As some of you have noticed, The Gathering website has been down since yesterday afternoon. We spent much of the day trying to figure out why and we’ve been able to figure it out. We’re working to get it back up and running – should be back up by tomorrow at the latest. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I’m looking forward to speaking at the Spark Design Conference in October. Should be a great day hanging out with some of the more creative innovators in the Washington area. If that’s you – or you want that to be you – I hope you’ll check it out.

What an amazing week. So much to take in. So much to celebrate. So much to look forward to!

I’m not really sure what can be said this morning. God completely stunned us at George Mason last night. As we started load-in last evening, we all had a sense that the Lord was moving in a unique and powerful way. Welcome Week had gone incredibly well and we were waiting to see what the results would be – they were amazing. As students started streaming into Dewberry Hall, we knew God had carried us to a new day at Mason. It was an amazing time of worship and the simple celebration of God’s grace.

Here’s what became clear to me last night – there is a passionate group of students who want to live their lives for the fame of Jesus at George Mason. Mason Nation is alive and well and moving closer and closer to the cross of Jesus. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for us. We’re certainly off to an incredible start.

We’re now only a few hours from the fall launch of Gathering703 here at GMU. Just like yesterday at AU, the day carries with it the incredible hope that God will intersect our lives tonight in a way that defies reason and explanation.

Students are out “tabling” right now – inviting their friends to join us with tonight. Would love to have you praying for us as well.

Last night was a stunning beginning to the fall semester as The Kay Center at American University burst to life with an amazing group of students. Old friends got the chance to reconnect and welcome a freshmen class that everyone tells me is the coolest in the school’s history. Students from so many different backgrounds and corners of the globe piled into the Kay Center. By the end of the night, you had a feeling that God is going to use this group in spectacular ways to carry the grace of Jesus to AU. It was such a simple night – looking to the unimaginable grace of Christ as our hope in life. Praise God He doesn’t give us what we deserve – He acts with unrivaled compassion, mercy and grace.

That’s the story we carry to George Mason tonight. I’m praying the momentum of last night will wash over Mason tonight as G703 bursts back to life.

I’m camped out in the basement of the Kay Center here at American University for a few minutes before a meeting. It’s so funny to sit here now knowing that in just a few short hours, we’ll be rolling into the first Gathering of the semester. It feels like we’ve been waiting for this for months now. But that doesn’t make the last few hours any easier!

As I write this, Gathering students are outside inviting AU to join us. They’ve got a table set-up in the middle of the campus 0n a stunningly beautiful day here in Washington. They’re doing that last minute push – all in the hope that the fame of Jesus will grow here at AU.

As I sit now, I’m praying for tonight. Praying the Lord will touch tonight with His grace and ignite hearts. That’s what we’re here to do. Would you join me in praying for AU? Wherever you are reading this, would you take just a few minutes to pray over tonight?

Check out my post from this morning if you’re wondering what’s up with the sudden flurry of Gathering promo materials posted to the blog.

I just changed my Facebook profile pic – you should too!

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow night marks the first Gathering of the semester at American University. I absolutely can’t wait to be back in the Kay Center – I’m telling you, it’s the loudest venue we get to be in all week long. We’re praying the Lord will pack that place out with new students (freshmen and transfers) and many old friends. We’re doing a lot of outreach on campus today and tomorrow to help get the word out. You should see us out in front of Mary Gradon this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.

But we all know one of the most effective places to reach college students is Facebook. That’s why I posted a digital version of our promo. I’m thinking it would make a lovely Facebook profile pic for the next 48 hours. Use Facebook to let your friends know you’re headed to Kay – and invite them to join us. Would be pretty cool to see a whole wave of updated pics sweeping the AU network.

By the way, G703, I’ll be posting yours later today or tomorrow.

The Gathering is coming to GW!

Monday, September 8th.
7.30 PM.
The Continental Ballroom. The Marvin Center. 3rd Floor.

I’m so excited to be heading to GW in just a couple of weeks. We’re going to be there to serve alongside the current campus ministries for a fantastic event called “Plugged In.” I love the vision of this night – all of the ministries coming together for a night of worship and teaching. But the idea is to give students who show up specific ways to get plugged into a ministry. Very cool idea and I believe God is going to use it in an amazing way!

It’s going to be so good to be back on that campus. More details to come, but wanted all you GW guys to be able to start inviting your friends now.

Earlier this summer, we got word that the Council of Affiliated Ministries at Georgetown University had approved our application to be a campus ministry at Georgetown. At the time, we thought that was the end of the road and we were in at Georgetown. As it turned out, there were one or two other hurdles that had to be cleared. Our team has been working really hard to get through all of that over the course of the summer.

I’m thrilled to announce that Fr. Kevin O’Brien, the Executive Director of Campus Ministry at Georgetown, officially approved The Gathering as a campus ministry after a meeting yesterday morning! We had a fantastic conversation and I’m thrilled to be serving with him and the rest of his team at Georgetown.

So, after a year of praying, hoping and dreaming, it’s 100% official. Please check our website and this blog in the days to come as we announce our plans to serve the amazing students who call Georgetown home.

The Gathering at George Mason University, affectionately known as G703 to make all NoVa people feel welcome regardless of campus, roared back to life last night. I loved our time at the Crosspoint House. It was so cool to reconnect with students and leaders after a long summer. I always love hearing the stories of how God has worked in the lives of students while they’ve been scattered all over the globe for a few months.

It was absolutely the right way to get us all moving together towards what God had in store for us today. Day #1 of freshmen move-in brought low humidity, sunny skies and amazing weather (especially for DC in August)! Our student teams were able to serve the incoming freshmen and begin developing friendships with the newest of Patriots.

God has been so gracious to G703 (and all of us) recently. As I stood on that deck last night surrounded by the leaders of G703, I couldn’t run from the belief that He wants to use that group of students in amazing ways to make the name of Jesus famous on that campus. I can’t wait to see what the year holds and there’s no other group I want to walk into Wednesday nights with other than my Fairfax friends at G703.

You may remember I started a little Facebook experiment on Monday of last week. I was really interested to see how effective Facebook could be as a fundraising tool for my upcoming trip to Rwanda. The idea was to ask a lot of people to contribute a little bit to advancing the Gospel in Rwanda.

One week into the campaign, God has been amazingly gracious. I’m so grateful to each of you who have been a part of this and whose generosity has contributed just over $1,000 in a week. That’s pretty amazing, if you ask me – given that most of my Facebook friends are “poor” college students.

There’s more to be done, so if you still want in, click here.

I spent my drive into the office this morning with Charlie Hall’s new release, The Bright Sadness. It’s one of the few times I’ve ever wished for a longer commute into beautiful Tyson’s Corner. The music is fantastic and I love the heart behind it.

I’m in no way apologetic about saying you should download this from iTunes or order it online. Pretty amazing stuff – and track 2, New Year, seems amazingly appropriate as college students flock back to the campuses of our nation’s capital.

I have a question that’s been burning inside me for months. I haven’t shared it yet, but I encountered the source of my confusion twice this morning while watching CNN. Perhaps you’ve seen it as well – the commercial announcing that in February TV’s are all going digital. You know the ones I’m talking about, “contact the government for a converter box.”

Why do I only see that commercial on cable? Who hasn’t figured out that it’s irrelevant to 100% of the audience watching CNN in the morning?!? Shouldn’t these commercials be on the networks?

I feel like I’m missing something. Is this just massive stupidity or is there some good reason for all of this? Please comment if you know anything…I’m sure both of our regular readers would find it helpful as well!