One of the highlights of my day today was spending time with our Gathering small group leaders.  It felt so good to be back with old friends, to reflect on the past year and to dream about the future.  I definitely left that time with the sense that this was a group of leaders that God could use in amazing ways.

It also felt really good to talk out loud about something our team has been carrying for some time.  I’ve been praying for awhile about what seems like a ridiculously ambitious goal. So, here it is:

We’re trusting God to create 50 life-changing small groups that meet every week on the university campuses of DC.

Just dream for a minute about the impact those groups would have on the universities of DC.  It’s stunning and inspiring.

I’m mentioning all of this for two reasons:

1.  Please be praying that the Lord brings us to this goal quickly.  Honestly, we would love to have all of those groups in place by the start of the fall semester.

2.  One of our biggest needs on the road to that goal is small group leaders.  If that’s something you’re interested in, we would love to talk with you more.  You can start the conversation by filling out an application online and then a member of our team will schedule an interview with you.

These groups are essential to our mission in The Gathering and I can’t wait to see how God brings them to life.

Last Saturday, a whole group of students from The Gathering went to serve in the Lincoln Heights Community through Daybreak Ministries.  Daybreak is a tremendous organization that reaches the kids of Lincoln Heights for Christ.  I think it would be fair to say the students who went to Daybreak on Saturday absolutely loved it, started to catch the vision for what God doing there and felt drawn to be a part of His work in ways that didn’t expect.  If you were there, you know what I mean.  If you missed it, that’s okay because there are so many other ways you can get involved in Daybreak.

Throughout most of the summer, Daybreak hosts missions teams from around the country who help keep the ministry of Daybreak operating and serving the kids.  But all of those teams leave town on Thursdays; leaving Daybreak incredibly short handed on Fridays, including tomorrow.  If you have a heart for kids, a desire to be used by God and a free Friday, I would love to see you give one or more Fridays of your summer to the work of God at Daybreak.  If that’s something you’re interested in, email my friend Becky at Daybreak and she’ll get you connected.

I hope you’ll think about it.

John

Not sure if you have plans for tonight or not; but if you’re in DC, you should think about coming to the Nats game with The Gathering.  We’ve got a whole group headed down tonight to watch the Nats take on the Red Sox.  Not sure how the night is going to go for the Nats – I have a guess, but let’s not get into that!  But it’s going to be a good night for The Gathering.  It’s beautiful outside and going to the game is a great way to connect with some of the people you see every week at our summer Bible studies.  If you want in, email Natalie – she’ll give you information on where and when to meet up with our group.

It’s been great to have Lon Solomon, MBC’s Senior Pastor, teach at Frontline this past weekend.  He’s been applying Hudson Taylor’s great quote “God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply” to the church today.  Very powerful stuff – if you missed it, be sure to listen to the podcast.

As part of his talk, he’s been asking people to commit to focused prayer for our church and leaders.  I want to ask you to do the same.  If you are interested in getting regular Gathering prayer requests from me, please click here.  You can sign-up online (and make the commitment to pray for others as well) and I’ll send you regular prayer requests and updates on how God is answering your prayers.

I simply can’t tell you how much your prayers mean to me, our staff and the work God is doing through The Gathering.  It might seem small to you, but it’s huge to us…and to God.  So, please, take a minute to click on the link above and make that commitment.

It wasn’t all that long ago that a member of our staff team told me I had the attention span of a fruit fly.  I’m not 100% sure but I’m going to assume that’s pretty short.  I’m also going to acknowldge that her characterization of me is pretty accurate.  I’m fairly sure that if I was in grade school today, I would be labeled ADD.  For all I know, I was when I was in school and my parents never mentioned it – or they did and I forgot.  But either way, I struggle to stay focused.

I used to beat myself up for that – I thought I needed to be able to sit still and work without a break for hours on end.  The day seemed like this marathon of concentration and I ended up pretty frustrated with myself on a regular basis.  Any one with me on this?

My new solution is to see the day as a series of sprints.  I can hold it together for about 2 hours and then I need a break.  Doesn’t have to be long – I mean, I don’t go watch a movie or anything.  But I do take a break – get up, make some calls, run to Starbucks, whatever.

I know that sounds so simple, but it’s helped me stay so much more focused and creative throughout the day.  Don’t know if that connects with the rhythm of anyone else’s life, but I thought I would share.

I’m really excited to go to work tomorrow.

Strange words, I know.  But very true.

It’s been nearly a month (actually, a little over in some cases) since the end of the semester on college campuses here in the DC area.  For me, this month has been a lot about reconnecting with friends, taking stock of the past year, resting, finding the bottom of my inbox and all kinds of long neglected projects.  It’s been a great month.  God has brought our summer Bible studies to life and is already working in ways we could never imagine to line things up for the coming year.

But tomorrow marks the start of two focused months of planning for the year to come, orienting some new members of our staff team and making sure we’re ready for everything God is going to do here in DC this fall.  I’m going to be spending all day tomorrow with The Gathering staff team outlining our staff objectives for the coming year.  It’s really our first step in the long march to welcome week.

Tomorrow our hearts start tipping towards the fall.  I know, I know…it’s still a long ways off and there’s much summer to be enjoyed.  I’m just mentioning it because I would love to get you praying for the fall now.  Maybe you could start by asking God to bless our team with wisdom as we meet tomorrow?

I’ve had the chance to be around Daybreak Ministries since it’s inception in 2001.  Such a cool story of how God used my friend Julia Harper to launch what we now know as Daybreak.  Julia had this amazing passion to reach the children of the Lincoln Heights Community in DC.  That was a really big deal since Lincoln Heights is a pretty tough place and hope for the future is hard to find.  But Julia followed God’s leading in her life and has been serving that community for the past 8 years.  Her dream and obedience to God have given rise to an after school program, a community center and Saturday outreaches that are changing the landscape of life in Lincoln Heights.

This summer, The Gathering is making a real investment in the mission of Daybreak.  You have no idea how much of a difference you can make with a few hours of your Saturday until you head down to Daybreak.  You also can’t imagine the difference it’s going to make in you, either.  So, here’s my challenge:  don’t let this summer slide by without spending at least one Saturday at Daybreak!  My guess is you’ll want to do more than one – but you owe it to yourself to head down at least once.

You can get a lot more information at either Daybreak or The Gathering‘s web sites.  But for now, see if you could get some of your friends to go to Daybreak with you on Satuday, June 20th.  We would need you down there from 11.30 am – 4.00 pm.  If that’s something you’re interested in, email Natalie – she’ll be able to give you directions, more info., etc..  It’s also a huge help to us to know how many of you are planning to be with us that day.

I really can’t wait to see how God can use a bunch of college students to move His agenda forward through Daybreak this summer.

I did two things earlier today that really bothered me:

1.  Paid some parking/speeding tickets

2.  Threw out some food that was well past the expiration date

As I was doing both, I had this strong sense of conviction.  It was almost as if I could hear God asking, “how much more of my money are you planning to waste?”  Ouch.  And the worst part is He’s got a fairly good point.  My struggles with DC traffic laws are nothing new – I like getting places quickly and don’t always have the time to read the fine print on the parking spots.  But I’ve never really stopped to think that each ticket is taking some of God’s money from things He cares about and sending it to various local governments who probably aren’t going to spend it in the most God glorifying way possible.

Even worse on the rotten food.  There are kids starving to death in the world even as I write these words.  I’ve held some of them in my arms this year – in both Africa and Haiti.  By the way, don’t think hunger is only an international question.  I know there are kids who went to bed hungry in DC last night.  And here I am pitching food because I was too lazy to eat it before it went bad!!  You’ve got to be kidding me.

So, I’m feeling this renewed focus on using God’s resources well.  I don’t want to waste any more of His money.  Maybe me sharing all of this with you will kick similar thoughts loose in your life.

God’s doing some really powerful things through our summer Bible studies.  There’s just something really encouraging about groups of students getting together in an interactive setting to be changed by God’s Word over the summer.  I loved my time at Georgetown this week and am already looking forward to the stories of what God is going to do next Tuesday night.  Speaking of next Tuesday, wanted to make sure you had the locations.  Pretty much unchanged from this week, but still worth the reminder!

-MBC: Newcomer Room in Main Lobby
-GMU: Gold Room in JC (lower level)
-GTown: ICC 216
-UMD: Thurgood Marshall Room in the Stamp
-AU: MGC 247

See on Tuesday night.

God has been amazingly kind these last two nights.  At both Frontline’s Tyson’s and Arlington campuses I’ve been able to speak about cultivating a fear of God in our hearts.  It’s been amazing to see how God has knit both of those experiences together each night leaving us at very different points.  On Sunday night, the talk became a springboard into the celebration of baptism and tonight we sat together in silence before our God.  They felt really different but I had a sense both nights that we were experiencing exactly what God wanted us to get out of our time with Him.

All I know is that God worked in my heart these past 24 hours to heighten a desire for Him, His Word and His presence.  I pray we could all experience that heightening in the days to come.