Happy Birthday Susan!

My wife is my best friend and lover! We love the adventure of parenting and church planting in NYC together. None of your prayers for us are in vain. Pray a special prayer for Susan today. She turned 30 years old.

She is so, so, so amazing!

To God be the glory, great things he has done in and through my wife!

Birthday Parties!

The kids went to a birthday party for our neighbors this afternoon.  It was on the roof of the 14th St. YMCA.  It was a lot of fun!  Families in NYC go all out for birthday parties.  At this particular party there was a magician.  He did a great job.  His whole show was probably 45 minutes and he held Jack and Lillie's attention the majority of the time.  Elliott left to go play on the playground, but he liked most of it.  At one point the magician asked for a volunteer and Jack got picked.  I missed the very beginning of the trick, but got most of it on camera.  It's shaky because Elliott kept wanting to see the camera and I could hardly keep him back so I could video it.  The magician put one ball in Jack's hand and told him to squeeze it and he was going to make it disappear.  You can see what happened (the quality is not great, but you get the idea).  Jack LOVED it!

I know the post have been "Jack heavy" lately.  Maybe this week I'll get some good shots of Lillie and Elliott and let you know what is going on in their world!

9/11 & Church Planting

It is a sobering time to be in New York City as we reflect upon the horrific events from 10 years ago, 9/11. Thank you all for your prayers and support of our ministry. Only 3% of City Center Manhattan (where we live) is evangelical. God has been working in New York City in amazing ways yet, 'the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few'.



Also worth the read is this article from The Gospel Coalition.

First Day of Kindergarten- Jack

He did it!  Jack went to his first day of kindergarten today.  He did awesome!

He was so excited he just wanted to act a little silly getting his picture taken outside of our building

Jack's been counting down the days leading to today.  He woke up this morning got dressed, ate breakfast, and sat with his back pack on till 10:15 a.m. when we could finally leave to go to school. It's been raining here for two days straight and calling for it again today.  I prayed this morning before I got out of bed that the sun would at least shine around 10 a.m and 11 a.m.  Around 8 a.m. this morning the clouds started breaking and the sun came out.  I was so grateful!  I hated to think our first walk ever to school was going to be in the rain.  At Jack's school they gradually ease the kids into a full day of school.  I say gradually, it's really only 3 days, but still they aren't thrown in immediately.  He went today from 10:50 to 12:30 and tomorrow he'll go from 8:20 to 10:30.  Monday will be a half day with his whole class and then Tuesday is the first full day.  

   

Walking to school.

 

Waiting to go inside.

When we arrived at the school we went inside and waited in a little foyer until we were released to go to Jack's class.  This past weekend we met a family on the playground who has a little boy, Ryan, starting kindergarten at PS 40 and we quickly found out that they had the same teacher and were in the same rotation for today and Friday.  Jack and Ryan played together for about an hour.  I know Jack was excited to know someone in his class and it helped me out as well!  While we were waiting Ryan and his family came in, so the boys got to hang out and walk to their classroom together.  Nicole, Ryan's mom, told me that Ms. Morris had to ask several times which one was Jack and which one was Ryan.  I think it might be the beginning of a special friendship.  

Jack and his buddy Ryan

Welcome back to school note from the principal.

Heading up to the second floor to find his class.

We are excited about Jack's teacher.  Her name is Ms. Morris and she is a veteran!  I'm not totally sure of her age or her experience, but I think she's been teaching at least 30 years.  She comes with a reputation of being tough and strict, but gets her job done, and kids seem to love her.  It's been told that at one of the big school events all the teachers have a jar with their name on it and kids can put their raffle tickets in the different jars to try for a chance to spend the afternoon with that teacher and do a fun activity of some kind.  While most teachers have a hand full of tickets, Ms. Morris' jar is crammed full of tickets, kids past and present want to spend the afternoon with her.  That speaks volumes to me.

The kids had to line up before they entered the room.  They all went in then parents followed.

Jack's name on the door.

We all made our way to PS 40 this morning.  Each morning for the first semester parents are encouraged to sit with their child for the first 15 minutes of school and read together.  Jack wanted us all to come to his class, but choose his daddy to stay and read.  I have to admit that was tough.  I'm really glad for Freddy T. and Jack to have that first opportunity together, but it left my heart tender.  I did fine with my emotions while we were at school.  I got a little teary eyed on our way to school and again on our way to pick him up.  I might have a good cry before bed tonight, but hopefully that will do it.  Get it all out of my system!

Getting settled in to start reading with Daddy.

When we went to get Jack, Freddy T. stayed outside with Lillie and Elliott (Elliott asked for Jack 20 times today in the hour he was away.  Poor guy, he's got some adjusting to do with the rest of us) and I went inside to wait for Jack outside of his classroom.  While all the parents were waiting the assistant principal came by and said "Something you need to know about Ms. Morris is that she is always 5 to 10 minutes late for dismissal which means your kids are always 5 to 10 minutes smarter than all the other classes."  When the door opened the kids were lined up and Ms. Morris called students to be dismissed as she saw the parents.  Jack was the second one out.  All the kids had to say "bye Jack!" and he had to shake the teachers hand.  Shaking the teachers hand is a school policy for all grades as the students are dismissed for the day.  Anyway, Jack was carrying a drawing he did in class and looked a little shell shocked.  I think it was more having to come out of the room to kids saying bye all in unison and a ton of parents watching from the hall.  Once we made eye contact he smiled big and practically skipped down the hall.  He was pretty pleased with his experience.

Jack and Ms. Morris leaving his first day of kindergarten!

For a first day of school treat we stopped at the little bakery between the school and our apartment and all had gelato.  We asked Jack what he learned today and he said "We didn't learn anything.  The teacher said a bunch of words then told us we could play with whatever we wanted to!"  Oh boy!  So, what we can gather from more conversation is that they sat down and talked about the calendar and weather and then got to have free play, to explore and see the fun stuff in the classroom, I assume.  I think that's a pretty good idea  except that it kind of sets the tone that that's what you do in kindergarten, free play!  I had to explain to Jack that that's not how it was going to be everyday, that they would have lots of fun, but they would have a good schedule and lots of learning.

Jack, Lillie, and Elliott enjoying vanilla chocolate chip gelato.

We are so proud of Jack!  We feel so good about the decision to let him go ahead and start kindergarten.  Keep praying for him and for us (me!).  We want our family to really have opportunities serve the faculty and staff at PS 40.  From what I understand a good bit of the families are pretty involved at school.  Pray we will be the Light of Christ to them.

Here's to a great year in kindergarten!

Getting Ready for Irene

Susan and I made it safely back from San Francisco last night. We were originally scheduled to fly in late Saturday night and of course with Irene's arrival estimated to be right around that time, our flight was cancelled. The San Francisco trip was amazing. I have the huge privilege of serving as a Trustee of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. They flew Susan and me out Wednesday Morning for orientation. Perhaps in later posts I'll tell more about our time at GGBTS. Not only did I learn a lot about the seminary, I also was fueled and sharpened in my leadership by being around their President, Dr. Jeff Iorg. I'm already tearing through a couple of his books on leadership. Dr. Iorg and his wife Ann were amazing hosts. Susan got to go into the city with Ann and a few of the other wives on Thursday. We are very humbled and excited to serve what will probably be the next 9 years.

We planned to stay an extra day to just enjoy the city but with the impending weather we decided to change our flights. Fortunately, that proved to be a very smooth process, props to Delta. We arrived back in NYC late last night and began to assess our options.

Our home is on the very border of the mandatory evacuation zone "A" and on the 13th floor. Apartments that are on the 10th floor and higher are at greater risks for debris flying through windows. So, we've decided to go out to Kelly, Brooke, Hannah and Nathan Love's place in Brooklyn. They manage and live in the David Dean Mission House and have plenty of room and are outside of all three evacuation zones. We might've been just fine in our apartment, but we really wanted to find the most comfortable and safe place for our kids. Our kids love Hannah (12) and Nathan (8) and will have a blast with a two night slumber party. It is a little cloudy outside but pretty calm this morning. We'll do our best to keep you updated via twitter. You can follow me on twitter here and Susan here.

Jack Is Going To Kindergarten

We've had some exciting developments with Jack and school this year. You may remember the post from a while back where I explained briefly the ins and outs of the NYC public school system and Kindergarten admissions. Since then we got Jack's Gifted and Talented test results back and he did not score in the 90th percentile to be considered for a Gifted and Talented School, so we were moving forward with homeschooling.

After we moved into our new apartment, in a new neighborhood, separately Freddy T. and I began having conversations with other parents on the playgrounds about our zoned school, PS 40. Every conversation was the same, parents raving about how great the school was and how pleased their experience had been. After we talked about it we decided we would set up an appointment to meet with a counselor or principal and get a better feel for the school and see if we thought it might be a good fit for Jack this year.

Before I share the rest of our story, read this blog post from Logan Gentry, a pastor at Apostles Church here in NYC. They have a 5 year old little boy starting Kindergarten this year and this was their experience.

Since we discovered the cut off date for kindergarten was December 31^st and that Eli would become a kindergarten this coming fall, we have had a consistent conversation about a number of schooling options for all of our kids. We were both in public school the majority of our lives, but more schooling options are now available than ever before since the rise of charter schools and more private schools being in NYC. Homeschooling is also the choice of some of our friends and so we definitely considered it.

We explored a private school, who generously offered us a pro-rated price of $12,000 for the last 6 months of Pre-K. (Thanks, but we’ll go ahead and pocket that 12K we don’t have and teach Eli his letters and colors) We explored and even experimented with home school and investigated charter schools.

In the end, we felt strongly about pursuing the best public school education we could find for our children, assisting the teachers & faculty of that school, and assisting our children and their classmates however we could in pursuing academic excellence (not in the over-parenting-do-your-kid’s-homework way). Sounds simple enough, until you tackle the various enrollment issues of NYC.

Similar to the majority of the US, NYC has zoned elementary schools and districts, so we moved to a good district and zone for public school. We were excited about the local public school, but also discovered NYC’s gifted and talented program.

In February, Eli took a test for gifted and talented, which was like the SAT for 4-year olds and the results were to be provided for us in April. If he scored in the 90s, he could have the option of being in a gifted and talented program in our district, 97 and above would allow him to be in 1 of 5 city-wide schools with the other 5-year older geniuses of NYC.

In March, we applied to our local public school to find out 3 weeks later that we were 27 out of 67 on the wait list for kindergarten. It’s all the letter said, no mention of what next. So we wondered 2 things, 1) Where are all these soon to be 5 year olds in our school zone? We had not seen that many. 2) Now what?

Next, we were notified of a wait list meeting, which involved a number of angry parents from the district squaring off against 2 district employees who were interrupted and yelled at the majority of the night. We did find out we would get an alternative school offer as close to our house as possible in late May.

In April, we found out Eli scored a 94 and was accepted in the gifted and talented program, we then had a week to rank all the programs in our district which runs from the Upper East Side down to midtown, across to the west side and down to the end of Manhattan. After ranking, we were told we would find out in early June which school he was placed in.

Our alternative offer for general public school came in late May and we had 2 weeks to accept the offer or decline, but declining would mean the possibility of losing the option of public kindergarten. We figured the gifted and talented placement would come before the 2 weeks was up, providing us some time to make a decision. We were wrong. We had to enroll the 10^th of June and we would receive the G&T placement the following week.

So we enrolled Eli in his alternative offer and then found out the following week he was placed in Chelsea Prep for the G&T program which is on the opposite end of Manhattan from where we live and we were told in the letter there would be no public transportation options, which we eventually found out was not true. (generic letters as communication are so fun and uninformative)

We toured Chelsea Prep and were completely amazed by their program (which includes him learning Mandarin) and fell in love with the school. It will be a great opportunity for Eli’s education and we are excited that he will be entering kindergarten there in the fall. We are looking forward to getting to know the families of his classmates who lives all over Manhattan.

It was quite a confusing process for this first time parent.

So this blog excerpt pretty much sums up the craziness of getting into Kindergarten. Needless to say we weren't even sure Jack would have a spot in our zoned school seeing that it was the middle of July and the first round of applications are due in March. Anyway, I gathered all of our paper work and headed to the doctors office to get Jack's immunization records, on our way back from the doctor I told Jack we would go by the school and see if it was open to set up an appointment with someone. When we got there we (me, Jack, Lillie and Elliott) were directed to the Parent Coordinators office. I told her I wanted to inquire about signing Jack up for Kindergarten and asked how long the waiting list was. She said, "no waiting list right now, do you have his paper work?" I did and handed it over. At that point Freddy T. and I had not made a final decision about school for Jack but I figured I'd go ahead and get him signed up and we could always pull him out later if need be, but he had a spot! After lots of paper work was filled out, the Parent Coordinator came back and told me the principal was in a meeting but she wanted to meet Jack could we wait a few more minutes. I could not believe it. Here we were at the school, paper work filled out, and now the principal wanted to meet Jack. I honestly don't know many public school principals that would come out of a meeting to meet a perspective student. The principal, Mrs. Felder, came and talked to me and Jack, she was so nice and encouraging about Jack being in Kindergarten. She told me that at the end of the school year if we, along with her and his teacher, felt like he was not ready to move onto 1st grade we could hold him back and let him repeat Kindergarten. While we don't anticipate that happening, I'm very relieved to know they won't just get a kid in the school and push him through with no consideration of what is best for him. So just like that... in the middle of July, no waiting list, in and out in an hour and Jack was fully signed up to start school! God provided and worked out the details perfectly. All the horror stories we've been prepared to experience in getting into a school we want for our kids... none of it, so simple. We are grateful!

So can you believe it? This guy is going to Kindergarten!

We are all pretty excited. We've seen him grow and develop so much in the past 6 months or so that makes us believe this is the right step and that he is ready. It will be a big adjustment since he has never been in preschool or in any formal structured environment on a regular basis. Please pray for him that he will have a smooth adjustment (School starts Sept. 8th. He'll have several half days and start full time on Sept. 13th), that he continues to be excited about school, that he makes good friends, that his teacher will be a great fit for him, and for me and Freddy T. Our world will change a lot now that we are on a public school schedule and journeying in unknown territory, but we are really excited for all the opportunities well have to serve the school and interact with other families.
PS 40. Doesn't it look huge? The first three floors are PS 40, an elementary school. The 4th and 5th floor is a middle school, totally separate school, same building. And guess what Jack thinks is the coolest thing about the school...the playground is on the roof!

SBTS-NYC

In addition to planting a church, as though that's not enough, I've recently been asked to serve as the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary New York City Extension Center Director. I know, its a mouthful. That's why I'm calling it SBTS-NYC. If you know of anyone in the NYC area that may be interested in Seminary or know someone who is considering attending Seminary and is also interested in Urban Ministry...SBTS-NYC may be the perfect fit. Take a look.

SBTS-NYC Extension Center from SBTS_NYC on Vimeo.