If you’re looking for something to do this Friday night, join me and a bunch of The Gathering staff at The ComCast Film Festival in Old Town Alexandria.  We’re going to hit up The Blindside.  If you haven’t seen it, you should.  If you have seen it, you know you want to see it again.

Think big, outdoor movie.  Think summer.  Think fun.  Think good chance to hang out with some friends from The Gathering.  Think free!!

We’re getting there at 7PM.  You can come with a group or just meet us there.  We’ll be the ones in a Gathering T-Shirt.

If you want more info, click here for the Facebook event we created.

Spending the day with our Gathering and Daybreak teams in Lincoln Heights. A little yard work, a little cleaning and a lot of time with some awesome kids. Great day – just praying for the energy to keep up with 9 year olds!!

I’m headed to both Atlanta and Ft. Worth this year.  Would love to see you at one of those weekends.  We are going to be organizing students from The Gathering to go to Atlanta in January but I’m guessing a few of you will make a little Texas road trip in the spring.  Which ever one you’re headed to, register now!  Prices go up at the end of the day tomorrow.  So, grab your spot now at the lowest prices.

I get an allergy shot every week and, no, I don’t think that’s of any real interest to you other than it sets up the story I want to tell. Here it goes:

I’m walking out of the doctor’s office this morning when I hear what was an undoubtedly well meaning mother say the following to her young son.  ”God is watching you!  Don’t you want to make Him proud?” To which the kids replies in a sad little voice “yes” prompting Mom to finish the exchange with, “well, then go pick up that trash you threw on the ground.”  What?!?!?

Thank goodness I was already running late for a meeting.  Everything in me wanted to pivot and scream “no, no, no, no, no!” at the top of my lungs.  You tracking with why I was so bothered?  It’s not that I think littering is cool.  Get the kid to pick up his trash.  But don’t tell him God won’t be proud of him unless he does.  Probably with the best of intentions, this lady just painted a picture of God as this capricious, angry, fickle little figure in heaven who gets ticked off when people do anything even the least bit off.  You’ve got to earn His love, keep Him happy and do everything right or He won’t be proud of you.  It’s a total denial of grace and the Gospel.

Praise God that He shows us mercy.  Praise God there is forgiveness.  Praise God He loves no matter what.  Praise God He declares us righteous and remembers our sins no more.  Sure, He disciplines us.  Sure, He continues to hate sin.  But you are loved by God no matter what. Praise God for Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I wish I had been able to celebrate grace with that Mom this morning.  Missed the chance.  But you and I can celebrate the mercy of the cross in our hearts all day long.

So, it’s Spain vs. The Netherlands on Sunday for the World Cup Finals.  If you haven’t yet figured out where you’re going to be watching from, we want to invite you to come watch it with The Gathering at MBC’s Tyson’s Campus.  The match starts at 2.30 and we’ll be there until right before Frontline.  We’re going to put the match on the screens in The Rock Lounge and enjoy.  We’ll have some snacks there for you.  Pretty sick place to watch from and you’ll get to hang out with a bunch of other students from The Gathering.  You don’t have to sign-up in advance but it would be really helpful to us if we knew how many people were coming. So, if you can RSVP on the Facebook event, that would be awesome.  Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/9OASum

Oh, and let me just say now….VAMOS ESPANA!!

This one’s just for the women of The Gathering.  If you’re in town this summer, Natalie Bingham is hosting a women’s dessert tomorrow night at Georgetown.  It’s a great chance to meet some of the other women from The Gathering, enjoy a summer evening together and walk away encouraged.  Becca Wagner from our AU Gathering is going to be sharing a devotional for the night.  If you want more information or want to sign up, please go to gatheringonline.org.

Today’s been a crazy busy day but I had to break away from a seemingly endless string of meetings just to say how much I’m looking forward to tonight’s study in the Book of Joel.  I love the thought of college students coming together in 5 different locations around the city to study God’s Word.  All of tonight is built around one central idea – the faithfulness of God.  He’s faithful to Israel, to His promises, to His character and to His plans.  That faithfulness may not always play out the way we would like it to but it always plays out for our good.  No matter where you are in life, the faithfulness of God is great news. It’s what we’re going to be looking at tonight.  And I can’t wait.  So, make your way to a study at 7.30 tonight.  You’ll be glad you did.

There’s always a whole bunch of new interns that show up in DC over the 4th.  If that’s you, welcome to the nation’s capital! You picked a pretty good weekend to come discover DC!! If you’re looking to connect with The Gathering this summer, the best thing you can do is add yourself to our summer mailing list. Or maybe you’ve been around DC for awhile but have never joined this list. Either way, do it…takes about a minute. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/cp1cvo

If you were with us this past Tuesday night for our Prayer & Worship night, you know what I mean when I say, WOW!!!  When we first started to pray and dream about that night, we had absolutely no idea what to expect or how God would move.  On Tuesday night we experienced a corporate reminder of the beautiful promise of Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”  God did so much more than we asked or, frankly, had the vision to imagine.  Powerful times of worship, honest times of prayer, the whole thing centered on a cross.  It was amazing.

So, on the heals of Tuesday night, you can imagine how happy I am to announce our next worship Gathering for the summer on Tuesday, August 3rd.  We’ll meet at 8PM at MBC’s Tyson’s Campus.  We’re still working on a room – we may need a larger space after the overwhelming response this week.  But for now, please mark your calendars for the 3rd.  We’ll be doing our regular Tuesday night Bible studies on campuses around the city every Tuesday between now and then.  But we’ll all be together again on August 3rd.  More to come, but for now I’m just excited to think about what God can do in all of us on the 3rd.

It’s pretty cool to look at this ad and think that in a few short weeks, it will be landing in American University’s campus guide book.  Don’t get me wrong – I think our graphics team did a great job and it looks pretty sweet.  But what I really love is it’s potential to impact people’s lives.  I’m praying today for the freshmen who will see this in the end of August.  I pray the Holy Spirit would use a simple ad to stir curiosity and bring them to The Gathering.  That’s not a prayer about packing the Kay Center for the sake of a crowd.  That’s a prayer about impact, lives changed, hope awakened and the church growing.  Maybe you would be willing to pray along the same lines with me today?

Summer Update #1 from John McGowan on Vimeo.

This is a unique volunteer opportunity for any of you 25 or older. From time to time, we need to provide transportation for students to events, retreats, etc… We normally use vans or small shuttle buses from MBC. You don’t need any special license or training to drive them but our insurance requires you to be 25 or over. The Gathering has many things…but people over 25 are in short supply! If you would be willing to drive for us occasionally, please email natalie.bingham@mcleanbible.org. Nat will get you set up with everything you need.

Let me keep this simple: a bunch of us from The Gathering are going to play paintball this Saturday and you should come with us!!  There.  Any questions?  Well, probably a few.  Let me see if I can help:

When? This Saturday.  June 26th.  Meet at the MBC parking deck at 10.30 on Saturday morning.  We’ll have you back by 4.00PM at the latest.

Cost? $25.  That’s a crazy discount, gear and lunch are included.

What Do I Wear? Long pants and a long – sleeve shirt are highly recommended.  Yes, it’s hot but it’s worth it.

What Will We Do? We’ll get there about 11.15, get you all set-up and ready for the day.  We’ll play for about 2 hours, grill out and head back to the church.

Need To Sign-up? Yes.  Just click here.

This one came from Mike Juday, “Are we allowed to play ‘shoot your pastor’”? I have no idea why he asked.  Or why I said yes.  I may regret that one!!

Here’s my last comment for the day.  We have more women signed up than men.  Nothing wrong with that, but come on, guys…I want to see you out there.

Any other questions, leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted to this blog.  Hope you’ll cut me some slack – I’ve been busy marrying an incredible woman and enjoying a week with her on the beach!  Laura and I are back in DC now and so happy to be slowly reentering the “real world” together as husband and wife.

As I was thinking of what to post today, I realized I didn’t need to go beyond the front page of our wedding program.  At the bottom of that panel was a simple verse, “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Ps. 126:3).  That’s what was in our hearts as we stepped into marriage a little over a week ago and it’s very much carrying me today.  God has been kind and we are filled with joy.

That’s an easy truth to lift up on your wedding day.  Harder on an average Monday that my have followed a mediocre weekend.  But no less true.  Our God is good and has done great things for us.  We don’t have to look any further than the cross of  Christ to know that’s true.  If you can’t find anything else to celebrate today (and I still bet you can!), that’s more than enough to bring joy – the King of all kings has rescued us from ourselves and our fate and called us into His Kingdom.  Amazing.

Laura and I love you guys and can’t wait to walk through the coming years with you.  We’re believing God for much during this summer and on campus this fall.  We’re looking to Him to unleash a movement on the campuses of DC that makes the name of the Son of God famous.  We’re asking Him for it.  And we’re praying for the grace to experience it with all of you.

Thanks for your prayers over the past week.  God has done great things for us.  And we are filled with joy.

Believing For More,

John

The Gathering is hosting a prayer and worship night on Tuesday, June 29th at our Tyson’s Corner campus. It’ll get started at 8PM.

This is going to be in place of our regularly scheduled Tuesday night Bible. I know it’s going to mean a little bit of travel for some of us but it’s going to be worth it to have all of us together in one place.

Nick Jones and our Gathering band are going to be leading and I’ll guide our times of prayer with some of the others on our Gathering team. I really feel like God is calling us to set aside this night to worship Him and seek Him in prayer – the whole idea comes out of the Book of Joel were studying this summer.

We’ll be getting more info to you and promoting this time throughout the month of June but I wanted you to be able to mark your calendars now and start inviting friends to join us.

It’s going to be a powerful night and I can’t wait to experience it with all of you.

For Christ’s Fame.
John