We have big news.  Big, big news.  Some of you may have already heard but we are officially letting the cat out of the bag…announcing it on our website and on Facebook.  Here is our snippet that we put in our prayer letter to our ministry partners explaining what we will be doing next:

“Go pack! Go pack!  We have loved chanting this, showing our kids how to make the wolfpack sign, serving with a great staff team, and seeing God move at NC State University.  This year has been one the best we have experienced since being on staff.  But……For the last year, we have felt the Lord was working in our hearts and moving us to the next place He had for us.  After lots of prayer, searching out options, and surrendering our fears, we have figured out what that next step is.  We will be moving to NYC!!

Lots of people are asking us why?  Why NYC?  Here is a great quote from Tim Keller and a little more about why we feel NYC is so strategic.

“NYC competes with LA as a media capital, Paris as a fashion and art capital, London as a theater and literature capital, Tokyo as a financial and corporate capital, DC as a power capital, and Boston as a student capital. No other city excels in all these areas together. No other city has as much impact on national and world affairs as does New York.”         —Tim Keller

Over 140 colleges and universities sit within New York’s 310 square miles.  These campuses are densely populated with thousands who already are, or who will soon become, the world’s gatekeepers.  In diversity, influence, and scope, there is no place on earth like New York City.  The goal is to leverage change in this city that will roll throughout the world culturally, economically, politically, and most importantly, spiritually.

Step one of this plan is getting the right leaders in place to take on this great challenge. That’s where we have been asked to step in.  When this school year is finished in April, we will work on growing our team of ministry partners and once our team is 100% complete, we will be moving to Queens, New York.  

Queens is home to 2.3 million people, almost half being foreign born.  This patchwork of “villages” forms the largest borough and includes the most culturally diverse zip code in the US. We will spend time working on campuses in Queens such as Queens College and St. John University.  These campuses are made of an incredibly diverse group of people that will likely continue to live in Queens or the rest of NYC after college.

When we share this news, the next question is usually “How are you feeling?  Are you excited?”

Can I be honest?  It is very, very bittersweet.  While moving ahead is exciting, we honestly loved our team here, our ministry here, and our community here.  As we pulled away from Campbell tonight after our end of the year party and saying goodbye to students, Ed and I both found ourselves getting emotional – we have so many memories here, have seen the Lord work in huge ways, and dearly love the people.  And lets not even think about saying goodbye to our team.

But, we are very excited to move forward and to go where the Lord is calling.  We know that to stay here would be disobedience and despite the sad feelings, disobeying the Lord is NOT something we want to do.  So we will say goodbye, prepare to move, and cry lots, cherishing and reflecting on our time here but trusting that the Lord has something even better planned for us.  We are ready to take a big ‘ole bite out of the Big Apple!