MySpace!

Yes, for those of you waiting with eager anticipation, the Gathering now has a MySpace page!
Check it out here.

Merry Christmas!

Hello everybody!
In case you missed it, the Gathering was graced by the one and only Trigger Stienbrenner this weekend. Not only did we get to spend time hanging out, but he preached as well. You could say that it was a Gathering Christmas treat.

Speaking of Christmas, don't forget that the Gathering will meet this Sunday at 11:00pm for our special Christmas Eve service. I get to see behind the scenes, so I can say with confidence that it will be a really good service. I look forward to worshiping with you.

Also, the Sunday after next (December 31st) is going to be quite the New Years Eve get together at the Gathering. We will have our regular worship service at 6:00pm, and then we will return to celebrate a new year begining at 9:00pm, taking it all the way to 2007 and beyond to 1:00am. This should be quite the happening place, so be sure to be here, and bring a friend or two!

I look forward to seeing you all!

God bless you and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

-Tim

Christ the King (The Advent Advent)

I am back on the blog hoping that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope that you were all as blessed as I was on Sunday night at the Gathering. I really felt God’s Spirit doing a work in us as he continues to lead us into the future.

Sunday night we focused on Christ who is our King, and King Herod who was afraid of losing power at the time when Jesus was born. King Herod worked hard and played his cards right to gain Roman authority to be the King of the Jews. So when Jesus was born and was called King of the Jews, Herod had all male children two years old and younger killed so that no one would be a threat to his throne.

And we, like Herod, love to be king. We love ruling over our own little kingdoms, and sometimes we don’t allow Christ to be king over certain areas of our lives because we don’t want to relinquish control. But the kingdom of Christ is one of life and wholeness and restoration, and we can experience breakthrough when we allow Christ to be king.

So as we enter this holiday season, let us always be reminded that unto us a child was born, an unlikely king who wants only to bring life as the kingdoms we set up for ourselves lead to destruction and sadness. This king, this Jesus, brings purpose and hope and life, and we can experience that if we would step down from the thrones we set up for ourselves and allow Jesus to be king.

God bless you all as you continue to pursue Christ.

See you next week at the Gathering!

-Tim

Persecuted Church

Evil is a problem for those of us who believe in God. We can object to evil on a level deeper than personal discomfort because we know a standard of morality and goodness in God, therefore, evil is a problem when we believe in God because we see it as such. Millions of Christians are persecuted and killed because of the evil that exists in the hearts of those who hate others based on their beliefs. For now we don't know why God continues to allow those who follow him to suffer and die at the hands of evil...yet. But there will come a day when we will truly know all of what Jesus meant when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13 NIV). And I can't help think that the blood of the martyrs is the final plea for salvation to the very ones who spill it, as Jesus' blood flowed from the cross as a message of love to those who crucified him.

The response we had this weekend was overwhelming. Thank you all for being so willing to participate in the service. God bless you, and don't forget to continue to pray for those around the world in prison, dying, and being persecuted for their faith in Jesus.

See you all next week at the Gathering.
-Tim

Heart for Others

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies...So death is at work in us, but life in you.(2 Corinthians 4:7-10,12 NRSV)

What an amazing verse. These words came from the heart of Paul, who knew what it meant to identify with Christ's sufferings. And he rejoiced in his suffering! What a maniac. Who would rejoice in suffering? Well...Paul did, and the end of that passage gives us insight into his mindset. He said, "Death is at work in us, but life in you." He was talking to the church that was in Corinth, and he was writing to validate his authority as an Apostle. One of the marks of his life was suffering (see 2 Corinthians 11:24-29), and Paul understood that because of his suffering, life was at work in people.

To preach the Gospel meant persecution. If there wasn't persecution, then the message of Jesus wasn't being preached. If the message of Jesus wasn't being preached, then people couldn't hear it, and if people couldn't hear it, then they couldn't respond, and if they couldn't respond, then they wouldn't be able to receive life through Christ. Therefore, Paul rejoiced in his sufferings because it meant that people were hearing the Gospel and had a chance to gain life in Christ.

Our fears often keep us from sharing the Gospel. But the promise of God is that though we might be persecuted (whether physically, intellectually, or culturally), we are never abandoned by God. Though the world might try to crush us, they can never destroy us even if they kill us because we have eternal life through Jesus.

So let us not be afraid. Let us do the work and share our faith however God is prompting us, with a friend, family member, coworker, or someone across the world, through words and through action. For our sacrifice and suffering, even awkward moments in conversation, means life is at work in those who hear. A good start is to invite people to the Gathering. How will they come if they are not invited?

God bless you all.
See you next week at the Gathering.
-Tim

Expressing Christ's Love to Others

Love from God.
Love from the truth about love found in the Trinity.
It is a love that is radically different than what is experienced in the world, and it is a love that is found in Jesus Christ.

There is a correlation between love and life. The Bible says, "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers"(1 John 3:14-15). So it is that when we withhold love from people we withhold life from people. But if we believe that perfect love exists in the Trinity, then that belief should impact the way we operate in the world and we should become people who express Christ's love to others, and thus share life.

The world, however, deals in counterfeit love. The world does not know love because it does not know God, or it has some sort of distorted view of God. And so it is that the world deals in something that is less than love, and is therefore less than life. We can look around and see life being taken every day as people use others to fill their empty concepts of self-centered love. But we have the opportunity as people who know true love in Christ to go into a dying world and share life through true love, love that seeks the good of the other in humility, and seeks no other reward than the joy of sharing love and life with others.

May we be that kind of community, and those kinds of people.

God bless you all,
See you next week at the Gathering!
-Tim

Pursuing Truth

The world did not recognize truth when truth came in the very flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. I believe it's because Jesus' life and teachings were so fundamentally different than what is experienced everyday.

The world is a marketplace of truth. People are buying and selling truth left and right, and people's views of truth and reality are constantly changing. Because of this, when people buy belief systems in the marketplace of truth, belief systems expire when the next latest and greatest cultural phenomenon hits the world, and people are forced to find a new version of the truth.

But there are two mistakes that people make about truth. The first is that people often get truth and experience mixed up. What I mean is, when I experience seeing a balloon float in the air, I shouldn't give up my belief in gravity simply because a balloon floats.

The second mistake is that people often think that their beliefs are individual and personal matters. The fact is, however, we cannot escape each other's versions of the truth. Your belief systems fundamentally impact the way you relate to me, and mine to you. Therefore, truth really is a corporate matter, even if you are the only one that believes a particular way.

We can go about dealing with truth in three different ways. First, we can have truth without faith. Truth without faith is basically believing something to be true, but doing absolutely nothing about it. Truth without faith makes absolutely no difference in life, and it is no different if the truth isn't even believed at all.

Second, we can have faith without truth. Faith without truth is acting upon a belief we know to be false. This happens more often than we would think. When we buy into the belief that buying the next greatest thing will bring us happiness, then we have faith without truth, because we act even though we know deep down that money or things won't bring us the kind of fulfilled life we are seeking.

Third, we can have faith and truth combined. Faith and truth combined is using our minds to pursue the truth, and acting accordingly. Sometimes we employ a little more faith, stepping out in boldness in what we know to be true about God, and sometimes we employ a little more truth, taking time to study the Scriptures before we act. But the key is having faith and truth combined. Truth combined with faith and action is what makes a difference in this world.

So as the Gathering we are striving to be a community that pursues truth. My prayer is that we would act in faith and truth, seeking God with our minds as well as our hearts, and stepping out in faith to bring the reality of truth to a world confused in a marketplace of junk.

God bless you,
See you next week at the Gathering!

-Tim

Responding to God's Presence

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe."
-Proverbs 18:10 (NRSV)

Last night at the Gathering we talked about the significance of a name. We don't really think much about names today, but the concept of a name in the Old Testament was particularly significant. What is amazing is that God has revealed his name to us. God takes the initiative to make himself known, and so he revealed his name to Moses.

What is more, God revealed his name in the person of Jesus. Jesus was the embodiment of the significance of the name of God, and so it is that;

...God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)

It is this God who we have direct access to because of what Jesus did. It is not about how hard we try, or how much we work to try to muster up righteousness on our own. It is all about the blood of Jesus that makes us clean when we follow him so that we might stand in the presence of God.

Last night was about responding to God's presence. The Bible says that God is enthroned on the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3). So we exist to be a community of believers that embodies the resurrection power of Jesus Christ by responding to God's presence. Last night was an awesome time of worship. I hope you take time this week to just be in the presence of God. Whether you sit in silence and reflection, take time in prayer, sing, paint, draw, dance, or whatever, do it in response to the presence of God. And we can respond to God's presence because God revealed his name to us in the person of Jesus Christ, drawing close to us so that we might be close to him.

God bless you all,
See you next week at the Gathering...in the presence of God!

-Tim

Sharing Life Together

There are few things that have the power to transform this world. One is the extreme embodiment of hate, yet another is the power of Jesus Christ expressed in the world when a community of believers begins to share life together. Last night we saw how the disciples of Jesus went from being afraid for their lives behind a locked door after Jesus was crucified, to risking their lives to share the Gospel after they had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. We saw how Martin Luther King Jr. risked his life to bring about social justice as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. In both cases, individual encounters with Jesus revolutionized the world as people joined together in order to share life together with the world.

The resurrection power of Jesus Christ has the power to break down the locked doors of fear, complacency, self-centeredness, pride, doubt, or whatever it might be that keeps us from surrendering to Jesus and working together to share life with those for whom the Kingdom of God has come.

We are moving into a season where we want to be intentionally outward focused. We call it, “Heart for Others.” But we want to go deeper than that. My prayer is that we would use this time of a heart for others to launch us into being a community that is always thinking about sharing life with the world, as Jesus has shared life with us.

Some of the opportunities coming up include the Paint-a-Thon, as well as the Angel Tree Christmas project. There will also be a Cube of Opportunity set up outside during the month of November where we can sign up to share life with the world.

May God use us to bless the world as we are blessed by our encounter with Jesus.

See you next week at the Gathering!

-Tim

Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ: Part 2

Good day Gathering!

2 Corinthians 5:19 “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” (NLT)

We fight. That is just what we do. We try not to, and we work hard to live as Jesus did, but we still have moments and issues that we stumble over as we try to relate to others. History continues to prove this fact. But the fact is we were not created for this broken struggle. Our sins and sins against us severely damage our ability to relate to one another. The problem is that we were created for relationships. The fact that our ability to relate to each other is damaged, combined with the fact that we were created to be in relationship with one another, proves to be a volatile combination when it comes to relationships.

The resurrection power of Jesus Christ that we exist to embody here at the Gathering has the power to absolutely transform our relationships with others. The message of the Bible is that the Kingdom of God will come in full some day, but in Christ the Kingdom of God has been made a present reality for us today, if only in part. Jesus modeled that reality while on earth, and gave us the ministry of that model as well. A natural part of reconciliation with God through Christ is reconciliation with others. Jesus modeled what it means to have healthy relationships with others, regardless of their ability to relate to him in the same way. He even ate with Judas just before Judas betrayed him unto death.

We do need to be careful in our relationships, and seek safety and counsel when they become dangerous. But God was in Christ bringing about reconciliation, and Jesus challenges us to make a stand against self-centered and self-serving relationships by seeking to be transformed by the Spirit, going deeper in our relationships with God so that we might learn to be reconciled with each other.

Forgiveness is nothing short of a miracle of God. But as we grow together and grow in Christ, my prayer is that we would be people who model the reconciliation and forgiveness of Jesus as we seek to embody the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

See you next Sunday at the Gathering.
Blessings,
-Tim

Resurrection Power of Jesus Christ

What's up Gathering!
Last night I asked, "What does the resurrection power of Jesus Christ look like? Or, maybe the question should be, what does the resurrection power of Jesus Christ sound like?"

I hope you can still hear it, the sound of rocks falling to the floor all around the room, just as when Jesus set the woman free who was caught in adultery and set to be stoned to death. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19). That is why Jesus could let this woman go. It wasn't that Jesus decided not to do anything about her sin at all. God's justice requires that something be done about sin, about our offences towards God. No, Jesus let her go because he had a plan to die on her behalf, to take the punishment upon himself for the sin that she committed, so that she could be set free. And this is where we all stand. If you remember, the sound of falling rocks swept through the room last night, and we all stood up together. That is the sound of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Satan's accusations against us cannot stand, and we have been set free.

It is my prayer that the sound of falling rocks would also be the sound of the Gathering. That you would hear stones falling as we gather for worship, drop our judgments, and stand as equals in the presence of a Holy God. We could never do anything to make ourselves righteous enough to stand before God. Thank God that he, being the one offended, took the initiative to reconcile us to himself so that we might be given righteousness as a gift when we put our faith in Christ.

It was good to worship with you last night.
God bless you all this week.
See you next Sunday at the Gathering!
-Tim

A Community of Believers: Part 2

So on Sunday we talked about the sea and the idea in ancient culture that the sea was a place that was the representation of chaos and evil. I said that the vision of a new heaven and new earth in the book of Revelation says that the sea will be no more (Revelation 21:1). Instead, there is a river of the water of life flowing from God's throne, and a tree of life with leaves that are used for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22).

That vision is a future hope, but for those who follow Jesus, it is also a present reality. As a community of believers we have an opportunity to bring the living water of Christ to a dark and chaotic world. The more we press into God, grow together in Christ, and reach out into the world, the more this vision will become a reality for us and others.

Some of us feel like we are living in the midst of a raging sea. Take heart, Jesus walks on water.

Let us keep pressing on together as we live in Christ, and anticipate the day when the fullness of the Kingdom will be a reality for all, the sea will be no more, and a river of life will flow from the throne of God bringing healing to the nations as we worship Him.

God bless you all,
See you next week at the Gathering!
-Tim

What's up everybody at the Gathering?!
I hope all is well with you this week.

We are now beginning to move into understanding what the future looks like for us as a community. Two Sundays ago I talked about remembrance and thanksgiving in times of transition and confusion. It is in remembering the works of God in the past with hearts of thanksgiving, that we can begin to take steps into the hope and future God has for us. We spent time remembering the work that God did through the leaders that were a part of the Gathering in the past, writing those memories down and offering them as a thank-offering to God before we took communion. I also shared Jeremiah 29:11-13, a verse that I feel God is speaking to us during this time. So it is that we stand on the memory of God’s faithful hand in the past, with hearts of thanksgiving, that we begin to take our first steps into the hope, future, and wholeness that God has for us.

Last Sunday marked the first Sunday under the idea of wholeness. We looked at one aspect of our purpose statement, that is, what it means to be a community of believers. I shared the story about a father with his two sons, and how the younger son belonged in his father’s house before he ever believed it. Jesus came from heaven to tell us that we belong. I also shared about how Jesus leveled the playing field by eating with "tax collectors and sinners," and in doing so he was sharing himself, the living water and the bread of life, saying by his actions, "you might not yet believe, but I tell you, you belong." So it is that we are called to be a community where people can belong. However, we are not just a community, but a community of believers, and for that reason we are to be a place where people can belong, and safely explore what it means to believe. It is my hope and prayer that we would be a community of believers that models the life of Jesus by inviting people to belong, and helping them come to a place where they believe.

God bless you all this week!
See you next Sunday at the Gathering.
-Tim

We're back! Yes...it's been a loooonnggg time... But it's a new day and there are so many things to say!!

First, we would just like to introduce the newest member of the Gat team...Tim Miller. Tim and his wife Holly will be moving to AZ in mid-August and Tim will begin as the teaching pastor for the Gathering starting the first week of September...if you'd like to get to know Tim a little bit better, check out his blog HERE.

The past 7 months or so the Gathering has been in transition. And seven months later, it seems as if we're still just in the beginning of this transition. Back in March, a team of eleven people from the Gathering got together every Wednesday evening to really evaluate where the Gathering was and where it was going. After much processing and dialogue we somehow produced a purpose, or vision, statement for the Gathering...

As a community of believers, we exist to embody the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, by sharing life together, responding to God's presence, pursuing truth, and expressing Christ's love to others.

Once we had this statement, it was a little bit easier to discern where our priorities should be and where we should put our focus. If it didn't fit into this statement, it wasn't necessarily us...

So that's it for now...we will continue to update through this blog (yes, really, we will!) so check it out from time to time to stay connected.