THOUGHTS OF AN URBAN MISSIONARY:MY PRAYER TONIGHT

IMMERSED...DYING TO MYSELF DAILY...SACRIFICE....RECEIVE MY FREEWILL OFFERING...WHOLLY SURRENDERERD...WANTING MORE...THE DEEPER I GO THE MORE I DESIRE TO GO FURTHER STILL...WITH A HOLY GOD WHO LOVES ME MORE THAN I'LL EVER FATHOM
FAILURE THAT I AM SO MANY TIMES...FLAWED YET ACCEPTED...WORTHY OF THE FLAMES OF HELL, YET REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB...I WAS A LOST SHEEP AND YOU SEARCHED FOR ME...I WANDERED FAR AWAY, YET YOU FOUND ME...WHEN I DID NOT LOVE YOU OR DESIRE YOU, YOU STILL PURSUED ME...WHEN ALL I WANTED TO DO IS LIVE FOR MYSELF, YOU TOOK A CROSS OF SHAME...MY PLACE YOU TOOK...AND SO MANY MORE JUST LIKE ME...LOST AND CONFUSED...BATTERED AND SCARRED BY SIN...NOTHING BUT EMPTY PROMISES HAVE LED THEM FARTHER DOWN THE PATH OF DARKNESS AND DESTRUCTION...I'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE...AND I'LL GOT THERE AGAIN BUT NOT ALONE...THIS TIME I'M SENT AS SALT AND LIGHT BY MY SAVIOR ON HIS THRONE...THE THRONE OF MY HEART...AS SAVIOR AND LORD...GO AND TELL THEM!
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO...HE SAVED MY WRETCHED SOUL...HE INVITES YOU TO COME TO THE WELL AND DRINK...SIT AT HIS TABLE AND EAT THE BREAD THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY...YET IS GIVEN FREELY, IN ABUNDANCE, TO ALL WHO ASK...NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU HUNGER OR THIRST...SURRENDER TO HIM...AN OFFERING AND A SACRIFICE...WHOLLY SURRENDER TO THE SAVIOR OF YOUR SOUL...COME BE ABSORBED INTO THE BLOODSTREAM OF THE ONE WHO BLED FOR YOU...BE IMMERSED...SATURATE YOUR LIFE WITH HIS GOODNESS AND HIS GRACE...LET HIS LIFE FLOW THROUGH YOU, A LIVING SACRIFICE...COME TO THE SHORE OF MERCY...THE THRONE OF GRACE...LOOK INTO HIS GLORIOUS FACE...FIND YOURSELF AS YOU LOSE YOUR LIFE IN HIM...NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU FEEL ALONE.
JESUS TAKE ME DEEPER STILL...HOLY SPIRIT FILL ME AND USE ME...FATHER IN HEAVEN DRAW ME TO YOUR SIDE...BE MY ANCHOR...MY ROCK...MY FORTRESS...MY SHELTER FROM THE STORMS OF LIFE...BREAK THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY AS HE DESIRES TO SIFT ME LIKE WHEAT...HE'S GOTTEN IN A FEW GOOD BLOWS...AND HE STILL TURNS HIS UGLY HEAD MY WAY FROM TIME TO TIME...BUT YOU ARE MY LORD OF LORDS...MY KING OF KINGS...MY PRINCE OF PEACE...NOTHING OR NOONE CAN EVER SNATCH ME FROM YOUR HAND!
I PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE WHERE I HAVE BEEN...I PRAY FOR THE WAIFS WHO RUN IN THE STREET, LOOKING FOR A HERO...SOMEONE TO STAND IN THE GAP...LORD FILL ME WITH YOUR SPIRIT FOR THE TASK AT HAND...FILL ME WITH PASSION...SO THAT WE MAY SNATCH THEM FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY...WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES AT NIGHT I CAN SEE THEIR YOUNG FACES...FILLED WITH HOPE...DREAMING BIG DREAMS...I PRAY, O LORD, THAT THEY MAY COME TO KNOW YOU AND YOUR AWESOME PLAN FOR THEIR LIFES...AND WHEN MY LIFE IS OVER AND ALL IS SAID AND DONE...YOU ARE MY LORD...AND I LOVE YOU!
WHY YOU USE A MAN LIKE ME I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND...YET I PRAISE YOU...USE ME FOR YOUR GLORY...YOUR PURPOSE...THIS IS MY PRAYER TODAY...FROM THE FRONTLINE OF BATTLE...HEEDING THE CALL TO THIS FIELD OF HARVEST!

Feeling the cost of following Christ

For nearly three years we have been camped out in this inner-city neighborhood, faithfully serving and waiting upon the Lord for His provision and increase. This has not been an easy road, in fact, it's been the hardest road I've walked so far. Many times I have felt like giving up. God has provided our every need and I'm trusting that he will continue to.

The source of my frustration has been the century old church building that was given to us. While the building is debt free, it is showing its age. The condition of the church building is continuing to deteriorate. With the funds we have been able to raise we've been able to do some work. However, the entire electrical service needs to be replaced, as it is very old and barely meets code. The plumbing and heating systems also need to be upgraded. There are also needed repairs of the roof, a portion of the kitchen, as well as the fellowship hall floor and walls. We would need around $50,000.00 to make the building safe and functional.

Another issue that we have struggled with is the lack of mature adult believers living in this distressed inner-city neighborhood. While some of them are believers, they are, for the most part, nominal Christians. I truly believe the church is not the building, but the people of God, living in and serving the community, and inviting people into this community of Christ followers. But what, exactly, is this community to look like? What qualifies a person for entrance? Do they have to come to the church building to be considered members of this community? We have many children coming through our old church doors, which we have welcomed and embraced. We have gotten to know some of the families of these children. While they are comfortable with their children (or grandchildren) coming to our church, and have a basic belief in God themselves, getting them to come to church has been a challenge.

I guess in some ways I'm still operating by the old school, open the doors and invite them in, approach. While we have made some great strides to intentionally do ministry outside of the four walls of the church building, there is still this facilities based mindset I am contending with.

We are at a crucial point in our ministry here where we have to decide if it is cost effective and a good use of finances and other resources to continue using our present church building or abandon it and find other suitable facilities. We also own a vacant lot, which is about one-third of an acre and large enough to accomodate an adequate ministry facility.

I am at a point where I have run out of anwers. I am totally dependent upon God and His provision. Our core team has slowly been dismantled. We have endured some fierce struggles and spiritual warfare. I have thought several times about giving up and walking away from all of this. But then I am reminded of the children who live in this neighborhood. If we pack up and go, like a few other neighborhood churches have already done over the past decade (including the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church whose facility we took over) who will be here to stand in the gap for these great kids?

I am still convinced, now more than ever, that God has sent us here. I am trusting in Him for His provision and His strength. I know He will provide where He guides. So here we will remain. We will continue to serve God and to develop a missional community that is indigenous and incarnational.

If you feel inclined by the Holy Spirit to pray for us, we would certainly appreciate it.

Taking in a baseball game with the kids

We made our way to Joe Bruno Stradium this evening to catch our Tri-City Valley Cats in action. They beat Batavia Mud Dogs 2-1. It was a great evening of baseball, fun and fellowship. Partnering with Rev. Willie Bacote and The Missing Link Street Ministry, we were able to provide free admission, along with hot dogs and snacks, for forty kids. Our prayer is that through events like this we may be able to connect with kids who live in our inner-city community. Jesus loves them and so do we.

The CORE Church of Troy is seeking to make Christ known in the heart of the city of Troy, N.Y. One of the ways we can do this effectively is to be actively involved in the community, as well as in the lives of these great kids.

My picture of missional/incarnational

My picture of missional and incarnational is living in and engaging the culture, by being who I am in the place God has called me to. This means putting my kids in (God forbid) public school. Enrolling my kids in community activities such as little league baseball, scouting, 4H, etc. and then participating with them on a volunteer basis and meeting other families who live in the same community, send their kids to public school, and sign them up for these same community activities. This isn't an agenda or a program or any attempt to be something I'm not, so that I can hone in on them with the gospel. It is a process, by which I am living in this world, but not of this world; living amongst my neighbors in such a way that they are drawn to what I have, which is peace and joy. It's about developing relationships and friendships and loving my neighbor as myself, so that as Christ lives in me, transforming my life, He also lives and works through me, drawing lost people to Himself and transforming their lives.

For me, that's what it's all about--knowing Christ and making Him known.

What is our focus?

At Exponential 2008 I had signed up for the "Missional Church" main session. I was not sorry or dissatisfied with my choice. It was a great opportunity to hear from three leading thinkers in the realm of "Missional" church planting.

Ed Stetzer is a missiological genius. If you poked him he would bleed missiology. His thoughts on this whole concept are not new, they are Biblically rooted and go all the way back to the beginning. God is a missional God. He sent His Son, the Son sends us. Ed is not proposing some new model for church planting. He is simply calling the church back to its mission; to be the missionary that will go into the community and its culture and make Christ known.

Neil Cole says that small and simple is more easily reproducible than large and complex. He has proven this concept to be true as he has literally planted hundreds of smaller house churches and cell groups. Neil points out the obvious (what should be obvious) when he states that "where two or three are gathered, there I will be in their midst." Neil also proposes a decentralization of leadership within the local church, which allows the church to grow naturally (organic). Organic churches are self-supporting, self governing and self-reproducing. I can identify with this concept, It resonates with me. I can see gatherings of 12-50 being more easily reproduced. This cuts out the need for large buildings and large budgets, as well as being more relational. 10 gatherings of 50, spread out over a region would reach more people than one central gathering of 500.


Alan Hirsch is truly a prophet for our time and needs to be listened to.
I found Alan Hirsch's position on the centrality of Christology hitting a nerve in the core of my inner being. That is exactly what I've been thinking about these past three years as I have planted the CORE Church of Troy; getting back to that Christ centered focus.

The Pauline concept, For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.(1 Cor.2:2) cuts through a lot of arguments over theological and religious opinions. The people in my inner-city neighborhood need to see Jesus through the works of our local church. They need to know that God loves them and has not forgotten them. Thanks, Alan Hirsch, for confirming what I've been thinking and for adding your own insights.

Off to a great start!

I was born and raised here in Troy and tried to go somewhere else to plant a church but God had another plan that I had to surrender to. I'm seeing a huge work before us. In this city of 50,000 there are many unchurched and many college students with RPI and Russell Sage being here in a Troy. This is, as you know, an old, warn out, industrial age city. Like Albany and surrounding cities, Troy is seeing its own come back, slowly, but it's on the rebound. This is a great time to be back here in this city and to be a part of God's plan for the people who live here.

Our starting point is North Central. That is Troy's darkest, most economically and physically depressed neighborhood. When we said yes to God at the invitation to come to this neighborhood (the last on most church planting maps) God literally started giving us things. First it was our current church building, which was a Baptist church for many years and had closed its doors at the end of 2005. Then it was a 3 bedroom parsonage that we learned came with the church, which immediately solved my wife's biggest concern about where we (me, my wife and two sons) would live. Then there was our vacant lot,now known as the CORE Church Ministry Park; a third of an acre located on the street corner across the street from our church buiding. There had been a large church building there for nearly 150 years that started to fall apart. The city condemned the building and the small church group that was meeting there had to vacate the building and tear it down. They were thinking of rebuilding but that plan never went forward. After two years the city cancelled its tax exempt status and added it to their tax rolls. That church, Amazing Grace Assembly of God, thought we could use the lot for parking and outdoor ministry, so they voted to give it to us (technically we bought it for $1.00).

We started with a core group of seven two years ago and are growing slowly yet steadily. God has developed within me this vision for an indigenous neighborhood church that intentionally reaches out to the poor and disenfranchised who live in the neighborhood. Others who have caught the vision have joined us. Many children are coming to our Sunday gatherings and children's outreach events.

We are about to celebrate our 2nd anniversary as the CORE Church of Troy. God is moving and we are blessed to be in the middle of His plan for the Collar City.

What's going on in my family life?

To say that the past two years has been stressful on me and my family at times would be an understatement.

Two years ago my wife and children and I moved from our home in Schenectady to Troy to plant the CORE Church of Troy. Granted, it was only a move of twenty miles, but as far as my kids were concerned, it may as well have been twenty thousand miles.

I had assumed in my idealistic mind that the move to a new city, for my wife and kids that is, because I was born and raised in Troy, a new school, a new church, etc, would go over smoothly, without friction or any major conflicts. Well, there has been a little friction as we all learned (and are coninuing to learn)how to adjust to all of these changes.

I can remember Ed Stetzer sharing some of his thoughts on this very issue at a church planting conference I attended back in the fall of 2006. He told us church planters who were in attendance that we'd better be sure of God's calling to plant churches, because this venture WILL produce added stress to our marriages and family lives. He went on to say that if we are not called to plant churches and we try to beat that door down, it will destroy our family lives through the added stress, which will turn into chaos, and then to discord and so on.

My family and I have experienced some of the friction and conflict Stetzer had alluded to, all the while I was 100% certain of God's call to this mission field. So, we continued to pray together as a family. And I trusted God to work all of this out; and He is. We are all adjusting nicely to this new adventure. We are all getting plugged into our new community.

Scouting has become a big activity in our family that both of our boys are involved in and my wife and I are becoming more involved with as parent volunteers.

Little league baseball is another activity my boys have participated in from the time they were old enough to pick up a bat. They look forward to playing ball every spring. So, we signed them up last year inour new community, and again this year. Now our local little league leadership is inviting me to help with coaching duties.

So, little by little we are adjusting and growing in our Divinely assigned mission field.

I share all of this with you, my church planting family, because somewhere out there in another town or city there are men, called by God, to go and plant churches. This means their families have to pick up and move with them. And this has or will cause friction and conflict in your marriages and family lives. But, continue to pray together and trust in the One who called you. He will guide you and your family in this new adventure. And you see a sweet spirit take over your marriage and family life as you obey the Lord and go to the place He shows you.

A New Understanding

This is the beginning of a great vision God has given me. No, nothing strange or cult-like, just a fresh understanding . As I recently began studying the book of Acts I have begun to see the story of the church unfold with new eyes. I have read Acts more times than I can remember. Most recently I began a new journey through the New Living Translation's version.

Two and a half years ago I entered the realm of church planting. Having never planted a church before I felt ill-prepared. However, there was vision from God, coupled with a burning desire to impliment the vision he had given me. So I prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more for God to give me the confidence of those who have gone before me.

In November of 2005 my wife and I accepted the call to return to the city of Troy, New York, the place of my birth and youth, to start a new inner-city church in a neighborhood that had been largerly abandoned by the church. As we obeyed and went to the place God was showing us I began to seek a Biblical plan for planting and growing this new church, as such, the Holy Spirit has brought me back to the book of Acts, where the church began. As I stated before, I have read the book of Acts numerous times. I have read through it at least once since we came to Troy. However, I felt an urgent need to not only read through Acts again, but to embark on the most intense study I have ever undertaken.

As I started this new study of Acts I began to see it as more than just a narrative of the Church's infancy. The book of Acts is a journey. It is the story of a few good men, chosen by God to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Most of you are familiar with the book of Acts, so this won't be another running commentary; as if I could add to or improve upon the works of Matthew Henry and other scholars who have already provided us with an ample supply of explanation.

My goal in reading and studying the book of Acts, this time around, is to see church planting through the eyes of the Apostles and early church, and then apply what I see and learn to a modern, twenty-first century, Troy, New York context. After spending two years re-learning both the geographical and human landscape of Troy's inner-city I had reached a point where I began to ask God to show me how to build a church from the ruins of Troy's darkest, most depressed neighborhood.

The book of Acts is the next piece in the church planting puzzle God has given me to assemble. He has taken me back to the beginning of the church, to the very roots of the body of Christ, so that He can break down and destroy my previous preconceptions of who (not what) the church is and how the church functions. Like many church planters, I grew up with the notion that church is the place we go to to worship God. It is a building and an organization with structure. However, as I have entered the threshold of this new understanding of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit has been empressing upon me that the Church was never intended to be what it has become. It was, from the beginning, a relationship with Christ.

In addition to this new study of the book of Acts, God has been preparing me through other means. I have been reading and digesting just about everything I can on missiology and the emerging church movement that is taking place globally. Leading thinkers such as Ed Stetzer, Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, Erwin McManus, John Burke, etc. have shaped my thinking and strategy to the point where I am beginning to think "Missionally," and "Incarnationally," In my own endeavor to plant a culturally relevant, Christ-centered, Biblically based, community of Christ followers.

The question that lingers in my mind during this new journey through the bookof Acts is,"How can I bring this new community of faith along in this journey?" There is so much being written these days on how to plant churches. It is mind boggling, to say the least, to keep up with it all. In the midst of my own spiritual and mental workout I am seeking a Biblically defined, simpler way to plant this church. I keep thinking about how Peter and John did it, and then Paul and his cohorts after that. Their journey is my journey; the same journey I would like to lead others on. They had a simple approach...Preach the gospel, reach for a decision, baptize new believers and assimilate them into the church, meet regularly for teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer. As they did this many miraculous, unimaginable things took place; to the point where everyone in the church was awe-struck. This resulted in church multiplication as people from the larger community were drawn to the smaller community of Christ followers. They began to impact and transfrom the community around them. All because twelve ordinary men said, "Yes, Lord! We will obey."