We’re going to be wrapping up our Simply Love series at The Gathering this week and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do with each one of these nights.  I’m trusting Him to do something pretty amazing as we come together.  I’ve been really challenged and encouraged as I’ve prayed and studied and written the message for this week.  The title is simple.  ”Why Does God Love ME?”  For the first three weeks of the series, we’ve been talking about our love for God.  This week, we’re going to focus on His love for us.  If you’re already a follower of Christ, you’ll find it really encouraging.  But it’s also a great week to invite your friends who are not yet following Jesus.  Be praying about that and be a little bold in inviting people to join us for The Gathering.

We’re also going to be taking communion together at the end of the night.  Every time we get to take communion together as a community, it’s amazing.  God uses it so powerfully to remind us of the glory of the cross and the hope of an empty tomb.

I can’t wait to see you guys this week.

For His Fame,

John

It’s Monday morning and the pressure is on, right?  I’m spending a few quiet minutes at home right now, but I know there is a flood of emails, phone calls, meetings, decisions, people and sermons waiting for me at the office.  Maybe your day will be defined by classes, papers, reading, jobs, meetings, practice or something all together different.  But my guess is most of us feel like we have no chance of keeping up with all of the demands on our time today.  That’s a perfect recipe for frustration, temptation and bitterness.

Thank God Jesus shows us a way out:

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’” – Mark 1: 35-37

By the way, “everyone” was the whole village of Capernaum.  They were all looking for a miracle, a healing, something from this man who could do what no one else could.  Talk about pressure.  A whole village wanting you – and wanting it all right now.  That’s more intense than my inbox, even on a busy Monday!

Look at Jesus’ response:

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” – Mark 1:38

Let’s go somewhere else?!?  What?  They’re looking for you here!  They need you here.  They want you here.  They’re waiting.  We need to go back into town.  You’re going to get in trouble if you don’t.

But look at the end of the verse.  Jesus knew not only what the crowd wanted that day but also what His Father in Heaven wanted Him to do that day.  And He chose to do exactly what God had called him to do.  An excuse for laziness?  No way – He spent His day preaching in another village.  But rather than be driven by the clamor of the immediate, He followed the will of His Father.

It’s easy to find out what the crowd wants.  Just check your voicemail, syllabus, calendar, to do list and email.  But are you willing to find the quiet you need to determine what God wants?

My prayer for all of us is that we would follow God and not the crowd.  He’ll give us strength for what He’s called us to do – not for what the crowd wants us to do.

The Gathering Podcast is up and running and has claimed its own little place in the wonderful world of iTunes.  If you want to subscribe to get Gathering talks delivered automatically to your iPod, just click here.  Messages will still be available to download on our website as well.  Hopefully this will help you stay connected when you can’t make it to a Gathering.  It’s also a great thing for your friends studying abroad.  So, take a minute to subscribe to The Gathering Podcast today.

Matt Walkley has become such a huge part of what God is doing through The Gathering and Frontline these days.  We all know him as an amazingly gifted worship leader and musician but those gifts draw their strength from his very real love for Christ and desire to see the church truly worship and not just sing.  Leading with Matt means a lot to me personally and I’m really grateful he took a risk and got involved with The Gathering.

Recently, Matt has been having some trouble with his voice.  I want to share what’s going on so that you can join me in prayer for him.  This past Thursday, Matt’s doctor confirmed that he has a hemorrhaging polyp on his vocal cords.  While things could have been much worse, it’s still a pretty serious thing, especially for a vocalist.  It’s basically a growth that’s started to bleed in his throat – no way to sing with that!  The doctors are doing a great job of treating Matt and we’re confident he’ll make a full recovery.  But he won’t be able to sing until October 15th at the earliest.  You’ll still see Matt around – he wants to keep leading by playing guitar and pouring into our bands.  But when you don’t hear him singing, you’ll know why – he’s on vocal rest!

Matt leads all of us in worship and serves with all of his strength.  It’s time for us to serve him for a while by praying for him.  My prayer is that God would use this time to heal Matt’s voice completely and return him to full strength as soon as possible.  I know your prayers mean a lot to Matt, so I hope you’ll take seriously the privilege we have of being able to pray for one of our leaders as he walks through a difficult time.

By the way, Matt being on vocal rest makes the office much quieter!!

See you at The Gathering this week,

John

One year ago today, I left America with five friends on a journey that would take us to the East African nation of Rwanda.  It was one of those trips that would change my life and, as I sit here this morning, the beautiful people of Rwanda are very much on my mind.  It’s hard to think that something as horrific as genocide could occur in a place so breathtaking.  It’s hard to believe that the people I met witnessed more horror in three months than, Lord willing, I will see in a lifetime.  It’s hard to believe that hope could arise from the ashes of massacre and the bleakness of utter depravity.  But it is.

The body of Christ is alive and well in Rwanda today.  The church there is led by some of the most courageous pastors I’ve ever met.  They’re humble, they serve with all the strength God provides and they love their flocks.  They inspire me more than I can say.  They remind me that God’s church is global.  There are people in every corner of the globe worshipping Jesus.  And the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

Maybe this weekend you could find some time to pray for the people of Rwanda, for their pastors, their churches, their health and abolition of hate not only in their country but in the world.

The theme for the week seems to be beautiful worship born out of real difficulty.  Yesterday morning I posted a few simple reflections on Tuesday night’s Gathering and then happily went about my day.  Right up until 5PM.  That would be when our Mason campus director, Brett, called to mention that we had a small problem.  The room we had reserved (the one we are ALWAYS in!) had been reassigned for the night.  Funny thing – no one ever told us that, so we were caught a little off guard.  Here’s one of those simple church rules – you don’t want to move the location of your service on 4 hours notice!!  But our production team blew it up and made it work.  A series of Facebook, text, email and twitter messages helped redirect a bunch of people to the new room and we had people in place at the normal room to redirect those who didn’t get the message. Ah…problem solved.

But…let’s talk about the new venue for a minute.  It has two sections.  One, a completely run down, decommissioned food court and the other an amazing outdoor patio that fits a couple hundred people.  Obvious choice, right?  Outside we went – especially since rain wasn’t in the forecast!!  We had an amazing time of worship.  The first half of the talk went well.  And then it started to rain.  Church rule #2 – rain and sound equipment don’t have the best of relationships.  I had never started a talk outside and half way through asked a whole crowd of people to grab their chairs and move inside with me.  I have now.

A disaster?  Not even close!  We finished up the night inside and closed with one final song of worship.  No band.  No amplification.  Nothing other than voices and one guitar.  As we stood there singing, I couldn’t help but marvel at the lengths God had gone to in reminding all of us that it’s not about songs and bands as much as it’s about worship.  I love worshipping with our bands leading.  But you don’t need a band to worship.  Just a heart that loves God!  It ended up being this beautiful night.

So, I can’t wait for tonight at UMD.  I’m excited…and a little nervous!

Last night got off to a really rough start at AU.

I know that might seem like a surprising way to start a blog post – there seems to be an unwritten rule among church leaders that we can only blog and tweet about the AMAZING, the STUNNING or the FANTASTIC.  Don’t get me wrong, I love celebrating what God does on a daily basis.  And we should walk into life and ministry expecting to be amazed.  After all, we are following a King with all authority and unrivaled power.  But there are rough patches and there’s value in talking about those too.

Ever have an hour and a half window of time where it feels like everything that could go wrong does?  Welcome to 7.15 – 8.45 last night at AU.  I don’t want to overstate it – we didn’t have some sort of cataclysmic meltdown.  But key members of our production team were out town.  DC traffic was especially disgusting putting half of our band about 45 minutes behind schedule.  We had many volunteers who couldn’t make it.  And everything just seemed to be taking forever.  Those who were there were a sweaty mess (something about the AC also having a rough night!) and working like crazy to pull the night together.  And I was getting a little frustrated – I had such high hopes for the night and it seemed like that was all out the window.  Ever been there?

It’s in moments like last night that the promises of the Bible come alive.  I couldn’t get Romans 8:11 out of my mind, nor did I want to.  Here’s its promise, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”  That shifts the conversation completely, doesn’t it?  The same Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is alive in me.  And in you if you are a follower of Jesus.  That flips even the worst of nights on its head.

Our band and I spent a few minutes praying over this verse and the night.  And when we opened the doors, everything felt different.

By the way, more students came to The Gathering at AU last night than have come all year.  They were so engaged in worship and the talk.  And as we left last night, it was with a feeling that God had done some major work in the hearts of students.  Something supernatural and powerful happened in that room.  I can’t help myself – it really was AMAZING.

I guess I’m writing this as much as a reminder to myself as anyone else.  Serving and leading in the church can get rough at times.  But don’t throw in the towel.  Don’t write the night off.  Don’t get discouraged.  Trust.  Believe.  Hope.  Lean into the power of Christ.  Expect.  Persevere.  And watch God work.  I know I can always use that reminder.  If it helps you too, FANTASTIC!

Not sure what your plans are for tonight, but I’m hoping they include the Passion2010 Live Link at 8.30PM eastern time.  All you need to be a part of it is the ability to get to a computer, go to Passion’s site and worship with thousands of university students around the globe.  It’s really that simple.  But don’t login thinking you’re just going to watch some “worship webcast.”  Come with the expectation that you’ll be challenged and inspired, that you’ll worship and you’ll logout at the end of the night with a renewed drive to reach the campuses of DC with the message of Jesus Christ.  By the way, I’m thinking it would be pretty cool to get a few of your friends together and experience the live link in a group.

I’ll be logged in with you guys at 8.30 PM – hope to see you there!!

John

Every night this week at The Gathering, the messages have ended with an opportunity for students who were not yet followers of Christ to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time.  There were at least 11 students who embraced God’s offer of forgiveness, rescue and new life.  Salvation is the greatest miracle any of us will ever witness and I’m sitting here this morning in awe of what God has done and very much thinking about those 11 new followers of Jesus on the university campuses of DC.  I don’t know if any of them are regular blog readers.  But if they are, this is what I would write to them this morning:

To the 11 of you,

You come from such different backgrounds.  Your universities are very different and your stories are each unique.  Yet, you now hold something stunningly miraculous in common.  You are now brothers and sisters in Christ, part of the beautiful reality we call the church.  When you think about God, I pray you think of a Father who loves you, who knows you, who is proud of you and who delights in you.  When you think Jesus, I pray you think friend, Savior, anchor of hope and Risen King.  When you think Holy Spirit, I pray you think hope of glory, counselor, helper and breather of life.

You are forever different now.  Consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God.  Heaven is yours as sure as Jesus rose from the grave.  For you, death is no longer the end.  It’s a beginning – the beginning of an eternity with the God who loved you even as He was crushed for your sins on the cross.  When you’re not afraid of death, life becomes reach and full of possibilities.

I pray joy fills your life this morning.  You’re free – no guilt, no shame, no condemnation.  Only the love of your God.  But I also pray you’re filled with a resolve to contribute to the church.  I pray you want your life to make a difference.  I pray you will live the rest of your days to make the name of Jesus great in our world.  Give much.  Laugh often.  Love freely.  Celebrate life.

It must all seem so new to you right now.  Enjoy that.  Don’t let the wonder fade.  And know there are a lot of people praying for you even as you read these words.

Go enjoy the life God has purchased for you.  And thanks for letting us all be there the moment you were changed forever.

Your brother in Christ,

John

We’re starting a new series this week at all of our Gatherings called “Simply Love.”  It’s a four week look at what it means to love God and why so many of us struggle to do something so simple.  It’s a series for people looking to understand what a relationship with Jesus is all about and it’s a series for people who are looking to recapture the passion for God they once enjoyed.  Wherever you are in a relationship with God, I think you’re going to find this series challenging, inspiring and life changing.  I know that seems like a lot to expect, but why would we expect anything less from God’s Word?  Writing these messages has had a huge impact on my life and I can’t to see how God is going to use them in yours.

It’s been an amazing four and a half year ride since The Gathering did our first weekly service at American University.  I still remember that frigid, snowy January day when we showed up on campus wondering what God was going to do with this whole thing.  It would certainly be safe to say He has done “exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.”  (Eph. 3:20)

For all He’s done, I couldn’t help but think of that first on campus Gathering as I stood in the Kay Center this past Tuesday night.  It hit me in one bittersweet moment – none of the students who were there for that first worship experience are still undergrads.  Sure, many have stayed involved in The Gathering as small group leaders and coaches.  But not students.  We’ve already experienced 100% plus turnover at AU and the same story isn’t too far in the future for Mason or UMD.

I mention that for two reasons.

One, it’s a pretty massive leadership challenge.  That’s honestly one of the reasons I love college ministry.  Where else do you get to lead a church or a movement that must completely reinvent itself every four years?  Innovation, new risks and fresh ideas are built into the rhythm of a college ministry.  Of course, those opportunities come with the challenge of needing to constantly develop new leaders, ensure some kind of continuity and keep everyone focused on the vision. It’s the best leadership challenge I can imagine.

Two, it’s evidence of God’s grace to the church He purchased with His Son’s blood.  I’m often filled with this sense that there’s absolutely no human way to explain why this thing we call the church works.  It’s illogical, countercultural and shocking at it’s very core.  Yet, it continues to grow, to shape the world and to change the lives of ordinary people like you and me.  More and more, I see leadership turnover is a reminder that the church isn’t built on the shoulders of leaders – it’s built on the promises of Jesus.  It’s built on the authority of the One who said He was going to build a church and the gates of hell would never prevail.

So, in the face of uncertainty and challenges, let’s keep our eyes fixed on Christ.  Whether they are leadership challenges in the church or personal struggles, our hope is the same.  His name is Jesus.

Prayer is by far the most important thing any of us can contribute to what God is doing on the university campuses of DC.  I’m so grateful for the students who have made a commitment to a Gathering prayer team on their campus.  Those of you who show up before every Gathering at 8.15 to pray are some of my personal heroes.  Your prayers are crucial and I value them so much.

There’s also a whole team of people who have signed up to get a regular prayer update email from me.  I just wrote this week’s installment and wanted to make sure you had the link to sign up if you’re interested in getting that email.  Just go to http://www.mcleanbible.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=57706 and fill out the form.  More than a way to stay connected, it’s a way to lay a spiritual foundation for everything God is doing through The Gathering.

Prayer matters.  God hears.  He moves.  Lives change.

Our production teams need you!  It takes a huge amount of effort to pull together a Gathering service and we’re always looking for extra students to help out.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any experience at all, we’ll teach you everything you need to know.  We need help with load-in and load-out, setting up the stage and lighting and creating a focused environment each week.  If you’re interested in helping out, you can just show up at 7PM whichever night The Gathering meets on your campus.  You can get more info. on our website (www.gatheringonline.org).

Here’s some pics of what our production teams do each week:

If you aren’t yet serving in The Gathering, this is a great way to get started – and it’s a really good time!