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.