Empire State of Mind

This is an article I wrote that will appear in a Grace Communion International publication in June . . .

I am not surprised that my husband became a church planter.  Dishon was giving the sermonette on youth day when I met him.  What does surprise me is that I don’t live in Brooklyn.  I am a Brooklyn girl, through and through.  Ask anyone who knows me, or look at the wallpaper on my Twitter page.  We live outside of Boston, but unlike my husband, I am not a Red Sox fan, and when we went to see the Celtics play the Brooklyn Nets in a pre-season game, I had my Brooklyn T-shirt on under my jacket (which I never unzipped, because Boston fans can be a bit intense).  Being from Brooklyn, and a product of the Hip Hop generation, Jay Z’s Empire State of Mind song (the clean version) is like my anthem.

After the Worldwide Church of God underwent major doctrinal shifts in the mid-90s, Dishon and I wanted to learn more about mainstream Christianity.  We belonged to a Baptist church for a while, and we were heavily involved in ministry.  Once we found out we were pregnant with Serena, we sought out a more multicultural church experience.  We briefly tried a megachurch, but at the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, it was just too big.  We spent seven years in a Pentecostal church in Boston, where Dishon served as the Youth Pastor.  We moved from Boston to Randolph, and around the same time, a friend posted a link to Called to Be Free on Facebook, so we began to look into Trinitarian theology.  It was like finding the perfect wedding dress, and in a way, like coming home. 

Being a church planting family has been a very interesting journey.  From 2010-2012, I worked as a Literacy Coach and then K-5 ELA Director in our town, which is where we’re planting.  I felt more connected to the community then, because I saw the faces of the children we wanted to reach every day.  My position was cut last year, however, and now I’m working as the Curriculum and Instruction Director for a Boston based nonprofit organization.  It takes more creativity to stay connected, so, for example, I take advantage of the time we spend sitting next to other parents at Cairo’s basketball games and participating in our town’s Amazing Race.  I also continue to serve on the Recreation Board and the Board of Trustees for our library. 

Maintaining balance is also challenging.  Until recently, we were meeting in our home, so our weekends have been packed with getting the house ready for church and hosting the meeting each Sunday. 

Dishon is a bivocational pastor, and he works from 10-6 downtown Boston, which enables him to take the kids to school, but it also means that he gets home after we’ve already had dinner, and he’s not as available as he’d like to be to help with afterschool activities.  Our weekends are so jam packed that doing “normal” things like having a sleepover are really difficult when our Sunday mornings are filled with getting ready for our celebration service. 

At the same time, church planting is very rewarding.  I read the local newspaper with a different eye as a planter, looking for opportunities to show love to our community.  We were able to host a college student from Korea during our celebration service when he was studying abroad in the Boston area.  Each time we have a community dinner, and I see people connecting meaningfully with people they never met before, it feels worthwhile.  Within the next few months, Dishon and I will be facilitating a series of marriage workshops for the community, and I look forward to seeing how God will reveal Himself there. 

As was the focus of Dishon’s sermonette the day we met, “. . . all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” I’d have to agree wholeheartedly.  I still have an Empire State of Mind, but it’s God’s Empire as we join in His mission, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.