What if we decided everyone matters?

City Uprising Baltimore is underway!  At 6:52 PM last night (a bit of a late start) we began celebrating what God is going to do in Baltimore over the next 3 days!  I’ve caught a bit of a break in the madness of running around the city, so I wanted to update everyone on our status!  Things have thus far ran smoothly, and I expect to hear some amazing stories tonight about how God used the 90 volunteers to help redeem the city!

Today we are serving 5 different schools in Baltimore, cleaning, painting, picking up trash, etc.  Pray that God uses our service to glorify Him, and that the workers remain cheerful and loving!  Also, that our volunteers engage in loving conversations with the janitorial staff/administrators who are at each school!

I am excited to sit down with some of you and talk about how the Lord has used, and is using the Church in such a big way!  It’s incredible to see God cast a vision, and to see His Church take hold of it and run!  Let’s run, Church; let’s run!

I love you all, very much!  God loves you SO much more!

May He bless you with all the richness of His presence!

…I’m a great blogger.

So I realize that I have not updated this thing in…a few weeks.  Like a month.  What can I say?  I don’t think I was cut out for the blogging world!

Honestly, the reasoning for the lack of posts was that life in New York City (and now Baltimore—yes, Baltimore) became very busy, very quickly!

So I could share the minutia of each day, but no one would want to read that!  So I’ll give you a brief synopsis of what ministry is like in New York City, and hit some of the highlights.  I’ll try to keep this post short(ish), but in reality, it’ll probably be quite long!

Ministry in NYC

First off, ministry in NYC is significantly different than ministry in the South.  To walk up to someone and say, “hey, do you want to know about Jesus” will most likely lead to swear words, laughter, terrified screaming, running away, or a fun combination of them all.  Okay, maybe not exactly like that…but close.  The typical New Yorker is either apathetic, critical, or in some cases, hostile to the Church.  Many have been burned by a church, and so want little to do with it.  Unlike the South, one cannot make the assumption that a New Yorker has any understanding of words like “justification,” “saved” or any other Christianeze language (not that doctrinal terms are bad)!  So along with this, we’ve had to change the way we speak.  Our conversation must be more organic and natural, and simply “seasoned with salt,” as Paul exhorts us in Colossians (you can’t dump the whole salt shaker on the person).  So all of this to say:  ministry can be slow.  Very slow.  In total, I’ve had one—that’s right, one—conversation with someone where I got to explain the Gospel in full (that’s a story that I will flesh out, later).  All other conversations have been an attempt to push people towards Christ, with the hope that He will snag them at a later date.  Ministry is about building relationships, building trust, and then naturally pointing people towards knowing Jesus.  Honestly, I feel as though this is the most effective form of ministry, but it’s definitely the most difficult!

Highlights

1) Conversation with an older gentleman

This was a unique experience.  I was on greeter duty—basically, smiling and saying “hey” to people as they came into the church service—when a man walked by, slowed, and then stopped.  He looked at our sign quizzically, and asked if it were an art gallery.  I explained, “Nope.  It’s a church.”  He looked confused and asked, “What kind of church?”  Blatant introduction into a Gospel conversation?  Yes.  So we began talking and swapping ideologies and ideas; he shared his thoughts and I shared mine, and it was a wonderful conversation.  During this 30-minute discourse I was able to explain the Gospel in full in a very natural manner.  He was enticed, and looked at me with searching eyes, hanging on every word that was said.  I could see him processing.  I knew that this was in no part my doing, but only the work of God!  In the Christian world, we would consider him to be a “Seeker.”  He even said it:  “I really haven’t found what’s true yet, but I’m getting there.”  What a work the Lord has started in this man!  I am hopeful that Jesus will bring it to completion, and one day I will see that man in Heaven.  One of the most humbling things he said was, “You know, you’re different.  You’re not really like other Christians that I’ve met.  Usually I feel judged, but you listened to what I had to say.  You’ve given me a lot to think about.  Thanks.”  That was all Jesus.  As many, if not all, of you know, I am not that guy haha!  I tell that story not to boast in myself (that is not at all my intention) but to boast in Jesus, and show the grace and goodness of God that He would use me in that mans life to point him towards Himself!

2) City Uprising New York City

City Uprising was a huge success!  We had 30 HIV testing cities all around the city, and tested over 1800 people!  We had 7 different community project sites, one of which I lead as the Site Manager (why they had me lead a renovation project, I’ll never know)!  At my site, we painted a stairwell in an apartment complex, totaling over 5,000 square feet!  The unique thing about this apartment was that it was a fixed-rent complex, meaning that the owners only received about 10% of market value (it was located in Times Square—great location)!  The owners want to help the people of Manhattan find affordable housing, so they’re essentially making little-to-no profit from these apartments.  We came in and provided free labor and painted every square inch of the 5,000 square foot stairwell, which desperately needed renovation!  People were astonished that a group of people would pay to come to New York City to paint such a place, literally astonished!  I had to explain to an electrician working around us what we were doing and why 3 times before he got it!  The Lord used these projects to show people His love for us, for sure!

3) Friend

While working on my site for City Uprising, I received a phone call from Maria, one of the Gallery staff, saying that I needed to go down to 42^nd St. and Broadway and bring a guy to the gathering that evening.  Confused, I headed to Times Square to find this guy; all I had was a name and a number.  We met up and introduced, you know, normal protocol.  I then asked him how he met the Gallery people, and he began telling me his story.  In an effort to respect him and not gossip, I’ll leave the details out, but long story short, he was now homeless.  We brought this guy in and found him housing (he slept on the subway the night before), and gave him a few bucks for food and whatnot.  I befriended this man, and the Lord helped me to talk through his hurt and pain of his current situation.  I spent the majority of the day after City Uprising talking with this guy, and trying to find him housing (along with some of the Gallery staff).  We ended up being able to find him housing for two nights and a bus ticket back home (to Virginia)!  It was an incredible experience where I was able to show this man the love of Jesus.  My hope is that he’s back home safely with his family!  If you read this, friend, I love you, dude!

What’s going on now?

Now I’m in Baltimore, Maryland, helping the Gallery Church in Baltimore with their City Uprising (basically, doing the same thing, just a bit differently).  It’s been a wonderful experience so far, and I’ve met some great people and friends!  We’re still finalizing the details for this City Uprising (you pretty much plan until the day of the event haha)!

Continue praying for me and the other interns, as well as the Gallery Church staff (in New York City and Baltimore) as we continue to engage these cultures with the love and message of Jesus!

Thank you for your support!  I love you, all!

Are we too earthly-minded?

I’ve heard the phrase, “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good,” as a way for people to rail against a hyper-religious, stowaway, isolated lifestyle, where one possesses a intellectual theology, rather than a living and active (practical) theology.  While I understand and (in some sense) can appreciate the intent of this phrase, I disagree with it entirely (that may seem paradoxical, but it makes sense in my mind).

To be honest, I feel that many Christians are too earthly minded to be any heavenly good.  Many of us think, act, and believe horizontally.

What do I mean by this?  We look at our earthly circumstances/surroundings, and conform our lives (and oftentimes our theology) to what we see.  We can be dangerously nearsighted as believers.  We fall into the lie that in order for us to do for the Lord, we must first have the means to do the work, but oftentimes in Scripture, the Lord uses the ill-equipped do His work.  Take Moses, for example.  Here’s a guy who has trouble speaking, and God calls him to go before Pharaoh and tell him (who is considered to be a god by many) that he is to let the entire Egyptian slave workforce go (which would have, most likely, caused an economic meltdown).  Moses had a speech impediment, and we can see by his initial interaction with the Lord that he had cowardly tendencies—he gave excuse after excuse as to why he was unable to do what the Lord called him to do.  Eventually, he submitted, and God turned this word-fumbling coward into the bold spiritual, political, and social leader of a nation.  The majority of the disciples were unlearned men, and Jesus used them to flip the world upside down for God’s glory!

How were these unfit men able to do miraculous, incredible things?  They looked upward.  They looked heavenward.  Who can challenge that they were no earthly good?  God used them to change the world!  If we don’t look upward, our perception of the world will be morphed by our surroundings—primarily, our culture (which I’m finding to be exponentially more sinful each and every day)!  If we look upward, the lens of our minds will be conformed to the mind of our Creator.  He created this world, and it was good.  We messed it up.  If He is the Creator, He knows what is best for His creation, yes?  So, if we believe that He knows what is best, should we not look to Him?

Being heavenly minded means looking to the Creator to have the rot of our minds replaced with the mind of God.  Only when we seek His Kingdom will we be of any value on this earth.

We are too earthly minded, Church!  We must have our sinful minds regenerated by our loving God who saved us!  As Paul exhorts us the book of Romans in chapter 12, verse 2:  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”  Have your mind renewed by the good and perfect word of God, friends!  Then you will be the greatest good to this earth, the salt and light!

There’s much, much more to type on this subject, but I’ve had a rather exhausting day, and my goal was to jot down a few ideas to spark conversation/discussion, and (quite honestly), to process.  The Lord is good, friends, and it is my prayer that we become Godly thinkers.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of being heavenly (Kingdom) minded.

I love you, all!

Good ol’ NYC-Pictures

Welp, I decided to create a Flickr account so that I could post some pictures of New York City, so I’m putting the link to the album below (the address is quite long and obnoxious).  Have fun!  I’ll be continuously updating the album as my experience here continues!

Click here to see New York City Pictures

God bless, my friends!

Encouraging words from Charles H. Spurgeon

Each morning, I receive a daily devotion from Christianity.com–excerpts from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening.  They are often poignant and thoughtful, illuminating a text in amazing, truthful ways.  This was this morning’s:

Genesis 7:16

The Lord shut him in.

“Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin, the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut in with his God. “Come thou into the ark,” was the Lord’s invitation, by which He clearly showed that He Himself intended to dwell in the ark with His servant and his family. Thus all the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of His persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be inattentive to that gracious call, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast.” Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him. Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in Him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house He shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by Thy grace.”

To think on what love the Father has shown us is incredible!  That He would graciously take us–though we are unbelievably vile and sinful–and keep us in Him is nothing short of astonishing!  I am encouraged to meditate on this love, and desire to share this love with those who have never experienced love in this city.

People need to know the love of Christ.  Pray that the Gospel goes forth in this city!

I have arrived…

Well I have officially been in New York City for more than 24 hours, and it has been some of the craziest 24 hours of my life.  To say that this place is different from Kentucky is a gargantuan understatement!  Everything is different–literally, everything!

Just to give you a sense of what it’s like here…the pacing is fast–really fast.  It’s like there are waves of people rolling through every street, each with a very specific direction and intention.  It’s literally organized chaos!  Traffic is intense, as well, as one would think with so many cars running in such tight spaces there would be backups all of the time–not so!  In fact, traffic moves quite quickly, as the drivers here are unbelievably quick (apparently speed limits don’t matter in the city)!  Cars weave in and out of one another like bees around a hive, and the response time of the drivers is impeccable, as they stop on a dime!  It’s also incredibly noisy!  This is truly the city that never sleeps!

All that to say that this place is incredible!  There’s an energy here that is unlike anywhere else!  There’s also an beautiful diversity, here!  I was told that there are 500 different people groups living in the city (all of which have significant populations)!  500 people groups!  That’s astounding (this gives you a sense of how difficult ministry is, here, because it’s so hard to engage with all of these different people groups, effectively–but, the Gospel transcends cultural, racial, and gender barriers in all ways)!  I’ve heard more languages in the past two days than I ever have in my entire life!  It’s amazing!  I’ve also encountered every religion under the sun–Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Moneyism (okay, so I made that last one up, but you get what I’m talking about).

I’ve come to find that many New Yorkers possess harsh attitudes towards the Church, as they’ve been burned by it in the past.  That’s one of our goals, here:  to soften the hearts of New Yorkers to Jesus Christ.  We’ve got some sweet stuff planned for the summer to do this!  I’ll keep you posted as the vision develops.

The staff of the Gallery Church is fantastic!  They gave us a small vision of what we’re here to do, today (which we’ll go over in detail, tomorrow), and I’m supremely excited, to say the least!

There’s so much more that I could say about the city, about the ministry we’re doing, and about how God is going to use the Church to change the city, but I’ve typed a lot, already, so I’ll spare you for another post!  Thank you for your love and prayers!

Pray for this city–it needs the love of Jesus in a big way.  Pray that God will break down the walls that satan has built in the hearts of New Yorkers towards the Gospel and the Church.  Pray that God will be glorified, and that the people here will be astounded at His glory.  Pray for us.

“Greater things are yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city!”  We humbly expect God to do great things; pray that His will is accomplished.

A view from our living space

The beginning…

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to read this seemingly insignificant blog about my journey in New York City!  It’s a great encouragement to know that you have supported my ministry in some way (either through prayer or financial means–or both!), and I want to say that I appreciate you!  My prayer is that God blesses you with a peace that goes beyond understanding, and that He confirms His love to you each and every day.  I pray that you know that the Lord God loves you, deeply, and He wants you to fall more deeply in love with, and grow in obedience to, Him.  It is my hope that through this blog I can encourage you with how the Lord is working in the lives of New Yorkers, my fellow teammates, and myself.

My aim for this blog is to share with you my experience in New York City with the Gallery Church–to share the highs and lows of ministry, to share the delights and sorrows of ministering to a lost city, and to primarily show the greatness of Jesus in all aspects of life.

My time in Kentucky is coming to a close, and in a few days I will be thrust into a culture that I do not understand in any capacity!  I must be honest; I am somewhat nervous about this journey, as I am a born and bred Kentuckian stepping into a massive city (one of which I have never visited), with little-to-no knowledge of the city, itself!  Despite my fears, I know that the Lord is greater than anything in this world, and He will overcome.  Paul says in Romans chapter 12:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, knowing that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ (what glorious, soul-satisfying Truths lay in the words of Scripture), I am confident that the Lord will do something amazing this summer, and my fears are quelled.

My request, friends, is that you do not cease to pray for:
(1)    A spiritual awakening in New York City
(2)    The Gallery Church
(3)    My fellow interns
(4)    Myself

The Lord is going to do some great things this summer.  Thank you for partnering with me in this ministry endeavor.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15: 13)