Missionary to NYC Youth (Part 1) - Erica Lara

00:00 - Speaker 1 So my name is Erica Lara. I have been living in New York City for the past 10 years. During that time, I have been on mission with my family. I have a husband and two kids and we've been doing a mission together in New York City all that time and specifically, we've been co-planting a church in this past season, and I'm really passionate about youth and youth work in specific New York City, and this is my story. 00:33 - Speaker 2 Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at faithlyco. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories podcast. 01:15 - Speaker 3 Erica, thank you so much for joining us today. I have been so excited to meet you. We have so many friends in common here in New York City. I've had more than one person tell me I have to meet you and I have to get to know you, so thank you so much for spending time with me today. I'd love to start by asking you about your call to ministry. For a lot of my friends who are in youth ministry, it's something that they get called to a little bit later in life. They may have thought they were going into business or something else, and then the Lord calls them. But I noticed that you studied youth ministry in college, so I'd really love to hear how you began your journey and how the Lord called you. 01:56 - Speaker 1 Sure, I've always been feeling that connection and that call towards kids, towards youth, and that's just because I've been involved with youth ministry in my teens and then also as a youth leader in my teens, and so I knew that I had that itch and that call for ministry. But when I went to go and go to school I went the safe route and I actually first was an education major. So I did that first thinking okay, this is like a solid thing, I can still connect with kids and it's a safe way to do that. And literally my first semester I knew I was unsettled, I knew that I was not in the right seat and so I began to pray about it, I began to fast about it and I really felt this tug on my heart to switch my major in that first semester to youth ministry. Oh wow. And so I actually took a weekend. My roommate was away that weekend. I took a weekend to specifically really seek the Lord about that. I felt like he was really clear in that answer. I knew that it was going to be a little bit of a challenge and also my family may not have been really on board initially with that decision. But I will tell you this, especially as a woman in ministry. 03:15 So I tell this story often that when I went to go change my major, the particular advisor at that time said to me well, unless you're planning on marrying a youth pastor, you probably shouldn't have changed your major. 03:30 And I was like I had no prospects, was not dating anybody at the time, and I said you know what I just feel like the Lord is calling me into this space and so I would you know, if you could just sign my paper, I'd be on my way. And I did that and I kid you not, ever since I made that change, so many doors have been opened and to the place where my family and everyone around me has been like this, is clear that this is the Lord, like this move is the Lord, and I did that before I had any. You know potential of a relationship at that time and I like to tell that story because there's a lot of single women that feel that call to ministry and you don't have to wait for a partner per se. I desired that, obviously, I prayed for that as well, but the beginning of that tenure just was me and the Lord just stepping out together in this mission. 04:24 - Speaker 3 Wow, so you've been serving youth since you were a youth. Yes, how does it feel to serve the youth now, having been educated in it and having had so much experience? Can you talk a little bit about serving the youth as a teenager yourself and now doing it? I don't want to say professionally, but professionally it. I don't want to say professionally, but professionally, yeah, yeah. 04:44 - Speaker 1 I think in the beginning it was just this idea of, you know, kind of being with peers, being able to kind of link arms and follow Jesus together. In my high school I was very passionate about outreach. I was always outward facing. Even though I was a church kid growing up. I always was like man, what about the kids that don't have that connect to the church or they don't have a family that has that, you know, that foundation? What does that look like? Why aren't they in the seats? And it just was something that always. 05:16 I always was feeling that call and that tug, and so I did a lot of outreach ministry in my teens, in my youth, in my young adulthood. That eventually led me into the space that I am now and as more of a trained professional. It's really the same thing, but I've just gotten some tips and tricks of the trade. The passion is really what drives me, the call is really what connects me to that work that I've continued to do for so many years, but grateful that I've been able to continue to fine-tune that so that I can do what I do well to walk alongside kids well, to love them well, to see them, to show them their value their worth and just yeah, just kind of call them into all the beautiful things that the Lord has for them that they may not see yet. 06:07 - Speaker 3 I love that. It's so beautiful. I love it. The passion and the call have always been there. They're still there, but now you've got tips and tricks. That's right. So you are wrapping up almost a decade at Young Life. I can tell, even before we met, I could tell just by following you and even just on social media, that you're really passionate about your time at Young Life. That it was a great experience. Can you talk about that? Talk about what you loved and what you learned from that experience. 06:39 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I often use the phrase and the term like being on mission in your own hood. There's this idea of incarnational ministry. That really is the foundation of the work that Young Life has done, but also so many amazing other ministries, churches in the city that have really leaned into that, and it's not like rocket science. It's what the Lord has put before us in His Word. Right, just read the Gospels and you see this is the way he did life. He did life with the people that were around Him and that, for me, is like the best part of it. Like this is my job. Every day I'd be. Like this is my job. I get to do life with kids, I get to do life with families. I get to step into their spaces, into their world and just be a caring adult. And for me that was. It was just amazing. It obviously came with a lot of ups and downs and challenges, not saying it was a cakewalk Ministry never is, Never is right. 07:35 Never is. But, that being said, again, going back to that call, that mission, that drive, that connection with the Lord, like my relationship with the Lord, I also feel like just had a greater depth in that season and just, you know, having to really lean on Him for things that I didn't know or understand, for problems and things that kids were carrying that were like this is way out of my wheelhouse, but trusting that the Lord has got them and just being faithful through that and so being able to do that and then also to be able to empower leaders and staff to also do that. Well, I think that was another piece of that season that really was a gift for me to be able to pass that forward and empower emerging leaders to do that same work. 08:17 - Speaker 3 That's awesome. That's awesome. Thanks for sharing that. So I want to go back to you said. Someone said to you when you were changing your major to youth ministry to only do it if you were hoping to meet a youth minister. Yeah, so you're married, you have kids. You've co-planted a church with your husband. Did you meet him in youth ministry? 08:37 - Speaker 1 No, I did not. I did not. So we both attended Nyack College, and so that's kind of where our paths crossed, I think, for us. We always knew that the Lord had put us together so that we could be on mission together, like in the trenches together, side by side together. We didn't know what that would look like per se, but we just knew that this is what the Lord had. As we got together, we just really felt that affinity and that desire to really collaborate together. It wasn't until years down the road, within our time in the city, that the Lord kind of made that clear to us that it was actually to co-plant together. 09:22 - Speaker 3 Yeah, wow. So tell me a little bit about that. You guys are two years and changed into that process, so you are certainly in the trenches. Absolutely, tell me a little bit about your church. 09:31 - Speaker 1 Yeah, so we pastor a church called the Table NYC. It's in Sunnyside, queens. We are in love with the neighborhood. We were previously in Brooklyn for many years, so that still holds our heart. But then in the past four years or so we just moved into Sunnyside and the Lord just gripped our hearts for that particular neighborhood. 09:57 We are more of a non-traditional I would say church setting. 10:03 We do a lot of things around the table no pun intended but around food, around good conversation, around creating a space for people that maybe would not necessarily step into a traditional church setting, that don't have that background, that don't even know what they believe, maybe, but are able to just feel like they can come in and be part of our community in a safe way. That's a way that they can express how they feel, ask questions, wrestle with the things that they're hearing, and so we have an array of people that have kind of come back and forth through our doors and then also we have just folks that have been really doing life with us since we started in that way and we did start in our living room for a season and so that was fun and just doing all of Sunday dinners and things like that, just a lot of community-driven things to really foster that same kind of incarnational ministry space that I was already doing with Young Life, replicating that in a church setting. It's just been really, really fun. It's been a gift. 11:11 - Speaker 3 New York City is full of very traditional church structures Absolutely and churches that have been around for a while, but the trajectory of those churches is not what you would hope for. A church and the churches that do seem to be reaching people everywhere, the churches that do seem to be resonating with the people in the city seem to be the ones that are doing things a little differently, maybe meeting around the table, maybe meeting in the living room. 11:36 - Speaker 1 Macho and I, we both come from very traditional church settings and so that is our norm, but we just had this sense that the Lord wanted us to look at things a little bit differently. So it is very different for us. It's very easy for us to kind of go into that regular model because it's what we know, but I would say that we really, even for us, had to deconstruct some things and really wrestle with, like, what is the heart of what the Lord really is asking for us to do? And so that's kind of how that happened. As far as just again, creating that space, we love hosting, we love having people just in our lives and in our space, and so it's something that's naturally kind of unfolded. It was very organic in how it happened. 12:28 To your point, yes, a lot of church plans start that way but then end up folding into that regular structure. I think for us to be leaning in and saying, hey, let's stay here a little longer, let's linger, and I think it's really allowed to foster participation in our space, not just like consuming and coming into and not like throwing any shade to traditional settings, but for us we're like, what does that look like to have people come into a Sunday morning or even a week during the week gathering and be able to kind of lean in and be challenged to participate, to engage. Everyone has something to bring Everyone. Whether you just walked in or you're just someone that we just met that week, everyone has something to bring everyone. Whether you just walked in or you're just someone that we just met that week, everyone has something to bring to the table. 13:18 - Speaker 3 So true, so true. Okay, so you're wrapping up a decade at Young Life and you're looking forward to the next chapter, and even as I was hearing from people oh, you've got to be my friend, erica I saw you post on social media that you're open to work, that you're looking for the next opportunity, and I thought to myself wow, I've actually never seen anyone in ministry do that, and so I'm curious what made you do that and what is the response? Been Sure. 13:48 - Speaker 1 So I did question myself. I'm like, is this too bold? I am a very bold leader, but I said to my husband normally my Czech person, my soundboard I was like, is this too? I've met so many amazing people in the city that are doing such great work and have been able to link arms with them in various seasons and different ways, and a lot of them have become dear friends and so for me I'm like man, I know these. It's kind of like New York City is so huge, but in the context of New York City, ministry-wise we really are a small family and there's so much overlap. If you spent any amount of time getting to know ministry leaders in the city, you're like oh yeah, that's my friend, that's my—. 14:42 - Speaker 3 Yeah, when you walked in here, it was like oh, I know this person and this person and that person. 14:45 - Speaker 1 Yeah, 100%. So it's very much like that. So I was like well, I got to know about Faithfully during Movement Day and saw that that was a great way to utilize networking. So, through social media and also through Faithfully, I decided to post that and see what would happen in regards to engagement, and I've got a ton of just so many conversations with folks. It's been a lot of fun just even just unpacking. Hey, what's going on with this transition? Because it's a pretty significant one, because I've been around the Young Life space for so long and so I had a lot of, just a lot of fun conversations. And some of those things were like oh, I'm not sure if that's really a fit. Lots of people asking me to relocate. I'm like New York City is my heart, we're not going anywhere. So those kinds of things. 15:38 - Speaker 3 But yeah, lots of different things have actually come through that post. I think it's awesome and I think not every person in ministry is going to be in a position to be able to make that post. Maybe they haven't, you know, maybe they haven't left their organization or they haven't announced they're leaving and yet they're exploring different opportunities. But just what I love about what you did is you just instinctively knew the power of your network and you know, I hope I see other ministry leaders sort of follow suit and tap into the networks they've spent so many years building. Relationship in the kingdom and a ministry is so important and I think oftentimes we know that but don't necessarily know how to tap into the power of it, and that's why I love what you did. So you had folks come to you and say we have opportunities elsewhere outside of New York, but you weren't ready to do that. No, no. 16:28 Yeah, obviously you and your husband are co-pastoring a church. If there were a city that weren't New York City, if there were a place that was not New York City, where would that be for you? 16:39 - Speaker 1 Oh my gosh, that is a really hard question, because I really can't envision myself currently anywhere else, Because I'm like, if not New York, then where you know. Like I honestly don't think I would want to be anywhere else right now, and so that's why it was really easy for me to be like you know, I'll come visit. But hard pass. Like New York City is like it's where it's at, it's gripped my heart. It's had my heart for many, many years, even before I was living here, Just having the roots that I have with my family here and within NIAC. I did a lot of outreach ministry in the Bronx for several years, and so it's where I feel like the Lord has me and so I feel like I'm thriving in this space currently. 17:24 - Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. I've been here in the city for over 20 years with my husband and three kids, and there aren't that many of us who've been around that long. Yeah, but when it's your mission field, it's your mission field. It's where you've got to be, exactly. One more question for you. Sure, for folks out there who are maybe contemplating their next ministry assignment, who feel like the Lord may have something else for them, what advice would you have for them, based on what you've gone through so far? 17:55 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I would say, you know, the biggest challenge and thing that I would encourage others towards is don't be afraid of that weight, that in-between space, right, that in-between of just like not knowing. I think for so many of us, we want to know all of the things and in our current culture, everything is accessible to us. Of course, we can know whatever we want to know in a second. And so being asked to be in a space where you're just relying on the Lord's leading and His next step, that's literally been my prayer every day Okay, just show me the next step, and not thinking about, oh, I need to get to this particular destination, but just being in the in-between and being okay with that. 18:44 That the Lord is obviously Jehovah Jireh, he is our ultimate provider and he knows what you need more than you know what you need, right? So in that process, what is he trying to do in you, through you, as you wait, as you go? Obviously, most of us are always on the go as New Yorkers, but, that being said, just really sitting in that and trusting that the Lord has got you. So I mean, easier said than done. Definitely easier said than done. Definitely easier said than done. 19:14 Yes, I'm speaking to myself in this space. So just so you know. 19:19 - Speaker 3 But yeah, that's what I would say. It's the right advice for yourself and I think it's the right advice for other people. I love what you said being in the in-between. That is just so full of wisdom, Like the Lord has so much for us in that space, if we'll allow Him to speak it to us. 19:35 If we'll allow ourselves to sit in that space. Wow, I think that's just so full of wisdom, so powerful, so encouraging. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I have a feeling that we're going to this is not going to be our last conversation. I have a feeling we're going to be talking again and we're going to be following you on your journey, but I want to thank you for just sharing where you are. I think it's really courageous and powerful to share a little bit about yourself when you're in that space, in the in-between, yeah, and so grateful to see another woman that is in leadership in our city, in our, you know, doing kingdom work and so grateful for you. 20:07 - Speaker 1 Thank you, Thank you. 20:24 - Speaker 2 Erica, thank you for tuning in to the Faithly Stories podcast. We pray this episode gave you the encouragement you needed to continue on your journey. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. The Faithly digital platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the front lines of ministry on the Faithly Podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.