NYC Newsletter #1

This update was originally sent on May 17, 2011. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, You are receiving this e-mail for one of two reasons.  Some of you have expressed interest in receiving updates regarding how God is leading us to plant our lives in New York City for the glory of Christ in all nations.  Others have not been aware of our plans, but because you have shown yourselves to be such wonderful partners in the gospel in the past, we wanted to take this opportunity to give a brief synopsis of where we have been over the past year and where we believe we are headed...at least in the immediate future. What have we been doing for the past year? This past August, I (Josh) entered into the Church Planting Residency program at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama under the leadership of senior pastor David Platt.  The Church at Brook Hills exists to "glorify God by making disciples of all nations."  With that purpose in mind, the church began a Church Planting Residency Program with the goal of raising up and sending out men to plant churches in unreached contexts around the world and under-served contexts inNorth America. Why New York City? New York City is considered one of the most difficult places in the United States to plant a church.  And yet, we are firmly convinced that it is one of the most strategic locations on earth that we can plant our lives for the advancement of the gospel to all nations.  The reasons can really be summed up in three words: Under-served (NYC is roughly 2.3% evangelical), Influential (According to the 2010 Global Cities IndexNYC is the most influential city in the world), and International (NYC is home to over 500 distinct people groups and more than 800 languages). Where do we go from here? We are currently in the process of assembling a church planting team consisting primarily of members from our Brook Hills faith family.  As of right now, it looks as though Traci and I will be moving to NYC this fall and our team will follow as they are able to relocate to NYC.  Time and time again, the Lord has demonstrated to us that His plans and His provision for us are better than anything we could have devised for ourselves.  We have confidence that though we are unworthy and inadequate, yet Christ has promised to build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! What do we need from you? More than anything, we need your prayers.  I know that sounds trite, but it is the truth.  We are absolutely incapable of producing any true gospel fruit on our own.  The Bible teaches us that conversion is nothing less than God's Spirit bringing life from the dead.  Certainly, we cannot bring that about on our own, and that is why we need your prayers.  We need God to do His gracious work in the hearts and wills of the people to whom we minister.  Beyond that, we need wisdom for the myriad of decisions, large and small, that we are facing.  We will be requesting more specific prayer in upcoming e-mails, but please know that your prayers are invaluable to us. Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail.  Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you might have for us.  We will keep you updated on our progress periodically and will let you know other ways that you can be involved in making disciples of all nations by making disciples in NYC. Blessings in Christ, josh and traci "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, now and forever. Amen" (Eph. 3:20-21)