Tomorrow’s a big day for our friend Matt.  After two months of vocal rest, doctors have determined that Matt Walkley does need to have surgery to remove the polyp on his vocal cords.  That surgery is going to be happening tomorrow morning, December 1st.  I know it would mean a lot to Matt to go into that feeling your prayers.  I’m asking God to work through the doctors, to guide their hands, to give them focus and enable them to do their job tomorrow with excellence.  I’m praying for no complications.  I’m praying the Lord will bless Matt with a speedy recovery, protect his voice and return him to leading us all in worship by the beginning of the new year.

After the surgery, Matt is going to be unable to speak at all for at least a week.  Wow.  That’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?  I told Matt last night I’m not even sure how to pray for that!  As unusual as that time will be, I’m praying God uses it to pour much into Matt’s heart and fill Him with songs for the church, desire for Christ and a sense of joy in the midst of this trial.

Just wanted you to be able to join me and many others in praying for Matt tomorrow.

Traveling over the Thanksgiving weekend is pretty much guaranteed to produce a few good stories.  Let me take a minute to tell you my favorite, at least so far.

On Tuesday I was flying from Washington up to Syracuse to spend a few days with my family.  Rather than take the more expensive direct flight home, I decided to save some money and connect through LaGuardia.  Veteran travelers are already sitting up and asking the rhetorical, “what could possibly go wrong with that?!?”  Seems ripe with the potential for a delay, missed connection or something that would dampen my holiday cheer.  To make matters worse, when I got to the airport, I noticed the direct flight to Syracuse was leaving three gates down and 10 minutes before my connecting flight to NY.  Oh well.  I was in a good mood, determined to enjoy Thanksgiving and be unbothered.  Plus, I was saving money, had my iPod and not much to do when I got to Syracuse.  All good.

Then came the announcement.  My flight to LaGuardia was oversold!  They needed two people to take the bump.  In my world, you don’t play around with opportunities like that.  I bolted to the gate to sell my plan – just put me on that direct flight three gates down.  Your problem will be solved.  I’ll be happy.  And I’ll have one more travel success story to tell family and friends.  So obvious, right?  The gate agent loved it.  We were having a great time.  I think she really enjoyed meeting me.  Not sure.  But it seemed that way.

But then she got a little concerned.  Said it wasn’t going to work.  ”The computer won’t let me.”  She kept saying it should work.  I agreed.  But she kept saying something was wrong.  Not cool.  I proposed just walking me to the Syracuse flight and putting me on it.  No go on that.  Also a hand written note was suggested.  No go on that one either.  Also, no smile at that point.

Time to pray.  I prayed in my heart.  I reminded Jesus He had all authority in heaven and on earth.  Nearest I can tell that covers Dulles.  I prayed in His name.  I sang Him a song in my heart; my guess is that was His favorite part.  I reminded Him of what a long week I had endured – mainly telling people about Him, now that you mention it.  I wanted the direct flight.

And it didn’t happen.  Two people did get the bump.  Just not me.

Not happy.  As we were pulling away from the gate, LaGuardia decided to have a little ground stop.  That bought me 40 more minutes sitting on the runway in Dulles.  Seriously not happy now.  We ultimately took off, I got to LaGuardia just fine, saw the NYC skyline, caught my flight and got home on time.  Happy ending.

Here’s the funny part – and why I’ve dragged you through this whole story.  Remember that direct flight I wanted so badly?  It ended up getting stuck in Dulles until about 4.30!  I actually made it home earlier on the original plan.  When I heard that, my attitude shifted from being a little bent out of shape to “thank you Jesus, that I didn’t sit in Dulles for 4 hours!!”.

Should a story like that shape your theology?  No!  That’s what the Scriptures are for.  Does it mean you and I will never have a bad experience in life?  No way.  But for me, it was a reminder that God is good.  He knows what He’s doing.  He watches out for His kids.  And I need to trust Him a lot more rather than dictate what He should be doing to improve His God performance.

Long story.  Simple point.  Hope it helps.

During the taping of our Thanksgiving podcast, I may or may not have made insensitive comments about the attractiveness of our family dog. In an attempt to set the record straight, I’m introducing you to Riley. Cute? So ugly she’s cute? Or the third option…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqElR71mssI]

I’m headed to Passion2010 in January and would love to have you join me.  Why not take a minute over Thanksgiving to get registered?  Beat the December 1st price increase.

It feels very weird to be sitting in the kitchen on a Monday morning and not have any Gatherings to get ready for this week.  There’s definitely part of me that’s looking forward to resting this week and spending time with family and friends.  But I’m also going to miss you guys like crazy this week.  Wherever God takes you this week, I’m praying you have a great time, get some rest and reconnect with some of the people who matter most in life.  I can’t wait to see you next week.

Just to make sure nobody has that awkward “it’s 9PM, why is no one here?!?” moment:  There are no Gatherings this week!!

Happy Thanksgiving.

If you have not yet subscribed to The Gathering podcast (and from the subscriber list I’ve seen, the odds are really good you haven’t!!), this is the week to pay a visit to iTunes and remedy that little oversight.  Traditionally, we use The Gathering Podcast to share talks from our weekly worship experiences.  But this week we are charting new territory – a special edition podcast!!  Yes, I know – it’s almost too good to be true.  But in keeping with our current series, Home For The Holidays, I’m going to be doing a podcast from beautiful Syracuse, New York.  If all goes according to plan, it’ll be recorded right at Mom and Dad’s kitchen table.  Yes, we’ll be channeling all that is good about Thanksgiving into one short, special edition Podcast.  Would hate for you to miss the Thanksgiving joy.

Tomorrow is one of the really good days of the year for The Gathering and all of McLean Bible Church.  We’re going to be doing our annual Turkey Outreach and that means that, by God’s grace, we’ll be providing Thanksgiving meals to over 6,000 families here in the Washington DC area.  What a beautiful way to serve a city, to share the love of Christ and to begin Gospel focused conversations.  It’s what we’re meant to do as the body of Christ here on earth and I can’t wait to be a part of it.

All of our different Gathering campuses are converging at Daybreak tomorrow morning at 10.30 to distribute meals to the families of Lincoln Heights.  We’re praying that we will not only be able to be a practical blessing to that community but also deepen relationships with families we have been serving for years.  As an added bonus, the weather forecast says it’s going to be sunny and 60 tomorrow.  So, there’s really no reason for you not to join us at Daybreak tomorrow morning.  Hope to see you there!

I know many of you have been praying consistently for Matt Walkley, one of The Gathering and Frontline’s worship leaders, since he went on vocal rest at the end of September.  The hope had been that a few weeks without singing would be enough to heal Matt’s vocal chords.  But as the fall has unfolded, it’s become increasingly clear that Matt is going to need surgery.  Doctors confirmed that at the end of last week and just earlier today Matt’s surgery was scheduled for December 1st.  Lord willing, it’s a minor procedure.  But when you’re a singer and someone is operating on your vocal chords, it’s a tricky situation.

I had lunch with Matt earlier today and he’s walking into all of this with amazing faith and hope.  At the same time, I know how much he would appreciate your prayers over that surgery and his recovery.  I’ve said it before, but Matt is such a blessing to our community.  In some ways, it’s great for us to be able to bless him in the days ahead by praying for mercy over this season.  I really hope you’ll join me in praying for my friend.

I know 3 minutes doesn’t seem like a long vacation and I will be the first to say it’s no substitute for a week at the beach.  But there is something really good about these most micro of vacations.  Our days can get so busy: crammed with stuff to do, people to talk with, places to go and projects to move forward.  The whole thing can feel overwhelming if we aren’t careful.  Add into that the wave of emails, phone calls, texts and Facebook messages we’re assaulted with daily and the problem only gets worse.

So, I’ve started to look for little windows of time, literally three minutes, where I can push back from the whole thing and just sit quietly with God.  The funny thing is, I’ve come to love these little breathers, as short as they are.  There’s something so good about walking away from the computer and phone, shutting my door and just sitting there for a few minutes.  Sanity leaks back into my thinking and joy creeps back into my soul.

About a month ago, I decided I would look for five of those little windows a day.  Nothing special about five – I just figured I had to have 15 minutes a day to devote to this little project.  By the way, I don’t care who you are, you have 15 minutes a day as well – especially if you’re only looking for 5 three minute chunks of time!!  I’ve found that those 15 minutes, used well, make a huge difference in my day.

Try it.  You just might enjoy it as much as I do.

There’s something special about this time of year.  Our culture embraces the holidays as a time of warmth, of joy and of peace.  But for many of us, it’s also a pretty stressful time.  A lot of that stress comes from difficult conversations we know we’re going to have with our families.  “Home for the Holidays” is a three week series from The Gathering dealing with the three most difficult conversations we have with our families.

Here’s what we’re going to be talking about:

Week 1:  “No, I Don’t Know Yet…”  This week we’re talking about the questions that come about our future.  Do you know what you’re doing this summer?  Are you dating any one?  Have you picked a major?  What are you doing after graduation?  How are you going to pay back your loans?  Great questions.  But what do you do when you don’t know the answer to any of them?

Week 2: “No, I Am Not Crazy…” What do you do when everyone at home thinks you’re crazy for taking your faith so seriously?  Maybe they think it’s crazy that you follow Christ at all.  Maybe your friends just think you’re weird for not doing some of the stuff you used to do.  People are going to challenge your faith.  How do you respond?

Week 3: “So, my break was pretty rough…”  This isn’t a conversation we have over the break.  It’s the one we have when we get back to campus in January, reconnect with our Christian friends and deal with the spiritual mess that was break.  It’s so easy to fall away from God while we’re away from campus.  How do you prevent that?

I’m really excited to start this series tonight at AU and next week at Mason and UMD.    Wanted you to have the graphic now so you can start tossing it around Facebook, Twitter and any place else you would like!

I’ve been a little obsessed with questions of culture recently.  Just ask any of my friends or really anyone who’s gotten near me these past few weeks – they’ve all gotten trapped in some long, winding conversation about culture.  Church culture, that is.  Specifically, The Gathering’s culture.

I have to say, it’s awkward at times trying to pinpoint the culture of something you are so near.  There are things I’ve thought to be part of our culture that people have convinced me really aren’t.  There are things I thought weren’t true of us that probably are.  There’s much to celebrate in what God has done through this tiny ministry in the last almost five years.  And there are areas where He’s calling us to more – more community, more love, more relationships, to name just a few.

I think I know where the awkwardness comes from.  It’s a simple reality I talk about often with other ministries and teams: churches adopt the personalities of their leaders.  I could fill this post with caveats and nuances to that principle but that’s not my point this morning.  My point is this – I see so much of myself (my strengths and weaknesses both) lived out in The Gathering.  Everything I want to change about The Gathering, I need to change in myself first.

Please don’t take this post the wrong way – I’m not in some tailspin of self doubt and I don’t think The Gathering is an awful place.  I’m just a little introspective this weekend.  But that’s a good thing.  You have to know where you’re headed in life.  But you also need to know where you are now.  Praise God that He’s the one that closes the gap between the two!

I love The Gathering.  I dream of more.  For me.  For you.  For us.  And I absolutely believe God for all of it.  He is able!

We are incredibly blessed by the team of musicians and worship leaders who give direction to each of our Gathering worship experiences.  I love getting to spend so many nights of my week worshipping with this amazing team of musicians on campuses all over DC.

As we continue to grow, we are always looking for new musicians who have an interest in joining one of our bands.  If you are interested in playing on your campus, we are offering auditions this coming Saturday, November 7th.  We’ll be holding the auditions at our Tyson’s campus throughout the day.  If you’re interested, the first step is filling out our online application at http://www.frontlinedc.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=81218.  Once you submit that application, a member of our Creative team will contact you to schedule a time.  It’s really that simple.

If this is something you’re interested in, I hope you’ll take the risk and come in for an audition.