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!

December

Wow, so most of december passed without a post. That's the holidays for ya. I got to go home for Christmas. It was great! It was nice just to be home with family and hang out. Many of you heard about the ice storm, and lots of you experienced it. I was overwhelmed! I'd say that 95% of every tree had some kind of battle injury, and every driveway had a huge pile of branches stacked in front. It looked like a bomb went off 20 feet in the air. It was crazy.
So the big gift I got for Christmas was from my parents: an iphone. Yes, I got an iphone. Everyone seems to go gaga over it. Well, that's apple technology, culture, and advertising for you. It is pretty great, especially having the internet and google maps anywhere in the city. And thankfully, it's a great phone.
I got back to New York on new years eve, and much to my dad's chagrin, I did not go to times square to watch the ball drop. Instead, I enjoyed time with my roommate and another friend in a more quiet celebration.
While I was home, I got to go to my home church, Cedar Ridge CC, twice - which was great! It's always good to see familiar faces and have everyone ask me if it's cold here (actually this week it's been the coldest yet with highs in the 20's!).

FCP 2

Last weekend, the Foundations for Church Planting class came for their second trip to NYC. It was a great weekend. They came in Friday night (Nov. 30). We started by going to see the tree at Rockefeller Center (actually, it wasn't as big as I thought it would be).The next morning we got to hear from one of the staff members at Church of Park Slope here in Brooklyn. We were also joined by two great guys from Southeast CC in Louisville, KT. One is a big supporter of what Ozark is doing in bringing students to the city, and the other is a guy who grew up at Southeast and is now planning to plant a church in the northeast. I didn't know this before, but Southeast has a great heart for the northeast!
Next, we headed up to Queens to the neighborhood of Jackson Heights. An Indian church plant is scheduled for this area since it's the location of "little India." But we quickly found out that this area is the most diverse place in NYC! In just a few blocks, you could see Indians, Koreans, Colombians, Argentines, Thai, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Mexican, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, European American, Guatemalan, and Americans! That's a lot! All crammed into a small space. In many ways, NYC can be an cross-cultural mission ground! So, the students participated in a prayer walk for the nations in this diverse place. (I also got to try some Indian food for the first time. Wow. I had no idea what I was eating, and it looked really weird. I ate it, but I must say that it wasn't that great.)
After listening to a few more church planters, we had some free time for the night. Dave and I went with a group to the Rockefeller Center to the "Top of the Rock." At 70 stories up, we had a breathtaking view of the city. Now I don't know about you, but I think seeing the city like this is truly beautiful.
On Sunday morning we got to worship at two great churches. First at Redeemer Presbyterian Church with the traditional liturgy and preaching by Tim Keller, and second at Forefront Church with a band (where I go). It was nice to participate in some great liturgy with hundreds of people for a change.
After church, we got to hear from a guy doing some overseas mission work in NYC. That's right "overseas." Actually, he's working to reach the Albanian people. There are actually more Albanian people living in the US than live in Albania. He brought up the great point that sometimes we could use our resources better by supporting missions in the urban centers of the out own country rather than send people to other countries. Plus, when American missionaries "retire" and come back to America, they can be great resources for reaching the nations here! Great stuff.
As NYC continues to grow, most of the growth is non-Anglo, which means that if we want to reach the city we'll have to plant all kinds of churches speaking all kinds of languages and worshiping in all kinds of ways. There are so many possibilities to reach not just Americans, but truly the entire world through this one influential city. OK, less preaching. Last we got to hear from Paul Williams, the head of The Orchard Group. That night we got to eat at a great Italian place in Little Italy.
On Monday we heard from one of the church planting staff members at Redeemer Presbyterian. They are making a big impact in the city, by supporting and training church planters no matter what denomination they come from. They're doing great stuff. Last, we heard from the director of the local office of the "Jews for Jesus." Did you know that there are more Jews in America (5 mil.) than in Israel today (4 mil.) (though that's quickly changing). Of the 5 million, 2 million live in the NYC area and 1 million in the city. Now with 8 million people in the city, chances are that one our of every ten people you see is Jewish! When we plant churches, we've got be aware of what kinds of people are around us.
Once again, it was a great weekend with the class from Ozark. I am sooo glad that I'm able to be a part of it. If I was still at Ozark, I would take this class in a heartbeat. While there are many uncertain things in my life right now, I am certain that God has used me to be a part of shaping Ozark students for leadership in His kingdom this semester. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and prayed for me. Thanks guys!

Real NYC Pizza

There's a place close to where I live, J&V Pizza. Like so many places all over the city, they make great, large pieces for a great price. My favorite topping is sausage. And this is no tiny bits of sausage like big chain pizza places. These are real big toppings that are sliced and put on the pizza when you order. And as you can see they are so O delish!

That's actually two pieces there.

Chuck Norris

So, I'm not endorsing anyone, but this is about the most awesome political commercial I've ever seen. Tremble before Chuck!
Chuck Norris Approved. Talk about a way to reach that ever-elusive 20-30 something audience.