the greatest of these is love: Little bit more of the Garden State

Ok, so a little bit more about New Jersey before I tell you about Philadelphia. (Now that’s a crazy story.)
When we first got to New Jersey, we didn't think we’d be there any longer than a week, especially because I didn't think I would like it there very much. (Although, please believe me when I say, my feelings on a place don’t dictate our length of stay there.)
Anywho, we planned on spending a few days in the Newark area only to visit an old friend of mine & then being in Old Bridge for the last half of the week. We got into town on a Saturday night & went to church on Sunday morning where we met up with my friend Alice (long story short-I met her a few years back through a girl I used to be friends with.) and her husband Jim. We talked & hung out for a bit & then went our separate ways. We did get to spend time with them on a few different occasions which was pretty awesome. It’s always nice to hang out with people we know. :)
Ok, back to the order of events, as Tuesday night (our supposed last night in the area) rolled around, we went with Jim & Alice to their ministry class, “Called to Serve”, where we met Pastor Luis. His wife Carmen had told him about us & he quickly invited us to stay in his downstairs apartment. (Brief aside-here on the east coast, there are a TON of houses that are split up into 2, sometimes 3, apartments. Almost like a duplex, but they’re called apartments and are much more common than apartment complexes like we have back home. It’s odd.) Wednesday we spent at the church cleaning and helping out, but most of the day we sat around talking with Pastor Luis. He just poured into us all day, shared stories, gave encouragement through the scriptures, challenged our ideas, and simply took the time to show us that he cared. It was a pretty awesome day, especially considering that we were going to leave that morning.
Leaving Wednesday turned into leaving on Monday after Pastor Luis invited Marc to their men’s retreat that weekend, so Marc went with them & I went to stay with the Loaiza family in Lyndhurst (about 10 minutes north of the church). I had a great weekend with Sonia & the girls. When Marc came back, he was excited to find that we would be staying with Chris from the retreat who was “comedy”.
We witnessed an interesting thing while we were in Kearny-a church nearing it’s death. Never before have I been to a church so close to shutting down, but this one was sick and it’s symptoms were all over the place. You know those uncomfortable sermons? If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you’ve probably heard one on Sermon Index or YouTube or a CD or something. Well, we were there for one. It was one of those sermons where you’re either going to make a radical change in your Christianity, or you’re going to be so offended that you leave & find another church. Basically, the church was out of money, even though they don’t have a mortgage to pay. Before you jump to conclusions, the sermon wasn't about money. The straw that broke the camel’s back was that Sunday at church a sign up sheet had been put out for anyone who wanted to come out evangelizing with us, whether to learn how or to pray or whatever, just to come. Nobody signed up. Granted, attendance was low because of the men’s retreat, but it was not a good sign and next Sunday came the uncomfortable message.
I say uncomfortable because nobody wants to be told that they’re wrong, but when you’re wrong, you’re wrong. The text was Revelation 2:1-7, “The Loveless Church”. Ouch. The money wasn’t the issue, the lack of sign ups wasn’t the issue, and the lack of serving in the church wasn’t the issue. The issue was the hearts of the people becoming complacent and not desiring to serve the Lord. Everything else was a symptom, or a thermometer that measured the temperature of the church’s dedication to God. And so Pastor told them. With sadness for the people in his voice, he told them all of these things. It was powerful! I think too many times, Pastors don’t want to tell their flock that they’re dumb sheep, but sometimes you have to. In a church the size of 14,000, the street witnessing team should be more than 20 people. In a church of 2,000, it should be more than 7. A church of any size should have zero problem getting people to teach Sunday School, but those are two of the ministries that struggle the most because nobody wants to serve anyone but themselves. Didn’t Jesus say, “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many”? Isn't that the problem? Men don’t want to serve, they want to BE served and the only person they’ll give their lives for is themselves. Ask yourself this question-how are you serving God? I’m not talking about going to church, I’m not even talking about giving money. I’m talking about your most precious commodity-your time. Are you spending time SERVING Jesus, doing His work. Having a job isn’t a valid excuse-Jesus was a carpenter and Paul was a tent maker. They worked. Somehow they still found time to serve God. Why can’t you?
So that was a pretty crazy sermon if you ask me!
Ministry in NJ was interesting. We walked down Broad St. in Newark a few times. There was always people out so there was a lot of opportunity. As we were walking, this lady was recruiting people to get free HIV tests. In exchange, they’d give you a gift card to Dunkin Donuts or Subway. Heck yes! Turned out the place was closed, but we got to witness to the woman who recruited us. She was a believer in need of encouragement. Gotta love those. Broad St. was definitely not the prettiest place I’d ever been-it was pretty dirty and did not look like a place I wanted to be at night. The woman we had just talked to warned us to be extra careful because it was the first of the month and so there would be a lot of debauchery afoot.
Soon after, Marc talked to a guy in the park who was definitely taking part in that debauchery. Off the bat, he told Marc that he worshipped Satan and was going to hell. When Marc wasn’t scared away by that statement, he opened up a little bit more but it came down to the problem that a lot of people have: they want to live their life without accountability. Nobody wants someone to tell them to stop drinking, to stop lying, to seek to please someone other than themselves. It doesn’t make sense to some people and so they reject it.
So one week turned into two, and into 3. By the time we finally left we had been there for 3.5 weeks, our longest stay in one spot. We spent a lot of time at the church and bonding with the people there, it was definitely an unforgettable time and we learned so much. The Lord spoke to me a lot about being a better wife and really seeking to follow the plan that He has set out for marriage and being a supportive wife, looking to my husband as he leads me in God’s ways. It isn’t always easy, but it’s what I’m supposed to do.
Our last few days in Jersey were pretty sweet. We went to a corn maze with our new friends, Yve, Brittany, and Chris, and then we went and had disco fries! Sounds like a party for my taste buds! It’s just fries with melted mozzarella, topped with brown gravy. Pretty delish! We were also blessed to have dinner with Joe & Bonnie, a couple that serves at the church, and another time Maggie & her husband, Pastor Eddie and another time we were treated to Tops Diner by Jim & Alice. Like I said, we made so many friends in Jersey, it will be hard not to go back!