New York City and Home

            This week, I finished the first part of my travels.  It concluded with a quick but wonderful visit to New York City.  One of my favorite authors through the years has been a pastor by the name of Timothy Keller.  Woodlake Church has heard me quote him multiple times.   He leads a Presbyterian congregation in downtown Manhattan.  Despite the challenges of working in such a diverse and seemingly secular city, his church has flourished, growing to multiple congregations throughout Manhattan.

            The service was surprisingly simple.  I have been used to the bands and multiple ensembles of large congregations that have offered a powerful variety of styles around the country. The church gathering space was packed yet only had a piano and oboe, along with some singers on a large but simple stage.  The singers were classical in nature.  In reformed tradition, there was nothing on the walls, not even a cross.  Dr. Keller’s message was encouraging, challenging, and helpful, reminding us that we serve a generous God who enables us to be radically generous with all the parts of our lives.  It was clear that the Spirit of Jesus was there in the midst of this place, in the heart of New York City.

            After the service, I headed south for Richmond and have now arrived at home.  It is good to be back!  After almost seven weeks on the road, eleven thousand miles, there is just something about pulling into your own driveway…..

            After all my travels in the first part of this journey, I am filled with so many lessons, learnings, and convictions.  Throughout the next couple of weeks, I will be organizing these thoughts, but suffice to say, after visiting with and interviewing over seventy people and working with multiple congregations, I am convinced more than ever that through the risen Christ, the local church is the hope of the world.  Christ is still in the business of creating amazing stories of transformation within people, and it is happening, despite hardship, opposition, and challenge, in many, many churches around this country.  More to follow!

            As I close this part of my blog, I need to also offer a word of acknowledgement and thanks to a special friend, Nancy Haga.  Seven months ago, she called me after reading that I had received this Sabbatical grant.  She said, (and I quote her loosely),  “Pete, if you are going to be driving around this country, nobody is going to talk to you unless you are driving a truck…”  She then offered me the use of her late husband Ralph’s truck.  Ralph had been a good friend for many years and died a little over a year ago.  She invited me to take his truck on this journey and gave me a picture of him to take with me around the country.  Ralph and Nancy are people with multiple and incredible stories.   Here he is….

            So, as I complete this first part of the journey, I am thankful to her, but also thankful to the so many folks that have given of themselves so I could do this.  My wife Lynn who has taken care of things at home for almost seven weeks and for all the incredible folks at Woodlake United Methodist Church who are working so hard to make a great church great in my temporary absence.  Above all I am thankful to God for the opportunity to take this trip, meet so many of his people, and celebrate the power of his Spirit in the local church around this incredible country in which we live.  More to follow on all of this!