The Gathering

Our Story & Purpose

About The Gathering

Today, around 1,300 - 1,400 people attend Church @ The Gathering each weekend in the Sevierville area. We offer contemporary, Biblically-driven worship services that are alive with energy and creativity, as well as excellent childcare, exciting children's and student ministries and challenging programs for the men, women and senior adults.

Our Story

In the beginning...

1999

November 18, 1999 the Lord gave Pastor Gene the name of the church.

2000

June 2000: Gene and Karen moved 852 miles from Garland, Texas to Sevierville, Tennessee.

August 20, 2000: First Thursday Night Bible Study @ Sevierville Civic Center - 127 people attend.

August 27, 2000: Second Thursday Night Bible Study @ Sevierville Civic Center - 37 people attend.

2001

January 14, 2001: First Sunday church service @ Southern Nights Theater - 64 people attend

Easter 2001: 212 people attend

Summer 2001: Moved to Governor's Palace

2002

Easter 2002: 250 people attend

April 2002: Moved to Music Road Hotel

June 2, 2002: Renovated Family Fitness Center and held first service in "the old gym"

Remodeled building, bought chairs, dedicated children's facilities

Helped two church plants (Horizon Pointe, which currently has over 1,000 attending & Lake Pointe Church, which currently has 750-900 attending)

2003

Easter 2003: 300 people attend

2004

Easter 2004: 350 people attend

Spring 2004: Added additional Sunday service

Held first church-wide campaign, "40 Days of Purpose"

Debuted praise choir with our first Christmas Celebration

2005

Easter 2005: 450 people attend

Remodeled exterior of building

Held second church-wide campaign, "40 Days of Community"

October 2005: Launched Saturday night service (3 weekend services total)

Purchased 20 acres of land on Middle Creek Road for new campus

2006

January 1, 2006: Opened the door for prayer

The door has been opened every day this year for prayer

Easter 2006: 1,166 people attend 4 Easter Services, with over 100 people committing their lives to Christ

Added third Sunday Service (4 weekend services total)

August 5, 2006: changed to 2 Saturday night services and 2 Sunday morning services

Purchased additional 23 acres on Middle Creek Road for new campus

September 10, 2006: Land Dedication

2007

Easter 2007: 1,645 people attend 5 Easter Services, with over 75 people committing their lives to Christ

March 29, 2007: Groundbreaking on 43 acre new church campus on Middle Creek Road

May 12-13, 2007: First non-Easter weekend with over 1,000 in attendance (total of 1,033 people on The Gathering campus)

August 8, 9 & 10, 2007: Sevier County Days - over 3,000 people attended Sevier County Days at The Gathering. Over $100,000 of food, brand new clothing and school supplies were given away to the less fortunate children in the region.

October 2007: Our series on marriage, Red Hot Sex, created quite a controversy in our community. A newspaper article was written, which led to a story on the local news, which ended up on CNN, AOL, and other news organizations. However, we saw 87 people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior the very first weekend of the new series. Lives being radically changed by the power of Jesus Christ is why The Gathering exists.

December 17-20, 2007:  Christmas at The Gathering - over 4,000 people in attendance. Over $150,000 worth of food, new bicycles, new winter coats and new toys were given away. Christmas was made better for hundreds of less fortunate children.

2008

March 2008: Added 5th weekend service

March 21-23, 2008 Easter Weekend: Over 5,000 in attendance in 9 services. 500 Easter Blessing Baskets, 1,700 Nike gift cards and Easter baskets given away. 95 people committed their lives to Christ.

October 11-12, 2008: Over 100 adults come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

2009

April 7-9, 2009 Easter Week:  502 souls came to know Jesus Christ as their personal LORD and Savior during The LORD'S Child Springtime event.  (First service held in new facility) 

Easter 2009:  4,873 in attendance in new state-of-the-art facilities at 1250 Middle Creek Road.

May 3, 2009: First Baptism Service on New Property - 95 children and adults baptized.

May 17, 2009: Guest Evangelist Dr. Tim Lee - 68 souls came to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior during 2 services.

November 1, 2009: Larry Jones, founder of Feed the Children, spoke in both Sunday services.

2010

January 17 - February 6, 2010: 21 Day Fast, results of which GOD ordained that The Gathering would truly become a house of prayer.

February 7, 2010: Kirk Nowery, COO of The Samaritan's Purse, spoke in both Sunday services, reiterating the commissioning of the international vision of The Gathering. His message spoke to the recent devastation of the Haiti earthquake.

February 24, 2010: Pastor Gene travels with Samaritan's Purse to Haiti.