Confession time: I’d been pretty sloppy about taking a rest day recently. Sure, there had been enough days when I didn’t go into the office and I even took a week off in the middle of May. But I’d been confusing “days off” with rest days. I’d been skipping out on my normal no cell phone, no computer Fridays because I wasn’t as physically tired as I get during the semester.

But that was a real mistake. I got back in the habit of checking out of the world for a day yesterday and it was great for me! Here’s what I learned: rest is much more about spiritual than physical rejuvenation. I had been forgetting that part of it. Our souls need rest. We need the reminder that Christ is King and will do a fine job running the world if we’re unavailable for a day. Rest really is worship. My soul had been missing that form of worship recently.

The amazing thing to me is how rejuvenated I feel after a day like yesterday. Makes me feel totally ready for the week to come!

So many people have a tendency to simplify this thing we call Christianity into a lifelong game of sin avoidance. I think they get sucked in by how easy “sin avoidance” makes the whole Christian experience. I know that seems counter intuitive, but here’s what I mean. If you make Christianity nothing more than sin avoidance, it’s really easy to keep score; are you avoiding more sin than we were last year? It’s also makes it easier to categorize others and gauge their walk. It’s easy to teach our kids. It’s easy to indoctrinate people.

For all it’s ease, though, it couldn’t be more wrong. It’s a tragic short selling of what God is calling us to in life.

Now, I know I’m making some of you nervous. So, let me say it as clearly as I can – avoid sin at all costs! I’m not advocating moral laxity here; sin is destructive to us, offensive to God and kills our joy. Run from it. Flee it with all the might God provides.

But don’t ever believe that’s all God wants from us. Jesus Christ died to call you into a whole new life. You’re His ambassador now. He has stuff He wants you to do. There’s problems in the world that need your attention. There’s billions of people who need to hear the beautiful news of the Gospel. Live for that. Let those be the causes that stir your heart.

By the way, when your passionately pursuing Christ and His Kingdom, sin is that much easier to avoid.

Be holy, yes. But be passionate and active as well.

It’s great to be able to celebrate what the Lord has done by giving us an increased presence at Georgetown University. But what really makes that meaningful is getting to know the students who are behind it all. Georgetown has an incredible leadership team and I’m really excited to serve Christ with each one of them. I know you may not know their names, but take some time today to pray for them. Pray they will be filled with courage, boldness and passion as they carry the idea of making Jesus famous forward on their campus.

For about a year now, a small team of students at Georgetown have been carrying a dream that God might make a way for The Gathering to become an affiliated ministry on that campus. You’ve read about them on this blog and I’ve had the honor of getting to know them personally. They’re an amazing group, I love their energy, I love their heart to make Jesus famous on that campus. This morning I couldn’t be happier for them.

We’re in!!!

Georgetown just notified us that we’ve been accepted and can now do ministry on that campus. There’ll be much coming over the summer as we announce our plans for Georgetown. But for now, please just celebrate with me. Our God is really good and the words of Psalm 126 just seem to flow out of my heart this morning:

I want to ask you to spend some time today praying with me that God would open up a door for us to be able to be more involved in life at Georgetown. The Council of Affiliated Ministries will be meeting at Georgetown later today and our application for affiliated ministry status is on the agenda. Lord willing, our request could be approved as early as today and we would be able to start serving the Hoyas in a more official capacity. Approval is by no means a sure thing, so please take some time to pray today.

As soon as we hear anything, I’ll let you know where we stand.

I spent some time this morning kayaking around the Potomac. It was a great way to get Memorial Day rolling – beautiful weather and a stunning reminder that this city really is fantastic. Seeing Washington Harbor, The Kennedy Center and The Watergate from the water with the Washington Monument rising up in the distance is pretty breath taking. It’s funny, we’re surrounded by the beauty of the city all the time. But we so often fail to notice it.

It was great for me to be reminded how lucky I am to call DC home. Wherever you’re spending your Memorial Day, I hope you’re having a great day.

I just spent some time with a group of pastors from Korea on a tour of churches in America. They were such a great group and asked such insightful questions. I think I learned more from their questions than they did from my answers!

But for me, I loved the tangible reminder that Christ is building His church all over the globe. We can get so locked into an American perspective that we forget God is working in every corner of the planet. I love the reminder and I love hearing the stories of what He’s doing in other parts of the world.

I’ll be leaving Deep Creek in just a few short hours. But there’s still one more session to go up here and even as I sit here writing, I’m praying the Lord will use this next chunk of time to do amazing things in each one of our hearts. We’re going to talk about a really simple reality this morning – Christ didn’t die so we could play a role in life; Christ died that we could experience a relationship. God’s one of kind Son died that we can all live as sons and daughters of grace.

I pray that all of us would understand that more in our lives.

One of the best things I ever get to do in life is baptize new followers of Christ. Such an honor to stand with them in the waters of baptism as they make a public profession that their life is forever hooked into His. Just wanted to share the experience of last Sunday.

Being up at Deep Creek brings back so many memories for me. It definitely feels weird being up here without some Gathering students. But this place is still pretty sick. Just wanted to offer you two quick glimpses of the view from the place I’m staying.

Just finished the first session with the Frontline staff. It was a great reminder to each of us that before God ever called us to play a role, He invited us into a relationship. We can get so focused on carrying the expectations of others that we forget about the amazing relationship God called us to enjoy. Paul does such a beautiful job of summarizing that relationship in Romans 5: 1-2:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Yeah, how cool is that. You are: justified, at peace with God, recipients of grace and called to exult in Christ if you are a follower of Jesus. Amazing, if you ask me.

I’m going to be heading up to Deep Creek, Maryland tomorrow morning to spend 48 hours with the Frontline staff team. I can’t wait to head up there – first of all, Deep Creek is amazing. I love that little town and look forward to being up there every chance I can get. But more importantly, it’s going to be great to get away with our team and refresh ourselves spiritually. I’m praying the Lord will pour fresh creativity, desire, passion and wisdom into each of our hearts.

I’ll be posting from up there – so, I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Finals are almost over or completely done for many of us. A number of graduations have come and gone. The weather’s getting warmer. Pools are opening soon. It all means one thing – summer is here! While The Gathering doesn’t look quite the same over the summer, we’re definitely NOT taking the summer off.

We’re doing a series of summer Bible studies every Wednesday night in June and July (with the exception of the week of the 4th) at coffee shops around the city. Each of these Bible studies will include a time of teaching and discussion. We’re going to be focusing on James 1 for the month of June and James 2 for the month of July. I can’t wait to dive into these two chapters of the Scriptures – they cover some really interesting and tricky areas of our faith.

I’m really excited to be meeting in locations out of the church. Don’t get me wrong, I love this place – but there’s something really good about taking over a Starbucks, or a Saxby’s or a College Perk for a night of Bible study.

If you want more information, including locations and times, there’s three different resources you need to know about:

The Gathering Website – www.gatheringonline.org
The Gathering Summer Bible Study Facebook Group
The Gathering Summer ’08 Mailing List

By the way, that mailing list is one we’re creating just for the summer. So, even if you’re on our other lists, please take a minute to join this one. We are not going to be promoting summer events on our regular mailing lists.

I hope I’ll see you on Wednesday nights this summer!

Last week was a great rest for me. I was on vacation all week long and did something crazy – stayed in town! I know we always think about vacation as the time to get out of town. But by the end of a semester, I always feel like I haven’t been home in months. So, it was honestly so cool to be at home and resting up from what was an amazing ride this spring.

But I’m back now (sitting backstage before The Edge as I write this) and so excited for the summer. God is going to do some amazing things this summer and I can’t wait to be a part of it. Be sure to check this blog and The Gathering’s website tomorrow for the announcement of our summer plans.

Great to be back!!

Today is one of those really good days in life.

I’m heading out in a few minutes to go officiate (I believe that’s the technical term) at the wedding of two of my friends. It should be a great ceremony – outside in the rolling hills of Virginia right as the sun is setting this evening.

But it’s kind of a milestone for me and for The Gathering as well. You see, this couple met at The Gathering – making them the first marriage to come out of this little thing we call The Gathering. That’s crazy to me – we’ve been doing this thing long enough that people who met during their freshman year are now getting married. Wow.

Weddings are always great but when I feel this connected to a couple, it makes it that much more meaningful. Definitely going to be a good day.

Gotta love 4.30 AM departures. That’s what time a group of students from Gathering703 met this morning to head down to New Orleans for a week long trip. Think about everything that’s happened in your life since you saw the first reports that Hurricane Katrina had ravaged much of the Gulf Coast. Thing of how much has happened in those years. Now think about this – New Orleans is still rebuilding!

That’s amazing to me. I’m so inspired by a group of students who would give a week of their summers to serve that city in it’s rebuilding efforts. Pray they will accomplish much, grow closer as a team and honor Christ every moment of their time down in the Big Easy.