skye, wound through five duty stations and just...
We’re Seth & Julie Bowman. Here’s how we’re living deeply after a family mission trip to Africa last summer. Seth: I didn’t expect the hardest moment to happen in Chicago. But that was how it started, watching the airport screen flip to CANCELLED. Our flight to Newark was gone, which...
I’m CSPC member Russ Simmons. This is how I’m living deeply. ’It doesn’t matter how smart you are. You can make mistakes and find yourself homeless,’ a middle-aged man with several advanced college degrees (who was homeless) told me. That really stuck with me. You think that if you have...
I’m Jill Lagerberg Hileman, and this is my Live Deeply story. “When I was twenty-one months old, my mother won a baby grand piano on the game show The Price Is Right. She started teaching me how to play it when I was two. I began formal lessons at seven...
My name is Zhenya Ballenger, and this is how I’m living deeply. “Isn’t it interesting how you can love learning about mission work, but not necessarily see yourself getting directly involved in it? I grew up at CSPC attending the church’s mission conference, which I still really enjoy. One of...
I’m Sam Johnson. Here’s how I’m living deeply. “I almost said no. My internship at Tombras—a prominent ad agency here in Knoxville—was supposed to start June 2nd. Our flight to Thailand for the mission trip I’d agreed to left June 3rd. I’m studying advertising at UT, I’d just pulled straight...
I’m CSPC member Abby Karadsheh. Here’s how I’m living deeply. “Growing up at CSPC, Mission Fest was the highlight of my year. I always made a beeline for the Middle Eastern ministry presentations. I couldn’t tell you why. I just remember sitting there as a little girl, completely riveted, soaking...
I’m Jennifer Yates. Here’s how I’m living deeply. “The tears were dripping down her chin before she even got through her first few paragraphs. She’d started as a Prince & Princess (P & P) of the King, God Almighty -a child our church helps get through school because she doesn’t...