Looking back on NYC

The Tribeca summer project ended 2 weeks ago. In some ways it seems like it was another lifetime ago. Since then, we’ve gotten re-acclimated to life in the South, visited family and friends, spent a week at the beach and gotten back to Asheville to unpack and get ready for the semester. Through all of this I’ve been trying to wrap my head around our NYC experience this summer.

Stephanie and I both feel like the Lord used us in spite of us this summer. We had a great team of staff and students to lead. I feel like God pushed us to the limits this summer and taught us so much (a lot of which I’m still figuring out).

He taught me a lot about leading others, about speaking truth and sharing my faith. Our team was able to share the Gospel with over 100 people and saw 2 people make the decision to begin following Jesus!

God taught me a lot about relying on Him and not on myself and about finding significance in Him and not in the job I’m doing or in what others think about me. It was such a temptation to base my self worth on the popularity of my decisions and not on the fact that I’ve been adopted in to the family of God.

We learned a lot about seeking the shalom of the city (Jeremiah 29) this summer and what it should look like for a Christian to be a part of a community. In Jeremiah 29 God calls the Israelites to not set up a camp outside the city of Babylon and to separate themselves, but to move in to the city, to marry, have children, plant gardens and become a part of the city, not use it only for what they could get out of it, but to seek the prosperity of it and add to it. This is how God’s people were to be a blessing to the city of Babylon. I learned a lot about how God calls us as Christians today to do the same thing, not to separate ourselves from the culture of our communities and set up our own separate communities, but to cause change within the culture of the communities we live in and to be a blessing to them as we seek to show them Jesus.

These are some of the things that have been on my mind since NYC. Please pray for us and our students as we all continue to process through what God taught us this summer and how to bring it back with us. Here are a couple more pictures from NYC.

Yeah we ate at the original Nathan's on Coney Island. I'd still rather have a Bright Leaf hotdog with mustard, chili and slaw any day!

This is in front of the Queensboro Bridge on a double date with the Woods.
This is the view we had from the roof of our apartment building (Carl's), not bad at all. Thanks for the memories Carl!