Our History

It all started when…

Dr. John Tolson began the Gathering in 1978 as an assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Houston.  John was alarmed by the lack of spiritual direction men were providing for their families and the extremely low number of men attending church.   Dr. Tolson developed an appealing and effective way to reach men for Christ by mobilizing Christian men to invite their friends to a non-threatening outreach event in a secular setting.  Men were recruited and trained to be table hosts for outreach breakfasts where a dynamic, nationally known speaker would present a winsome Gospel message.  Typically 500 to 2,000 men would attend, including business, professional, and government leaders in the community. As men were reached, they were placed into small groups and Bible studies which ranged from 10 to 100 men.  Men were encouraged to study the Word, to pray, to learn Scripture, and to fellowship with other Christian men.  Many men were discipled in a one-on-one setting to help them to apply the Christian life on a daily basis. The Houston work continued to be led by volunteers for about five years in the downtown area and for almost ten years in the northwest part of the city.  The men who made up the core group then began to search for someone to take the ministry on a full-time basis.   The person needed to be familiar with the business world and its special needs and also be well versed in running a ministry.