III: 2002--The Promised Land
Throughout most of 2001, and with increasing urgency, we had been looking and praying for more space, and morning space. So frustrating was our search that we had begun to abandon our hopes for morning space altogether. Additional space at almost any time of day was proving equally difficult. When Charlie Drew revisited Union Theological Seminary, bracing himself for another no, he was astonished to learn that the James Chapel (seating 250), together with two classrooms and a storage closet, was available for eight hours every Sunday.

Leadership Development
What we had called our "tabernacling period" ended in February 2002 when we began regular Sunday morning worship at Union. With room to grow we began to focus our attention especially on leadership development. About thirty leaders attended a daylong leadership retreat in February 2. In July we took on Scott Strickman as our first full-time intern. He helped us enormously in developing our mercy and home fellowship group ministry, and we provided him with a supervised pastoral internship as he prepared for ordination and sought to test his calling as an urban church planter. We also introduced "lay" leadership training during this period. In April and May we nominated candidates for our Session and our Emmanuel Mercy Team (our diaconal workers). They were trained through the fall, examined in January, and elected by the congregation on February 9. At that same meeting we voted to call Charlie Drew (hitherto the New York Metro Presbytery's appointee) as our pastor. With these developments we now had the makings of a permanent session (board of elders), thus qualifying us to become a full-fledged (or "particular") church. On February 23 our presbytery formally organized us as a PCA congregation.

Community and Prayer
monthly to hear about developments at EPC and to pray for the world, our city and our church. We made a fresh commitment in September to weekly prayer before worship and held a day of prayer in February (2003), in which thirty participated. Home fellowship groups continued to meet, as did their leaders with one another, directed by our intern. The spring retreat was, as had been requested the previous year, a two-day affair focusing on calling, and drew as large and

Reaching Out and Growing
With so much of our energy focused on leadership cultivation and preparation for particularization, we did not see much development in our vision for community impact during 2002. There were, however, a number of important initiatives. One was the opening of a weekly outreach Bible study for internationals--an encouraging beginning in our efforts to reach the thousands of overseas students in our neighborhood. A second was the development of a world-view course, offered on the Columbia campus for undergraduates. Put together by four Emmanuelites (three graduates of the University and a present graduate student), it aimed at helping Columbia undergraduates address the many faith-challenging questions that arise in the Contemporary Civilization course they must take in their second year. A third encouraging development during 2002 was the dramatic increase in our Mercy Fund giving (jumping from under $2000 in 2001 to nearly $8000 in 2002). Through this fund we were able to help people significantly who were struggling to make ends meet while searching for employment in our slowed economy. We also refined our process for addressing financial needs so as to make our decisions more clear, accountable, and fair. On another front, we instituted "Prayer Triage Teams", whose purpose was to provide prayer and (as appropriate) limited financial assistance after worship on Sundays.

A particularly notable opportunity came our way when we received a $20,000 grant to assist people from our neighborhood who had been adversely affected by 9/11. What follows appeared in our newsletter:

After church on Sunday, September 8, a number of us had the privilege of dining with some 9/11 victims whom we have been able to help with the grantÉ. One was an experienced actress ("Law and Order", commercials, and a one woman show) whose livelihood evaporated with the catastrophic falling off of entertainment revenues in New York after the attack.

Another was "George", a 65-year-old gentleman who has lived in our neighborhood for forty years. George is a hard-working small business entrepreneur who had just sunk $100,000s into a viable high-tech venture when the terrorists struck. "Within 24 hours," he said, "I knew I was ruined--dead in the water; venture capital was no where to be found, my personal investment gone." By January George was facing eviction from four months' back-rent. He was so despondent that he was seriously contemplating suicide: "The bridge began to look very good to me." Government agencies, claiming that he did not live near enough to Ground Zero, refused to help him. In fact they treated him with disdain and mistrust--"like a criminal" is the language he used as he told his story (this attitude eventually changed, but it took another six months). Some time in January George met Sue (the Emmanuel Church person who was administering our grant), told his story, and received some substantial help. The combined assistance from us, a relief agency, and a New York law firm (who freely took on all George's legal issues) lifted George and his company out of deep distress. Though he is still not completely out of the woods--he still cannot go down to the site of the attack--his situation is much better. As George, with thankful tears, told us his story, I was deeply moved by two thoughts: (1) Jesus, the Lord of our city, had shown great kindness to this man; and (2) Jesus had graciously permitted our little church to be one of the conduits of that kindness. George has worshipped at EPC a few times. It is always good to see him and it is a joy to have partnered with our Lord in a demonstration of the sort of "no-strings-attached" love with which he loves us. Please pray for many such demonstrations in our great city.

We also continued to see people come to Christ. The following excerpt from our December newsletter tells some of the stories:

The week before Thanksgiving a Barnard senior came to see me. From an unchurched background (she described her parents as lapsed Catholics), she told me that a college friend had brought her to Emmanuel last spring. She had left worship unimpressed, but for some strange reason found herself returning repeatedly this fall. To paraphrase her remarks: "Something very strange has begun to happen to me in worship. I find myself believing in God, even loving him. I almost feel guilty about it because so many of my friends still don't. What's going on?" I told her that she has experienced the mystery of spiritual rebirth.

There are other stories like this. About a month ago, stirred deeply as one of our members (presently auditioning for the New York Philharmonic) played for the offertory the slow movement from a Mozart bassoon concerto, a young person gave his life over to Christ. Around that time a consultant (born in America to Buddhist parents) who had been worshipping with us for a number of weeks prayed with me in a similar way following the service.