Now that Thanksgiving’s in the rear view mirror, it’s time to focus in on the next couple of weeks. This short little window between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one of the busiest sprints of the year. Finals, papers, classes, parties, exams, trips home and all the other Christmas stuff make for a wild couple of weeks.

We’re all headed back to campus today to start the sprint tomorrow. My prayer for all of us in the weeks to come is that we would keep our eyes relentlessly focused on Jesus. Remember:

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

- Isaiah 40: 28-31

Campuses all over the city are emptying out today. I know some of you are heading home for the first time all semester and are bursting with excitement. In the next couple of days, you get to: sleep in your own bed, eat at home and (best of all!) shower with no flip flops! If you’re heading out, I hope the next couple of days are filled with rest, joy and the chance deepen relationships.

But I also know some of us are sitting on campus with no travel plans for the end of the week. You’re writing papers, hanging out and maybe wishing you were getting out of here for a few days. I just wanted you to know our whole team is praying for you today. And we’re also working right along side you. Our planning days were scheduled to wrap up yesterday evening. But there’s still more work to be done, so we’re going into extra innings this afternoon! From 1-4, we’ll be back in the same conference room that’s become like a second home for all of us!

No matter what you’re doing today – traveling, working, chilling – try to find time in the midst of the day to reflect on how much we all have to be grateful for.

Our staff team spent about 8 hours today locked in a room together as we continue to move through the planning and vision casting process for ’09. All I can tell you is that it was one of the most exhausting and thrilling days I’ve experienced in a while. God is stirring some huge things in all of us for ’09 and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.

But one of the things that struck me today is that you can tell a lot about the health of a team by the volume of their meetings. When meetings are quiet, tame, boring affairs it indicates teams don’t trust each other well enough to actually engage. But when people engage, it gets a little loud from time to time!

It got LOUD in there today! Loud from laughter and loud from “heated conversations.” Both are essential to healthy teams. You’ve got to be willing to drag conflict front and center and deal with it. But you also have to be able to laugh with each other. We might have disturbed the peace a bit today, but that’s good. Volume is a sign of health!

Yesterday was one of those days that left my head spinning. Our staff team is now half way through the planning process for ’09. We covered a lot of ground yesterday, made some good decisions (I hope!) and feel like we’re getting a sense of where the Lord is leading us. I really can’t wait for the spring and for our Gathering wide leadership meeting on December 6th.

But there was one moment yesterday that stuck in my heart. James Misner was leading a session on outreach and he drew something on the whiteboard that got all of my attention. As much as God has blessed The Gathering in the last four years, 99% of the students on our campuses have never been to a Gathering! Wow! Think about that for a minute. Granted, that doesn’t mean they’re not followers of Jesus – but most aren’t, if we’re honest.

We exist for that 99%. Do we love the 1%? Of course. I hope you know that without me even saying it. Our whole staff team loves you more than you can imagine. But all of our hearts should beat for the 99%. Because God loves them just as much.

Just wanted that number to be kicking around your hearts today. It’s very much in the center of our conversation today.

I’m really looking forward to today and tomorrow. The Gathering staff team is going to be retreating for two days to catch our breath, seek God and chart our course for ’09. Don’t get the wrong impression – this is no vacation! We’re going to be talking vision, strategy, structure and goals. There’s a lot to be done.

Our job is to come up with a rough structure that guides the ministry and then turn that over to our student leadership and volunteer teams to do the real work of ministry. You guys are the ones that bring the skeleton to life – we’re just hoping to set a general course.

But I know we would all love your prayers. Please pray that God would give us strength, creativity, wisdom and joy in what the Lord is doing.

Can’t wait to see what comes out of the next two days.

It seemed like it was time for a little cyber renovation to the Gathering blog. Sometimes it’s just cool to give things a fresh look and add in some new functionality. We’ll probably be tweaking the layout for the next week or so. When we’re done, you’ll have to let us know what you think.

I’m constantly amazed at how many people give their time to make a single Gathering service possible.  It’s humbling, encouraging and fills me with such joy to know we’re all carrying this thing together.

Yesterday was one of those fantastic days – everything was perfectly on schedule, things were getting done, all of my meetings and conversations were going well. Yeah, it was a little arctic outside, but I was happy. Great day.

Until I walked out of Mary Gradon on AU’s campus at 6.30PM. That’s when I saw an oddly long line of students snaking around the Quad. Strange given the freezing temperatures. Cause of the line? The President of Bolivia speaking in the building right next to us at 7PM last night. Only in DC.

You might imagine that everyone from campus police, to Metro to the Secret Service were a little concerned about a 23 foot box truck rolling up to load-in sound equipment. I do have to say that once we convinced them that it wasn’t a joke and we really do use sound equipment for a church service, they were awesome.

Definitely lost a lot of time in the load-in process. Pretty stressful for our team. But they did a great job, God was honored and it was an awesome night.

But you’ve gotta love doing college ministry in DC. Where else does a visiting head of state mess with your sound check?

I’m so excited to be heading to Haiti in the beginning of January with a team of students from American University. Over the past year, The Gathering has been working with World Hope International to develop a partnership that serves the people of Haiti. This partnership is an increasingly important part of our Global Impact strategy. We want to be involved in sustainable projects that make a long term difference in any country we serve. But it was also pretty important to us to have an international location that was only a short flight away – that way students can get there at relatively low cost and for shorter periods of time. The trip I’m heading on will leave DC on January 3rd and return on the 8th. We’re trusting God to multiply our efforts and use these few days for His purposes in a way that’s bigger than anything we could imagine.

By the way, there are two other Haiti trips this spring – UMD and GMU are both headed down over spring break! So, you can definitely jump in on one of those!

There always seems to be one song that holds the week together. For the last three nights, it’s been the simple truth of “Stronger.” I love the transforming reminder that our God is stronger. “Sin is broken, it is written, Christ is Risen.” As the week starts to wind down, that’s the thought echoing through my head. I might be pretty tired, but Jesus is alive and well and powerful. He’s risen from the dead. He’s ruling and reigning. And He’s so much stronger than anything we face.

He’s stronger than our fears. Stronger that our temptations. Stronger than our challenges. Stronger than anything else the world has ever known. We don’t worship a tiny, worthless, God who just represents how things used to be. We worship a living Christ who still shapes history.

For all that faces us today – He is Stronger.

One of the great things we do as a church every year is our Turkey Outreach.  This year, we’re hoping to be able to provide a full Thanksgiving meal to 7,000 families in the local area.  That’s pretty amazing when you think about it!  7,000 families!

I can’t tell you how excited I am for the next two weeks at The Gathering. Mike Kelsey is going to be doing a two week series on each of our campuses. If you know Mike, you know why I’m excited – he’s a phenomenal communicator. Plus, it’s cool for me to get time to hang out with a friend and call it work!

But what I’m really excited about is Mike’s topic – Sharing Our Faith. I think this series is exactly what we all need to be hearing now. If you’ve ever wondered about why we need to share our faith, how to do it or what the whole thing is about, you need to hear this series!

I can’t wait. See you on campus this week!