We all know that beyond the amazing restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars of New York, every visiting traveler always seems to be drawn to the infamous Pizza and Hot dogs. And for under $20 you can have it all (three times over) in one evening … Feeling sick yet? This is only the beginning…

With our favorite pub, The Spotted Pig, having a long wait for a table of 8 (as expected one Friday night) our hungry troop ventured the streets of the West Village in search of immediate satisfaction for our empty bellies.

It wasn’t more than 2 blocks before we happened across Bleecker Street Pizza where huge slices of pepperoni and cheese pizzas were devoured for $3.00 a slice. And of course… we wanted more.

Continuing down Carmine St we were drawn to the smell of Joe’s Pizza (equally as satisfying) where we ate yet again.

Now having our fill of the savory we were, of course, in need of something sweet. Nothing better than a cookie spot on West 8th open till all hours of the morning, appropriately called Insomnia Cookies.

But on our way however was the conveniently positioned Gray’s Papaya on the corner of 6th and West 8th, calling our names. Can you imagine? Of course we couldn’t leave it out. Serving up the tastiest, cheapest hot dogs with their well known papaya juice (2 dogs + drink for $4.95), the combination of sauerkraut, onions and ketchup somehow turns this simple feed into something so much more that just a hot dog.

And now onto the last leg of the tour … we finally made it to Insomnia Cookies. A “must have” are the Smores Cookies ($2.25 each). Melt in your mouth, gooey on the inside, marshmallows and chocolate chunks distributed evenly into every single bite … You think this place couldn’t get better but they even have happy NYU students that deliver to your apartment when you order online!

Our evening could not have been captured more clearly in one sentence … “We started out going to the Spotted Pig and wound up eating like pigs instead” (tweeted by a food tour participant).

Andi Andrew preached “He Loves Us” at our November gathering at the Tribeca Cinemas.

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Well, we have one more monthly Gathering on Sunday Dec 12th, before we launch weekly services on Jan 23rd.

We’re excited to be using this landmark venue again after it was a huge success for us at our last Gathering.

Details:
* Tribeca Cinemas- 54 Varick St (cnr Canal St)
* Guest Lounge at 10am, kick off at 10.30am
* Right by the 1, 2, 3 and A, C, E lines, and near N, R - see map below for details

Liberty Church is not just an event or an institution. We are a community, a catalyst and a cause.

Hope to see you there!

You can RSVP below for more details via email.

Check out this video to find out more, get connected or be involved…

Plus please use the links below to help us spread the word!

Turning The Church Inside Out [ 36:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Paul Andrew preached “Turning the Church Inside Out” at our second gathering on October 10th 2010. This is a message at the very heart of Liberty Church - that our mandate is to turn the church inside out by “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry”.

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Autumn brings New York
a strange light.
It’s as if the sun is looking down upon the city
from the side,
as if we’re losing its favor somehow,
receiving a half-light instead,
all our sins coming due,

it is so beautiful.

There’s an American Elm close to seventh street
in Tompkins Square Park.
It has an ugly slant to its branches.
One side is proper and full,
the other, lobbed off either by saw or storm.
If it were a man,
his left arm would be cut off from his neck
to the middle of his ribs,

I had never noticed.

It’s the end of October and half its leaves have left,
bright and magical leaves that glow in your hand
like melting gold.
All day I’ve sat and watched the leaves fall,
gold rain on golden puddles,
children kicking them as they pass,
the smell bringing me back to the two Ash trees that would
litter our front yard with brown and red crisps,
all without being prompted by any cold changing cool,
simply shedding them because it was time;

never have I been so content.

This is my first true autumn in twenty-sevens years
and I’m glad.
Glad to see change come to this park,
glad for something new,
glad that age colors,
making death even beautiful

sometimes.

To think me an ambassador of the King
still fills me with disbelief.
To think that I’ve been made to win Him glory,
to win it by shedding my golden sin
more and more
until,
naked and shivering,
He coats me with a layer of snow
and awe
for all the world to see;

I am still learning.

I’m still learning to see the world as it should be,
to see it how it’ll one day become,
after the leaves are gone and the winter,
after the new buds break forth and we can all once again

rejoice. Rejoice that spring is here and that all things are new.

Not long ago, I would’ve seen the sitting away
of a day
to be such a waste.

I’m glad those days behind me now,
never to return.

(BA)

It’s happening… it’s really happening. “What?” you may ask. Acts chapter 2 is happening in our midst, in the lives of those that are gathering to be a part of Liberty Church. Just sit, ponder and read this for a moment:

Acts 2:42-47 - The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This verse is so significant for me, well really for Paul and I and the people that call Liberty Church home. I remember sitting back in Sydney before we made the big move to New York, praying and asking God what He wanted Liberty Church to look like and I was drawn to read the book of Acts. When I got to Acts 2, I was blown away, especially when it gets to the end of the chapter and pivots on the passage above. That sealed the deal for me and it has become part of the vision for Liberty Church. It’s meant to remain simple, beautiful just like this scripture is.

After reading this I began to dream about what it would look like when we got here and I literally could see in my mind’s eye people piling into our house eating meals, hanging out and living life together. I said to Paul, “We need to have family dinners on Sunday nights, open invitation to all that want to come even if it gets crazy.” And that is exactly what is taking place. Whether it’s 40 people busting out of our little Brooklyn brownstone one week or 10 people sitting around the table having great conversations the next, the family is building, lives are being connected to the Church, and the greatest movement on the planet that began in Acts is going strong here in New York and across the earth.

This is mind blowing for me because just a little over a year ago I had heard the “God whisper” in the midst of us spying out the land to see if NYC was where we were meant to come and plant our lives: “These people are your people”. That same week Paul heard from God “What would you give for a city?”. Fast forward just one year: and now every Sunday night we are sitting in a messy house (good mess of course) in the aftermath of a family dinner from people that are now “our people”. We have given everything to be here… time, talent, treasure… and it’s reaping a great reward… and that reward is family – an “Acts 2 church” in motion.

I am well aware that one of the primary things I am on this earth for is to cultivate and build a healthy family. My own physical family… Paul, Ezekiel, Jesse and Finley (plus probably one more because we’re crazy)… and the one that gathers within the Church. It causes me to come alive.

Liberty Church is, and always will be, a Church that consumes a lot of good food as an excuse to be with the people we love. It will be a place where needs are met and dreams are fulfilled. Where prayer is a foundation that will infiltrate our lives and miracles will in turn take place. We will not forsake the gathering together in unity, where the word of God will be taught and our God will be lifted up at the center or our worship.

Weekly we will gather and then send the “saints” out in full force to do the work of the ministry in their world. It will be a place where love, truth, and grace are all administered hand-in-hand. A place where we give and meet each others’ needs freely. It will be a house of salvation, a place where people find Jesus whether that’s in a church service on the weekend, or in the workplace where a friend has been lovingly building a bridge to Jesus…

It may be in the home of a friend, at Connect Group or in a conversation on the street, but Liberty Church will be a community where people are always welcomed home. And did I mention there would be food? Well… there will always be food, and a mess to clean up… but I am good with that. Really good with that. Because this is what family looks like.