Letter from The Gathering church plant in Chalmette

Hello friends,

Thanks for your calls, emails, and texts today- I’ve heard from people in multiple states and we are encouraged by this.

I meant to write earlier in the week to share a moment with you all- a pause moment, I guess you could call it. Sunday evening at the Gathering, there were 3 guys visiting. One of them, age 50, had been once before. So matt is teaching out of Matthew and asks us to look at a verse in the book of Malachi. Every time we jumped to a new scripture he leaned over to look at which way I was flipping in my Bible, asking "what page are we on?" "Where’s that book" etc.

I just write to share the "pause" in this story. It wasn't an earth shattering moment, I didn’t break down in tears, but I paused at what God was showing me. I don’t want to take the Holy Scriptures for granted. I want to crave and desire the message and voice that God uses His Word for. And I want to "pause" more often so that I see what God is doing around us, like bringing a rough guy, 50 years old, to look at Jesus healing people in the Gospels. I thank Him and praise Him for slowing me down in that moment.

That guy came and painted with me all day Monday- he doesn’t have a job right now, but the relationship continues. Thanks for "pausing" to read this- I hope your days are stopped periodically so you can hear and see the Holy Spirit at work. Forgive me, God for skipping those moments all too often.

Regarding the impending storm, our team had planned to get away on a retreat this weekend. In fact, Mrs. Johnson came down to watch Everly at our house. So--we have accommodations reserved about 3 hours northwest of Chalmette, a bit past Baton Rouge.
What are we doing? We are praying. We are asking God to dissipate this storm and keep everyone from harm.

We are watching and gathering info- I feel like such a rookie here! I asked several neighbors what they were doing and we are obviously paying attention to the news, etc.

What are we not doing? We, as the Gathering team will not stay to weather the storm. We have not overstocked our cabinets, etc and etc. People were at Home Depot and the grocery buying, well, you can imagine. But rightfully so- we try to put ourselves in their shoes- I have to respect their experience and the grief they have-- is it ironic that tomorrow is the 3 yr anniversary of Katrina?? We are headed to a memorial breakfast in our community and then heading to the retreat facility.

So I hope I’ve answered your questions- Shauna and I put our patio stuff in our garage this afternoon. We’re trying to be wise and good stewards. We are getting together at 8pm central time tonight to discuss as a team and pray. I’ve heard folks in Indy will be joining us, which is 9 eastern. I will try to email any updates tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks, again, for asking and thinking of us. In all things, whether rebuilding homes, hosting Bible studies, or driving in heavy traffic out of here, may God be praised and receive any and all glory from our lives. Amen.

Aaron Johnson
The Gathering
Chalmette, LA
504 610 7779