We returned last Saturday from a fantastic week in New York City, ministering and watching God work. All of the students did a wonderful job and were a pleasure to lead. Us adults were all exhausted by the end of the trip, but the Lord gave us an extra measure of strength to keep up with the young'uns.
We traveled to Baltimore, MD on Friday, staying overnight at Long Green Baptist Church and enjoying the hospitality of the Childs family. We left bright and early Saturday morning for NYC, arriving in Queens at NYSUM in the mid-afternoon. We were shown our rooms and had a briefing, ate supper, then were taken out to Manhattan to Apple's Core, a homeless "coffee house" ministry.
We were all out of our element in that setting, and I was proud of our students for getting right into the ministry, helping set up the meal that would be served and preparing to lead worship. Once the guests arrived, I watched them as we served, and they were truly impressed by our students and their willingness to serve them and spend time talking with them. The time of worship was wonderful, and we really appreciated seeing a group of people who are used to singing acapella join in with us as we played.
Sunday was our free day and we spent it touring lower Manhattan, riding the subway for the first time, visiting the World Trade Center site, eating Dim Sum in Chinatown, seeing the Statue of Liberty, and visiting Ellis Island. We all really enjoyed these sights, as most of us had never been to New York before.
Click here to view the photo set from the trip, which includes lots of sights from our tour!
Monday morning was spent in classes and preparation for our week of ministry. We discussed topics such as compassion, cross-cultural ministry, and New York City urban ministry. Later that evening, after a period of rest and some preliminary instruction in the subject, we were taken to Manhattan's Port Authority area, where we ministered to homeless people on the street. We were given some boxed meals and packets of toiletry items to distribute, as well as New Testaments in both English and Spanish. Many of the students and adult leaders had done similar outreaches in Charlotte, so this was perhaps the most "comfortable" ministry we did all week.
On Tuesday, we had the privilege of visiting the United Nations building and doing a prayer walk throughout the public areas. Each of us was given a sheet with a specific UN country's details and were asked to pray for that country as the Lord led us. This was new for many of us, and we all enjoyed the opportunity to spend several hours in prayer and contemplation at that place that is a shrine to mankind's efforts to bring peace to the world.
On Tuesday, we spent several hours studying the topic of Russian Jewish evangelism with a missionary who spends his life ministering to this group of people. Apparently, there is a large population of Russian Jews in the Brighton Beach area of south Brooklyn. That afternoon, we set out for the beach, where we joined up with a group of Russian youth from the Rochester, NY area. Most of them were from Ukraine, so they all spoke fluent Russian. It was fantastic to see our students begin to interact with these new friends. The Spirit of God was evident as we sang and played music together. Many of us knew all of the same songs, and we would join in with them, sometimes even singing in English while they sang in Russian.
After a delicious supper at a Russian market (I love pirogies!), we all walked out to the boardwalk and set up to play music, worship God, and witness to the bystanders at the beach. Several of the Russian students gave testimonies in their native language, which really drew a crowd. We sang songs in both languages and our guide for the day, Don, gave Gospel messages in both as well. We enjoyed this opportunity to meet fellow believers and see all that God was doing in each other's lives. One of our students remarked that, "it was like in the book of Acts, where the apostles would travel to another town, find a group of believers there, and worship together."
We spent Wednesday touring mid-town Manhattan, visiting Fifth Avenue, Times Square, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. We ate lunch at a superb little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that impressed even Peter, who spent fifteen years living in Hong Kong! We then went back to NYSUM to watch the fireworks over the city, since it was pouring down rain and we didn't want to get stuck downtown. The view was still fantastic!
Thursday morning was spent in an introductory session before our visit to the Bronx to serve in the Love Kitchen, an outreach of the Love Gospel Assembly. It is set up in the basement of the church and serves lunch five days a week to 200-300 people. We helped prepare the meal, set up the tables and chairs, and then acted as hosts, servers, and worship leaders for each group that came through to eat. I got an opportunity to share a story about Christie's dramatic birth and how much more I understood God's love for His children after experiencing that. We also helped organize and stock a store-room full of donated food for the ministry.
Later that evening, we were taken to the Coler-Goldwater Memorial Hospital on Roosevelt Island by our guide for the evening, Mama Miriam. Miriam is legally blind, but she has an abundant love for the Lord and others around her, and she visits the terminally ill patients at this hospital weekly. All of us were moved as we met patients who had been there for years, but still had a positive outlook and a strong faith in God. We sang songs acapella with/for many of the patients, some of us even remembering enough Spanish to sing several choruses for some that didn't understand English.
Friday's ministry opportunities began with a morning trip to a Manhattan park where the Rescue Bus had set up its sidewalk operation. The Rescue Bus is a ministry out of New Jersey consisting of a couple of school buses that have been renovated into mobile soup kitchens and outreach stations. We helped serve free bread and soup to any passersby and took the chance to talk with them about the Lord, if they were willing. I was also able to help the crew of the Rescue Bus with a computer problem they were having, which I felt privileged to be able to correct for them. I always appreciate how the Lord is able to use the talents He's given me in so many different situations.
After our work with the Rescue Bus, we headed back to NYSUM to pack the vehicles and prepare to leave. We drove to our last ministry site, a church VBS in South Brooklyn, and spent several hours with the children there, entertaining them and helping the church staff teach them Bible lessons and crafts. Peter and I were able to help them with their audio system while we were there, which will be a blessing to them, as they hadn't been able to afford someone to come and fix the problems they were dealing with.
From the VBS site, we drove out of New York around 9:00 p.m. and progressed all the way into upstate Virginia before we stopped at a hotel for some rest at about 3:00 a.m. The Lord was faithful to protect Bliss and me as we drove late into the night and kept us alert and safe. We pulled out of the hotel the next morning and made it home by mid-afternoon!
Overall, the trip was a huge success! Praise the Lord for His protection, guidance in ministry, and generosity to us. Please pray for those that we spoke to and shared Christ's love with, that His light would illuminate their hearts. Thank you for all your prayers and support. Please continue to lift us up as I leave for our trip to Norfolk, VA, July 22-28.
Labels: evangelism, family, missions, New York City, norfolk, NYSUM, students, virginia, waxhaw bible church
