I could tell you plenty of funny, sad, awesome, disturbing, brilliant stories in account of what happened this past week. I could talk to you about cockroaches & bedbugs, driving our church vans in the heart of times square upon arrival (thanks GPS for taking us the stupid way to Astoria! We're lucky we didn't get a few tourists stuck under our vans as we practically were forced to run them over...), hot stuffy subway rides (and subway surfing), late night girl talks, laughing SO hard tears roll down our faces as we catch our breaths between seal-sounding belly laughs, a certain team member leaving his barf trail all over Manhattan, or another sweet member of our team discovering her shrimp allergy for the first time, landing her in the hospital overnight. I could tell you about all the amazing sites Kirk and I were able to take the kids to...about how their faces looked when they first saw times square, union station, the statue of liberty, trinity church & more, or how comical it was to herd a group of 24 on and off the subway & through the constant crowd of people always surrounding time and time again. I could describe what it was like to worship with Hillsongs NYC in a basement of a night club theater (amaaaazzzinggg!) or what it was like to be a part of a phenomenal sunday church service in Chelsea.
But I won't.
I'm going to instead say that in this crazy, bustling, stinky, glittering, dirty, AMAZING, gorgeous city we put our feet, hands & hearts to action. Beneath the surface of NYC you find the people who call this home. You find needs, hunger, poverty, the smiles & tears of those who walk the streets every day. The New York Dream Center resides in the heart of the city and EVERY DAY works to help those in need who reside in the city. We went to catch of glimpse of what they do and to work along side of them.
Recently I've heard a lot of criticism, often from other Christians, who whine about how the church isn't doing enough to meet the needs of the poor, needy & those in crisis. To them I say, stop blabbering your mouth, look around & see that although never caught in the media's eyes the church is in action. I'd tell them to get off their duff, get involved & DO SOMETHING. The Dream Center is the perfect example. Every day they serve those that surround them. They don't even have a facility to call their own, yet they work tirelessly to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, build relationships with families and children, come along side of those who are destitute & even meet simple needs of the community such as elder care.
As one of our team members said, you always see the commercials on TV for starving people in other countries, and you always hear about missionaries going out to far away places, yet right under our noses in our own country are people who are truly needy. The folks we served along side work every day to combat & relieve those needs and to live out what Jesus said to do.
We did a bit of everything with the wonderful dream center staff. We made food, handed out food & water, gave out simple necessities, played with children wandering about, prayed with people, got to know people, cleaned apartments for the elderly, helped an old couple move, talked to people about Jesus, delivered meals to shut-ins, served at a local teen crisis center, organized, and much much more.
Our team worked hard and never complained. The only complaint I heard was that they wished they could have served even more. I do think the Dream Center inspired us to work harder. We see how they live their lives in service every day, and that spurred us on. We already had hard workers in our group, but I do believe they left even more challenged.
As another team member said, as she was washing an elderly ladies' clothes in the sink for her, she felt God remind her that whatever she did to the least of these, she was doing unto Him. Service in action. The word of God in action.
Although these teenagers were already people of action before they left on this trip, it was cool to see their eyes open to all that can be done in this world for the glory of God. They dug deeper into their Bibles, worked harder & grew through deep conversation and though experience than ever before.
So that's what I've been up to this past week. It was a phenomenal trip. I cannot wait to see the Dream Center continue to grow, and I cannot wait to see our teenagers continue to learn.
