Jesus is in the details.

There's so much to say and not much time to say it, but I imagine I best just bite the bullet and get it out there, so here it goes!

First of all, hello!  This is my first post on the Beekman Notes and going on my fourth week in the house (wow--I can't believe its only my fourth week).  My life has been completely consumed these past few weeks and has quite honestly, been turned on its head.  I am in continual amazement at the works my roommates and sisters-in-Christ have already accomplished on this block.  I see Christ in their every interaction and their hearts vying for the love of Jesus to be shown to our neighbors.  I admire their undeniable passion for life and intense love of the one and only King.  I am excited to be joining in their mission to serve and love the people of the South Bronx.

Let me give you a quick update as to the happenings of the house, our dreams and vision for the nearby future.  As some of you may know, and as others of you may not, there is a vacant church that sits at the end of Beekman--Iglesia Evangelica Metodista Unida.  Both as a house and amongst friends we have been discussing the possibility of such a piece of property, excited about the ventures we could accomplish within the infrastructure and eager to start some type of community project for the summer.   We have spoken of and prayed about implementing such things as a structured tutoring program for individuals of all ages, providing food for the hungry, healthcare services and provision for young mothers.  

Since these initial discussions, we have met with various groups of authority over the church and it looks like this just might be a possibility! While all the stages are intermediate at best, we hope and pray to see the community re-build itself, through infrastructure and through services and most importantly through Jesus Christ.  Thus far, we have met a wide variety of individuals, all passionate about what the Lord is doing/promises to do in the South Bronx.  Pray with us that individuals will continue to see and understand the vast potential of this neighborhood and the urgency of its cry for help.  

In the next few weeks we will continue to go through the bureaucracy of renovating a building and of helping to provide the community with the agency they deserve. We will simultaneously be working to find and write grants appropriate to this type of aid and trying our best to encourage our neighbors to take part in the project and to express their personal needs.

I ask that you pray for our humility, in that what we are doing is to no esteem of our own.  Pray that the ventures both within the project of the church and outside of, are only to His will and testament.  We know that the Lord is present here and now are trying our best to listen intently to His call.

Goin' to Church

Greetings Folks,

God is answering so many of our prayers for our neighbors right now I almost can't believe it. The most exciting thing is that He is beginning to meet their greatest need, Himself. Two weeks ago one of our friends, S, asked if she could come to church with us. We brought her to Trinity Grace and she came back this past week again! We have all invested a lot of time in this relationship and she is really so close to our hearts. Pray with us that God would really speak to her and meet her where she is at, that he would give us wisdom to ask the right questions and protect her from the lies of the world that would take her away from Him!

We are also looking for a church to bring the kids from next door to, they pretty much want to do whatever we do so they've been wanting to go for a long time. It's too much though to take them to our service at TGC downtown and we'd really like to bring them someplace that is kid friendly. Pray with us that we'd have wisdom in this and that God would make it clear the place He has for them. Explaining Jesus to an 8 year old in a genuine way is about the hardest thing there is we've found out so we really need the spirit to move in them! Thanks for partnering with us in these needs,

Peace!

We Need Men!

We really do! If there is anything our neighborhood is really lacking it is good male role models, men who will stand up for what is right, protect, lead and provide for their families. A friend who attends a church a few block away from us told me a story of the Mother's day service. The pastor mentioned that it was time to celebrate the moms and everybody cheered, he then said that soon they would be honoring their dads and everyone booed. When my friend looked around the room he saw that there were no fathers in the room. It is a shame but this is the relationship most people in our community have with the men in their lives. It is the exception not the rule for a child to have a man who loves them well and is present in their life here on the block.

It is one of our hopes that the boys we are spending time with now, from the teenagers right on down to the babies would grow up to be men of God who will break this cycle of generational sin. But it's nearly impossible for them to do this without the help of some good men to show them how to be! We can care for them and play with them and feed them everyday but until they see how a man is supposed to treat the women around him they won't get it. It is also difficult because for liability issues we can't spend all our time with the teenage boys. They are so lonely and bored but the other day I was the only one home and one of them came to the door, I was able to give him a snack but had to send him away because it's just not alright for us to be alone with them.

On this note, we've been praying for some Guys to join us here for over a year now, Gos has provided good examples as some of our friends do spend a lot of time here but we believe the block needs some men to move in! We've asked some of our friends to consider moving into one of the other houses but it doesn't look like that will be happening in the near future. We are trusting God for this but would you pray with us also for some men to be convicted to move to our block, and for the youth to grow up and break the cycle. Also if you're a man and have nothing else to do, come move to the Bronx- you will change some lives and you'll have a house full of girls who spend all their time cooking right next to you!

Message from Sunday

Hi Everyone,

Here is the message from Trinity Grace Church this past Sunday when Sara and I spoke. I hope it blesses you and that you experience God today!

http://www.trinitygracechelsea.com/sermons.php?pageType=sub&pageID=188&pageName=%2FMedia%2FSermons%2F

Grace and Peace

New Roomate!

Hi Everyone,

We are all done (or almost done) with finals now and are so blessed my having some more free time to spend in the 'hood! Another thing we've been so blessed by is our new roommate Kirstin moving in this week! Kirstin and I met last August at NYU during a navs pizza table recruiting event and she came up to our house just a few weeks later, and she was just a freshman! She loves kids probably more than the rest of us combined which is so exciting and I've been so impressed with her maturity and servant heart just in the last few days, God is going to do big things through her presence here. Pray with us for our in-house community to grow and that we would challenge and strengthen one another this summer especially as we all have more time to commit.

Also Sara and I spoke at our church in the city (Trinity Grace Church) this last weekend and shared our story of moving to the Bronx with everyone. These believers are really taking following Christ to new levels and their encouragement was such a blessing, as soon as the sermon is posted online we'll post it here. Also stay tuned for a very late but very exciting post on our Easter celebrations!

Grace and Peace, and let us know how we can be lifting you up in prayer!