God is in the Details!

This past Sunday we had the privilege of being a part of the initial Night Church launch at Graffiti Church in the Lower East Side. During the teaching time Pastor Taylor Field reminded me that God is often not found in the great and mighty wind, or the powerful earthquake or the consuming, burning fire, but instead He is found in the quiet, gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11-13). 

For many of us that are followers of Christ we often pray for God to intervene in the big details of our life. We pray for Him to show up like a mighty wind, or an earthquake or a fire. Sometimes we fall victim to turning over the big stuff to Him, but keeping the simple or small stuff to ourselves. This past month, God has drastically reminded me that He is not only willing to provide for the big things, but He wants to get involved in the minutia and details of every aspect of our lives. I've been reminded to listen for the whispers of God. Well, He whispered this morning.

I don't usually share the exact details of some of our financial needs of living and doing ministry in NYC. However, for this story I need to because God is in the details. Over the last couple of months our family has experienced some major unexpected financial costs. We had not anticipated Natalie attending her private Christian school again this year. However, when we learned that the new middle school being built beside our apartment was only offering 6th grade this year, we made the decision to keep her in her current school for one more year. Secondly, a few months ago I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Hemochromatosis, basically an issue with my liver that makes the iron levels in my blood dangerously high. The great news is this disorder is very treatable and has not caused any lasting damage. However, during the diagnosis I had to have a number of major medical procedures completed. All this to say, over the last two months we have had unexpected expenses of $8,641. 

Now the amazing part. Over the last two weeks, we have received several unexpected donations to our family and ministry as well. It didn't really hit me what was happening until this morning when I got online and noticed we had received another substantial contribution. I was taking a moment and praying and thanking God for this, when He gently whispered to me, "Add them up." My first thought was, why? And again He whispered, "Add them up." Honestly, my skepticism was telling me, "Patrick, this is all in your head. Of course God is providing, but not that specifically." One more time He whispered, "Add them up." So you know what I did. I went and added them up.

Over the last two weeks we have received 7 unexpected gifts. These gifts have come from friends, family and even a group of children. And when I took the time to add them up, can you guess what the total was? An astounding $8,641. As I write this I'm still in shock and overwhelmed. I don't have the words to communicate my thankfulness to God and to those that were obedient to listen to His whispers in their lives to meet a need in ours. I'm so thankful I serve a God that gets involved in the details of our lives. I can't wait for the next whisper!

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Seasons Change

Well it finally feels like winter is over! That seems like a crazy thing to be saying in mid-May. When we lived in Georgia mid-May usually meant temperatures already in the high 80's and dealing with the constant onslaught of pollen. To be honest with you, I'll happily trade the longer winters for no pollen! And now that it is spring, New Yorkers head outside to enjoy this city. The other day I even spotted Big Bird and Elmo out for a stroll in Central Park.

Going through our first season change here in the city reminds me just how much our lives have changed in such a short time. Tomorrow we will have been in NYC for four months and the truth is, we are becoming New Yorkers. Katie and I were discussing this the other day walking home from the subway. Here are some of the changes we have noticed:

• We have a great view of the Empire State Building when walking from the subway to our apartment. Now that trees are starting to bloom it is blocking our view. The other day I commented, "They need to cut these trees back, so we can see the Empire State Building!"
• We've learned to determine who are tourists and who are locals. The easiest place to spot the difference is on Times Square. Tourists always are looking up and don't know when to walk across the streets and they love to stop in the middle of the sidewalk without warning to point at something or take a picture.
• We don't miss driving, and would prefer never to drive again! The public transportation system in NYC isn't perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for a Porsche 911 (those of you who know me well know that is my dream car!). PJ and Natalie are as adept as we are at getting around this city. Ask them how to get to the Lower East Side (LES) and they will tell you to take the 7 to Grand Central then the 4/5 to downtown to Union Square to catch a M14 across town. 
• We are understanding how important food and dining is in this city. Olive Garden isn't good italian and we will never order pizza from Domino's again! People in this city connect with each other over food, really good food.

We could not have asked for a better start to our life in NYC than we have experienced over these first few months. Sure we have had our moments of missing family and friends. We have all had to learn how to operate in this city and adjust to some new realities. But God has open some tremendous doors and opportunities for our family and new church. 

Below are some pictures we took last Saturday in our backyard (Central Park). Thanks for you continued prayers and support!

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Survey Says

I don't know about you, but I've always been a fan of the show "Family Feud." I remember the old show with Richard Dawson, the ultimate game show host. Katie and I both enjoy playing "Family Feud" on our iPads as well. However, that show always made me wonder, who actually goes out and does these surveys? Do they just knock on your door and ask you a question like, "What is your favorite part of the chicken to eat?" or "Name something people alphabetize?" I know I never had someone come up and survey me on these questions, although I admit I always wanted to be part of the "100 people surveyed."

Well this past week we did some surveying of our own. With the help of a number of mission teams (more about them in the next blog post), we were able to engage over 100 people in some spiritual surveys. Our goal was to help us better understand who is living in our community and how they approach spiritual matters. We asked them six simple questions, and I wanted to highlight some of the responses for you here.

The first question we asked was "What is your view of God?" What we found to be true is that people in our area have one of two views of God. First, he doesn't exist. The majority of people answered that they were either atheist or didn't believe in a real God. Some thought there might be some force out there, but it isn't knowable or really intelligent. The second view of God that was prevalent can be summed up in one word, distant. Many people responded that God was up there or out there. They have the idea that God is detached from this world and from them.

The second question we asked was "How do you make peace with your God?" Again the answers fell into two categories. The most common answer, even for those who claimed to be atheists, was good works. Many people responded that they try to live a good life or do more good than bad or love others. The second most common answer was that they didn't know. It was something they hadn't thought about before. I was expecting some people to ask us back the question, "Why do I need to make peace with my God?" But we never got that. I think for most people, they knew they needed to make peace, but hadn't really thought about how to do it.

The third question was "How does Jesus relate to God?" This got all kinds of responses like: God's Son, a prophet, a good guy, fictional character, and an alien. But the one thing this question seemed to do to just about everyone is make them a little uncomfortable. We even had a couple of people refuse to answer and stop the survey at that point. It was so interesting to see time and time again that people know in their hearts they have to decide something about Jesus and that makes them uncomfortable.

The remainder of the questions related to their view of church and what they would be looking for in a church. These answers will help us shape when we meet and some unique ways we can engage our community around the Gospel.

I don't know if I'm ready to host the spiritual version of "Family Feud" yet, but these surveys provided us with some valuable information and insight into the spiritual hearts and minds of our community. We will continue to do more surveys with our mission teams over the summer. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to speak the truth through grace and peace here in NYC!

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My New Nemesis: FIRE HYDRANTS

One of the things I absolutely love about living in NYC is walking everywhere. I am being totally serious. Over the last year God has given Katie and I a real love for walking. When this first started in our lives we had no idea it was to prepare us for living in NYC, but in hind site we can see that just as God was preparing us in other ways, he was also preparing us for this. 

However, one of my biggest issues with walking in NYC are the fire hydrants. On more than one occasion I have been walking on a busy sidewalk, stepped out to pass someone and walked right into a fire hydrant. My problem is that I'm looking up and forward and not down. I have no clue that I'm about to walk into an immovable object that will drastically slow down my forward progress while leaving a tangible mark on my shin.  I have begin to call these marks 'shin dents', because they literally leave a dent on your shin when you walk into them.

My latest shin dent experience came this past Sunday. Our family was getting off a bus and I was hurrying to get out in front and cross the street. I was looking up for the cross walk sign and looking around for traffic and walked right into a fire hydrant so hard the I almost ended up face first on the ground. Needless to say Katie, PJ and Natalie expressed their overwhelming compassion for my through fits of laughter. While I was walking home, now with a considerable limp, God brought to mind a spiritual truth for me related to my latest 'shin dent'.

Those of you that know me well, are not surprised by this story. When ever I get focused on something I move forward and I move forward fast. If you have ever been to Disney with me you have experienced this first hand. But sometimes moving forward and moving fast causes us to overlook pitfalls and dangers that might be in our way. Sometimes in my life I can be too forward focused and and forget to do the little things that need to be done in the here and now. I do a great job of looking ahead and seeing what is next, but sometimes lose my focus on my immediate surroundings.

Hitting that fire hydrant caused me to walk a little slower, but it also caused to walk with others. It made me walk with my family and neighbors not in front of them. It made me walk behind people as a follower instead of being out front as the leader. Limping home that day, God challenged me to remember that fire hydrants are here for a reason. One they help to save people lives when a major disaster hits, but second they are their to slow people down like me who sometimes need a not so gentle reminder to slow down, enjoy the walk, enjoy the moment that God has you in, enjoy who you are walking with, enjoy the scenery around you and then look forward to see what He has for you next. Hopefully, I'm learning my lesson both physically and spiritually!

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A Warm Bus for Cold Souls!

We are learning that Winter in NYC can be difficult. In our first couple of months here we have experienced multiple snows (one with over 10 inches of accumulation), temperatures in the low teens, regular rain and an almost constant wind. And we get to experience all of this with our main form of transportation being walking and the subway.

The other night Katie, Natalie and I were walking from the subway to a bus stop, the temperature was around 15 and the wind was blowing at about 30 mph. I was literally having to hold on to Natalie to keep her from blowing away. My face was numb and my ears felt like they would shatter if someone touched them. When we finally reached the bus stop I had never been so happy to get on a bus before in my life. As we began to feel the warmth of the bus and were able to talk again, we all kind of laughed about the situation!

Believe it or not, looking back on that night makes me realize just how much we love our new city, our new way of life and our calling to plant a church here in NYC. There have been times in my life when difficulty and challenges have caused me to doubt my calling or grow frustrated and insecure. I think in the past this has been because deep down inside I always believed that my success in ministry was based primarily on what I did instead of what God does. 

This call on our family to NYC is something so much greater than any of us could accomplish in our own strength. Planting a church in a city where the spiritual ground is hard is beyond me. Seeing people that are currently far from God being transformed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no work of my hands. I have come to realize that this is the beginning of faith. For most of my Christian life faith was my belief that God would come through when I couldn't. Now God has taught me that faith is knowing that God will come through regardless of what I have to offer. 

That cold and windy night a couple of weeks ago will always be a reminder to me that God is our shelter through the storm, not from the storm. As we walk this path there will be cold hearts, windy, unstable circumstances, and times that we feel like we are out of control. But still God is leading us. He is leading through the storm, through the cold and through the wind so that when we finally reach our place of shelter He will be the one that receives all the glory, honor and praise!

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One Single Step - Our First Worship Gathering

"A journey of a thousand miles begin with one step."

Our lives are filled with examples of this truth. Katie and I celebrated 20 years of marriage this year and it all began on our first date on October 20, 1989. We now have two teenagers in our house and that journey began on PJ's birthday, April 10, 1998. Last night will hopefully be another one of those meaningful nights in our lives. On Sunday, February 17th we held our first worship gathering in connection with New City Church.

In our initial planning we were not anticipating having any type of worship service until at least this fall. However as I would introduce myself to people in our community as a new pastor in town of a new church they would always ask, "Where do you meet?"

Also over the last month we have connected with a number of other believers that are relatively new to NYC as well. Many of them are like us in that they have moved to NYC to plant a church. Others are praying about what God has in mind for them in this city. But one of the ideas that continued to be raised was creating a place for believers going through similar issues to gather together for prayer and encouragement.

So, we began to pray about beginning a monthly service that would meet both of these needs. We would have a place to invite new friends that we are making in Long Island City and we would have a place for believers to gather together and pray for one another. We shared this idea with a number of people and got commitments form three other families to be there. We made plans to rent the community room of our apartment building and began to invite others. And then God did some amazing things.

As we began to plan we knew we needed 3 things: a worship leader, $300 to reserve our community room, and people to come. In less that a week from deciding to do this here is what happened: one of our new friends Trey and Caitlin, who are gifted worship leaders, volunteered to lead worship, a local organization donated $300 to us to cover the cost of the facility rental, and 15 people committed to come to our first service.

Even with God answering such specific prayers, I'll be honest I was a little nervous heading into our worship gathering last night. Fears like, will anyone come, will they enjoy what we are doing, will we honor God in our gathering, all began to creep into my mind. But God in his faithfulness set aside those fears.

Last night we had 19 people join us for worship. It was an amazing time of celebration, Bible study, music and prayer. God brought a real sense of community among those who came. I could not have imagined a better first step on the journey of a thousand miles!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. It overwhelms us every time we hear someone say that they are praying for us.

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Finding Nemo - Snow Pictures

Well we have experienced our first real snow here in NYC. Officially we received about 10 inches of snow in our area. Some friends of ours out in Long Island got over 2 feet of snow. The snow came on Friday night. By Saturday morning it was beautiful and sunny outside, a perfect day to go out and experience the snow.

Our entire family spent much of the day in Central Park playing, taking pictures and just having fun. Snow in NYC is very different than in Georgia. First of all, it is a dry, powdery snow. Not real good for making snow balls. Second, the city doesn't go crazy when snow hits. Although we went to our local store to pick up some food, it just happened to be our natural shopping day. No schools were closed, no church services were cancelled on that Sunday. 

Below are some pictures of our day in the snow.

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My First Hospital Visit in NYC

Of all the things I thought I would be doing in my first few weeks in NYC, visiting someone in the hospital wasn't one of them. But this afternoon I got a call from a friend who has a friend who has a relative in the hospital here in NYC. As I was taking the subway up to New York Presbyterian Hospital I thought back on how God has really changed my perspective on these types of visits.


When I was first getting started in ministry, I viewed hospital visits as a necessary evil. A part of the job I didn't really want to do, but had to do. However, God begin to teach me just how important this aspect of ministry is.

One day while making hospital visits in Albany, Georgia I was doing what I normally did, stop in, say hello, ask how they are doing and then pray for them and leave. A 5 minute visit was a long one for me. But this one day, an elderly lady asked me to stay and talk. She even offered me a chair, except the chair was her bedside toilet. Begrudgingly, I sat down and for the next hour God did a work in my life. I quickly realized that these visits were the highlight of this lady's day. The rest of her day was spent alone in an empty room. She had no family, no friends that were able to visit and no hope of leaving. In that hour, she shared with me about memories she had of her childhood, memories of her family and things that were concerning her right now. She never complained, she never wanted anything from me except for some companionship during a difficult time.

I left that room in tears. I was broken over the attitude I had toward hospital visitation for so many years. My heart was broken for this lady and thought that she would spend the rest of her day alone. I had gone from thinking how quickly can I get out of this room to thinking when can I come back. God had showed me a side of TRUE ministry that I hadn't seen before. It is easy to get caught up in the planning of events and services, the excitement of teaching and preaching to crowds, and the dreams of doing something big for God. But that day, God reminded me that true worship and true ministry is when we minister to the least of these.

The following day, even though it wasn't my day for hospital visitation, I decided to stop by and visit this lady of the way home. I wanted to give her another hour of my day. I got to her floor, walked down the hallway and into her room to find an empty room with a perfectly made up bed. Even my make shift chair was gone. I checked with the nurse and found out that she had passed away in her sleep the previous night. My heart broke with sadness. But God quickly reminded me of the reward she was experiencing at that moment. As I walked back out of the hospital I realized that I walked in that day thinking I was going to give that sweet lady something, but I now knew that she was the one that had given me an incredible gift, the gift of a better understanding of what it means to be a minister of the Gospel!

As my subway ride was approaching it's destination tonight, I was reminded that as exciting as it may be to plant a church in NYC and to dream the big dreams of what God could do, there is really nothing more important than ministering to the one that is need at that very moment. So it was with joy that I entered the hospital tonight and took the elevator to the ICU unit on the fourth floor. I realized that as busy as I have been making plans, God was giving me an opportunity tonight to be His hands, His feet, and show His love. I made a new friend tonight, his name is Paul. He was not able to speak to me, he was barely able to nod his head up and down to acknowledge an answer to my questions. But I had the privilege of praying for him tonight and spending a few minutes sitting with him. As I was leaving the nurse thanked me for coming and shared that I was the only visitor that had been to visit Paul.

Please pray for my new friend Paul. I plan to visit with him again. He is not doing well. And please pray that God continues to remind me of the true nature of our calling to this city and that He will continue to put opportunities to be the Gospel to the individuals of this city!

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A Number of Firsts!

The Long Island City Pier behind our apartment

Well today we got to experience our first snow in NYC! What would have shut down Atlanta for days and caused a run on bread and milk, barely registered a blip here in the city. A couple of inches of snow does nothing here but get your feet wet and cold if you don't have the right snow boots (mine haven't arrived from Amazon yet!).

This previous week we have also had a number of NYC firsts for our family as well. PJ and Natalie both had their first meetings with their prospective schools. Natalie has been accepted to attend Evangel Christian School. Evangel is located about 2 miles from us and easily accessible by subway. It is the largest Christian school in NYC, yet is only has about 500 students in pre-k through high school. Natalie will be one of 25 seventh graders at the school. She is really looking forward to starting classes on Tuesday. She was even excited about getting her uniform!

Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

PJ had an audition with the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts on Friday. It was an answer to prayer that he even got a mid-term audition. Prior to our move the correspondence we had received from the school had not made us hopeful that they would have any seats available and that he would even get to audition. However, God continues to open doors. The Tuesday after we arrived I sent his updated grades and information to the school again. The called me the next day to schedule his audition. We won't know the results of the audition until Tuesday.

We also have had a lot of first time guests at our apartment. Over the last couple of weeks we have had Jon and Bonnie Carr, Trey and Caitlan Eitel, Christy Dyer, and Jason and Jerri Jasper over for dinner. We have three other couples scheduled to come over next week. God has been so faithful to bring new friendships into our lives. Each of these individuals has been such an encouragement to us and has really connected our families. The Jasper's have three teenagers, so it was great for PJ and Natalie to have some kids their age to hang our with. Having five teenagers in the house last night brought back a lot of youth ministry memories!

Pray for me this week as I have a couple of important meetings scheduled. I'm meeting with the "I Have A Dream" Foundation here in Long Island City. They are an organization that does a lot of outreach to under serviced teenagers in this area. We are talking about how our church and teams coming up to serve with us might partner with them. I'm also scheduled to meet with a group called Mythic Bridge. They are considering me to serve on their board of directors. This organization is one that reaches out to under serviced youth all across this city and helps them connect through creative arts. While this is not a Christian organization, it would be a great opportunity for me to connect with the community here as a whole.

Thanks again for your prayers and support! Below are some more pictures of the snow and a recent trip to Times Square that PJ took:

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A Partner in the City

One of the great things that the North American Mission Board does with new church plants in the city is to partner you with an existing church for support and counsel. Our partner church is Graffiti Church in the East Village. We are so excited to be partnering with them. God couldn't have teamed us with a better church in terms of common vision and expertise.

Through this partnership I'll be spending some of my time learning about ministry in the city with Graffiti. I will also be developing new relationships in the area we are living. So in many ways I'm getting some great mentoring and then getting to immediately practice what I'm learning in my context. One of the things that Katie and I are excited about with this partnership is that the pastor at Graffiti, Taylor Field, and his wife Susan have raised two children in the city. Both of their kids are in their mid-twenties and where born and raised in NYC. We are so excited to be able to learn from their years of wisdom about raining teenagers in this city. PJ has already met one of their sons, Owen, and has hit it off very well.

We are also excited that our kids are getting to immediately plug into ministry. This past Sunday, Natalie sang with the worship team and PJ is already helping with the sound and video. And it only took a week before they asked Katie to serve in the preschool area! We love feeling connected to a body of Christ in the city. It gives us a spiritual home while we build a new one in our area!

Pray for us this week as we have a number of dinners scheduled with some new friends we have made here in the city. It is our prayer to use our new home to show God's hospitality to everyone!

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We're Home!

View from the plane arriving in NYC

On Friday evening January 11th, all four of us finally arrived in New York City. I came up on Tuesday to start getting the apartment ready and to meet our movers. Katie, PJ and Natalie all arrived Friday evening. It is such a surreal feeling to think that the journey that we have been planning for over the last year has now begun!

The day after I moved in I received a call from a new friend, Kareem. He is an associate pastor at our partner church here in the city. His first words to me were, "Welcome Home!" I so appreciated that greeting because that has been the prayer of our hearts over the last couple of months. We have asked the Lord to not only make NYC our physical home, but also our emotional, relational and spiritual home. And I can tell you that He is answering that prayer.

The ride home in traffic

Our first weekend here in the city was filled with new experiences. Even though we didn't bring a car with us, I rented on to go pick up Katie, the kids, the dog and 9 bags of luggage. But I can tell you, after one experience of driving in NYC traffic, I am so excited to know that I do not own a car in this city. We also got to our first glimpse of the weekend subway experience. We made a trip to Ikea to finish some home shopping. It took us 2 hours to get home because certain subway lines weren't running or were running in weird patterns!

But even in spite of the many new things we are experiencing, God is truly making our apartment, our neighborhood and this city feel like home! Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership. It is such an encouragement to know that we have so many people praying for us daily! I've included a few pictures of our new apartment below.

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