Never a Dull Moment

Ministry in central Queens is a never-ending challenge. Combine the fast-moving, career driven, multi-ethnic populous, the "can I sell a kidney to pay my rent?" cost of living, the quest for a parking spot less than a 10-minute walk from home, with my personal tug-of-war between a full-time job, and part-time ministry, boredom never enters the program.

This week, Michael is on vacation, which he very much deserves, but Ascension Church doesn't take a vacation when the pastor does. We keep active and Gospel driven.

People move to New York City for a variety of reasons. Some have come from other countries for opportunities not available in their native lands. Others come here, yes even to Queens, for the glitz and glamour of living in the nation's biggest city. Still others are like me, who, although I've lived in many places in the U.S. and abroad, my prespective has rarely crossed the East River or Cross Island Parkway beyond Queens.

For most of these pepople, business is an escape, even a god. They worship their busy schedules; their plethora of activities; their jobs. For these people, a busy schedule is an escape. Ascension Church, and the individuals in our community are busy, not as an escape, rather out of a drive and passion for the Gospel. We have not made a god of our schedules. God is busy building His kingdom in Forest Hills, and His people are busy fulfilling our kingdom calling.

A Queens Valentine

For the last few weeks, I've made mention of the weather here with great license. Typically, I don't engage in discussions on the weather typically relegated to the teller line at the bank, but this bears some mention.

The first half of January was unusually warm and produced no snow. From mid-January until last week, we were hit with an acrtic blast of dry cold air and it was too cold for snow (for the benefit of some of my readers who might not know this, it can actually get too cold for snow). Valentine's day 2007 hits on a Wednesday and we get clobbered with a mid-winter nor'easter leaving cars and roads covered with a wintry coctail of snow and ice that not only made it difficult to get around, it made life just a bit more sluggish, utilitarian and, well, dirty.

Fortunately my home group Bible study which typically meets on Wednesday night, was rescheduled for Monday night. Although I had planned to make some copies at Staples Wednesday night, 14 copies of a single sheet of study questions made facing the elements an option from which I bowed out.

I mention the weather not as a way of complaining but rather as a way to describe yet another challenge faced by a church plant in New York City. As a new church, much of our ministry is decentralized. We meet for Sunday worship in a public school auditorium, we have yet to rent office space for administrative purposes, our ministries meet in homes and restaurant back rooms, and the cell phone and e-mail are prime communication outlets. The weather effects our ability to get around and icing conditions on the subway, disabled vehicles on the Grand Central Parkway, and that ever so ginger walk down an ice-covered sidewalk all play roles in the level of participation we find in our ministries and outreach programs. Yet we move forward by God's grace.

We remain undaunted by outside distractions at Ascension Church. When God is building His Kingdom, what's a big winter storm going to do to get in the way? We may rely on rock salt to melt the physical ice in Queens, but it's only the Gospel that can melt the spiritual ice.

I Wanna be Sedated

I've said it before on this site, but I'll say it again: There's never a dull moment with a church plant. When I was looking ahead at my post-seminary life two years ago, I considered opportunities in Seattle, Chicago, and various locations in Colorado before deciding on my home turf here in Queens. Each of those places would have presented its own challenges and this week we encountered some localized opportunities of our own.

As I mentioned two weeks ago, it's been pretty cold here recently and this week was exceptionally cold reaching low temperatures not seen here in a few years.

Well we at Ascension Church don't look for excuses for inactivity. When the rest of the world (or at least the people in Queens) were indoors protecting themselves from frostbite, a few brave souls from our church and me were hitting the streets handing out fliers for one of our ourtreach programs where we discuss a topic over dinner and drinks at a local restaurant. It's a great program and even greater when I see people from the church willing to sacrifice the nerve endings in their fingers and toes to invite strangers on the street to come in from the bitter cold and hear the Gospel.

We also tried to get a group of people from the Indie Society, our ministry for singles and married couples without children, to go to a dramatic presentation of one of C.S. Lewis' works before the rest of the city purchased tickets based on a favorable review in The New York Times. While we had to do some schedule juggling, we managed to gather up a few available tickets this weekend and a small gtoup of us will actually see the show.

In all, I've regained enough feeling in my fingers to type my blog entry this week, though several muscles in my body continue to thaw out, hopefully before the weekend so I can be prepared for whatever challenges next week holds.

Moving Right Along

A lot of people see January one of the months you simply have to endure between Christmas and the onset of Spring. In a church plant, there's never a dull moment. We had a busy January, making plans, bringing in enhancements to our ministries, and continuing to work toward building the Kingdom. Our home fellowship groups are cooking with gas, our children's education program continues its strong course, and excitement and enthusiasm is growing along with the church. You don't see that kind of positive energy in many things during the winter doldrums, but then again, when God is doing a great work, hey, it's quite a ride.

February is upon us and we anxiously await the groundhog's report tomorrow to see when we'll have our official introduction to Spring this year. As you know, it's a major holiday to be approached with reverence and respect. To that end, the Indie Society, our ministry to singles and couples w/o kids is getting together at Michael's house to watch the epic masterpiece, Groundhog Day. We will also be laying out some plans for other activities for the group for the coming months.

The following evening my youth group will join the youth from another PCA church in Queens to go bowling. I, myself, haven't bowled in quite a while and realize that I'm setting myself up for great embarassment in front of the kids. But then again, what kind of youth leader would I be if I weren't willing to sacrifice some dignity for the sake of the spiritual condition of the youth. I'm enthusiastic about all these things and hopefully you are as well as I know many of you have been faithfully keeping Ascension Church and me in your prayers.

On another note. My Nephew Tyler turned 5 last week and I went up to his birthday party this past Saturday (I forgot to bring my digital camera with me or there would be a shot of him here). He's a great kid. Additionally, my Father celebrated a milestone birthday this past Tuesday and oddly he seems to get healthier with age. To pass him on the street, you might mistake him for a man 10 to 15 years his junior. These too are matters of great praise to God on my part.

Check in next week for more exciting updates on God's work through Ascension Church