CBMC

The world of Islam today is in turmoil, the daily news reports much violence, and rage against humanity. What is the Christian response to such atrocity?  The Bible tells us that our battle is not with flesh and blood but with the spirit of Antichrist. The solution for the world of Islam is the gospel of Jesus Christ, therefore we must work diligently to take the gospel truth in love to our Muslim neighbor.

Please come and invite a friend to join us this Tuesday to hear Tony Ghareeb, Founder and Executive Director of Christ for the Crescent World Ministry, describe what God is doing in the Arab and Muslim world and how ordinary Christians can participate locally through friendship evangelism.

• When:  Tuesday, March 17, 6:45-8:00 AM.  Our group time starts at 7:00 AM sharp, but we request that you arrive by 6:45 AM to allow time to get your bagel & coffee and spend some time to catching up with each other.
• Where:  The Community Room at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg MD.

Christ for the Crescent World is a ministry committed to reach the Arab and Muslim world. They work to encourage and equip the saints, churches and ministries to communicate the Gospel effectively to Muslims. They also help educate Christians to understand the Islamic faith from a Biblical point of view and relate the Gospel to Muslims against the background of their own beliefs.

Guest Speaker: Tony Ghareeb is Founder and Executive Director of Christ for the Crescent World Ministry. He spent a good portion of his life in the Middle East and understands the culture and the world of Islam. He conducts seminars to raise the awareness of Islam and the need to reach them with the gospel. He is a church planter and a pastor of an Arabic church. He leads teams to Islamic gathering and festivals, universities campuses, and overseas ministry.

Additional Resource:  For those who want to learn more about the Muslim worldview on Christianity, I recommend reading the new book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, by former devout Muslim Dr. Nabeel Qureshi.  He is now an apologist working for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.  I love the fact that he was reached through friendship with a Christian student in College who took the time to study the bible together with him. The book is currently on sale at Christian Book Distributors for only $5.00.

Qureshi’s love for Islam defined and directed his life until a close college friend defended the Christian message with compelling evidence and disrupted everything he knew about religion, faith and meaning. Shaken by the potential that Christianity might be true, he turned to God for direct guidance and was given a vision and three dreams that led him to Jesus. Qureshi began his study of the gospel in order to challenge it, but he found Christ as a result.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus presents a gripping and deeply personal account of this spiritual trajectory and details the challenges and opportunities Qureshi’s conversion has presented. “I knew that accepting Jesus would be like dying and I would have to give up everything, because for Muslims, following the gospel is more than a call to prayer. It is a call to die,” he explains. “I gave my life to Jesus, and to this day my family is broken by the decision I made. It is excruciating every time I see the cost I had to pay.”

Throughout his story, Qureshi provides a compassionate yet powerful apologetic for Christianity, with an emphasis on building relationships and demonstrating love. His testimony has already had a tremendous impact on those he has encountered, and Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus has garnered several prominent endorsements from influential scholars and authors including Josh McDowell, Fouad Masri, Gary Habermas, and Lee Strobel. “I’m thrilled that readers will now be able to meet Nabeel in the pages of this book as he describes how his sincere desire for truth took him on a circuitous – and even supernatural – quest for answers,” said Strobel, best-selling author of The Case for Christ, who has written the forward for Qureshi’s book. “This is a very personal story of family, friends, and faith, intertwined with insights into Islam that will help you understand the Muslim world in new ways. It’s a saga that needs to be read by all people who value truth and ache to know God personally.”

Additional video background:

• My Journey to Christ – Nabeel Qureshi (RZIM) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjv2t7PC7E
• Nabeel Qureshi: A Short Testimony — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSuGHXUY_0
• Nabeel Qureshi – A Journey From Islam (CBN Interview) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6jboM4-86U

Can God use entrepreneurship and business to lift people out of poverty and addiction? Two successful young film-industry professionals think He can. They started the Neighborhood Film Company, creating a model of family relationships between professionals and apprentices. NFCo pours time and money into the development and support of their employees in the context of real work. Read their story and be inspired.

On January 31, Covenant Life Church will be hosting the Gospel At Work conference, an event designed to help Christians live extraordinary, gospel-centered lives in their workplaces. If you wrestle with questions about your work, or if you want to learn to work with excellence and find the true meaning of success (Col. 3:23-24), then this conference is for you.

Pastor Corby Megorden is one of the prime movers at Covenant Life Church in bringing this conference to the DC area.  Please join us this Tuesday, Dec. 16, to hear Corby give us a preview of the conference and join an interactive discussion of how the gospel gives meaning and purpose to our work and to those around us in our workplaces.

Why have a conference on work?  Here are a couple of reasons:

1. Most people spend at least 80,000 hours of their lives working. Wouldn’t you like to know how to worship God with that time?  The Gospel at Work conference will help you think biblically about your work. Speakers will provide practical wisdom on how to approach the challenges you face in the workplace and offer insight into God’s concern for your work.
2. You’ll also meet godly men and women from a variety of industries for a series of very practical discussions on topics like career planning as Christians, leading in the workplace and business as a mission field.

Please come and be encouraged to strive for excellence in your work! Registration is open.

WHEN:  Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 6:45 – 8:00 AM at Seneca Creek Community Church, 13 Firstfield Road, Ste 100, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Please note that the facility looks like an office building.  See location & directions.  The program will begin at 7:00 AM and end promptly at 8:00 AM.

Corby Megordan is a 1979 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (where he played ice hockey), and earned an M.S. from the University of Maryland in 1992. He served seven years active duty and 15 years in the Naval Reserves, retiring with the rank of captain. While pursuing a successful career in the corporate world, Corby began serving in the biblical counseling ministry at Covenant Life Church as a volunteer. After the pastors asked him to consider pastoral ministry, Corby went through a two-year process of evaluation, prayer, and seeking counsel, entering the Pastors College in 2001 at age 43. Upon graduation in 2002, he joined the pastoral staff as an administrator. Corby says he loves “the opportunity to serve the pastoral team behind the scenes… [and] to release them to exercise their gifts in their ministry areas.”  Corby and Vilma have two daughters and reside in the Gaithersburg area.

Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

How does someone make a positive impact on the economics and spiritual welfare of Haiti?  One entrepreneur at a time!  This Tuesday October 7, Jerome Leonard, Area Director for the Nehemiah Project International Ministries, will provide his viewpoint on the launch of Biblical Entrepreneurship training in Haiti in July earlier this year.  Over a week’s time, Jerome and other Nehemiah Project team members trained 150 entrepreneurs in BE I – Principles of Biblical Entrepreneurship in three cities, making a positive and lasting impact for God’s Kingdom.

Jerome will also provide an overview of the life-impacting content of Principles of Biblical Entrepreneurship (BE I) being offered by Nehemiah Project on October 16 – 17, 2014 at Kaplan University here in Montgomery County. BE I is part of the Biblical Entrepreneurship Certificate Course, a three-part comprehensive business discipleship curriculum for Christian business owners and individuals desiring to start and operate a business based on biblical principles.

Please join the Christian Businessmen’s Connection (CBMC) of Montgomery County on Tuesday, October 7, in the Community Room at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg. Our meeting time starts at 7:00 AM and ends by 8:00 AM sharp, but we request that you arrive by 6:45 AM to get your bagel & coffee and spend time getting to know each other.

About Jerome: 
With over twenty-five years of enterprise architecture, CRM/ERP, and systems development experience, Jerome Leonard has a passion to bring the best practices of multi-national, Fortune 100 companies to small business and currently focuses his attention on working in the local community, specifically with non-profit organizations, investors, entrepreneurs, and public sector leaders.  The dual functions that Jerome eloquently serves in (as Territory Manager for Oracle Corporation and Chief Information Officer for Taylor-Leonard Corporation) allow him to engage with business leaders across diverse industries and sectors.

Jerome actively supports community service projects and maintains professional and/or Board affiliations with numerous organizations; among them, Rockville Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery County Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Nehemiah Project International Ministries [where he serves as a Certified Business Coach and Certified Instructor for coursework in Biblical Entrepreneurship]. Additionally, Jerome and his wife, Kelly, serve as Marriage Mentors at Church of the Redeemer.  The couple reside in Montgomery Village with their two children, Gabriel and Taylor.

Peter Mukudzavhu, President & Founder of Progressive Peppers, will be a guest speaker on Tuesday, July 8, in the Community Room at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg. Our meeting time starts at 7:00 AM sharp, but we request that you arrive by 6:45 AM to get your bagel & coffee and spend time getting to know each other.

Peter Mukudzavhu, is an experienced agronomist with more than 20 years of active service in the Agro Industry. He graduated with an agronomy degree from the University of Zimbabwe in 1987 and worked as an agronomist for ZFC Limited (the biggest fertilizer and chemical company in Zimbabwe). He left Zimbabwe in 2004 to settle in the United States where he worked for John Deere. He left John Deere and started his own business focusing on improving lifestyles of small holder farmers in Africa by growing export crops. The vision of the Progressive Peppers Project is to create new opportunities for rural farmers by introducing new crops and developing export markets for those crops. Their goal is to become, in partnership with small rural farmers in Southern Africa, one of the major exporters of selected top-quality dried chilies to food manufacturers in the United States.

Peter is also the leader of the CBMC team in Hagerstown MD, and will be an exhibitor at the CBMC World Convention in Orlando (Sept. 24-28) to share this vision and new thinking. In an email, Peter explained how he sees this project making disciples through business:

“I truly believe that business can create a unique platform for making disciples. We will create a huge network of farmers, business people, professionals, and government officials in 5 African countries. Corruption is rampant in Africa because business people are participants and enablers. I hope that bringing Christian principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, trust will change people’s minds. We will demonstrate that God will bless businesses that are built on and that follow Christian principles. Africa receives $50 billion a year in aid. It’s sad that there is nothing to show for it. This has to change. There is nothing wrong in making sustainable investments with your Bible strapped to your back. Sooner or later people will notice the Bible. “

I think Peter will inspire you with his vision to develop business “with a Bible strapped to your back”! Please invite others to join us this week!

Tuesday, March 18, 2013, 6:45 – 8:00 AM at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg. We meet in the Community Room in the back.

THIS WEEK – – SPECIAL SESSION (3/18): This Tuesday we will have a special speaker – Robert Brandau, an experienced entrepreneur and founder of Increasing Revenue, Inc. Robert is also the Director of the High Tech Prayer Breakfast and a Co-Founder of the Beltway Job Search Partners. On Tuesday, Robert will provide us with his perspective on Workplace Evangelism. There will be some practical examples and some suggestions for us to talk about. He will refer to the 10 Most Wanted Cards. The importance of prayer cannot be emphasized enough. Robert will share how God is using Beltway Job Search Partners to reach men and women with the gospel. also provide us a vision for the future of this outreach to job seekers in Montgomery County. His hope is that many men will volunteer to give their testimony at a future BJSP seminar.

OUR SPEAKER – Robert Brandau:
Robert Brandau founded Increasing Revenue, Inc. in August 2001. This firm helps organizations find ways to increase their revenue, through sales training, sales person recruiting, marketing assistance and other revenue enhancing methods. Prior to the founding of this firm, he had numerous years as a sales person specializing in start up situations where no client base existed.
In 1912, Robert Brandau’s great grandfather founded Brandau Printing in Nashville, TN. In 1987, Robert became the fourth generation of his family to work at Brandau Printing. Robert’s customers included Toshiba, Saturn, UAW and other firms. The first prospect that he turned into a client was a division of the Ford Motor Company.
In 1992, he moved to Northern Virginia. He has worked in the litigation support industry, printing industry and information technology recruiting industry. He was top sales person in the Mid-Atlantic for his firm while in the information technology recruiting industry. Due to a family tragedy, he took a leave of absence from this firm. When he returned, he had lost his entire client base. Within five months, he was, once again, the top sales person in the Mid-Atlantic.
Most of Robert’s experience is with start-up firms. He has a BA from the University of the South and a MBA from American University.
In 2001, he founded Increasing Revenue, Inc. This firm helps organizations find ways to increase their revenue. The Washington Business Journal (December 5, 2003) did a feature on Increasing Revenue, Inc., which they titled “Other People’s Money.” The Business Journal was looking for a firm that was thinking about franchising. When they found out that Increasing Revenue, Inc. was formed with the idea of becoming a franchise, they thought that it was newsworthy. Robert was also interviewed for US News and World Report’s Annual Career Guide Issue. Robert has spoken at The American University, the CIA and the Herndon Dulles Chamber of Commerce.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013, 6:45 – 8:00 AM at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg. We meet in the Community Room in the back.

We all have a responsibility to share the Gospel with those around us. For most of us, our greatest opportunities present themselves during the workday and in our work environments. Did you know you can share your faith at work without ever opening your mouth? Did you also know that you can do more to turn people off to the Gospel without ever opening your mouth?
Recently, organizational repair expert Malcolm O. Munro conducted a survey asking respondents in the business world to describe what comes to mind when somebody identifies themselves as a “Christian.” What he discovered will both surprise and disappoint you. Fortunately, Malcolm’s survey also reveals a better way to be a credible witness for Jesus Christ in the workplace.

Please join us on Tuesday morning, September 24th and find out how to properly, efficiently, and credibly share your faith at work, through your work!

Malcolm Munro is President of Total Career Mastery, LLC (totalcareermastery.com) and is an experienced speaker, consultant, and coach who has worked with executive and management teams in companies of all types, sizes, and industries. He is the author of several books including The New Rules of Engagement: How to Keep Your Superstars Loyal to You. He also does significant work for transitioning personnel in the United States Armed Forces at both the executive and junior levels.

Malcolm is also an adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Strayer University in Newington, VA and has held similar positions at Vincennes University in Bremerton, WA and Crichton College in Memphis, TN. He is a United States Navy veteran who served 15 years on active duty before retiring in 1999 as part of the Temporary Early Retirement Authority.

Malcolm’s clients include Pratt & Whitney, Pitney Bowes, Florida Power & Light, Cubic Applications, Inc. Assurant Technologies, Inc., Ki Professional Services Group LLC, Medicis, eCardio Diagnostics, The Smithsonian Institution, and all 4 branches of the United States Military.

Here is a recent post by Lee Truax, President of the Christian Business Men’s Connection (CBMC). Lee talks about the dangers of isolation in a frank and real way. If you are interested in connecting to men who are pursuing authentic relationships in Montgomery County, please email me at (paul at mccmm.org) or look online at http://connectme.cbmc.com/ for a connection group near your home or workplace.

From: Lee Truax

Subject: Isolation and it’s cruel deception

It’s strange how we think in the midst of isolation.  Our tendency is to think that we are all alone and able to make decisions that somehow only impact and affect ourselves.

The reality is that in every aspect of our lives we operate in relationships…  we are all connected to sphere’s of influence whether we acknowledge it or not.  Every decision impacts our family, friends, neighbors and people we work with.  Of course the deception that flourishes and grows during times of isolation is that our decisions are also isolated and separated from everyone else.  However, that is a blatant lie.

Isolation is the environment that allows the maximum impact for the enemy of our soul and his minions to whisper into our ears that we don’t matter and our decisions are completely about us.

That’s part of the reason isolation is just so dangerous.  We tend to make decisions that have a tremendous ripple effect in our relationships without even a thought to what the impact might be.

In isolation our focus is completely on our selfish wants and desires (Proverbs 18:1).  In isolation we are most likely to slip into self pity.  In isolation we are prone to listen to the loud voices of our lust (I John 2:16) and the world.  In isolation we are least likely to consider the needs of those that we are in relationship with.

This dangerous place and the consequences of the poor decisions made in it are the reason we challenge men to Get Connected!

CBMC provides the accountability and the regular encouragement to men involved in our teams to get (and stay) connected to our Heavenly Father through an intimate relationship with His Son and the Holy Spirit as well as other men of integrity who are trusting God to keep what they’ve committed to Him as well.

The great news is that our Father desires to do just that!  Be in and stay in relationship with us.  He expressed this desire so clearly in sending His Son into His creation to demonstrate His great love for us (Romans 5:8).

Avoiding times of isolation takes a posture of surrender on our part.  Rather than seeking out our own desires, Jesus told us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).  Our initiative to follow Him and to engage in the community that He has placed us in becomes our first step to avoiding the trap of separating ourselves and camping in isolation.

Today – acknowledge your selfish tendency to isolate from others and rage against sound wisdom seeking your own desires.  Repent — denying your selfish focus and take up your cross to follow Him.

Christian Business Men’s Connection of Montgomery County

Tuesday, June 4, 2013, 6:45 – 8:00 AM at the Einstein Bagel on Firstfield Road & Quince Orchard Blvd in Gaithersburg. We meet in the Community Room in the back.

Guest Speaker: Andy Kristian Agaba, Founder & President of Hiinga. Andy is a native of Uganda, East Africa. He was raised by a single mother after the murder of his father in cold-blood by gunmen. His mother valued education and hard work. Through operating a small tea cafe in a local town whose combined total assets were approximately $35 in the mid 1990s, they saved every penny so Andy and his siblings could get a good education. These funds were complimented by revenue from a half acre farm in which they raised a few pigs and grew produce for food and for sale.

Hiinga is an African founded Christian micro-finance social enterprise, based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, whose mission is to alleviate poverty, by creating opportunities and equipping farmers and villages with tools and skills for sustainable living.As an organization, Hiinga is actively pursuing to partner more with the church and its constituents, small businesses, the farming and Amish community and individuals who have a passion to support this kind of grassroots poverty eradication movement. Today, they are working initially with farmers in Central Uganda, with the plan of launching in other districts and other regions of East Africa within the next few months.

Andy has two graduate degrees; in Psychology and in Social sciences. He is an award winning photographer and a communications specialist who has consulted for international development agencies including USAID, DANIDA, UNDP, International Alert, etc. He lives in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his wife Sonya and their son CJ.

Please plan to join us to hear Andy’s story and be inspired to follow his example of service to the poor through business.

The Gospel Coalition has an excellent article by Tim  Keller about the difference between individual church growth and a gospel movement. The article notes that “When churches grow, they typically do so by drawing believers out of less vital churches.” What is really going on is “Christian reconfiguration.” A gospel movement is “an ecosystem that is empowered and blessed by God’s Spirit” consisting of:

1. A way of communicating and embodying the gospel that is contextualized to the city’s culture and is fruitful in converting and discipling its people, a shared commitment to communicating the gospel to a particular place in a particular time.
2. The second layer is a number of church multiplication movements producing a set of new and growing churches, each using the effective means of ministry within their different denominations and traditions.
3. A third ring consisting of a complex of specialty ministries, institutions, networks, and relationships. This includes prayer, evangelism, justice & mercy ministries, faith and work initiatives and fellowships, training and finally, unusual unity of Christian city leaders.

The subtext of CBMC, is that we strive to be a “Movement of Men” bringing the gospel to business and professional men, and providing training to enable them to carry out the Great Commission. We are part of the “third ring” of ministries that aims to support regional gospel movements. The article concludes: “When all of these ecosystems elements are strong and in place, they stimulate and increase one another and the movement becomes self-sustaining.”

This article is an excerpt from Tim Keller’s new book, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, released by Zondervan.