Hi family and friends!
Many of you know that I have been going on mission trips with my church over the past 2 years. I'm thrilled to say that Lord willing, I will be going a third time from March 29th-April 4th, 2014! The destination is New York City, where we will be doing lots of street work (handing out flyers, sharing the gospel, etc.) and working with the Gallery Church in Manhattan, pastored by Freddy Wyatt (www.gallerychurch.com)! We have already had our first team meeting, and I'm so excited!
The Gallery Church is our mission partner on the field. Their small congregation meets on Sunday at 10:30 am and during the week at homes from the different church members. The name "Gallery Church" comes from their desire to "display His greatness to the world". Their main focus id to bring God the glory He deserves.
The people of New York City are diverse, and they're from all over the world! There are more then 800 languages spoken in the city itself. As of last year, NYC had 52 million tourists, and 37.2 New Yorkers were born in a foreign country. The culture is spread out; while each "neighborhood" has it's own culture, look, feel and way of doing things, all of the different ways of living flood into the city, and thread into all the other cultures, weaving a tapestry of many intertwined stories. NYC has 24K restaurants, $400M in TV and film revenue, 180K employed in the fashion business, and is the #2 tech venture capital New York City has about 8 million people as of 2012, making it one of the U.S.'s largest cities by far! New York's avg. life expectancy is 89 years old. New York boasts of 100+ public art commissions, 100K educators, 1 M students, and 650+ afterschool programs throughout the state. It's also part of one of America's oldest states, making the map on July 26th, 1788. The city is HUGE; they use about 1 billion gallons of water DAILY, and collect about 1760 tons of recycling a day. It's littered with different religions and beliefs. While 83% of New Yorkers claim to be religious, only 6% describe themselves as evangelical.
Our high school ministry took the NYC trip last year as well, and every one of them loved it. I'm looking forward to doing my part to share God's love in however many ways I can! In 1st Corinthians 14:36-37, we are challenged: "Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command." Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” As followers of Christ, it's our job to bring Jesus everywhere! I'm so excited about this opportunity to minister to those who God puts in our path. While many New Yorkers have been exposed to the Love of God, a large number have never experienced it.
We will be doing lots of street work (about 6 hours a day) and also different urban projects with the Gallery Church in the Manhattan area. Depending on their needs, we will minister to as many people as we can! At our first meeting, we were told that many of last year's NYC team were greeted with lots of opposition and adversity in terms of sharing the gospel with the people of New York. However, there were some great moments too, and regardless of the hardships, a great number of seeds were planted.We are going to try and invite 30,000 people to the Gallery Church during our trip.
This is where you come in! Would you like to be a part of our team? The cost for me to go to New York City this spring is $1,050. $500 is due by December 8th, another $400 by January 12th, and remaining $150 by March 9th, 2014. If you feel lead, would you please pray and consider contributing financially? If so, please fill out the form and send it back in the enclosed envelope. If you're writing a check, please make it out to FBCW (First Baptist Church of Woodstock) and not me! Also, please leave the memo line blank. If you'd still like to be a part of our team, but you don't feel like the Lord is moving you to give, would you commit to pray for my team and I as we get together and prepare to go? I need to build a team of at least 10 prayer partners this year. Satan will use any tools he can to try and stop us, but the Word of God is real, and it's sharper than a two edged sword! If you're interested, please tell us on the form, so we can build the spiritual army that will join us in prayer as we do what God has called us to do.
If you desire to be a part of our team, I will keep a blog (www.sarahnytrip2014.blogspot.com) on what we're currently doing in regards to training for the trip. Thank you for helping me further God's kingdom!
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