Taking in the Apple... bite by bite

Introduction | May 21, 2009

Hello all! I figured it’d be pretty easy to fill everyone in all at once about what’s going on in NYC this summer by doing something like this. I’m guessing I’m going to experience some pretty crazy things, and I want to be able to share it with everyone. It’s going to be a crazy summer!

It’s so nice to have such a deep peace about plans like this. I was heading in a completely different direction with my summer and I was praying one Saturday night about my summer plans and that I wanted to be obedient and not do my plan. Well low and behold, the next morning in connect groups, a man named Tim came in and said the Gallery was looking for interns. I had wanted to intern with them last summer but due to money issues, and ultimately God’s plan, I didn’t get to go. I had almost tuned Tim out, because I didn’t want to be bummed about what I couldn’t afford to do, when I heard him say the NAMB would be paying for our plane tickets and things would be provided. God had taken away the only thing hindering me from going! I emailed him the next day and a few weeks later, I was going! God is so good and SOVEREIGN!!

So here we go! We’re all getting to the city the afternoon of June 1st. The first 2 days are “orientation” and then we get pulled up the the big leagues real fast. I feel like it’s never going to get here, but it will. And once it does, I probably won’t have a chance to breathe until August 7th. 

I guess I should put it out there what I’ll be doing all summer. I’m going to be serving as an intern at the Gallery Church. And yes, it is the church Butch and Maribeth Burns served at for a while a few years ago. There’s a group of college students going up there from all around the South to help out with a ministry project called City Uprising. From what I understand, it’s a 4-day outreach project over the whole city. 300 people are coming up to make it happen  and the interns will serve in different positions as group leaders and logistics people and stuff like that. We’ll be organizing HIV/AIDS tests, beautifying parks and schools, doing outreach to the art community, and other things I probably don’t know about yet. It’s going to be incredible! Then we get to do it all AGAIN in Baltimore!!! I can’t wait!

I don’t know if I can ask for enough prayer, both personally and for the group. It’s going to be a challenging summer physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My health has been sketchy all semester and I can’t afford to be under the weather this summer at all. I’ll be gone for 10 weeks, and I’m a home-body so that’s going to pay a big emotional toll on me. And of course, we’re all going up there to do the Lord’s work, and the devil is going to throw in every spiritual wrench he can to try and stop us.

Please pray for everyone in the group. Pray that we’ll bond quickly and genuinely. Pray for the city and the people of New York, that God would begin to soften their hearts and they’ll be open to seeing even a glimpse of how much the Lord loves them! It is such a dark city that needs to see even a pinprick of light in each of our lives. Pray for our safety, both getting there and in the city. Pray for our morale and that God will constantly remind us we’re not in the “Bible belt” anymore. We’ll need to be reminded that just because 25 people don’t get saved on a Sunday morning doesn’t mean God isn’t at work (and who knows? God is God… ). And most of all, pray that God will keep our hearts obedient to His will and we’ll be bold in a dark city.

I can’t wait to start putting up all kinds of stories and what’s going on in our lives. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support!