FaithStreet, a blog that discusses NYC churches, recently asked me some questions about ministry in the city.

Here’s a quote from the article about Everyday Church:
“Our approach is intensely relational. At the moment, we do not meet to worship, in the typical sense, every Sunday. We meet in Home Groups, where we share life, a meal, communion, discussion about the Bible, and prayers for one another. We currently meet to worship once per month and we are planning to increase that to every other week in January. As we read the Bible, relationships are so critical to God’s plan for our renewal that as leaders, we feel a burden to shepherd people into strong, loving, faith-based circles of relationships, where we can practice the Bible and live all the “one anothers” we find in Scripture.”

Read the full interview here:

Leaders Speak: Pastor Chris Travis of Everyday Christian Church.

It’s certainly never been sanitary. After an arduous journey, the ancient roads clogged with Jews returning to their homelands in response Caesar’s order for a census, Mary gave birth and placed him in a feeding trough. Even our modern-day nativity sets are barn-yard scenes, not sterile hospital rooms.

Jesus’ Mother was, famously, a Virgin. But that didn’t exactly earn her a good reputation when she started “showing.” Joseph planned to divorce her over it. And Jesus’ grandparents and great-grandparents were anything but. We tend to skip his genealogy when we read the Christmas story, but don’t. Read Matthew 1. It’s a list of Jesus’ ancestors. In it, you’ll discover Boaz’s mom, Rahab, who was a prostitute. Yes, that’s right. Jesus’ great-great-who-knows-how-many-greats-grandmother had sex with men for money.

There is also, “Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife” (Matthew 1:6)? Bathsheba had been Uriah’s wife, until David took her from him, and then killed Uriah. That’s King David, one of the greats of the faith. Like the rest of us, he certainly had a dark side.

Jesus was perfect in every way and never sinned, but God produced him from a lineage of shady characters in a messy, broken world. When Christ is born in us, God does the same thing with our broken, messy lives.

Maybe we’re looking for the wrong kind of peace. In the midst of the loneliness, or the conversations with border-line insane relatives, or the end-of-the-year crunch at work, could the Prince of Peace be there? His Spirit, not yet walking tall and owning the place, but fragile, wrapped in clothes, lying in the mess. What would it mean to notice, feed, and nurture His Spirit?

I’m not talking about later when you get the time, or as soon as you finish your checklist. I mean right now. Could you stop for a moment and look for him? The eyes in your head won’t do– you have to use the eyes in your heart.

As I’m writing, I’m at our office, and my staff is quietly working. I just stopped for a moment to look. It only took a moment, and I saw it: I really love these people. Taking that moment to look didn’t check one thing off of my To Do List, and yet, somehow the list doesn’t seem so long. Maybe it’s not such a big deal if we’re short a gift or two this year, and instead spent some time with my lonely friend.

What about you? Where do you see the Prince of Peace?

Check it out here: A Sneak Peek at 2012.

(sorry… just trying to convince myself this moment actually happened!)

I’m so excited for this book. I think those of you who have tracked along with me here throughout my experience teaching in Harlem will particularly appreciate it. But more on that later.

For now, here’s what this means: I’m back! I will actually start posting again. I know I’ve been away for a while– thanks for being patient. I have really needed to focus all the time I have for writing on this book. I’m glad I did, because I’m really happy with it.

Right now I’m going to go take a break from words and punctuation and letters and typing and editing and second-guessing myself and wondering if there’s a better way to write things and wondering how C. S. Lewis would write it and wishing I was a better writer so I could do it justice and writing and writing and writing…

Just a little break. I’ll post again soon, I promise. Stay tuned.

Which is what I need to do. Right now, I’m a bit overloaded with important things to work on (please see below), and I need to do some pruning in my life. I can’t give this blog the attention it deserves.

And honestly, my blog is going through something of an identity crisis. It started out as a Chris-has-moved-to-NYC-share-his-adventures Blog, took one look at the full moon over Manhattan and, screaming in torment, writhed into a inner-city-teaching-is-something-of-a-living-hell Rant and Lamentation. Then, by degrees, even I was surprised to see words forming of the screen like, “It’s working!” and  “You’re making a difference!” And then I wrote a book, and the blog felt kind of neglected, like the new baby was cuter and getting more attention, and only reluctantly acquiesced to including a page about Unnamed. And then I stopped teaching and started church planting and my blog just threw up its hands and howled, “What am I?!”

In short, this blog needs to go on a long road trip, eat a lot of Taco Bell and fill up the back seat with empty Mountain Dew bottles, find itself, and come back a man.

When it returns, I suspect it will have a bit more focused on writing, because I’m writing another book. Yeah, pretty cool. That’s important thing #1 that I need to focus on. I will be sure to come back and post later when I have something better to say about that. For now, please pray for me as I try to craft this thing. I’ve got some really important things to communicate– pray that I’d write well.

Important thing #2: I am part of a team to plant a new church in NYC called Everyday Christian Church. We’ve just recently got a rough draft of our website up and running. Check it out: www.everydaycc.com

I am no longer teaching for NYC public, but I haven’t told all of that story yet. I think I’m going to work a number of those experiences into this next book. When this blog does find itself, I expect I’ll change it around quite a bit. In meantime, it’s here, available for view, providing you don’t mind wiping the dust away.

How about leaving one last comment (nor now)? Wish my blog a farewell. Tell it you believe in it and life won’t always be so confusing– it’ll come back knowing who it is and what it’s about. Give it advice like, “Don’t trust bologna from truck stops,” and “Keep away from the women in the big cities.”

I heard somewhere that “Good bye” is a contraction for “God be with you.” Supposedly, over time, it went something like this:

God be with you. God be with ye. God be wi’ye. God b’ye. Good bye.

I’m choosing to believe that. So truly, Good bye…

for now…

We decided to get a tree. Like, a real one. Here it is strapped to our car.

O wait, that’s not a car. That would be my person. For like, ten blocks.

A real Christmas tree might be the least eco-friendly thing you could do for Christmas. Why do people say “save a tree” when they save a piece of paper? You could save a tree much faster by, well, saving a tree.

To ease our East-coast consciences, we agreed to allow our tree to double as a source of nutrition for our cats. They also helped themselves to water from the tree stand. Oh yeah, and feel free to make your bed wherever you please, Oliver.

Family and friends sent us a bunch of wonderful gifts, like this one from our parents:Um, awkward. We are Christians, true. But prudes? Not so much.

(relax, it was just a candle)

We did not get a white Christmas here in the city, but it came with a fury just a couple days after. For many stranded travelers, this was a real bummer. For us, it was an excuse to stay inside and watch a bunch of movies and eat chocolate. In other words, it was one of the best days of my life.

The blizzard was also a bummer for drivers. This was one of those rare times when we were really glad we no longer own cars. Here is a picture of a car in our neighborhood.

Can’t see it? Exactly.

We missed our families badly, but we had a great Christmas, and hope you did too. Of course, all things come to an end. Here is our beautiful tree atop a mound of garbage outside our building.

I’ve grown so accustomed to mounds of garbage heaped as tall as I am that it took sticking a tree into one to remind me you don’t really see that in other parts of the country.

Life in the city is in many ways more difficult. It is also better, though, for us. So many different kinds of wonderful people. The Christmas village at Bryant park. People bustling around with packages and wrapping paper and sleds and shovels. Shepherd’s pie at Tea & Sympathy downtown. Looking out at the snow-covered park from our neighborhood cafe, a short walk from home. We have our little band of friends that are forming into this new church. And we have all the joy, mystery, and hope of the birth of God on earth, here in a place where so many people haven’t met him yet.

I sincerely hope you’ve had a very merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!

Believe it or not, I actually began to miss my students. I waited through September and October and then I just had to go back. I know, I know… I don’t have a temperature and I haven’t been smoking anything. Forty hours a week with them might have been a little too much of a good thing. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

I had no idea.

When I walked into the cafeteria… Jesus, I’m going to treasure this moment forever… like, fifty kids jumped up and rushed over, surrounded me, screaming and hugging. Some of the girls were crying. The boys were hugging me and giving me high fives and punching me. Their smiling faces… It was overwhelming.

I heard one of the boys say, “Damn, you’d'a thought Jay-Z come up in here!”

I suppose in the same way I’ve forgotten or forgiven all the nastiness they dish out sometimes, they’ve forgotten or forgiven all the times I called home and got them in trouble, chewed them out, pressured them, kept them after school, you name it.

I’ve been volunteering for a few hours each week, tutoring math and helping however I can. Parental involvement there is low for various reasons (often not at all the parent’s fault– they simply aren’t able). This is a justice issue that I believe churches should address. Equal opportunity is illusive so long as certain schools stink and others are great, and parental involvement is one of the success factors. I think churches can help, and I’m trying to lead by example. There are others at our little fledgling church who want to help.

We’ll help the teachers too. We’ve got another bunch of school supplies (thanks to Christ’s Church in Albany) that we’re going to deliver as a Christmas gift in support of these professionals who work with the “least of these.” Just a cup of water, really, but I know it would have made my day last year if a church had done it for me.

Put our relationship with this school– helping the kids, supporting parents and teachers, and all the potential for good in Jesus’ name, in the file marked: “Why We’re Planting a New Church in Manhattan.”

You can put it there next to our efforts to end human trafficking. Put it there next to my friend Jeff who gave his life to Christ and was baptized. Go ahead and put in others like Jeff who might meet Jesus through a new church that’s accessible and accepting. And put all the good that Jeff and others like him will do as they follow Jesus.

Most of all, put it there next to Jesus. After what He did for us, what wouldn’t we do for him?

How

A mentor of mine kind of pegged me to the wall recently. He said that the best gift we could give people here was not a new church. He said we should give a new church that’ll be here long-term. He said I should stay focused on fund-raising until we hit our goals and could ensure the long-term financial health of this new ministry. A new church won’t help anybody much if it’s only around for a couple years.

He was right. Nobody gets into church planting to be a money-raiser. I’ve got no problem with that at all, when I believe in the mission. And I do. But it’s not like that’s my favorite part of the job. For my favorite part, well, see the “Why” section above.

In response to that advice, our team has been all-hands-on-deck, doing what needs done though. We’ve worked particularly to secure the support of some significant partner churches. God’s provision through generous people has been incredible. We have almost 85% of the support we need to raise up front for this ministry. At Manhattan prices, that’s amazing.

Now it’s time to close the gap. We’re trying to raise or secure commitments for the rest by the end of this year, so that in 2011 we can shift our focus from laying the foundation to building the church.

Not just a new church, but a church that will be here long-term.

It’s kind of a crazy goal, but God has certainly done crazier things. Would you please pray that God would provide generously? There’s no limit to ministry opportunity here. Pray that He would provide more than we need.

And put His provision in the folder marked: “How We’re Planting a New Church in Manhattan.” Put it there next to my excellent team of capable, Christ-like friends. Put it there next to the hundreds of people praying and fasting every day for this church. Put it there next to the advice of good mentors, and the oversight of Orchard Group. Put it there next to people we’ve met in the neighborhood who are excited by the thought of a new church.

Then put the whole folder in God’s hands. Please pray!

Unnamed takes a look at several important but unnamed figures in the Bible. It fascinates me that God included in the Scripture accounts of various men, women, and children, but did not include their names. Some of these people did very pivotal things in history– even changed history!

This haunted me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how bizarre it is, until I realized that His inclusion of their stories says something powerful to all of us who, let’s face it, will never achieve lasting fame, recognition, or notoriety in this world. Most of us serve the Lord behind the scenes. Those few of us who do receive any recognition are not remembered for long.

Then, when I started to actually study the accounts of these unnamed, everyday heroes, I was thrilled to discover how very much like the rest of us they were. They shared our fears, doubts, insecurities, selfishness, weaknesses, sordid pasts, you name it (no pun!). And yet, God made heroes of them.

Their stories shed light on our own. More specifically, I believe that if you’ll take some time to consider their stories, it will help you understand God’s will for your own life.

I wanted to include some accounts of modern, everyday heores– but then, how do you find out about them? Some of them are named in the news, or elsewhere. But most of them, like these heroes in the Bible, are not. That’s when a friend of mine suggested that I write everyone I can think of and ask them to share stories of people they knew who had done heroic things but may not have made the news or been recognized for them.

I was blown away by the response. Glimpsing some of what God’s unnamed heroes are doing behind the scenes has been one of the most faith-affirming experiences of my life. It’s not flashy or glitzy, but the everyday deeds of these everyday people are changing… well… everything!

Coolest part of all: I discovered in this study some of what God says about our true identity; about our true name. To me, this was filled with so much mysterious promise that I just had to share it with others.

I pray all the time that God will energize Unnamed to prompt people to step into their God-given potential as one of his heroes. I pray that for you. Godspeed.

Evangelical Christian Publisher’s Association.

Today is my last day teaching for the New York City Department of Education.

I feel like I have lived a full decade in these last two years. It’s crazy to read back over my posts and try to comprehend of all that’s happened. I can’t quite. At least, not yet. Maybe I’ll understand better a few years from now. And I have so much I haven’t shared yet… crazy stuff in my journal… in my memories.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything. My students did incredibly well on the state exams. Don’t have the final scores yet, but the preliminary report looks great. Thanks so much for rooting for me and praying for me and my students. I feel relieved and a little sad.

But mostly I’m just tired.

I feel like I could sleep for a week.

In fact, I think I will. In the air conditioning.

Those of you have have tracked along with me, said encouraging things, prayed for me… thank you so much.

Lindsay, thank you. I’m better with you.

Thank you, Jesus.

I know there will be many more adventures coming. I’m excited to share them with you.

But for now, good night world!

See you in a week…