By Tim Knapp
This was a statement given 11.29.09 to our home church in Octavia on the journey of the past couple years and of our plan to move to NYC.
I’m glad to have the opportunity to share with you all what’s happening with Suzy, me, and the girls. Most of you are aware that we’ve been to NYC recently; in fact we’ve been there twice since August and have spent 5 weeks in the city. Our last trip was a month-long visit, mainly for information-gathering, and gave us the opportunity to experience NY in an extended-stay situation.
Since we’ve announced we’re moving to NY, the main question we get is “Why?” To answer that I feel that I should give a little background. Over the last 5 years or so, God has been taking us through a process that has brought much change. During this time He has been at work on our perspectives, our thinking, and our view of the Gospel. Through numerous ways God has taken us through a growth process that has challenged us and brought us to a place where we long to step out and follow Him in new ways.
For 10 years—since starting our cottage business—we had what I believe was a God-given dream to start a conference/retreat ministry, which as most of you know took the form of the Lodge. 5 years ago we knew we were nearing the start of that project, and as God brought various pieces of the puzzle together, we finally felt ready to go for it. God did some amazing things to make it possible… from supplying the location/land on the river, to helping us find a talented builder, and then supplying the resources to make it happen Many of these pieces came together in miraculous ways.
When the Lodge burned to the ground after 2 years of construction, it was about 85% complete and was an incredible building…or going to be. It appears that the Lodge will be a huge financial loss, if not a complete loss; but as Suzy and I walked away from the site at dawn that morning, we were acutely aware that God was at work. Although the loss was difficult emotionally and devastating financially, we have never felt despair. It was somehow—and by God’s grace only—an exciting experience spiritually. We absolutely knew God’s hand was in the fire, and that He obviously had reasons for closing that door…a door that He had previously made open to us after years of dreaming, waiting, prayer, and planning.
The fire was not the end of the dream; it was merely one part of the process. It was not the cause of us considering a move to NY, it has simply enabled us to look further into what God has for us. Because we knew all along that He was preparing us for something…changing our perspectives, and challenging us to grow closer to Him…we felt sure there was and is something else. The fire didn’t negate/end the process; it was part of it.
Believe it or not, this process God has taken us through has actually brought us much joy.
A sense of joy and freedom we never really knew was possible. As many of you have come to know, this life is full of pain, trial, and suffering. We’ve had a fair amount of that in our lives over the past 10 years…yet not as much as some of you. And one thing’s for sure--there’s more to come.
There was a time when our sense of security and well-being was anchored in things other than Jesus…things like winning ballgames, being productive, or raising good kids, or being super active in church. Those things gave us a sense of self-worth and acceptance. Though we knew our salvation came through grace, we lived as if we needed to continue earning God’s favor. We served out of a sense of duty and obligation, rather than joyful willingness. That kind of life becomes exhausting; and the result is a religious, works-based Christianity that lacks joy.
Before the Lodge fire, Suzy and I believed we knew where our hope and security rested—in Jesus Christ alone. But what we only believed before, we now know by experience. He is our only security and our only hope. If our sense of meaning/purpose rests in something other than Jesus, I think it’s then that pain or loss or suffering results in bitterness, frustration, defeat, and then burnout. When it’s in the right thing—or person—one’s suffering may then produce an unexplainable, unmistakable joy. I think Peter was speaking of this when he said in his first book, 4:12-13:
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
It’s only because of this that we can honestly say it has been a really neat process…
and it continues today. Through these events and experiences we have seen His glory in a new and exciting way…and have been overjoyed as He’s called us to step out and follow Him in new ways. New ways are not always easy, and for sure they’re not always popular.
A couple of different passages in the Bible have had major impact on Suzy and me as we’ve considered God’s plan for us recently; Jeremiah 29:4-7 is one. In this interesting passage, God’s calling on His people was for and to a city. And not just a city, but Babylon.
Babylon was the epitome of what God’s people considered a pagan city. It was the worst of the worst; the most disdained, wicked city of all to the people of Israel. The Babylonians ruled most of the world at this time and they ruled Israel; and as Jeremiah had prophesied, the people of Israel were carried off into exile…to Babylon. In Jer. 29:7-10 God speaks to His people:
“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
These verses lead up to the next ones, which we often quote. . . where God then says in 29:11 :
“For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
He goes on to tell the people to not be deceived by the prophets and diviners among them; to not listen to them…that they are lying……and mostly, they were telling the people to stay separate and live outside the city; to remain apart from the city. But that was not God’s plan for them at all. He had plans for the city, and plans for them as well.
You see, cities like Babylon—cities like New York, or Chicago, or Seattle—are some of the most important places in the world to God…because they’re full of people. People in vast numbers who have vast needs. Throughout the Bible God’s people have focused on cities; they’re where some of the greatest needs are, where the most people are, and where the Gospel can have the greatest effect. Cities shape the culture and have the greatest potential for shaping the world.
If you’ll remember the story of Jonah, God called Jonah to go to “That great city of Nineveh” to preach. After Jonah’s refusal, getting swallowed by a fish, and then finally following God’s orders and successfully calling Nineveh to repent, Jonah was “…angry enough to die”.
He was angry because he hated the city; he hated those godless, liberal, pagans that lived there. The last thing he wanted was to go there, much less, to see them repent and get God. God’s last statement to Jonah, which ends the book, summed up God’s love for this wicked city:
Jonah 4:11 “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
God loved the people of Nineveh and Babylon, just as He loves the people of NY, LA, and New Orleans. And God is at work in these cities.
NYC has a population of around 9 million people.
The NY metropolitan area has over 20 million. It’s the nation’s largest city by far, having more than Chicago, Houston, and LA combined—the next 3 largest cities in the US.
Over 170 different languages are spoken, and over 36% of the population is foreign born.
The part of NYC we’ll be going to is Manhattan, which is 1 of 5 boroughs which comprise NYC.
It has over 1.7 million people living on an island of just 23 sq. mi…
for a population density of 71,000 people per sq. mile—that’s over 100 people/sq.acre.
God is truly at work in NYC. There is a Gospel movement in Manhattan that is having a profound effect on the city. Manhattan’s evangelical Christian population is 6 times larger than it was just 10 years ago. Where there were virtually no evangelical churches at work 20 years ago, there are now more than 30 in Manhattan alone. One church in particular has been the catalyst for this spread of the Gospel in the city…Redeemer Presbyterian. We have already connected with that church and know church staff and are members of a fellowship group.
We plan to continue attending and working through Redeemer when we return.
This one church has been instrumental in supplying resources, training, volunteers, and vision to every other living Christian church in Manhattan.
Suzy and I won’t sell out or move permanently; we won’t break all ties here. This will still be our home church, even if our involvement there requires that we become members of that church. Our plan is to go to New York. During this next year we hope to gain a much better idea of what God has in mind for us. I will possibly pursue a seminary degree and be involved as much as possible in the church and volunteer work in the city.
Our hope and desire is to operate as “extensions” of Octavia Baptist Church; to be on mission as if sent out by this church. We also hope many of you will come to NYC and stay with us.
It will be an opportunity you will have to bring your family to see the many sights of the city, to get in a neat vacation, and even experience ministry work in the city.
Suzy and I and the girls welcome your questions and truly do hope many of you will come visit us in NYC.
Please pray for us—this move will be difficult, challenging, and costly.
God knows we don’t want to move to New York if it’s not the best thing for us, and exactly what He would have us do.
Leaving our families and friends behind will be the toughest part of this move—we want it to be for the best, and for God’s glory alone.
