I'm sorry for the lack of blogging on my end. My days the past two or so weeks have been mostly busy...and when I'm not busy with something, I'm usually asleep.
Since my last update, The Gallery has hosted two City Uprisings! Basically for those who don't know what CU is - we have groups from churches that come to New York for three or four days at a time that participate in service projects around the city, such as trash pickup, block parties, and canvassing (passing out cards about The Gallery Church). We have a worship service every morning at the space.
It really is the most amazing few days. And most exhausting. (My main excuse for not blogging sooner is for the back-to-back City Uprisings that we just had. I was way too tired to function once I walked in my apartment door to do anything else besides sleep.)
The first City Uprising we hosted was, and will be, our biggest. We had an incredible group of churches! They were so excited to be in the greatest city in the world and were always willing to do anything to help. We passed out around 60,000 invite cards!
At the block parties, there were many great and deep conversations that occurred with people that lived in the Chelsea neighborhood (a neighborhood four blocks from The Gallery and where the church will be investing and pouring into). I had the pleasure of sharing the Gospel with a guy I met on the second day. He said he had heard of God before (he had grown up Catholic), but hadn't really heard much else and felt like he had been lied to about religion growing up. This was honestly one of the first conversations I have ever had with a complete stranger about Jesus. The Holy Spirit was completely giving me the words to say. I don't even really remember half of what I said. I do remember that I ended up inviting him to church and he said he would come.
And he did. But he left thirty seconds into Freddy T.'s message, saying he "couldn't do it". I'll admit, it hurt that he didn't really give it a chance. It hurt even more that I probably wouldn't ever see him again or that he may never come to love Christ. But I have to remember that I planted that seed. That I may just be one of the chain of Christians throughout his life that will share the Gospel with him...and he may eventually hear it fully. I'm surrendering that over to God.
I know how mighty my God is. I saw that last Sunday. My friend wasn't the only person from the block parties or recipient of a Gallery card that came to church. The Gallery space was PACKED. People from front to back. We ran out of chairs!
Hannah and I were the two that welcomed people by the front door of the building before the service started, and there were several people that came up to us with a Gallery card asking if they were in the right place. God totally worked in people's hearts so they would come. And it was so beautiful and encouraging.
After the service on Sunday, we had a Freddy T. Wyatt/Chris Mills weight loss challenge/race and Brandon Moore's going-away party. In short, Chris won the whole contest and it sucked to see Brandon leave.
Brandon was the one who really took us interns under his wing the first month we were here. I knew his voice before I knew what he looked like. He handled all of my questions and fundraising goodness over the phone the two months I knew I had the internship before I actually left for NYC. Brittni, Morgan, Hannah, and I really became friends with him the last few weeks he was here. We already miss you, Brando! See you at the wedding. ;)
With Brandon being gone and Chris being at YoungLife camp (with six kids from Chelsea, thanks to our AMAZING first City Uprising group), that meant us interns were in charge of mostly everything this past City Uprising. It was terrifying. And even more exhausting.
Hannah and I were fully in charge of making the block party happen. It went so smoothly with the help of our CU participants! It honestly could not have gone better in my mind and I am so thankful! Hannah and I are now expert block party planners, so if you are having one, call us up.
We passed out around 20,000 invite cards this time around since we had less people at this City Uprising. There were a few second-time visitors from the previous Sunday yesterday and some new faces! So exciting! One of my favorite parts of being an intern is actually being here for longer than a week and seeing the effects of the work you do during City Uprising.
So that's basically the gist of my past two weeks. We've done so much more that I didn't even mention, but believe me, God is doing some incredibly big things in this city and I for one cannot wait to see what happens the remainder of my time here and after.
Freddy has given one of my favorite messages the past two weeks to the City Uprising participants. It never fails to stir the fire in my heart for missions and for the city up again.
Basically he talks about how the world has come to New York City. Did you know that over 800 language groups live here? Amazing.
I heard from someone once that New York City is like a pebble dropped in the ocean and it ripples out into the rest of the world. The world looks to New York for everything and follows suit.
If you can share the Gospel with someone who lives here, and they are from Africa, then when they visit or call their family back home...if they are changed by knowing Jesus, they will tell them!
That is why I am passionate about this city. Because I truly believe that anything is possible here. And the changes that are made here will go into the world, and the world will be changed by the knowledge of God's love and saving grace.
I LOVE IT! I love it here. I love everything about this city.
I can't believe that my time here is already halfway over. The thought makes me want to cry. This city has truly become my home and my heart feels right here.
I want to personally thank everyone who reads this blog that contributed to my fundraising to get here. You will never know how much it means to me that you love me and support me and my passion for missions so much that you would help me raise money. This city is incredibly special to me and I just wanted to thank you all again.
Some prayer requests:
- Strength and energy. Freddy (the best boss EVER) gave us until Thursday off of work to re-energize after two back-to-back City Uprisings, but we have another one starting up soon! Just that I will continue to work my hardest and be able to lead the groups coming to the city as well as I possibly can.
- Guidance. I know that I am supposed to be in this city again sometime in my life, but I don't know when that will be. If you could please pray that the direction I need to take my life will become more clear.
- My spiritual growth. PLEASE pray for me that I will continue to make time to dig into God's Word, meditate on it, and apply it to my life. That I will not love sleep more than Jesus and I will get up early to have my quiet times before the rush of the day begins. Overall, that I will hunger and thirst for more Jesus and less of me.
There was a long blog post to make up for being terrible at telling you guys what is up with my life! If you ever have any questions about anything or want to see pictures (if you're not on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram), just email me at elk603@comcast.net!
I'll leave you with a verse that was recently laid on my heart!
LOVE you all!
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.- Ephesians 6:19-20
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