“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.”

Patrick Henry spoke these powerful words back in 1775 and the state of Virginia ended up joining the American Revolution.
You may ask, “what does liberty (freedom) have to do with holiness?”

There is one thing that will slow you down in your race to the finish line quicker than anything and that is sin (to miss the mark,). Since we are children of God His word tells us that we are now free from the power of sin.We are now able to do the things that lead to holiness.(Romans 6:22) Sin weakens our ability to run. God says “do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness,to be used for sinning, but use it for doing what is right for the glory of God.(Romans 6:13)

Our freedom did not come cheap for us! Jesus paid a high price for that.Remember, you have been set free from the power of sin and the Holy Spirit now empowers you to run the race.

God’s word says “…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.
And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.”

How?

“By keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”(Hebrews 12:1-2)

Remember those powerful words of Patrick Henry back in 1775? Well there was a man in history who also spoke some very powerful words. His name was Paul and his declaration was this “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.(Phil.3:14)

Don’t give up! The finish line is just ahead and Jesus is cheering you on.I know you can make it!

Pastor Gene

One of the most important things our church will do this year is concentrate on making disciples. I have been consumed with these thoughts for the past two days. Our Lord was never impressed with the crowd, as a matter of fact, the closer HE drew to the cross, the less the crowd. We even see that Simon could not make it all the way to the cross. It was Peter in the book of Acts that delivered the message, not Simon.

I believe Simon died along the way and Christ came alive.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a NEW CREATURE.”

Will we be judged for the size of our church or the number of disciples we have made?

Who are you personally discipling? Let me give you some advice before you pick one.

You cannot lead where you are not living.

Pastor Gene

After pastoring this church for 7 years I have never felt like we are more on the verge of a Genuine Move of God. It is in the air. I’m asking our people to began praying and expecting unusual things as we walk with Simon Peter. On a very personal note sometimes as a Pastor we are not allowed to share all that we know due to confidential matters. There are several people at our church that are in NEED of a MIRACLE from God. I am asking our staff and our Leadership in the church to pray like we have never prayed before.

He IS still a God Of Miracles

Your Pastor

Holiness is a word you don’t hear much of anymore. The older believers use to call it sanctification but it really simply means to be “set apart for sacred use, to make holy”. From the moment we surrender our life to Christ we are then “set apart” for something amazing. We become born again into the family of God and we are no longer the same person. The old person died and the new person is reborn(2 Cor 5:17) You may have even heard some talk about the crucified life (Romans 6:6).That sounds pretty bad but it actually is one of the greatest things that will ever happen to you.
This is where it all begins.The starting gate. Jesus said in John 10:9;”I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved”.
The big question is are you willing to hand over the reigns of control to a holy God and allow Him to lead you to the finish line? The process of dying to our old selfish desires takes some time. It doesn’t happen overnight. Some of us have spent years demanding things our own way so it may take awhile to die to some of them. God wants more than anything for us to be just like He is.To be holy. As a matter of fact He states in His word that we are to;”Be holy because I am holy.”(1 Peter 1:16) How is this possible? How can a man, woman, boy, or girl be holy like God?
Well, God actually made a way for that to be possible for all believers. Jesus said that He would sent The Holy Spirit to live inside of us to help us live that holy life. A life “set apart”. That’s good news!  We don’t have to do it alone. As a matter of fact we can’t do it alone that’s why He decided to send the Holy Spirit to live inside of us to make sure we would win the race. He loves you that much!
Let’s get back to the starting gate. Once you have handed over the reigns of control it is vital that you begin to form a relationship with this holy God that now lives inside of you. I will talk more about this next week in Holiness Pt. (2) which I have titled The Race.

Remember, you didn’t find God, He found you and has great plans for your life.

The race is about to begin.The finish line is just around the corner and there is a prize waiting for you.

Are you ready?…Get set….Let’s go!

Pastor Gene

We’ve been through two weeks of our new series ‘Wanted - Dead and Alive’ and I have to say that so far - I have really been enjoying this series. I started it by talking about what happens with each of us at the time that we are saved and the covenant that we now share with God.  It was awesome to watch the band kick the series off with that old Bon Jovi song ‘Dead or Alive’. I have to hand it to Pastor Scott - his team has really been coming up with some great ideas lately.

Last Sunday I brought a message about Esau and how he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. I ended the message by asking the congregation - ‘What’s in your bowl?’. See, every one of us are faced with decisions that will determine whether or not we are following the path that God has prepared for us or if we are walking in our own free will. Our prayer is that The Gathering will be a church where each one of us are operating in the sweet spot of God’s will for our lives.

As we continue to move forward with ‘Wanted’ I pray that the church will grow deeper in their walks with God as well as their understanding of who God has made them to be.

This past week The Gathering staff and I went on a three day staff retreat that we had titled ‘Uninterrupted’. Our plans were to have 3 days of planning, strategizing, leadership training, and preparation for 2008. Each of the last four years our church has doubled in size and to prepare for the same this year, we thought, would require three complete days of total, absolute focus on each of our ministries strengths and weaknesses. But, God has other plans…

We began on Monday morning at 9 AM and had some great discussion, feedback, and direction for one of our most important ministries and then at around 3 PM things began to change. What at first seemed like the mental fatigue following six hours of intense meetings turned out to be God coming in and interrupting our ‘uninterrupted’ retreat.

The staff and I spent the next two hours on our knees praying, worshiping, repenting, and weeping as we experienced the holiness of the presence of God.  It was an awesome site and I don’t believe that any of us left the same as we were when we began.

God is going to do a great work at our church this year …  I believe that we will ALL stand AMAZED!!!

Yes - that’s right. Your pastor is wearing a PURSE. I mean, how proud of your pastor can you possibly be. First, he drags you into a nationally controversial series called ‘Red Hot Sex’ and now he tells the entire congregation in all four services that this year - God has him wearing a purse - that’s right, you heard me correctly, I am wearing a purse for 40 days.

When I first started wearing it, I had originally thought that it was an ugly purse but, now, I’m rather attached to it. Jeff Harris, one of our members, said that it could be worse - God could have made me wear a PINK purse.

God has a great sense of humor though … Last night, after visiting Scott and Nikki’s new baby, Lily Paige Windham, I had to visit the rest room before leaving the hospital. And for the first time in 44 years of walking on this earth - I walked into the women’s restroom. So get this picture, here I am, wearing a purse, walking into the women’s restroom AND as I come out there’s a big old country boy standing outside staring at me like I’m CRAZY. I was convinced that if I would have tried to speak to him - he would have decked me between the eyes. I did, however, finally make it into the correct restroom … me AND my purse.

Got to go for now. We are having a 3 day, uninterrupted staff meeting at an undisclosed location in the smoky mountains. God Bless You Guys!!

I can tell you this - the Staff at The Gathering LOVES you very much!

Pastor Gene

I am so excited about what is going on at The Gathering right now. As we are in our series called CRAZY, Pastor Andy is challenging all of us by asking the question - ‘What are YOU going to do this year that will cause others to call you CRAZY?’. I was not at the last weekend service of the year but I heard that the message was awesome and I look foward to tag team teaching with Pastor Andy this weekend as we discuss the importance of listening to God …

I have to share a little bit of my heart with you right now though … When I returned to the office on Wednesday morning, I called an impromptu staff meeting. I’m sure that the entire staff felt nervous because when this usually occurs, somebody is in trouble. But this time I just wanted to start the year off with a spiritual moment. See, we just added three new staff personnel and I wanted to take a few moments as we launched the new year to let everyone share what is going on in with themselves spiritually.

As we went around the room bearing our souls with each other, I was so humbled as each staff person began shedding tears for one another as we talked about what God is doing in each of our lives … Personally, God is asking me to do something this year that is really stretching and humbling. Just to share it with the staff was more difficult than I had imagined.

I can’t wait to see what God does in the heart of our church this year. If He is preparing the staff for what He wants the church to experience, then The Gathering is in for a real blessing.

Happy New Year and God Bless!