NYC’s Surprising Openness to the Gospel - Guy Wasko | Faithly Podcast

A deep sense of calling is really important and that especially applies to New York City But I would just say like in general anybody trying to be obedient to the to the will of God in their lives needs to Need to love where they live and have a deep calling a sense of conviction that they're living in the right place Not just out of convenience or not even just to be close to family those are important things But genuinely because I believe they're supposed to be where they are This is the Faithly podcast Welcome to the Faithly podcast. I'm joined today by Guy Wasco who has spent years Faithfully investing in the spiritual lives of people in New York City as the executive director of four NYC Guy is deeply committed to seeing the church United and activated for the good of New York City Guy, I am really grateful to have you here with us today. Yeah, thanks Alicia. What an honor So guy for those who may not know you yet Can you share a little bit about your story and how you got started in ministry? Yeah, sure. I mean, I think it's really fascinating to Consider everybody's journey and like when we meet people What we're seeing isn't the whole picture right so just being aware of the weight and beauty and joy of Everybody's story regardless of who they are and how they look on the outside So for me, what you don't know is that I can't I come from a broken family my parents divorced when I was three and a half Christian family But still that separation and brokenness is a part of my the very early beginning for me And I know you're not asking me to go all the way through like a historical narrative here Every detail and when I was five no But because I was raised into Christian family, but had this sense of brokenness. I was an incredibly rebellious kid and Ultimately, my mom made an appointment for me to meet with the pastor of our church where we were attending at the time and In that meeting I gave my life to Jesus and I was nine and then at 12 I was called to ministry and so for the rest of my young adult adolescent College years. I knew I was preparing for a life of vocational ministry and that looked like Bible college and seminarian grad school and then youth ministry for a long time and then ultimately Moved to the lower east side of Manhattan in 2009 to plant the church. Wow a call to ministry at 12 years That's pretty rare. It is rare. I interview a lot of ministry leaders and I would say that that is an early call Yeah, can you tell us a little bit more? Well, sure It's one of those things where like it feels kind of cliche Alicia, but um, we don't get to choose these things. I'm in a Pew with my entire family on a Thursday night at Skycris Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida and as a Baptist church We have an annual revival. It's on the calendar We know when the Holy Spirit is going to show up, right? So that's what we're doing We're running the Baptist play with revivals and I'm a little tongue and cheek here But it was a beautiful Experience and I think it's a valuable experience to contend for the presence of God So it's a Thursday night this guest preacher is in town doing his thing and of course out of all the books of the Bible What is he preaching out of the book of Jonah? So the very first night I here as clearly as you and I are talking right now the Lord say I want you to give your life to full-time vocational ministry and I'm like That's cool. I'm gonna be a cop. I'm gonna be a firefighter. I'm 12. What is it? You know, I'm gonna be a professional baseball player But the Lord was like no, I want you to be in ministry. So I was like cool. Well, let's talk tomorrow So because it's a revival service. It's like a camp meeting every night for the Thursday, Friday, Saturday Alicia, this is happening every evening And every time I say the same thing to the Lord. I'm just like no, I'm good so finally on the last service someday night I Make a deal with the Lord and I was like listen if you peep up and if you speak up again, then I'm in I'll do it and Sure enough, that's what happened. I'm sitting in the pew. I'm on the end and I feel like the Lord is just speaking to me Like directly to my heart in a way that I can hear and I know that it's his voice And I was like okay, so without telling my mom and dad without telling anybody else I pop up during the altar call walk down front tell Bob Adams the pastor of our church I'm guy. I'm with this family. He's like I know who you are He's like I think God's calling me the ministry He turns me around in front of the entire church and says this is guy is family sitting there He's just given his life to full-time vocational ministry. Wow. That's what that's how it happened That's incredible. Okay, so age 12. Yeah Called a ministry in Florida. How did you find yourself in New York City? So I mean, I think the way that a lot of people do you you try to say God This is my life my life isn't actually yours. I want to be obedient to you and so you end up Making the next decision that's in front of you and that leads you to the next thing and it introduces you to a whole new world A whole new network new people in relationships and one of the things that's interesting is in college in undergrad in Georgia I had the chance to do four years at this beautiful small Bible college called to coalfalls and In 1997 I met an Australian who had just moved to New York named John Tyson and John met his wife Christy and they took off and started their lives I met my wife Rebecca and we kind of launched off in our lives But years later God would bring us back together John Tyson and myself in ministry in a couple of different expressions across the country and then ultimately Led to the invitation to move to New York City first in 2006 and that timing wasn't quite right for my family and I But then eventually in 2009 to plant with Trinity Grace, which what was Trinity Grace at the time? Again, our parish was in these village. So from Florida a Couple of different places in between and then ultimately the Lower East side because of relationship and isn't that how God works is through It's three relationship. That's right. Wow. So okay. You planted on the Lower East side in 2009 What was there a defining moment for you when New York City became not just this place where you were planting, but where you were really called to song Yeah, like I think like everybody who's visited New York or lives in the country anywhere else And like they want to go visit be a tourist so that happened for me a couple of times one time in particular I was here leading a short-term missions trip as a youth pastor and I remember being in a part of the city in Lower Manhattan thinking This this entire place is fascinating to me I love the energy and the culture and the diversity and the pace like all these things that are true of New York And and I thought I couldn't live in this neighborhood But I think I could live in New York and that was in 2004. So then fast forward all these years We're having these conversations with John and the team at Trinity Grace about New York City and these different opportunities And it was a neat idea and again, we said no like I said in 2006 We said no so wasn't quite there in our bones yet in our heart But in 2009 when we were visiting the city with the Trinity Grace team and John and Christie we walked through the East Village for the very first time I'd heard about the neighborhood. I saw rent on Broadway. Like there's familiarity But until you see a place and you're breathing its air you're walking its streets. You don't really know it quite yet And I remember that very first time John and Christie brought my wife and I Rebecca through Tomkin Square Park And John asked us if we were being called if God was calling us to care for the spiritual climate of that neighborhood And I remember just being welled up with emotion and a deep sense of conviction that that was already my burden That that was something I was going to put on like I put the shirt on this was like Part of who I am, but also part of who God's calling us to be So I would say February of 2009 was the moment when we felt burdened for The spiritual climate and responsibility of the East Village Wow, and so it's almost 20 years later You're in the wild By the way like as you're as you're sharing your story I can't help but feel like I've been living like a parallel life next to you I came to the city in 04 And lots of things have happened to me in the last 20 plus years here in New York City It's not been a straight line lots of bumps in the road. Yes, right? New York City has a way of doing that to you When you look back at all this time that you've been serving here in New York What has shaped you what seasons what challenges Yeah, I mean which one hasn't right? I mean, I think when you first move here from if you're not from New York City And you move here or to any place you're trying to figure out what the narrative of the city is And the bigger the city or the more impressive the location the more there's probably opportunity for change And for there to be a sense of dissonance and so I think One of the things that helped us tremendously was moving to New York with a deep sense of like I'm moving here as a missionary not like somebody who's got it figured out And so that those early days like you're trying to figure out how to dress and why do people walk this way and how do you have many Roles of toilet paper can you buy it a time because you live in a 630 square foot apartment with five other humans like there's all those sort of dynamics but There were so many beautiful stories where God provided for us out of nowhere And we really didn't I mean even finding our first apartment at least we hadn't even moved here yet And we needed $9,000 to be able to put first last and and and a security deposit down And I flew here with a plain voucher and an invitation from a friend to sleep on a couch That's all we had so I could get here and get back that's it My wife was like why are you going to New York right now? We don't have any money. I was like we need a place to live So while I was on that trip through three separate people God gave us the money to be able to get our first apartment And there's been multiple moments like that over the last almost 17 years What we've lived here where God has just met the need in incredible ways But there's also another moment where it's not just like There's highs and lows of course And I wish we had the time to talk about all of them for both of us But one of the lows was I remember a really dark moment The church was established we were running everything was going kind of fine or whatever But I remember just feeling really heavy and stuck And I was like oh my gosh I called a friend I was describing to him what was going on in my heart and my soul and my brain like what I was thinking I was like am I depressed And it was like the first realization that I had like as a pastor as a human where I was like As I reflect on myself, I actually think I might be Stuck I need help. So reached out to some help and one of the exercises that ultimately I was led to is I sat down on my journal and I took account I wrote down every name of every person that it intersected our lives from 2009 to that point That was no longer in our lives anymore had moved on hey either left the plant or left the city And I wrote down over 32 names in that short period of time that we were like integrated doing life with planting And yet these people had come into our lives for a season and then left So one of the low moments for me was just sitting with the grief of the transient nature of the city Which which rewires your brain and how you relate to people how you build What you're asking of people what investment strategies look like both from human resource and and financial all of it it affects everything So I think that's a really unique dynamic of a New York City How do we build something for the long haul but also realize that people that you build with aren't going to go with you long term And even the people in your life right now today the chances are The revolving door is going to happen again And you might be the only one left or one of the few people left Yeah, that that really resonates with me as a 20 plus year New Yorker I think the way you articulated it is perfect the transient nature the grief and coming to terms with that and I think That's why I think more than anywhere else Folks who are called here to serve in New York City they have to really be called here because you face a lot of really unique challenges Yes I also want to go back to that great story you shared about not having any money but needing to find a place to live I mean the hand of God was on you and on that moment because I can tell you when I came to New York City I had a job in hand at Goldman Sachs And in order to rent my first department I still needed my mother to coast. I know that's right That's right. Start a life in New York City. You don't need help. Yeah need help and Lord was with you when he he started you here and that is so clear. Yeah, I love that. Yeah Okay, so You've spent in you you spend years now investing in The spiritual fabric of the city and you talked about the transient nature the revolving door For those like you guy who've been able to be rooted here and stay here What is it like what how are you able to do that and not burn out or move on like so many do Yeah, I think it's multifaceted Alicia. I think first of all a deep sense of calling is really important and that especially applies to New York City But I would just say like in general anybody trying to be obedient to the to the will of God in their lives needs to Need to love where they live and have a deep calling a sense of conviction that they're living in the right place Not just out of convenience or not even just to be close to family. Those are important things But genuinely because I believe they're supposed to be where they are The other thing I remember in the early days we had some mentors that told us in order to in order to sustain your love and passion for New York City You need to rest outside of New York City now. I'm an urban person. I love the city So there are days when I'll prayer walk or just take my day off and walk around the city or just be Just hang out in my local park or whatever and that's actually very refreshing for me But the principle of what our mentors were saying at the time really began to ring true Especially with a young family when we moved here My wife was pregnant with our youngest, but we already had a five-year-old and two-year-old And so we created little rhythms where we would just like pop up to the mall and naiac at the Palisades Parkway and And just like play like our suburban life in this giant mall just for a Saturday just for a few hours and that gave us a sense of like Recovery and rest and it's kind of recalibrating our rhythms and I would also add to that The the ability to not just rest for a day, but also have like good rhythms of Sabbath and good family rhythms and And good good like vacation time as well to the degree that somebody can afford it. So work hard play hard rest well strong conviction and then I think community is a huge part of it um Like people that are for the city that are running in the same direction, but maybe in different parts of the sort of the bigger picture and and people that you have full permission to be your full self, but also Be able to say like don't just hold me accountable to the times when I mess up Hold me accountable to the person that I've said I want to become. Yeah Oftentimes we think about accountability in terms of the negative I really screwed up in its confession and that's really important. That's part of it too But what if we had also people in our community that are like Reminding us of who we say we want to be or who God's called us to be and encouraging us to to move forward in that So genuine community I think is also Really important Well, so that's great segue into talking about unity within the church, which is something you've really leaned into Why does that matter so much in a city like New York City? Well, it matters no matter where we are for a lot of reasons But in particular, I want to start out by answering that question Theologically We see in the scriptures a very clear example of how a handful of apostles and disciples and Jesus himself inaugurated the local church and then went to different cities and established that church And what we have in that example both explicit and implicit is a city church Paul writes to the church in Romans in Rome. He writes to the church in Ephesus He doesn't write to first Baptist church of Macedonia There's there's not a specific expression even though there had to have been multiple house churches across these places Especially as time went on So there's a real sense of there's a church There's the big sea church in a locality Yes, and then we also double click on what Jesus says in John 17 and we have a very clear understanding way before there was denominations and local churches Uh, and the expansive movement of the church across the globe Jesus says would you be one God you praise father would you make our church your church your people one as we are one And then there's a there's a promise attached to that prayer That is that if the church is one then the world will know that God is love and that God is one So there's an apologetic to church unity and then there's the theological construct construct which we obviously didn't spend a ton of time on But the other element is uh is practical You've got um this entire city There's no way that any one church can accomplish it So we have got all these different expressions and yet we're all still part of the same story and the same family of God And we need help i just met with a church planter recently and um he was just expressing how sometimes he doesn't know where to go He doesn't know who to ask he doesn't know um who like who to turn to is this a good idea or a bad idea Should I try this strategy has this worked before right and if we're in community with one another In the in the church space across the city then we can actually avoid some of the dumbtacks We can be more effective and we can destroy the idol of competition And and comparison and actually collaborate together So that leads me to the final piece. It's not just the logical. It's not just practical But I think it's more impactful. I think we can do more together like what's that old? I think it's an african proverb that says if you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together And I wish I could attribute that to the right uh the right source at this point but Regardless of who said that I think that proverb brings true Well, so that proverb would be the perfect motto for for NYC Yeah Well, so let's talk about for NYC um for folks who may not be familiar with it What is it how did they get started? Yeah, for so those are two different questions For NYC sits in the space of what's called a city gospel movement Which essentially is a is an organizing principle and a body of work here in the us. It goes about 30 40 years back But essentially it argues that somebody needs to wake up in the morning thinking about church unity and leader health in in a particular locality That pastoring is really beautiful. It's an important profession of occasion But most of the time pastors are very busy and have a lot of pressure on their plates and they're very focused on Parts of a pest in Ephesians 4 right Paul says he's given offices the Lord Jesus Christ has given offices to the local church Apostles prophets evangelist Shepherds and teachers Mike's experience most pastors are Shepard teacher or evangelist and but that leaves out the prophetic and the apostolic elements within the local church community So in a way Foreign NYC and all city gospel movements create a platform so that all five offices can exist and live At least within the larger church ecosystem So foreign NYC exists specifically to catalyze city gospel movement in New York City By equipping resilient leaders by uniting the church big sea church across all fibers More specifically in local neighborhoods. That's a strategy piece And then finally catalyze city gospel movement by accelerating mission what we understand is all these resources human capital As well as financial are stuck their stagnant they're in ivory towers and they're not accessible But so how do we find release valves and get those resources out into the larger ecosystem So that's part of my job wake up in the morning create the architecture or the banks of the river so that these three things can happen So then the mission of God can accelerate that's the water in the river that's the The the mission of of foreign NYC and how long ago dead foreign NYC began So officially we started in October of 24 as an idea it was kind of germinating behind the scenes or underground for about a year before that But I've been in the citywide movement space since 2012 or so and then started a network in the East Village where I planted the church In 2010 so network movement on a local level in 2010 some larger citywide stuff 2014 through 2019 and now this official role Uh with foreign NYC you've been building up to this moment for a long time the Lord has been preparing me and I've been lucky enough Um to have good people and advice and mentors and to say yes along the way yeah amazing Well, so in the last couple of years since four NYC has officially begun um Can you share any stories with us that stand out about what happens when you unlock things from ivory towers when Leaders don't operate in silos Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm immediately drawn back to the way the lorry side pastor's collaborative started We're a couple of older pastors in the neighborhood with credibility and reputation dare to partner with me a brand new newcomer And create what we eventually called the lorry side pastor's collaborative we met once so Once a month for lunch and prayer devotional nobody was allowed to celebrate anything uh not celebrate um promote their own agenda or a special programs But out of relationship Alicia over time what happened is we built trust and because we had trust We were able to say hey, would you want to partner together and one pastor who maybe had um a baptismal would Would allow another church plant to use their Baptistry for special services or we preach for each other and share pulpits or we would go on mission together in the neighborhood So this is a really very specific example Then I think about hurricane sandy hitting in 2012 if you remember all of lower Manhattan was without power for six straight days I remember I was like I am legend or something it was it was very disorienting But the local church stood up rose to the occasion and met the needs of our neighbors in the lorry side Little did we know we were running the largest hurricane relief site in all of New York City From the city to salvation army to unitedway no no matter who it was the church and the lorry side was running the largest hurricane Relief site we were able to mobilize because of network because of relationship and church unity So we ended up serving over 6,000 people a day hot meals We had 500 volunteers a day from every church and neighborhood across the city And we were able to serve and meet the needs of our neighbors that way So that's that's some of the stories More recently foreign YC we released this Data set through barner called state of the city and you can find out on our website But one of the results or outcomes of that Alicia of that project was an emphasis on um mental health and what we know from The research and also just our own lives is that a majority of people today struggle with mental health realities and depression loneliness and anxiety among the top three from this most recent research and in particular 64% of all Gen Z New Yorkers struggle weekly with anxiety depression and loneliness So a church plant in New York heard this data reorganize their entire semester programming got their Gen Z Uh congregants involved created a six eight-week small group study using therapy and the Bible and their Access that they had to professionals created this this eight-week program Advertise it promoted it shared it with their friends and they had the biggest most successful Small group experience the church had in its young existence because they got the data They wanted to meet the needs of their local community They empowered their people their own people and they created a brand new program simply because of this information That foreign YC had access to and then gave away So that's another that's one example some other examples are I get to take pastors and and Christian leaders away on retreats every year And so we take about 40 pastors away And they get to recover their soul and take a deep breath and be in God's country and Wyoming and Have some fun and not have the pressure of the city and also Get kind of recharged and and regroup for ministry as well And those are just a couple of Stories that come to mind of the top of the head. Well, that's so great Well, so um for um pastors and other ministry leaders who aren't involved in for NYC yet and they want to be How can they take that first step? The easiest thing to do is just to go to our website which is exactly our name f-o-r.nyc And subscribe to the email and this sounds like a commercial and I hate I hate that it sounds this way or at least I don't want it to come across this way But the easiest way to get involved is to sign up for our emails and then to look for or start a network in your neighborhood It's one thing for me to be able to say from a citywide perspective like here's our big initiative And we're gonna go after these six things and everybody rally around what I say But the truth of the matter is I'm not on the block in Fordham or Benson Hurst or on the North Shore Like if you're a pastor in these communities You know best and have access to the people that do know best So my advice to you is figure out what network and and unity looks like in your neighborhood They go on a on a little adventure to figure out what the biggest needs are in your community And then begin to address them and in a way you're living up the mission of foreign NYC Whether you feel connected to us or not Sign up for an email follow us along show up to our stuff, but just do the work Just just just pick your head up Maybe just like if every pastor could spend five percent of their Work life focused on church unity. I think it would completely change the landscape of New York City Um guy something you just said really Uh got me really excited because I think when people hear about something like for NYC and they don't Understand what a city gospel movement is I think they begin to wonder is this kind of like a denomination? I'm already part of a denomination. Got this network thing over here Is this a collective like I don't know like what what what am I obligated to bring to the table But what I heard you very clearly say is You pastor go start something you go start a network In your neighborhood and we'll give you tools and resources and a touchpoint right um to help you get going and We'll put you in touch with others who are running networks. You'll get a state of the city every year with real data to Few all the work you're doing in your neighborhood, but You know pastors are builders and they're starters and I think they want Should be empowered to do something like this. What I just heard from you is that's exactly what you want them to do Yeah, we I mean we were talking about this earlier There's this there's an assumption that New Yorkers are Uh, not just professional, but they don't want to be told what to do and there's probably a New Yorker like that out there more than one what in my experience As pastors as leaders we want to know that we're being faithful. We want to know that we're being practical We want to know that we're being effective and uh in the space of ministry and network stuff one of the things that I've found to be true and we have some data on this as well Is Christian pastors and leaders want to know that they're being effective. They want to be informed They want to see the fruit, but they also want to help They want help and so I we want to create resources that empower the local church as the hero in their communities Not foreign YC almost think about it like um like an operating system You're really grateful to have your android or iphone apple device But you're not really thinking often about the software that's running behind the scene to make your apps work or to make it turn on so you can send that text message But that's kind of what foreign YC can be is this operating system behind the scenes That's coming alongside of both pastors Christian leaders and the local church to make it all go better more effective Further and deeper with with better with better outcomes. Yeah, that's so good So guy I think um as you talk about unity and doing things with others something that strikes me is that You're not trying to do this on your own. No, right like you're not trying to do for NYC On your own your part of city leaders collective. Yes, which helps to empower city gospel movements all over all over the globe actually Well tell tell us more about that Yeah, it's a really beautiful thing city leaders collective was sort of by three people one of whom is Eric Swanson Who's been in the game for a really a long time. He's in his seventies He's kind of like the grandfather of this space Um, and he wouldn't mind me saying that and if he were sitting here, I'd call him an old man too But Eric's an amazing man so Eric and Rob Kelly and Daria have created this platform And it's an equipping content driven strategy and platform But also it's community and it is a space where people like me across the country And in some cases across the globe can come together not just for content and best practices But for actual relationship and so some of my one of my ways to feel not alone in this work Isn't just by being connected to a bunch of amazing pastors in the city It also like my community I was mentioning before but also within the larger city movement space So Eddie Copeland down in South Florida or my friend Nick Nye and Columbus or Eric or Rob like I mentioned Daria and others So One of the really cool things about this work though is that as things mature and progress We also realize there's more opportunity and as consummate builders and starters We realize there's an opportunity to create a brand new national platform that city leaders collective and the city gospel movement folks at the plow organization in Portland Haven't quite been able to meet by themselves So even on a national level Alicia what we're doing is creating a brand new national coalition called the every city coalition And that's essentially a brand new space where we're raising new capital We're clarifying what we do We're adding credibility to this work and we're also doing it together So we're literally living out the embodiment of collective impact and unity on the national platform now Not just city leaders collective and city gospel movements over here and all that little different sort of disparate or disconnected platforms, which is really exciting wow So we have a lot of ministry leaders who are not just in New York City, but they're all over sure if they want to get If they if they are really excited to hear about the work you're doing here in New York City They want to do something similar in a different city They want to be plugged in nationally. How do they get started? Yeah, that's a great question We're tracking about 60 to 100 city gospel movements across the country and in various forms of sophistication or development So you're not alone if somebody's listening to this as someone's upon this this message and Conversation is like I want to be a part of that there might be one in your city already or god might be putting it in your heart in their heart to To steward something like this So right now the ecc every city coalition doesn't have its own permanent website up yet But be on the lookout for that I would say track any of the city gospel movements across the country that you're aware of I mentioned South Florida Charlotte has one called for Charlotte Tucson Orange County Portland Oregon Chicago together Chicago obviously foreign YC any of our local websites are going to promote that information And I can tell you every city coalition national conversation conference the very first one Is October 13 through 16? I think that's a Monday through Friday. I think but we can double check um In Washington DC and that's going to be an in-person experience and that experience especially is built for donors practitioners and anybody who's interested in learning more about city gospel movement It's going to be in that space in DC at the museum of the bible That that week of I think those dates are right but sometime in there in that time frame in October So the internet is a fascinating place if you google that I'm sure at some point in the near future That information will be available The internet is a great place Thank you guy really exciting stuff Let's bring it back to New York City as we close. Yeah You have a really unique vantage point into what's going on here in New York City as you look across The landscape what is giving you the most hope right now Yeah, it's a great question Alicia. I think the the the fact that the church is still here after all these years is really hopeful It gives us a ton of hope. We stand on this on the shoulders of giants men and women who have gone before us Stewarding the kingdom of God And our research shows that um New York City is obviously not perfect the Harvard humans the Harvard human flourishing project It's just longitudinal research and as a result they came to the conclusion that faith is a critical part of what it means for any human being to fully be alive to flourish And then they created a scale across those metrics to be able to measure how healthy Is a community as city or a person and based on the research both that we did with Harvard and with Barna Foreign why see you can now say The number the health number for New Yorkers is 68 out of 100 So if this was a collegiate class we'd be failing But it's also better than if it were 38 So what that tells me is across the human flourishing project New York is doing pretty good, but we've got a lot of room for improvement And by the way the strongest number out of all the different components that that research project measures faith is the strongest one So what gives me help about the church and faith in New York City in the future? So faith is trending up New York City is predominantly showing as an open to the gospel Landscape which is very unique for this time and I don't know the last time that that's been true of New York Maybe the Fulton Street revival maybe um, and so there's a tremendous opportunity here and an openness our research also shows Alicia that the average unchurched New Yorker Has a positive perspective of the local church So what that tells me is the church and and pastors and anybody of faith can move from a defensive posture to an opening curious welcoming posture So what gives me help is the landscape is shifting to be more open But that's an opportunity to any person of faith and any church in the city to go What are the needs of my community? How can we increase the perception of our local community especially the unchurch? How can we be curious and And invite people in to create a space of belonging a place of purpose and a place of engagement So how is the church also solving the problems of their local community? So that's gives me a tremendous amount of hope We're being invited. It's a new opportunity. Today is a brand new opportunity for the Church of New York to step into that space and to be good news to all people Oh, that's so good guy. Thank you. I'm stirred up. I'm excited. I'm going to get out there Yes, you know, I I will say that um again being a 20 plus year New Yorker Um, sometimes you hear data like that and it's just data. Yeah, right? Yeah But I can say that in my conversations with friends and neighbors that that data I would agree with that. Yeah, it feels real doesn't it does it feels real in just my personal conversations and friendships and relationships It is a very exciting time to be doing ministry in New York City Thank you guy for everything that you're doing it for NYC and I can't wait to see the impact it will continue to have over the years Thank you, Alicia