Blog

Haitian Pastors Enter a New Era

Pastor Jean Baptiste Thomas has led Haitian work in New York City for more than 50 years now. As he moves into his retirement, the hallmark of his ministry--training leaders for the future--continues to influence future generations of pastors and churches.At a recent pastors meeting, the Haitian Pastors of MNYBA heard from their newly elected leaders, discussed the future of ministry with the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association, challenged each other to trust God to provide for their ministry needs, and planned training events for their people. They also heard an update from Joe HernandeRead More

A Transformational Church

"And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another" (2 Cor. 3:18).The Abundant Life Baptist Church of the Bronx hosted a Transformational Church training for its members recently. Pastor Opoku has led Abundant Life to dedicate itself to be an agent of transformation. Its goal? For believers to become more like Jesus, for the church to act more like the body of Christ, and for the community to reflect more of the Kingdom of GodRead More

Iron Sharpens Iron

"As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another" says Proverbs 27:17. At two recent events, MNYBA pastors put this into action. Four potential church planters (Two Hispanic, one Haitian, one Caucasian) benefitted from the counsel and wisdom of MNYBA pastors at a recent church planter assessment held in New Jersey. Coming together for two days at Maranatha Grace, Ft. Lee's new worship facilities (thank you, Won Kwak and MG!), these planters and wives worked together, preached, and presented their church planting plans to pastors and other seasoned church planters in oRead More

I'm All In, Pastor

After the NY Giants thrilling Super Bowl victory last week, players were asked numerous times, "What do you think was the key to victory?" In one form or another, the answer was, "We believe in each other. We trust each other. We didn't leave anything on the field," and so on. There was even one report that said that underneath their uniforms the players wore T-Shirts that read, ALL IN. I don't know if that is true or not, but it sure exemplifies the complete dedication a team must have to work together and succeed.I think it's the same in the church. Not that the succRead More

Next Generation Fellowship Begins

In response to a growing need to network English speaking pastors of established churches and new church plants, MNYBA has launched a new fellowship called "Next Generation". At its first meeting, 13 pastors attended, along with some MNYBA staff.Fellowship Groups are an important part of MNYBA. They provide encouragement, prayer support, and the sharing of resources, experience and counsel. This is the 8th Fellowship Group of MNYBA.I was particularly encouraged to see some pastors come that have not been at MNYBA events before. This just tells me that the neeed is there, the interestRead More

What Sponsor Churches Do Best

Queens Bible Church recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Through the years they had the opportunity to be the sponsoring church for new church plants. Currently, they are the sponsor church for our new Russian Church plant. It's no surprise that QBC has been an effective sponsor church these years. In their vision statement, displayed where everyone can see, QBC says it is committed to be a church of encouragers that pray, prepare, participate and provide support for church planting. Pastor Eric Bautista models this commitment by the ministry he provides church planters. As we grow Read More

Taking The Neighborhood Seriously

Christ Crucified Fellowship is a new church in northern Manhattan reaching out to the hip-hop culture of New York City. It is one example of a church that is taking its context seriously-in worship, in language, in ministry, CCF is doing everything in the language of the people. They now meet in a community center that has a boxing gym inside. On Sundays the church sets up for worship with the boxing ring and punching bags on the right. Rich Perez, church planter, takes the deep truths of Scripture and communicates them in the language of the streets.This should not surprise us! The Read More

I Can't Wait to Start This Church

Rev. Alix Larose is a man with a mission. He is the pastor of French Speaking Baptist Church of White Plains, a vibrant, growing church of 350+ people. They own a city block in White Plains, and will tear down a building on that block for their new church building. They are also eager to begin another church in New Windsor/Newburgh, across the Hudson River and north from where his church is. He has been training Jean Emile to be the church planter, along with his wife Marie. "I can't wait to start this new church," he told me. There are about 45 people who will form the core group foRead More

The Birth of a New Church

Nos reunimos en una casa en Westbury, Long Island. 16 personas. Oramos, cantamos, escuchamos la palabra de Dios. Nos comprometimos a la obra de la iglesia. Una nueva iglesia fue nacido.Te dare lo mejor de mi vidaTe dare lo mejor cada diaSera mucho mas que una cancionMi obediencia es mi mejor adoracion.We met in a house in Westbury, Long Island. 16 people. We prayed, we sang, we listened to the Word of God. We committed ourselves to the work of the church. A new church was born!Rev. Salomon Orellana is the pastor of Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor of Hempstead, a community near Westbury. HRead More

You Almost Need a Scorecard to Tell Who is Who

Chances are if you come by the MNYBA building you will not recognize many people. It's not because we're letting just anyone inside! It's because we're gathering together a staff that is helping us connect local churches for global impact.Brooke Keisling is here for two years as a USC2 missionary. She's got two primary assignments: she is working with our Spanish churches in children's ministry and helping MNYBA offer some basic services to our new church planters.Meredith Wadeley is here for 5 months as a semester missionary. Like Brooke, she has served in Spain working with inRead More