Friday, August 29th, 2008
Okay, this week we will meet at Ashley’s place. She is going to provide a dessert at 1:00, so come and enjoy the goodness of sweets and company before we start at 2:00. Ashley lives at 324 E. 91st Apt 15 (between 1st and 2nd Ave). Nearby transportation includes the green line, bus 15, or bus 102.
See you there!
Andy
405-921-6411
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Greetings Friends,
Let me just say that I love you your hearts! God is so faithful to Himself and His enduring ways, and as we know that He alone will build His Church, it is so fun to have a front-row seat with you and watch how He does it with us! Thank you for diving into prayer this week together, both to those here in NYC and those praying for us together in OKC. And I’m especially thankful for those that have allowed us to pray specifically for you in our times together. It’s one of the sweet ways we can bear each other’s burdens as well as fight for one another. And why shouldn’t we? After all we serve THE GOD of gods, the only One who truly hears us and has made every provision available in His perfect power and timing to us.
Two things I’ll say about prayer: 1) Let us not underestimate its effectiveness as we grasp in faith our righteousness that comes from God alone and causes our prayers to become weighty petitions from sons and daughters directly to our Father. 2) Let us recognize that momentum for prayer is with us and do it well both in community and in solitude. I’m praying that God would infuse us with energy for prayer and give each of us a greater appetite and capacity for it in this season. Also, while we may be in a beginning stage of a season where we are hungry for prayer, I pray that we do not experience prayer only in seasons, but more as a lifestyle within a daily rhythm.
Why am I so ramped up about this? Simply put, we thrive with it and we die without it. Remember, I talked in our first meeting that we are going after a movement, not a single kum-ba-yah weekly social. And our last five gatherings have been anything but that, thanks to the Holy Spirit and to you for coming and participating with your truly God-given gifts. My heart is crying “More Lord!” as I write. So as we continue to gather and pray, let’s cry out to our Father and ask for His awesome provisions AND let’s intercede for our friends and neighbors that have yet to truly taste the love and forgiveness of God through Jesus. I want to see the Kingdom of God advanced in our hearts and in our friends’ and neighbors’ hearts!!! Let’s go after that together!
So practically how can we do this together? Well, this morning was a great first step. We met inside Central Park at 7:30 am and if you were there you know that there really wasn’t anything impressive about the gathering. We weren’t shouting and pounding our chests like warriors on the battlefield as we prayed, although there may be a time and place for that. It was more like gentle, soft-spoken prayers often separated by silence as we quietly ambled our way through the 45 minutes or so. We were still waking up, and it seemed we were a bit unsure how to do an early morning prayer gathering together. AND I BELIEVE GOD LOVED EVERY SECOND!!! So be encouraged, and be stirred to do it more.
At our next gathering this Sunday, let’s talk about some logistics to meet again to pray. We won’t do it early next Wednesday morning because we will gather that evening with Lance and Tim. I don’t want us to get burned out on meetings. But let’s talk about when we can do it again, possibly two weeks from today.
Bless you! Jessica and I love you!
Andy
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Hey Gang,
This Wednesday morning (tomorrow) we will meet in Central Park for a time to pray before our day. Let’s gather at the corner of 69th and 5th Ave on the Park side, then we will mosey into the Park and find a spot to settle and pray. Apparently there is a gazebo just inside there.
This is going to cost us all a little sleep, so be prepared to fight it when your alarm goes off in the morning. But it will be worth it to invest the effort!
Give me a call if you want more details.
Andy
August 26th, 2008
We’ll be gathering in OKC to pray for the NYC church plant this Thursday (August 28th) @ 7:00 p.m.
Address: 517 NW 42nd St. (in btwn Shartel and Walker on 42nd - north side of the street)
Questions or need directions? Email nycupdate@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!
~Aaron, Kelly (& Michael) Long
“The success and sustainability of any great move of God can be directly linked to a movement of prayer…”
August 21st, 2008
Hi Everyone,
Hope your week is going well. What amazing weather!
Last week was really good. We missed those that couldn’t join us, but we had a really good time. Thanks, Daniel for leading us in worship! Our discussion was centered on James 1:22-25 and we reflected back to Jesus’ words in Luke 6:46 that motivated James’ strong encouragement to not only be hearers, but also doers of the Word.
This week we will meet at 1:00 pm for a change. Also, will meet at the Baltzer’s home. Their address is 335 Pleasant Ave and theirs is the garden-level apartment.
Our time together this week will be focused on prayer. The plan is to read through James 2 together, pray and at the end we will discuss some logistics for the next few weeks (meeting place, time and meals). Also, keep in mind Lance Humphreys and Tim Ulrich, leaders from our sending church in Oklahoma, will be with us September 3rd so we will talk about that this Sunday as well. Looking forward to seeing you.
Andy Biddy
August 20th, 2008
It has been a little over 4 weeks since we moved into our new place and we have already kicked off the churchplant with 4 gatherings. We have been meeting in our humble-sized apartment, but it has been a lot of fun to have people over, and we have had lots of compliments on the decor.
Week 1
Our first week together I shared a bit of our vision, which is that we would become a church planting movement, not just a single “Kum Ba Yah” type meeting. I talked about how Jesus must be the core, and obedience to his Word is do-or-die-important not only for the movement, but also for us as true followers. Then I just layed out some structure for us to follow as we gather. Following the pattern in Acts 2:42 when we meet we do three things: worship, dive into the Word, and pray. We have also been sharing a meal together and of course, just hanging out.
Weeks 2, 3, and 4
The last three weeks we have done some combination of those three things. And everyone has been sharing the load in leading certain elements, which has been really good and, I believe, absolutely necessary if the idea is that we will multiply, equip and release leaders as we grow. We are diving as deeply as we can into the book of James together. Our first discussion was lead by Kent and we went verse-by-verse through James 1:18 taking time to let the Word of God wash over us and discuss each of James’ points. Last week I lead our time in James. We focused on 1:22-25 and we reflected back to Jesus’ words in Luke 6:46 that motivated James’ strong encouragement to not only be hearers, but also doers of the Word.
What’s Ahead?
As we move forward we will be continuing to do the same things. There are still more elements to incorporate into the lifestyle of our community and we will add those things bit-by-bit. If you are someone praying for us here are a couple things you could be asking God for on our behalf.
1. Pray that we will continue to connect with people God is drawing to Himself in NYC (persons of peace)
2. Pray for obedience to increase in our hearts as followers of Jesus
3. Pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be stirred in all our hearts and to flow in an orderly manner in our gatherings
4. Pray that God would continue to send more workers into the fields of NYC
Stay tuned for more.
Blessings,
Andy
kerby goff
501.773.0757
andrea crawford
405.401.6680
students
edmond
tuesday & thursday
Mission & Vision
“our vision is to see UCO community become a place where there are faithful followers of Christ from every nation, in community with each other, serving and making disciples of others, ready togo and do the same after graduating, for the glory of God in Christ. So, as we as a community abide in Christ, our mission is to demonstrate the love of Christ, proclaim the Gospel of Christ, and make disciples of Christ amongst international students at UCO.
Yep, you guessed it, it’s about Jesus!
When we meet:
We Meet @ the Tea House 310 East Hurd St (behind the big white house)
Every Tuesday, 7:00-8:00pm prayer
Every Other Tuesday House Church 8:00-9:30pm (beginning February 5th!)
Tea House Hours: Friday & Saturday 6:00-Midnight
Plans for This Semester:
All Nations International Student Training Conference
January 25-26, OKC
Bridges International Japanese Student Conference
(Campus Crusade for Christ) February 15-18, San Jose, CA
Spring Break Missions Trip - March 15-22, TBA
Summer Missions Trip - TBA
Check out the current blogs of our leaders in this section.