[A lot has happened since I wrote about this in 10/12.  To read more about where this day has taken us, be sure to see the update at the end.]

There are key moments in the history of all church plants that make the leaders stop and pause, and we’ve had a number of those moments at The Gathering already.  The first salvation, the first baptisms, the first Sunday with an overcrowded sanctuary. But this past Sunday was such an incredible moment that I have had to literally take a few days to even try and process what we all saw happen.

It was a line in the sand moment.  A DNA-revealing moment.  A moment when who we desire to be as a church became who we are as a church.

It was rare, holy, and inspiring.

How many church plants give away a year’s worth of rent in a one-time offering?  There may be a lot, but I only know of one for sure, and I couldn’t be more proud to lead it.

All of us have heard the expression “put your money where your mouth is” more times than we can probably count, and the reason we’ve heard it so much is because it’s true.  So many times people talk a good game, but when it’s time to put up or shut up, the talk is revealed as words only, and the Bible has some pretty strong things to say about only talking:

“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:17-18)

Still, we say a lot, don’t we?  And if we’re honest, the sheer volume of words from churches in America make us wonder if there is any real conviction behind those words.  We read books like Radical by David Platt and hear messages from modern-day prophets like Francis Chan and we applaud – shoot, we even say we agree with – the messages that they espouse, but at the end of the day, we take the material possessions that we have as churches and use them on ourselves first and then give the needy our…

…leftovers.

Let me ask the question again: how can the love of God be in us if we live and operate like that?  According the the Scriptures, it can’t.

Let that sink in a bit.  Ouch.

But what happened on Sunday is exactly what reveals that the love of God is in us, both individually as well as corporately.  When we live for The Other Six days of the week and understand that Sundays are the least important days, we start to give to the need before we give to the greed.  We make sure that our brothers and sisters worldwide have something before we have everything.  And when a church has that kind of DNA, moments like Sunday morning will happen on a regular basis.

Do we need a larger space for our services?  Absolutely.  Do children in India need milk and nourishment more?  Yes.  Will God take care of our space issues when we give a year’s worth of anticipated rent payments to provide over 190,000 cups of milk to those children?  You better believe it!

Thank you to all of you who call The Gathering your home, to all of you who give generously on every occasion and to all of you who allow us as a church to bring glory to the Lord with the gifts you give.  We have the awesome privilege of being part of something bigger than ourselves, and if you know someone who is tired of the typical “us first” religious experience, why not invite them to come and join a movement that lives for more than a 2 hour experience one day a week.

Invite them to walk with us as we follow Jesus on the other six days, too.

UPDATE:  What an honor to know that this wasn’t a “one time shot” for our church.  Now, 16 months removed from this amazing day, we have continued to support not only the persecuted church in India, but many of those in need right here where we live.

One of our Core Values at The Gathering says “we value simpler living and expect a lifestyle of contentment to enable greater and more generous giving.”  Not only have we continued what I wrote about at the end of 2012, but we gave more in 2013, with almost 1 out of every 4 dollars that came in going right back out to help take the gospel to those far from God.  Not bad for a 2-year old, toddler church plant.  Not bad, at all.

Thank you, Gatherers, for truly putting your money where your HEART is.  It’s MY HONOR to pastor you!

Well, here I go. Im at the airport here in Charlotte waiting to step on a plane for Chicago which will put me on a plane for Delhi, India. The thing about airports is that they arent the type of place where people stay. Theyre either coming or going. There are tearful embraces, some for sad goodbyes and others for joyful hellos. But no one moves here and lives here. Airports arent destinations. Theyre gateways.

We arent citizens of this planet. Were here for a moment, sure, but were headed somewhere else. Dont unpack your bags here, because this isnt your final destination. The question, of course, is where will that be?

In a day on the clock, Ill land at mine for this journey. Ill find myself in another country hearing another language, and Ill begin working on the task Ive been sent for. At some point (for some sooner than later), you and I will find ourselves landing at an eternal destination. A new country that will be our home forever. I know mine is with Jesus, and I pray you do, too.

It’s 6:01 EST on May 21, 2011, and I’m still here.  My guess is, so are you, and so is Harold Camping…for now.  But among others, I can think of three things that aren’t: the hope of many who put their faith in a man who was a lying snake, the money that they gave him, and the credibility of the church in the eyes of many who still need Jesus.

Now, it’s time to restore at least 2 of those, and as sad as it is that some people may have lost entire life savings over this garbage about the Rapture happening today, I think the money was the least valuable of the three.  Thankfully, it’s the only one that can’t be recovered.

First, hope has to be restored for those who believed Camping and now find themselves feeling like people on the outside looking in.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)

They had hope.  Granted, they had hope in a man, and worse than that, a man’s interpretation of the Bible that clouded their own and the years of church tradition.  But the proverb makes no distinction between whether the hope was wrongly or rightly placed, just that it once was and now isn’t.  And when we hope for something and don’t receive it, our hearts – the very core of who we are – grow sick.  I hurt for the numbers of people who are sick right now, and are wondering what comes next.

The best part of this verse for those who have lost hope?  That wonderful, three-lettered word “but.”  If you had put all your faith in an event that didn’t happen, that word means your story isn’t over.  6:01 does not define you. There is still more to be learned, to be seen. There is life to find, and it comes through seeing your longings fulfilled.  My guess is that you long for truth, trust, a shoulder to cry on and arms to hold you tightly as you weather what you feel now. Doubt. Betrayal. Anger. Embarrassment.  In a word, you long for Jesus.

Times like these make me wish that Jesus would really show up and let the hurting see Him for who He is instead of risking it all by letting man distort the image.  Camping distorted it, and if we’re not careful, how we respond now will further distort it.  There is no doubt that restoring credibility in the eyes of an unbelieving world – which now has even more reason to not believe – will be a long road.  But ultimately, it begins and ends with holding up the truth.  I say we start here:

I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. (Jeremiah 23:21-22)

How do we restore credibility in the eyes of the world and hope to the hearts of the sick? We shut up if we haven’t been with Jesus. We absolutely refuse to speak our agenda over His truth, and we resolve to become a church that says less, but says it with more honesty, authenticity, and compassion.

I believe that this is the church the hurting long to see. A simpler church, a real church, a church full of confidence and power in God’s word.  If we will become that church, I believe we’ll find ourselves saying less to more people than we used to, and we’ll begin to see hope restored in their lives.

So now, let us begin.