Showing Hospitality

This week has been interesting because It seems like everything I've been doing has been a form of hospitality. If you read last week's entry, you know about the BicyTaxi job I've been doing to pick up a little extra cash on the side. A strong case can be made that such work is a form or hospitality. After all, in providing an alternative to yellow medallion cabs, tourists can have a pleasant, open-air experience on a BicyTaxi. It's not the fastest transportation in the city, but I think it's the nicest.

I took in a houseguest for a few days this week. He's a nice young chap from England who's flying out of JFK tomorrow and needed a place to stay for a few days while in New York. My apartment is small, but I have a futon, so when a good friend of mine from Jackson, MS called me to find out if I could put this fellow up for a few days, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to be hospitable. It has been interesting having him here, though I've had to bring him along on some Church business that may not be of particular interest to him, he's certainly been a good sport.

I also helped a friend move from the Bronx to Queens (house guest in tow). Normally, I wouldn't ask a guest to engage in such labor, but we needed all the hands we could get, and he was happy to oblige. It was interesting helping my friend move from her fourth floor apartment in the Bronx with no elevator into a first floor dormatory in Queens, but we got her moved just fine, and in eyeballing the situation, she's much better off in Queens than she was in the Bronx (I'm biased to Queens, or course, but indulge me).

I did make it up to my guest by taking him into Manhattan today to see some things he wanted to see, though I did have to drag him around to a few church-related errands in the morning.

On the tent-making front, I've finally landed a stable job as a technical writer (no more BicyTaxi), so God has really met my needs on yet another level. I start on Tuesday. As you know, my larger concern is with my work at Ascension Church, but at least I'll be able to pay my bills while I continue my fundraising efforts. God is good.

Adventures in Tentmaking

The Apostle Paul was an evangelist, a theologian, a missionary, a church planter, and apologist. I personally think that if he were alive today, Paul would be a blogger. With all these things Paul was doing, he also needed to make a living and did so making tents. If someone like Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament worked another job to pay the bills, certainly a schmuck like me working at a church plant in Queens should appreciate the need to make a few tents myself.

Since the end of the Fellows program, while looking for stable full-time work, I've been bouncing around some short-term gigs to make ends meet in the interim. If you read my blog regularly, you know I do a little stand-up comedy on alternative Tuesday nights at the New York Comedy Club. I didn't mention the short-term research project I did on the New York City subway system for a developing tourist website. I sold discount comedy tickets to the Improv to people on the streets of Times Square. This week, I started driving a bicycle taxi cab (click on the picture to get a better sense of what that means). It's up and down work. Some days I'll get a few rides and make some good money. Other days... not so much. It is a lot of fun though and it gives me a bit more exercise than I've had in a while.

I must remind you, however, that I still work for Ascension Presbyterian Church part-time. I might be the only person I know who's part-time job is more important than his full-time eforts.

An outside observer would think my situation was most bizarre. I gave up a good paying job to go to graduate school (I remember the speech during orientation at RTS about seminary being "graduate professional education," on par with medical school or law school). I've graduated with a Master's degree and now I'm driving a bicycle taxi cab. I suppose it would look pretty strange were it not for the fact than my heart is in advancing Jesus' Kingdom in central Queens. Call me crazy.

Please continue to pray for my job and financial situation, my continued fundraising efforts, and my work at the church. Follow the adventure next Thursday when I update all of you again right here as always, God-willing.

Getting out of Dodge

In the midst of everything that's been going on with me right now (job search, church work, etc.), I had a unique opportunity this week to get out of the city for a day.

I have been engulfed in the job search of late, as you may know, but through a friend of mine, a pastor at a Korean Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, I had the opportunity to speak at a youth retreat in Pennsylvania. With everything I'm doing, it was great to get out of the city and take in a little country air. It was fun. The picture below is of Mike Kearney, my friend who set this up, and his youth group. Obviously, he's not Korean and neither am I, but this group of kids was primarily second generation teenagers who speak and understand English... hence, my ability to speak to them.

While I am looking for full-time work to make up for my discontinued stipend, my obvious preference is to do things that revolve around ministry, and this was a great chance to broaden my experiences and do what I love to do most; preach the Gospel.

Last week, I mentioned my work hocking comedy tickets on the street. I dropped that job because the pay was wildly disproportionate to the amount of work involved. It also interfered with my ability fo find legitimate work. I will, however, continue my semi-weekly schtick at the New York Comedy club. Please continue to pray for my employment and financial situation, as well as my continued, part-time involvement in the ministries of Ascension Church.

Pounding the Pavement

Well, this is my first full week of post-fellows life and I'm pounding the pavement hoping to be able to pay my rent. As I mentioned last week, I'm working as a promoter for the Improv comedy club. Basically this means I'm pitching discount tickets to stand-up comedy shows to tourists in Times Square. It's actually quite fun, but I don't think I'll make enough from my sales volume to bring home a decent dollar figure. I really need to find something more stable. The only person on the street who makes good money is the naked cowboy, a street musician who prances around the city with a guitar, a ten gallon hat at tighty whities and reportedly takes home $1,000 a day from tourists who pose for pictures with him. Given my part time job in pastoral ministry, I'm not about to try this gimick myself. I don't think the presbytery would look well on such self-promotion, so if I have any plans to get ordained, Jack, the Naked Cowboy is out of the question.

Because I'm looking for full-time work and also looking for short-term paying gigs in the meantime, It looks like by the end of this week, I'll be a few hundred dollars short on my rent (probably between $300 and $400). I am speaking at a Korean youth retreat next week, but I'm not likely to know the full amount of pay that will result in until after my rent is due (Aug 15). Money is quite tight, but the adventure is actually quite thrilling. God is certainly teaching me to rely on His providence. He's always provided for me. On that front, I do ask for prayer, both for my financial/employment scenario, and my continued ministry at Ascension Church. I am still attempting to put in 20 hours a week with the church because my financial support makes me a part-time employee. I also need to remind you that the generosity of faithful partners decreases the amount of money I need to make in full-time work each month. Once again, if you are already on board with your support, please prayerfully consider if an increase in giving fits your budget. If you are not currently a financial partner, perhaps God may put it on your heart to begin support. Lastly, if you know anyone who might be interested in bringing God's Kingdom to Queens, please put them in contact with me. Support checks need to be sent to my home address and made out to Ascension Church with my name on the memo line. I'll continue blogging each Thursday and keep you all updated on my job and ministry progress. May God bless you abundantly this week.

Sweating it Out
They call New York City a melting pot and they're not kidding. This week a crippling heat wave has had us under its spell. Even my Mississippi friends might find this a bit extreme. In the three years I spent down there, I don't remember temperatures cracking 100 degrees. We've had three consecutive days where (depending on where you live) the mercury hit the century mark. People are dragging themselves around. The power grid in the city is under unusual stress resulting in scattered power outages around the five boroughs. I'm glad our VBS program was last week because if it were this week, there may have been some casualties. It's hard to think of anything else but how to keep cool. Yet we press on.
Fortunately, the heat is expected to break tonight with a savage rain storm. Much lower humidity and heat is expected to bring us a comfortable weekend and coming week. That's good news for Ascension Church because the school auditorium where we worship has no air conditioning. I know my deep south friends can't relate to the concept of any building not having central air, but many of the older edifices in the North are more accomodating to cold weather than hot.
The heat presents another challenge for the new part-time/job seeking status in which I now find myself. Pounding the pavement looking for work in 100 degree heat and humidity is quite a challenge. My job search has two faces. On one level, I'm looking for temporary gigs for some quick cash so I can pay the bills which are arriving faster than the money. On another level, I'm looking to firm up some full time work at the same time to stabilize my income. Obviously, I am maintaining part-time status with the church as well. I feel like I'm back in seminary where I took numerous odd jobs to pay the bills while studying for my M.Div. It may give some people heart failure, but it gives me kind of a rush.
I have nailed down a good gig working promotion for the Improv (I'm still doing the occasional stand-up routine at the New York Comedy Club). The job can be full time if I do well, but it's flexible enough to allow me time to search for full-time stable jobs. The Improv is the most well-known comedy club in the city. Major comics have taken the stage there over the years including two guys from Queens who you may have heard of, Rodney Dangerfield and Jerry Seinfeld. Does the name Jack Raplee go with those two? You tell me. I need to find enough work to make up for my reduced church income on this side of Redeemer's Fellows program and raise additional funds to work me more and more into the church's budget so I can focus my efforts in a Gospel direction.
Please continue to pray for my job search to stabilize so I can concentrate on the things that matter most to me: working to proclaim God's Kingdom in central Queens, and paying my bills.