VBS Big Apple Adventure

Hey everyone!

Over the past seven months I have been incredibly blessed to be a part of what God is doing in NYC and the Gallery Church. Now, there is an incredible opportunity for you and your church to get involved as well! This years VBS theme from Lifeway is Big Apple Adventure. We are so pumped here at the Gallery Church, for we know that the hearts of thousands of churches will be turning to NYC in prayer this summer during VBS's across the nation. We have some exciting ideas to connect your church's VBS with the work that God is doing in NYC. We have created mission moment videos of our pastor at different landmarks throughout NYC. We are also discussing with churches about doing Skype conversations during their VBS and we would love to do that with your church too.

Now here is how you can get involved in the work here. The Gallery Church is a Southern Baptist church plant, and because of the great cost to live and do ministry in the city, we are supported by outside church partners. Please consider giving your VBS missions offering to the Gallery Church. Doing so will greatly propel the Kingdom work in the city. I've embedded below a video that tells about what ministries specifically that your offering would go to support.

VBS Missions Offering from Freddy T. Wyatt on Vimeo.

Also check out www.nycmission.com to find out more and see the Mission Moment videos.

I hope we can connect and partner in this incredible opportunity to propel the gospel forward both in your town through your VBS and in NYC!

Grace and Peace,

BMoore

Don't Settle for Good

One of the greatest things that I've learned while in NYC is the importance of striving for excellence in everything I do and just how hard that truly is. Churches in NYC have had a reputation for doing things half way for quite some time. So when trying to minister in a city that does literally everything with excellence and moves out those who don't, churches have had a bad reputation. However, that culture is changing as many churches are being planted in the city with resolve to minister with excellence. This standard for excellence, though, should not only be for the Church in NYC.

We serve the most worthy and glorious God of the universe, and He deserves only the most excellent. We must seek to do everything with excellence for the glory of God. Whether you are a part of a church in NYC, the Bible Belt, or a foreign land, we must represent God in a way that is worthy of His name. The key is constant evaluation of everything we do, constant improvement in the areas that can be made better, and constant willingness to change everything including the things that have always been done and even those that are working well. For excellence is what we are striving toward not just simply good.

While we must certainly seek this excellence in our churches, that pursuit must start in our individual lives. We must have constant evaluation, constant improvement, and constant willingness to change even in our everyday lives. Do not settle for good. Be excellent in everything. Paul exhorts us to this too, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” [Colossians 3:23-24]

The constant process of evaluation, improvement, and change can be exhausting though. So we must find our strength more and more in the Lord. Time and time again, I have found myself returning to the verses that God gave me during my first few weeks in NYC: Psalm 73:23-26. V. 26 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." We serve an eternally faithful God, and He is faithful to continually give us strength for the glory of His name. Let us live lives of excellence for the honor and glory of the One who is infinitely worth.

May the grace and peace of Christ be with you all,

-BMoore

A New York MInute

“A New York minute is an instant. Or as Johnny Carson once said, it's the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn” –Urban dictionary’s definition of a New York Minute. From the time that I landed in New York last fall 'til today, life seems to have passed by like a New York minute. When I look back on all that I've done and learned over the last seven months, I'm truly blown away by how fast life moves in this city. It's really unlike any other place on earth. The energy that flows through the atmosphere here is incredible. Just being on the streets here makes you want to do everything faster.

When I first got here, my pastor threw me into the deep end hoping that I would be able to swim, and by God's grace, I have. I'm working as the administrator for the Gallery Church of Manhattan, and I literally had no clue what all that entailed. I had no idea how much work went into the basic day-in and day-out operations of a church especially in NYC (probably the most regulated and taxed place in the world). I've learned how to handle the finances, plan church-wide retreats, and minister to very diverse people.

I feel like I have just now gotten into a good rhythm in my life here in the city. So I look forward to sharing with you what God is doing here in NYC and teaching me while I’m here. I hope that this will be an encouragement to all who read this to follow Christ with total abandon for His glory in whatever context you find yourself.

May the grace and peace of Christ be with you all,

-BMoore