Covenant Life Church

September 1 2010 at 5:51 pm

A Story of Living Hope: Matt Lowe

The Lowe Family

Matt Lowe shared with the church family this past Sunday about his struggle with a recurrent brain tumor that has required multiple surgeries and presented serious challenges for his family. Although this trial is ongoing, the Lowes continue to be an example of faith and joy in suffering.

Matt’s wife Helen accompanied him on stage, and after his testimony, Joshua and others from the pastoral team prayed for the family. Matt and Helen have six children, ranging in age from 1 to 13.

September 1 2010 at 1:45 pm

‘A Front Row Seat’ at Introducing God

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Small group discussion at Introducing God

In the fall of 2009, I found myself fresh out of college with loads of unscheduled time. God had been working in my heart in the area of evangelism, largely due to the influence of Jon Smith, who is now leading the OneU campus ministry at University of Maryland, College Park. I’d really been struck by Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28 to “make disciples of all nations.” As I prayed about ways to evangelize, I recalled the amazing opportunity we have at Covenant Life Church through the Introducing God course.

There were many things that struck me as I led a discussion group. I was reminded that our guests are not projects that we target with the gospel, but real people I could begin loving, listening to, and sharing the love of Christ with. And yes, they do need the saving message of the gospel, since those who haven’t trusted in Christ for salvation are under God’s wrath. I was amazed as I watched God work in hearts, and humbled as I saw that it often had to do with God’s timing and not my “eloquent speech.” This drove me to pray more often and with more fervency. It’s funny how much more real and “alive” prayers can become when you’re thrown into a situation that you can’t control. God is the one who saves, and the only one who can change hearts. This truth resulted in much joy and confidence as I lead the group. I found myself praying even during the group times.

Not only was I humbled, but I learned how to listen better, love better, and pray more. And as I saw God work in the group, my faith grew. One girl in my group got saved in the first couple of weeks. He gave her a hunger for his Word, and she came to the point where she believed. Another guy in the group was quieter, but at the overnight (a weekend mini-retreat that’s part of Introducing God), he professed faith in Christ as well. Another is now a friend, is seeking to understand the gospel, and has come to Covenant Life many times since. I’m praying God will open his eyes. I’ve also heard countless testimonies from those whom God saved at the overnight; it was a sweet time of seeing the Spirit at work.

Finally, I was amazed at how God worked in me. I don’t normally expect to be the beneficiary when I go somewhere to “serve,” but I learned so much from the guests, from the teachings by Mark and Robin, and from working with my group.

If you have a hunger for evangelism and are trying to find a way to get a kick-start, try serving in IG. If you don’t have a desire to evangelize, come serve in IG and watch God grow you in this area. If you don’t have the time to commit to serving in IG, please pray for our volunteers and guests.

In John 3 God tells Nicodemus that he must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Only God can bring the new birth, so let’s pray that he will do this in the lives of many who enter the doors of Covenant Life Church! God calls us all to evangelism, and IG is one way you can evangelize alongside other Christians, learn from them, and get a front row seat to how God is using this church to powerfully spread his gospel!

—Andrew “Ace” Leyva

August 10 2010 at 1:19 pm

A Story of Living Hope: John Spiro

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The video above is a testimony by John Spiro, given at Covenant Life Church on Sunday, August 8. John is a longtime member of Covenant Life who is suffering with ALS (often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”). Following John’s testimony, Joshua Harris and other members of the pastoral team gathered around to pray for John, his wife Kathy (who accompanies John in the video), and their family.

For more on the theme of suffering and the call for all Christians to persevere and rejoice in the midst of difficulty, see Joshua Harris’ message, “Fiery Trials.”

July 20 2010 at 3:20 pm

A Story of Living Hope

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In keeping with our “Living Hope” teaching series from the book of 1 Peter, Erin Leach, 19, shares her story of finding grace and strength from God in the midst of suffering. Erin has struggled with juvenile epilepsy over the past seven years. Alongside Erin in the video are her parents, Jamie and Cindy. Jamie is the Principal of Covenant Life School.

July 13 2010 at 5:08 pm

Encouraging Report from the Prison Ministry

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Dave Hartman sent in this encouraging news about the work of Covenant Life’s Prison Ministry. Dave leads the Prison Ministry each Wednesday evening at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Clarksburg.

I am writing a quick note to share with you some evidences of grace occurring in the Prison Ministry.

During worship, between songs, we encourage the men to read Scripture. On a recent Wednesday, after three songs, one inmate spoke up. He had tears running down his cheek, and he said he felt something in the room that he had never experienced before. He said he wanted to convert from Islam to Christianity and needed help and our prayers.

David Huff suggested that we pray right away, so I told the men we were going to pray for this fellow. Without any instruction, several men, about six or so, surrounded him and laid hands on him. I prayed and asked God to save him. After we concluded, the men recited Scriptures centered on salvation, one after another. It was so sweet.

The Spirit of God was very noticeable, and I felt like we were in a birthing center!

After the message, instead of a small group setting, I took him aside for private counseling. It turns out his father is a minister, and his mom is a Christian as well ... I preached the gospel one more time and instructed him to read the book of John over the next week and look for Christ.

The next Wednesday I pulled this new brother aside again for another private session and found out he had read the entire book of John and was very encouraged. Amazing what happens when you point a man to God’s word!

There’s also another brother who has been growing in his faith. He has been leading Bible studies and prayer meetings almost every day within the pod [section of the facility]. He recently added a Spanish-speaking prayer meeting as well. He asked last week for the Covenant Life Team to fill out prayer cards so that the prayer group could pray for us. This brother has gone from two or three in attendance at his prayer meeting to eight! He said he has become the “go to” guy for prayer. Even though he is getting 15 years for his crimes, he has much faith and joy in God’s plan for his life.

June 29 2010 at 6:11 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.

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