9/11: A decade later
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The date Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 is indelibly etched into the minds of anyone who lived through the horror and uncertainty of that day.
People around the world tuned in to see drama and death as 19 terrorists crashed two commercial airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and
one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth plane went down in Shanksville, Penn., as passengers tried to wrestle control of it from hijackers.
In the days following Sept. 11, Southeast mobilized with prayer and a special offering that totaled $485,000 to help victims of the attack.
Ten years later, those funds still are making a difference. Evil did not win, and God is bringing good out of the rubble.
On Sept. 10 and 11, Senior Minister Dave Stone will preach a special sermon, focused on New York, titled ‘Love Prevails.” Also that weekend, 9.11 percent of the offering
collected at the church’s three campuses will be donated to the Orchard Group, a church-planting organization with offices in New York City and North Chelmsford, Mass., that
works in the Northeastern portion of the United States.
Brent Storm, president of the church-planting organization called the Orchard Group, said the Love Prevails offering that will be taken in many Christian churches across the
country, will continue progress in new church plants and “forward thinking,” such as training urban pastors.
The landscape of New York has changed since 9/11.
The Orchard Group has planted 12 churches in New York City and another 24 in the Northeast corridor. Those churches, which reach 10,000 people each week, have baptized
about 2,000 people over the past decade. Before 9/11, just 1 percent of New Yorkers attended an evangelical church. Today 3 percent attend evangelical churches, and doors
continue to open.
But there is more to be done.
“Churches in New York City are making a mark on the community,” Storm said. “More people are coming to church and they are a stronger presence in the community, but I
believe the tipping point will happen when 10 to 15 percent of New Yorkers are involved in evangelical churches.”
Paul Williams, who was president of the Orchard Group on 9/11, has seen New York change in the last 10 years. It began as funds from Southeast and other churches across
the country gave New York pastors the opportunity to lift up the name of Jesus. Williams walked Manhattan streets with Stone to distribute money to shop owners, meet with
widows, school teachers and principals, firefighters and police officers.
Before the Orchard Group pastors wrote checks, they talked faith with recipients, and asked them how they were affected by 9/11. However, they gave freely, without regard to the
recipients’ faith background. What mattered was that the recipients had a need and Christians wanted to help. The memo line on each check read, “In Jesus’ name.”
Outreach propelled the Orchard Group into the spotlight as the story of Stone and the New York pastors made the front page of The New York Times on Dec. 1, 2001.
“We began to see God turning evil to good,” Williams said. “In addition to reaching out in New York, we saw young Christians from all over the country coming to New York
because they wanted to make a difference. The population of school-age children has grown 300 percent, and New York has become a great environment to plant churches.”
Southeast’s involvement with the Orchard Group didn’t begin with 9/11. For years, the church has supported the Orchard Group’s church plants. Short-term mission teams have
served in New York, Annapolis and Baltimore, and outreach continues, said Eugene DePorter, who leads U.S. Missions at Southeast.
New York City has been a major focus of the Orchard Group’s efforts. Southeast partnered with the organization to plant Forefront Christian Church on the east side of
Manhattan, Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue and Everyday Church in Inwood, which will launch this fall.
Paul Williams’ son, Jonathon Williams, will plant a church in Brooklyn in 2012. He is a third-generation urban church planter.
“Before 9/11, there was a sense that New York was invincible,” he said. “As everything was shaken with the attack, New Yorkers began to look at something beyond their jobs
and their success. They looked for hope, and they knew there had to be something more.”
Jonathon Williams said wounds from 9/11 are still raw.
“I believe the city is ripe for outreach,” Jonathon Williams said. “Sept. 11 opened a spiritual window in the city as people began asking questions, and it paved the way for church
planting and evangelism. The goal is to build a foundation that can never be destroyed.”
How to Pray
>Pray that hearts of people in New York City will be open to the Gospel.
>Pray for effective community outreach.
>Pray that that the community will be impacted by Christ.
>Pray for urban pastors.
>Pray for the Everyday Christian Church launch this fall in upper Manhattan.
>Pray for the Orchard Group.
>Pray for new leaders to plant churches in New York City.