On September 18, 2011, the pastors and elders of Reston Bible Church joyfully ordained Aaron Osborn as a pastor. Please pray for Aaron as he continues his work with our Junior High students here at RBC!

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.

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.