Pictures from the Hood

Union Turnpike/Kew Gardens Subway station. (Please click the photos to enlarge)

One of the unique features of the Union Turnpike Station (Sorry the pictures are so dark) was its passenger drop off lanes. Union Turnpike divides into a section above ground to intersect with Queens Blvd., while the other runs underground parallel to the Jackie Robinson Parkway. The lanes under Queens Blvd. were designed with pull-off sections allowing cars to pick up and drop off passengers using this station.
This feature, however, created unresolvable traffic bottlenecks and the lanes were closed about 15 years ago. Today, passengers heading toward the street can still see the cars traveling on the underground section of Union Turnpike, they just can't get into them.


In my opinion, Kew Gardens is one of the prettiest neighborhoods in Queens. In the top picture, the tallest building in the neighborhood, Court Plaza stands over Kew Gardens as if to keep watch over the streets. Below that photo is a view of Forest Park looking across Park Lane South.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a picture of these parallel-leaning sycamore trees on 125th Street. Below that is the Kew Gardens Cinema which features independent, art, and foreign films. For mainstream Hollywood, neighborhood residents must go to neighboring Forest Hills to the Brandon or Midway theaters.
Dani's House of Pizza is perhaps the best pizza place in Kew Gardens if you're looking for authentic New York Style, hand-tossed pies. I took this picture from in front of Singa's Famous Pizza, which features a more Middle-Eastern style pizza. Apparently, that's what makes them Famous.
There are four synagogues within four blocks of my apartment (see my previous entry for a definition of a "block.") Our church plant is in Forest Hills which borders Kew Gardens. Our prayer is for our church to win neighboring communities through the faithful preaching of the Gospel. Our reach should go beyond Forest Hills and into neighboring communities.

Above is part of Lefferts Blvd. (the street where I live). Notice the Orthodox Jewish store and the Middle Eastern Meat shop in the picture. Several cultures (like most of Queens) are represented in Kew Gardens. (Click on the photos to enlarge)

This is a shot of the Kew Gardens Long Island Railroad Station. This is the place where the neighborhood first recognized its current name. This section of Queens had been known only as North Richmond Hill until this station was built in 1909. Upon completion, the destination marker on the station house read simply, "Kew." A local newspaper criticised this name, calling it "Kewte," and saying that it would never catch on. The name was given to the area by local entrepreneur Abraham Wolosoff after the town where England's Royal Botanical Gardens are. It was in recognition of this, and the neighborhood's proximity to nearby Forest Hills Gardens, that the word Gardens was later added to the name.

Just a few typical street scenes in Kew Gardens. Note the house in the center of the top photo. Kew Gardens is a neighborhood of contrasts. Amidst large apartment buildings are several older homes reflective of the less-than-urban history of Queens.

Above is Austin's Ale House on Austin St. just off Lefferts Blvd. Apparently, comedian Rodney Dangerfield was born in the apartment above Austin's.

The Village Diner. A great place for healthy portions of fattening food. If you've ever been to a diner, you know what I mean.

The Eastern Entrance to Forest Park. Aside from a few playgrounds, a carousel, and a golf course, this is (as its name suggests) primarily comprised of thick Oak forest. If the picture was bigger one would notice an arrow pointing to Oak Ridge (yes, Jason, from this vantage point, the arrow does, in fact, point south. Click on the photo to enlarge).

The intersection of Lefferts Blvd. and Metropolitan Ave. (near my apartment). Lefferts Blvd. is named for John Lefferts who sold 200 acres of Queens farmland to Albon Man, developer of North Richmond Hill. He got approximately $57,000 in the deal. Imagine what 200 acres of land in Queens (if there was that much available property) would be worth today. It was similar land acquisitions in Queens and Staten Island over the next 30 years which eventually led lawmakers to draw up the Greater New York Act of 1897, which brought Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island under the New York umbrella. Metropolitan Ave. once served as a toll road taking passengers and merchandise between Jamaica, Brooklyn and New York. Metropolitan Ave., obviously, wasn't named after anyone. (*I am hoping to run an entry on this blog in the future on a brief historical snapshot of Queens. Visit here often.)

North (top) and South (bottom) views up and down Lefferts Blvd. in the section of Kew Gardens unoficially called "The Village."

Here is the building I currently call home. It's a great building and a great location. It's a bit different from where I was living in Jackson, MS.

A throw-back to the Cold War. Signs like this one on my building, appear on older buildings accross the five boroughs, faithfully directing us where to go if the Soviets ever push "The Button."

This is the view from my living room window. If anyone tells you that Queens is not very city-like, show them these pictures.

The purpose of this entry is not merely to show you where I live, but to give you a visual sense of the environment in which our church plant will operate. Please keep our church plant in your prayers. It's continuing to develop.

What the Heck is a Block Party?

On Saturday afternoon, I finally met some of the people in the church plant. There was a block party on Michael's block and several of them were there.

Let me back up just a second and try to explain to some of you what a block is and subsequently, what a block party is.

You often hear people from cities talking about people on the block, and several of you have no idea what that means. I've always understood what it meant, but I've never explained it before, so here's my best attempt.

In New York City, and many older Northern Cities, the streets are laid out in a grid. People who live there often refer to their neighbors as, "the people on my block." For city dwellers, a block is basically the section of your street between the cross-streets. For example, I grew up on 78th St. between 88th Ave. and 89th Ave. The people on 78th St. on both sides of the street would be considered "on my block." The definition actually has somewhat more flexibility than that, but this definition will have to do for now. This should help explain the origin of the early nineties boy band New Kids on the Block, and J-Lo's self-given title, "Jenny from the Block."

Now a block party is when several individuals, sometimes called a block association, decide to close of the block at the cross streets and have games for the kids, food, music, etc. It's an attempt to make friendly with your neighbors and a chance to prove to your next door neighbor that your hamburgers are the best in Queens.

Anyway, there was a block party on Michael's block this past Saturday, and if was fun for me to meet the people in the core group, find out a little bit about them, tell them a little about me, play musical chairs with the neighbors, and dance the Electric Slide with a cute redhead (I'll elaborate no more on this one, and let your imaginations run wild).

Some of them said they would possibly be able to help me out of my furniture dilemma. Let's see. In any event, a good time was had by all, and now I know that there will, in fact be people in the church when we get going next month, and not just me and Michael spinning our wheels.

As you can see, I now have at least one picture on this blog. I'm still learning about how to do that, but more pictures should show up next week. Stay tuned.

Catching You Up on Things

Now that I've filled you in on my trip, I thought it was about time to let you know what I'm doing.

The Fellows Program of Redeemer's Church Planting Center began in earnest on August 2. At that time, I was introduced to the four other Fellows in the Program (I'll publish a photo when I figure out how to do that). Martijn, a Fellow from the Netherlands is here to learn how to plant churches in Amsterdam and working with a church plant in Astoria, . Reyn is about to graduate from Alliance Seminary here in the City and is working at church plant uptown at Columbia University. Al is a little older, appears to prefer wearing baseball hats (often of the Yankees, Ugh!), and is working at a plant in the Bronx. Fuji Kim (Not his real name, but one he hasn't been able to loose) is from Philadelphia and comes up once a week for our weekly meetings. He's planting in Philadelphia.

The program appears to be quite intense. We have been having orientations for the first few weeks, but there is actually some measure of real coursework involved, including several sessions taught by Tim Keller on urban ministry. It should be interesting to interact with him personally and all of us are looking forward to the opportunity.

As far as the church plant goes, flexibility is the name of the game. My organizing Pastor, Michael Kytka has been entrenched in ordination stuff, so I've taken on some of the legwork for the time being. While he has a tentative location for our Lord's Day worship services, he asked me to search out some other venues so we can compare them and their cost effectiveness. After approaching a synagogue in Forest Hills, they determined that it wouldn't be in their best interest to have a church meet in their facility regularly. I also spoke to a movie theater who will do it for us and gave me rental information. The kicker with them is that we would need to be cleaned up and gone by 11:30 in the morning. That would mean our services would need to be pretty early. That's okay, at least it's an option. I've also looked into a bank. There's a local bank with beautiful art-deco design in the neighborhood. That would be an interesting option. If those don't work out, we have a space at a school through Michael's negotiations prior to my arrival.

Additionally, I've been comparing websites to see which ones are the most user friendly, have elements which we might want on our site, and have an attractive aesthetic.

Once the church is launched in September, I'm supposed to help with the regular Lord's Day worship, lead two small groups, and head up the youth program. That will fill up my dance card pretty well. I've also made some connections to help promote our church at local colleges to attract students from out of town to a local church they can call their own while they are here.

The biggest obstacles for me at this point (and I ask for prayer on these matters) are Michael's ordination (He'll be more available to me after his oral exams); ironing out final details on a venue; and, of course, my continued fundraising efforts. I'm still significantly short on the funds I will need for this first year under the Fellows Program. Please pray for The Holy Spirit to move people to generosity. Once again, for those of you who have been considering a partnership with me, it's not too late to join in. If you're interested, please e-mail me. My e-mail address can be accessed through this blog.

This coming week, I expect to post a few pictures and begin links to some of my supporting churches, friends, and, of course, the blogs of my co-Fellows. Everyone but Al has one (Martijn's is in Dutch, for those of you who can read Dutch). I look forward to cooresponding with many of you through this blog, e-mail, phone, and mail. That's all for now. God-bless.

Sermon Ideas anyone?

Yesterday I was waiting for a bus. Across the street I noticed a group of pigeons fighting over what had been an entire slice of bread. They pecked a the bread furiously sending it flying onto a different part of the street and hustling to continue the struggle.

The birds were soon joined by several other pigeons and some additional small birds. The pigeons were the obvious thing creatures, while the smaller birds watched seemingly helplessly.

Suddenly, one of the small birds saw an opportunity and siezed the moment, swooping in and grabbing the bread with his feet and flying away quickly.

Now the pigeons seemed legitimately confused by this action and wandered aimlessly, looking in all directions, but not one of them flew after the little bird to retrieve the bread. They simply scattered and walked about as though there had never been any bread and there never was a small maverick bird.

Meanwhile, the little bird enjoyed his feast of bread all alone several yards down the sidewalk. By now my bus had come, and I boarded, laughing to myself as I contemplated what I had just seen.

There has got to be a sermon illustration here. I welcome your input. I know where you could go with this one, but if you know aything about me, you'll know better than to go there.

P.S. Please read these next two entries in the reverse order in which they appear.

The Adventure Continues

I don't think Peter or I thought that my stay at his house would be long, but the real estate market in is pretty hot and wildly expensive.

Before coming North, I had subscribed to a few free apartment e-mail services, but none of them turned up anything I could afford. On the Saturday after I arrived in New Hyde Park, I hooked up with a couple of realtors who proceeded to show me apartments around the Forest Hills area. I looked in Forest Hills as well, but it is a very expensive part of town and the rents in those places were out of my reach.

Nevertheless, I looked at a few interesting places in the surrounding neighborhoods of Rego Park and Kew Gardens. One agent, Mark from Century 21 showed me a nice place in Kew Gardens that was listed as a studio apartment, but clearly had a seperate bedroom. It was also the most reasonable rent I could find. So I acted quickly on this place because it's location was ideal for my needs, and the rent was in my range.

After calling Mark back and leaving him a message, he finally got back to me by the middle of the week and said that he would be out of town and that he would contact the landlord expressing my interest. This was the Wednesday after I arrived in New York (July 27).

Time was of the essence for me because I didn't want to overstay my welcome at Peter's house and my job started on August 1 which was the following Monday. By the end of the week I had all papers signed, securities and fees paid, but Mark told me that the landlord wouldn't make the place officially available until the following Tuesday (Aug. 2). This is what I get for moving quickly. I was beginning to get frustrated with the slow pace.

I had always understood New York City apartments needed to be acted upon quickly, but I never saw a process move so slow... at least not here. Between the time when I decided to move into this apartment and the time I actually moved in was more than a week. That may not seem like much time to many of you, but in this market, it's an eternity. I probably would have found an apartment back in Jackson faster than this.

On Tuesday, I was finally able to pick up the keys from the building superintendent and move my stuff in. Of course, it's not really that simple. You see, my building is a Co-Op and has restrictions on when and how residents can move their things into the apartment. My building's rules were that all major moving must take place between 9 and 5 Monday through Friday. The rationale for this was that in the evenings and weekends, residents shouldn't have to ride the elevators with major articles of furniture. I guess that makes sense, but it wasn't exactly good for me.

Fortunately, I knew a Baptist minister through my previous life in New York. In fact, I've known Pastor Ludwig most of my life. Anyway, he has a van and is available during the day. After our first Fellows orientation on Aug. 2, I was finally able to move all my stuff from Peter's garage and into my apartment. We jammed all my stuff into Pastor Ludwig's van after I got home from Redeemer that afternoon. Judging by how full the van was when we packed it, I thought back to the 15 foot truck I rented to bring my stuff up from Jackson. I'm glad they upgraded the size of my rental because the van was so full, there wasn't enough room for any passengers.

So now my stuff is in my new place. I still have very little furniture, but everything I own is under my own roof. I'm hoping to secure either free or very inexpensive furniture because between my rent, bills and having to put food on my table (when I get a table), I'm still operating on a shoestring budget. Hey, that's the nature of Church Planting.

The Adventure Begins

I left Jackson on July 19 in a truck that was way too big for what I needed. The people at Budget had no available 10 foot trucks and offered me a free upgrade to a 15 foot truck at no extra cost. Great! Even the 10 footer would have been too big, but the next smaller size van would have probably been too small. In any event, with the help of several friends, we loaded up my stuff into the truck and I was on my way.

Leaving Jackson was a strange feeling. After three years of hard work and study and the development of strong friendships, I was both anxious to leave and reluctant at the same time. Heading home to help plant a church in Queens was an exciting prospect, but part of the nature of church planting is a degree of ambiguity which can be quite frightening. Nevertheless, I knew that several churches and individuals were supporting me both financially and prayerfully, so off I went.

My first stop was at the home of David Dobbs and his wife Helen. David was my roommate at RTS my first year and is now serving as a Youth Pastor at Graceview Presbyterian Church in Southaven, MS, just outside of Memphis. Helen prepared a nice dinner for us and the conversation ensued between me and David (both of us are quite chatty).

I did break it up with a visit to the home of J.K. Baddley, a godly railroad worker who also lives in Southaven and had heard me preach a few times at First Presbyterian Church in Water Valley, MS, a church to which he has close ties and has "adopted" me as one of its own. It was good to fill him in on my plans. We prayed together and he promised to keep me in his prayers as I traveled and settled in to my new life in Queens.

Helen packed me a great lunch the next morning and I ventured to my next destination of Oak Ridge, TN. This trip took me clear across the state, but it was a pleasant and scenic drive. By late afternoon I arrived at the apartment of Jason Gregory. Jason had been my more recent roommate at seminary and had moved a week earlier to Oak Ridge where he is now working as a Ministerial Intern at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Because it was now Wednesday, the church had a fellowship meal and hymn sing scheduled. This saved Jason the trouble of cooking for me (we generally don't eat the same kinds of foods anyway... Jason eats healthy stuff; I eat whatever is available). It was nice to fellowship with Jason and meet the people in his church as well.

The strangest thing about this part of the trip was the furniture issue. You see, Jason owned most of the furniture in out apartment in Jackson and had taken it all with him when he moved out a week earlier. While this made my last week in Jackson a tad strange, it was equally strange to see the couches on which I had been sitting for the last few years in a new context. In some sense, I felt like I was back in Jackson. In another sense, because of the layout of Jason's place, it was clear that I was not. Well, enough about that.

After my stay with Jason, it was off to New Cumberland, PA. Bob and Dottie Wickliffe, long time family friends of mine, had moved there a few years ago, and in God's providence, they were on my way to New York. Their daughter Bonnie and her husband Dave and their children live across the yard from them, so this stop would enable me to visit several old friends at one stop. Getting there, however, became an adventure by its own right.

My plans were to arrive at their house in time for dinner. I left Oak Ridge early enough to do just that. Interstate 81 travels Northeast along the western border of Virginia. A direct route to PA, several hours of the trip are spent in Virginia (It may be helpful for you to get a hold of a road atlas at this point. I'll wait while you find it. Okay). On the map, you'll notice that after traveling several hundred miles in Virginia, the road goes through two gooseneck sections of West Virginia and Maryland. The total time spent in these states (if traveling the speed limit) should be less than an hour. Well that's not what happened.

Apparently an oil truck had spilled its payload all over the highway in Martinsburg, WV (Do you see Martinsburg on the map? Good). As a result, the highway was completely shut down while the cleanup took place. The problem for me was that where I had stopped was between exits and the traffic had come to a complete standstill. I was trapped on a closed highway with no options.

I called the Wickliffes on my cell phone to inform them that I was stuck in traffic in West Virginia so they wouldn't worry about me.

Making a long story, short, the highway finally opened up two and a half hours later. By the time I started rolling, I was supposed to be at the Wickliffe's home enjoying dinner. They were nice enough to save me food, and a microwave oven came in quite handy so I wouldn't have to eat cold food.

It was nice to visit with them, though my time was somewhat abbreviated due to the traffic. Now I would be off to my final destination, New Hyde Park, NY.

That's right, I said New Hyde Park. You see, I had made arrangements with a former co-worker to stay with him at his house in a Long Island suburb, just east of Queens. Though NYC was only about 200 miles from New Cumberland, I now had to calculate metropolitan New York traffic into my travel plans.

This time I figured my travel time with great precision. The challenge began once I crossed into New Jersey as traffic increases there dramatically. Tolls on the Outerbridge Crossing to Staten Island added time to the trip as did traffic approaching the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Long Island Expressway each presented traffic typical of what I remembered from growing up here.

Arriving at the home of Peter (my former co-worker) and his wife Joan around five o'clock, I was able to unpack the contents of the truck into his garage and enjoy a pleasant dinner with them.

Now came the challenge of navigating the New York City real estate waters. This was the next stage of the adventure which, because my hands are tired from typing, will be the subject of my next entry.