Seven years ago today, I walked into this office for the first time. It didn’t look anything like it does now (thankfully!), but I remember well how overwhelmed I felt. I had no idea what I was walking into and couldn’t know just how difficult the road ahead would be. I remember feeling both excited…
Category: Church
Sermon Video – Relentless, Part 9: Fruitless
One of the most important messages I have preached at The Gathering. The Gathering Chattanooga 06-23-13 Sermon from The Gathering on Vimeo.
Video: Relentless, Part 8: Integrity, On the Verge of Extinction
Who do you trust? I mean really trust? If you’re like most people (me, included), you can probably count on one hand the number of people you know, beyond a doubt, that their word is their bond; that if they commit to something, you can take it to the bank. Can you name them? Would…
Video: The Calling of Parenthood
Sunday, I dealt with very touchy issues related to parenting at The Gathering. These included the challenges of parenting and the pain that comes from the inability to have children, along with the dangers of engaging in extraordinary means of impregnation, such as IVF. My goal was to deal with these issues from a biblical,…
Video for Relentless, Part 3: Knowledge
Here is the video for my message from this past Sunday at The Gathering. Come this Sunday for Part 4. If you can’t make it, watch us live streamed through our website. Relentless, Part 3 from The Gathering on Vimeo.
Culture Warrior
I hate that term. I hate the concept, too. “Culture Wars.” Who came up with that anyway? I mean, I understand the thinking: “Our Country is going to hell and it’s our responsibility as Christians to stand up and prevent it!” I think that’s what bothers me the most. Is that really our calling? Is…
A Church That Fails to Pray…
(This post is re-published from the March edition of Road Signs, the monthly informational newsmag of The Gathering, Chattanooga.) A church that fails to pray, fails. I believe this statement and am coming to understand it more and more. How easy it is to become so busy that the very thing that empowers our efforts…
The Zone
The beach. The mountains. The dinner table when some really great conversation has just happened. The bedside of a dying family member or close friend. Each of these are places that, for one reason or another, you just don’t want to leave. I experienced one of them Wednesday night. We were having our praying time…
Right now in the Chapel at The Gathering!
Right now in the Chapel at The Gathering!
Don’t miss an incredible opportunity to take part in a very special Christmas concert by recording artists, FFH, November 23 at our church, The Gathering, Chattanooga. Enjoy great music and help support the care of orphans in Zambia at the same time! Tickets are $25 (includes dessert) and available online or at area Lifeway stores….
On Patriotic Worship
If you come to The Gathering on big-time patriotic days like the 4th of July expecting fireworks, flag waving, or a full repertoire of chill-enducing patriotic songs, you’re likely to be sorely disappointed. The reason is simple: we don’t do it. The more important question is, of course, why. I know that in America, it…
To Stand
For anyone who has been at The Gathering for any length of time, you know that I am regularly on the proverbial soap box regarding the absolute nature of Truth regardless of how normative the current culture speaks to the contrary. There is right and there is wrong. Right doesn’t become wrong over time nor…
Resurrection Weekend at The Gathering
This weekend is going to be huge in the life of The Gathering. We are going to start the weekend with an incredible time of reflection and worship at 7:00 PM Friday, celebrating Communion together. This has always been very special to our Gathering Family and this year promises to be even better! If you…
First Baptist Church of…the Republic?
Over at the White Horse Inn, there is a good article on the Church and politics called, No Nation Under God, that I’ve included in my Google Shared Items Page and I encourage you to read it in its entirety. In this article, Pastor Jason Stellman discusses the way in which the political process has…
Goats are Cool.
With one week left of our “Give a Goat” drive, The Gathering has currently raised enough money to purchase 54 goats and also 61 nets through Samaritan’s Purse! That is exceedingly cool. Thank you so much to the people of The Gathering for getting behind what had to have sounded like a crazy idea…