A Quick First Fruits Update
The Youth Ministry would like to extend a huge thank you to the body for its prayers and support in all aspects of First Fruits. God answered your prayers in many different ways last Saturday. There were more than 600 workers, spread over 30 teams that did close to 150 jobs, and raised almost $40,000 to immediately impact more than 70 families in the local community with groceries and gift cards. It was a long, but good day, one in which God provided near perfect weather. It was also a blessing to have Park View High School stepping out with volunteers (students and staff) and providing a place for us to meet for our morning and evening programs.
Check back in the near future for pictures from that wonderful day. For this and countless other reasons, we are truly grateful to God for richly blessing our body. Have a very special Thanksgiving.
Operation Christmas Child
RBC will be collecting shoeboxes on November 4 and 11 for Operation Christmas Child. Watch the video below to see some of the shoebox stories, and then go to www.restonbible.org/christmaschild to see how you can help!
Trunk-or-Treat is Canceled
TRUNK-or-TREAT IS CANCELED.
After much deliberation, the church leadership has decided to cancel Trunk or Treat.
Like you, we are very disappointed, but feel that it would not be safe to hold the event outside, and we don’t have what we need to move the event indoors. None of our supplies have been delivered due to the storm, and our facilities staff will need to devote their time to making sure our grounds and building are safe for use, rather than setting up this event.
To our volunteers:
To all who answered our plea to sign up for Trunk or Treat, we cannot thank you enough for your willingness and flexibility. We hope that you can use the candy that you have purchased to bless the children in your neighborhoods. We will be using what small amount of supplies that arrived before the storm to bless the children of our food pantry guests with a mini-Halloween.
Give Blood, Give Life
I want to thank you if you have ever given the precious gift of blood at one of our past blood drives. If you have already signed up for next Sunday’s drive (September 23), let me also offer a big thank you! If you haven’t yet signed up for the drive and are eligible, I would ask that you prayerfully consider donating the gift of life. If you’d like to sign up, you may do so at restonbible.org/giveblood.
There is an immediate need in our area for most blood types. Blood must be available when needed for patients whose lives depend on it. Over 200 blood and platelet donations are needed every day, year round by patients at the 15 hospitals served by Inova Blood Donor Services.
We’re doing something very special again for our next drive. We are once again having two bloodmobiles for this drive. This should dramatically reduce waiting times and the over crowded conditions that we have been experiencing, especially right after services. This will also mean an additional 22 slots will be available for us to fill. Although walk-ins are always welcome, I encourage you to sign up early to get the exact time you prefer by clicking here.
If you are donating next weekend, be sure to eat a good breakfast Sunday morning, get an extra boost of iron Saturday night if needed (steak and broccoli work great), and bring a picture ID with you. Our website has useful information that will help you prepare for Sunday’s drive, including a list of iron-rich foods.
Thanks, again, for helping our community with its blood needs. As you probably know, each unit donated helps up to three people. Therefore, when we collect over 50 units a drive, over 150 people reap the benefits of your generous gift. The last time we had two bloodmobiles, we collected 73 units!
Have a very blessed week and I hope to see you Sunday.
Dale Peak
Administrator
(703) 404-5013
Reflections on a Year of Community Outreach
I want to share some astonishing numbers with you. And I want to share what the Lord has done in one year of our Community Outreach ministry. Through the sacrificial giving of time, talents and finances of the body here at RBC, amazing things have been accomplished by the grace of our Lord. This is mostly facts and numbers, and doesn’t adequately represent the many lives that have been changed through this ministry – one of which is my own. However, I hope that it will at least show some of the many areas that we have been able to make a difference for our neighbors.
From September 2011 – July 2012, RBC has received over $135,000 in donations towards Community Outreach. Of that approximately $61,000 was designated for the food pantry, and $18,000 was designated for Guilford Elementary, the rest was undesignated. We have spent approx. $90,000 of what has come in. That means a couple of things – we have funds as we move forward, and it means that the giving for this ministry has sustained. RBC has shown we want to reach the community for Jesus Christ.
So, let me share some of what the Lord has accomplished through you this year and share a little about our upcoming plans.
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
A Rookie’s Adventure in Food Bank Shopping
by Bob Zerrenner, RBC Food Bank volunteer
Recently, I volunteered for to pick up the groceries for the Food Pantry. As a newer volunteer, I thought it would be pretty simple: Drive up to the store, load up the groceries, return to the Food Pantry and unload. The term “shopping” never entered my mind (I personally don’t shop – especially not in stores.) I usually just make a list and search reviews to find the best price to buy. When I go in the store, I don’t meander the aisle thinking about the various products. If it’s not on my list, then I don’t buy it (unless it’s a dessert – then I may do some impulsive justification of why it should be on the list!)
Due to my schedule, I planned on making two trips to two different stores. I went to the first store that had the four products that we needed. I entered the store, got two carts, my binder with notes, our tax-exempt card (don’t forget to hand them that!), a lot of energy, and went to my first aisle to find the first item. I found the space on the shelf where the item was supposed to be …but, alas, no item. I thought I’d ask a friendly associate, but could find any associate at all, let alone a friendly one. Moving on to item two: I needed 200, but found only 30 on shelf. Make that question number two on my friendly associate request list. On to item number three: needed 100 items, but only 19 were on the shelf. Do you see a theme starting here? Move on to the last item where I needed only 4 items and – bingo! – I was able to find all four.
After a little while, I found three associates together in one aisle and figured that the odds were in my favor that at least one would be friendly. After a short conversation, I remembered why I don’t gamble – all three associates were not that helpful at all, even after explaining to them how to use their own inventory scanners to see if any of the products I was searching for were in the back room. Continuing on my search for a friendly associate, I finally found one who explained that a delivery truck was scheduled for that evening to bring the back-ordered items. I should check back tomorrow.
I left the store and actually was disappointed that my first shopping adventure was a disaster. I returned to the Food Pantry and started to unload the feeble amount of merchandise that I had purchased. As I opened the door to the pantry and saw the shelves – and how empty space was on them – I was instantly reminded how blessed I am. What if I needed assistance and I waited in line and got a bag or two of groceries? Would that be “enough” to feed my family of five? Who would I turn to for assistance? Would I be “happy” with the products provided, or would I want brand name products? Oh, how selfish, self-centered and sinful I am.
The next day, I went to our second store where I knew that a lot of items were waiting for me to pick up (we do an advance order with this particular store each week.) Upon arrival, I was greeted enthusiastically by the manager who proceeded to wheel out two u-trucks full of groceries. She was pleasant, and her whole team was helpful during the process. I loaded the car and realized that I may need a bigger car, but we were able to fit it all in there.
As I drove home that night and came home to a pantry full of stuff, I realized how blessed we truly are. How much do I take for granted that our pantry is filled? How do I react when my favorite chips, cookie or fruit is not at my fingertips? Do I react with a correct heart and mind? Or do I react out of a mindset that tells me I deserve to have this and now? There was a frustration within me that said, “Why can’t I just go out and buy the products and not worry about the cost? Couldn’t just we fill the pantry to the ceiling with food?” Yes we could… but that would be us working and not God working in this ministry. We may only be able to provide some small amount of food each week to the people who need it, but we are also building relationships with those people. We are telling them about eternal food available through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While we can’t provide for every physical need, we can certainly provide for their spiritual need and point them to the place where the pantry is never empty.
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:
Thrift Store Partnership
We are pleased to announce our partnership with Door of Hope as they open a new SACS Family Thrift Store location in Sterling. Door of Hope, a non-profit charitable organization based out of Ashburn, VA has partnered with local churches in Nicaragua, Haiti and Sierra Leone to provide assistance in addressing the oppression, poverty, disease and lack of education opportunities that keep much of the world’s population spiritually lost. Door of Hope collects, sorts and ships used clothes to these poverty-stricken areas which are resold, creating funds for clean water development, employment training, job opportunities, improved sanitation and more than anything else, bringing the hope of Christ to impoverished people.
Your donation of gently used clothing and household items will make a difference in many lives. Through the new Family Thrift Store in Sterling, we are able to make low-cost items available to our local in-need community. Funds from the thrift store directly fund the various international projects mentioned above. In the near future, some of the funds raised will be used to further serve our local community as well. As our partnership with Door of Hope grows, it is our desire to have opportunities to make fully devoted followers of Christ through our relationships with the local customers of the new Sterling location.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Donate Items: A large white trailer will be in the RBC parking lot for you to drop off donations of clothing and household items on Sunday mornings. Stop by the Welcome Desk if you would like a receipt for your donation. If you are interested in making a donation during the week, the store is located at 21430 Cedar Drive, Sterling, 20164 (click here for a map). The donation trailer is located behind the store.
Work at the Thrift Store: If you are interested in volunteering to help sort and price items in the store, click here.
International Connection’s Talk-a-Latte
Usually once per semester, International Connection (the English as a second language program at RBC) plans a “talk-a-latte” for both morning and evening sessions of classes. This is a time when all four class levels meet together for the last 30 minutes of the class time in the Clubhouse room to have coffee (hence the “latte” part) and snacks, then sit around tables in their class groups with teachers to engage in a particular topic of free discussion. The topic designated for February 14 -15 was “What do you think is the American (culture’s) view of love? What do you think is God’s view?”
After I briefly introduced the concept of Valentine’s Day, I asked them to pause and consider another point of view by watching a music video. We then watched Jason Gray’s video entitled “Remind Me Who I Am” in which many characters were shown holding signs that typified negative characteristics or characters, for example, “Anxious”, “Empty”, “I’m Angry”, “ Victim”, etc. But the crux of the song was that no matter what we think of ourselves or what others may think of us, in God’s eyes we are His “beloved”.
On our tables, in addition to sheets with the song’s lyrics, there was a list of the main vocabulary words written and defined in order to enhance understanding. For the ESL group, any time one can combine words with pictures or visuals of any kind, greater comprehension is achieved. And when one adds music, it adds yet another dimension of interest!
The five tables of students and teachers set about recapping the meaning of the video and song and the lingering question: What is God’s view of love? The word “beloved” is rarely used these days and took some time for the students to grasp – but again, the contrast to the other negative labels mentioned in the song was helpful for gaining understanding. Many of the students could relate to feeling under-valued, abused or “less-than” in this culture. Incidents of discrimination are regular occurrences to the immigrant population here in Northern Virginia. But it was the concept of being God’s “beloved” that surprised many of them. One Buddhist monk came to me and asked for clarification, “Does it mean greatly loved?” he asked. It does.
I closed the talk-a-latte sessions with a short devotional based on John 3:16 (which was made available to each student in his/her first language) and asked for those who are spiritually interested to continue the conversation with me or with their teachers. Both sessions provoked deeper questions than the usual classroom lesson plans even for the first-level students. Our prayer is that the questions will continue and that the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in our students’ lives.