Pastor Phil Wyman looks back at 2015 at The Gathering

2015 joins the previous couple years as part of our crazy years of transition. We have taken an epic wilderness journey into becoming a gathering of house (and pub) churches. This year (perhaps) has been even more of a wandering than any previous year of our existence. Then again, having mapped territory no one before us had ever mapped in our work in the city of Salem, maybe it was just another crazy year, but we keep following the Shepherd who leads us on.

2015 started off with a surprise. At the end of January, I (Pastor Phil) ended up with a sudden attack of back pains, which could have been measured on the Richter Scale. By February, this turned into an extended hospital stay and the discovery that the pains had nothing to do with pulled muscles or slipped discs. Rather, a strep infection was found in my blood stream, and pockets of that infection had settled inside my spinal column, and scarier yet, inside my heart. I was effectively down and out from late January until May, and although I was home for much of that time, I was connected to antibiotic drip systems six hours a day, which looked like a medical version of the “Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch.” And, fortunately, like the Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch it worked and wiped out the infection.

The church, and our local friends were wonderful during this time. They brought me food, lots of probiotics, and reminders of love. Boxes of nerds arrived from our geek friends, balloons from bartenders, and meals that made a hospital visit seem less of a drudgery. One of our home-groups even held a service in the hospital room one Saturday morning. I did not feel as badly, as my critical condition, and so I became a bit squirrely, and wandered the hallways playing my guitar and singing to people. This turned out to be enough of a hit, that some of the night crew cheered when I returned for a second visit, and then apologized for being excited to see me back in the hospital again.

Somewhere in this time, our now weekly home and pub groups gathered together for a grand meeting of eating and sharing and I was hooked to my Holy Hand Grenade, and they made it all happen, while I sat like a happy papa and looked on.

The Holy Hand Grenade worked just in the nick of time, and while the church had been meeting and doing its weekly activities without me, there had also been a UK Festival Outreach, which had been in the planning for 6 months. Two days before I was to fly to the UK, and meet Dennis there, I received the doctor’s clearance. So, off I flew to Wales with oral antibiotics in hand. There we built an art project at BurningNest; we worked the doors and debates at a philosophy festival; and we ministered to the 23,000 hippies, hipsters and all around seekers at Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice.

Of course, as October rolled around, we were back on the streets of Salem during our one million visitor month with live music every weekend, and hundreds of friends from around the country joining us for ministry. We bought pizza for some of the homeless youth and elders who like to hang around our stage, we interpreted dreams, we shared the love of our Lord Jesus with locals and visitors alike, and we simply created a presence of acceptance and love during a weird and wild holiday season in our unique city.

Between the time in the hospital and the frenetic pace of Festival outreach from Summer through Fall, this year has seemed like a blur, and does even now as I look back in the rearview mirror.

The hospital stay and prolonged downtime was perhaps a forced sabbatical of sorts. I was able to complete a book I had been working on for a few years, and Burning Religion is now self-published and online at Amazon.com.

Despite all this, we bought ice cream for the kids at the park on the Point in Salem during the summer, and we joined the World’s Largest Eye Contact Experiment in October.

Please keep us in your prayers. Getting back into a regular pattern of spiritual life as a body of people has not been easy, but we continue our ride into Bethlehem and appreciate every person who remembers our labors.

If you would like to help support the mission of the The Gathering, which has moved from a local expression of innovative mission, to something beyond the boundaries of our own country, you can do so at our website --> salemgathering.org. May your Christmas, your Solstiee, your Hannukah, and your New Year be blessed.

Stories from Halloween Outreach in Salem (Part 1: those who joined us this year)

Over the next 2 weeks I will relate some short stories, and give thanks to the people who have helped us make this year's outreach over the month long Halloween season in Salem, MA.

Halloween in Salem began on October 1st with the Halloween Parade. We handed out fliers to invite people to the Halloween Children's Day we host each year. During this same time friends from around the United States were preparing to come to join us for outreach at the end of the month during our most busy days.

This year we were joined by Steve Pate and Justin Henk from Church on the Coast (The Carlsbad Foursquare Church) in Carlsbad, CA. Steve has been here on and off since the second year of outreach in 2000, and Justin was here for the first time. Allan Henninger was here as well. Allan is a former YWAM leader, and also a former Foursquare Pastor now living and serving in the Los Angeles area. If it was not for these three guys we would never have been able to accomplish the task of running the stage and live music we provide for the city as smoothly as it went.

Janine and Laura who are teachers of the Streams Ministries Internship Classes were here from Tennessee. The Streams Ministries Internship from New Hampshire, and some of the interns from Canada joined us for three weeks of outreach. Together the internships sent about 15 people to help serve. The Bridge Church from Beverly Massachusetts led by John Harding sent prophetic teams to serve throughout the month of October. The Bridge Church in New London, NH came with their Pastor Scott Evelyn. Pastor Scott is one of the initiators of the dynamic outreach to The Burning Man Festival. Rob from Coeur d'Alene, ID who organizes The Burning Man Festival outreach also joined us. These people were involved with prophetic ministry, healing prayer, and free spiritual counseling services to the thousands of people on the streets of Salem.

Grace Fellowship (a CMA Church) in Danvers, MA under the guidance of Anita Coco sent a group of people to run a Not for Sale event in the basement vault of The Gathering.

The First Church of Salem and their pastor Jeffrey Barz-Snell organized a 350.org event on the 24th.

Other friends who came to serve included: Tim Hawkins and Nine of his group from Sojourn Collegiate Ministries in Boston. Jesse and Liby Browning an Marcos Reyna from a house church in Beverly, Ben Corey who was an awesome Jesus Deck reader from Grace Chapel in Lexington, and of course the infamous James Wilcox.

The musicians who played on our stage included Mamadou Diop and his band (as well as the drummers he has trained who formed a drum circle), Grateful Ted and Peter Tintendo, Paul Phillips with Tom Conlon and The Petty Thieves, Judy C(ooper), Jim Trick, Lisa Press and her husband Simon, Sarah Vanilla who goes by Lush now, Paul Duffy and the Front Street Coffeehouse Open Mic gang, Debra Crosby's Talent Quest TV Show, Hail Plankton, Dave Mangione and the Vic Morrows, Eric Brown and his band Phatmaxx, and Brian Serfes and DJ Xpress with the Salem Beatbox Championships.

The next post will give thanks to all the gang from Church on the Coast who made this year come together, and have been the backbone of outreach for 11 Halloween seasons now.

Letter to Our Friends and Partners

Greetings Friends,

It is impossible in the space of a short post to communicate the number of ways The Gathering reaches out to the city of Salem, MA, it's 500,000 October visitors, and the people seeking out alternative spiritualities like Witchcraft and Paganism. There is no other location in the world with the unique opportunities which have been provided to our small church. Our website says it well: We're a small church with a big mission.

Pastor Jeff Gentry blogs about some of our activities at his site: http://gentry13.blogspot.com/

• We will serve thousands of people free hot cocoa, and this year Equal Exchange has joined us to help serve Fair Trade (that means not produced by slaves) Hot Cocoa.
• We will personally minister to a couple thousand people in spiritual counseling opportunities, and they will stand in line to sit down with us.
• We will train people to understand and communicate with the unique culture around us in Salem, MA.
• We will help sponsor 350.org's sustainability event day on October 24th.
• We will provide the largest free outdoor entertainment venue in the city.
• We will take people through an experience of death and afterlife to allow them to consider the ramifications of eternity.
• We will send people onto the streets dressed as monks to offer free blessings.
• 7/24 prayer will join us for two nights of prayer at The Vault.

... and yet, there is still more happening.

Please consider praying for us each day this season. We are dependent upon the good graces of God, and freedom of His Spirit.

Also consider joining us as partners in support of the ministry at The Gathering. We have recently set up a paypal link on our website which allows you to set up a monthly debit from your account. Some of you have asked me about this in the past, because you wanted to give regularly in an automated manner. You can find the link to this partner support page here:
http://www.salemgathering.com/Friends_of_the_Gathering.html

You are our friends, our acquaintances and a large part of our success. Thank You.


Salem (Peace) to You,

Pastor Phil
The Gathering at Salem
217 Essex Street
Salem, MA 01970

October Coming! Get ready to Perform!

Taking a Page from Welsh traditions, The Gathering is arranging for a series of talent competitions this October. Although talent competitions are fairly universal, they are also strangely Welsh in feel. Following the Eisteddfod model we will be organizing (or organising for you British isle types) three competitions during the October Haunted Happenings season.

1. Salem Children's Day Talent Show - Saturday, Oct. 10th 2pm to 5pm on the Salem Common. This coincides with the Salem Halloween Children's Day. Typically 2-3,000 people are in attendance. Registration fee is $5, but sponsorships are available for those who can not afford the registration fee. Children up to age 12 are eligible for this competition.

2. Beat Down Salem! Salem Beat Box Championship - Thanks to Brian Serfes for his inspiration and work in pulling this great show together. Saturday, October 17th from 1pm to 5pm. This is an all age competition for the Salem Beat Box Champ. Free Registration.

3. Ysbrydnos: 2009 Salem Bardic Competition - calling all poets, storytellers, musicians, and any combination thereof. This is the event to win the bardic staff and the title 2009 Bard of Salem. Special consideration is given to creativity, originality, and a certain spiritual je ne sais quoi. Registration is $10. The event will take place over October 30th, and 31st with the winning of the Bardic Staff taking place on the Fountain Stage at the Museum Place Mall on Essex Street on Halloween evening.

For more information on any of these competitions call The Gathering at 978-744-8444, or e-mail pastorphil at salemgathering.com. You could be the next Bard.