On June 19th, 1865, Union troops rolled into Galveston, TX. Even though General Lee and the Confederates had surrendered months before this, there were pockets of ongoing resistance, including in Texas. That day, General Order No. 3 was read to the people of Texas including the proclamation that, “all slaves are free”.  Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation two and half years prior ...  Read More

As kids, most of us played some version of hide-and-seek. Some of you were good at hiding, always trying to find a creative place where no one would think of looking. At first, it can be kind of fun when the “seeker” is looking all over the place and cannot seem to find you. But, did you ever hide so well that eventually it was no longer fun. Maybe you were in an awkward position and you would sta...  Read More

“Jesus didn’t have members, so why do churches?” I remember showing up to pastor my first church (in my early twenties) and someone asked me this question. A debate was going on in the church about membership. Should a church have members? It makes the church sound like a country club, where there are insiders and outsiders, those with special privileges, and those without them. One of my first jo...  Read More

I love to ask new people, “How did you find The Gathering?” This past week at NEXT (our monthly event for people to learn more about the church), I asked just that. One young woman who moved to St. Louis just last week was there and told me her story. She lived in Alabama and struggled to ever connect with a church that felt like home. Her mother, who also lives in a very small town in southern Mi...  Read More

This past week has felt strange for me. With new CDC guidelines, every place I go I am wondering what I should be doing. In most settings, I have been wearing my mask, partly out of habit, and partly out of a sense of hospitality to those around me. It isn’t always clear what to do in each setting I am in. All of us are going through this right now. Trying to figure out what we should do, what we ...  Read More

Last week, the CDC released updated guidelines for fully-vaccinated people which no longer require masks or social distancing (except in certain situations). This was prompted by evolving scientific evidence that fully-vaccinated people are at minimal risk of infection or transmission of the virus. In response to this news, St. Louis City and County also dropped local mask and social distancing re...  Read More