NYC (Part 1): Churches

Joelan and I had the father/son trip of a lifetime to New York City. I will be blogging this week about some of our experiences/adventures. I will also give you a NY tidbit/observation in my PS.

Yesterday, Joelan and I worshiped for several hours at two different churches. In the morning/early afternoon, we attended Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. This intercity church is known for their world famous choir, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and their pastor, Jim Cymbala, who has written a book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, that has personally impacted my life and ministry. The 12:00 PM service was packed with a few thousand people mostly African Americans, Hispanics and Whites. Joelan and I sang, clapped, swayed, cried, gave an offering, heard a great sermon and had a truly moving, worshipful experience. We were probably the only ones "in the house" not to raise our hands or give a verbal prayer "shout out". Joelan really liked the service but thought it was a bit LONG (2 hours and counting...we slipped out during the invitation).

In the late afternoon/evening, we attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church. This is a multi-site church meeting for 5 services in 3 different locations around THE CITY. This particular service met in an old First Baptist Church and was made up mostly of Asian Americans and Whites. The style of worship music was Jazz and the service was fairly liturgical following a 16 page worship guide/bulletin. The Pastor of Redeemer is Tim Keller and he has just written a book, The Reason for God, that is on the NY Times Best Seller List. I picked up a copy of his book last night and look forward to reading it soon. This service was less lively than Brooklyn Tabernacle and more intellectual/pensive in nature. Joelan thought it was BORING.

These two churches are very different but they are both having an incredible impact for Christ in THE CITY and around the world. It was nice to have a day off from preaching and to check out a couple of churches that I have heard so much about. I heard that Jim did a great job in my absence, and I will be listening to his message on the internet soon.

PS The dress code in NY is "anything goes", but I did see a lot of dark clothes, tight jeans and chuck taylors. Also, NY Yankee hats are a fashion statement...do not bend the bill and leave the stickers on.