Service Changes For February 5
Our service will NOT be in the Round House Theatre this Sun. Feb. 5. Instead, we will be meet back in the Silver Spring Civic Building which is around the corner from the Theatre on Fenton Street and will have an early service at 4:30pm instead of our usual time so we can take advantage of the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is a great way to connect with friends, neighbors and co-workers. Prayerfully consider who to spend that time with. Your Regional Community could plan something for the neighborhood or maybe there’s a non-Christian friend who invited you to hang out. No matter what the Lord leads you to, it’s a great opportunity to represent Him.

Baptism Applications
One of the greatest ways we can celebrate the life change that happens in the Frontline community is through baptism. Baptism is an amazing symbol of our new life in Christ. Jesus himself was baptized and calls us all to be baptized as well. If you would like to be baptized on Feb. 12 click here or email Mike at mike.kelsey@mcleanbible.org.

Future Leader Program
If you are you a recent college grad who feels called to ministry, check out the Future Leader Program, a year-long, paid program that prepares you for ministry and leadership. Apply at mbcfutureleaders.com by February 25. For more information contact Rachel Thomas.

Women’s Conference (March 2-4)
The Early Bird rates for the Women’s Conference has been extended to Feb 6  at 5:00pm. This year’s conference theme is “Biblical Womanhood in the 21^st Century” and our keynote speaker, Mary Kassian, will discuss what it means for women to live biblically amidst the challenges of today’s culture. The conference takes place March 2-4 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MD. So grab a friend and sign up today! For more information and to register go to mcleanbible.org/womensconference. Scholarships are available on a case by case basis, if you are interested in applying for a scholarship email Terri.  

Haiti Mission Trip 
We are planning a trip to Haiti from June 2-9  this will be the beginning of a Frontline-wide partnership with Mission of Hope-Haiti (http://www.mohhaiti.org/) to build a relationship with the Haitian people through a variety of ministry opportunities. Our goal in all of these activities is to reflect Christ by loving those who are both physically and spiritually hungry. If you’re interested in going or have questions please email Mekdes.

Child Dedications
Children are a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3) and child dedications are a way for you as a parent to publically acknowledge that your child ultimately belongs to Him. In doing so, you are making a commitment before God and those who witness the ceremony to teach your child the Gospel as well as model and teach a lifestyle that honors the Lord. If you would like to dedicate your child during our next dedication, please contact Heather.

The word “baptize” comes from the Greek word “baptizo” which means “to dip or immerse” under water. When a person is baptized, it represents his or her identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is an outward symbol of a person’s inner faith and decision to be a committed Christ-follower. For those of us who have been around church for a while, baptism can simply become “something Christians do.” Nothing more than a box checked on the list of Christian to-do’s. But think about what baptism represents:

1.As you are lowered beneath the water and then raised up out of the water, you are identifying yourself with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Consider the imagery in Romans 6:3-5: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

2.You are personally declaring the death and burial of your old way of life-before conversion-and allegiance to your new life in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
There is nothing we do as a church community that better captures the essence of our ministry. Every baptism is a reminder of what God has done, and continues to do, for us through the Gospel. Every baptism is a way to publicly proclaim your faith in Jesus Christ. And every baptism is an incredible opportunity to worship our God. “To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 25)

Click here to sign up to be baptized at Frontline Silver Spring.

*The next baptism service at Frontline Silver Spring is on February 12, 2012.

Welcome to Come Alive: 21 Days. These entries are coinciding with our 3 week vision series that we are currently in and we pray they both challenge and encourage you. This is the final post and it was written by John McGowan, our Frontline Teaching Pastor.

Come Alive: What Changed?

We’re starting a new series at Frontline this week, so this post is the official end of “Come Alive”.  But before we turn the page completely, there’s one simple question I want to put in front of us:  what changed?  By that I mean, how are you different now than you were 21 days ago?

What’s come alive in you?  Your own relationship with Jesus?  A burden to reach our city for Christ?  Or are you praying about going to Haiti?  Feeling led to get involved in a Regional Community?  What’s different?

If you have solid answers to that question, praise God!  Hold on to those things.  Journal them.  Share them with your small group.  Confide in a close friend.  Giving voice to what God has done in our lives helps solidify His work and provide accountability as we go forward.

But I’m writing today for the person whose honest answer is “absolutely nothing.”  I’m writing for the person whose answer is, “I’m further from God, trapped in more sin and feeling hopeless.”  My guess is there’s more than a handful of people who would give a similar answer.

As I prayed for you this morning, I felt God leading me to Psalm 62:8, “Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”  Some of us are just one honest conversation with God away from amazing things coming alive in our hearts.  Blog posts and sermons will help.  God’s Word will never fail you.  But you’ve got to get alone with Him and pour your heart out.  Lay it all out there – the mess, the hurt, the pain, the feeling that you missed it and the desire to be changed by Him.

God doesn’t turn His back on the honest searching of His people.  He draws near to us when we draw near to Him.  Run to Him today.  He’s the One you need.

- John McGowan

To listen to the sermons from this series, please click here.

Welcome to Come Alive: 21 Days. These entries are coinciding with our 3 week vision series that we are currently in and we pray they both challenge and encourage you. This post was written by Edward Hunt, our Frontline Arlington Campus Pastor.

Did you know that Christ was thinking about you when he was praying to God? “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18) Here Christ is praying for you and all the disciples that have and will ever live. You come from a long line of faithful men and women who have entrusted themselves fully to living a “sent” life no matter what the cost. The cost of following Christ demands the entirety of our lives. In the western church we haven’t experienced this “cost” as many have around the world. This very day your brothers and your sisters are being persecuted for their faith. Let us not be so lulled to sleep by the comfortable Christianity that we experience and forget them. Let us pray diligently for them. A dear brother once said “When you unite in prayer for the persecuted church, you notice a powerful connection – to Christ, to one another and to our brothers and sisters living under oppression. In the place of prayer, we come to see the spiritual depth to be found in suffering.”

I know it is easy to forget with everything we have going on in our lives but I beg of you to fight against this. To fight against my forgetfulness I signed up for a daily email that tells me ways I can be praying. Please go to this website and join me in praying for the persecuted church: http://www.opendoorsusa.org/pray/.

- Edward Hunt

To listen to the sermons from this series, please click here.

Welcome to Come Alive: 21 Days. These entries are coinciding with our 3 week vision series that we are currently in and we pray they both challenge and encourage you. This post was written by Natalie, a member of the Frontline Prince William campus.

Months before our team was in Kenya I was beginning to see God move in my heart in a powerful way. I had recently moved to the Washington DC area and I was still transitioning from college life into the real world. I knew in college that every time they spoke of global missions either at church or at Campus Crusade for Christ on Thursday nights, I always felt interest in my heart. When I moved here I heard about the Frontline PW Kenya team that was being created I felt that interest overwhelming my heart again. The process of preparation was something that I really wasn’t prepared for but God prepared me for every step of the way. What I mean is, between February and our departure in late June, God softened my heart through some of the most difficult trials of my life, testing of my faith, and the process of transitioning into a new life in Northern Virginia. Throughout the process I realized that I wasn’t alone in this preparation to serve our God in a foreign country, God created friends to walk with me and show me that he’s going to take care of me through it all.

This mission trip to Kenya was more than an opportunity to serve others; it was a God designed experience for my heart to change. It was a chance to see what breaks God’s heart in this world. My life is forever changed and like God intended in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He showed me the world at a new angle while softening my heart in the process.

One of experience that was particularly transforming for me was my new understanding of Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” Before going to Africa I did not have a solid understanding of what it meant by “tribe.” I knew that there are different languages, and nations and people but the tribe thing just didn’t make sense to me. While in Africa we met people of different tribes and within these tribes the people spoke many languages. Their tribes were sacred pieces of their identity and who they were. I learned the meaning behind what God meant when he placed that word there in the Bible but I also realized that scripture says that one day a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language will be standing before his throne. Many of the people living in Africa don’t even have access to a Bible and even if they do, they may not be literate. How will they ever learn about God and his promises and then one day be with us followers there when we stand before his throne? I realized then how important it was for us to be there in Africa sharing the gospel with the people, just as it is important to share the gospel here with our neighbors in the United States.

- Natalie

To listen to the sermons from this series, please click here.

• Dates: June 2 – June 9, 2012
• Purpose: This trip will be the beginning of a Frontline-wide partnership with Mission of Hope-Haiti (www.mohhaiti.org) to build a relationship with the Haitian people through a variety of possible ministry opportunities. These include church development, VBS programs, a feeding center, mobile medical clinics, construction projects, amputee ministries, etc. Our goal in all of these activities is to reflect Christ by loving those who are both physically and spiritually hungry.
• Cost: $1500 per person (we will fundraise!)
• Team Meetings: March 17, April 14, April 28, May 19
• Team Retreat: March 30 – April 1
• How to Apply: frontlinedc.com/apply – Application Due February 3
• Questions/Concerns:  email laurencefjackson@me.com or sheena.austria@mcleanbible.org

Welcome to Come Alive: 21 Days. These entries are coinciding with our 3 week vision series that we are currently in and we pray they both challenge and encourage you. This post was written by Will Pavone, the Frontline Tysons Campus Pastor.

Over the last fifty years, the center of Christianity has shifted from the western world to the global south. While the west is steadily fading into secularism, the Church in Africa, South America, and parts of Asia is growing exponentially.

This past November, I got to experience how God is at work in western Africa.

I was part of a small team from Frontline who went to the tiny, war-torn country of Burundi to minister to pastors and to the staff of an organization called World Relief. The people of this incredibly beautiful country have suffered from decades of civil war and unrest. While the country has experienced several years of stability, the spiritual climate is still fragile. Our goal as a team was to encourage the pastors and staff through Christ-centered teaching and leadership training. By God’s grace I believe our efforts were fruitful, but in honesty, I think I learned a lot more than I taught.

I learned that God is a global God and that His gospel is bearing fruit around the world, even in places devastated by war and unrest. I learned that worship is trans-cultural, a universal language that unifies the body of Christ. Lastly, I was reminded that God calls us to have a global awareness concerning His redemptive purposes and that we should pray for the gospel to come alive in the hearts of all peoples!

- Will Pavone

To listen to the sermons from this series, please click here.

Learn how to become a member of MBC from 2-4:30 pm Sunday, Feb. 12 in the Main Auditorium at the Tysons campus. To register for child care contact Janie Cotone at janie.cotone@mcleanbible.org or 703-639-2000 x1014.

For more information contact Nancy Hall at 703-770-4397 or nancy.hall@mcleanbible.org.

Welcome to Come Alive: 21 Days. These entries are coinciding with our 3 week vision series that we are currently in and we pray they both challenge and encourage you. This post was written by Allan McCullough, the Director of the Gathering.

Take a minute to read Luke 4:16-30.

One day, when Jesus is in His hometown, Nazareth, He heads over to the Synagogue and is asked to publicly read from Isaiah. So, He grabs the scroll and reads Isaiah 61:1-2, which is a messianic prophecy. What’s interesting here is when Jesus is done reading, everyone can’t stop starring at Him. For some reason, nobody had ever heard anybody read the Scriptures as Jesus just did. Sensing this, Jesus says to the crowds something to the extent of, “Your right, I’m saying that’s me.” (my paraphrase)

Most people in the Synagogue had already heard of Jesus either because of some of the miracles He had performed when He was over in Capernaum but mostly because He was Joseph’s son. So, many of them were perplexed but also mesmerized and maybe even beginning to believe that He could be the Messiah. Then Jesus says something weird. He says, “…no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.”

Huh? What do you mean, Jesus?

Well, it was a preemptive comment. Because what Jesus was about to say would cause the crowd to riot. Jesus says two things:

1. During the time of Elijah, there was a great famine in Israel and there were many widows in need. However, Elijah was sent to help none of them except the GENTILE widow Zarephath.
2. During the time of Elisha, there were many lepers in Israel but Elisa was sent to help none of them. Instead, he was only sent to the GENTILE Naaman.

Then, those in the Synagogue went crazy and tried to murder Jesus.

Think about it. What cord did Jesus strike to get such a rise out of this crowd?

It seems to me that by declaring Himself to be fulfilling Isaiah 61:1-2 and then reminding the crowd of these two points of Israel’s history, Jesus was announcing that the Kingdom that He was bringing was not an ETHNOCENTRIC kingdom. The Kingdom He was bringing was a Kingdom that was for all nations, not just for Israel.

The cord that Jesus struck was a deep ethnocentrism that existed in Israel who expected a Messiah that would make Israel great. They did not expect a Messiah who would include Israel simply amongst all nations in His blessing. The message of the Bible is that God’s plan of redemption is and has always been for all nations and all peoples. (Gen 12:3, Ps 67, Is 66:18, Matt 24:14, Gal 3:8, etc…)

As we think about our world this week, we need to take some time to reflect on how ethnocentrism and racism deeply grieves the heart of God. Despite political progress, this is an issue that is very much alive today within the Church, within our city, and within the world. Not only is it just ethnocentrism, but there is also prejudice when it comes to socio-economic status, level of education, appearance, and disabilities amongst other things.

The reality is that since the Gospel is for all peoples, the Bible does not assume but emphatically declares that all people have equal need for the Gospel. (Rom 3:9, 23)

John MacArthur says, “…people by nature are hostile to God, utterly unable to obey God out of pure motives or from a pure heart, and therefore unable to do anything that truly pleases God (Rom. 8:7-8).”

If this is the description of all people, than the idea that certain people are superior to others based on any condition is nonsensical. We all need the saving work of Jesus Christ. God has called us to be people who are humble that have a love for our neighbor fueled by gratitude for the underserving grace we have received. The Kingdom of God knows nothing of any prejudice and will include people of all colors, tongues, cultures, and personalities.

Pray that God would reveal where any prejudice or belief of superiority could be present in your heart and then ask yourself the following questions. If you find yourself answering ‘yes’ to any of these, repent. Confess this to the Lord and to someone you confide in. Ask the Lord to change your heart and give you greater view of His Kingdom. Ask the Lord to show you how underserving you are of His grace so that prejudice can be crushed by gratitude.

1. Do I subconsciously limit my close relationships to those who are of the same color or ethnicity as myself?
2. Do I more easily share my faith with those who share the same color or ethnicity as myself?
3. Do I have a problem with interracial marriage?
4. Do I look down upon those who are poor? Do I believe that I deserve the material blessings I have and those who are poor do not?
5. Do I form opinions of other people based on the car they drive? This could go either way. Maybe you drive a nice car and judge the one who drives the clunker. Or you drive the clunker and you judge the person who drives the nice car.
6. Would I be uncomfortable if a homeless person attended my Frontline campus?
7. Would I be uncomfortable if a homeless person joined my Regional Community or Small Group?
8. Am I uncomfortable around those who have mental or physical disabilities?
9. Do I subconsciously limit my close relationships to those who have similar personalities and interests as myself?
10. Do I form opinions about people and limit relationships with those who seem “socially awkward.”

There are many more questions we can ask. All of us have prejudice somewhere inside because every one of us are sinners. We look forward to the Day where Christ will return, remove sin, and destroy all prejudice. The Day where all nations, tribes, and tongues will worship Him forever. (Rev 7:9) Let’s anticipate that Day by rallying around the grace of God and as a church wage war against the prejudice that is present within us. To “Come Alive” in our world, is to align our hearts with God’s heart for the entire world and for all peoples.

- Allan McCullough

To listen to the sermons from this series, please click here.

Our services will NOT be in the Round House Theatre this Sun. Jan. 29 and next Sun. Feb. 5. Instead, we will be meeting in the Silver Spring Civic Building which is around the corner from the Theatre on Fenton Street. On Feb. 5^th, Big Game Sunday, we will have an early service at 4:30pm instead of our usual time. The Big Game is a great way to connect with friends, neighbors and co-workers. Prayerfully consider who to spend that time with. Your Regional Community could plan something for the neighborhood or maybe there’s a non-Christian friend who invited you to hang out. No matter what the Lord leads you to, it’s a great opportunity to represent Him.