thoughts on the gathering

i have been thinking alot about this. actually, i have been thinking about it for quite a while, even before we decided to call it a wrap on TG.

for a while, there had been declining interest and commitment, and that eventually led to us deciding that it was best to shut it down. in my opinion (as well as others), it was the right thing to do at the time, albeit moderately painful and difficult.

we put a lot of time and effort into TG. i came to love it and feel like it served a purpose. now, we face our attention in other directions. perhaps that purpose had been served already.

so recently, i read psalm 127:1, which essentially says that unless the Lord builds it the laborers labor in vain. so is that what happened? did the Lord not build it?

were we laboring in vain? all these thoughts ran through my head. let me give you a little background before i answer those questions.

TG was birthed from a conversation that john and jo, jose and becky, and sonia and i had with marsha and alan mackenzie WAY back. they were on their way to dallas where they live now, and they wanted to point out to us that gateway was lacking in ministries for young/not-so-young adults. fast forward a few years and TG was the byproduct.

when i think about the whole thing in retrospect, i immediately think of acts 16.

in acts, god outlines to paul His plan for the gentiles and puts it in paul's lap to begin the work, right? more or less. :) so off goes paul to accomplish that goal. acts 16:6-7 says:

They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them...

so lemme get this straight. god tells paul to go to the gentiles, but then stops them from doing it? that's how it reads, right?

see, god didn't tell paul details, as in a plan. he never said "ok, hit the phryhian spot first, but make sure you go around asia." nah, he just told paul to make disciples of the gentiles because god's grace was sufficient for them as well as the nation of israel (reads acts 13 for a good look at the message that god gave to paul and barnabas).

so off goes paul, doing his best to tell the nations. but the spirit stopped them. HE STOPPED THEM.

do you see where i am going with this? sometimes in life and in ministry, we only have the broad strokes. we know the ALH needs help for its youth. we know the ALH needs help for its college students. we know the ALH has needs for its young adults. we KNOW this. so what's the plan? we walk in faith like paul with a desire and a mandate to spread the Gospel in our homes and in our communities, in our cities and amongst our oikos. and unless we have a road map, the Lord will redirect us if needed.

were we wrong to start TG? no way. it helped some people very specifically and met needs. maybe what we accomplished was the point, and nothing more. who knows? what I do know is this: we tried something. it worked well for a while. it stopped working well after a while. but we tried. we did what paul and barnabas did...in faith, we just went. our options are do something or do nothing. we chose to do something. and we should continue to choose that.

it's time for the next phase, the next "phryhian region" so to speak.

here's a great commentary piece that i read this morning on acts 16:
But he reciteth one thing which is worth remembering, that they were forbidden by the Spirit of God to speak of Christ in some places, which serveth not a little to set forth the apostleship of Paul; as undoubtedly he was not a little encouraged to proceed, when he knew that the Spirit of God was his guide in his way, and the governor of his actions. And whereas whithersoever they came they prepared themselves to teach, they did that according to their calling, and according to the commandment of God. For they were sent to preach and publish the gospel to the Gentiles without exception; but the Lord revealed his counsel in governing the course of their journey which was before unknown, even in a moment.

i still don't know the specifics. but the broad strokes are enough for us to keep trying. we are not laboring in vain...me must continue to fight the good fight. we must continue that fight until we have nothing left in us, until we drop dead and meet the Lord.

i get the feeling that when i die he's gonna say to me, "you got some stuff right, you got some stuff wrong. but you tried and your heart was in the right place. and that's what I wanted all along."