Fans

It was good to finally install some industrial quality fans in The Gathering's premises this morning.

Previously we had two domestic quality fans in the front and one at the back, and to be honest they were a bit rubbish. 

So it was a blessing to be able to use some of the money left over from the Soup Kitchen Christmas Lunch to buy five new good quality fans that will do a great job at cooling us all down. It's just a shame I only got to install them at the end of summer.

 Please stand in prayer with the community of Firgrove as we have recently experienced a truly shocking crime.

Firewood

I always get ridiculously overexcited by our annual delivery of firewood, especially when it arrives in the middle of our hottest month and it seems impossible to think that we'll actually need the heating.

I think one of the things I like best about the wood delivery is that the garage smells heavenly for a few weeks after as the wood continues to season, though this year's lot is already incredibly dry.

Pastoring a church is never easy and it comes with a lot of challenges, but it also comes with a lot of joy and blessings.

One of those blessings is the joy of getting to deliver boxes of food to four of our local primary schools, knowing that the most vulnerable children at each one will be taken care of with a meal before lessons each day.

Life really doesn't get much better than that!

We are so thankful for life at The Gathering at present. 

As a church we've been praying for the spiritual growth of our members for a long time and we've seen these prayers answered spectacularly. Just this morning Errol shared a word rich in scripture, passion and practical application which greatly encouraged the membership. Seeing someone raised up in to leadership and ministry and then flying in these areas is a joy to watch.

Local Church

Since the New Year an old question has kept popping up every now and then, which is odd because we're fairly certain that we've answered the question many times before and have moved on. We also feel the answer is fairly obvious, but maybe it isn't as obvious as we thought it was. 

So, here's the question: Why do you persist with church?

Thank You!

To those of you who helped to make this a possibility once again, we thank you form the bottom of our hearts.
 

It was gutting to get a phone call late in the afternoon yesterday informing us that the home of some of our Soup Kitchen regulars had been on fire, with the household losing everything they had.

But it was also a blessing as the community knows that in such circumstances they can turn to the church for some genuine relief and assistance.

Once again we're thankful to Jehovah Jireh, the LORD our provider for the abundance with which The Gathering has once again been blessed with.

This morning we received two pallets (150 boxes) of the much treasured peanut pastes that our Soup Kitchen regulars love so much. 

Thanks also go to our dear friend Shaddie at My Father's House for sharing their blessings with The Gathering.

Our much anticipated, prayed for and planned ''Welcome to 2022" Soup Kitchen lunch was a roaring success on Sunday, and we give God all the glory for this!

As we watched the advance weather reports in disbelief, stating that Sunday was going to be the hottest day on record, we gathered people to ask God to bring the temperature down, and to specifically cover the sun with cloud from 12-3 pm, or the event would simply be unbearable for us all. 

One More Sleep

We are very excited right now as all our planning and preparation is complete and we're now just hours away from actually setting up for The Gathering's annual Soup Kitchen Christmas Lunch (which is a Welcome To 2022 lunch this year).

Printing is done, stickers are ready, goody bags have been lovingly decorated by hand and are ready to be stuffed to the top with some delicious sweets . The food is prepped and ready, so now there are just a few last minute jobs to be done as we pull it all together in the morning ready for service at 1pm.