recent posts
By Heidi Hobson, MBC Tysons Attendee
Go and make disciples of all nations…. Matthew 28:19a
As a Hispanic, these words sound like music to my ears! I have always imagined Heaven as an amazingly diverse place, with people of all shapes and sizes and colors. Languages, known and unknown, being spoken with joy and voices singing beautiful praises.
My own household is a mini melting pot. Each of us has been born in a different state or country, moved around quite a bit and experienced many different languages, cultures and subcultures. With each new experience, we learn that although we might think we are different, we are the same in so many ways. However, this is not the way most of us…
By Joy Lippard, MBC Tysons Worship Leader
Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy. Psalm 33:3
Music is powerful in our culture. Often times, without realizing it, people form opinions of what they believe and how they live based on what they learn from the lyrics in popular songs! The same is true of songs in the church. People learn their theology from music. For a Christian songwriter, that means a responsibility to write truthful and doctrinally sound lyrics. Whether I’m writing a congregational worship song or a song about life or love, I use the Bible as my guide for writing solid and truthful lyrics.
Writing songs that are…
By Joe Henriques, MBC Tysons Campus Past0r
You’ve got to be pretty important for a city like Chicago to dye its river green in your honor, to be celebrated by parades on a holiday named after you, and to have people throughout the world paying you tribute.
Your name would have to be Patricius, now known as Patrick – St. Patrick, to be exact.
Even the Chinese government made part of the Great Wall of China go green! Patrick must be powerful!
Even though almost no one today hints of anything spiritual behind this Irish Day, it makes sense that “Saint” Patrick’s Day was once a…
By AnnieLaurie Walters, MBC Loudoun Attendee
Growing up as a Southern Baptist in West Tennessee, I never really knew much about observing Lent. I scarcely recall seeing anyone with ash on their forehead until I moved to Washington, DC and began working on Capitol Hill. At St. Joseph’s on the Hill (located directly across from Hart Senate Office Building), Ash Wednesday could possibly be a bigger day than Christmas and Easter Sunday combined!
My first Ash Wednesday on the Hill, I was so fascinated by all the people around me who, apparently, observed Lent. I actually felt I was in the minority because I didn’t have the cross of ash swiped across my brow. I even had a few folks ask…
By Will Pavone, MBC Tysons Young Adults and Edge Community Pastor
There are two ways to enslave oneself in the Christian life. The first way is by embracing legalism and the second is by embracing license. Legalism makes performance (or lack thereof) the basis of acceptance before God. License abuses the grace of God by sinning recklessly, rationalizing that salvation can’t be lost and presumptuously assuming God’s forgiveness. Legalism and license are two opposite extremes yet both are destructive to one’s faith and distort the true Gospel of grace. About halfway through chapter 5 of Galatians, Paul shifts from talking primarily about the futile trap of legalism to warning about the foolish lapse of license. The Apostle writes:
By Mike Kelsey, MBC Silver Spring Pastor
I just read an article published in Relevant Magazine and I think it’s an important article for Christians to read because it articulates a very painful struggle for some of the people in our churches. Here are several applications I took from it and I think Christians, especially Christian men, need to consider:
1.”Gay jokes” are unwise, insensitive, and unacceptable. If you struggle with this, I’d encourage you to study and meditate on Ephesians 4:29, James 3:9-12, and Matthew 12:33-37
2. Christians tempted with same-sex attraction need the Church to be a community marked by humility, compassion, and truth. Humility = I’m not better than you. Compassion = I am drawn to you…
An Interview with Angel Turbeville, MBC Bethesda Director of Small Groups, and Helen Lee, MBC Bethesda Attendee
In the fall, I had the joy of co-leading a Friday night Multiply women’s group for MBC Bethesda. As our group started meeting, it was a joy to see the diversity, both ethnically and spiritually. Spiritually, some women had been faithful believers for years and some women were fairly new in their faith. One woman in particular, Helen, was a brand new Christian. I asked her to share her experience so that others might be encouraged to join a Multiply group. We learn and are challenged by each other’s views, questions, and varying levels of experience. The discussions in our Friday night group were so very rich because of…