Ron on the Road: Boston and The Manganello's
We rolled into Boston in time for a late lunch at the harbor. If you're in Boston, you have to eat a lobster roll. We had our roll at the "Barking Crab Restaurant." After a nice stroll along the harbor, we drove to see our friends Jim and Rosemarie Manganello who live in Lexington.
Jim used to be on staff at Spanish River Church, he started the SRC Counseling Center back in the early nineties. Rosemarie, Jim's wife, is an amazing musician who led the SRC Choir and played the organ and the piano when they lived in Boca Raton. They have been great friends and supporters of SRC for many years. They opened their home to us for two days, and drove us around for a great tour of the area. Jim and Rosemarie attend and serve at Grace Chapel in Lexington.
We were also treated with a behind the scenes tour of their church Grace Chapel. Jim led the building committee and the facility is amazing. They did a great job making the most of the space they have on this site. We were really impressed with the children's area and all the creative ideas they put into place.
After another great meal, we headed back to the Manganello's home for a good night's rest.
Ron on the Road: Jon Tyson and Michael Rudzena
Trinity Grace Eastside - Jon Tyson
Sunday morning we packed the car and drove to the upper east side to attend Trinity Grace Eastside's 9:30 service. Jon Tyson serves as the lead pastor of this church, Jon is also the visionary leader of the Trinity Grace Church network, which now has seven worship communities. Spanish River has had the honor of partnering on most of these church plants.
TGC Eastside meets in the Bohemian National Hall, they have a very active children's ministry, and the music was very reflective of the culture of this neighborhood. They often include stringed instruments (cello and violin) in their worship experience.
Trinity Grace Tribeca - Michael Rudzena
The speaker on Sunday morning was Michael Rudzena, who is relatively new to New York.
Michael is going through the Redeemer Church Fellows program, which is a year long training program for men who are being called to plant a church in New York. Michael will be planting a TGC in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York.
Michael and his family are now living in the Tribeca area, and will be serving at Trinity Grace Eastside while he prepares to start the new church. Please keep Michael and his family in your prayers as he studies and launches this new work.
Yankee Stadium
After church, we headed to Yankee Stadium and watched the Yankees play the Red Sox. We were able to watch the game with Gary Lewis and Sam Rine friends from Boca Raton and members of Spanish River Church. Sam and Gary were brave enough to wear Red Sox shirts to the unfriendly confines of Yankee Stadium. The Yankee fans were good natured in their teasing, and were pleased to have their team dominate the Red Sox.
We had mercy on Sam and Gary and drove them straight to the airport, so they could leave town, without further humiliation. It was a great day and lots of fun. We then hit the road and started the drive to Boston.
By the way, The Red Sox took game two of the doubleheader that day, and still lead the Tampa Bay Rays by one game in the wild card race.
Ron on the Road: Steve Wolma and Peter Armstrong
Steve Wolma and Peter Armstrong
Saturday, Miriam and I had lunch with Steve Wolma of City Grace Church and Peter Armstrong of Dwell NYC. These churches are a part of the Christian Reformed Church. Spanish River is partnering to plant these churches in NYC. City Grace has been worshipping for about 4 years and is averaging 100 in attendance, while Dwell NY will start with core group that will begin meeting tonight in a home. They are expecting about 30 people to show up at the Armstrong home this evening.
Steve and his family live in the Battery Park area of the city, while their church meets in the Greenwich village area. They are currently meeting in a facility owned by the Children's Aid Society, but will be looking for a new location soon. They have outgrown this building, and need your prayers to help locate a new spot for worship. City Grace has a great outreach to college students and has a lot of young families.
Ground Zero
After lunch with Peter and Steve, we walked around the area surrounding "Ground Zero."
There were so many people gathered there to remember the awful events that took place ten years ago. Please keep all the churches in your prayers as they serve this community and preach the Gospel.
In the evening we met up with Sam Rine and Gary Lewis (good friends from Boca Raton and members of Spanish River Church) who were in town for the Yankee/Red Sox game. We enjoyed a great meal at Carmine's Italian Restaurant and then crashed into a food coma.
Ron on the Road: Guy Wasko and Caleb Clardy
It is has been a very busy visit to New York and we still have one more day. We arrived on Thursday evening and we were able to go see "Jersey Boys" that night. It was a great show, I found myself wanting to sing along, but Miriam kept me in check.
Guy Wasko and Caleb Clardy
On Friday we spent some time with Guy Wasko of Trinity Grace East Village and Caleb Clardy of Trinity Grace Brooklyn. Spanish River has been able to partner with both of these churches the last few years.
Trinity Grace is actually a network of New York City churches that is planting what they call a parish model of churches. Each church has their own Pastor and small staff, but they work together on certain ministries.
One of the events that they worked on happend on Friday evening, it was called Citywide Worship and brought together all the Trinity Grace Churches as well as 4 other churches in the city. These churches gathered together to hold a huge praise and worship service that was attended by hundreds. Their purpose was to praise God and pray for their city. It was a great evening.
Please keep the pastors of Trinity Grace Church in your prayers. The challenges of doing ministry in this city can be overwhelming. But, the opportunities are endless. Trinity Grace now has seven neighborhood churches and plans to launch more in the future. Spanish River Church has a great partner in New York City, and looks forward to being a part of this movement in the future.
Ron on the Road: Renato and Claudia Bernardes
It was a nice drive up the east coast of Maryland, and then into New Jersey on Wednesday. On Thursday we drove into Newark, New Jersey and spent most of the day with Renato and Claudia Bernardes. Renato is the senior pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church, which is a PCA church that holds services in three languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Renato has served as the senior pastor of CCP since 1994, since that time they have seen some incredible growth. The church is located in a neighborhood known as "Ironbound" Which is mostly an hispanic community. They also have an outreach to the children that live in a nearby impoverished neighborhood. Their Wednesday night children's program is full of children living well below the poverty line, who are bused in and have an opportunity to hear about the love of Christ as well as have a healthy meal.
Renato has been actively involved in the PCA's efforts in planting more Brazilian Churches. He was very involved in helping with the West Boca Brazilian church led by Ederson Emerick. SRC was a major contributor in this church plant.
The building that CCP occupies is a well used facility. The church has a day care operating out of the building as well as church activities and three weekend services. CCP has plans to add a second floor to this facility which will include space for a gym and more classroom space for the children.
Newark is a city that is home to five large universities, and many of the students serve at CCP. It is Renato's prayer that CCP can have a greater outreach to these students as well as have a church that ministers to the entire multi-ethnic community. Please keep Renato and Claudia in your prayers as they serve at Christ Community Presbyterian and minister to their community.