by Susie Battle, Director or Ministry Teams @ MBC Loudoun

Lon’s great new series in Genesis reminds me of how much I enjoyed our road trip to the Creation Museum! Located in Kentucky right near Cincinnati, Ohio, it’s well worth a visit.

Outside is a beautiful garden area that offers a great opportunity to enjoy creation…and to be silly!

Beyond this garden area is a very cool petting zoo with some creative hybrids of animals (they illustrate what is and is not possible in terms of modification of species).

The museum itself is well done and presents a balanced perspective of the view of evolution and the view of creation.

It scientifically explains why creation and Genesis make sense. For example, fossils are created by rapid burial and pressure, so what’s the best scientific explanation of how we get fossils?

They result from the type of sudden pressure that would be created in a flood. Here is a very cool true scale model of Noah’s ark…

… and a life-size section of the ark. It includes hypothesized systems for feeding and watering the animals. It was pretty interesting.

Scientific discoveries from Mount St. Helen’s eruption and the resulting findings about “layers of the earth” and fossils, and evidence on the Grand Canyon, and evidence on different continents that can be best scientifically explained by massive currents as would be created by a massive flood, and scientific reasons why “Lucy” isn’t an ape-man, and so many other things lend fascinating support for how science seems to best support creation.

The museum presents the scientific data, but also the theological importance. Does it matter if earth and humans are a result of creation or evolution or both? We must remember that all of humanity fell because of the questioning of God’s Word.

Also, the gentleman who led Billy Graham to Christ later questioned creation and ultimately became an evangelist for atheism. Creation v evolution is a big question with big ramifications.

If we are a result of evolution, we’re a result of chance with no purpose. If we’re a result of creation, we are created intentionally by an all-loving, all-wise God for a purpose for all eternity. Lon said that he doesn’t have enough faith to be an atheist. This museum definitely confirms that.

I could go on and on — the museum includes an awe-inspiring planetarium that boggles one’s mind about the size of the solar system and the magnitude of God, live demonstrations and opportunities to interact with well-researched experts, the opportunity to enjoy God’s creation… and so many other cool things! It’s well done and enjoyable.

Do I hear a road trip in your future? : )

by Jim Supp, Campus Pastor @ MBC Loudoun

So I was in a Spin class the other day. My wife really wanted me to go. It was my second time ever and I remembered right away why I don’t do this more often. As Michael Jackson’s Beat It started to play and we kicked it into a higher gear, I knew this was going to be a “good” workout. And then when got part way through Dream On by Aerosmith I wasn’t sure I was going to make it out of the room alive. But alas – the cool down approached after 55 minutes into the Tour de France and I felt confident that Lance Armstrong had nothing on me. I knew there was a spiritual lesson in here somewhere and a verse popped into my head. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Sure, what I had just done had some value to it. It was a good workout and I felt good about it. I found myself asking however, “how often do you work that hard on your spiritual development?” Spiritual discipline and the development of godliness has value is ALL things. Not a sermon….

by Wendy Melcher (Access Coordinator @ MBC Loudoun) and Amelia Sipress (Associate Director of Ministry Teams @ MBC Loudoun)

It’s your wedding day. You’re excited, afraid, glowing and about to marry the man or woman of your dreams – someone who God has given to you as an incredible gift to spend the rest of your life with. Fast forward a couple years, when you find out that you’re having a child. Remember the family members and friends who congratulate you with happiness. Think about the hope and dreams you had for your child’s future. Remember all those sleepless nights, the fatigue you felt the first year of your baby’s life, all the while remembering the satisfaction in knowing that you are a parent.

Now, imagine your hopes and dreams crashing down as the reality sinks in; your child has been diagnosed with a mental and physical disability that is going to require you to take care of them 24/7 for the rest of your life. Suddenly, the family that was so happy for you is not willing to stand by your side and you are left with your spouse feeling isolated and alone. Your marriage now has an 80% chance of ending in divorce. Now mix in a combination of other things: waking up every night to tend to your child, never having the opportunity to go out on a date with your spouse or have time to yourself, being tired all the time and never being able to fully communicate with your child. These are just some of the things our Access Ministry families, here at MBC Loudoun, experience on a day-to-day basis.

With this in mind, we want to invite you to rally around these families and join us for a night of prayer and fellowship with them. Listen to short testimonies of what these families have been and continue to go through and pray with them. Let’s show them that they’re not alone and we, their church family, stand by them with love, encouragement and prayer. As we are praying for and Building His Church for these 50 days, let’s keep in mind this particular part of our church family.

Please join us for this Second Saturday Event on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, at 5 p.m. in the MBC Loudoun Café. Pizza will be provided.

This summer at Kid’s Quest we enjoyed some “Soul Food” together as we dig deeper into God’s work, memorize scripture and learn how to apply it to our lives. We know that all you parents and adults may not get a chance to get an inside peak into all the fun we are having during Kid’s Quest, so we put together this little video to give you a glimpse into what you are missing!! During our summer fun days, we had many different dress up days, in this video you will see some footage from our crazy hat day and our camo day! You will also see some of our elementary kids reciting their memory verses. We are so proud of them!

As you can see, we have a lot of fun and would love for more friends to join us, grown-ups and children alike! So invite a child in your neighborhood to join us or consider coming to serve with us. No experience necessary, just the ability to laugh and have fun with some really awesome kids!

It’s not too late to sign-up for Mclean University at: www.mbcloudoun.org/mu! Get answers to your questions about Jesus, the Bible and more in this series of classes that will introduce you to some of the basic building blocks for the Christian faith. Each lesson examines biblical truths and helps you apply them to your life.

If you are beginning a relationship with Jesus or are just exploring who Jesus is and what the Bible says, we recommend you begin with Christianity 101. Remember, McLean University is not just for new believers.  There are several classes offered to help believers in Jesus to grow in their faith.

Check out this video to get inspired and then take a class!!

Have you ever seen this bumper sticker?

You may have noticed it on a car, truck or van and if you are a U2 fan you may remember they used this Coexist logo on their Vertigo concert tour. Coexist image was originally created by a Polish graphic designer named Piotr Mlodozeniec for an art contest hosted by the Museum of Seam for Dialogue to promote peace and reconciliation among people of different worldviews, faiths, and belief systems. This newer version of the sticker above has an expanded message of tolerance to also include Eastern religions as well as issues surrounding gender, including homosexuality.

Seeing this sticker immediately triggered all kinds of questions in my mind. So how are we as Christians to respond to this postmodern message of Coexist? How are we to reconcile that Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and at the same time He tells us that there will be division among family members about their belief or lack of belief in Jesus (Matt. 10:34-36; Luke 12:49-53).

I know what you are thinking, “Isn’t the Bible contradicting itself when it says Jesus is about peace, love and turning the other cheek (Matt. 5:39), but people’s beliefs in him will cause families to be divided and split up?” This doesn’t make any sense.  The Bible seems to be contradicting itself.  I just can’t grasp or comprehend these two differences. Well, the Good News :) is that you are not alone.

So how do we reconcile this contradiction?  The Bible does tell us that we are to love our neighbor (Matt. 22:39; Luke 6:27-36).  But it also commands us to preach the Gospel to all nations (Matt. 28:18-20), but to do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). You see God is not contradicting Himself. What God is saying is that Christian’s are to be in the world, but not of the world (Romans 12:2; 1 John 2:15-17).  As Christ followers we are called to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15; Romans 10:14-15) regardless if we may offend another individual, but we are to do so with gentleness and respect.

In Matthew 10:36 Jesus is not advocating literal war with your families, he is saying that as the gospel is shared it will naturally cause division between those who reject and accept Him. We need to stand up for what is right and true according to the Word of God. We are to cling to what is good and hate what is evil (Rom. 12:9).

We also need to remember that God is not only a God of mercy and grace He is also a God of justice (Matt. 24:6-8; Rev. 19:15). Jesus is not a pacifist as is seen in Rev. 19:15. The peace that Jesus brings is one of salvation and redemption of man’s sins (Heb. 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19).  Peace that we have a rock solid hope of an eternal future with Him after we die. Peace that we do not have to fear death if we place our faith in trust in Him (John 3:16-18; Acts 4:12).

So what’s the take away?  Well there are many, but what I want to emphasis is we cannot fall into the trap of worrying whether we may offend someone and not share the Gospel. Satan uses a postmodern philosophy to plant seeds of doubt to keep us from doing what God calls us to do. Don’t let Satan win next time you have the opportunity to share the gospel. As Christians we should strive to pray for peace and do everything within our power to live at peace with one another but at the same time we should never sacrifice the truth of the Gospel for the sake of keeping the peace.

Amelia Sipress, Associate Director of Ministry Teams @MBC Loudoun

almighty Abba blessed capable caring daddy delightful everlasting everywhere Emanuel fearless forgiving faithful great holy intelligent just kind King loving Lord majestic merciful magnificent noble outstanding

If you were given the alphabet and told to come up with a word for each letter to describe God, could you do it? That was the challenge during September’s Second Saturday. As people got food and built community, they enjoyed praising God as they brainstormed different words to describe Him from letters A thru Z.

As we begin Building His Church: A 50 Day Spiritual Journey, it is important to give thanks and praise to God for who He is and what He has done in our individual lives. We should begin this journey of prayer in the same way Jesus taught His followers, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name’” (Matthew 6:9). Let us start out on the right foot saying together, “Hallowed be thy name, Lord God.”

In all, it was a great Second Saturday of fellowship, learning and praising God together.

The only trouble we had was coming up with a word that describes God beginning with the letter “X.” Maybe you can help?

omniscient patient peaceful powerful quiet quotable reliable righteous sensitive superb sinless trustworthy trustful trinity unstoppable understanding unifying victorious valuable wonderful eXtreme Yahweh zealous

by Claudia Rabe

God gave our family the opportunity of going to Nicaragua with our MBC Loudoun Mission Team this summer. I went with my husband, Walt, and our two sons, Garrett and Ethan. This trip was a life-changing experience for our family.

I learned that there is a lot of truth in Proverbs 16:9, which says “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Before going on this trip, I had personally envisioned myself connecting with the younger children but things did not necessarily go as I had expected because God had better plans for me.

I had the opportunity to meet and build a relationship with Yessica, a 15-year-old girl who I initially noticed because of her beautiful eyes. When I complimented her, I noticed that she was very guarded about her appearance. I started chatting with her and she shared a little about her family – she grew up in a home with 10 kids and they had an alcoholic father who had left them. Our conversation deepened and I felt God leading me to say, “God loves you very much! Do you believe that?” I continued by telling her that the Lord had laid it on our team’s hearts to be in Nicaragua. There were many places in the world that we could have gone but that He had brought us here for moments such as these. Immediately, I saw tears. That is when the wall began to drop and she really began to share. I listened as she poured out her heart and told many stories – she had been working since she was 8-years-old, the abuse and misunderstanding she had encountered and many other unfathomable things. I wept as I felt my heart breaking for her. As the tears rolled down my face, I prayerfully told her that I could not relate to all her experiences because I had grown up very differently. I said our one-week presence in Nicaragua was not going to transform her life, but God could.

All too quickly, I realized that it was time for us to head back to the hotel. As our bus drove away, I saw her waving good-bye with tears in her eyes as she held one of her brother’s hands. I waved and knew that image of her would be forever imprinted in my mind.

Over the next few days, Yessica and I were able to connect frequently and continue our conversation. Before the trip, I had bought a brand new Spanish/English Bible and marked it with over twenty Bible verses that share the Gospel message. I had the privilege of being able to give her my Bible and share these verses with her, talking about how they apply to her life.

I experienced many wonderful people and things throughout our trip to Nicaragua, but meeting Yessica left the biggest imprint on my heart. I will always cherish our time together!

by Amelia Sipress, Associate Director of Ministry Teams @ MBC Loudoun

Everybody loves good news. But we really love God news, and August’s Second Saturday wasn’t short on it. We heard from MBC Loudoun’s mission team about their trip to Nicaragua where God did some awesome things in and through these individuals who have a passion for reaching across borders to share the message of Christ.

The team organized a Vacation Bible School for the Nicaraguan children that clearly showed God using a simple program to establish relationships with the children and teenagers. The team taught the children biblical truths. Most children in Nicaragua grow up without having the presence of a fatherly figure in their lives. As the team did the VBS, they had the opportunity to connect with the children and demonstrate God’s unconditional love to them as well as teach them biblical truths.

The team also visited Rama Cay, which is one of the poorest places in Nicaragua. One of the team members had been to Rama Cay the year before and described the change he saw between the two visits: “It could only be from God. The previous year, the people were closed and hardened. They didn’t greet or talk to us. They allowed us into their homes with reservation… This year, the people were more open, the children came out to greet our MBC team, and allowed us into their homes more readily. The change was astonishing.”

This is only the beginning of what God has begun to do in Nicaragua. The team created medical records for the children, helped provide children with nutritious food and set up a ‘Ladies Night’ at the church where they pampered, bonded with and encouraged the local women.

All in all, hearing from our MBC Loudoun Missions Team was encouraging. Hearing from them allowed us to celebrate all that God had done in and through them.

If you are interested in taking a short term missions trip with McLean Bible Church, you can find more information here.

by Jim Supp, Campus Pastor @ MBC Loudoun

For 4 years now the Supps have hosted a breakfast just prior to the start of the school year. Normally this occurs on Labor Day – traditionally the day before school begins. Although the county threatened to disrupt the event by starting school a week early, everything went off without a hitch. Truthfully, it was one of the best breakfasts yet. Our total attendance this year was 50 people representing 11 families in our neighborhood. We started at our usual time of 7:30 (yes, this was a Saturday morning) and people came in their finest PJ’s with some wonderful bedhead creations – including most adults. We gave out prizes for best bedhead, best PJ ensemble and best morning disposition. After enjoying waffles, fruit and muffins the kids settled in to listen to a message from God’s Word. (And we had every single adult listening in as well.) I shared the story of the Good Samaritan as we considered what it means to be a good neighbor upon returning to school. There was eager interaction on the part of the children and all were attentive to the very end. I took the opportunity to pray over the kids as they prepare to head into their next year at school. What a blessing it was for us as we continue in our efforts to build spiritual bridges to our neighbors. I mean, how often do you have the opportunity to have 50 people from your neighborhood standing in your driveway, in their pajamas, listening to God’s Word? How cool is that? I pray you are encouraged in your efforts to build these bridges as well.