Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump
July 30, 2012 By
- What a super-fun day at The Heights!
- We’ve been in Vacation Bible School all week, and today was the grand finale where the kids and leaders recap all the great songs, lessons and memories from the previous week.
- VBS is one of the things that our church does VERY well. This year was no different. I’m so proud of our team of volunteers.
- It’s always a great blessing to have our kids lead us in worship. They bring an unusual energy to our worship service. It gets the people goin!!!
- The worship songs that come with the VBS curriculum are always great. One of them created a perfect segué into my message.
- Today was part 4 of our “Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself” series. God used today’s message to reintroduce Himself to us as the God who loves unconditionally. This message was so encouraging for me to prepare… I’m glad it was also encouraging for our church as well.
- Audio from today’s message is online now! Check it out by clicking here.
- Today I tried out a new style of delivery that I picked up from Andy Stanley’s book “Communicating for a Change.” My big brother Pastor Keith Battle raves about this “one-point message” style. Today was the 2nd time I’ve tried it (both in this current series), and I must admit that I really like it.
- Someone pulled me aside after service and said, “If anyone didn’t understand that message, they won’t understand anything!” Good indicator that this method is working.
- Next Sunday we’ll conclude this series with a message that will hit home for many people. Bring a friend with you!
- I love looking up and seeing the ushers searching for places to seat people. Especially during summer time.
- If you’re a member or regular attender, I really need your help. Would you please commit to sitting in the first 6 rows of the sanctuary during worship? This will leave more room for guests and newcomers to sit in the back if that’s where they’re more comfortable.
- I can’t wait to see how this summer momentum will carry us into the fall. Especially with the outreaches that we’re planning to close out the summer!
- We’re in the middle of a School Supply drive where I’m challenging our church to give $2,000 so that we can purchase school supplies for children in our community. We’re less than half-way to our goal with just 2 weeks to go in the drive!
- God has opened amazing doors for us into the Elementary Schools in our community. This outreach is simply good stewardship of the opportunities that God has given us!
- I have this exciting idea for our next baptism celebration… possibly doing it during a Sunday service in August. If we can pull this off, it will be incredible! Stay tuned.
- I have a lot of work yet to get done on my dissertation and I’m behind schedule. Going to hit it really hard this week. Could really use your prayers!
Have a great week! Love you.
[VIDEO] Bernard Pollard Interview – Christian in the NFL
July 3, 2012 By
Bernard Pollard of the Baltimore Ravens joins The Heights for MANLAW Weekend. Watch as he shares with Pastor Bobby Manning from his experience as a Christian in the NFL, discussing the importance of “lifestyle evangelism.”
Never underestimate the power of your lifestyle!
Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump
July 2, 2012 By
- Another incredible day at The Heights!
- I was pleasantly surprised at our attendance today. Seeing our church continue to grow during the summer months is very exciting!
- Today we handled Part 2 of The Takeover, answering some tough (and unexpected) questions. This by far was the biggest challenge given me by The Takeover yet. I love these types of challenges!
- I did end up answering the question that I told y’all about. I truly think many people had the same question, so I felt obligated to address it. I changed some words in the question to make it more PG13-rated rather than R-rated. Maybe we’ll throw the video up on Facebook later this week.
- If you want to hear the audio, you don’t have to wait. Listen to my responses to questions about the Bible, sex, marriage, in-laws, and more by clicking here.
- I have some decisions to make that may be necessary for our church to go to the next level in ministry… but I have to be careful. One of the hardest things about being a Pastor is the tension between leading the church forward while protecting the hearts of the individual people.
- A terrible storm hit the DMV this weekend that has left several million homes woot power for several days. It doesn’t help that temperatures have hit triple digits this weekend as well. Today we opened our church for a few hours as a cooling station. We had a couple dozen people come hang out, play games and stay cool. I love the opportunity to engage the community and meet needs in fun ways.
- Speaking of which, we’ll have that opportunity again this Wednesday as our whole community will descend upon our church lawn to watch fireworks. We’ll roll out the red carpet for them and have a concert on the lawn with Critical Revelation Band. So excited about this outreach! If you’re in the area, please come hang out with us!
- We’ve been hard at work over the past few weeks working on a new Small Groups system in our church. Yesterday we rolled that system out to our members. I’m so excited about this huge page turn in the life of our church. I believe this will help us to get people plugged in and help them grow in their walk with Jesus.
- I’m also excited about the new groups that we’re beginning next week. We have groups for a wide range of people that meet a wide range of needs. If you’re looking for a great place to connect and grow, click here to take a look at the options for our small groups.
- First Lady LaVera’s dad has been visiting us this weekend. My father in law is one of my favorite people in the world! Having him hang out with us has been so much fun, both for me and the boys! He loves his grandsons so much!
- One of the things that my Father in Law demanded we do this weekend is to go to FBCG and see Pastor Jenkins. He heard Pastor Jenkins preach in Dallas a couple years ago and has been talking about “Running with the Horses” ever since.
- This past Wednesday we had an AWESOME Baptism Celebration for a handful of folks who have made decisions to follow Christ at our church. I was so overwhelmed how each of them expressed that connecting with our church catapulted them into a significant life change in Christ. I was fighting back tears the whole time.
- God kept me up late last night giving me vision for our next message series. Next Sunday I’ll begin a series called, “Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself” about the character of God and how he invades our lives.
- Got a lot of work to handle this week, including plugging away at my dissertation. Hope y’all have a great week!
Love you!
Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump
June 25, 2012 By
- On a high after seeing God’s power so clearly today at The Heights.
- Sometimes as a Pastor it feels like you’re trudging through the summer months of low attendance and hot weather. Today was definitely not one of those days!
- Today Marked the return of “The Takeover.” This was an experiment that I tried earlier this year where I took an entire sermon time to answer questions that are presented to me by our members and attendees. It was such a success earlier this year that I had to do it again.
- You guessed it… It was a great success today also! This clearly scratches an itch that people really have. I’m glad to be able to do this.
- I’m actually surprised at how unconventional this is. It occurs to me that people are hungry to have their questions answered… and the church has often failed to do so.
- We spent so much time answering questions today that our service ran WAY over time. I apologized profusely for running long, but the people kept egging me on! LOL.
- You definitely want to hear the audio of today’s message. Click here right now!
- We had an amazing response to the altar call today. Seeing God’s power at work in people through our church is so exciting and humbling.
- I also feel God saying that we haven’t seen anything yet!
- Today I got one last question given to me for The Takeover. I REALLY have to pray on this one y’all. It’s such a gloves-off, super-real question that I feel like I MUST answer it. It wouldn’t be “The Takeover” if I didn’t. But uhhhh… Yeah. Will definitely get in some trouble if I do. Sheesh.
- I was so blessed to see one of my best childhood buddies in church today with his awesome wife. So proud to see Tony still living his dream!
- Spent this week in Fresno, CA at the Annual ABA Messengers Meeting. Our church is affiliated with the American Baptist Association.
- The ABA is a predominantly Anglo organization. Our affiliation goes back decades and is a long, nuanced story. First Lady LaVera and I being the only young, black couple there (out of a few hundred people) made this week a very interesting experience for many reasons. LOL.
- This week I had the honor of meeting one of the previous pastors of FBCDH, Pastor Randy Cloud. What a humble, yet powerful and revered Man of God! It was truly an honor.
- I also had the privilege of meeting one of the global missionaries that our church supports. Shin Kamoda is a missionary to Japan. He shared with us the wonderful ministry work he is doing there.
- By far, the best part about this week in Cali… we got a great deal on a convertible Mustang for a rental car.
- Baptism celebration this week! Yes!!!
- Next week we have a great opportunity to serve our community as the whole neighborhood will come to our corner to watch fireworks. We’re going to have an outside concert with my boys from CRB. So excited about improving upon this outreach from last year.
- Starting back on P90X this week. Saw some pics of myself on Facebook and not liking how full my face looks. Time to bring it!!!
- Have a GREAT week. Love y’all.
Top 5 AMAZING Things of 2011 [Part 3]
January 19, 2012 By
Over the past several days, we’ve been counting down the Top 5 AMAZING things that happened at The Heights in 2011. Of all the things that God did in the past year, one stands out as the event that embodies the DNA of our church.
1. Easter Egg Hunt + Free Grocery Giveaway
Every year on the Saturday before Easter, our church has done an “Easter Egg Hunt” for the children in the community. In 2011, God opened some amazing connections with us, SHABACH! Ministries and the Capitol Area Food Bank to take our Easter Egg Hunt to the next level! Along with our normal Easter Egg Hunt, God allowed us to give away free groceries to the first 200 families to arrive. Hundreds of neighbors decended upon our church parking lot to find fun for their kids and food for their families! The event was covered by several news outlets, including PG Suite Magazine and the Christian Post.
***VIDEO***
2011 Easter Egg Hunt + Grocery Giveaway
January 18, 2012 By
Prince Georges’ Suite Magazine covers First Baptist Church of District Heights as it seeks to bless the District Heights community at its annual Easter Egg Hunt. While the kids had fun with several springtime games and activities, the church gave away free groceries to the first 200 families to arrive.
Top 5 AMAZING Things of 2011 [Part 1]
January 12, 2012 By
We already know that God has BIG things planned for us in 2012. As we look forward to great miracles in 2012, let’s look back at some of the miracles of 2011. Over the next few days, we’ll countdown the Top 5 AMAZING things from last year at The Heights.
5. Back to School Supply Giveaway
God has given our church several amazing inroads into the community of District Heights, including great relationships with the Elementary Schools. In September 2011, we showed up at District Heights Elementary School with hundreds of bags of school supplies for parents and children as they arrived at Back to School night. We were also able to do something similar at North Forestville Elementary School. This is an unusual opportunity for a church and a school to come together to serve the community and we were blessed to impact hundreds of families!
4. Launch of “Fight Club”
Discipleship is a core value of The Heights and is vital to the health of our church. There must be ways for people to connect and grow in their walk with Jesus. We call this “Cultivating STRONG Christians.” This fall we re-launched our Men’s Ministry with a new gathering on 3rd Saturdays called Fight Club, where men can come together and grow in their walk with the Lord. Dozens of brothers came together for the first Fight Club and walked away empowered to continue growing as godly men. Want to know what happened? Sorry. The first rule of Fight Club…
Pastor Bobby Manning’s Installation Service
January 12, 2012 By
View excerpts from Pastor Bobby Manning’s official Installation Service as Pastor of First Baptist Church of District Heights. The celebration was held on January 22, 2011 at the District Heights Municipal Center. Several Pastors from all over North America joined FBCDH as we celebrated this new chapter in the life of our church. Pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr. of First Baptist Church of Glenarden gives the keynote address.