An Update on Conversations
If you’ve been around RBC for much time at all, you know that this time of year, we are usually in full swing putting together an Easter week production we call Conversations. Conversations is a winsome combination of live music, real life stories, humor and drama that is ultimately meant to lead to conversations about the beautiful good news of Jesus. Originally developed as an outreach-focused alternative to our traditional Easter Cantata, it has been a staple event in the life of our church for over a decade. Hundreds of volunteers, cast and crew have given significant amounts of time, treasure and talent to this production – and we are grateful to the Lord for every single person who has been involved in some way over the history of Conversations.
We want to let you know that the leadership of RBC has decided to not do Conversations this year, but instead provide a smaller series of teaching and worship events called A King & A Kingdom. During these evenings of worship, teaching, testimonies and prayer, Jamie Winship will encourage and challenge the RBC body to seek the King of Kings in all aspects of life.
We understand that not having Conversations is a big change in the rhythm of life at RBC. With that in mind, we wanted to provide you with some answers to some of the questions you may have regarding this change.
1. Why aren’t we having Conversations this year?
The Conversations team prays, evaluates and discusses Conversations every year to see if it is accomplishing what we want to accomplish and if it is the best thing for our congregation and community. We don’t ever desire to do events just because we have done them in the past. This year, we believe that Conversations does not best meet the needs of our congregation, as we see that there are many among us who are hurting deeply and have significant needs. We believe this year, rather than focusing outward, that it would be more effective for us to build up the body of Christ at RBC and to ask God to encourage, direct and heal His people here.
2. What is “A King & A Kingdom”?
A King and A Kingdom is an opportunity for us to come together as a body for a concentrated time of teaching, prayer, and worship, that we might grow in unity and in our individual walks with Christ.
The main sessions of A King & A Kingdom will take place 7:00-9:00pm the evenings of Wednesday, March 23 and Friday, March 25. These evenings will include worship, teaching, prayer, testimonies, and special music. Jamie Winship will be our speaker and will explore forgiveness, repentance, redemption through the lens of kingdom living. Our hope is that we will be greatly encouraged and challenged to follow the King and build into His Kingdom.
In addition to the two main evenings open to everyone, the ladies are also invited for an evening of teaching and encouragement with Donna Winship on Thursday night.
3. Will Wednesday and Friday night be the same?
The structure of Wednesday and Friday will be similar, but the content is different and will build on itself. We would encourage you to attend both evenings (but the events will stand alone if families are only able to attend one.)
4. Will the content be available after the events?
We plan to record the content and have it available for those who are interested, but unable to attend.
5. Will childcare be available?
Childcare will be available for all events, but only to those who register online in advance.
6. Is this an outreach?
The evenings of A King & A Kingdom are designed for followers of Christ to enrich their spiritual walks. We believe that those who do not know Christ would certainly receive value from their time here and might enjoy the events, but A King and A Kingdom is not specifically intended to be outreach opportunities.
Lastly, we want to clarify that these events are not to fill the calendar or replace Conversations, but rather as we sought the Lord regarding the needs of our congregation, we believe that He is directing us to provide opportunities to build into our church body. We encourage you to take advantage of these gatherings, and see what the Lord may have for you in them. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at A King & A Kingdom.
Baptisms | 2.21.2016
Last Sunday, we were privileged to witness the baptisms of four individuals within our congregation. Here at RBC, we believe that baptism is a public declaration of faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. Though baptism is not required for salvation, it is an outward expression of an inward spiritual reality – it’s a visible picture of what Jesus has done for those who place their faith in Him as Lord and Savior. Baptism illustrates for us His death & resurrection, the washing away of our sin, and the new life we have in Christ.
What an honor to rejoice with Bella, Corey, Jack and Karen as they proclaimed their allegiance to Jesus through baptism last Sunday! If you are interested in learning more about baptism or being baptized at RBC, click here.
Sing Ye Noel – Sharing the Gospel in Song
This past Sunday evening a group of more than 60 adults and children from our congregation came together to bless the neighborhood behind the church with a gift of Christmas carols.
Before heading out we stopped for a moment and prayed together, “Lord, we thank you that for Jesus and the good news of His coming. We thank you that we can sing of the joy we have in Him. We ask that you would use our simple gift of song tonight to touch someone who needs to hear from you. Amen.” At that we started off. How could we have known that our prayer would be answered at the very first house at which we sang. We received the following email that very same evening from that neighbor.
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To you carolers at Reston Bible:
Y’all came caroling through the Cascades Park neighborhood tonight. You rang my doorbell, and I opened the garage door and came and sang with you. I’m a believer, also, and your caroling was a warm reminder of Christmas. Thank you for coming! I thought you’d be encouraged by this:
Your caroling was a catalyst to me sharing my testimony with my roommate. I’ve been a believer for years, and lived with this guy for years. But I’ve always been hesitant to talk about Christ with him. When you came caroling, I went upstairs, joyful in the Spirit, and spent the next two hours talking with him about my testimony, which I hope will be the first of many conversations.
Thank you for spreading Christ’s love and message through song. You have effects that you’re not aware of, and I want to give you a glimpse of one of those effects while at the same time saying, “Thank you!” Glory to Christ the King!”
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May the Lord use you as an instrument of His love this Christmas and always!
A Note from Dr. Tim Kimmel
We just can’t wait to have Dr. Tim Kimmel at our RBC Marriage Conference next month! Here is a note from Dr. Kimmel that tells you a little more about the time we’ll spend together.
Don’t forget to register before Christmas to save an extra $10!
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Hi RBC Couples!
I’m so excited to be with you for the Grace Filled Marriage event at the end of January! I can’t wait to tell you about the secret ingredient that can radically improve your marriage. I’ll teach you how to super-charge your communication, conflict resolution, spiritual connection and sex life with the pivotal quality that so many loving marriages lack…GRACE!
This Christmas, give your spouse and family a gift that will echo long into the future! Investing in your marriage is a gift to your spouse and yourself, but don’t forget that having a lasting, healthy marriage is the ultimate gift to your kids and grandkids. So much of their future success, happiness, relationships and spiritual journey rises or falls on the legacy your marriage leaves for them. A grace-filled marriage will change yourworld and theirs for good!
Hope to see you there!
Tim
Thank You from Guilford Elementary
We want so give a huge THANK YOU to all who donated of their time and resources to make the Guilford Elementary School’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner a huge success. Our congregation donated over 90 pies and 1000 servings of stuffing. We also had 12 volunteers who helped serve the families by pouring drinks and carrying trays for moms with lots of small children. This was the largest Thanksgiving Dinner that Guilford has hosted to date, with over 900 people enjoying traditional North American Thanksgiving foods, many for the first time. Parents who often don’t have the resources to feed their families an abundant meal like this were truly grateful. We are thankful for you, our generous congregation and our faithful God who allows us to serve these families and staff at Guilford Elementary.
RBC Annual Report 2015
“I will remember the deeds of the LORD, I will ponder all Your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.” – Psalm 77:11-12
Our Annual Report is not a list of our accomplishments, but rather a recounting of some of the great things God has done in us, for us and through us over the past year.
The 2015 Annual Report is available in print format at the Welcome Desk in the church lobby, or you read through the online version here. You can also click here to download a PDF.
We hope you’ll take some time to read through it, remember the mighty deeds of our great God, and be moved to deeper gratitude and trust in our great Savior.
God at Work in First Fruits
For over 20 years, the youth ministry has run the First Fruits project the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Every year, we raise money by raking leaves and doing other jobs throughout the day. That evening, we purchase lots of food and deliver the food to families in need in our community. This year, with an army of over 650 workers, we raised over $43,000 to provide food for over 100 families. We were also able to provide college scholarships to five local high school seniors.
Because we have been doing this for so many years, it is easy to just assume numbers like these will happen. But every year God does something that just makes us realize it is His work and His plan, not ours.
First, this year we had over 200 students from Parkview and Herndon High School sign up to work with us. These students have no affiliation with RBC, but the schools announced the project and they came to work with us. As a youth ministry, we are always trying to think of creative ways to reach out with the truth and hope of the Gospel to the students around us, and it’s so cool how God has taken something we designed to care for those in physical need and open so many doors for us to tell so many students about their greatest spiritual need. We never had a “strategic plan” or “vision” to turn First Fruits into an outreach, but it is now our biggest outreach of the year. Please pray for the hundreds who heard the Gospel at First Fruits.
Second, God orchestrated several food deliveries in ways that only He could. To identify many of the families we assist, we work through parent liaisons at several local public schools. We seek families that are experiencing hardships, but not currently being helped. These families are then randomly assigned to one of our 32 teams.
This year, as one team was entering the home of the family they were delivering to, the face of a young girl and her parents lit up. They were excited not for the food, but that one of the people delivering the food was the girl’s preschool teacher from several years prior. This instantly broke the ice and allowed for a powerful opportunity to share the love of Christ. When a group of strangers walk into someone’s home with bags of food and gifts, it can be awkward. But God, in providentially working out the right family with the right team, completely changed the situation. Only God can work out situations like that.
A similar situation happened with another team. They were supposed to deliver food to a different family, but at the last minute their delivery was switched. It just happened to be switched to a family a team member knew, which has opened the doors for additional ministry and care for the family.
God is not random. Our God is powerful and is doing great things in our midst, even when we don’t recognize it. Thank you so much for giving us jobs, working with us, donating to the project, and being part of what the Lord is doing to make His name known in Northern Virginia.
Below are some highlight pictures from the day. Enjoy!
A Quick First Fruits 2015 Update
Praise God with us for the work and blessings during First Fruits this year. Last Saturday, November 21, we had 32 teams composed of 659 volunteers completing 133 jobs. This day raised $43,490! The teams used some of what was raised to buy groceries and bring gift cards to 32 families with financial need that night. An additional 40 or more families will also be receiving grocery gift cards in the next few weeks. Five local high schools will be participating in a Perseverance Scholarship for seniors as they prepare for college. Teachers will also be nominated for a gift from us. All of these opportunities to exemplify God’s love to our neighbors is only possible because of the many people who sacrificed their time, energy and finances. Thank you!
To learn more about how First Fruits has an impact, read First Fruits: Beyond the Leaves.
Haiti Update & Christmas Hope
Pastor Aaron and his family spent the month of October in Haiti working with Pastor Francois’ church and orphanage in Pignon. In this video, he gives a brief report from our sister church there.
If you would like more information on the family mission to Haiti during Spring Break 2016, visit www.restonbible.org/familymissionhaiti.
To support the Christmas Hope project, visit www.restonbible.org/christmashope.
Jr. High Update: The Amazing Race
Pastor Aaron sharing the gospel with a room full of Jr. High students for our first FNL of the school year.
Our Jr High’s first Friday Night Live of the new school year was a huge success!
The event was set to the theme of the Amazing Race in which the youth were placed into teams and given clues to find different stations around the church to complete challenges before advancing to the next station. As a team, they had to put together a giant puzzle, knock down boxes with tennis balls launched from a water balloon launcher, copy a small painting, learn a portion of a TobyMac dance routine, shoot baskets from either different locations in the basketball court, find and memorize a Bible verse, and several other challenges.
That night, we had over 20 youth indicate on their info cards that they had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior after hearing Pastor Aaron preach the gospel! Praise God for the great turnout, great weather, no major issues, and for the students that indicated their new faith in Christ.