When: Sunday, March 6 – 10:00 AM Service
Where: Derwood Bible Church, 16011 Chieftain Ave, Derwood, MD 20855


CBMC National Spokesman Mark Whitacre will be speaking at Derwood Bible Church on Sunday March 6, for their main service beginning at 10am.  I would encourage you to bring your family and/or friends to hear his inspiring story of how God used a faithful man to change his life.

Mark Whitacre is an Ivy League Ph.D. and is the highest-ranked executive of a Fortune 500 company to ever become a whistleblower in US history. But much more importantly, a businessman (Ian Howes) from CBMC reached out to Mark almost 2 decades ago in 1997 during a very dark period in Mark’s life, when Mark was about to enter federal prison as part of the historic ADM case. Ian discipled Mark through Operation Timothy (OT), and planted a seed in Mark’s heart that changed Mark’s life forever. A story of hope, redemption, and 2nd chances. Mark is Marketplace Ambassador for CBMC and feels strongly that there is nothing more important than being a witness for Jesus, and the need to build spiritual reproducers as Jesus has commanded of all of us. Please see a video that highlights Mark’s story below.

Mark will share his story of God’s grace and challenge hearers to follow God calls us to be Marketplace Ambassadors for Christ.  Being a disciple of Christ means believing and acting on what the Bible says about God, work, and life, and then sharing that truth with others in a life-on-life relationship. Jesus calls all Christians to do this in Matthew 28:18-20.  At CBMC we strive to encourage individuals to get connected with Christ, to stay connected with other men in order to help them grow in their faith, and connect to the cause of the gospel. Being strong in faith empowers men to share with others the good news of Jesus Christ in the marketplace and to live godly lives. By fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives, men become a light to those around them by operating at a higher level of moral character and integrity and thus change the world around them.

No man can do all of this alone, so join the men of Derwood and CBMC to make a difference to the men in your sphere of influence.  CBMC developed Operation Timothy, a unique program of Bible study designed primarily for one-on-one discipleship, in 1970. Since then It has become a vital tool for helping men along the path to spiritual maturity and equipping them to share their faith and to disciple others. In 2015, CBMC launched the Marketplace Ambassador Advancement System designed to equip and empower men to become effective ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace (a.k.a. Marketplace Ambassadors).  This free online resource was developed because technology is changing the way men work and learn and today’s expectation is that relevant content will be delivered digitally on all platforms.

Please come to a CBMC reception with Mark Whitacre after the service at Derwood Bible Church.  The reception will be held in the sanctuary room in the old church building.

“A Story of Redemption” Mark Whitacre, the rest of the story

“A Story of Redemption” Mark Whitacre, the rest of the story from CBMC on Vimeo.

Your church is only as good as it’s disciples. If that is true, then what is the most effective method for discipleship in the world right now and what can we learn from it? Jon Tyson explains in this short video.

Disciple-making is not just a curriculum or program that teaches information, but it is receiving intimate counsel from someone who is mature in Christ. Making requires “life on life” relationships that help provide support, encouragement and accountability. Churches that thrive in making disciples have a culture that encourages individual members to be involved in life on life relationships.

The Christian Business Men’s Connection (www.cbmc.com) has tools and training to help with this. For an overview, see CBMC’s “Marketplace Ambassador Initiative” at: http://marketplaceambassador.com/ This initiative focuses on encouraging men to commit to becoming disciple-makers in their workplace or sphere of influence.

CBMC’s Operation Timothy provides a framework for life-on-life discipleship. Operation Timothy and is based on the Apostle Paul’s relationship with Timothy (1 & 2 Timothy). It’s highly relational and involves tremendous personal growth for you (Timothy) and your instructor (Paul). Recently, CBMC has launched an electronic version “eOT” that is available free at advance.CBMC.com along with other tools.

CBMC Maryland will be holding a Marketplace Ambassador launch on Friday October 2 with testimony by Mark Whitacre and a dinner that evening. There is no charge for event, but registration is required.

• Location:  New Antioch Baptist Church of Randallstown, 5609 Old Court Road, Windsor Mill, MD 21244 (map)
• Time:  Reception 6:30 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM.
• Online registration at: https://cbmc.com/event/baltimoremai
• Baltimore Marketplace Ambassador Initiative Vision video: https://vimeo.com/134463446

The MARKETPLACE AMBASSADOR INITIATIVE is a movement to …..

• bring together ALL followers of Christ in our business community,
• stand and pray together for spiritual transformation,
• encourage each other to live as effective Marketplace Ambassadors for Christ.

What you’ll gain:  At this event you’ll meet and be encouraged by other Christian men whom want to be effective Marketplace Ambassadors for Christ.  You’ll also receive information on CBMC’s Marketplace Ambassador Advancement System. This free resource is designed to equip and empower individuals and teams to become effective ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace (a.k.a. Marketplace Ambassadors). The Marketplace Ambassador Advancement System will provide media rich interactive resources that equip individuals to live out the attributes of effective ambassadors for Christ in the marketplace. Current components that are now available free with sign-up include:

• Operation Timothy – eOT is a 21^stcentury digital discipleship resource designed for one-on-one or small groups. This extraordinary tool for discipling new or growing believers was first introduced in 1970 and is designed to fulfill the mandate to “make disciples” in The Great Commission.
• LivingProof – LivingProof 2014 is a reality-based video series demonstrating how to share the gospel while living a natural, winsome and Bible-centered lifestyle.
• The Attributes – By purposefully resolving to live out the 10 Attributes of an Ambassador, we can become the Marketplace Ambassadors that God calls us to be.
• CBMC TV – Video from national conferences that provide training, inspiration and encouragement.

About our Speaker: Mark Whitacre an Ivy League Ph.D. and the highest-ranked executive of any Fortune 500 company to become a whistleblower in US history. He was responsible for uncovering the ADM price-fixing scandal in the early 1990’s.  His undercover work with the FBI during the ADM scandal was the inspiration for the major motion picture, “The Informant,” starring Matt Damon.  Mark Whitacre is now a Marketplace Ambassador for CBMC, an organization that has impacted his life greatly the past two decades.

For more background on the Marketplace Ambassador movement, please see these two video featuring Mark Whitacre:

• Mark Whitacre on the CBMC Marketplace Ambassador Movement: https://youtu.be/XEzGfLKZxO4
• Mark Whitacre on his passion for CBMC Marketplace Ambassador Movement: https://youtu.be/TYgufQSEycg

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes‘ vision is to impact the world for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes. The Montgomery County area currently has 3 staff with a presence at 25 local schools, a growing ministry to area coaches, and sports camps to help local athletes grow in their faith and sport.

Please come and invite a friend to join us this Tuesday, August 18, to hear Nate Timm, FCA Area Director for Montgomery County describe how God is using FCA’s ministry to make disciples in our public schools for Jesus Christ through the influence of student athletes and coaches.

• When:  Tuesday, August 18, 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.

Montgomery County FCA Area Director, Nathan Timm, started running cross country and track during his time at Marion High School in Marion, Illinois.

He went on to run cross country and track at Florida State University. Nathan came to know Christ through FCA during his freshman year. After graduating from Florida State in 2004, Timm started teaching English and coaching at Magruder High School. During his nine year tenure at Magruder, the Colonels set over 90 school records in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. Several of his athletes went on to compete at the collegiate level. In the fall of 2013, he started teaching and coaching at Parkland Magnet Middle School where he was an English teacher, cross country coach, and one of the FCA Huddle Coaches. In May of 2014, he came on staff as a part-time Area Representative for FCA Endurance.

After eleven years of teaching and coaching in the spring of 2015, Nathan felt a strong call to come on staff full-time. He now serves as the area director for the Montgomery County Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

FCA has changed Nathan’s life in many ways, but most importantly helped him grown in his relationship with Christ. He has a passion to share the love of Christ with the coaches and athletes of Montgomery County through the ministry of FCA.

Nathan and his wife Lisa reside in Montgomery Village with their two sons; Brady and Josiah.

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.