Could this be the world's finest city?

It may seem strange to some, but I now love Newark, NJ.

Last week I led a group from our church up to Newark to join with a church called Comunidade Crista Presbiteriana (translated Christian Community Presbyterian Church). This began as a Portuguese-speaking church but now has services in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

Here are the three pastors who lead the respective services... Pastors Renato, Glauber, and Christian.


Last week they were getting our help for a Vacation Bible School that would reach out to kids not only from their own church but also kids from pretty unstable homes in the nearby projects.


We taught the Bible and about the Bible. We used my old church's giant Bible as a prop. We memorized verses. We gave them a place to be. We tried to be patient. We pointed to Jesus. We did all we could to show them love. We told them to please come back to the church anytime.


Incidentally, it's a church that plays very loud music.

Here's the team from our church, before we left:


And here's the team at the end of the week, with new friends:

Here's the big problem, though. No picture can capture the...
* Chaos
* Noise
* Intensity
* Insanity
* Hard work
* Love
* Joy

of the week.

So... I don't know what else to say.

When our week came to a close, no one wanted to leave Newark. Mainly because of all the new friends.

So hey, Brick City--we look forward to seeing you again soon!



(Thanks to James & Brittany for photos.)