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I spend a good amount of my life in meetings — more than I would like, if I’m completely honest.  During all of my hours around a conference table, I’ve come to realize a few things.  One of the things I believe pretty strongly is that meetings are really similar to workouts on a treadmill.  And, no, I’m not using that as a way to take a cheap shot at meetings through the “they both are painful and never seem to end” comparison.

Here’s what I mean.  When you get on the treadmill, you get to pick which setting is going to control your workout.  Time is by far the most common – “I’m running for 30 minutes.”  But you can also use other settings – “I’m running 3 miles” or “I’m burning 400 calories”, for example.  To me, the time setting is less motivating.  The goal is just to hang in there for the agreed amount of time.  But the other settings are more goal oriented – you’re trying to accomplish something and when you do, you’re done.

Are more of your meetings controlled by the time setting or a goal oriented setting?  In my experience, most are controlled by the time setting – we’re sitting in this conference room for an hour because that’s what we do.  How much more fun if they were pointed at a goal – we need to make these three decisions and then we’re out of here.

I’m trying for more goal oriented meetings and few time defined meetings this year.

It’s hard to believe that it was already one month ago that a massive earthquake rocked the tiny island nation of Haiti.  What’s even harder to believe is how quickly the needs of the Haitian people have faded from so many minds.  Please don’t let that happen to you.  The needs in Haiti are still very real and very pressing.  The church still has an obligation to respond.  We are still called to show the love of Christ to the hurting, the broken and the desperate.

Keep Haiti in your mind, your heart and your prayers.

All week long, our Gathering team has been urging students in DC to use these snow days to serve their campuses, their neighborhoods and this city.  If you missed the video we shot earlier this week, you can check it out here to get the full idea.  Our heart was simple – use this time to serve people in the name of Christ so that His fame would grow, even in a blizzard.

Well, last night I got to make my contribution to that cause.  I was watching the local news late yesterday afternoon and heard that hospitals were in need of volunteers with four wheel drive vehicles to transport essential personnel.  Now that’s a perfect match for a guy from Upstate New York with an old SUV and a major case of cabin fever!  So, off I went.  Not going to lie, I felt pretty manly and it was pretty awesome!  But it also felt really good to serve.  People were so appreciative and it’s cool to think of the ripple effect – yeah, I just played glorified taxi for the night.  But the people I was serving had performed surgeries, delivered babies and helped the injured.  Love how our little efforts can be a part of something much bigger.

Wanted to post this for two reasons:

1.  Today’s another snow day.  I still want to encourage you to find ways to serve today.  There are so many out there if you just look for them.

2.  I never want to be the kind of pastor that urges people to serve, shoots a quick video and then goes and hangs by the fire while college students are outside freezing.  I’m in this with you guys and even though we didn’t get to serve alongside each other, we’re all pursuing the same thing.  Or maybe I should say we’re all pursuing the same One.

Allan and I are working from my kitchen today.  You better believe we’ll be praying for you and trusting God to inspire you to take action in some way today.

Go live for the fame of Jesus,

John

We might as well go 4 for 4 at this point…there is no Gathering service at UMD this week either since College Park has closed for the day tomorrow.

Honestly, can’t wait to have all of our campuses up and running at 100% next week.

Both Georgetown and George Mason Universities have closed for the day, canceling all classes and activities.  So, our Gatherings at both of those campuses are falling victim to the same fate as AU last night – canceled.  If you’ve been outside at all today or are near a window, that’s probably not much of a surprise to you, but we wanted to make sure you knew we were officially canceled for the night.

Our student leadership teams at both campuses are thinking about possible other activities — nothing major, maybe just getting together to watch a movie or something.  You can check the Facebook groups for both campuses for more information on what they come up with.  Here are the links for Georgetown and for Mason.

If you didn’t see yesterday’s video blog yet, check it out.  Would love to see groups of students all over this city serving in this time of need.

As for UMD tomorrow night, we’ll just wait and see.  If the university opens, we’ll meet.  If the university closes, we don’t.  Pretty simple.

Our team is praying for you guys and we can’t wait to see you all on campus again soon.

For Christ’s Fame,

John

If you’re an AU student, you already know that American University has closed for the day, canceling all classes and activities.  If you’ve been around The Gathering for any length of time, you know how I feel about canceling corporate worship gatherings — it absolutely kills me!  But when the University shuts down like this, there’s nothing we can do.  We wouldn’t be able to get into any non-residential buildings on campus.

So…tonight’s Gathering at AU is cancelled.

But, remember, The Gathering isn’t a worship event.  We’re a community of people loving Christ, serving a generation, growing into the image of Jesus and caring for each other along the way.  That doesn’t stop because of snow.  We’re still The Gathering and God still has things He wants to do tonight.  Who knows what that might look like – but I might check out The Gathering – AU’s Facebook group for some thoughts.

All of DC is snowed in. Classes are cancelled. What better way to celebrate than a special snow day edition of The Gathering Podcast?!?

It’s currently working it’s way to you through iTunes; but if you just can’t wait to listen, you can download it here: http://www.gatheringonline.org/2010/02/08/snow-day/

Some random thoughts for sure. But also something out of Ephesians that can really help shape today. Hope you enjoy it and are encouraged.

See you on campus this week!!

John

What a great weekend to be out of DC — until I came home to this. Even for a kid from Upstate New York, that’s a lot of snow!!

I can’t think of a better place to spend a snowy weekend than in Deep Creek, Maryland.  It’s an amazingly beautiful lake town in the mountains of western Maryland.  It’s a place I go often with groups from The Gathering and a place that holds a lot of meaning to me personally.  I’ve actually planned to head up there this weekend for a while now – the snow is just an added bonus!

Weekends like this are so important to me as a leader and pastor.  Life can get so busy.  It’s going to be awesome to shut my cell phone off, power down the computer, trust the Twitter world will hold up just fine without me and pull the plug on the tv.  I really want a weekend alone with God to think, to pray, to dream and to write.  It’s amazing what God will do with 48 hours when He has your full attention.

So, that’s my plan for the weekend.  Hope you all have a great weekend and survive the snow if you’re on the East Coast.  I’ll be back online Sunday or Monday.

Wanted to make sure you were aware that Passion has just made their “Passion2010 Digital All Access” pass available online.  For only $20, you can download several of the talks from Passion2010, some bonus songs and a photo album.  All of that and a soon to be released album from those amazing days in Atlanta.  If you click here, you’ll land in the right spot in the 268store to order the All Access Pass.

I don’t use this blog to push products.  But I have no problem using it to recommend resources that will grow your relationships with Christ.  So, it’s in that spirit that I say – GO GET THE ALL ACCESS PASS!!!

I have absolutely no idea how I first fell into this habit.  But when I have a million things to write or think through, I almost always find myself doing the same thing:  I find a really quiet and dark corner in the house (usually my room or the basement), sit on the floor, turn off as many lights as possible and do my best to meld with my Mac.  Funny things is, it works.  I think it’s related to shutting out distractions…or, it may be a sign of mental illness (if it is and you know which one, go ahead and leave a comment!).

One way or another, it’s what I’m doing right now.  I’m putting the finishing touches on our next series for The Gathering, working on plans for Haiti, hoping to answer emails and getting ready to send out a message to our Gathering prayer team.  So much to do.  Praying God will give me His words for the week and somehow those would flow from my heart and brain through my fingers onto a screen.

By the way, if you read this tonight, I would love it if you would pray for me as I write.