Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump
February 18, 2013 By
- Today was one of many days where I just love being the Pastor of The Heights!
- I’m so proud of where we are as a church and so excited about where we’re going! We’re on the brink of something huge, and the pieces are falling into place.
- Today my big brother and good friend Pastor Darryl Godlock of Calvert County Baptist Church shared God’s Word with us.
- I don’t just throw that term around. I have a handful of men that I call,”Big Brother.” These men pour into my life and encourage me like crazy. I’m so grateful for them.
- Pastor G’s message was “Giving God Your Best” from Psalm 116. What a timely message after we just finished the “All Aboard” series. The audio is available on our website. Click here to take a listen.
- Having Pastor G step in for me today was an amazing blessing. I needed this week to concentrate on my dissertation work for Regent University. I cleared a major hurdle Saturday by turning in Chapter 3 of my dissertation to my committee chair after a week of hard work.
- Chapter 3 is the longest and most grueling chapter. It took me much longer than I thought to complete it, but I’m so glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
- Our Men’s Praise Team was on fire today! First time I’ve EVER seen the congregation call for an encore! LOL.
- I’m so proud of how our band has come together. I don’t know of any church in the DMV who has a band as talented and committed without breaking the bank to pay for it. All of our musicians play because they love God and they love The Heights… without expecting a check!
- I heard that we had an incredible turnout for our Homeless Feeding Outreach on Saturday. We had several people sign up during the All Aboard series. I’m proud to see that they followed through.
- Have you hit me up with me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? I’d love to connect with you through social media.
- Thanks for your prayers for Levi. He had a successful surgery this past Monday. Hopefully this procedure will help him to walk better. He has a cast on his lower leg that will stay on for 6 weeks, and a brace that goes above his knee that will stay for 2 weeks. Please continue to pray for my big guy.
- I’m excited about next month’s WYCB Praise Breakfast where I will be honored among 20 Impactful Pastors in the DC area. What an amazing honor! I’d love for you to grab a ticket and spend the morning of March 16th hanging out with me!
- Have a great week!
Designed with Duty
February 5, 2013 By
God shaped you uniquely because nobody in the world is like you and nobody can do the things that you do.
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Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump
October 1, 2012 By
- I’m speechless. What a day!
- It was a non-stop, fast paced day… but WOW!
- I had the honor of preaching at my home church, First Baptist Church of Glenarden, this morning at 10am. What a great honor to share God’s Word at the church that shaped me into the Christian I am today.
- Pastor Jenkins asked his three “sons in the ministry,” Pastor Darryl Godlock, Pastor Tyrone Stevenson and myself to preach while he was out of town. This is a HUGE deal for my brothers and I. We were scared to death! LOL.
- When Pastor Jenkins isn’t at FBCG, he brings some of the best preachers in the country. To think that he trusted us with the FBCG pulpit is overwhelming.
- As always, I had a blast preaching! I did a message called “Unleashed,” discussing the importance of overcoming the pain of your past. This message was challenging, convicting, encouraging and fun all at the same time!
- The highlight of the message was an illustration I did with cake ingredients. Trying to explain what happened and how hilarious it was wouldn’t do it justice… you had to be there! LOL.
- Twitter, Instagram and Facebook went crazy after the cake illustration.
- After I got done at FBCG, First Lady LaVera and I hustled over to the Heights just in time for me to walk into the pulpit and continue our “Equipped” series.
- This week we talked about how the gospel is our footgear. The audio of “It’s Gotta Be the Shoes” will be available soon. Stay tuned.
- It’s always fun when our kids lead us in worship. They bring so much energy to the room! I think most of the adults had gotten tired by the 4th song though!
- As our church is growing rapidly, we are beginning to max out space and volunteers in KIDZone. We’re praying for a solution to that, so…
- I’m challenging all of the parents who benefit from KIDZone to give back. If you have kids go to KIDZone, I’m asking that you volunteer one Sunday per month for 3 months. That’s only three times with no obligations after that. Would you take me up on it?
- We had representatives from Regent University at the Heights today. I’m a student at Regent and LOVE IT! Because of our affiliation with Project Bridges, any member of our church can receive a tuition discount at Regent if they attend. If you’re looking to extend your education, I recommend you check it out.
- Our Anniversary Team is working hard to prepare for our Anniversary Celebration in a couple weeks. Although I’m not big on church anniversaries and such, I must admit that I’m very excited about this celebration.
- I’m so excited to have started Bible Study back! Last Wednesday, we had an awesome worship experience led by Enduring Praise and began a series that will equip us with Biblical truth leading up to this years election. Join us Wednesday as we continue our “Your Bible and Your Ballot” discussion.
- We celebrated Levi’s 4th Birthday this past week. He had a blast and you could tell he felt special. That is the BEST feeling as a dad to see your son enjoying his birthday.
- Busy week ahead. Must catch up on work for school and church, but I’m most excited about officiating the wedding of two friends.
- Have a great week! Love you.
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!
[VIDEO] Man Law – Reflect Well
June 25, 2012 By
Pastor Bobby Manning explains “Man Laws” from God’s perspective in Genesis 1 by discussing what it means that men are made in God’s image. Are you an accurate reflection of God?
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.
Unleashed
April 8, 2012 By
On this Easter Sunday, Pastor Bobby begins a new message series titled UNLEASHED. Today he urged us to unleash ourselves so we can get to where God wants us to go.
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