How they overcame ALL obstacles at CEDAR CREEK Church, Perrysburg, Ohio (near Toledo)

In June of 1994 Lee Powell attended a church leadership conference at Willow Creek Community church in South Barrington, Illinois where he heard Willow Creek Founder-&-Pastor Bill Hybels talk about the local church being the hope of the world. Later that night, Lee gathered with four others who were attending the conference with him to talk about the possibilities for a church like that in the greater Toledo area. It was there where the idea for CedarCreek really began.

In November of the same year twenty-five people came together to form the core of what is now known as CedarCreek Church. In a small back room of a Chinese restaurant they committed to do whatever it took to see this mission become a reality. After nine months of meeting together, learning together, laboring together, and praying together, CedarCreek launched its first public service on October 8, 1995 at the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg, Ohio with 180 people in attendance.

In January of 1996 the French Quarter informed Lee that they would not be able to use their facilities for Easter. This presented a slight problem, so the search began for a new location. It was the spring of 1996 when CedarCreek moved the Sunday morning service to the Perrysburg Junior High School (now the Commodore Building) in downtown Perrysburg, a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. As the church continued to grow, so did the number of services. In 1997 they added a second Sunday morning service. In the fall of 1999, CedarCreek launched its first Saturday service and within a week doubled in attendance. The church began to experience amazing growth and the need for a place to call home became apparent.

In November of 2000 the church purchased nineteen acres of land in Perrysburg Township on Lime City Road near Mandell Road, and secured an option for another twenty acres, for a total of thirty-nine acres of land. However, the need for more parking and seats became obvious in the early fall of 2001, as number of services grew to 5 (two on Saturday, and three on Sunday), attendance swelled to 2,600. In December of that year CedarCreek moved to the old Perrysburg High School where there was ample parking and more seats.

CedarCreek broke ground mid-September 2001 on a state of the art, 54,000 sq. ft. facility, with a 1,400-seat auditorium and dynamic children’s space. They moved into this new location the next year and scaled back to three services (one on Saturday, two on Sunday). Steadily, more and more unchurched people began to attend CedarCreek and by the spring of 2004 with the release of the Passion of the Christ, the attendance soared to around 5,000.

To their surprise, space became an issue once more. The lobby was crowded, kid’s space was overflowing, and parking had become a problem again. So in March of 2005 another 30,000 sq. ft. was dedicated, which includes a 330 seat chapel (that can serve as overflow), atrium, bookstore, and much more children’s space.

Even with all the new space, there just doesn’t seem to be enough space. In the spring of 2006 CedarCreek launched its first satellite location in Anthony Wayne area (about 15 miles from Perrysburg). Also, another Toledo satellite is planned to launch Spring 2008. As the history of CedarCreek moves into the future, it is their dream to continue to plant satellite locations throughout the greater Toledo area in hopes of fulfilling their mission further.

While the building is exciting, CedarCreek has always been about the people, people who matter to God. CedarCreek is a young church with still a lot of growth ahead.