Blog

NEW PARKING LOT CONSTRUCTION: We are happy to announce that construction for the 150 additional parking spaces (between the Main Building and Cascades Parkway) has officially begun! During the next 2-3 months of construction, we may lose up to 25 of our current parking spots. Please consider carpooling, parking in the RBC Overflow Lot, or attending the 8:15am or 11:45am services during this time to alleviate some of the parking congestion.

WEEKDAY PARKING: The area to the right of the main building (next to Cascades) is considered a construction zone while the lots are being put in. If you are on the RBC campus during the weekdays, for your safety, please do not park in the side lot or in the lot behind the building. (While some of these spots will be lost during the new parking lot construction, but these areas are open for parking during weekend services.) Please take extra precaution – particularly with children – while in the building vicinity as construction traffic will be going on during the week.

WEEKEND TOWING: Effective immediately, we ask that you park ONLY in the RBC Parking Lot or in the designated RBC Overflow Lot. All other lots off Oakbrook Court will start towing this Sunday morning (2/13/2011). The towing is being enforced by some of the neighboring firms who have lost their parking spots on Sundays. We want to be good neighbors, so please limit your parking only to our lot or the designated overflow lots. Again, please consider carpooling or attending the 8:15am or 11:45am services during this time to alleviate some of the parking congestion.

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While we know parking has been a bit of a pain at RBC lately, we are thankful to God to have a church home where so many people desire to engage. As far as church issues go, I hope you’ll agree that “not enough parking spots for all the people who want to attend” is not necessarily a bad one to have. It can be annoying, yes – but it is a tolerable inconvenience.

As my family and I walked in from the Overflow Lot a couple Sundays ago, I was telling my kids about what Pastor Minter shared after his recent Brazil trip, how many pastors there traveled for days to be taught from the Word of God. Although my young’uns thought it sounded kind of fun, I personally was glad I didn’t have to paddle a canoe down the Amazon to get to my church home. It struck me then that walking a few hundred feet to worship the God who has blessed us so abundantly – in ways far greater than parking lots and nice facilities – didn’t seem like such a big deal.

Find yourself grumbling about the inconvenience of the parking situation? It takes a little extra time to get in and out of RBC on Sundays, but even that is time we should steward well. Ask God, then, to help you use that time for His glory. What might this look like for you and your family?

One practical idea for a great use of this time is prayer. As you drive in on Sunday morning, pray aloud for the people leaving who have heard the Word, that they would take its light back to their families, their neighborhoods and their workplaces. As you walk across the parking lot, pray for your pastors and leaders. As you drive out, pray aloud for others coming in to worship and hear from the Word of God, that their hearts would be made ready to engage with Jesus in fresh ways.

May God grant us the grace to steward even parking lots for His great glory.