Already. Not Yet.

A couple of entries ago, I discussed the dynamic of March in New York. The tension between winter and spring is pronounced here, making this month one of the most dramatic and, depending on your perspective, the most frustrating times of the year. Although Monday marked the vernal equinox, the winter chills have plagued us all week.

The image of March is similar to our status as a church plant. We've already begun worship services and home fellowship groups. We've already got a name. But we've not yet gone public. The next two weeks will be a frantic push of publicity. We've got fliers and postcards; we're going out into the streets and the subways to invite people; we're inviting our friends and neighbors. I guess you could say we're gettin' busy. It's exciting and potentially exhausting and we will certainly need your prayers during this critical time. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work both in the lives of the people of our church and in those of individuals in Forest Hills and the surrounding neighborhoods. We are confident that God will draw His people to himself, and we are praying that we will be used in an effective way to be used by Him to do this.

This week, each of our home groups is having a prayer meeting over the church's outreach and launch. We want to seek the Lord's guidance in our efforts and look for opportunities to engage people and invite them to Ascension. I will also be using the boys in our youth group to hand out fliers and postcards. I must admit, church planting is quite a rush.

In the next few weeks, we expect to introduce an operational website for Ascension Church so it launches as closely as possible to our church launch on April 9. Once we do that, I will post the URL here and add a link on the sidebar with the other links there.

Country in the City: Working in a church plant, sometimes I feel like I'm strapped to a whipping post. Michael and I took a break Tuesday night and went with a Lutheran minister friend to see the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater. The band plays 15 sold-out shows in at the Beacon each March and they put on quite a show. My Deep South Bretheren (one of whom I spoke with recently on the telephone) find a touch of humor in the fact that I spent three years in Mississippi and end up going to see a legendary Southern Rock Band here in New York. Surprisingly, New York, Boston, and Atlanta are the band's biggest-selling venues. It would likely be a safe bet that we were probably the only three people in the theater employed in full-time church ministry.