"A Gathering" - it happens all the time. Chances are, you're a part of one several times a week and don't even realize it. You go to church, you get together with the guys to watch the playoffs, you have a bored...excuse me...board meeting. Gatherings.

It kind of seems like we don't need another one, doesn't it? Especially when it comes to Christian gatherings. As we found out yesterday, there are about 10 Bible study or Christian gatherings on campus at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. So when Rick Deerman walked upstairs with Tremaine Kelley to talk to Mrs. Cathy Rose about us booking a place to have yet another on campus Christian gathering, it was less than encouraging.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves...

"A Movement" - it rarely ever happens. I can't speak for anyone else, but when I think of a movement, I think of something bigger than any one person or group of people. I think of something that no one person or group of people lead - it leads them. Since I met Jesus way back in '94, I've wanted to be a part of a movement that was directed by God and involved the salvation of the lost en masse coupled with the repentance and heart change of believers. I've wanted to see a mass of people go from being fans of Jesus, to being followers. A movement.

I had stopped by the Breakaway offices in Gadsden to talk with my good friends Brandon Morgan (Bigun) and Brett Ellis when our talk turned toward a burden that has existed within all of us for years for college students - in particular, those on the campus of JSU. Within two days, we're at Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Gadsden (myself, Taylor, Brandon, and Brett) talking with Rick Deerman (the high school and college pastor) and pouring our hearts on the table about our mutual burden for college students and the campus of JSU. It was a sweet time of sharing.

There are a couple of elements that are unique to the five of us - 1) As best I can tell (I can only truly know my own heart, and that - not without error) the five people spear-heading this Gathering don't care about their names, or their glory. 2) It's going to cost all of us - no one is getting paid, and it will require time for preparation. 3) No church, no ministry involvement, no sponsors - just 5 guys who desperately want to exalt God's Name and God's Word. 4) No one man is in charge - it's a team. We'll all be leading, and we'll all be following. We'll all be teaching, and we'll all be learning.

That's what's unique about a movement. No one is "over" the movement. God's Name and God's Word govern us all.

Yesterday - 1/17/07 - we met at JSU to do what we thought would be a simple thing: secure a building. As it turns out, Rick came down the steps after us talking to person after person with the following words: "We need to be an on-campus club, or else, this might not happen."

It was at that moment that I had remembered a couple of years ago, Steve Thompson (the college pastor at the church I attend, Westwood) had a student who made their ministry an on-campus club. I called that student, Stephanie, and told her what was happening. At that point, Tremaine and I were off to talk to Mrs. Robyn Snider - a professor who had sponsored that particular ministry almost two years ago.

Tremaine and I sat down with her, and it just so happens that Mrs. Robyn is a member at Iron City where Taylor was the interim worship pastor for the past several months. She agreed to help us, and as of today - we're an on campus club, which means that we can secure a building to have the gathering that God is calling us too.

So who needs another Gathering, right? To be honest - no one. But this is so much more than a "ya'll come and hear us preach and listen to our music." If that's all this is, or if it ever turns into that, I'll be the first to bail. I hope you follow. No, this is an invitation. You need to know, if you're still reading, that the greatest desire of our hearts is to open our lives first to Jesus and then to you. I don't want you to hear me preach. I want to be in your life.

In Acts 2, the church was multiplying at a rapid pace because Jesus was changing peoples' lives and they would go out into their community and share what God was doing. How many times have you heard it? "I'm excited about this"; "I'm excited about that"? Well, usually, no one is too excited about church anymore because the sad fact is - we don't go expecting God. Our lives are the same - and that is a problem of astronimical proportion. But if we were really meeting with the Lord Most High, we'd be different.

And I'm convinced that He wants to meet with us. So here's what we'll be doing: We're going to humble ourselves before the Lord. We're going to pray - a lot. We're going to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth - through our lives. We're going to get to know each other, and become friends. I'm going to invite you into my life, as I hope you'll invite me into yours. We're going to begin acting like what we really are - family.

It'll be a gathering - but a gathering with that mindset, led by men who are called of God to lead worship. Led by men who are called of God to preach and teach His Word. Men who study to show themselves approved and rightly divide His word. Men who know they don't have it figured out, and who will be growing and learning alongside you.

And just maybe - if we'll pray, and get serious about seeking His face...we'll get to be a part of something that we'll be telling our grandkids about - something that significantly changed and will forever unite us: a movement, led by the Holy Spirit.

I mean - if He wants it, and we really want it - how could we not believe that it's going to happen?

Thursdays at 7 at the Roundhouse on the campus of JSU. Next week - January 25, 2007, we will meet to pray, share our hearts (us and you), and worship. So if you want to, come. If not, please pray.

There is an expectation growing in my heart - I truly can't wait. Until next time...

-TD