Rosedale Bible Church

Centennial Celebration

November 13 & 15, 2009

Rosedale Bible Church (formerly Mennonite Brethren Church of Rosedale) will celebrate its 100th anniversary next weekend (November 13-15).  All events for the celebration will take place in a huge (12,000 sq. ft.) tent in our parking lot.  The celebration will include a special banquet on Friday night (choice of grilled New York strip steak or grilled chicken).  Dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m. and cost is $20/adult and $10/child (12 and under).  The banquet will be followed by an evening of very special music, a proclamation by Bakersfield's mayor Harvey Hall, and a message ("When a Good Snake Turns Bad") by Dr. Haddon W. Robinson.  Call the office (589-3305) for banquet reservations. 

Saturday will be packed with events.  Early in the day (9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.) will feature a Moms in Touch international prayer event, "Arise! Cry Out!"  Right after that (2:00 until 4:00 p.m.), we'll have a Pastors' Reception in our social hall.  Present and former pastors (Norm Thiesen, Steve Fast, Brad Hannink, and Brad Willems) will be here to meet and greet friends past and present.  Between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m., RBC offers a get together for former youth group members (call 589-3305 for information).  Then at 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:00), Rosedale Bible Church is hosting a KUTLESS concert, put on by Fresno Pacific University and K-DUV FM.  Tickets are $15 general admission ($20 at the door) and $25 reserved general admission seating (first five rows).

Sunday morning will feature two special worship services.  The early service will begin at 8:00 a.m., and the second service will begin at 10:15 a.m.  Former pastors Norm Thiesen and Steve Fast will have an opportunity to share.  We'll have loads of great music, all conducted by our incredible worship pastor John Biller.  Then our guest speaker, Haddon Robinson, will preach on "How to Handle Your Dubts!"  Following both services, we'll have a deep pit barbecue luncheon (no charge, but donations accepted).  During this time, we'll make available an open mic, so that friends and family of RBC, past and present, can have to opportunity to share.  We'll be making a recording of these comments for future generations.

Our featured speaker for all services will be Dr. Haddon W. Robinson.  Dr. Robinson is the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is widely recognized as an expert on biblical communication, and has been named one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Dr. Robinson is a prolific writer who contributes regularly to Our Daily Bread. He has authored seven books, including Biblical Sermons, Biblical Preaching, and Decision Making by the Book: How to Choose Wisely in an Age of Options. He is also lead teacher of the radio program, Discover the Word, that airs 300 times daily on stations around the world. 

Prior to going to Gordon-Conwell in 1991, Dr. Robinson was President of Denver Seminary for 12 years. He has also served as Director of the Dallas Youth for Christ, Associate Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Medford, Oregon, and an Instructor of Speech at the University of Illinois. In addition, he taught homiletics on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary for 19 years and served as General Director of the Christian Medical and Dental Society.

As an added bonus for the weekend celebration there will be a tremendous photo collage display.  Our "Photo Archivist," Virginia Cebell (and her team), has performed a herculean task of gathering more than a thousand pictures that cover the past 100 years at RBC; then scanning, cropping, editing, and assembling in an awesome display.  All of the photos will be on display for the banquet, some will go on permanent display in our main sanctuary building afterwards.