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Deadline To Apply for Uganda Missions Trip
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Drew Garfield, Community Outreach and Missions coordinator at Covenant Life, reports that the deadline to apply for the Uganda Missions trip scheduled for January 2011 is fast approaching. To apply, please download the forms below and hand them in at the church office by Monday, July 5.
Application
Medical Release Form
Care Group Leader Recommendation Form
Find more blog posts about the 2010 Uganda trip here, here and here.
June 29 2010 at 8:01 pm
Service Opportunity at Shady Grove Pregnancy Center
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Summer counseling training at the Shady Grove Pregnancy Center starts July 12. If you have a heart for women and are a good listener, consider becoming a volunteer counselor. Training consists of eight classes to be held Mondays and Thursdays from 7 to 10 p.m. Dates are July 12, 15, 19, 22, 26 and August 2, 5, and 9. For details, call Jackie Stippich at 301-963-6223, or visit the Pregnancy Center’s volunteer page on the Web.
June 29 2010 at 7:11 pm
Get To Know Kevin and Jami Rogers
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This past Sunday, new Singles pastor, Kevin Rogers, and his wife, Jami, told how they came to Christ and to Covenant Life Church:
Kevin: I grew up in Upper Marlboro, Md., in a Christian home where I heard the gospel and attended church regularly. Like many kids who grow up in church, I prayed the sinner’s prayer several times. Looking back, I see evidence of God’s hand in my life in those early years, but in high school, my faith was tested and I began to look more and more like the world.
My parents then made the decision for our family to join a church closer to our home where they hoped my brother and I might get more involved. God used that decision and that local church as a significant means of grace in my life. The people there loved me and reached out to me. As I heard the gospel and saw it lived out in the lives of the people in that church, God did a transforming work in my life. The summer after my freshman year was a distinct turning point. I began that summer eager to live for myself, craving love and respect from the world, but over the next three months, I was confronted by the gospel in a number of contexts. God drew me to himself, and I came back to school in the fall distinctly different—eager to turn from the sin that had characterized my life, pursue holiness, and share the gospel with those around me. By God’s grace, I witnessed a number of friends at my public high school come to Christ and grow in their faith through the next three years.
Jami: I grew up actively involved in the church with my family near Greensboro, N.C. I recall responding to the gospel as a child and remained engaged in the church, but I had no true concept of the grace of God and lived under a persistent weight of guilt. I viewed God as distant and angry, which hindered me from turning to him in repentance when I sinned. Eventually, after some spiritual experience, I would come crawling back to God in shame and seek to work my way back into his good favor. This legalistic cycle led to constant ups and downs in my high school years and periods of wordliness and sin. I devoted myself to success academically, athletically and relationally, but God providentially brought someone into my life to draw me to himself. My cheerleading coach was a devoted believer, and she reached out to me. Eventually, she confronted me about the path of sin I was pursuing and urged me to turn to Christ. By God’s grace, I did and sought to live my life for his glory. My senior year was distinctly different and I continued to grow in love for God, his Word and his people.
Kevin and I met the next year at Liberty University. Kevin co-led a student discipleship ministry and led their worship team. We first met when I auditioned to sing on the team. Kevin likes to say that during my audition, he asked me how many kids I wanted to have, but it’s not true. Two years later, we ended up serving on the same worship team, which gave us a lot of time to build a great friendship, and our respect for each other only grew. We were married just after college in August 2003.
Kevin: For the first few months of marriage, we lived near campus and worked there, but I had long carried a desire to participate somehow in whatever God was doing in the D.C. area. A friend of mine was a member of Covenant Life, so on a trip to the area for a wedding, we decided to visit. That visit changed our lives. C.J. preached that morning from James 4 on conflicts and cravings, which had an immediate impact on our young marriage. We had the experience that morning many of you have had. We stood as first-time guests, and before we even sat down, Larry Earles greeted us. After the service, we went to the guest reception and spent 30 minutes talking with Sam and Priscilla Ellis. We met teens who were engaging and mature. A man saw us looking like newcomers in the bookstore and took the initiative to greet us and point us to good books. A few days later, we got a follow-up phone call from Patrick Ryan on the guest follow-up team to see if there was any way he could serve us. The kindness of the people, the richness of the teaching and the spiritual maturity of the members we met blew us away. In May 2004, we moved here and Covenant Life became our church family.
We threw ourselves into church life, led newly married care groups, and started a family. We have three kids. Chloe is four, Jacob is two, and Owen is six months. In May 2007, I had the privilege of joining the church staff as the ministry teams director, working with Mark Mitchell in Outreach, before attending the Pastors College this year. We walked through the doors of this building six years ago knowing no one, and since then, you have become our family. We have lived life together with so many of you, experiencing Christ through you in joys and trials, growth and struggles … together. We love you, Covenant Life Church, and we are astonished and sobered by the privilege to serve you.
June 27 2010 at 8:59 pm
Jeff Purswell: Strength for the Weary
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Jeff Purswell taught us today from Isaiah 40:27-31. Jeff has served as the Dean of the Pastors College of Sovereign Grace Ministries since 1998. He is also part of the teaching team here at Covenant Life and provides theological support to other pastors on staff.
Here are options for reviewing and applying the message:
• Listen online or download an MP3.
• Download the summary outline (in PDF format).
• Use the questions below for further reflection and application to your life:
1. Think of a time in your life when God led you into a season of waiting. As you recount it (or maybe it’s current), describe why was/is waiting so difficult? In what ways were you tempted to think accusing thoughts similar to those uttered in v. 27?
2. How does Isaiah address the despondent heart of the weary by painting a picture of the majestic God? What attributes in v. 28 show God as majestic? How should the contrasts between v. 28 and 30 shape our view of ourselves as well as the way we relate to God in the midst of trials?
3. What things are you currently waiting or hoping for? How does waiting reveal what or who we are trusting in?
4. Jeff said, “Waiting is not God’s way to deprive us, it’s His way to change us.” As you re-read v. 31, describe what weary people receive as they wait on God. In light of this, how can you wait with hope in the midst of your trial?
June 23 2010 at 4:06 pm
Conference With Paul Tripp Coming September 10 and 11
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“Lost in the Middle” is a two-day conference with pastor and author Paul Tripp, coming to Covenant Life Church September 10 and 11. Paul’s teaching will be based on material from his book by the same name
The Lost in the Middle conference is open to everyone. Online registration is free, but required.
Over the past year the pastors of Covenant Life have developed a growing burden to encourage individuals who are spiritually “lost.” All too often, they counsel men and women in their thirties and older whose identity in Christ has been forgotten or replaced, whose dreams have been disappointed or shattered, whose regrets weigh heavily on their souls, whose earthly treasures (such as health) are declining, or whose faith is weak because of suffering and trial. The pastors’ prayer is that Paul Tripp’s winsome and penetrating way of sharing and applying the gospel and the truths of God’s Word will encourage and strengthen believers, rekindling their hope, faith and spiritual vitality. Their prayer is also that the conference will impart fresh desire and vision for every Christian to run and finish the race well. It will be exciting to see how God uses the conference to build the church and his Kingdom!
Paul Tripp is President of Paul Tripp Ministries, a non-profit organization whose mission statement is “Connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.” Since 2007, he has also been a Teaching Pastor on Sunday evenings at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and leader of the church’s Ministry to Center City. Paul also serves as Professor of Pastoral Life and Care at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Tx. As an author, Paul has written eleven books on Christian living that are read and distributed internationally. He is married to Luella, and they have four grown children.
June 22 2010 at 7:12 pm
Report from Latest Mexico Missions Trip
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A total of 17 members from Covenant Life recently participated in a week-long trip to Guadalupe, Mexico, to serve at the Rancho 3M orphanage led by Dean Adamek. The purpose of this trip was to continue construction work on a baby home that our church has generously funded. The hope is to have the baby home completed by the fall of 2011 so that it will be able to receive and care for abandoned babies in the region.
This was an outstanding group of servants who worked several days in 100+ degree heat. We framed out all of the interior walls, ran all of the electrical wiring, installed the soffit under the porch which encircles the building, painted the entire exterior, and stained the deck.
While we were there, Dean and Carlos Contreras (the senior pastor from our sister church in Juárez) hosted a gathering of leaders from numerous churches to give them vision for sending teams to serve at the ranch. Due to the violence in that region, most churches have understandably decided to hold on sending teams. Our group along with one other team from Charlotte were the only two teams coming this summer. Normally the summer is packed with teams.
Dean mentioned how significant it was to have these leaders see our team there serving and felt it was an encouragement for many of them to begin sending teams again. Lord willing, we would like to send two teams back this coming fall, probably sometime in October. We will keep you posted about plans.
God was so kind in keeping the team safe from any violence related to the drug cartels. However, a couple members of our team sustained injuries. Dave Mayo, while seeking to steady a large piece of machinery that was falling over, broke his ankle and hurt his back; he is in quite a bit of pain still. And Van Van Orsdel needed a number of stitches after hitting his head on the corner of a low-hanging soffit. Please pray that these men would quickly heal.
Lastly, please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters at the orphanage, that God would continue to protect them and that the gospel work would prosper.
With gratefulness,