PROVIDING CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR 30 KIDS

Angel Tree is a ministry that reaches out to children and families of inmates with the love of Christ. Through the purchase, wrapping, and delivering of gifts on behalf of their incarcerated parent, we get to be a part of not only delivering a message of love from parent to child, but also delivering the true meaning of Christmas - the good news of Jesus Christ.

We are SO EXCITED to have launched our involvement with Angel Tree this past weekend - first, at our Liberty Sisterhood Vintage Christmas Party on Friday night, and then at both our Tribeca and Union Square services this weekend. The response has already been overwhelming, and because of the big hearts of our church community, 30 kids will be feeling the love of not only their parent, but the love of Jesus Christ this holiday season.

This year through our new charitable organization “Liberty City”, Liberty Church is providing Christmas gifts to 30 children - ages 10 months to 18 years old - who don’t get to celebrate the holiday with a parent. Not only do we get to purchase gifts on behalf of the child’s parent in prison, but we also have the beautiful and unique opportunity to personally deliver these gifts as a group to the children. The names and ages of each child can be found on the Angel Tree displayed at both the Tribeca service and the Union Square service in the guest lounge. Each child has their own angel ornament with a personal message from their parent, and the parent’s suggestion for a gift.

This past weekend, before and after each service, our community gathered around the angel tree and chose ornaments with the names of the children they will buy gifts for. Because of the great response, we believe that each child we were assigned will be blessed with not just one gift, but two! The second gift every child receives is a gift from Liberty Church, so each child will know that not only is their parent thinking of him/her, but our Liberty communities are thinking of them as well.

If you haven’t yet signed up, but want to provide a special gift to one of our 30 children this Christmas, visit the guest lounge before or after services next weekend. You can sign up to join a delivery group as well, when we’ll take the gifts to the children. Unwrapped gifts should be brought to either morning or evening service on December 18th. Let’s make this Christmas unforgettable for these 30 kids!

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Post by: Chad & Shawna

All the latest from Liberty Church NYC. Liberty Church News Dec 4th | Liberty Church NYC | Paul & Andi Andrew | New York City

An update from Chad & Shawna:

This holiday season, The Bowery Mission was introduced to Liberty Church in a big way. We were so blown away by the outpouring of generosity that our community shared with those less fortunate.

Sunday morning, we wandered over to The Bowery Mission to introduce ourselves before heading to service at Tribeca. We let them know we expected to return later with food donations from both communities of our church. We didn’t know what that would look like, explaining that we had our first service as a church in January of this year and were still relatively new to New York City. They welcomed our church community and were grateful for our intention to help.

The Tribeca community brought enough bags of food and toiletries that we had a whole trunk full on our first delivery, and thanks to someone with a car, we were able to drive our donations over to the mission. With bags of everything from frozen vegetables, canned goods, and boxes of stuffing, to new underwear, shampoo, soap and razors, we returned to Bowery to unload our donations.

Immediately the kind gentlemen we met earlier in the morning came outside and started taking the big bags - we had about 13 - from the trunk. They were so grateful and surprised at how much we brought along with us. They were even more surprised when we told them we’d be back later in the evening after our night service at Union Square.

Unfortunately for us, we had no car later in the evening, and Union Square brought more than we could manage to walk with, which was amazing! It was exactly the problem we were hoping to have! We hailed down a cab and once again filled a trunk full of donations. A turkey, giant bags of macaroni and potatoes, socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste. When we arrived, we were asked to take our donations to the second door because we had too many bags and would block the main entrance. Another great problem to have!

As if two successful trips with trunks full of food and hygienic items wasn’t enough, we also had $250 cash given to donate to The Bowery Mission for Thanksgiving meals. $19.08 provides 12 Thanksgiving Meals at The Bowery Mission, so that $250 will provide 157 meals for the hungry in our city, alongside the 28 giant bags of food and hygienic items to be given away in their ‘blessing bags’.

We are so proud to be a part of this big-hearted church community. Andi left us with such a perfect message leading in to Thanksgiving week when she preached last Sunday on, “Being Grateful.”

We are so grateful for the food we have on our tables to share amongst and with friends and family. We are so grateful for a roof over our head, and a pillow under it. And we are also grateful for the Liberty Church community who joined together this past weekend to share gratitude and serve our community as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. THANK YOU.

Chad & Shawna

“And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1Thessalonians5:14-18 NKJV

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This week AM 570 WMCA Radio in New York interviewed our Lead Pastor, Paul Andrew, in their “Ministry Spotlight” program about Liberty Church.

Paul had a chance to share about how the church came to be, the DNA of our community and let people know about our launch of weekly services on Sunday Jan 23rd.

You can hear the interview here, or subscribe to our podcast to hear it and all the latest teaching from Liberty Church.

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Paul Andrew preached “Rest For Success” at our December Gathering at the Tribeca Cinemas on 12/12/10.

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

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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)