SPACE 08 Winter Expedition

We had a fantastic weekend in NYC and southern CT serving with the 08 Winter Expedition. This weekend was very much a vision casting time with some of our favorite students. The ultimate goal was to see different expressions of Church and to inspire them for the future via different serving opportunities. And all of this taking place in the context of one of the great cities in the world - New York City.

Here are some of the ministries that we served with or dropped in to hang with:
- Generation Xcel
- Apple's Core Coffee House
- High School and Young Adult Ministry at Times Square Church
- Walnut Hill Community Church

Here are a few random thoughts going through my head from the weekend:
- TriciaB and Trev were asked to help lead worship at Apple's Core. Good example of the Neil Cole's idea that we have made it too hard to do Church. At the Apple's Core, it's really easy to do Church.
- Walnut Hill was so much like GCC. They even had the same exact chairs we had at Rumsey Center.
- The types of prayers that were prayed this weekend made a big impact on our team.
- Public transit is a huge element of the culture of New Yorkers.
- The team counted easily over 100 people from a different ethnicity in 5 blocks on Lower East Side.
- Having readings from the Unstoppable Force in the van was classic.
- In some past years, we have written off Seniors by this time in the school year. These Seniors are just getting started.

Pasted below are my Twitter updates. That might give you insight into our travel patterns and timeframes through the weekend. Not only is Twitter a fun way to make updates, it gives some good boundaries to force creativity.

nice to be home. what a great weekend. the future is very very bright. 10:15 PM January 20, 2008
at walnut hill comm church. finally not lost 11:35 AM January 20, 2008
arrived at space remote office in fairfield ct 12:19 AM January 20, 2008
apple core done. diff than a soup kitchen because its a community 09:32 PM January 19, 2008
trev and triciab just helped with worship. easy to do Church 07:21 PM January 19, 2008
trev and i helped deliver all those clothes to bowery mission in aog 15 pass van. fun with a native nyorker behind the wheel 06:11 PM January 19, 2008
set up for apple core at abound grace just packed 40 bags of clothes to give away 05:30 PM January 19, 2008
every sbux in cooper squares bathrooms are packed. heading to abounding grace in 10 04:03 PM January 19, 2008
hmm ny pub lib bathrooms are only for children. 02:47 PM January 19, 2008
at ny public library off tompkns sq pk. because it has heat. and maybe bathrooms 01:56 PM January 19, 2008
lunch in east village at pizza place. did lots of clean and org at genxcel 12:54 PM January 19, 2008
arrived at genxcel lots of cleaning 11:07 AM January 19, 2008
our hosts here at dean miss house are big into strengthfinder 08:24 AM January 19, 2008
beautiful day in nyc sunny and cold 07:54 AM January 19, 2008
bed after discuss cultural elemnts at times sq ch. this team gets it 11:31 PM January 18, 2008
if space did anything this year its worshipping in spanish with times sq church 07:41 PM January 18, 2008
youth and young adlt svc at times square chruch. like whoa some worship 07:28 PM January 18, 2008
made it to mission house super awesome 05:03 PM January 18, 2008
on train into grand central something good about pb&j sandwich you make. and helps the budget 03:07 PM January 18, 2008
in ct. quick lunch then train 01:22 PM January 18, 2008
middle of nj. team watching the guardian, modern day motif for the gospel so others may live 10:26 AM January 18, 2008
plan c or d? 02:06 PM January 17, 2008

More photos here.
[Related: 2006 Winter Expedition]