Please pray for us this coming Monday through Wednesday as we attend Sovereign Grace Ministries’ Pastors Conference. Each of KingsWay’s pastors will be traveling with our spouse to Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD where the three day conference will be held.
The theme of the conference is “The Pastor’s Priorities”. We will be ministered to during main sessions and seminars, as well as fellowship and reunions with friends and fellow pastors. If you want to learn more about the conference you can visit Sovereign Grace’s site. Pray that God would help each of us to receive exactly what God desires to speak to us for both our personal growth and edification, as well as for the building and strengthening of KingsWay.
In addition to the regular conference schedule Gene and Liz will be traveling up a day early to meet with the Sovereign Grace leadership team and staying a day later to have some extended time with the other senior pastors in our region. Please pray that these meeting would be fruitful and encouraging to each pastor and wife in attendance as well.
Our prayer for this time is that we will come home better equipped to serve the church that we love!
As we prepare for tomorrow evening’s 20th Anniversary celebration, here are a couple of quick reminders -
everything starts at 5:30
please bring a side dish and dessert to share
if you haven’t brought your picture for the timeline, please bring one with you!
Finally, to whet your appetite for our time together here is the video of Gene’s hair through the ages that we saw Sunday morning…
In this series of posts we interviewed members of KingsWay that have been attending since the church was planted in 1989.
Daniel and Heather Robertson both grew up in KingsWay. Their families were a part of the original church plant. This is how Daniel 
describes one of their early interactions: “In 1989, at age 7, with the smell of heavily buttered popcorn wafting through the dimly lit, sticky floored movie theater, our fathers tuned their guitars, and discussed song transitions for that morning’s worship service. I sat in a squeaky, poorly padded movie theater seat next to a young girl who shared her pop-tart with me, well the pop-tart crust, that is. That young girl, Heather Whitman, whom I married on October 14, 2006 in the KingsWay auditorium, is now not only my wonderful wife, but the mother to our beautiful son.”
There have been so many changes in KingsWay over the past 20 years; this was Daniel’s view on what the 
biggest change in KingsWay has been over these 20 years. “A. well.. there were home 
groups, then cell groups, then small groups, then care groups, then community groups… Considering we started meeting in our living rooms and then a movie theater, then a school, then another school, I would have to say that our largest change has been the building.” Daniel said that the biggest change in his family was the fact that he now has over 500 brothers and sister!
As you are aware by now we are celebrating 20 years of God’s faithfulness towards us as a church next weekend, March 21 and 22. Here are a few details to aid in your preparations for the weekend:
1. Pictures - please bring a picture of your family (recent, or for the brave, what you looked like the year you first came to KingsWay) to put up on our timeline. The timeline will be in the foyer this Sunday, but you can also still add a picture as late as next Saturday evening.
2. We’ll begin at 5:30 on Saturday the 21st in the auditorium with a church-wide dinner. Please bring a side dish and dessert to share. Following our meal together we’ll enjoy a video journey that will take us from KingsWay’s earliest days up until the present. We’ll be reminded of God’s kindness and faithfulness, and if the pictures circulating on facebook are any indication, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to laugh at ourselves along the way!
3. Sunday morning, the 22nd, we continue our celebration during the morning meeting capped off with a message by CJ Mahaney. It’s a time you won’t want to miss and also a wonderful opportunity to invite friends.
See you there!
NEXT is a conference this May 23-26 in Baltimore with a passion for transferring the gospel to the next generation. Like New Attitude before it, NEXT’s primary goal is to connect attendees with Jesus Christ Himself, as well as His work on their behalf.
Where NEXT diverges a bit from New Attitude’s game plan is in who is being encouraged to attend. NEXT is not limited to a particular age group or marital status but open to all who desire to know Jesus better and share Him with others, whether you are 18, 35, or 60.
Get lots more info about NEXT, including conference rates and registration, at thisisnext.org.
KingsWay has a limited block of rooms near the convention center that will be available only till the end of this month. The cost is $440 per room for the 3 nights of the conference (for up to 4 people depending on the room chosen). The Baltimore Marriott also has a $24/day parking fee that the NEXT staff is trying to get waived/reduced but no guarantees on that! If you are interested in purchasing a room (by yourself or with a couple friends), contact Riette at the church office before March 29th for more information.
Daylight savings is tonight.
Don’t forget to turn your clocks 1 hour ahead.
In this series of posts we interviewed members of KingsWay that have been attending since the church was planted in 1989.
Kathryn Dixon is one of the youngest “original members” of KingsWay. She was attending KingsWay with her parents as an infant. “When I was 16 years old, God began to show me how blessed I had been to have had the privilege of being a part of KingsWay for so long. I realized that one of the main reasons why my faith was strong was because of the godly teaching I had for so many years… Kingsway made every effort to make sure my heart was always being spiritually nourished with scripture and biblical teaching.”
When Kathryn was 17 she officially became a member of KingsWay. According to Kathryn this was one of the most exciting days of her life. She was no longer committed because her parents were; she knew that God had called her to become a member as she continued to use her gifts to serve at KingsWay. “God has used KingsWay to affect my life and shape my values in so many ways.”
A fun memory Kathryn shared was from her teen years at KingsWay. “I always enjoyed going to frontline. When I first started attending frontline, we met at Walkins Elementary School… Frontline started at 7PM, but everyone who was serving had to get there around 4:30 PM. I can remember everyone helping unload all the sound and music equipment from the “big yellow truck” (usually Adam Hiler would drive it). Then we would set everything up, do sound check, practice our worship songs, and then eat pizza before frontline began. Afterward, we would have to clean up everything and load the “big yellow truck” back up again. Essentially, during those years, frontline nights for me lasted from about 4:30 to 11:00 PM. at night! I can remember finding it kind of strange once the new building opened not having to set up anything before frontline or take down any music stuff afterward. However, I think everyone quickly warmed up to this new concept!”
As we go through our current “Adopted!” message series, some could be tempted to think that they can’t experience a right relationship
with their heavenly Father because they didn’t have a good relationship with their earthly father. But our earthly relationships never need define our heavenly ones. Check out this excellent counsel from David Powlison on the subject, “What if my father didn’t love me?”
A fuller treatment of the subject (as well as many other helpful topics) can be found in his wonderful book Seeing With New Eyes, and is worth your read as well…
I was copied on this note to Gene and thought he might not be the only one encouraged by how God is helping us apply the teaching from the “Adopted!” message series.
“Hi Gene,
I thought you might be encouraged about how God allowed me to apply your message so quickly this week.
Each time I have gone for back injections it has taken the nurses multiple times to get the IV needles to go in correctly so that I can receive the medication during the procedure. This time was no different.
I caught myself on their second try praying, “Dear Lord, have mercy on me a sinner” but then because of yesterday’s message I quickly added “Oh, Lord, and I am your child, please show me your kindness as a Father”.
I was so thankful for that change in perspective - and that the nurse was able to get it on the second try and didn’t need to have the doctor come and get it - which happened last time!
Thanks so much for faithfully preparing and hearing God’s heart for His Church!”
Do you have an encouraging report to pass along? We’d love to hear more about what God is doing!
Check out this video by John Piper, where he addresses the believer’s response to the current economic downturn. It has a very similar feel to our current “Adopted!” message series, and I trust will be an encouragement to your soul!
