Day 2: Building connections with the city and my fellow staff

I spent much of today trying to let it sink in that I will be living in New York for the next 6 weeks. The staff here are so passionate about the people knowing Christ. This morning the staff for each team met in a Campus Crusade office in Manhattan. Many ministries are located here and share a floor in the same building. It was exciting to be surrounded by Christian Embassy (an organization working with diplomats, Models for Christ (works with the modeling industry), Student Venture (works with high school kids), Priority Associates (a ministry for busyness professionals), The campus ministry, and a Neighborhood ministry that trains churches for ministry and shows the Jesus films outside in ethnic neighborhoods around the 5 boroughs. While we were there an English class was being held for diplomats wives in the next room.
The staff for the project are diverse too. There are 4 tracks that students could choose from this summer: Campus, Arts, Inner City, Epic (a contextualized ministry to reach Asian Americans). Next Tuesday around 115 students will be arriving to join us in each of these ministries. Our God is a God of color and creativity, in New York you can see a lot of the expression of this characteristic! We were reminded this morning that each person we see is an image barer of Christ. He loves each individual and died so that they might know Him.
As we heard the history of the city and it's development, explored some of the neighborhoods this afternoon, spent time getting to know the other staff, and went shopping to get things for our apartment at Kmart off Time's Square, I was increasingly impressed that the Lord has something special in store for this summer. There are many reasons I ended up here, but the real reason is still untapped. I believe that God is going to show me a broader view of Him then I have ever seen and I am beginning to feel like Moses at the burning bush. I pray that when I leave my apartment that my face glows in a way that brings light and a reflection of Christ to all we meet.