Holy Trinity at the Gathering

Today was our dServantLife project, where 12,000 people set out across New Orleans to volunteer their sweat and effort and energy for the day.  We served at the Arthur Ashe Charter School, a school that grew in enrollment by almost 50% this year (from 150 students to 250!), and so had to switch to a new building.  When we arrived, the cafeteria was a sea of boxes, furniture, filing cabinets, tables, desks, you name it.  By the time we left…  it was a cafeteria again!  There were 40 of us serving there; some carried things to the appropriate classroom, some helped take leftover stuff like staples and tape and glue off the walls, and some did special projects like putting up enrollment signs around the building, getting the clocks to run, and the like.  We even got to set up some of the classrooms, and one at least was under the guidance of the teacher who will be actually using it!  It was a sweaty, tiring, fulfilling, exhausting, wonderful day.

After cleaning up and showering, we ventured into the French Quarter for dinner at The Gumbo Shop.  We got to walk around a bit and saw the St. Louis Cathedral, and the 5 psychics camped out in the plaza in front.  (My question: if they’re psychics, shouldn’t they have known that there would be so much competition?)  We caught the last half of the Mass Gathering program at the Superdome, and got to drive past 38,000 people streaming down Poyndras street, trying to get cars to honk, singing songs, hollering at each other, having a great time.

For Community Life we went to the Hilton to see what the Fun Club was about (we were looking for Laser Tag, but no go), and listened to the Gathering Idol.  We were glad that our favorite won!  Now we’re waiting for our Final 15 devotions, and then lights out.  I think we’ll be glad to sleep tonight.

All in all, it was a day filled with different activities, meeting new people (we’re trying to “collect” people from all 50 states), serving, learning, stretching ourselves, growing.  As we walked back from ServantLife I asked the group about the experience, if it’s something they liked, didn’t, want to do more, what.  They responded: “More, we should do more.  I like making a difference.”

And that, is why we’re here.

-Pastor Tim

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