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!

What a way to end the day

After spending half of my day in NYC attending The Journey Church's Activate Seminar, and taking in a few Manhattan sights (it's been awhile since I've walked through Times Square), I managed to make it back to Albany by 4:15pm; just in time to pick up our bread and milk donation from Stewart's Shops and make it to The CORE Church for our Feed-a-kid community meal. It was a great sight and blessing to see many children and their families partaking of this free community dinner, which is co-sponsored by The CORE Church and Missing Link Street Ministry. This evening's meal was, once again, provided by Olde Daily Inn Catering. Olde Daily Inn has been gracious and generous, as they have partnered with us in feeding hungry children and their families, who may very well go without a nutritious, hot meal.

Frank, a friend and licensed electrician, came and offered to look over our aging, ailing electrical system. After a thorough examination he was able to determine the cause of the problem and quickly fixed it. We are thanking our Great God for providing for our needs and sending Frank, along with another friend, Mike, a roofer by trade, who got up on our roof, found the cause of our leak and then fixed it. These and other building maintinance issues have challenged us as we have sought to be diligent and obedient in God's call to be His hands and feet, and bringing His good news of a risen Savior to harassed and helpless people.

If you feel led by the Holy Spirit to pray for us, please do. Additionally, if you'd like to help us serve our community and make Christ known, through financial giving and/or volunteering, please give us a call: (518) 526-6079 or send us and e-mail: corechurch@gmail.com.

May the peace of Christ rest upon you!

Our Dilemma

Three years ago my family and I said yes to the opportunity to return to Troy and start a new church. We prayed long and hard and then stepped out in faith and went to the place we believe God was showing us. We came to Troy and immediately had a church building available to us. In fact, the plan was for us to re-start a dying baptist church, recontextualized for inner-city ministry. The church building and parsonage were transferred over to us to begin this new work. We immediately got to work assessing the condition of our century old church building. While being structurally sound, we soon learned that the buiding needs a complete interior makeover; new electrical service, updated heating and plumbing systems, as well as roof repairs and extensive renovation of basement floor and walls. We began tearing out old, warn out carpeting, flooring, and room dividers in the basement/fellowship hall. We painted the sanctuary and part of the fellowhip hall and put in new indoor/outdoor carpeting. We had the roof patched, replaced plumbing and heating pipes, put a new sump pump in the kitchen and a new electric service meter.

At the same time we got busy doing outreach in this distressed community and started to develop a small, but growing congregtion. At one point we were running 35-40 in our worship services and had seen some amazing doors open to us. In February, 2006, another neighborhood church gave us a vacant lot, located across the street from our church building, and we began sponsoring and hosting community events, cookouts, block parties, concerts, etc.

The fruit of our labors has been a few people (wish I could say a lot) committing their lives to Christ. We baptized one young man and are now getting ready to baptize a few more.

Needless to say all of this has not come without struggles and spiritual warfare. The greatest struggle has been the condition of our church building; making timely repairs and maintaining insurance. We are at a point where we can't find an insurance carrier to underwrite our building because of its present condition, unless we immediately address cited repairs. The building needs new electrical service to replace the grossly outdated, inadequate service that is now there. Also cited as issues of concern are the heating and plumbing systems, which we have done repairs on, but are old and need to be replaced. The overall condition of this 10,000 sq.ft brick elephant has rendered it unsafe and unusable. We would need to raise approximately $25,000.00 to address just what needs to be done to make it safe and functional and probably closer to $50,000.00 to put the building in pristine condition.

Dilemma: What to do with this building. Do we abandon this debt free, tax exempt property and go elsewhere? Even if it cost $50,000.00 to address all repairs/renovations, we could not buy or build a new facility for less than twice that (unless we purchase another facility that needs a lot of work). We could abandon the building altogether and rent a nearby storefront/warehouse for $800.00 per month, plus utilities, at least temporarily until we determine what to do with the church building. The ideal plan would be to build a new facility on our ministry lot, which would cost, at minimum, $150,000.oo (for a one story modular unit placed on a poured foundation ). We have a few more options we are praying about. Through all of this we are convinced that God has us where He wants us, and we will not allow our dilemma to stop us or slow us down. We will continue, by the grace and provision of God, to do the work He has called us to.

If you are reading this post and feel led by the Holy Spirit to pray for us, please do!

If you are led by the Holy Spirit to answer our prayers and provide financial assistance to help us, you may send your tax deductible gifts to;

The CORE Church

36 109th St.

Troy, N.Y. 12180

Ear mark for building restoration

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.

The CORE Church of Troy and community development

Our associate pastor, Ron, and I sat in on the North Central Troy community development meeting, which took place last night. Ron has a college degree in community development and commented to me afterward via e-mail, "it does not touch on the core issue of how to make a city wonderful, change the people, by bringing the life changer, Jesus Christ, into their lives."

I wholeheartedly agree with Ron's evaluation. Nehemiah saw and accepted the challenge of rebuilding a city in ruins. He rebuilt people who together rebuilt the city of Jerusalem. That's where our role comes into play. As city officials and community residents do their part, we are there to introduce them to "the life changer, Jesus Christ." That is where our facilities and our presence in Troy's North Central community will bring glory and honor to the One who sent us there. For two years we have been preparing soil and planting seeds. I was reading, recently, about the process of breaking up fallow ground and preparing it for producing a crop. It takes time and lots of TLC before once fallow ground will begin to produce a crop. The old soil needs to be turned over. Fertilizer and nutrients need to be added. Then seed goes into the ground and so on.

For many years the soil in North Central has been fallow ground. No one has been there to break it up and work it. We still have a lot of work to do before harvest time. God is giving us the tools and the workers to reap a bountiful harvest. In His time we will begin to see the fruit of our labors as the neighborhood kids we have been connecting with start asking questions (they already are) and find the answers, and then lead their families to Christ.

We are engaged in a different facet of community development; the kind that will breathe the grace, peace and hope of Jesus Christ into the lives of people living in this inner-city neighborhood. While city officials work on the physical landscape, we are given the task of developing the human landscape...and there you have a Biblical picture of community development.

We were invited to this meeting by our friend and neighbor, Thila Bell, who is one of our neighborhood association leaders. We have gotten to know Thila, who has become to us that "person of peace" we read about in Pauls encounters, as recorded in Acts. Also in attendance at this meeting, in addition to our mayor, were other city officials, community development experts, neighborhood leaders, business and homeowners, and several clergy. For two hours we sat and listened as various key officials, one by one, shared their vision and strategy for what they see as crucial in revitalizing the North Central neighborhood. Then they invited those who were in attendance to ask questions. Their goal in these neighborhood meetings is to develop a list of priorities as well as a team comprised of city leaders and interested citizens who will work together to see these priorities become tangible projects that will result in a better neighborhood.

Many great ideas were shared by both city officials and citizens. However, I was disappointed that no one spoke up for the families and children who live in this neighborhood of interest. Since it is 90-95% residential then it should be a high priority, in my opinion, to offer some sort of plan to improve the quality of life for these low income families with limited opportunities, many of who are left behind senior citizens. I have to say that I was not surprised with the scope of ideas and topics that were presented and discussed. The mayor is interested in increasing the city's tax base and in what the majority of the people want, which is a clean, safe neighborhood where they can live and raise their families. It will be interesting to see where all of this leads. The CORE Church of Troy is blessed to be a part of this community development process.