The Gathering

Every great story has certain elements, every great hero certain traits.  Last week we discovered it all begins with hope...but what comes next?

This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored how a living hope fuels a great story but only meaning can direct it.

What makes a story great?  There has to be a challenge...some obstacle that stands between the main character and the goal. And the same is true for the story of our lives.  And God knows, there are plenty of challenges.

This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright began a five week series exploring the five gifts Jesus and His Gospel of Grace offer us to meet the biggest obstacles we all must face for the story of our lives to be a great one. 

Good Friday.  It is a really an odd name if all you know is what this day commemorates.  There is only one thing that makes it good - the whole story.

This Sunday morning at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright explored the story behind Easter and how this one day can turn the worst day into Good.  

What's in a name?  Sometimes not much, but sometimes names are narratives - they begin to tell us a story. And that is very much the case for Storyline.  

This Sunday Mike Gathright considered the name of Storyline and how it connects to a story before and beyond just us.

Most of us, when given the chance, would prefer the things in our life to be "known" rather than "unknown." We like to be sure-footed about our every move. But what if Jesus had a different idea? What if, maybe, he turned our unknowns into our biggest gifts? This week at The Gathering, we took a look at the surprising relationship between our ability to know and our ability to love. 

In the world we live in, with all that can and does go wrong - one of God's greatest gifts is the Saints Among Us!  Last week we honored a number of them and this Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright turned the discussion from celebrating the saints among us to inspiring the saints within us.  

(Due to technical difficulties the quality of this audio is poor. We apologize for this.)

A saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness or closeness to God.  Could it be they are more prevalent than we realize - and more powerful than we've imagined?  

This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright and Mike Koch will led us in recognizing and celebrating the "Saints Among Us."  

Love at first sight… It’s the dream, right? You see them from across the room… or you walk away from a job interview… or the credits roll on the latest social justice documentary… and it’s all you can think about! “How incredible would it be if I could? If we were able to? If I made that kind of impact?” but is that really love? Is that how it works? Can we just see something from a distance and in a moment commit our lives to it?

This week at the Gathering Paul Knapp will explored the mysteries of love, and what it truly could mean to love it.

Beyond Happiness.  That is what we've been looking at this month. How to live in a way that is beyond happiness.

It certainly isn't easy.  There are no short cuts.  Yet, Jesus seems to continue to hold out this hope that there is a way to frame life, live life that can move us in this direction.

This Sunday at Storyline's Gathering Mike Gathright concluded this series by taking one more look at how Jesus lived and what He is inviting us in to.

We all want to be happy. Yet, statistics overwhelmingly show that Americans fall short of this goal. In a world where we have more money, comfort, and free-time than ever before, why are we as a society becoming less and less happy?

This Sunday at Storyline’s Gathering, Jill McNabnay continued our series of talks on “Beyond Happiness,” and will explore what does it take to make us happy.