I received this email and wanted to share this with you. Cherie Sandrof sent an email expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support they have received. It is amazing to see the Lord work through you when His people step out in faith to bless others.

From Cherie:

I’ve had multiple brain surgeries over the past year and each and every time kind people from our church family step up to help us out. I have not been able to track names and/or contact information, etc. of who has brought a meal. However, I’d really like to sincerely thank every single one of them. Do you have a list serve of some sort that you could send this email out to?
As you know, in addition to my complicated health issues, we also have 5 year old triplet boys, one of whom has special needs. We also have no family in the area. Needless to say, when I end up having emergency surgery, life gets tough.
I cannot explain in words just how much it has meant to me that the church body so willingly and lovingly takes care of us when we are in need. I simply cannot imagine what our family life would be like if they hadn’t. From childcare help, to washing our laundry, and most importantly: bringing a hot meal. To some, bringing a meal might seem like a simple task. But for us, it is so much more than that. It is so obvious that these meals are lovingly prepared and delivered with such a giving spirit. It’s comforting and makes us feel so loved.
In the past we have not always felt welcomed at other churches, partly because of our son with special needs. The ministries at McLean Bible Church have helped to keep our family together. Through all of the trials we’ve had, the response we’ve received from McLean Bible Church has restored our faith in the body of Christ.
I really just wanted to thank each and every one of you personally and let you know how much this has meant to our family.
Best,
Cherie

Unfortunately, between the time I received this email to the time this appears on the blog page, Cherie has had to go back in for more brain surgery. Please keep Cherie and Matt in your prayers.

After I prayed with my wife the other day, we began to wonder why so many people tend to pray with their hands folded, eyes closed, and heads bowed down. Does God command us to have a certain posture when we pray? So I went to God’s Word to see if it gave any instruction (2 Tim. 3:16) on how our posture should be when we pray.

I discovered that people prayed to God with many different postures in the Bible, all of which were acceptable. For instance, Jesus put his face to the ground (Matt. 26:39) in Gethsemane, he lifted his eyes to heaven (John 17:1), King Solomon prayed on his knees with his hands held high (1 Kings 8:54), Daniel prayed on his knees (Daniel 6:10), people prayed standing up (Psalm 106:30; Neh. 9:2; Mark 11:25), others threw themselves to the ground (Ezra 10:1), and King David prayed seated (2 Sam. 7:18).  So if anyone ever tells you God won’t hear you pray because you are not in the right posture, know what the person is saying is unbiblical.

The take-away here is any physical posture for prayer is acceptable, the Lord does not require us to position our bodies in a certain way in order to be heard by him. So whether, you are driving your car, on the treadmill at the gym, lying in bed or even in the shower; all these postures are acceptable, but what is ultimately and truly important in prayer is not our physical posture, but the posture of our hearts. Sometimes it is easier for us to bow our knees then it is our hearts to God. Also, our outward posture is not always symbolic of our inward spiritual attitude as we can see from the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14).

So the next time you are in prayer and your heart is troubled or it is not in the right place, be honest with God and tell Him how you are feeling – remember, it’s no secret to Him. :) Ask Him to break your heart for what breaks His.  Ask Him to put your heart in the right place as you come before Him.  Whatever you do, just keep praying.  The Bible says we should “pray without ceasing,” so that means anytime and anywhere, the important thing is not where we pray but that we do pray!

I would like to thank the volunteers who gave a special gift which can’t be returned. For those who may not know what this gift was….it was 4 hours of their free time on Friday December 16th at Break Out. Here is an email from one of the parents that were blessed that night:

Thank you so much for last night. As usual, the break was much needed and the timing was perfect—My husband and I really needed that time together.
Also—we REALLY love the family photo. It never seems to be a priority to take a family photo—and ours turned out perfect. J
The boys were literally jumping up and down when they realized that Access had also given them their own ornaments for the Christmas tree. Your thoughtfulness for last night’s program meant a lot to me.

A special thank you to Ryan, who attends the Rock at Loudoun, for lending us her talents of photography and time.

Thank you again to all of the other Access volunteers for putting your love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, into action!

I just love our MBC Loudoun family! It seems the Lord has really blessed us with a great community. Here are a few highlights from the last couple weeks:

• An attendee e-mailed me recently, “I would never feel so well connected if the Lord hadn’t opened the Loudoun Campus.”
• A couple of weeks ago, we had a sort of focus group with our Saturday night attendees asking them what makes the Saturday night service so special. Their overwhelming response? The community!
• A volunteer feels well-connected: “Thank you for helping me be a part of the MBC family!”
• One family was with their relatives on Christmas Eve so attended another campus. They were excited MBC Loudoun had a Christmas Day service… because they wanted to be sure to celebrate Christ’s birth with their church family!
• A couple hundred people attended our Christmas Day service and stayed almost an hour fellowshipping afterwards as we enjoyed birthday cakes for Jesus!

It is God’s people – His body – that makes MBC Loudoun such a special place. Thank you for being such a great community!

Read 1 Timothy 4:1-3 below.

“Now the (Holy) Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful (or leading astray) spirits and teachings of demons (disseminating errors among men and seeking to seduce believers), through the insincerity (pretending to be what one is not) of liars whose consciences are seared (withered or become insensitive), who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

When I heard these verses the past week it really drove home in me the importance of being in God’s Word.  Paul was saying that as Christ’s return grows nearer, less people will read the Bible and even more people will begin to listen to others to get their teaching.  People will mostly choose who they listen to based upon the speaker’s message meshing with what they want to hear. So how can we discern who is teaching God’s Word correctly?  The answer is simple, we must read the Bible ourselves, otherwise we cannot know if what the person is saying is true.

Friends I implore you that reading God’s Word daily is of the utmost importance to keep you away from false teaching.  Don’t put your faith or trust only in a person or individual when it comes to the Word of God.  Put your faith and trust in God alone by reading His Word and seeing if what you have heard is true according to God. Don’t trust one person alone to learn about God, even if you know the teachers are godly. You must dig into God’s Word yourself and see if what they are saying is true and trustworthy.  Become an avid student of the Bible. Matt 7:15 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Some teachers may be the nicest people in the world, or perhaps the greatest story tellers, or perhaps the greatest communicators, but that doesn’t mean they are staying true to the Word of God. Additionally, the words of man will never compare to the words of God.  God’s Word has supernatural power and authority, man’s words do not (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).

So Dive In to the Word of God and observe it, interpret it and put it to application in your own life. And remember: the greatest interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself.

Our December 2nd Saturday was a great time of building community. Five teams enjoyed the Christmas season – and some sugar – as they decorated gingerbread houses together.

(click the picture to see a larger version)

Our very own Campus Pastor, Jim Supp, Worship Leader, Jason Grate, and Elementary Coordinator, Jerry Hite, were our judges.

Which one would you have picked to win?

Thank you to all who participated! Congratulations to our winners!

Also, special thanks go to Jerry and Susan Hite for helping clean up afterward!

On August 1, 2005, we lost our niece to a horrific accident. A box fan fell from the window and snuffed out our precious little girl. Words do not have the value needed in describing the magnitude of our grief. It was awful. There is no other word that can describe an event like that…awful.

I have often pondered since that moment and questioned Gods ultimate plan. It seemed so useless. Void. Obtuse. When you are placed in a situation as a follower of Jesus that really makes you question your faith, it is a scary place. What about all of his promises? What about his claims of protection and declarations of never leaving us or forsaking us? Where is the meaning in all of this?

3 days ago, 6 and a/half years after our precious Ava’s passing, I had an experience that will historically go down as one of the most proud moments of my 13 years and 9 months of being a father.

On Thanksgiving, my wife and children, Elijah (13) Emeliah (10) and Zeke (7) went to visit there Great Grandmother. Grandma Bloomer was the mother of my wife’s mother. She was a saint. One of the sharpest 90 year old women I have ever met. Always dressed to the 9′s, she always remembered everyone’s name and she always made us laugh with her humor and uncanny wit!

But most of all she was a fervent follower of Jesus Christ.

Two days after Holly and my children saw her, she went into hospice. It was a shock to us all. Especially after she was so sharp just a few days before. My beautiful wife called me at work and said, “things are going downhill for Grandma Bloomer. It looks like it will be very soon….”

3 days ago I jumped into bed and snuggled up to my wife and fell fast asleep. At 3 am I heard our two dogs barking and I was sure that they needed to be let out to go do their business. When I opened the door to let them go, they bolted across the field and chased deer for close to an hour. So here I am, wearing a winter coat, Ohio State pajamas and moon boots, screaming “Shadow! Sadie!”. Finally they returned covered in manure and deer brains. Yeah, bitterness is not a word I would use to describe my anger…

When I went inside, I was wide awake. I laid down on the couch and watched ESPN discredit Tim Tebow for 2 hours and then I turned off the TV at 6 and crawled into bed with my oldest, Elijah. As I was drifting off to sleep I heard Holly’s phone ring at 6:15 am…and I knew…

She made her way upstairs sniffling and weeping. The door opened to Elijah’s room and I said ,”hey baby, did Grandma pass away?”. She fell into my arms sobbing and I just held her. A few minutes later Elijah awoke and rolled between us and wrapped his arms around her. Next was Zeke. He burst through the door and jumped on Holly and just hugged the life out of her. And then Emmy walked in and joined the mourning with her arms around us both. My children didn’t say much. They didn’t quote verses or offer cliché’ bible promises. They just loved on they’re mom. With the exception of one comment from Zeke. “I hate it when people in my family die! It sucks!” (like father like son)

As all 5 of us laid there in one giant mourning clump, a revelation hit me. My children have suffered. They know how to respond when things go bad. As angering as Ava’s death was, even still today, lessons have been learned. My children have been tested, in the fiery furnace of affliction, and they are better because of it.

When Ava passed I often wondered about Gods love and purpose. But as life progresses, His plan and goodness are being revealed more and more everyday. And most of the time, it is through suffering. And let’s be honest, does anything else really get our attention?

As Christmas quickly approaches, let us remember that Christ was born to die. And it was through His suffering that he became acquainted with OUR suffering and became not only our Savior, but our friend…

Have a blessed and thankful Christmas…

I received a Christmas card a few years ago that touched me deeply. Here is what it said:

If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator;
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist;
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist;
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer;
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so God sent us a Savior.

I believe that forgiveness is the greatest commodity in the universe. It’s a commodity that heals our soul so that we can live a healthy, functional life here on Earth. It’s a commodity that reconciles us to God so that we have eternal life in the world to come.

When we think about Christmas in today’s culture, we think about baby Jesus in the manger. But what we should be thinking about is the full-grown Jesus on the cross. His primary purpose was not to serve as the central figure in the manger scene, but rather to die on the cross and rise again. This is what Christmas is really all about. It’s not about trees, presents, tinsel or going to the mall. It’s about the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

This Christmas season, I would urge you to make this the rejoicing of your heart. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ, the greatest gift that anyone has given or received in all of human history. Thank the Lord Jesus today, tomorrow, and every day for the forgiveness that we could never earn, but that the He gave us freely in His mercy. Rejoice in the fact that as long as you are forgiven by almighty God, there is always something going right in your life.

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas celebration. May the New Year bring you an abundance of God’s blessings and may your spirit soar with Him who came to redeem you. Merry Christmas!

So I have a thing for books. I mean, what other person in their right mind spends seven years in seminary?! : )

One of my favorite books this year has been Champagne for the Soul. I fell in love with the author, Mike Mason, shortly after I became a believer. I was at a wedding, and I started to think there was more to this marriage thing than I’d thought before I was a believer. I ended up reading Mike Mason’s Mystery of Marriage and just loved it. He paints such a beautiful vision of what marriage is and is intended to be in God’s eyes.

In Champagne for the Soul, Mason tries out a 90 day experiment. He wonders if it’s possible to be joyful for 90 straight days. It’s an impactful and fun devotional of celebrating God’s gift of joy. I just love it. I’ve given it as a gift a few times this year, and others have loved it as well. It’s a blessing of a book.

Last Christmas, my grandmother sent me to the bookstore to find a devotional for her. I brought back four options, and she chose two. One of them she consistently raves about. More than Conquerors has given her great encouragement to live in faith, hope and love. It has motivated her for victory and triumph in the stresses of each day. She’s spoken so highly of it that when Impact singles ministry made Easter baskets this year for residents at Madison House, we included this devotional in it.

As I’ve been shopping for my grandmother for this Christmas, I went back to the bookstore and searched. I came acros

s a devotional called Jesus Calling and thought my grandmother might enjoy it. I told the gals at the bookstore which devotional my grandmother liked last year and asked them to which one they would recommend for this year. Without seeing the book in my hand, they recommended Jesus Calling as well. I’ve talked to two people since then who have read it and loved it! So I got it for my grandmother {shhhh… don’t tell her : )}.

It’s so fun to scatter the joy and love of Christ through Christmas gifts! If you have other recommendations, please chime in. We’d love to hear them.

Merry Christmas, and happy giving!

My grandmother, mom, and me

November’s Second Saturday event gave us an opportunity to bless those in service as we teamed up with Operation Kindness to write encouraging postcards to our military who are currently serving our country at home and abroad. We wrote over 150 cards! Our soldiers will receive these cards around Christmastime. Thank you to all who came out to support our troops!

We also took the time to remember and honor our past veterans – the men and women who died in service to our country and those who are still with us. George Thigpen, an MBC Loudoun attendee, shared about his ‘God in the Foxhole’ experience overseas in the 84th Infantry Division during World War II where he saw 7 months of combat. While George was in Normandy, he had the opportunity to give a cross medallion to a fellow soldier and his college dorm-mate, Bill. Bill put the cross around his neck, with his I.D. tags, to help him remember God’s strength while he was in combat. For the full story, you can check out the video below.

Our next Second Saturday will be on December 10, 2011. We are having a Gingerbread Decorating Contest after the Saturday service in the MBC Café. Please join us for a fun-filled evening!

Click here to view the embedded video.