TAKE TWO: What Was I Thinking?
How many times in life have we done something foolish, only to ask later “What was I thinking?” There is a better question to ask.
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Friday Update: February 18, 2011
Sorry Folks – the Thursday Update is a day late this week as I was at a conference in Dallas yesterday and didn’t have access to a good Internet connection. Here’s what’s coming up in the days ahead:
BABY BOTTLE RETURN
You may begin returning your Sanctity of Life Ministries baby bottles this weekend. Look for a table in the lobby. You can also bring them in the following weekend if you need more time to collect change.
MARRIAGE BOOSTER: Friday, February 25
Our next Marriage Booster will feature Pastor Paul Goodnight teaching on the topic of children and parenting in a message entitled “KIDS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING!” Registration is free and where needed, childcare reimbursement is provided. Please click here to register.
BLOOD DRIVE: Sunday, February 27
We only have one week of sign-ups for this drive, so be sure to drop by the table in the lobby this Sunday to choose a donation time or click here for more information or to reserve a time online.
WOMEN’S ANNUAL RETREAT: March 4-6
It’s the last week to register for the Women’s Retreat. Get your registration in by February 23 and take advantage of this special weekend away to connect with other women and strengthen your walk with God. Click here for information and registration.
Also, if you’d like to donate to our scholarship fund you can bless a lady who needs financial help to attend the retreat. Just follow the retreat registration link above to find the donation box.
DADS AND DONUTS: Saturday, March 5
The RBC Men’s Ministry is bringing back this very successful “partner” event on the Saturday of the retreat. Dads are encouraged to take advantage of this event that includes breakfast, a short family devotional/skit, activities similar to AWANA games, board games, and crafts. Childcare will be provided for infants/toddlers in the nursery if Dads have multiple children. Please click here to register or for more information.
YOUTH WINTER RETREAT UPDATE
Everyone got off around 11:30 this morning. Four buses of kids, staff and volunteers are on their way to Pennsylvania for the weekend. Please pray for safety as they travel and while at the Bible Camp, for speaker Zane Black, and for changed/renewed hearts for our precious young people.
MORE ABOUT PARKING AND TOWING
Please exercise caution as you walk around the church property as we are once again a construction site. 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.
In addition, we ask that you park ONLY in the RBC Parking Lot or in the designated RBC Overflow Lot. A number of cars parked illegally on Oakbrook Court were towed last Sunday by businesses who have lost their parking spots.
TAKE TWO
Click here to hear Pastor Mike answer various questions often asked in life via a two-minute video … you’ll love it.
That’s it. Please worship with us this Sunday as we continue our series on addiction.
Missions at RBC: FAQ, Part 5
WHAT IS A SHORT TERM MISSION TEAM?
Short Term Mission Teams used to be called Summer Mission Teams because they almost always occurred in the summer months. Now these type teams occur year-round. The purpose of RBC Short Term Mission Teams is 3-fold:
1. To assist and bless a missionary that RBC supports currently.
2. To introduce RBC attendees to mission work first hand.
3. To educate the RBC congregation about missions.
HOW ARE SHORT TERM MISSION TEAMS FUNDED?
Short Term Mission Teams are primarily funded by the individuals who make up the team. If there are individuals who cannot fund their portion of the team cost, the Missions committee will consider their shortage. The Missions Committee also considers material costs the team may have in areas such as printed materials, construction materials etc.
HOW ARE SHORT TERM MISSION TEAMS FORMED?
Most teams are developed out of a desire of a someone in the congregation to meet a need they see in a particular ministry or from a gift that person may have such as evangelism or working with children etc. All team proposals must first go through the Missions Committee for approval and if the Missions Committee approves the team then it goes to the Council of Elders for final approval. All teams have a team leader who is responsible for the team’s organization, administration and oversight. RBC has a policy that you must be 16 years old to be on a team unless you have a parent on the team with you and the team leader approves of the youth (Youth ministry teams are the exception to this rule).
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part one)
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part two)
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part three)
TAKE TWO: Superstition
Is there anything to superstition?
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Parking Update
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.
– – –
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.
TAKE TWO: Crutches
Is religion a crutch?
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
TAKE TWO: Introduction
Take Two is a series of videos from Pastor Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church. Drawing on over three decades of pastoral experience, Pastor Mike answers various questions often asked in life with a two-minute response.
Running Scared: Resources for Dealing With Worry, Fear, & Anxiety
Thanks again to all who were able to attend the RE:NEW 2011 Conference featuring Ed Welch. The leadership of Reston Bible was greatly encouraged by the turnout and we pray that the conference content would be of great benefit to all of us in our walks with Christ. We hope you have been able to process and implement some of the things God brought before you during that time.
Since fear and anxiety are things we all deal with, let us recommend some reading resources that will help strengthen you for the battle. Included here are several books and studies that were mentioned during RE:NEW, as well as others that have been hand-picked by RBC staff. These resources are available in the RBC Bookstore. (Our bookstore is not-for-profit and open between Sunday services.)
Missions at RBC: FAQ, Part 4
WHAT IS THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA MISSIONS CONSORTIUM?
The NOVA Missions Consortium is a consortium of five local churches – Reston Bible Church, Chantilly Bible Church, Immanuel Bible Church, Cherrydale Baptist Church and Grace Bible Church – whose goal is to cooperatively help missionaries from these five churches get to the field more quickly. Each year, one of the five churches is allowed to put a missionary from their congregation before the consortium for potential support. This rotates each year so each church has the opportunity to put a missionary before the consortium once every five years. If a church’s turn to put a missionary before the consortium arrives and that church does not have a missionary in the pipeline, they are simply skipped over and the next church in line gets the opportunity.
WHY A CONSORTIUM?
The goal of the consortium is to have these five local churches get to know the consortium missionaries very well and be able to support them at at least 75% of their need. This accomplishes several goals: First, when a consortium missionary is home on furlough they will not have to travel around the country visiting their supporters as most of their support is coming from these five local churches – they can stay locally and get more involved at each church during their furlough versus just visiting for a weekend or a conference, Secondly, it allows the missionary to focus less on support raising and more on preparing themselves to get to the field.
Currently there are 10 consortium missionaries. Three of these ten consortium missionaries are “home grown” RBCers. $25,900.00 is collectively given in monthly support by the consortium churches to these ten missionaries. 2011 is RBC’s turn to present a missionary.
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part one)
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part two)
(RBC MISSIONS FAQ: click here for part three)
2010 Ministry Year in Review
As we continue into 2011, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on some of what we saw God do here at Reston Bible Church in 2010. I do pray this will be an encouragement to you, and while we don’t want to focus too much on numbers, it can be helpful to quantify some of what we have observed in 2010.
Guests:
- From January-July 2010, at the old campus, we received completed Visitor Cards from 145 guests.
- From August- December 2010, as we’ve been in the new facility, we have received completed Visitor Cards from over 300 guests.
- Since August 2010, at least 100 of the guests who have completed Visitor Cards have become regular attendees and involved in ministry at RBC.
- We have had 50 guests from our new surrounding neighborhood since we moved into this facility in August.
- Since August, we have added 333 regularly-attending adults to our database.
Host Team:
- Since the beginning of 2010, we have 100 new volunteers on the Host Team (almost 200% more volunteers than we had 12 months ago).
- Since August 2010, we have added 2 areas of service under the umbrella of the Host Team – the Parking Team and Coffee Ministry.
Transition:
- Since August, our Welcome Desk Attendants give information to an average of 14 guests each weekend.
- In the old building, our Greeters were greeting and Ushers passing out bulletins to an average of 1650 people each weekend.
- In the new building, our Greeters have been greeting and Ushers passing out bulletins to an average of 2042 people each weekend.
- Our Coffee Attendants serve an average of 27 gallons of coffee each weekend – about 400 cups.
- Our Parking Attendants manage traffic for about 1050 vehicles each weekend – this is just our traffic alone (not including traffic for other businesses off Oakbrook Ct.)!
- During the transition of buildings, we have had volunteers serving more frequently. Some Ushers serve for up to 3-4 months straight to assist with the flow of people. We have two Parking Attendants who serve almost every week (and in all kinds of weather)!
Ministries:
- Our Children’s Ministry has jumped 31% in attendance since moving into our new facility – from an average of 231 children to 303 children each weekend. Our AWANA ministry has seen significant growth as well.
- Our Junior High Ministry has increased 69% since our move in August – from an average of 49 to 83 students attending each weekend.
- Our Senior High Ministry has increased 26% since the move in August – from an average of 75 to 95 students attending each weekend.
- Ladies Bible Studies have increased about 72% in the past year in attendance.
2010 was a dynamic year, and we are thankful for the blessing of seeing God work in significant ways. It is a joy to be a part of what God is doing here at Reston Bible Church!