Summer Review: Youth Missions in Croatia
This summer, a team of 20 students and adults went to Slavonski Brod and Nova Gradiska, Croatia to work with RBC missionaries Garret Prestwood and Darko Mikulic and the Pioneers Team that Tony Pedroni, RBC’s Shepherd Groups pastor, used to lead. In these cities, we did a Kid’s Club (think outdoor VBS) for younger kids, and ran camps where we taught Croatian teens how to play baseball. God was amazingly gracious to us, bringing out the perfect number of participants and providing us with great weather, even though the forecast was bleak. The videos below will give you a glimpse of what these events looked like.
Through these events, we were able to build relationships with many Croatian students. In the evenings, we would meet up with the friends we had made in the town square and hang out in small groups. It was in these times, I saw the Lord so powerfully work. Our team would regather late at night, and the stories were just amazing of how this student got to share their testimony of how God has changed their life with two Croatians, or how a Croatian opened up about the struggles in their life and we got to share about the hope we have in Christ. Every night we seemed to have another five stories of God at work.
I have had the privilege of being a part of many overseas missions trips, but I have never before seen the Lord open up so many opportunities for His Word to go forth in personal one-on-one relationships as I saw this year in Croatia. We were truly blessed to be a part of God’s plan and work in that country. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement along the way.
Please continue to be in prayer for the many seeds planted in Croatia, the new believers to be connected with the body of Christ, the students still exploring their faith with the long-term missionaries there, and for our teens to catch a vision that conversations about God can happen not just when we travel halfway around the world, but wherever God has placed them.
Summer Review: Kids Camp
Five days, over 500 children, 200+ volunteers, 2500 snacks served, tons of fun, more than 4,000 combined volunteer hours and, best of all, God showed up! Can it get any better than that? If you have never participated in an RBC Kids Camp (formerly VBS) then you are missing a unique experience in the life of this church. Kids Camp has always been a time for the children of the church to grow in their faith, but with 180+ visitors at this summer’s event, this has become one of RBC’s largest evangelistic outreaches as well. This year the children at Kids Camp were learning to “fly” at the Amazing Wonders Aviation flight school. They learned that in order to “soar on wings like eagles” they must be fueled by the power of God and that His power extends over nature, our circumstances, our sin, and our lives. Our desire is to see them make a smooth take-off and a God glorifying flight.
We were blessed to see so many sweet stories unfold throughout the week. Let me share just two of them with you. First time Kids Camp volunteer Curt McGowan decided to take off a week of mornings from his full-time job to be a small group leader. In no time he and his group of cadets were a tight squadron. Seeing them all march in with the very cool aviator shades that Curt had picked up for them was priceless. His enthusiasm grew throughout the week and by the end he was talking about plans to tell other men of the church how they can join him next year and share in the blessings.
This year we were privileged to host a large number of children from Guilford elementary school at Kids Camp. Thanks to the hard work of Barb Ruffner and her team, these special visitors were treated to a delicious lunch each day following camp. By day two this had turned into a banquet for the students, their parents, siblings and grandparents in some cases! Each family received a Bible as well as a personal invitation from Children & Family ministry Director Jason Goetz to return and visit Quest at our weekend services. Imagine our excitement when several of these families showed up Sunday morning.
Jesus said, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” At Kids Camp 2012 the body of Christ at Reston Bible Church welcomed the presence of Jesus in a big way!
Iglesia Hispana Baptisms
On July 15, 2012, eleven members of RBC’s Hispanic Church (Iglesia Hispana) were baptized at Shenandoah National Park as a public demonstration of their faith in Jesus Christ. Pastor Salvador Medina held an open-air worship service with preaching and music. The church rejoiced with and prayed for the baptism candidates before baptizing them in the Shenandoah River. ¡Gloria a Dios!
“Arrepiéntase y bautícese cada uno de ustedes en el nombre de Jesucristo para perdón de sus pecados —les contestó Pedro— y recibirán el don del Espíritu Santo. En efecto, la promesa es para ustedes, para sus hijos y para todos los extranjeros,es decir, para todos aquellos a quienes el Señor nuestro Dios quiera llamar.” – Hechos :38-39
To learn more about RBC’s Iglesia Hispana, visit www.restonbible.org/iglesia.
ForWord College Send-Off
The summer is flying by all too fast, it seems. Before we know it, our college students will be off and immersed in their studies. For some, it’s back to it or a 2nd, 3rd or 4th year and for others its their first time setting foot on a college campus. We at ForWord, our young adults ministry here at Reston Bible Church, would like to express our love and care for our college students. Coming up on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 from 7-9 p.m. we are inviting all college students and their parents to come and join us for an evening of worship prayer and (of course) pizza.
We hope this will be a great opportunity for our college students to meet each other and perhaps begin to build relationships with others who will be attending their university, etc. Most importantly, we want to pray for our students that evening – and continue to do so throughout the entire year. We believe in the power of prayer, and we invite you to be praying for our college students as well.
The Abundant Life Conference
Reston Bible Church invites you to join us for a special two-day conference October 5 & 6, 2012, featuring Alistair Begg, host of the radio program Truth for Life and senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands at the very center of true Christianity. For followers of Jesus, the preciousness of the Gospel is absolutely paramount; it is applicable and relevant to every area of life. Our understanding and application of the great and 
glorious Gospel of Christ will trickle down into everything we think, feel and do – but so will our misunderstandings of the Gospel. The Abundant Life Conference will explore how the Gospel deeply informs and directs us in all things and will encourage us to live from the abundance of life found only in Jesus.
Alistair Begg has been in pastoral ministry since 1975. Following graduation from the London School of Theology, he served eight years in Scotland at both Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh and Hamilton Baptist Church.
In 1983, he became the senior pastor at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio. He has written several books and is heard daily and weekly on the radio program, Truth For Life.
He and his wife, Susan, were married in 1975 and they have three grown children.
Parent-Child Dedication Service
Last Sunday, our church family was privileged to see eleven families publicly proclaim their desire to raise their kids for the glory of God at our Parent-Child Dedication, held during the 11am service.
At RBC, dedicating your child allows you to proclaim before our congregation your desire to raise your child(ren) for the glory of God. Dedications serve as a vessel for parents to express gratitude to God and to acknowledge their responsibility before Him in raising their children. Dedications are done during a weekend service and follow in the spirit of Hannah who offered her son Samuel completely for the Lord’s work (1 Samuel 1:27, 28).
For more information on Parent-Child Dedications at Reston Bible Church, click here.
SUMMER REVIEW: Clothing Exchange
We’d like to extend a huge thanks to all that donated clothing and/or helped out at this year’s Clothing Exchange, held earlier this summer. Well before 8:00am, when we opened, there were just over 70 guests already waiting in line. In the first 30 minutes alone, we handed out over 250 bags for people to fill with clothes. Around 300 bags had been given to guests within the first hour.
Our guests also had the opportunity to visit the Food Pantry while they were here. We ended the event with only about 10 bags of clothes left over, which we donated to the SACS Thrift Store. In addition to meeting needs within our congregation and our surrounding community, we were also able to give clothes to the Brazil summer missions team to take with them to distribute in Beneviedes.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
(Matthew 25:34-40 ESV)
If you’d like more information on how to get involvedour thrift store partnership, our Food Pantry, or other community-oriented service opportunities, please visit www.restonbible.org/community
VIDEO: Winston Smith on Marriage Matters
In this video, CCEF counselor Winston Smith discusses the premise of his book, Marriage Matters, which will be the basis of this year’s marriage conference.
Join us on May 4 and 5 at Reston Bible Church for our Spring Marriage Conference, featuring Winston Smith. Winston Smith, M.Div., is an author, counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation(CCEF); he has extensive experience as a marriage and family counselor, and teaches seminary students how to counsel couples.
Winston will draw on his extensive experience as a marriage counselor, and share a simple yet powerful prescription for changing your marriage. He will show us how examining the everyday disappointments and irritations in your marriage will help you understand yourself, your spouse, and your need for God’s love. Interactions that used to devolve into pointless annoyances and fights can become an opportunity for God’s activity and love to become increasingly evident and powerful. These principles can take your marriage to extraordinary places and lead you into a deeper relationship with an extraordinary God. Don’t settle for an ordinary marriage; learn to live out God’s extraordinary love in your most intimate relationship.
GET INFO & REGISTER HERE
VIDEO: Paul Goodnight on Marriage Matters
Paul Goodnight, counseling pastor at Reston Bible Church, invites you to join us on May 4 and 5 for our Spring Marriage Conference, featuring CCEF speaker, counselor and author Winston Smith.
Details and registration info are at restonbible.org/marriage
Conversations 2012: That’s a Wrap
What do you get when you take 80 bakers, 50 coffee servers, 25 ushers, countless food preparers, children’s ministry volunteers, prayer warriors, 2 backstage crew, 38 actors, 7 band members, sound, lights and media volunteers, a director and 3 people willing to be transparent and share about the struggles in their lives and the victory they have found in trusting Christ with their circumstances? Conversations, that’s what you get! Conversations is an annual production including music, drama, humor and real life stories that takes place each evening the week before Easter. It is week where our church comes together to share with our families, friends, co-workers and neighbors the hope that we have in Jesus. This is real hope – hope not based on circumstances or happily-ever-afters, but on the truth of the word of God and His son, Jesus Christ.
Working behind the scenes, we have the privilege of seeing God at work during the entire process of putting Conversations together. The ministry that takes place among the cast and crew is amazing. People of all ages come together to do ministry, connections are made, prayers are answered, and we are each changed through our experience.
Hundreds of hours go into putting on a production like this – writing, rehearsing, building sets, designing graphics and coordinating all the many, many details. But even the most impressive production is worthless if the congregation doesn’t get behind it and do the most important part – invite and bring their unchurched friends and family. We named this event Conversations for two reasons. The music and scenes are based on conversations that go on around us all the time, and our hope is that you would continue to have conversations with the people you brought to see it.
If you have had a memorable conversation with one of your guests since bringing them to Conversations, we would love to praise with you and pray for you. To share a conversation or story that happened as a result of Conversations, please email us at stories@restonbible.org.
Thanks to RBCer Mike Kelly for the great photos. You can see his Conversations 2012 photo gallery here.
Also, since so many of you asked so nicely, below is The Elevator Scene: