Possible Honolulu campus for The Gathering

The Gathering is looking to open a campus somewhere in Honolulu in 2016. This church will focus on reaching college students and young adults.

Although starting this new campus in Honolulu has been on my heart for a while, God caused me to deal with the reality of this during our year and half long study through the book of Acts.

God especially turned up the heat in my heart as we began to examine Acts 13. On September 27 of last year, I preached a sermon titled "Unlikely" from Acts 13.1-3.

In that passage, Paul and Barnabas were leading the church in Antioch. They enjoyed serving Jesus in Antioch, the ministry in Antioch was flourishing, and there were strong relationships among the believers.

But God called Paul and Barnabas to leave Antioch and spread the Gospel to new people and new cities. From that time, Paul traveled thousands of miles, went on three missionary journeys, was imprisoned, and eventually died for the cause of Christ.

God has caused me to wrestle every week as we examined the book of Acts this past year.

Some reasons I've given God for why I can't go and do this:

· "I'm too old to do this."

· "What do I have to offer the people to whom God is leading us to reach?"

· "There are tons of great churches already down there."

· "We have a good church and I do not want to disrupt the momentum in Mililani."

· "There are many leaders to build and many needs to meet at The Gathering in Mililani."

· "Don't know if we have the resources to do this? We should wait a while."

· "Why not have someone younger and more gifted than me lead this?"

· "This will take away time from Julie and Sadie."

·  "What if it fails?"

As much as I have tried to walk away from this call and shake it off--I can't. God continues to bring it back to my heart.

Over the last few months, I have sought counsel and wisdom. Our church elders have walked alongside me, provided counsel, supported me, and prayed. The call to do this has been undeniably a work God is doing.

So I must respond in obedience.

Julie and I have talked and prayed about what adding this new campus will mean to our marriage and family. It will definitely change our lives and schedules. However, we are willing to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to respond to the call. We believe that God is good and that He will give grace in our marriage and relationship.

Our only reason for following through with this new campus is obedience to God. Even if we reach only 20-30 people, we are okay with that because we know this is something God is leading us to do.

The big question many are wondering is this, "What will this mean and what will this look like?" Let me answer some questions tied into that question.

"Does this mean James is leaving The Gathering in Mililani?" No. I will still be fully engaged with The Gathering in Mililani. The intent is for The Gathering (Honolulu) to be an extension of The Gathering (Mililani). This new campus will be in addition to me serving as pastor of The Gathering in Mililani.

"What will Sundays look like?" Worship on Sundays at Mililani will be the normal 9:00 am and 10:45 am start times at Mililani Mauka Elementary School. Although not set in stone, the Honolulu campus worship time will start somewhere in the vicinity of 5:30 pm.

"Why college students and young adults?" I can't really answer that question except that God has placed a sense of calling to reach this generation more strongly on my heart over the last two years. There is a sense of calling to encourage that generation, share the Gospel with them, and raise up leaders from that generation.

"Where will this campus meet?" Right now, I do not have a clue. Please join us in prayer. This is something we are seeking God's guidance in. Praying that we would be obedient in knowing exactly where God wants us to be.  

"What if I am not a millennial? Can I still come?" Although the target will be millennials, anyone is welcome. However, those who are older (like me) will be expected to pour into the next generation by mentoring, discipling, and pointing people to Jesus. I believe that although the target will be millennials, this can still be a multi-generational church if we follow the biblical model of the older generation pouring into the younger generation and pointing them to Jesus. Titus 2:1-8 provides the model to follow.

"How can I get involved?" Within a few weeks, I will write a blog on how people can get involved. What we are looking to form first is a leadership team of 12-14 people (preferably from The Gathering) who will help us set the groundwork for this campus. There are many other areas that I will share later but for now, finding the right people for the leadership team is our biggest prayer concern.

"What if I belong to another church, can I be involved with this?" We do not want to take people from other churches especially if they are leading there. However, if you have a sense of calling to help with this new campus, I would like to meet with you and your pastor to see where God may be leading.

"How can I pray?"

Pray that the vision for this campus is communicated well. This will be very important because good communication helps to breed unity. Starting something like this presents huge potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding. Also pray for flexible hearts and lots of grace to abound.

Location. Right now, we do not know exactly where we will meet. Please pray that God will lead us to the right place. Also, praying that the provision for location would be a total God-thing. I'm even praying right now as I write and will continue to pray that God would move on someone's heart who reads this blog to be the one to provide the space.

Forming a leadership team. We are praying for 12-14 people (preferably from The Gathering but we are open to God leading others to be part of this team) who will help with the groundwork necessary to launch this campus. We are looking for followers of Jesus who love Jesus and are growing daily growing in relationship with Him through God's word and prayer. We are looking for mature believers who know how to mentor/disciple people, who have a love for the church and understand the importance of unity in the Body of Christ, who have had strong involvement in ministry, and people who have a passion for reaching millennials.

Finances. We will let people know the needs of this start up and how they can contribute to starting up this campus. This will come out soon.

That we be found faithful.