Pray for New York
Do you believe that God can do another great work in NYC? Please enjoy this newly written article about the true story of an amazing revival in NYC. One of history’s greatest spiritual revivals began in 1857 in downtown Manhattan, with just one solitary, faithful businessman. It grew rapidly and spread around the world with tremendous and lasting impact. You can read this inspiring new telling of the Businessmen’s Revival on Christian Union’s Day and Night website, https://www.dayandnight.org/businessmens_revival.
We are so grateful that many of you attended our virtual Gospel of the Kingdom conference with Ken Fish this past weekend. Ken, a Princeton University alumni who transitioned from Wall Street to full-time ministry, packs a powerful punch with both his robust teaching of God’s word and his bold demonstration of the supernatural power of Jesus still operating amongst us today. In a conference titled “Signs and Wonders Beyond the Gospels,” Ken addressed the following topics:
The Eternal Covenant of Signs and Wonders
The Letters of the New Testament
Early Church Witnesses
Can Christians Be Demonized?
Praise be to God! You are making a tremendous difference in the lives of many through your prayers. As we partner together for God’s work in the NY area, Christian Union is focused on prayer. All of our full-time ministry faculty meet every single day, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM-11:00 AM to seek the Lord together. Christian Union has been crying out to God because we recognize that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that anything impactful and lasting will happen. We are in desperate need of repentance and returning to God together so that God can mend us and heal our land. Your partnership in prayer is increasing the volume of our cries before the Lord and He is answering! We are so grateful for you.
Happy New Year! I want to begin by expressing our deep gratitude to the many of you who have participated in our ministry, attended our events, and have faithfully partnered with us financially to develop transformative Christian leaders. We serve a sovereign and yet merciful God who wants to break into our brokenness, and those of us who minister with Christian Union are blown away by the privilege of serving Jesus and His beloved people in this capacity.
Dear Christian Union New York Cornerstone Partners and other friends of the ministry,
What an eventful month it has been in NYC and across the country! Christian Union NYC is so incredibly grateful for your prayers for and support of the work we are doing to bring Jesus to bear in our own lives and in the lives of many other fellow New Yorkers; believers and non-believers!
As I write to you a few days pre-election, I realize this email will hit your inbox shortly after the election. Have we slept? Are we breaking a fast? Do we yet have a decisive answer? Are we devastated, elated, indifferent? One thing we know for sure is that our God sits enthroned above the earth and He is the one who “changes times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning” (Daniel 2:21). May we as the people of God, the Bride of Christ in this city, strive to be peacemakers, to pray for all of our leaders as is commanded in the scriptures, humble ourselves under the will of the Father, and be eager to share the hope that we have in Jesus. No matter who sits in our White House, we know that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and what a privilege that our salvation and hope are in Him!
As the city begins to slowly reopen and vacillates between opening further and closing yet again to non-essential business, the people of God are remaining strong and full of faith. Several of our Cornerstone Partners and dear friends of the ministry have gathered together in Times Square to worship the Lord in public, to preach and hear preaching of the Word, to pray and evangelize, and even to feed the poor. Praise be to God that in the toughest of times, Christians from many churches and ministries are gathering to call down the Kingdom of Heaven. Christians are unifying for the Lord’s work, and this past Sunday Three New Yorkers surrendered their lives to Jesus in Times Square. Our heart at Christian Union is to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders, and we are overjoyed to see empowered Christians impacting the city!
So I was out running the other day when a teenager rode up on a bike, stopped in front of me, and blurted out, “Do you know you look like Harrison Ford?”. I was surprised, to say the least, but am also realistic enough to suspect he was thinking Harrison Ford circa “Call of the Wild”, rather than “Indiana Jones”. I found myself gratified to be recognized (sort of), but I knew it wasn’t so. I reflected later that the incident reminded me of that deep desire to be noticed and to be of consequence at some level.
My thinking seems increasingly flat (clearly), but in the midst of this I nonetheless find Ephesians 3:20 to be an encouragement - because it pulls my imagination beyond my immediate circumstances toward what might be, or will be.
New York, as is true of much of the country, remains in lockdown for the 200th week - or so it feels. Days seem to run together and Zoom calls have long since lost their allure. Yet I find myself feeling a little fresher each morning as I spend some less hurried time in the Word reading familiar passages again and finding new nuggets all over. Whether I find myself in Ezekiel, or the Psalms, or the Epistles I am reminded that a) God and his promises are unchanging even though our world is, b) our calling to live faithfully, righteously and courageously remains the same regardless of my circumstances, and c) the world will be different because of his Spirit (mostly) and our efforts for his kingdom. All of these reminders renew my hope each day.
