God Said New York - Corey Hise | Faithly Podcast

And it was just one of those things that when you know that you do it, it doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter who else does it. You know that you're called to do it. This is the Faithly Podcast. This is the Faithly Podcast. Hi, and welcome. Today on the Faithly Podcast, I am joined by Corey Hise. He is a pastor, a church planter, and a follower of Jesus who, along with his wife Ashley, have responded to God's call to plant a church right here in New York City. Now, if you're a regular listener, you know that we often interview leaders who have spent decades in ministry and leading large churches or organizations or movements. But I was interested in having this conversation with Corey precisely because he is at a very different stage of the journey. You know, most of us hear stories after the ministry has grown, after it's been established. But Corey and his wife, Ashley, are in the middle of the story right now. You might even say they're at the beginning of it. There is something valuable about hearing from someone who's at the beginning of the journey. So welcome, Corey. Thank you, Alicia. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. We honor you. We're grateful for you. Thank you for the way you lead out here in New York. Thank you, Corey. So take us back to the beginning. What was your faith journey like growing up? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for asking. You know, I grew up in the church my whole life. My dad was a pastor. Um, I grew up in Kentucky, right? The least New York city type type of place in the world. I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. My dad was a pastor and I, um, I wanted to follow Jesus mostly because everyone around me wanted to follow Jesus. Right. And I just thought it was a cool thing. And I thought Jesus was good. And I didn't want to go to hell when I died. Right. I was, I was pretty basic understanding of faith. Uh, So I prayed some prayer when I was really little that I didn't understand. And, uh, but I was involved in church from a very young age, an incredible life-giving, amazing church. Um, but for years growing up, uh, I remember kind of being confused, right? Like I, I loved, loved, loved church and I love, love, love the people at church, but I didn't know this like personal Jesus that they were talking about. Like I hadn't experienced that change in my life. And so fast forward, I remember I had to be, I think I was in. I was 10 years old. I was in the fifth grade. And I remember every single year, my parents would ask me on the day that I gave my life to Jesus, every single year, they would say, hey, what's it like having Jesus in your heart? And I can still remember to this day, I was on the way to church that day. And I remember I said, mom, I've been lying to you. And she said, what? And I said, I've never given my life to Jesus before. And so I remember, and my mom kind of looked at me and she was like, what in the world is going on? And I said, mom, we are... we're going to go to church. And I said, I want to hear from God. And my mom was like, what are you talking about? Okay. And so I remember we went to church and it was like the first time in my entire life that like, I love church, but I was open about the fact I didn't know Christ. And I remember I was sitting into service that day. And my dad preached a sermon. First time I ever heard somebody preach on the prodigal sons and then really spent a lot of time on the older son. And I realized for the first time that I was the older son, right? Like I had been doing all these things for God. I'd been saying all these things. I'd been believing all these things. I'd never actually known the father, right? I'd never actually chosen to go in the house. I'd always just done things for him. And I remember actually I heard that sermon. I went up to my dad after the service and I said, dad, I'm the older son. I need to make an appointment this week. And my dad said, no, you don't. We're gonna, let's go talk. And so I remember I gave my life to Jesus. That was October 11th, 2009. And my life has really never been the same. I've just been passionate about following Jesus, telling my friends about Jesus from, as long as I can remember. And it's really just been the focus and the aim and the goal of my life to tell people about Jesus. I can still remember the change that happened in my life when I was 10 years old. Like I remember being really angry and really nervous about where I was gonna go when I died and being... just not caring about people at all, right? And watching God transform my life. I think that actually really started, you know, that was the first seed, right? That began to really form something in me that actually we're seeing the fruit of today here in New York. And so that's really where my faith journey began. I had incredible parents who loved Jesus, talked about Jesus. My mom would lead people to Christ. Every day, it feels like growing up, I'm talking the doctor's office, Kroger's, whatever it was. And I had a dad who loved Jesus, I actually think, more in the home than he did even on the pulpit. And so I grew up with a great faith heritage to look at. And yeah, so that's how I grew up knowing Jesus. Wow, that's amazing. Age 10, what a blessing. Okay, so at what point did you sense that you were being called into ministry? Was it at age 10 or did that come later? Great question. Yeah, it's actually funny. So when I gave my life to Jesus when I was 10 years old, I loved church, but I did not love the idea of being a pastor. I actually remember on that, people would always ask me the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I can vividly remember over and over saying, I'll be anything but a pastor. Like I remember literally just saying that over and over. And I remember I defined it one time, somebody asked me and I was like, why would you want your job to be to tell people what to do and they don't do it? I'm like, that's my dad's job. He tells me what to do. They don't do it. And then they get mad at him that it didn't work. I'm like, I don't want that job. And so I was kind of, you know, I was an athlete. I loved football. Like, that was really my thing. I was convinced I was going to go be an NFL player. Like, I think every kid ever that played sports growing up and I I actually, I remember the story. Um, when I got called ministry, I went to a, um, we had like a church camp, you know, like a student camp. We were at Myrtle beach and there was this guy, um, that I had invited, invited, invited, invited to come to church stuff. And he was like the coolest dude in the whole area. He was the best football player as good as a middle school football player can be. Right. Like, but he was like the guy. And I remember, um, he came and that was already shocking enough. And I remember like God met him at this camp and I got to pray with him to receive Christ. And I remember it was like the first time that I ever sensed that God had really used me. Like, oh no, God actually used me. Not because of me. I'm not near as cool as this guy. He's way better than me at sports. He's way cooler than me, all that sort of stuff. Why did God use me? And it just kind of, it like, it hit me. And I remember just kind of being like, what is going on? And it's like, I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm like that one kid, like at the camp, I'm like loud and fun, but I couldn't get it out of my head. Like, why did God use me to reduce my body? And I still remember to this day, we were all given like a ruler. We were, this is so classic youth camp, you know what I'm saying? Everybody's been one of these, where we were given a Sharpie and we were given a ruler. And we were supposed to write down a word that we heard from God. And I remembered I'm like sitting on the beach and all my friends had already heard a word and they were like gone playing. And I was like annoyed because I was just sitting there and it felt like an hour. It was probably like 12 minutes. I don't know, but it felt like forever. And I remember I'm sitting there and I'm like, God, speak to me, speak to me, speak to me. And I couldn't hear anything. And I just remember I was just sitting there and I kind of, I wouldn't say I dozed off, but I kind of just kind of got distracted. And I just kind of remember sitting there again, refocusing. And it was like the loudest thing in my... It's still one of the loudest times I've ever heard God's voice when I felt like he just said, Corey, you're called to be a pastor and a church planner. Literally, I remember being... It was like the weirdest thing ever. 12 years old. I literally remember I wrote it like with block letters on this ruler and I stuck it in the sand and I left. I don't know why I did it that dramatically. I don't know. But it was like, it was literally a stake in the ground. That's like, I remember that moment. And it's been one of those things that I've, ever since then, I was that weird kid in middle school, high school, college, grad school. Like I knew what God had called me to do. And I could point back to that weird moment where I stuck a wooden stake in the sand. And yeah, just one of those things. I've known it ever since I was a boy. So that was 12 years old. Wow. And yeah, that's kind of my story. Have you heard the audible voice of God since then? Or was that the one time? Yeah. And I don't know if I would define it even as audible. I would define it. It was like one of those things. It was like overwhelming in your body. I don't know if you've ever had one of those moments where it sounded like somebody hit a gong in your head. Like literally, it's like, it almost hurts. It's so loud. And I remember that moment. It sounds like it's more than audible. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's like one of those things that's not just like, oh, could somebody else have said it? No, it's like somebody shouted with a megaphone. And I would say the only other time that I really heard the Lord speak like that actually was as it related to moving in New York City. It's been one of those things you always... When you hear God speak like that to you, you pursue it in so many ways. Like you're like, God, I not only know that you're real, but I want you to speak like that in my life. And yeah, I would say it was that moment. It's been, there was probably maybe one, maybe two moments like that as it related to New York City. Wow. So you put a stake in the ground. You heard from God. Did you tell anybody about it? Yeah, great question. I remember I had one leader who I told about it and I remember that leader, like it's funny how people will make an impact on their life for certain seasons of their life, right? And I remember he just looked at me and he said, Corey, I've known for years and I'm so excited to see what God's going to do. I remember that. His name was Dusty and I And then a couple days later at the youth camp, I remember they had like a, you know, a call to ministry moment that happened. And from the stage, and I remember like, and if you've been at these events, I'm not saying that everyone wasn't called to ministry, but I'm saying it feels like everybody that loves Jesus, boom, they're called. So it was like, it was like 50 kids that went out. And I remember just kind of having that moment where it was like, It was like, I was a super social kid. I was hanging out with everybody. And I just kind of remember being... I remember going up, not looking at my friends, not engaging with my friends. I remember kind of going up and being teary and having this moment where... I just remember being so locked in to what the preacher had to say. It was my father. But I just remember being so locked in, not listening to a friend saying... I was just like having this emotional thing where that was kind of like my public declaration, like I'm called to ministry. But I didn't care if my friends were with me. I didn't want to convince my friends to come up. I didn't care if they move forward. It was one of those things where I knew that like, no, I already had this calling moment happen, me and God alone. And now I get to take the step forward and announce it to everyone. Um... And it was just one of those things that when you know that you do it, it doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter who else does it. You know that you're called to do it. Yeah, I'll never forget that day. What was your father's reaction like? When my dad saw me coming up, I remember... I actually remember this moment because like if you've ever, now that I've been a pastor for years and preached many times, I've done those calling moments, you know? And like, it's kind of one of those things where it's kind of like the pastor scattering seed, right? And I remember going up and like, I remember like I locked eyes with my dad and he was like, it was like emotional. And I remember him like having that normal moment where you're scattering the seed and then him just kind of over and over. I remember him looking at me and just, Do you mean this? Do you mean this? Now I'm sure he was speaking to everyone, but it felt like he was speaking to me and just, do you understand what this means? Like the call to full-time vocational ministry. Do you understand what that call means? Do you understand what you're giving up? Do you understand what you're committing to? And, uh, I just remember it, it was like, it was a room of five or 600 students, but it really felt like it was just me and my dad. And, um, I can, yeah, I still remember that moment. I do have a picture of it. That's a great reminder, you know? Like I think sometimes in ministry, we forget like, it's not just the memories that remind us, but I think those moments when we can look back on them, when we can have a picture of them or when we can be, being encouraged by what God's done in the past, it oftentimes gives me fuel for where I'm at now. When I can remember that moment, I can remember the sincerity of it, right? No matter what's happened since then, I can remember the sincerity of that moment and how God met me and how people were proud of me and people were encouraging me. And I can hold to that, um, I can hold to that even today in New York City, when no one sees it or knows it, I can hold to that. That's right. We do need to be reminded we're a very forgetful people. And those moments were like, his voice is more than audible. I think we need that, especially when we are called to do hard things like planting a church. So let's talk about that. When did the idea of planting a church first enter your thought process? Yeah, that's a great question. When I was at that boy on Myrtle Beach, Dirty Myrtle, that's what we call it. I remember that was the first time I ever had the idea of being a church planter. I had a lot of respect for church planting. My dad was a planter. He planted a church six months after I was born. So I grew up in a church plant and got to My parents actually always wanted three kids and the Lord spoke to them, hey, no, this church plant, this is your third kid. And I remember I grew up alongside this church really as my sister. I grew up with her and got to understand her. So I had a lot of respect for church planting. Yeah. When you go into school for ministry and then, you know, you're in seminary and like, it was weirdly enough, like one of those things that like, I always knew that I was going to plant. I had no idea when, I definitely had no idea where. And I, at the same time, I didn't even really know what it looked like, right? Like when I started my, my first pastoral role, I remember I told the pastor, you know, first interview, hey, I'm... I'm called to plant a church one day. But it's funny, like over time, what does that mean? Does church planting mean that you're starting a campus? Does church planting mean that you're involved in church planting? Does church planting still mean you're a church planter? And it was one of those things that the Lord actually, like anytime that I would, whether it was doubt or veer away in my mind, the Lord would just constantly remind me, no, I've called you to be a church planter. You're called to be a lead pastor. Come to be a church planter. I remember even when I would doubt it, even I'd be concerned or I was insecure about it, the Lord has just made it clear over and over and over again. In my personal time, right, through people that really matter, right, like mentors and pastors and leaders who've spoken life into me, like what's it mean to be someone who's committed to the call even when it doesn't make sense? And so that's part of it is like if the Lord has called me to it, whether it was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, my job is to hold firm to it, right? I hold firm to the promise of God. And so it's been... It's been one of those things that I've known since I was a boy. And obviously there's been those moments where I was living not like it. You know, I was a high school boy, you know, knowing that I'm called to be a church planter and living like a high school boy. But it's one of those things that I've known that God's called me to since I was a kid. Yeah. Wow. And so you mentioned earlier, you heard from God, New York City. What was that like? Okay. Yeah. That's a fun story. So, uh, I, it's actually, I'll give you the medium version of it. When I was in, um, my last role, I was a campus pastor at a church in the Virginia beach area, Newport news, um, at a great church called Waters as church, love the church, love pastor Stu and tab. They're incredible people. And I was there and we were going for it, killing it. God was growing it. It was going great. Uh, all the, all the signs are up and to the right. It was going well at the campus and, um, in the middle of a incredible building project. Like, I mean, all these things that like would point to, Hey, everything's going great. Stay the course, keep doing what you're doing. Um, I was actually in line. I was talking with a bunch of doctoral programs, uh, early last year. You know, I'd been called by a few approached by a few that wanted to pay for it for me. Like it was like a thing. Like I was like, okay, I guess I'll do a doctoral program. Um, I've always been good at academics, but it's never been where my heart's at, right? My heart's with people. And I was just kind of like, okay, let's see what, you know, what doors are open. And I felt like it started with the Lord just gave a little whisper, you know, Hey, we're not doing doctoral programs. Church planning are coming soon. Church planning is coming soon. And I kind of remember having that moment, like, okay, God, like church playing 22 now, like I'm still like, I guess I was 26 at the time. I'm like, okay, like that's okay. Like God. And at the same time, I remember I told my wife and Ashley was like, what does soon mean? I'm like, well, soon can mean a lot of things to God. So, you know, that can be a while, you know, and I kind of, kind of blew it off in the sense of like church playing something soon, but that could be a few years. That could be a few, you know, who knows what that means. And so, I kind of try to brush it off a little bit. And then it was about a year ago, I guess it would have been early May or April. One morning I was getting ready to go to church. This is a true story. I'm getting ready to go to church, like 6 a.m. And my wife, she like sat straight up in the bed. Like, as you know, I think about like my wife, Ashley, like she's groggy in the morning. That's not how she rolls. And she sat straight up in the bed. She looked at me and she said, Corey, God gave me a dream. I said, what? And she said, God, give me a dream. We're called to New York City. And I remember literally, I remember looking at her being like, okay, babe, I think you need to go back to sleep, right? And I just kind of left. Like, I didn't really know what to do with it. I was just like, I think she's a little nuts right now. I think she's half asleep. I don't know. New York City had never really been on my mind. Her father, my father-in-law, he was born in the Bronx, and then he moved down to Florida and Costa Rica when he was a kid, went back and forth. My father is from upstate New York, and then lived on Long Island for a little bit. So I have a little bit of a connection in New York City. or at least to the state of New York, but not much really as it comes to like real genuine connection to the city. And so I remember like when I was a kid and I knew I was going to be a church planner, I used to tell people, they would say, where do you want to play at? And I remember I had this moment, I'm like, well, if you're going to be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly, right? So I'm going to New York City, right? Like if we're going anywhere, you might as well go to New York. And I remember the first time I came to New York years ago, I remember I realized, I was like, oh no, New York City is not this glamorous city, right? It's a gritty city, right? It's hard work. It's tough. Ministry is hard in New York. And so I kind of just took it as like, oh yeah, well, that's great. That... That was a nice dream as a kid. And I kind of just moved on from it. And so when my wife set up and told me this, like I've never had, we've never had that moment in my whole life where my wife said, she, God gave her a dream. I can't ever remember a moment like that. And so I just kind of was like, okay, baby, great. Go to sleep. And then about, uh, two weeks later, I felt like one of those audible moments. I remember I'm sitting there, we're at, we're on the beach. Um, everybody's like in the ocean. I'm sitting there having a quiet time. And it was like, again, one of those moments where like, it was like a gong and in my head, and I, I wrote it down like this. Uh, I think the Lord basically said this. He said, uh, who are you dummy? I wasn't joking. I wasn't joking. New York City is the place to go. I remember like literally, it was like one of those moments where it literally felt like I got, like God just showed up and he absolutely kind of It was like he took over the scene. It was like one of those moments where like I'm praying, I'm journaling, I'm doing this quiet time. And God kind of just wrecked me in that moment. So no, like you're called to New York City. And it was kind of like a shocking moment. Like I remember just being like, what? What is happening? I remember I told my wife, she's all excited. She's like, I told you, you know, all that sort of stuff. Fast forward a couple of weeks later, we end up going to New York City. Because I was like, at the end of the day, God can speak all these things and it's great. But I have to know that God's called me here. This can't be this thing that like, I think God spoke to me. It can't be this thing that my wife had a dream. Those are all good things. I've got to walk around the city and it's got to be confirmed. And I don't know if that's a testing moment, if that's a Gideon moment, right? But it was one of those things where I was like, God, you got to make it clear. And so we came to New York. We had this whole plan. I'm going to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer Service, right? Jim Simba is going to prophesy over me. It's going to be great. It's going to be the most clear thing ever. That's not what happened. The entire Eastern Seaboard, all the flights shut down. So we had to drive. We get here like 3 a.m. I missed the whole Tuesday night prayer service. We're here Wednesday in July. It is legitimately the hottest place. I have ever been in my life. It was so hot. Nobody was nice. I was hungry, right? Like I'm walking around praying, like God speak to us. I'm just like, this is rough. And I kind of remember having one of those moments where I'm like, God did like, I heard you speak, but did I, did I make this up? Did I overthink it? My wife, she's having a great time. I was like the joke that she was a pantheist for a day, right? Everything she saw was God, right? Every, everything was God, right? Like everything was a sign. And, um, We ended up in a church that night. It was the only church we could find. I remember we walked in. It was legitimately five people in the room who were awake. There were five people who were kind of asleep. The room was huge. It was probably a 3000 person room. And it was a very interesting service. It was, it was, it was very odd. I didn't know what was going on. And I remember we're sitting down, we're actually considering like, do we need to go? Like, I don't know what's happening here. And there was a guy that got up to preach very young, had to be 22 probably. And he preached a sermon and it was like I don't know if you ever had one of these moments, Alicia, but it was like literally God, for some reason, ordained it for me to be here to hear this guy preach. I actually called my dad and asked him if he had told this guy that we were coming to church. He was the only one who even knew. After the sermon, I learned there was only one other person in the room that even knew English. It was literally one of those things where this guy preached a sermon about how if God has called you, you need to take the step. God's called you here to New York City. It said in the middle of the God has called you to plant the church, go plant the church. Like, I mean, really odd things. And so it was one of those things where maybe it wasn't like God spoke to me in a personal way. He spoke to me through this guy who preached a sermon that was so radically clear. I mean, there's a bunch of crazy stories. He opened up, the passage he opened up was exact passage that my wife and I had both read separately that morning without speaking. And it was just kind of one of those moments. And if I could define it in any way, It was just, it was God smiling on us. It was like God looked at us and he said, hey, you have been a little less faith, a little more faithless than I would have liked, right? A little bit more doubting than I would have liked, but he was kind and over the top. He just said, hey, you're called to New York City. And it was one of those things that we just, my wife and I, we're all emotional. I remember I looked at my wife. after her. And it was a very personal, very personal sermon. Very, very crazy. And I remember I looked at my wife. I said, what's God telling you? And she said, no, what's God telling you? I said, God's called to plant a church in New York City. I said, how about you? She said, same thing. God's called to plant a church here. And we just kind of walked away in awe of God. But like, I would say for the first time, it was like, there was like this burden that he immediately gave us for the city. There was a burden he gave us for the people of the city. It was a burden for, you know, these people who were in church. So many of them were like on drugs or homeless or, it was like God had given us like this, this passion and this heart for people that I, Just, I didn't have it. It was like he opened up my heart. Or it was like the Grinch. He like grew my heart like two sizes in that moment. I just immediately, I had a love for the people of New York that hasn't faded and it's only grown since then. So that's the really long answer to your question of how I knew that God calls to New York City. It's not because I'm special. It took a whole bunch of moments where God had to constantly remind me that he called us here. And that if we're faithful, he would walk with us in it. And he showed up so many different ways. Well, I'm glad I got the long version. You had said medium version. And I said, no, this is a special story. I hope we get the full story. Now, with a call that clear, it's been just smooth sailing and so easy, right? Everything just going your way. Yeah, that is, I can say if there's anything that I've ever heard you say that's not true, that's probably it. No, I would say it has been, man, perfect. it is so, it takes such a level of grit to plant a church in New York city. And I'm at the very, very, very beginning. Um, it's honestly like doing a startup and, but it's not based on money. Right. So it's not like I'm, I'm seeing this return on investment. It's like, I'm making constant investments. And because the spiritual cloud of New York, like God is kind and he allows me to see a return here and there. But it's like, I'm playing this long game. That's so different from where I'm from. In the, in the South, there's a lot of people that come to church and they, like they've already made a lot of assumptions and beliefs, right? Like I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe church is good. But like my life is hard, help me understand. And like I have the ability to speak into the light, help them understand who Jesus is in a way that when you're in New York City, there's a doubt of like, Is religion a good thing? Is God even a... Not only is God real, but is God good? Like you're addressing things from the very beginning that really caused you to have to build trust with people. And so I would say, you know, there's so many things when you're planting that like you're dealing with people that are really far from God. and you're also, you're learning the balance of like, what is the spiritual temperature of the city, right? Like what is the spiritual temperature of the kind of, kind of where the pastor's at in the city? Where's kind of like the, like, what's the hope level? I like to say it like that. Like, what's the hope level of the city? What's the faith level that's happening here in New York? Like how passionate are people about Jesus? Where are they at? Like who's burned out? Who's not burned out? And what's funny is what you'll find is like, If you move to New York City and what you believe is like God's going to work it all out for you, which I think is very common among planters that I met, what ends up happening is you end up feeling not only... alone, but you end up questioning God. And so I would say for me, I've been surrounded by incredible pastors who have been super encouraging to me. If it wasn't for great pastors, if it wasn't for great mentors, I would absolutely have been, you get swallowed up. But instead, when you have people that can encourage you, I think that's really key. And so that would just be my thing. It is not smooth sailing at all. It's like getting punched a thousand times and how many times are you willing to get back up and keep moving forward, right? That's really what church planning looks like and feels like. Yeah, I would say it's the closest feeling that I've ever had in ministry to being like an Old Testament prophet in that sense. Like that's what they had to experience. It kind of is a little bit what it feels like when you're starting something that's so against the grain. It's exciting though. It's a lot of fun. Well, so give us a snapshot of where you are with the church plant right now. Do you have a core team? Are you meeting on Sundays yet? Where are you at this moment? Yeah, absolutely. So ultimately, when we moved to the city in January, we showed up with a heart for the city and really a mission and vision and a name that we thought. And God really confirmed the name over time meeting people. So the name of our church is Hope Collective Church. um, Hope Co for short, which is very fun. And, um, our mission has been simple, right? Transforming Uncommitts People in the whole heart of followers of Jesus, right? We really showed up with that and we said, okay, God, like, what are you going to do? You give us a heart and a calling and, um, and a little bit of a experience, um, and a runway. What's that look like? And so what we've done is we, we have about, um, um, We have four families that are moving with us from Virginia, I guess one's from Ohio, but around the country to help us start the church. One is already here. The rest are coming in the next month or two. And we are in the process of really gathering those people that I call pioneers, right? These are people that are like you're talking about, a core team, right? These are people that are willing to pioneer work of God in the city, that are willing to do the work to leave a legacy, that are willing to... play the long game, even if that's hard, right? They're not just in the city to get what they want, but they're in the city to build something. And so we have, yeah, we're building that kind of group of people, the pioneers. And then really what we're doing is just right now, I'm in the phase of what's it called? To build relationships. right with people in the city, right to fundraise. And that's mostly external. It's mostly outside of the city. Um, and then I get to do a lot of the fun backend work of preparing and building the church structures and systems and all sorts of stuff when we, when we launched next year. Um, but ultimately what I'm doing is I'm, I'm gathering my, my pioneers, um, And we get to really dive in like, who are we going to be? What's it look like? I get to share the vision of what God's given us. I get to pour out what God has poured into us for this church, for what it means to reach New York City. And then, yeah, there's a couple people that we met in the city that are really passionate about what we're doing, that want to join and be a part of it. And so the goal is like, we keep that core team tight, those pioneers tight. Yeah. And then really as we get closer next year, the plan is that you really start to build out that launch team. But this year, really what we're doing is we're doing relationships. So the way we're doing that, we're doing dinner parties. Monthly, we just got dinner parties where we're just inviting people, whether they're Christians, whether they're non-Christians, whether they have no idea what they believe, right, come be a part of it. The language I've been using is it's a place to belong before you believe, right? You can belong if you never believe. You can belong if you believe something different. There's no inside outside. There's no included, excluded, right? You can just come be a part, right? and we've absolutely packed out our apartment. It's to the brim. So we've actually, we're figuring out what we're doing next time. Like we're literally, we've had to figure it out. It's been really exciting. And the people that I think have loved it the most are actually the people that don't follow Jesus or who are seeking or figuring it out or exploring their faith, which has been really, really exciting. And so that's just really just an opportunity just to engage people, just to make friends, be in the community, build real relationships. Um, and so, and I'm doing a couple of other, I'm doing a bunch of other things in this, in the terms of like investing in people, meeting people, um, like spending my time with non-Christians and Christians and building all those relationships all over the place. Um, so that's really what we're doing. I've got that pioneer and, and the language that I've been using, which you, you might be interested in this is, um, I use language like this. It's like, we're not looking for Boy Scouts. We're looking for Marines. And here's the idea behind this. When I remember hearing the story one time of a guy who was in a classroom in college and they brought all the different armed forces in and I love all the armed forces. I'm not saying anything about any armed force. So here's how it went. Is that, you know, there was like an hour and each of them was supposed to share and they're all supposed to go 10 minutes. But the problem was one went 12 minutes, 15 minutes, 18 minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes. And at the very end, they went up to the Marine guy and they're like, hey, I'm really sorry, but you only have one minute to share. and it says that the Marine recruiter walked in front of the room, and he was silent for 45 seconds. And then he looked at the rest of the room, and he said, I've looked around the room. There's probably only about two of you that meet the criteria of being Marine. Those two of you will come find me in the lobby after. And he left. And I think there's something really cool about that. And I think that what we've decided as we built our core team is we're not looking... to appease the whole room. We're not looking to find a thousand people who wanna, who think church playing is a cool thing. No, we're looking for the few Marines, right? Like who are the people who are willing to lay down their life, to invest their time, their money, right? To be uncomfortable, to invite their friends, to put their reputation on the line, to build what God has called us to build in New York City. Boy Scouts are great. They're awesome. They set up and they play like they're in the military on the weekend and they have it look good and they have a good time. And that's important. I think Boy Scouts is great. It's where you learn. It's where you learn the practical skills of that. But when something's really going down, what you need are the Marines, right? You need the people that are there, that are locking it in, that are making it happen. And ultimately, that's what we're looking for as we're building our pioneer team, right? It's people who are willing to lay down their lives and, to be the frontline, the special forces for God's kingdom. And so we're kind of, it's actually really cool. We're taking about a 21 month runway from when we got here in January to launch next fall, which gives us the opportunity to really separate that out and say, hey, we'd love to have you be a part. Well, yeah, that's cool. You're not willing to really commit and really dive in. That's okay. We'd love to have you come be a part of it when we start doing stuff next year. No, you're willing to lay down your life and be a part of what God's doing here. You're willing to be a Marine. Well, let's talk about what it means to be a pioneer. So that's one of the gifts and benefits of really the season in our life. So yeah, that's what we're doing. That's how we're building. And that's OK. That's OK right now. That's so great. It sounds like you're in a really exciting chapter of the church planting process. Well, so right now at the time of recording, it is June, almost the end of June. So you've been at it for about six months. What has been harder than you've expected? That's a great question, Alicia. I would say this, and, and maybe there's even some perspective church planners that are listening to this podcast. And what I would just say is like, if you're a church planner, it's because God has given you like a drive, like God's given me a drive, um, like a get it done. Let's go take the mountain sort of personality. Like I want to, I want to go change the world for Jesus. I'm on mission. I'm ready to go. Um, church planning is the loneliest thing ever. Like everyone says in ministry, pastoring is church planning. You know, like all those things are lonely. Church planning is another level. And I think it's another level because what you're doing is, is you are truly the only one That really knows the vision. That really, it's that personal to it. You're going to have a team of people that are excited and passionate about it, but you get to be the one that pioneers it. And while that's an incredible gift, it's also lonely. And so what I would say is like not having a deep community is really, it's hard. Like I've always been in a church where like I can walk into established church and I know pretty well how to build a community, right? Like I've been in them enough that like I can walk in and I can build relationships. I can invite people to this. I can invite people to that. I can get people plugged in. What I would say is like when you're church planning, like, you're building relationships and you really got to have strong mentors. You really got to have strong people that are outside of the thing that you're building. Cause there's no, unless, unless God has blessed you with an incredible team, there's probably nobody on your team that, that has the ability to pour into you yet. Like they're under you and they're excited and they want to be sent and they want to do it. Um, but that's hard. It's hard. And so I would just say that that loneliness factor of, especially when you're moving into a new city and meeting people, that can be hard. And so I was like, it has pushed me to really seek out Jesus as my friend in a way that I never had before. What's friendship with Jesus look like? I've taught that and preached that a thousand times, but experiencing that on a personal level, Yeah, it's totally different when you church plant. So that would be my little, yeah, that'd be the hardest thing for sure. Yeah, hardest thing. But also, I mean, it sounds like your faith has been increased in the process. You've grown closer to the Lord in the process. And that's really beautiful to see. Okay, we are coming up on time. So, Corey, I'm going to ask you this final question, which is, You know, as you and Ashley look five, ten years down the road, what are your dreams? What are, what do you hope people will say that God accomplished through you and through this church? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I think... church planting movements for a long time have like wrestled with some of these sorts of things. And I remember like, there's something about when you church plant that you can be tempted to, to take the easy route. Like, obviously I want people to look at my life and see, wow, they honor Jesus. They love Jesus. But ultimately we have a faith in a God that's going to do the miraculous. And my prayer is that God would God would truly not only change New York City, but he'd begin to reach the world and change the world through New York, right? I think New York City, when you look at it, it is the epicenter of almost everything Other than faith. Like it is truly the epicenter of finance and media and business and the arts and culture. And we could go on and out to sports. I mean, come on, Knicks, let's go. It's the NECA. But what I'm saying is New York City, it's the epicenter. It's actually the sending agent for almost every major industry in the world. And yet I would say it probably sends out the least, certainly percentage-wise, of people who are passionate of following Jesus. And I really, my hope and my prayer is not even maybe five, 10 years, but maybe 50 years down the road of what's it look like for New York City to become a, I heard somebody say this the day, instead of being ascending field, it becomes ascending force, right? It's no longer a place that we send people to go reach, but it's a place that sends people to go reach the world. And that's really my prayer is that New York City would be a place that when people see it, um, Its reputation is different. It's a city that's on fire and passionate about Jesus. My friend Sam Gibson at Church of the City recently prayed for a divine reversal of reputation for New York City. And I think that is pretty closely aligned with what we pray and what we see is that God would use Hope Collective Church to transform not just the West Village, not just Manhattan, but New York City to be a place that when people see it, They see Jesus. They see a city of people that are hungry for faith. And that might not mean that every single person here, we're not going to change every single person in New York, but that people who are here, who love Jesus, are passionate about him and want, they want to reach the world for him. And that's really my prayer is that we would transform New York City into the epicenter of a global movement for Jesus. And so, um, That's my hope. That's my dream. That's what I have faith in that God can do that I certainly can't do. But that'll do it through us. That is a beautiful, beautiful dream, Corey. Well, when you first moved to New York, I invited you to join my church in downtown New York City. And you came. And I thought to myself, this is someone who's ready to dive in with both feet. Now, six months later, you've met a lot of people, built this pioneering team. And you've made New York City your hometown. I know you were at the Knicks parade and you were super excited to be there last week when they celebrated their big win. But all of this is important, building towards this dream that God's placed on your heart. So thank you for joining us on the podcast today and sharing what it's been like so far. And I, for one, am rooting for you, praying for you. And I look forward to following along as you continue to plant Hope Co. Moscow. Thank you, Alicia. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on here. It means a lot. Thanks, Corey.