Hey friends, I realize that it has been a really, really long time since we have updated this blog. Yes, we're still here and no, we haven't quit. In fact, it's really hard to believe that it has been over a month since 141-NYC officially started, and already things are cruising along. Some folks around Union Square already call us "The Sock People," and I guess that's as good a designation as one could ask for!
Now that we are getting the "routine" down, we are finally ready to start building and welcoming others in on the party. So, very soon we will be having an open house-type affair where anyone in the area who is interested can learn more about who we are and what we are about. Stay tuned for the specific date and time.
We are still working on the website also. Life is busy, what can I say? We love you all and we love to hear from you, please say hello if you have the time.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Happy Birthday
Saturday marked the day that 141 NYC forged ahead and put our feet into motion. All this time I’ve been comparing our move to NYC to labor pains, and the birth being our arrival to NYC, but last Saturday marks the official birthday of 141 NYC. I’ve walked around 14th Street and Union Square over a dozen times before to prepare for the day, but Saturday was like no other. The past 8 months of living in the unknown have been filled with uncertainty and constant waiting. I have spent many restless nights, waking in cold sweats, and crying out to God, “What have you done with my heart?” I’ve missed my friends and family. I’ve pined for the warm sand and perfect longboard waves of San Diego, home. I’ve yearned for those wet and misty streets of Portland, my heart. I’ve loved and lost lives to those streets. My blood, sweat and tears have dripped alongside my friends, into its very core, giving life to the roots that have intertwined us.
In 8 months I’ve struggled to have a heart for NY. The streets of Manhattan are rougher and usually have dog shit or bubblegum to welcome your brand new sneakers. Mixtures of strong perfumes, rotting mountains of garbage lining each block, Halal food carts, and the pungent odor of piss are a part of everyday life. Although Portland can have these qualities, it’s funny how the mind distorts our memory when we miss something so much. For a while all I could remember were the 70 degree days and sidewalks that glitter. I couldn’t get past those summer nights when we’d all sit around and either Keith, Sam, Dorje, Vern, and/or Jamie would serenade us with their guitars.
As soon as my feet touched the sidewalk last Saturday and I looked up into that building-lined gray sky, I sensed a familiarity. Light snow fell on me and I found my feet doing that back and forth cold dance that Ken Loyd has mastered so well. It was all coming back to me. My backpack was heavy and my stomach was knotted. I prayed for the spirit to guide us, then pushed off into the chaos. We made many friends and passed out many socks. We laid hands on a very ill older man and prayed over his fragile, dying body. He clutched onto my Dad’s hands and wouldn’t let go. His eyes were the same eyes I had seen a thousand times before, gentle and wise. At the end of the day we even found a $20 bill which covered our costs for the day (thanks to our friends Jeronimo and Rebecca for their donation)
Every second I’d lived up until that moment was preparation for what was to be born that day. All of the waiting and days spent in the dark had to happen. The streets may look, feel, and smell different, but I saw Christ in every eye that I looked into. The very eyes that brought me back to Him when I fell away. So in a way 141 NYC wasn’t born, but rather begotten. It took 3 years and 8 long months to get here, but we’re here and we’re lighting the way. All has been confirmed and my heart has been restored. The roots are still intertwined with family and friends in San Diego, and our Brothers and Sisters in Portland. But now they go deeper and spread further, as far as the East is from the West. Happy Birthday 141 NYC!
-Kelly
In 8 months I’ve struggled to have a heart for NY. The streets of Manhattan are rougher and usually have dog shit or bubblegum to welcome your brand new sneakers. Mixtures of strong perfumes, rotting mountains of garbage lining each block, Halal food carts, and the pungent odor of piss are a part of everyday life. Although Portland can have these qualities, it’s funny how the mind distorts our memory when we miss something so much. For a while all I could remember were the 70 degree days and sidewalks that glitter. I couldn’t get past those summer nights when we’d all sit around and either Keith, Sam, Dorje, Vern, and/or Jamie would serenade us with their guitars.
As soon as my feet touched the sidewalk last Saturday and I looked up into that building-lined gray sky, I sensed a familiarity. Light snow fell on me and I found my feet doing that back and forth cold dance that Ken Loyd has mastered so well. It was all coming back to me. My backpack was heavy and my stomach was knotted. I prayed for the spirit to guide us, then pushed off into the chaos. We made many friends and passed out many socks. We laid hands on a very ill older man and prayed over his fragile, dying body. He clutched onto my Dad’s hands and wouldn’t let go. His eyes were the same eyes I had seen a thousand times before, gentle and wise. At the end of the day we even found a $20 bill which covered our costs for the day (thanks to our friends Jeronimo and Rebecca for their donation)
Every second I’d lived up until that moment was preparation for what was to be born that day. All of the waiting and days spent in the dark had to happen. The streets may look, feel, and smell different, but I saw Christ in every eye that I looked into. The very eyes that brought me back to Him when I fell away. So in a way 141 NYC wasn’t born, but rather begotten. It took 3 years and 8 long months to get here, but we’re here and we’re lighting the way. All has been confirmed and my heart has been restored. The roots are still intertwined with family and friends in San Diego, and our Brothers and Sisters in Portland. But now they go deeper and spread further, as far as the East is from the West. Happy Birthday 141 NYC!
-Kelly
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Much love
Big, big ups and heaping piles of love to Fusion Purchase (as in SUNY Purchase), our new partners who are starting a collection to help out with supplies for 141NYC. Notice that the call for help was posted on Feb 11th - last week - and they were there and down to help almost instantly. God is good.
In other news: HomePDX now on the interwebs, via Myspace -- go and be a friend.
In other news: HomePDX now on the interwebs, via Myspace -- go and be a friend.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Update-idge
The latest updates from Tortuga Central Command:
- We are now called "Tortuga House." I think it has a better ring to it. Also it goes along with the traditions that we draw from -- for example the Houses of Hospitality of the Catholic Worker Movement.
- This Saturday will be our first "official" outreach in Manhattan. Thanks to those who donated, your gifts will be utilized on what looks to be a rather cold, dreary day.
- We are now partnering/ volunteering with a great organization called Reaching Out Community Services in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. They have a food pantry serving the poor in south Brooklyn and also lots of insight into homeless outreach.
- We have been participating in the "Artists Group" at North Brooklyn Vineyard. This has been very fun so far, and is helping us to work out some ideas for our community gatherings as well. It is truly amazing to experience how just being around other creative people gets the stagnant juices flowing once again.
- An actual website for Tortuga House is under construction.
- We are considering having an informational gathering for anyone interested in being a part of Tortuga House, whether through the outreach or the community gatherings (which will start happening very soon). If you are reading this and would like to know more, leave a comment with your contact info, or send us an email.
That's it for today - we want to hear from you, please leave comments!!!
- We are now called "Tortuga House." I think it has a better ring to it. Also it goes along with the traditions that we draw from -- for example the Houses of Hospitality of the Catholic Worker Movement.
- This Saturday will be our first "official" outreach in Manhattan. Thanks to those who donated, your gifts will be utilized on what looks to be a rather cold, dreary day.
- We are now partnering/ volunteering with a great organization called Reaching Out Community Services in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. They have a food pantry serving the poor in south Brooklyn and also lots of insight into homeless outreach.
- We have been participating in the "Artists Group" at North Brooklyn Vineyard. This has been very fun so far, and is helping us to work out some ideas for our community gatherings as well. It is truly amazing to experience how just being around other creative people gets the stagnant juices flowing once again.
- An actual website for Tortuga House is under construction.
- We are considering having an informational gathering for anyone interested in being a part of Tortuga House, whether through the outreach or the community gatherings (which will start happening very soon). If you are reading this and would like to know more, leave a comment with your contact info, or send us an email.
That's it for today - we want to hear from you, please leave comments!!!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tortuga, part 2
The last month has been an exercise in jumping into the whirlwind. Since the "idea" of the Totuga House/ Collective was brought into existance, we have experienced many ups and downs and felt the birth pangs of something new. Our core team of myself, Kelly and her father, Larry, have been spending many hours in our "upper room" (since it's on the third floor, duh) hashing out the various fears, dreams, plans and words that have been coming to us. We are attempting to wrestle the idea into shape, to give it legs and arms. So here is what we have so far:
- Our passion for outreach remains. The apparent lack of an obvious, cohesive street community (a la Portland) does not change this. We have been given a love that is irrational, a love for people who are at best ignored and at worst hated. And it is our calling to stay faithful to this, despite the "lack of effectiveness" assumed from an organizational standpoint. So we are currently purchasing supplies and scoping out locations for carrying out the outreach. Kelly has been particularly illuminated in this area, having seemingly random run-ins with various kids in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. The strange thing is that the people she has met are drawn to her -- as if she is communicating safety to them without speaking a word. I think that this is confirmation of what we know to be true. So on that note, donations of supplies (socks primarily, but other warm clothing items are good also) would be appreciated, and you can contact us if you are interested in doing so.
- Something we did not anticipate at all: For a while now, we have struggled with the "church vs. ministry" quandry. In other words, are we here to plant a church or are we here to start a ministry, non-profit or other somesuch organization? The answer has never been clear. We have always been hesitant to say we are "planting a church," just because we are trying so hard to see things from a Kingdom perspective, where "church" means the Body of Christ and not some particular, exclusive franchise that has no interaction with other franchises. But we have also seen a gap here in the city. And we have also remembered that we come from a specific tradition and background. We did not invent ourselves. Our tradition is very young and small as far as church history is concerned (it's been around for about 10 years, and we are one of 4 manifestations of it), but its distinctives have been so formative for us that we cannot simply discard it and move on to something else. It is the vision at the heart of this tradition that we bought into several years ago, and it is an integral part of what we have come here to continue.
The "tradition" of which I speak is the one of The Bridge in Portland, Oregon. This is the place where Home PDX came from, and as a result, 141-NYC as well. And we have begun to realize that without The Bridge, there would be no 141-NYC. It took a community, a church where freedom and safety were central, to incubate the ideas that would hatch into 141. We feel that a similar environment is necessary here in New York, to become a new incubator of transformative ministry. So, it is essential that we concentrate not just on the outreach, but on the community itself, to make the outreach possible. The two can be separated for organizational purposes, but in reality they are connected parts of one organism.
All this to say, we sincerely feel that "planting a church" is part of the reason that we are here. And so our focus splits into two separate but equally essential directions: the outreach and the church. I have been working a great deal lately on the connection between the two, and the mechanics of said connection, and I will post these later when I have more time. But for now, suffice it to say that we have announced our plans, and are working toward action steps to get them going.
The nitty-gritty then, or what I like to call "the details":
- The church is basically going to be a house church, for now. Which makes sense, considering that we currently have four members!
- Our core values, distinctives, etc, are currently in the process of development. But once again, we feel that we are aligned with a tradition started by The Bridge in Portland.
- We are not looking to steal members from established churches. We are looking for people who do not fit into any established church.
- The outreach is not a ministry of the church, in the classic sense (i.e, something that certain people in the church "do"). It is an integral, essential part of the way of life of the community.
- Our official start/ launch date is TBA. We have a lot of things going on right now. I have a hunch it will happen fairly soon, though.
Those of you who read this blog, I would welcome your comments and suggestions. I would also request your prayers, for wisdom and peace as we continue to wrestle.
- Our passion for outreach remains. The apparent lack of an obvious, cohesive street community (a la Portland) does not change this. We have been given a love that is irrational, a love for people who are at best ignored and at worst hated. And it is our calling to stay faithful to this, despite the "lack of effectiveness" assumed from an organizational standpoint. So we are currently purchasing supplies and scoping out locations for carrying out the outreach. Kelly has been particularly illuminated in this area, having seemingly random run-ins with various kids in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. The strange thing is that the people she has met are drawn to her -- as if she is communicating safety to them without speaking a word. I think that this is confirmation of what we know to be true. So on that note, donations of supplies (socks primarily, but other warm clothing items are good also) would be appreciated, and you can contact us if you are interested in doing so.
- Something we did not anticipate at all: For a while now, we have struggled with the "church vs. ministry" quandry. In other words, are we here to plant a church or are we here to start a ministry, non-profit or other somesuch organization? The answer has never been clear. We have always been hesitant to say we are "planting a church," just because we are trying so hard to see things from a Kingdom perspective, where "church" means the Body of Christ and not some particular, exclusive franchise that has no interaction with other franchises. But we have also seen a gap here in the city. And we have also remembered that we come from a specific tradition and background. We did not invent ourselves. Our tradition is very young and small as far as church history is concerned (it's been around for about 10 years, and we are one of 4 manifestations of it), but its distinctives have been so formative for us that we cannot simply discard it and move on to something else. It is the vision at the heart of this tradition that we bought into several years ago, and it is an integral part of what we have come here to continue.
The "tradition" of which I speak is the one of The Bridge in Portland, Oregon. This is the place where Home PDX came from, and as a result, 141-NYC as well. And we have begun to realize that without The Bridge, there would be no 141-NYC. It took a community, a church where freedom and safety were central, to incubate the ideas that would hatch into 141. We feel that a similar environment is necessary here in New York, to become a new incubator of transformative ministry. So, it is essential that we concentrate not just on the outreach, but on the community itself, to make the outreach possible. The two can be separated for organizational purposes, but in reality they are connected parts of one organism.
All this to say, we sincerely feel that "planting a church" is part of the reason that we are here. And so our focus splits into two separate but equally essential directions: the outreach and the church. I have been working a great deal lately on the connection between the two, and the mechanics of said connection, and I will post these later when I have more time. But for now, suffice it to say that we have announced our plans, and are working toward action steps to get them going.
The nitty-gritty then, or what I like to call "the details":
- The church is basically going to be a house church, for now. Which makes sense, considering that we currently have four members!
- Our core values, distinctives, etc, are currently in the process of development. But once again, we feel that we are aligned with a tradition started by The Bridge in Portland.
- We are not looking to steal members from established churches. We are looking for people who do not fit into any established church.
- The outreach is not a ministry of the church, in the classic sense (i.e, something that certain people in the church "do"). It is an integral, essential part of the way of life of the community.
- Our official start/ launch date is TBA. We have a lot of things going on right now. I have a hunch it will happen fairly soon, though.
Those of you who read this blog, I would welcome your comments and suggestions. I would also request your prayers, for wisdom and peace as we continue to wrestle.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Tortuga
I am starting to realize, from the datelines on my previous posts, that Friday must be "blog day." Friday, for me, is the day when I splurge just a little to celebrate the upcoming Sabbath. It is a day of anticipation, and for some reason it is a day where the creativity and introspective tendencies flow well. On Friday mornings, I make sure to leave the house a little early and take the R train all the way in to the City Hall stop. I then head over to my newly-discovered "hipster" coffee shop on Chambers Street. Now I certainly don't object to cheap bodega coffee, but sometimes a expat Northwesterner needs to step up the coffee pursuit just a notch, and Starbucks is a pretty poor option. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find a little slice of Portland in Tribeca, right on my way to work. This shop has pretty good coffee, excellent bagels, pleasant music, minimalist decor with local art on the walls, and baristas that look like members of The Decemberists. So in other words, it is PDX transplanted into NYC. They have become my Friday ritual for a nice big coffee and a drippy-hot toasted wheat bagel with butter, which I consume with decadent pleasure while hacking out my semi-weekly blog update. So there you have it folks, a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a pop star. I'm sure you were all wondering and discussing various theories as to why the blogs come only on Fridays, and now you know.
In any event, this entry is not only a restaurant review or a day in the life, but it is also an update. Things are moving in many interesting directions for us. Our big announcement is that we are finally going to start doing a "thing," and I use such ambiguous terminology because I have a hard time figuring out exactly what it is. But maybe it's best that we don't obsess over naming things anyway, because once we name something it loses a good portion of its vitality. Anyway, the "thing" in question has a very simple name:
The Tortuga Collective
Ok, so what the heck is a torutga and in what way is it collective? Well, tortuga is Spanish for turtle, but we are not really about turtles, although the collective part is accurate enough. Actually I'd rather wait to go into the name choice in detail and just give a brief overview of what The Tortuga Collective is (at this point in time):
- A group of people who are gathered together with the intention of knowing God better and loving people face to face
- A group of ordinary musicians, artists, and radicals (thanks Shannon!) who want to mutually support and encourage each other
- A group of dreamers and visionaries who recognize that "how it is" is not "how it is supposed to be."
(Please note that these are not carefully thought-out elements of a mission statement or anything of that nature, but rather just random thoughts from the top of my head)
Right now, the Tortuga Collective is going to be four people who live together, have a sort-of order of life based around worship and prayer, and serve together wherever we are called. It is more than that, but for today I just want to give you a taste. We will be meeting over the next few weeks to iron out things like directives and mission statements, and I will be sure to post those things here as soon as they are available. So for now, I will leave you scratching your head and wondering what I'm talking about, but at least you now know what I'm eating and drinking on Friday mornings.
Love,
Brian
In any event, this entry is not only a restaurant review or a day in the life, but it is also an update. Things are moving in many interesting directions for us. Our big announcement is that we are finally going to start doing a "thing," and I use such ambiguous terminology because I have a hard time figuring out exactly what it is. But maybe it's best that we don't obsess over naming things anyway, because once we name something it loses a good portion of its vitality. Anyway, the "thing" in question has a very simple name:
The Tortuga Collective
Ok, so what the heck is a torutga and in what way is it collective? Well, tortuga is Spanish for turtle, but we are not really about turtles, although the collective part is accurate enough. Actually I'd rather wait to go into the name choice in detail and just give a brief overview of what The Tortuga Collective is (at this point in time):
- A group of people who are gathered together with the intention of knowing God better and loving people face to face
- A group of ordinary musicians, artists, and radicals (thanks Shannon!) who want to mutually support and encourage each other
- A group of dreamers and visionaries who recognize that "how it is" is not "how it is supposed to be."
(Please note that these are not carefully thought-out elements of a mission statement or anything of that nature, but rather just random thoughts from the top of my head)
Right now, the Tortuga Collective is going to be four people who live together, have a sort-of order of life based around worship and prayer, and serve together wherever we are called. It is more than that, but for today I just want to give you a taste. We will be meeting over the next few weeks to iron out things like directives and mission statements, and I will be sure to post those things here as soon as they are available. So for now, I will leave you scratching your head and wondering what I'm talking about, but at least you now know what I'm eating and drinking on Friday mornings.
Love,
Brian
Friday, January 4, 2008
Props
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/relationships/index.ssf?/base/living/1194562516122040.xml&coll=7
This is coming very late, but better late than never. Above is a link to a story that appeared a few months ago in the Portland Oregonian about Home PDX, the church that we were a part of before we came to New York. They are our "mother church," to utilize a very tired Christianese term, although we are really more like siblings than children with the church that we helped start. I am putting this link on here because I want people to know about Home, and to see that it is possible to take a very simple point (i.e, loving people face to face) and turn it into a successful, beautiful thing. The heart of Home PDX is identical to the heart of 141-NYC, mainly because we are cut from the same cloth. The challenge for us is to stay faithful to the heart while avoiding the temptation to duplicate the specifics, because those specifics can only exist in their unique context. You cannot put Home PDX in the copy machine and expect it to fly somewhere else. God forbid, because if that were the case, then Home PDX would just be an institution, a system, or an ideology rather than a way of life.
I also want to point out that we just added a new link, for http://www.crossweave.org. This is the website for Crossweave in San Marcos, California, another wonderful group of people who have loved and influenced us greatly.
This is coming very late, but better late than never. Above is a link to a story that appeared a few months ago in the Portland Oregonian about Home PDX, the church that we were a part of before we came to New York. They are our "mother church," to utilize a very tired Christianese term, although we are really more like siblings than children with the church that we helped start. I am putting this link on here because I want people to know about Home, and to see that it is possible to take a very simple point (i.e, loving people face to face) and turn it into a successful, beautiful thing. The heart of Home PDX is identical to the heart of 141-NYC, mainly because we are cut from the same cloth. The challenge for us is to stay faithful to the heart while avoiding the temptation to duplicate the specifics, because those specifics can only exist in their unique context. You cannot put Home PDX in the copy machine and expect it to fly somewhere else. God forbid, because if that were the case, then Home PDX would just be an institution, a system, or an ideology rather than a way of life.
I also want to point out that we just added a new link, for http://www.crossweave.org. This is the website for Crossweave in San Marcos, California, another wonderful group of people who have loved and influenced us greatly.
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