Growing up in Queens

No my friends, this will not be an autobiographical sketch about me. If you've read my blogger profile or you've known me for more more than five minutes, you know all about that. This is about growth and development of Ascension Presbyterian Church, which was officially born in Forest Hills on Palm Sunday.

This Sunday marks the last week that we will be worshipping in a private school library at 4:00 in the afternoon. As I've mentioned before, beginning May 7th, we will move operations to a public school auditorium and meet at 10:30 in the morning. We are anxious to make this move because this facility will provide for us opportunity for growth. To add to that, we gain legitimacy in inviting people to our worship services when we tell them we meet at 10:30 as opposed to 4:00.

Other ministries at Ascension are taking shape. POLO (Parents of Little Ones) will be designed to meet the needs of the large number of young parents in our congregation. I know it may seem strange to some of you that people would attempt to raise children in New York City by choice, but we have a number of such people. My parents raised me and my sisters here and we turned our okay (keep your comments on this limited). Additionally, the singles ministry I've been mentioning here now has a name: The Indie Society. This name was intentionally chosen to protect us from making this outreach a Geek Fest or Meat Market. We will be having our first meeting in a few weeks, and will branch out to have social activities that should take us into the Summer.

I am also planning to have more joint activities with our youth and the youth at Astoria Community Church (PCA) like we had a few weeks ago. Now that the weather is getting better, there is an increased opportunity to do these kinds of things and strengthen our relationship with another church at the same time.

Other News: Michael and I went out to my old high school stomping grounds with his son, Michael Jr. He's considering sending his son to the Stony Brook School and I waxed nostalgic touring the campus this past Monday. While much has changed since I graduated, enough had stayed the same that I was able to conjure up good memories of my teenage years. I think Michael was impressed with how the school integrates faith and learning, something for which the school has become known for over the years. It will be interesting if young Michael ends up there. That's the option that would get my vote.

Please continue to keep Ascension Presbyterian Church in your prayers as we move to the new facility and as our ministries continue to develop.

How the People were Saved

On Tuesday evening, at the height of the evening rush, the Roosevelt Island Tram experienced a power surge and failure that brought the only operating commuter tramway in North America to a halt. A trip that averages between five and ten minutes became an ordeal lasting several hours. Police, Fire, and Emergency personnel struggled to find a way to rescue the approximately 70 stranded passengers in the two cable cars, one of which hovered over York Ave. in Manhattan, while the other hung hundreds of feet above the waters of the East River.

After six hours, officials determined that there was only one way that the people might be saved. A small police basket with an independent, diesel-powered engine could travel along the cables and take a limited number of people safely to either side. There were no other options, and not everyone could fit into the basket. After twelve hours, the whole thing was over and the tram is currently grounded pending further investigation into the problem.

Yes, I know this is a bit of New York City current events, but this story is rich with sermon illustration possibilities. I'll have to remember this one for the next time I preach at the church.

I know most of you are wondering how our Easter service went, especially in light of our public launch on Palm Sunday. Considering that we meet at 4:00 in the afternoon and it was Easter after all, we are pleased to acknowledge that our attendence was still larger that our pre-launch average and we can certainly give praise to God for his continued blessings in the life of Ascension Presbyterian Church. Here, Michael and I are involved in the set-up of the library in preparation for the worship service. Following worship, we had a great potluck dinner at Michael's home.

We also had a wonderful, Good Friday service in the library followed by a catered dinner. It was a rainy day, but several people came and it was a wonderful time of fellowship and worship. Our Passover Seder was also a great outreach function and the Messianic Rabbi did a stellar job of demonstrating how the Passover points us to Christ.

I know several of you are anxious to get my prayer letter in the mail, but I've been waiting to report with more detail to you, news of our launch and follow-up. At the moment, I plan to put together a letter next week to share such details with many of you on my mailing list. We are most thankful for your continued prayers.

Thy Kingdom Come

If you've been reading my blog, e-mails, and letters, or if you've spoken with me recently on the phone or in person, you know Ascension Presbyterian Church officially made its public launch this past Sunday. Those of us involved can certainly give praise to God for His kingdom work in Queens.

Several new faces changed the complexion of the worship service as well as a few well-wishers. Our attendance nearly doubled from our previous worship services and it was great to see so many first-time visitors.

We also rolled out our new signs and banners (something that is critical when you rent a worship facility). We were fortunate to find a sign place that was local and could produce high-quality signage for us. Many people commented on how beautiful the signs are and how much they like our church logo.

For many years, people have been praying for a Gospel-driven church in Forest Hills. Redeemer Presbyterian Church, our parent church, has long had a vision for planting churches throughout the city under the conviction that the best way to reach the city for Christ is through a network of local churches rather than as a large mega-church. Ascension is an example of this vision playing out.

Since it was Palm Sunday, we sought to supply everyone with palms. Most churches have the simple stalk that the kids often transform into little crosses. Ascension had full palm branches. A woman in our church picked them up and Michael and I were most excited to see full palm branches used not only as part of our Palm Sunday service, but as part of our public launch.

We were also excited to announce our planned move to the public school auditorium as I mentioned in last week's entry. Michael announced it three times during the service just to make certain that everyone present was made aware of it. You should have seen his face. He could barely contain his excitement at telling everyone that we were going to be in a bigger and better location and having a 10:30 am worship service instead of a 4:00 pm one. Everyone was very encouraged by the launch service, especially with this announcement made. God is doing a wonderful and exciting work here in central Queens.

This week, we will be renting the library again for a Good Friday service. We are expecting it to be more of an intimate setting with a dinner, scripture, the Lord's Supper, and some music.

Saturday, one of the women in our church (as I also mentioned last week) is also hosting a Messianic Passover Seder. The timing of Easter and Passover this year presents a unique opportunity for us to connect the Old and New Testaments in this way. Since we believe that the Gospel is on every page of Scripture, the calendar worked in our favor and we are excited at this most timely outreach opportunity.

Please keep Ascension Church in your prayers both in thanksgiving for what he has done and in supplication for what he will do as we seek His guidance in all things.

Opening Day Jitters

Monday afternoon, my beloved New York Mets won their home opener against the Washington Nationals, strengthening fans' hopes to return a world championship to Queens. Each year at this time, fans of the Amazin's contemplate off-season acquisitions and trades and Spring Training performance and boldly recall Tug McGraw's 1973 mantra: "Ya Gotta Believe!"

Ascension Presbyterian Church has had a very busy off-season if you will and our pre-launch and broadening phase (church planting's Spring Training) has ended and the regular season begins this Sunday with Michael throwing out the first pitch at 4:00 pm. Excitement is high and anticipation of God's current and future work is encouraging. Our reliance on God's grace and enthusiasm can draw a bold claim from us as well: "Ya Gotta Believe!"

I won't drag out the baseball analogy too far lest some of you begin to wonder if I'm more loyal to Ascension Church or the Mets. How cool would it be though, to bring the Gospel and the World Series to Queens in the same year?

As I indicated last week, there is some exciting news afoot for us on the heels of our launch preparations. This past week, we secured a new worship location. Michael and I delivered a check to the New York City Department of Education's regional operations center this week to secure our use of a public school auditorium. This facility is in a better location in the center of Forest Hills, significantly larger than the library where we currently meet, and we are able to schedule our worship service for 10:30 am... a move which creates a level or credibility for us that our current 4:00 pm time does not. This has been in the works for us for a few weeks now, but I didn't want to mention it on my blog until it was secured with check in hand. Add this news to the excitement over our launch this week, and you can imagine the electric atmosphere between Michael and me, and our entire launch community.

This is a busy week for us, as you might imagine, so I need to cut this entry short here, but please keep Ascension Presbyterian Church in your prayers this week and in the weeks to come as we hope to follow up the launch with a number or outreach programs and ministries.