Blog

Kenya Update

Bob and Julie give an update on the mission work going on in Kenya at the Naomi's Village orphanage.

App Viewers: This video can be found under the media section of the app

Worship Wednesday: Music from 10/18/15

Want to listen to the music we played during Worship Services on Sunday again? Check out our Spotify playlist that features all of the songs we sang. Don't forget to subscribe to the playlist to get weekly updates.

10 Ways Anyone Can Use Social Media to Help Cottonwood Creek

The beauty of using social media as a church is that every member of our community has the ability like never before to spread the Gospel and to share how Cottonwood Creek is a church that loves God and loves people. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and other tools are enabling us to do this. So our challenge is simple: Just be you. Just love people the way you already do, and as you do, share your faith.

Here are ten ways you can help Cottonwood Creek anytime to build relationships and share the gospel…

1. Like, follow and subscribe.
• “Like” us on Facebook
• “Follow” us on Twitter
• “Follow” us on Instagram
• “Subscribe” to our YouTube channel
2. Click the sharing links on our news stories, message content, posts, pictures and videos.
3. “Check in” on Facebook every time you’re at Cottonwood Creek or an event we’re hosting.
4. Clicking “like” on posts you see on Facebook and Instagram by Cottonwood Creek, clicking “favorite” on Twitter posts from @cottonwoodfam, and watching, sharing, and commenting on videos on our YouTube channel helps our content spread further to be seen by your friends and the world.
5. Re-tweet what Cottonwood Creek posts on Twitter.
6. Take photos and videos at church and church-related events, then post them to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and use the hashtag #cottonwoodfamily so we can spot them! You can also email them to and we’ll use them here and there.
7. Post, as a tweet on Twitter or Facebook status update, a short quote from a sermon, or a lyric from a song we’re singing, and put #cottonwoodfamily in your post.
8. Invite people to Cottonwood Creek events using your social networks. Facebook’s events feature is a powerful way to do this.
9. Help us to follow you on social networks! Email us your social profiles at and we’ll follow you!
10. Write your faith story in the notes section on Facebook, and/or record yourself on video using your computer, phone or tablet and share it with all kinds of people in your social networks.

Bonus: If you really, really, REALLY want to go the extra mile to help us spread the word on Facebook, you can cruise over to our Facebook page, mouse over the “Liked” button and choose to “Get Notifications.” Every time we add an update to our page, you’ll get a Facebook notification (not an email) about it and you’ll be able to click on it, “Like” it, “Share” it, etc.

I Shouldn't Be A Christian

IS THERE A GOD?

This is one of the most asked questions in human existence. Growing up this is something that Jesse Chaney, Cottonwood Creek's Junior High Minister, thought about a lot. Even into early adulthood Jesse kept turning to this question.

Jesse's childhood was not one where both parents tucked him in each night, made his lunch for him and kissed him goodbye as he left for school. Both of his parents where struggling with issues of their own and eventually divorced. With seeing his father less and less and his mother turning to substances and men to make the pain stop, Jesse essentially was on his own.

"She would bring these men into the home," Jesse said. "And they were violent men. They were men that did not treat my mother in a Godly way. We were sick of it, me and my brother. So we told her if you bring anybody else home we're not going to be here. So instead of bringing a man home when I was 16 she just moved in with him. That left me in an apartment by myself at 16 years old."

The only reason he didn't drop out of school was because he wanted to be with his friends. With zero accountability or parental supervision Jesse began making his own decisions. These decisions were often careless and Jesse had to face the consequences. 

In junior high, Jesse had attended a church that eventually failed. Believing that everything around him was doomed to fail, Jesse didn't seek out another church. When he had nowhere else to turn he remembered the truths instilled in him from the Godly men that had been around him for a brief time growing up. 

"I knew there was a God," Jesse said. "I knew he wanted more for me and from me. Yet I had never truly committed my life to him. "

It took hitting rock bottom for Jesse to realize that life couldn't be lived this way. There had to something more. Jesse turned to his Christian friends who did all that they knew how to do. They invited him to church. 

"My life still looked the same," Jesse said. "So I began attending another church with some of my close Christian friends. About a year into attending church I thought to myself 'Well, they got me! I actually believe this.' I began to see my life change, and I began to see this truth that there was a God. He did love me. He did want a relationship with me. It began to change my life."

Feeling the call to ministry in the 12th grade, Jesse ran from the idea, not believing that God could use someone with his background. Like Jonah found out (Jonah 1), there was no hiding from God. Jesse stopped running and began attending Bible college, where he met his wife and eventually found his way to Cottonwood Creek.

He continued to make himself more and more evident," Jesse said. "He continued to press on the fact that He was there and He was present and not some absentee god. He was living and active in my life. So, is there a God? Yes."

Psalm 139:7-12 - Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Update: Imagine One

Imagine One more life that could be reached with the Gospel.

In early 2015 Cottonwood Creek asked its members to imagine a world where they gave 1% more in their tithes. What could be accomplished? Over halfway through the year we have reached some amazing goals because people have faithfully given.

So far we have reached these goals:

• January 25 - Additional $5,000 Baltimore Church Plant Support
• March 8 - Fall Festival Paid with Free Admission
• March 29 - VBS Paid with Free Registration, $15,000 for Baltimore Housing Facility
• April 19 - Funds to build Laundromat for Naomi's Village in Kenya, Remodeling Creates 2 New Life Group @Church Spaces
• May 31 - $3,000 for The Edge Church, a Send Denver church plant, trying to purchase their building.

To learn more about Imagine One, visit us at http://cottonwoodcreek.org/imagine-one.