Summer is Here

So this Sunday at Forefront, the AC wasn't on when we got there. It was like 75 degrees at 6am when I left my apartment to be there for setup, and a heat advisory was in affect for the day. So we turned on the AC, and it did not much. Remember, we meet in a theater with a tall ceiling. We were pretty hot doing setup, but got it all done earlier than usual. Yes! we thought, now we can get breakfast sandwiches in the nice cool corner deli. But no, their AC was not on either (but the breakfast sandwiches as always wonderful). So back the the warm Blender Theater.
I think everyone had in the back of their minds the idea that it would be cool by the time the first service started. Wrong. The programs were thicker because of life group info, so they made pretty good fans. At the end of 1st service, Jacob and a few others went to Walgreens, bought up some bottled water and ice and passed them out as people left and came in for the 2nd service. I must have drank at least 3 as well as a bit of OJ.
Usually when there's a heat wave, you hear about fights breaking out. The atmosphere at Forefront was different. People joked about it, dealt with it, and kept going.
After church, we had some reorganizing to do of all our supplies, so a bunch of people stayed after in the heat to reorganize and eat hot pizza. It was great. By the time I left for the train, I was completely drained. When I got off the train in Brooklyn, I had to get yet another drink - Gatorade. I took a wonderful cold shower and relaxed. Ahh, what fun! God is good!
Ya know, millions of Christians worship every week with no AC at all and they're fine. So I guess we got a glimpse of what it's like for them, as well as what it was like for Christians in New York 1900.

Only in New York

• The Wendy's Dollar Menu is $1.19.
• Standing 1/2 inch away from total strangers, while avoiding eye contact for more than 2 seconds, trying not to fall on someone, for up to 10 minutes.
  
• Seeing homeless people every single day.
• Real. Good. Breakfast Sandwiches.
  
• Riding a train with Chinese, Hasidic Jews, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, and whoever else you can think of.
• Real. Good. Bagels.
  
• Nearly being run over by a taxi and having people close to you laugh and say "welcome to New York."
  

Gross things in NYC in no particular order

• Grabbing the warm part of the pole in the subway.
• Humans picking up dog excrement.
• Pigeons.
• Rats.
• Walking into an invisible stench of garbage, sewer, BO, or something you just can't put your finger on...and you wouldn't want to.
• Crowded subway car with no AC in the middle of July.
• Dried throw-up on the sidewalk, particularly prevalent on early Sunday mornings.
• Being caught in a sudden downpour with no umbrella...in Central Park (yes it's happened to me, and it was gross).
• 59th St and 5th Ave where the carriage horses are...it's a mix of manure, hay, and horse food all smashed together (I wonder if they sample it now and then...that's gross!).
• 85% of public bathrooms (it's a great thing when you find a clean one!).

Life Group

So Forefront has life groups three times a year. Out spring one just finished. We were looking at the gospel of John. It was pretty different since we did the entire book in about 9 weeks. We were having to do like 3 chapters at a time to get all the way through at times. But we got to see the big themes in John, like Life, Divinity, Love, Truth, stuff like that. Anyway, for our last meeting we did some artistic reflection. We had paints, playdoh, and I played a song I had written on my guitar the week earlier. It was all pretty awesome. Kevin, who is a music connoisseur played some sweet "artistic" music he had on his ipod as we created our art.
Here is Katie and her fish. This is one of the fist caught by the boy to feed the 5000.
Here is Carrie's pic reflecting the Life that Jesus gives.

Here we kind of took a picture too late and Kevin was taking his playdo masterpiece apart...

Here's my picture. I just wanted to paint, so I started splattering and dripping paint on the paper. It looked cool, so I ran with it. I decided that it's the blood of Christ on the road to the cross.

Afterward, we went to a bar close by to hang out and eat hushpuppies! Yeah!

All in all, it was a great group. Some are moving away :( but the rest of us will hopefully stick together during the Summer as we look at the book of Proverbs.

The Mets

So it's either the Mets or the Yankees. You've got to pick one right? I'm not sure it's the same as Chicago with the Cubs and the White Sox where you must pick one and be against the other. It's definitely not real heated in New York. But at this point, when people ask, I always say I'm a Mets fan more than a Yankees fan. Why you ask? Well, it all goes back to my childhood.....not. A few experiences. Comparing the fan base, Mets fans were much more excited and supportive of their team at the first game I went to (granted I sat in pretty bad bleachers at the Yankees game I went to). Then there's the sense of just jumping on the bandwagon of the Yankees, since they are iconic of New York City. Then there's ARod and his fickleness (will he stay with the Yankees or not? How many more millions does he need?).
If you know me well, you know that I've never been a hard-core fan of any team anywhere. So who knows if being a Mets fan will stick? And yes, I did have to do some wikipedia searches to make sure that some info in the post was correct if that tells you anything.
So a few weeks ago, Forefront had a volunteer appreciation and Caren got a bunch of us decent tickets to the Mets Braves game (Mets won by 1, yes!). So here's my boyish picture at Shea Stadium. It was so cold that day!

Stolen Computer

My computer was stolen last Friday.  I was sitting in Chipotle (fast food restaurant) and while my roommate and I were talking, it disappeared.

We had gone to a Good Friday service earlier that night at Redeemer Presbyterian.  Man, it was powerful.  I don't know if you're a fan of liturgy, but it can sure focus one's mind well.  I was really confronted with my own sin.  It's been a while.  And it made talk of the cross so much more penetrating.  I had met God.

So after meeting with God, we went to Chipotle.  From the moment we left the church, Tim and I began to discuss church and worship and community - good stuff that you don't get to talk about at length often enough.  I decided the get tacos instead of a burrito this time.  It was alright.  We kept talking for at least 30 minutes after we were done eating.  I thought of something and got a pen out of my backpack that was right by my leg on the floor.  About 10 minutes later, we decided to leave and discovered that my backpack was gone.   From then on, lots of emotions flooded through me.  I sure am glad that Tim was there, because I could hardly think straight enough to think of anything I should do.  We called the police, scoped out the place, talk to the management, sent out text messages for prayer, etc.  It was rough.  No one saw anything.  There were 4 people sitting right by us, and they saw nothing.  There were no security cameras by us (I checked the others later and found nothing).  So, today it's 5 days later, and I'm pretty sure that my computer has a new memory and is in the hands of someone else.  Though there's always hope that it will get back to me with the memory still in tact.

For the most part, I've been a little surprised at how OK I am.  It's a big deal and a major inconvenience, but God is faithful.  I lost some stuff, yeah, but I've got a job so I'll be able to get replacement stuff again.

Last night in my Life Group, we talked about Jesus when he said, "I am the resurrection and the life."  Death was in the air, and I couldn't help seeing that before we can have the life that is truly life that Jesus offers, we have to face death.  We have to face our own sin and the consequences.  And when we accept Jesus' death on our behalf, we can experience resurrection.  And what does that resurrected life look like?  It's: exciting, a new lease on life, part of a bigger story, giving love to others as we've been given, running through a field, loving people unconditionally, and so much more.

So I think about this guy who lifted my bag.

I've been reading Genesis lately and before God flooded the earth, Genesis 6:5-6 says:

"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." (NASB)

"His heart was filled with pain." (NIV)

"It broke his heart." (NLT)

My sin is a part of that.  The man who robbed me (God's creation in His own image) broke God's heart.  If God's heart is broken, then so if mine.  This man does not know the love of God that I have experienced - the kind of love that voluntarily sacrifices itself for another despite full knowledge of their complete sin.  I pray that God would reveal himself to this man, that he would crash into his life.  I pray that I would meet him one day... as a brother.

Presuppositions

So it's been a little weird telling people that I work at Jews for Jesus. I seem to often an "OH" response. It's like I just told them, "and oh yeah, I'm an expert on all things Jewish." It's funny. It's like telling someone you work for a hedge fund and immediately being asked financial questions. Well, I'll tell you now that I don't know a lot of things about Jews in NYC. I'm learning here and there, but my main job is to support the staff who does know so they can reach out to Jews.
Here's the reason I'm writing about this. I don't want to be defined by what I do for a living. I want people to known me for me.
If I tell someone that I'm a "Christian," they immediately have a stereotype in their minds of what that person believes, looks, and acts like. For the most part in New York City, it's negative. We've got to live a life so that people can be surprised when they hear we're followers of Jesus. Am I defined by following Jesus? Yes. However, people have extremely different and diverse definitions to draw from. In this context, I am forced to follow the real Jesus or fall into one of many false definitions.
There's you're fun fact for the day.

So last week on the way home from work I saw a guy who obviously was either coming from or going to the airport. He had a large thin case, and I asked him if it was a snowboard. We started talking, and he told me that he had just come from Colorado from a snowboarding week. He got to see The X Games and showed me a video on his camera. It was pretty cool, cause I had watched a few minutes of the X Games on Sunday. It was just a random conversation with a random person, but I really felt like I should keep talking to him. It was weird, but it was like the Spirit was prompting me. So I asked him questions about whatever I could think of, and he was pretty talkative. Now the amazing thing was that this had been going on for about 30 minutes and he and I were both not home yet. In the back of my mind I kept thinking how awesome it would be if he lived in Bensonhurst and how much more awesome it would be if he was at my stop! Well, we kept talking, he wants to go to Colorado and live on the slopes. Not a bad life if I say so. Anyway it turns out that, wonder of wonders, he got off at the same stop as me. He lives like a block and half away from me! We exchanged numbers and hopefully will be a drink this weekend or something.
I question all the time why God led me to live in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. It's kinda far from Manhattan, and there's only a few people from Forefront here. I dream all the time of being a part of a group of Christians that can live close together and radically effect the neighborhood where they live. I guess God works all the time when the circumstances aren't perfectly like we've planned.

Urban Ministry Part Du

The Urban Ministry class from Ozark was a great week! The students got here alright and on time on Saturday, so we promptly enjoyed a few hours going to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the whole city from the top floor of the building. On Sunday, I led the students to 4 churches. That's right, 4 churches in one day, and all of them were extremely different in how they are reaching people. First @ 9:15 we went to Redeemer Presbyterian's traditional liturgical service where the quartet played a Mozart number for the prelude and postlude.
Then we went to Forefront Church @ 11:30 which targets 20-30 somethings with a band. Church is in a concert venue for rock bands. After lunch, we went to Times Square Church at 3:00 which bought and meets in a theater on Broadway! The service was spirited and had a more traditional African-American heritage, though there were all kinds of people there. After the 2-hour service, we went down to Brooklyn for Church! of Park Slope a young plant that is highly relational and highly focused to reach their neighborhood. Each church is so different! It makes you realize that you need more than one kind of church to reach the many cultures of a city.
During the week, Gordon Venturella taught classes in the Empire State Building. You may remember that with earlier classes, we met in a classroom in the basement, but this week we were on the 15th floor with a great view! Gordon is on staff at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary and used to be on staff at Ozark. He did a great job of raising good questions for students to ask about the city, about themselves, and about what God thinks of it all.
In between times of teaching, the class visited several organizations in the city:
NYC Rescue Mission - reaches the homeless; those at the bottom
Teen Challenge - Started as a youth discipleship program for gang members, but today also reaches many with substance abuse.
Jews for Jesus - reaches the 2 million Jews in the NYC metro area; 1 million in the city.
The students also heard from several pastors in the city - from Forefront Church (Midtown Manhattan), Church! of Park Slope (Brooklyn), Community Christian Church (Upper East Side/Harlem), and Crossroads Christian Church (Brooklyn).

Because of some generous supporters, we were able to see Phantom of the Opera of Broadway! Trae, Mom, and I have been huge fans since we saw it in Tulsa with Trae's junior high literature class. It was a great show, and it reminds the students of what kind of people they may reach in NYC - those who enjoy the best of the arts and culture all the time.
All in all, it was a wonderful week. We enjoyed temperatures in the 50's and 60's (NOT the norm) and only had rain as the class was heading to the airport to go back to Joplin. Once again, I am so glad that God has blessed me with such an opportunity to be a part of building the future leaders of His church. Hopefully more and more will have the cities of the world on their radar screen as they seek to spread the gospel of Christ.

Urban Ministry

Tomorrow at 5:45 (hopefully!) a plane will land with 16 students from Ozark Christian College ready to learn about doing ministry in an urban context. They'll be here a whole week for the Urban Ministry class. Gordan Venturella will also be with us to lead most of the teaching times. Dave and I will be more of facilitators this time around, arranging travel, guest speakers, and events. The class will be visiting various churches, ministries, and non-profits in the city to learn and evaluate how they minister in an urban context. It will be a challenging and enlightening experience I'm sure. Would you please pray for the 16 students that they would be sensitive to God's Spirit this week? Would you pray that they would be stretched? And also that they would be safe.
Would you also pray for Dave, Gordan, and I? This will be our first week-long class to come out, so it'll be a little different. Pray that we would lead well and be sensitive to God's Spirit ourselves. I'm really excited about what God is going to do in some students' lives to effect his kingdom for years to come!

Not from Brooklyn

So tonight I decided to get some pizza for dinner. I went to the local pizza place, Giovanni's, to enjoy some authentic New York sausage pizza. While I was waiting, the woman beside me was talking with they guy working about her cat that had been lost for a week and a half. I struck up a conversation with her, asking about the cat. We chatted a little, then she asked me where I was from. When I told her I was from Oklahoma, she responded with: "You're not from Brooklyn...so that's why you're talking." So I started a conversation with a stranger - guess I'm not from Brooklyn.
Actually Bensonhurst, my neighborhood, has been really inviting. When you start a conversation, people are really open to talking. It really is a great neighborhood. It's definitely a lot different from life back in Broken Arrow, OK. But like I often say, people are people. It's not like New Yorkers are from another planet or another people group. There are some differences, but in many ways, people are the same as back home.
So I guess the moral of the story (haha)...don't let your stereotypes of people get carried away.

Haircut

So on Wednesday I finally got a haircut - trim actually. I hadn't been to any places in Bensonhurst (the neighborhood in Brooklyn where I live). But I saw a sign for $10 mens' cuts at a place right by the subway entrance, so I tried it out. There were two women there and then three women working. Just a slight bit awkward. Anyway, while the woman was cutting my hair we had the small talk going on. She had an accent and would periodically speak in another language to the other women working, so I asked her where she was from. Albania! Not just Albania, but Dures, where I went last summer during my missions trip with CIY! They were really excited and so was I. My landlord is also from Albania. Who knows how God has been working and how he will use this for his glory. Please be praying for me that I will be able to make some relationships with people in my building and in my neighborhood here in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Ozark in New York City

On September 21-24, 26 Ozark students invaded the big apple. It was great! This was our first group of students to come the the city - Dave Smith's Foundations for Church Planting class.
I remember taking the class in the downstairs of the chapel accumulating Dave's many many many handouts. I remember the class when we talked about the northeast, New York City specifically, and the great influence it has in the world. That's when God first began to prick my heart to come here to plant churches. I hope that God pricked some students' hearts this past weekend again!
They got here late Friday night, and experienced a NY taxi ride from the airport to the mission house where they stayed. (random fact: about 80% of cab drivers speak English in NYC). Early the next morning, we made our way to midtown to the historic celebration of the Fulton St. Revival. Jack Hayford and Henry Blackaby spoke, and then we were able to go to a church planting workshop. That night, the students were able to take the Staten Island ferry and see the whole city. Dave organized a seaside dinner back in manhattan at a great Chinese restaurant. Finally, we heard from the church planter of Mosaic Manhattan church.
On Sunday we were able to go to a new campus of The River, a church on Wall St.! We heard about it at the Fulton St. conference. It was a great, externally focused church. That afternoon we went to the Empire State Building where we used a classroom from the King's College. The students heard from the church planter of a church in the Boston area. We ended the night by watching a Broadway show, Mamma Mia! (my first broadway show).
On Monday, we went to Crossroads Church in Brooklyn to hand out pop tarts to people. Then we heard from the church planter there. Finally, we made our way back to the Empire State Building to hear from the planters of Forefront Church and Church! of Park Slope. With that, they headed off to the SuperShuttle vans that took them back to the airport and back to Joplin, MO. Wow! What an experience.I'm so glad that I was able to help Dave make this trip a success. This class will come out one more time in November/December. Another class will be coming at the beginning of November. So, we'll be getting ready for them. I'm glad that God brought me back to the city to be involved in such a worthwhile and purposeful program. May the Lord of the harvest raise up his workers to bring Good News to this influential city. Ever thought about coming to the city?...

Random New Yorkisms

I was going to put this in my newsletter, but I didn't. So here it is!
Living in New York: Here are some random and interesting things I’ve discovered about the Big Apple.
1. People aren’t jerks. Everyone is more direct here; no beating around the bush. But if you need directions, people are happy to give them. People aren’t cold-hearted, just intensely focused.
2. I feel safe. No, I haven’t been mugged, shot, or solicited. I never really feel threatened anywhere. Even at the dead of night, there are plenty of people on the streets (“city that never sleeps”). I guess we think of the 80’s and early 90’s when it was a little dangerous. I’m glad it’s better now.
3. The poor and homeless are everywhere. Everyday I see at least 5 homeless people, or people asking for money…and that’s if I’m not looking for them. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor (Lk. 4:18)…do I?
4. There is a heightened awareness of social issues…to an extent. People care about healthy foods, the environment, AIDS in Africa, and the Darfur, which are all great. But the awareness is limited to the socially popular issues.
5. It’s diverse. I hear people speaking various languages every day. I’ve seen Catholic priests, Buddhist monks, guys in Muslim garb (no they were not in a bar), and more ethnicities than I know. You really can find a flavor or everything in this city.
6. It’s expensive. I’ve heard it’s one of the most expensive places to live. I believe it from the cost of rent alone! Most things are a little more expensive, so you’ve got to be pretty savvy. However, a frappuccino at Starbucks is always the same price everywhere in America.

Crazy-Cool

So I found something interesting this week as I was reading through my journal. Last year on the first entry (July 06), I had just finished reading "If you want to walk on water you've got to get out of the boat" by Jon Ortberg. It's about living my faith. Ortberg asks a question at the end that I wrote down in my first entry: "If your God truly is a big God, and you could ask him to do any one thing in your life, what would it be?" I didn't know what to answer back in July 06. When I finished that journal on July 22, 07, I looked back at that question. Here's a part of my entry on July 22, 07: "Looking back @ the question at the 1st entry of this journal, I would say that the one thing would be to find a job & apartment in New York a week after I get back from vacation." Well, yesterday, on my 6th day back, I signed a lease on an apartment, and I already have a job lined up! Wow! God is crazy-cool!
It's the same apartment that I looked at on Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers. It's a big decision to sign a year-long lease. I'm really going to live in New York - definitely for a year. Now I just need to deal with the details of furnishing the place. All of my furniture is back in Oklahoma of course (I just couldn't fit my bed and dresser in the overhead bins on the plane). It's actually more normal here for people to buy the things they need here and then sell them whenever they move. However, I do still have lots of things back home that I would like to have here (like so many great books - a commentary set I just got for my birthday for one!). Pray that I'll be able to get the things I need whether buying for from home, and that I'll be content with what I have (Philippians 4:12; 1 Timothy 6:6-8).

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back in New York City. The past two weeks were wonderful! I got to be with my family, both in Oklahoma and in Kansas, and I got to see some friends from Ozark for a few days. I was also able to go to my home church for the first time in almost a year! Being away from home, or ministering at other places has kept me. Once again I was surprised by the weight of support from those at Cedar Ridge. It's not that I didn't think it was possible, but I didn't realize how much God has blessed me. So, to my supporters once again, THANK YOU!
Some of you probably know that I've been looking for an apartment with my roommate. Well, today I looked at one in Brooklyn where a couple at Forefront lives. It's going to be a really nice, new place once it is renovated, it's in a good community, and most important it's at a great price! After looking the place over, the landlord told me that I should let him know by tomorrow afternoon (thursday), because he would be showing it to other people. I'm glad I called him right away! So my roommate and I are going to sleep on it and decide in the morning. We really haven't heard or found of any other apartments like this one - good price, newly renovated, people from Forefront, great price. This really looks like God's provision right now. Over the summer, I've been living in Queens. I don't want to get too much ahead of myself, but how could God work through me with my landlord or with my neighbors if I went to this place in Brooklyn? To quit rambling, would you pray for me and my roommate, that God would give us wisdom about this? I know that some of you have already been praying about this. Perhaps this is the answer, or perhaps it will come later. Either way, I'm excited to see where God leads. Thanks.

Mike

So tonight, Tim invited me to eat dinner with a friend of his from church, Aaron, who is moving to Arizona tomorrow - a sort of "last hurrah." (Tim payed for me (thanks Tim!) so I happily went). We ate at a place called Dallas BBQ in Times Square. The craziest part was listening to Tim and our friend argue about computer operating systems (Windows vs. Mac), programing stuff, and binary code. They were getting pretty passionate, and I didn't understand a lick of it. They were definitely being nerds - but where would we be without the internet and their genius creating it?
Well, that was just for fun. Here's the really cool part of the night. On the way home from dinner, we met a guy named Mike on the subway. He was sitting beside us and heard our conversation. I guess he's a friendly guy, so he threw open the door and added a comment. We ended up starting a conversation about what we do and where we're from. Then Mike asked how we knew each other: from Forefront. He said that he was Lutheran and had been looking for a church. We told him about Forefront, and he asked for the address twice to make sure he got it. So, maybe he'll be there on a Sunday.
Earlier in the evening our friend Aaron used a phrase to speak of New York: "a community of strangers." That's really what New York City can be, a community of strangers. I really think that this can be the loneliest place on earth. With all our wealth, we don't need anyone and can fade into the crowds.
Pray for Mike, that he may get involved in a church. Pray for me that I would not become secluded, but would reach out to others.

The end is near

The summer is coming to an end. We had our last mission team with us this week from Plainview, IN. They are a great team, and have done a great job serving the city of New York. It's kind of neat that they have a diversity of ages from 20's to 60's!
Tomorrow is Forefront's first time in the new space at the Blender Theater. We had a "run-through" of all the setup on Thursday night, so that on Sunday it's not total chaos. There's a lot to do - set up all the chairs, the stage, communion tables, welcome stuff, coffee and bagels, all the kidstuf and nursery, and signs - to name a few. I'm pretty excited. We had 250 last week (a record I believe) and we're hoping that the momentum will continue into the move.
It's really starting to get to me that I'll be living in New York after the internship is over. A few days ago, Tim found a dresser on the sidewalk that was destined for the dumpster. It only has some minor things wrong with it, most of which can be fixed. And it matches the wooden wardrobe that Tim has let me use. (Yes, they're both Ikea)! It's exciting, but the only thing is that I still need to find enough work while I'm here. And of course, we're on the apartment hunt.
Moving to New York also makes me think about other things. I feel lonely sometimes. I really feel it as school is starting soon. College seems almost like a dream sometimes. I'm far from home and will have to continue to build relationships. But Jesus never said that following him would be easy or that everything would go my way! I know that what he has planned is best.
Thanks everybody for all your prayers.

Forefront Church Setup Video

Here's a video that the church made a while ago to encourage people to get involved. It makes me really excited when I watch it. Anyway, it's a snapshot of what happens before services every Sunday.

Forefront Church

Some of you may be wondering, "so what's church like there?" We start out each Sunday morning with coffee and bagels (I used to not like bagels, but New York bagels are the best in the world I'm told). There's also orange juice for all the non-coffee drinkers out there with me. Whenever the band starts playing, people start to go in the auditorium. I don't think that most Christians I know would be thrown for a loop by our service. It isn't crazy progressive or anything. We are definitely externally focused, communicating with relevance and without the "Christian-ease." Here's some pics of what the stage and service looks like.


(That's Jacob, the community outreach pastor, giving announcements!)

MMMmmm...coffee and bagels...and orange juice