It’s amazing to look back over the past couple of days – a dizzying blur of bad weather, great conversations, a corporate fast and three powerful Gathering worship experiences.

Each Gathering worship experience had a different flavor this week but they were all anchored in the same idea – the heart of why we exist. I love the reminder that we’re not just about events but we really are about changing our generation.

The Gathering exists to impact the collegiate generation with the message of Jesus Christ.

If you missed The Gathering this week, you can listen to the talk on our site. I would love for you to hear it and be on the same wavelength with us as we press into the semester.

But more than I hope you listen to a talk, I hope you get involved. This generation has such potential to shift the culture in the direction of Christ. It’s the most significant cause you can imagine and I hope you’ll give yourself to it in new ways this spring.

Have a great weekend.

John

Spent some time today with Kristian Stanfill’s new EP, “Attention.”  Pretty sweet and definitely has me looking forward to the full length album coming later this spring.  Kristian’s music is powerful and his lyrics remind us all of the greatness of God.  Next time you’re wandering around iTunes, you might want to grab this one.  It won’t be long before you start to hear his music finding it’s way into worship service.

By all accounts, the weather is going to improve as the day goes on and temperatures rise. Mason is going to be opening at noon and The Gathering is still planning to meet at 9PM tonight in The Bistro. If that changes, we’ll let you know. But please help us let your friends know that we’re meeting tonight and coming with huge anticipation for what God is going to do.

See you in The Bistro.

John

Winter’s paying a little visit to the nation’s capital today and that means there will be some questions about whether or not The Gathering’s meeting at AU tonight. As of right now, we’re definitely planning to hold The Gathering. If that changes, we’ll post information to this blog, our website and send out an email around 4PM. But it looks like the weather should improve as the day goes by, so I’m pretty confident we’ll all be in the Kay Center tonight.

See you there.
John

Sometimes it’s when we’re at our weakest that God speaks the clearest. As we near the end of the journey, press into these last few hours. Get everything out of them that the Lord wants to teach you.

Scripture:

Genesis 13: 14- 18, Joshua 1: 1-9, Acts 26: 12-20

Reflection:

The heroes of the Bible were mastered by vision. The pattern of their lives was simple – God spoke and they obeyed. It wasn’t complicated for them. They knew who they were following. They knew His power. His character. His heart. His goodness. His plan for them.

So, when He spoke, they listened. And they followed.

Our generation is desperate for that kind of Christian. So often we hear the words of Christ, are lifted by them and then forget them within hours. God doesn’t speak any less clearly today. In fact, He wrote it down for us. We just follow a whole lot more casually.

But tonight isn’t about repentance. We’ve stopped there today. Tonight is about openness. Openness to following. Openness to listening. Openness to hearing. Openness to changing. To making life count.

What’s God asking you to do this semester? Be still tonight and ask Him to speak into your heart. And then follow.

Prayer:

Father,

Where You lead me, Lord, I will follow. I so want to hear from You. This semester is so short. I want to make it count for You. I want to live for You. I’ll go. But I need You to point the way. Please speak to me now.

In Jesus’ Name.

Welcome to the second installment of Seek. We wanted to post this early enough that people with an early lunch could have this before their break. But we also get that some of you are just waking up about now. If that’s the case, go start with the first post of the day and then come back to this one in a few hours.

Scripture:

Isaiah 6: 1-7, Isaiah 53, Psalm 51, and Micah 7: 8-9

Reflection:

The closer we get to the life of God, the more we’re aware of our own sin. That was certainly Isaiah’s experience. Yes, Jesus is the Divine Burden Carrier. But He is also holier than we can imagine. No sin. No fault. No imperfection. Nothing but pure, radiant, glorious light.

Let it undo you, like it did Isaiah. Don’t fast forward too quickly to the cross. It’s only when we see how desperate our need is that the magnificence of the cross comes into focus.

For all the junk in your life, Jesus died. He bore it all. He became it all. He was tortured for it all. As a result, our sins own us no longer. Oh, sure, we fall. But the grace of God picks us up. We rise on His wings. We dance in His grace. And we stand free in His mercy.

When was the last time you just confessed your sins to the Lord? Grab a sheet of paper and just start writing them out. The whole mess. The things that you hate to admit to yourself and the things that have become so much a part of life that we hardly even count them as sin any more. Get it all out.

And then burn the paper. Shred it. Destroy it somehow. Because that’s exactly what happened on the cross. Then just spend some time thanking Jesus for what He has done in your life. If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.

Prayer:

Father,

I sit here this afternoon completely undone in the shadow of the cross. I can’t believe the ways I’ve turned my back on you. I can’t believe the mess I’ve made. But what I really can’t believe is the amazing grace of Christ. I can’t believe He died for my sins. Praise Him for grace!

Thank You that you have freed me from the chains that lashed my life to death. Thank You that You have overcome the grave and you have crushed sin and guilt in my life. I praise you for all of that. Glory to You, Son of God.

Help me live in freedom. I know it was for freedom’s sake that you set me free. I want to live in the joy of that freedom. Thanks that You made it possible. I love the cross and the freedom it brings in my life.

I pray now in the Name of the Life Giver, Jesus.

Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.

- Psalm 57: 7-9

Welcome to Seek.

We don’t want to start the journey with our words but rather with His. Grab your Bible and allow God’s Word to start molding you as you read a few passages.

Scriptures:

John 15, Psalm 63 and Galatians 2:20

Reflection:

As the day gets started, we need to take some time to empty ourselves by acknowledging our dependence on Christ. Free yourself from the lie that you have the power to live today in your own strength. Let go of the belief that you can be good enough, holy enough, committed enough to carry the day. Let yourself off the hook. Today isn’t about working really hard to make your life perfect for 24 hours.

It’s about finding rest and faith and hope in the passages above. Let the words of Christ, David and Paul guide you to surrender. On our own, we can’t live the Christian life. Of course our souls are desperate for Christ. It’s the way He designed it. Because He longs to satisfy that hunger. He’ll live His life in you today, if you simply surrender, empty and wait for Him to fill.

Take some time to be still. What do you need to let go of? What do you need to put into the hands of the One who made you and loves you? What have you been carrying for so long that your spiritual muscles ache? Lay it at the foot of the cross. The One who hangs on the tree loves you more than enough to breath life into you today.

Prayer:

Father,

I’m tired of trying to do it all on my own. It never works and I know it. I pray you would use today to set me free of all the striving, the grasping, the falling short. I pray You would take me and live your divine life through me. I surrender to that. I ask for it. I pray your Holy Spirit would guide my thoughts, my actions and my words today. Please don’t just help me live a better version of my life. Help me die to that and live to Your life in me. Meet my needs today, I pray, Glorious One. Give me strength, give me wisdom and help me shine for You.

I love You and I love that today is all about You.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Gathering703 roars back to life at George Mason University tonight and I can’t wait to be back on that campus. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we marked the end of the fall semester with an amazing night of worship and baptisms. There was such energy in the room that night, such a feeling that God was moving powerfully on that campus and that our lives were being swept into a wave bigger than all of us.

I can’t wait to continue that story tonight. My prayer at this point is that we call come with the right expectations. Yeah, it’s going to be great to see old friends. And all the other things you look for in a Gathering experience will be there. But so will the God of the Universe. He’ll be there and He’s coming with an agenda. He’s coming with a plan to change each of us and call us to life in Him.

Don’t come with small expectations. Come with expectations rooted in Ephesians 3:20-21. Jesus is the God who does “Exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think.” That’s what makes night’s like tonight powerful; waiting in anticipation to see what the One who authors miracles will do in our midst.

If you’re in the NoVa area, I hope I see you tonight:

Gathering703
9 PM
Dewberry Hall in the Johnson Center

Most Tuesday’s I take the trip to AU for granted. It’s usually just a quick ride in the car from Tyson’s down here. This Tuesday, I wasn’t quite as confident! Don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a little event happening on the National Mall today.

But I timed it all perfectly and made it to campus with no delay at all! Pretty amazing.

So, I’m on campus now and looking forward to our Prayer and Communion service tonight. If you’re on campus or in the DC area, we would love to have you join us:

9PM. The Kay Center. American University.

Over the weekend, I went to see Daniel Craig’s new movie, “Defiance.” The more passionate you are about leadership, the more I would encourage you to go see the movie. The true life story is definitely compelling but what I really enjoyed was watching the evolution of Craig’s character as a leader. It’s a film about allowing a crisis to forge a vision, about calling people to that vision, about staying true to your values in the face of opposition, making tough decisions and about inspiring others. The leader in me loved it and I think the same will be true for you. It’s rare that a movie provides a good case study for leadership but this one does and I recommend it.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and declared a bold dream. It was an American dream; rooted in the fabric of who we should be as a nation. It was a human dream; rooted in the best of what our hearts long to embrace. And it was a Christian dream; rooted in the heart of a God who created all of humanity in His image.

But I wonder how many who stood there that day thought it was an impossible dream. As I reread Dr. King’s words earlier today, I couldn’t help but wonder how many who heard him that summer day could never dream of what will happen at the opposite end of The National Mall tomorrow. Would they have dared to believe that just over 45 years later, an African American would be sworn in as the President of the United States of America?

It’s stunning when you think about it and I do pray you will think about it today. Don’t let the significance of tomorrow miss you. It’s not a question of politics or party tomorrow. It’s a question of freedom, of dignity, of hope and the promise of equality. It’s a reminder that, however imperfect, there’s still a lot right with America. And it’s a reminder of the power of a dream. How much poorer the world would be if Dr. King’s dream had stayed private and never pursued.

All of that is to ask the question, “What’s your dream?” Maybe it’ll change the future of a nation. Or maybe the life of one child. But the Scriptures teach that God has things He wants you to pursue (Ephesians 2:10).

Dreams are powerful. I pray you would find the courage to live in yours. Maybe it’s only in the moment you do that Dr. King’s closing words will come alive in your heart, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” Free. Free to live the dream for which you were made.

The Gathering is back at Mason this week! Can’t wait for Wednesday night in Dewberry Hall. Hopefully, the poster you see above is going to be pretty unavoidable on campus this week. But we wanted to put it up here in case you wanted to make it your FB Profile Pic or come up with some even more creative way to help invite a campus to worship Jesus.

The Gathering is hosting an Inaugural Prayer Service this Tuesday, 9PM in the Kay Center at American University.

If you’re a student at AU, this coincidences nicely with the weekly Gathering service on your campus. But we’re also opening this up to a wider audience. If you attend one of the other Gathering campuses or live in the District and want to mark an historic day in the life of America with a time of prayer, communion and reflection, we would love to have you join us as well.

If you have any questions about this event, email Josh.

Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

John

One of the things I like to do at the beginning of a semester is write down what a friend of mine has started calling a “No Regrets List.” Think of it as your goals for the semester or think of it as an insurance policy against regret.

To me, there’s nothing worse than looking back at a semester and realizing you didn’t accomplish what you wanted to at the outset. It’s funny – we’re really good at that kind of reflection, after the fact. But we struggle to do it in advance; otherwise known as goal setting.

So, here’s my challenge to you. Spend some time this weekend working on a “Spring ’09 No Regrets List.” Write out the things that need to happen in the next four months for you to land in the middle of May with no regrets. Think as broadly as possible – academically, physically, spiritually, morally, emotionally, relationally, personally. Your mind might jump to accomplishments or bad choices you don’t want to repeat. You might be thinking about jobs, times with the Lord, classes, going to the gym, you name it. Write it all out.

It’s amazing how helpful it is to have goals written in front of you. It gives you something to refer to over the semester and do a little self evaluation along the way.

Live with NO REGRETS!