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?...

Free Time

The past few weeks I've had a lot of free time - mainly because I don't have a job yet. Yes, I am helping Dave Smith quite a bit, but that's a little more sporadic. But like I said, I've got a lot of "free time." It's really nice when there's a party or concert or baseball game, and I've got nothing to hold me back. Other times though, it drives me crazy. I hate not having something pressing to accomplish. Sure there are things to be done, but nothing extra to spring me out of bed in the morning with that much more gusto.
I remember a few summers ago in high school (wow, that was like 6 or 7 summers ago, I'm old!) when my pastor from my home church gave a devotion for the youth group. I think it was the last Wednesday night before summer. We had a tailgate party and volleyball game. He talked about how sometimes the most dangerous place we can be is in our "free time." Satan uses it to tempt us toward sin. It's true. So in the past few weeks, I've been having to practice the discipline of self-starting. I'd say that most of the time, it's better to be doing something rather than wondering if anything will happen.

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.

Joy and Grief

I'm coming home on Tuesday! I'm super excited! I'm going to be in Broken Arrow for two weeks, form August 7-21. I'm looking forward to having a good break. I only had one week between graduation and moving to New York. Now I get to have a break from always having something pressing to do or someone to see. I'm hoping to go to Kansas this next weekend and to Joplin on the 20th to see friends from Ozark.
On a more serious tone, I just received an e-mail about a friend of mine, Patricia, who recently suffered a brain aneurysm. She played piano at 1st Christian in Miami, OK, where I preached during the spring semester. It has been a hard season for her recently anyway as her husband, Nate, passed away in the Fall. Every time I spoke with Patricia she encouraged me with her faithfulness to God. Whether wet or dry eyes, she was either praising God for his faithfulness to her in the midst of grief or she was concerned about others who didn't know God's love. It pains me to hear that she is having to undergo surgeries, and will probably not be able to live by herself again. But with Patricia's same spirit, I believe that God is faithful to his people. Soon I will be able to worship before the throne of the lamb with both Nate and Patricia where there will be no more sickness, pain, tears or death. How great is our God! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

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.