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Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump

July 2, 2012 By
1024-18
  • 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!

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Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump

June 25, 2012 By
kamoda
  • 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.

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Pastor Bobby’s Sunday Brain Dump

February 27, 2012 By
reubenlaptop
  • Another awesome day at The Heights
  • Preaching every Sunday is what I love to do. It feels awkward when I’m not preaching… But it takes so much out of me that it’s good to have a break every now and again.
  • As great as it was to have a day off, it was even greater to have my big brother Pastor Keith Battle from Zion Church to preach God’s Word for us today.
  • WOW!!! What an awesome message that God gave us through Pastor Battle today. He preached “God’s Gym” from James 1:2-3. He said that “Trials may not be good to us, but they are good for us.”
  • This was an on time Word for me and our family after a pretty tough week. It was a great reminder that our trials produce perseverance… Which produces maturity. God always has a purpose in our pain.
  • Please continue to pray for Levi and his health issues… and pray for us as these issues continue to produce maturity in us.
  • You can listen to the audio from this message on our website here.
  • I’m so excited about next weekend! It is surely going to be a ridiculous weekend in the life of our church. We’re calling it “The Takeover!” I truly believe that this could be one of the most impactful weekends in the life of our church.
  • On Saturday, we’ll have one of the coolest outreaches we’ve ever done. We’re going down the street to one of the largest apartment communities in District Heights to “takeover” their laundry facilities. We’ll pay for laundry loads for whoever shows up.
  • On Sunday, I’m allowing our folks to “takeover” my sermon with whatever questions you might have about God, Christianity, and/or the Bible. I can tell from the questions I’ve recieved so far that this is going to be epic! You don’t want to miss next Sunday!
  • I know I say that every Sunday… but I always mean it!!!
  • If you have a question you want me to add to the list, click here and plug it in.
  • I’m also encouraging our folks to invite your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, etc. to experience our church. I have a $100 Visa Gift Card for whoever successfully invites the most guests next Sunday.
  • You might wonder or even speculate why we’re doing that. I’m going to be answering some very tough questions about God, the gospel, death, homosexuality and other issues that the church has struck out on.  I want people who aren’t regular attenders of church to be exposed to this honest dialogue. It’s not a church-growth gimmick, but a strong evangelism and apologetics push for our church.
  • Received a call last week that has me very excited about a potential blessing for our church that I’ve been praying for over the last couple months. Trying not to get ahead of myself. We’ll see what happens.
  • I had a great time Saturday Morning hanging out with several of our leaders and potential leaders for our quarterly Leadership Huddle. We brainstormed about our mission, vision for this year and began planning for what we believe God will do in our church. I’m so grateful for the folks we have who serve our church so faithfully.
  • This week I’ll be attending an “invitation-only” conference in Dallas, TX hosted by Bishop TD Jakes specifically for young ministry leaders. I attended last year and it was a life changing experience.
  • This is just one of a million reasons that I praise God for being a son of Pastor John K. Jenkins. It opens doors for priceless opportunities like this.
  • I can already hear Pappadeaux calling me. I’m coming Blackened Catfish!!! LOL.
  • Have an awesome week! Love y’all.

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