Give Thanks Always

I have very little update this week aside from a few key items. I plan to join my sister and brother-in-law for Thanksgiving at his brother's home on Long Island. Apparently they have a rather large, two-level Lazy Susan reserved for holiday meals. Before I left for Mississippi three years ago, it was merely a concept. Now, it would seem, it has become a reality. I hope to take a picture of it and post it here next week. We'll see.

Sunday morning I received a telephone call from Roseann Kytka informing me that Michael was sick and unable to preach. The next obvious request from her was that I preach. Though I'm generally not a fan of preaching on the fly, I have a rather extensive archive of sermon outlines from passages I've preached in the past. Thankfully I was able to grab one of them and preach on short notice. Sure, the guy gets himself ordained and I end up preaching the next week. Oy Vey!Whattaya gunna do? Adventures in Church Planting.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I promise a more thorough update next week.

Icing on the Cake

For those of us who went to Seminary to train for a call to ministry the capstone event is not graduation, it's ordination. Ordination is the confirmation of an inward call to ministry by an outward call to shepherd a flock. This happened on Sunday, not for me (my ordination is at least a year away), but for Michael.

At a beautiful, encouraging, and well-attended service at Astoria Community Church, Rev. Michael A. Kytka was ordained as the church planter to Forest Hills. After his seminary study and Presbytery exams, Michael finally took the ordination vows and following the laying on of hands by several pastors and elders, he was pronounced an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in America. Here is Michael with his first pastor from Staten Island (left) and the pastor under whom he worked in St. Louis during seminary (center).

This was a key event in the life of our church plant. Now we can have more complete worship services, with the Lord's Supper and proper benedictions each week. With this, we can look forward with more excitement to our launch. During the service, several people from our launch community presented Michael with gifts, including a shepherd's staff. I'm not sure where you can buy one of those things in Queens, but I think Michael should preach with the staff in one hand and a Bible in the other. Wouldn't that be interesting?

I like this picture of me and Michael because it makes me look brawnier than I actually am. My double breasted suit jacket was open and I look like I've been working out. I should wear this suit more often. The picture was taken at the reception that followed the service where there was a lot of great food and a really big cake (pictured above).

In a related news flash, this past Sunday also marked the return of free parking in New York City. A few years ago, in response to a budget crisis, the "Pay to Pray," policy was put in place eliminating free meter parking in the city on Sunday. Pastors from throughout the city have been complaining about it ever since because their parishoners were constantly leaving worship services in order to feed the parking meters. Who says the church has no clout in New York?

Finally, the CMA Awards were presented at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. My Mississippi readers might find it interesting to know that New York City is the second largest market in America for Country Music. Fuggedabout it, y'all. This was the first time the CMA held the gala outside of Nashville in 39 years.

Prayer Concerns: We are still waiting to hear back from the church who is considering renting worship space to the church plant. Until we hear, we will continue to meet at the school as we have been for the last several weeks. We are continuing to research ideas for a church name. We hope to have one soon... at least before our launch. Over these first few months, I've discovered an increased need for a car. Yes, I'm in Queens and have access to buses, cabs, and the subway, but my ability to work more widely is hampered by my lack of personal transportation. Currently, I cannot afford either to buy a cheap car or pay insurance. In order for me to do this, I will need to raise more money. As many of you are considering holiday giving, please consider my work in this church plant. I'm still short on general funds, but would need a bit more in order to pay car expenses. If you are interested in support (longer term or one-time Christmas giving, etc.), please make checks out to Redeemer Presbyterian Church with my name on the memo line. Send them to 83-44 Lefferts Blvd. Apt 3C; Kew Gardens, NY 11415.

Running the Race

This last weekend, atheletes from all over the world descended on New York City for a five-borough street tour. That's right, the 36th New York City Marathon, a gruling 26.2 mile course, is the grand prize for distance runners and was won by (surprise, surprise) a Kenyan. Interestingly, the race was run in some of the thickest fog in the marathon's history. Hmmm... running a race in the fog, certainly there's a metaphor here for our church planting work. Thoughts?

Our second pre-launch service was a notable improvement over our first. The biggest improvements were in our bulletin, which was legible this week, and our music, which was easier on the ears.

We are in the midst of a six-week pre-launch series where Michael is preaching on texts related to the purposes of the church. We are following up the sermons with Home Fellowship Group studies on the sermon texts. One of the people in our launch community told me how excited he was when I handed him a bulletin last Sunday because we are starting to feel less like a concept and more like a church. I certainly share his excitement there.

This Sunday is Michael's ordination which will be held at Astoria Community Church (PCA). It's yet another step in the direction of our launch and there is much excitement here over that as well. Most of the launch community will be on hand for the ceremony and we will all be invited to come up as the Presbytery representatives will pray not only for Michael, but also for the church plant.

Another Michael, Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected this week marking the fourth consecutive mayor's race won by a Republican in a heavily Democratic city. Apparently people here vote for the person and not the party. This is not a political blog, so I won't say any more about this. I'm more concerned about the transforming reality of the Gospel in central Queens than I am about the mayor's transit system proposals. I'm not certain what conclusions that will lead you to, nor do I know what conclusions it should lead you to. It's simply a news flash from me to you about doings here in the Big Apple.

Prayer Concerns: Michael's ordination is this Sunday. Please pray that it will be a God-honoring event as a large number of people will be there both from our church plant launch community and from outside. Our actual launch date is still a few weeks away and we haven't ironed out a name for the church yet. We are being very intentional with what we call the church and need careful, prayerful consideration before we go forward. We are also looking, as I've mentioned previously on this blog, at an actual church who may be interested in renting to us. Please pray for God to make clear to us whether this door is opened or closed to us.

Signs of Life

Well, we've crossed another major threshold in the life of this church plant. This past Lord's Day we held our first pre-launch worship service at the school. It was very exciting to meet together for worship instead of simply meeting to discuss the formation of things or gathering socially. It's actually feeling like we're a church now.

Michael put me in charge of the bulletin, which I was happy to do. There were a few glitches in this process however. Michael's computer hard drive crashed on Saturday, our pianist was in Connecticut until late Saturday night, and I didn't get music and order of worship information until early Sunday morning. Fortunately, our service was at 4:00 pm and I had all day to put the bulletins together... and I needed it. I was supposed to lead the music during the service, but my work on the bulletin prohibited that from happening. Because it was such a rush deal, the bulletin looked lousy, and our music program needs some work. But, hey, considering that it was our first pre-launch service, I'd say it went very well. This week's service should be much better. I'm using larger paper for the bulletins and expect to have time to rehearse the music so at least those elements of worship will improve.

I also met with the youth in the church this week. When I say youth, I know what you're thinking, but this was a group of about four boys between 10 and 12 years old. I took them to Eddie's Sweet Shop on Metropolitan Ave. in Forest Hills to get to know them and let them know what I have in mind for them in the weeks and months ahead. It was fun.

You have to experience Eddie's Sweet Shop. It's a classic Forest Hills Landmark and one of the few remaining places to get a classic New York Egg Cream. How can I describe an egg cream? Well, there's no egg or cream in it, but it's sort of a cross between an ice cream soda and a milkshake, though not quite. In any event, it's an old time five borough drug store candy counter classic. If any of you visit me, we'll go to Eddie's and I'll treat you to an egg cream. I'm sure my father's mouth is watering as he's reading this. Certainly it would be impossible to find a good egg cream in Florida.

Prayer Concerns: We are moving steadily toward an early December launch. There is much preparation to be made before then. Please keep these matters in prayer. With the holidays coming up and student loans kicking in, my fundraising efforts need to increase. Anyone considering support should make checks out to Redeemer Presbyterian Church placing my name on the memo line. Send them to my address: 83-44 Lefferts Blvd. Apt. 3C; Kew Gardens, NY 11415. Remember to include a note explaining the frequency of your gift (monthly, quarterly, once-a-year, etc.). My holiday plans are also developing as are the radio interview I've spoken about, and additional speaking opportunities. Our church is also considering rental space from an actual church in Forest Hills. Please pray for God to show us clearly if this door is opened or closed to us.

Have a Blessed week.