I am asking our entire congregation to be in prayer for the Entire Church Family in Knoxville that suffered this recent shooting. While watching the six-o’clock news my heart just broke for this congregation.

• Please be in prayer for those that lost their loved ones today.
• Please be in Prayer for the Senior Pastor that God would give Him Divine Wisdom and Grace.
• Please be in Prayer for those that are in critical condition still at UT Hospital.
• Please be in Prayer for those children that experienced this Awful Event, that the Lord would heal their memory.
• Please pray that the Entire Church across the World would wake up to the fact that we are at WAR.

The church is not a social club, may we recognize that our real enemy is Alive and Well.

I want to personally thank Don Kowalski, head of our Security, for all that He and His Team does to keep the Gathering safe every single weekend. If I had the name of all these men I would list every one of you and say, A Big THANKS!!

WHO SAID VOLUNTEERS DON’T MATTER????

May God Continue to Protect All of Our Churches as we Worship the ONLY TRUE and LIVING GOD!!

gene

PS. See you next week, I am full of a truckload of Old Time Preaching!! (Have not spoke in 4 weeks)

When is the last time you spent ALL NIGHT in Prayer? The Very first time I did I was In East Texas doing a youth camp and several of us stayed up all night and prayed. On Several occasions since then I have enjoyed so many long nights with the Lord. If you have never tried it, I highly recommend it. Take a very Long Extended Nap during the day time. This will prepare you for the toughest part of the night. (12-3) Brew a big POT of Gourmet Coffee and find you a quite place and  some great Christan music and just sit in HIS PRESENCE. I love to write my prayers and to look back on the past year of my life. (For those of you that do not know today is one of the Holiest Days of the Year, July 21, My Birthday)

1. Just to Thank God for all His Goodness this past year.
2. To spend some quite time thinking about the coming year.
3. To Spend some time in Deep Intercession for some of my Dearest Friends and Especially my Family Members.
4. To Spend some time praying for my team. (Church Staff, they have a Tough Job)
5. To Pray for Karen and Corey and Seth in the year to come. (Better Dad, Greater Husband)
6. Tonight Psalms 27 personally minister to me. Some great promises for the coming year!!
7. Lord showed me some great things about worship. (True Worship Coupled with Fasting)
8. The Lord has made it clear to me that I am right in the middle of a WAR.
9. He has let me know there is, “No Retreat Gene Absolutely  NO RETREAT Gene”
10. He has made it clear to me that Spiritual War also has Casualties. (A Spiritual Death is VERY Sad)

I am really praying that are church, The Gathering, would see some true SPIRITUAL Breakthrough  THIS FALL. ONE Week from today I’m calling our entire church to a Daniel Fast. I am asking everybody to be in the Lords House the first week of August. It so break my heart when I hear about so many of our people not making the Lords Day a priority in there life. If you put God 2nd that is no way to live your life.

Let me encourage you to be a Good Steward of the YEARS that the Lord has so graciously given to you. Your birthday is a good day to reminisces and evaluate your life. I remember last year in Costa Rica on my birthday really examining my life, not for minutes but for hours, remember only one life will soon pass and only what is done for Christ will last.

gene

I’m tired

I wish I could share with you everything going on BEHIND the scenes, but I can’t.  However, I will say this, ” I absolutely stand in awe of the LORD and what He is doing through The Gathering and The Lord’s Child.  Tomorrow David May and I are taking a private jet to Branson, MO to discuss potential business with some very influential men in our country.  Needless to say this business concerns The Gathering and The Lord’s Child.  This turn of events could not have surprised me more.  I have no idea where it will lead and what is in store for us.  Pray for me tomorrow as I try to learn more about this situation.

It is a privilege to be on this ride with all of you at The Gathering.  I just hung up the phone with one of our faithful members, Jim Bookstaff.    I asked Jim to pray tomorrow and ask God to protect me, and give unusual wisdom and understanding.  Also, at this time I need to hear from the Lord like never before.

I heard the president say one time that He felt the prayers of the American people.

I, too, can feel the prayers of so many of you.  I can’t stay in the battle without them.   Thank you in advance for praying and have a great weekend!  See you at church.

gene

Karen and I are in South Florida tonight and the boys are sleeping and I’m overwhelmed with what I saw today.

We are in Florida with some friends, Chuck and Rosemary Laney, and I asked them if they would mind driving me over to Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale to experience their church service. (The drive was almost 2 hours from where we are staying)

They very graciously conceded. They have been such wonderful hosts all week. I have gained 20 pounds.

Thank God for my treadmill.

For those of you that are not familiar with the church they average in attendance about 18,000, it is the largest church in the state of Florida. The worship was so good. The message spoke to all of our hearts, even Seth was laughing (My 7 year old). He spoke for 1 hour and heaven came down. When he gave the altar call GOD SHOWED UP!!! If I live to be 99 I will never forget what I saw, words cannot describe to you what it was like. Over 100 people gave their life to Christ and the crowd erupted in applause for those walking forward.

There in my seat I asked God to FORGIVE ME for not sharing the GOSPEL more often at The Gathering.

Will you please join me as we get ready to go into the Fall of the year, when people come back to church, that we would begin to see more people come to know CHRIST as their LORD and SAVIOR.I love the Gathering, thanks for allowing me to also grow as your PASTOR as we “GO FORWARD”

gene

Have you ever sat beside the ocean, drinking coffee while watching beautiful dolphins swim and frolic not 50 feet from your seat. That was my privilege this morning. We are on vacation and having a great time. The best part of my day was the fact that I bought another signature hat. I hate to say it but I believe it looks better than my Tilley hat. I will be sending you pictures of my new hat in a day or two.

I hope you are planning a few days of rest and relaxation with your family this summer. You don’t have to go away but just take the time out to enjoy your family away from your usual hectic pace.

Gene

I Love My FAMILY!

(My two sons and MY Beautiful WIFE!)

• Awesome 4th of July weekend!
• Great time at the property on Friday! Thanks to everyone who came out and to all of the volunteers for their tireless hardwork! 
• SWAT Band, Praise Team, Triumphant Quartet, & Dishwater Blonde did a great job with all of the music!
• Close to 100 new volunteers signed up to serve in a ministry this weekend!
• We are at 319 committed volunteers right now and we are praying for over 700 committed volunteers by the end of our Old Time Religion series!
• Our new series is going to be AWESOME as we look back at some of the great songs and stories from that Old Time Religion!
• We are only a month away from serving over 2000 less fortunate children right on our own parking lot.
• I talked to people today from Florida who are planning on coming back up just to serve with The LORD’S Child!  God is Good!
• I am so excited to share with you all what God is doing in me over these next few weeks!
• I am glad that Pastor Gene and Karen and Corey and Seth are getting the opportunity to take some much needed rest and time off!
• I am so excited about ALL God is continuing to do at The Gathering and look forward to what He has planned for us for the fall and this next year as we make the move to the new property!
• I count it a privilege to serve at The Gathering with some of the greatest people in the WORLD!
• I am blessed to serve with a man, our Pastor, who seeks the heart of God passionately!
• I’m going to try and keep you updated through the month of July of ALL God is doing right here at The Gathering!

Scott 

Hallelujah!!Will be Taking a Much Needed Break.I’ve asked Pastor Scott, Our Executive Pastor, to do some guest blogging for me.Check back for Sunday Night Mind Dump.Love yaGene and Karen

The Picnic: A Blast

The Fellowship: Awesome

The Music: Contemporary & Southern Gospel

The Place: New Church Campus

The Food: Delicious

The Games: Incredible

The New Church Building: YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE IT!!

see you there

gene