Last week we told you about our Rock Student Ministries’ Terror Maze on October 23 and 25. Thank you for praying for this event. Over 1600 students attended and heard the gospel message. Over the two nights, 104 students dedicated their lives to the Lord! Another 500 recommitted their lives to Christ! Praise God for these students and continue to pray for them in the upcoming weeks.
I love fall. I love when the leaves start to change colors. When the evenings start getting cooler. Pumpkins. Apple-picking (although I couldn’t tell you the last time I went apple-picking). Campfires. And town fairs. What can I say? I grew up in the country.
So as you can imagine, I was pretty excited that MBC PW was going to have a booth at the Manassas Jubilee today. It was the perfect day for a fair - 70 degrees and sunny. I loved getting to see the families out together. It was really sweet and wholesome. It was a snapshot of a simpler time. I was also excited to get to talk to people about our campus. In my role, I don’t get a chance to mingle as much as some of our other staff. Janette and I talked to several families who attend PW and told a number of folks about our new campus. Hopefully we’ll see some of them tomorrow at church.
As the Jubilee winds down, I’d ask you to be praying for the people who saw our booth. Pray that they would seek to know a little more about who we are at MBC and that we’re more than the church with “that Not-a-Sermon guy”. Pray for the guy who started to come towards our table and then immediately turned around when he realized we are a church. More than that, pray that the Lord would use the time at the Jubilee to bring people closer to Him.
Check out some pictures from our launch!
Staff Commissioning
Our Campus
Main Entrance
Sermon by Lon Solomon
Mark used an example this weekend comparing MBC Prince William to a space shuttle taking off. That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now. Months of preparation have come together, culminating in last weekend’s opening day service. Many of you were there for the service. I loved seeing you all there and experiencing your excitement. It’s likely you had no idea of everything that was going on behind the scenes, so here’s your backstage, all-access pass to the Producer’s view of the MBC Prince William launch.
7:36 am I walk into the auditorium to a flurry of activity. Musicians are plugging their instruments in. Choir members are chatting and getting ready. Shirley is printing sermon notes and finetuning the MediaShout slides. Craig and Aaron are busy setting up mics.
8:00 am Prayer time. The staff and volunteers gather at the stage to pray for the service and for the people coming.
8:05 am Rehearsal time. Alyce and the band run through all the songs again. Denny Harris is happy I didn’t wear a hat this morning. I remind him that I can look like a grownup when needed.
8:35 am Time to rehearse “While I’m Waiting”. Brian’s mic doesn’t work. This is pointed out by practically everyone in the room. Aaron stays calm. We swap out mics and everything is fixed.
8:40 am Theoretically, doors should be open, but we still have to run “God of this City” with the video and Tysons. Take one: Not quite. Ushers are getting impatient. Take two: Close. We’re out of time, so we open doors. Praise God for Kris Campesi and Rachel Fabian for keeping the ushers calm. Mental note: make sure to finish on time next week.
8:59 am Band enters stage. Choir gets in place. And we’re off!
9:20 am Worship is coming to a close. We are a full 3 minutes ahead of where Tysons is. This presents an issue since we need them in order to do “God of this City”. Denny is commissioning the staff. Oh wait, I need to be onstage. Please Lord, where’s the green light saying we’re okay? Denny starts praying…. and there’s the light. Praise God!
9:35 am Okay, we’re in the sermon. I can relax a little. I start getting messages from Tysons asking how many people are here. They’re sending us more bulletins? I didn’t even know we were running low!
10:15 am Service is over. What do I need to tell the band for next time? I check in with Alyce. We attempt to work on several video issues, but it proves to be too much to do between services so Dave and I make a note to fix it during the week.
10:30 am Bulletins arrive. Praise God the attendance is so great that we needed them! Rachel, Janette and the team furiously stuff bulletins while other ushers hand out bulletins to people.
10:45 am Service number two kicks off. Alyce makes a face, but I don’t find out until later that was because she had Tysons’ music in her inear monitors!
10:50 am Already more people at the service than there were at the 9:00 am service!
11:10 am Staff Commissioning… green light is on. We’re ready for the offering song.
11:15 am “God of this City” is sung simultaneously at MBC Tysons, The Edge, MBC Loudoun, and MBC Prince William. “Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done….”
11:20 am Lon’s sermon. Vision message part 1.
11:50 am Mark dedicates “While I’m Waiting” to all the people who have been faithfully serving the Lord while waiting for Prince William to open.
12:00 pm Services are done! Time to clean up. Wow… hard to believe that we’ve actually opened! All in all, we had 220 children and 880 adults in services, many more than we’d expected. I’m really pleased with how it all went. Of course, there are details that we’ll work on and improve upon, but for opening weekend, God truly provided!
I can’t tell you how personally supported I felt by the team at Tysons, Frontline, and Loudoun. I got phone calls, emails, and texts all morning asking how it was going and letting me know they were praying for us. I know that Jim, Todd, and Lon all prayed for us during their services. I’m honored to be a part of the large family that is McLean Bible Church.
And now… we’re open. Our challenge now is to maintain the momentum that has been created. All the preparations weren’t just about September 13th. They were about creating a church that is ongoing. We have services this Sunday, next Sunday, and every week after that. People need to hear the message of Jesus Christ. And that’s why we’re here.
The vision of McLean Bible Church is to make an impact on secular Washington, DC with the message of Jesus Christ.
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I’m praising God for all He did today. All in all, we had 882 attendees between the two services. We had an amazing group of volunteers and staff serving all throughout the building, from parking to Kid’s Quest to the band. I’m excited to see what happens in the coming weeks!
Here’s the story from Todd Adkins, Frontline Executive Pastor, and Katy Kirk, Frontline PW Director of Women’s Small Groups.
Frontline Prince William launches January 24, 2010!
You may know that Frontline is our ministry for those in their 20’s and 30’s, led by Todd Phillips. Frontline already has campuses in Tysons, Arlington, and Silver Spring. We’re excited to announce that Frontline will be launching a campus at the MBC Prince William campus this January. Nate Keeler will be leading the charge as the Frontline Campus Pastor.
Personally, I’m excited to see Frontline coming out here. I’ve been involved with Frontline ever since I came to MBC so I’m excited to get to work with them in a new capacity. Frontline is designed specifically for those in their 20’s and 30’s by those in their 20’s and 30’s. If you know of someone who fits this criteria, spread the word. Frontline Prince William is coming!
I’m sitting in the 10:45 service of our preview weekend at MBC Prince William. (Yes, I am on my laptop during a sermon. I’m multi-tasking.) God is good. Today has run so smoothly. I loved hearing the choir. You all were great. Alyce and the band were amazing. All the tech elements ran smoothly. Nice job team!
I also loved walking around the building and seeing the kids in their classrooms. We had students in Jr. High and High School at The Rock. It’s so exciting to see the building and programs that we’ve been working on for months finally in action. We all know that this building is just a building - a tool for us to use. It’s still exciting to see to see it in use. Praise God for a successful preview service today!
If you enjoy working behind the scenes or if you have any technical inclination whatsoever, we’d love for you to join the PW Tech team. Don’t worry, while we like working with people who have some experience, we will definitely train you. When I started volunteering with the MBC Tech Team 9 years ago, I had no technical experience at all. A desire to serve and a teachable spirit are the only prerequisites.
If you are at all interested, come out to one of our training dates. Craig Campesi is running training sessions every weekend until we launch. The actual schedule is below. Come check us out or email Craig for more information!!
Aug 15 (Saturday) 1:00 - 3:00 PM Training & Stage Set Up
Aug 15 (Saturday) 3:00 - 5:30 PM Rehearsal
Aug 15 (Saturday) 5:30-7:30 PM - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Aug 16 (Sunday) 8:30 AM - 10 AM - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Aug 16 (Sunday) 10:30 AM - Noon - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Aug 22 (Saturday) 1:00 - 3:00 PM Training & Stage Set Up
Aug 22 (Saturday) 3:00 - 5:30 PM Rehearsal
Aug 22 (Saturday) 5:30-7:30 PM - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Aug 23 (Sunday) 7:00 AM Setup
Aug 23 (Sunday) 09:00 PREVIEW EVENT
Aug 23 (Sunday) 10:45 PREVIEW EVENT
Sep 5 (Saturday) 1:00 - 3:00 PM Training & Stage Set Up
Sep 5 (Saturday) 3:00 - 5:30 PM Rehearsal
Sep 5 (Saturday) 5:30-7:30 PM - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Sep 6 (Sunday) 8:30 AM - 10 AM - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
Sep 6 (Sunday) 10:30 AM - Noon - System Overview and Downlink training… (live service from Tyson’s)
The MBC - PW staff had an amazing week. I’m still excited about everything that happened. This week we held our first ever MBC-PW Vacation Bible School. I suppose it’s not a surprise that this was our first one. We’ve only been in the building for a little under 2 months. I have to give a big shout-out to the Kid’s Quest team for all their hard work to not only get the program ready, but also to do things like put tables and chairs in rooms. Minor details.
All in all, 245 children and 107 adult and student volunteers spent the week at Wildwood Forest. We learned how our wild and wonderful God is unpredictable, uncontainable, and unforgettable. Alyce, our Austr-english tour guide and her team of student worshippers led us in song and praise. Ranger McPhearless led our campers, Mimi and Quint, through the wilderness. Small group activities reinforced the daily Bible verse and theme. Our own campus pastor, Mark Davis, taught in the Great Oak Theater every day.
If you know me, I LOVE kids. Practically all kids. So this was an awesome week for me. I loved seeing kids as young as 2 years old singing about God and memorizing Bible verses. There is something really sweet and pure about hearing small children talk about Christ. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. Or maybe because they have a pure faith that hasn’t been jaded by the world around them. Either way, it’s always a great reminder to me of God’s love. His uncontainable, unforgettable love.
If you missed out on this year’s VBS, don’t worry - we’re already talking about next year’s program. Next year we won’t have to paint classrooms, so we’ll be that much further along!
Mimi and Quint, aka Rachel Fabian, Director of Ministry Teams, and Thomas Kovacs, Director of The Rock Student Ministries
There are times around McLean Bible Church where things get going so quickly that we don’t get a chance to look back and celebrate what God has done. Or rather, we don’t make time to look back and celebrate. This summer has been like that. I realized I haven’t given you any updates on two major events over the past few weeks, so it’s time to fix that.
First, the Preview Service on July 19th was amazing. We had almost 400 people attend. Alyce and the band did a great job. Our tech team worked together seamlessly. The greeters were welcoming and friendly.
I personally loved having all the kids in the service, but then again, I didn’t have to keep any of them occupied! I loved seeing Mark and Tonya up front with their kids, even if Roman wanted to go onstage with Alyce. We so appreciate what Kid’s Quest does on a weekly basis. They will be up and running at the next preview on August 23.
Then this past Tuesday was the Joe Gibbs ”Game Plan for Life”. I think this may be one of my favorite events that MBC has done - and I’m not a football fan at all. I loved that MBC Internet, MBC Loudoun, MBC Prince William, Frontline, and MBC Tysons all worked together on an event. It was a great reminder that we are one church at many locations.
At the MBC Prince William Campus, we had a blast. Families ate Red Hot and Blue and spent time getting to know each other. Guys, and a few ladies, enjoyed checking out the Gibbs Racing Team car. I’ll put up pictures soon. One of the complaints I often hear about MBC is that we’re too big. I feel like MBC Prince William gives us the opportunity to feel more like a smaller church, but with the quality and resources of a larger one.
Between all the campuses, over 4200 people got to hear Joe Gibbs talk about Christ. That’s pretty amazing. It was definitely a good night for the Kingdom.
