An Update on New City
Posted by Nate Bush on Jul 27, 2010
I wrote the following article for my alma mater’s alumni magazine:
My church planting story begins with Florida Christian College. I was a student at the School of Visual Arts in Savannah, Georgia. It was 1996, the second semester of my freshman year when I started to read a lot. Camus’ The Stranger was the first in a series of books that plunged me into my very own existential crisis. I decided to attend Florida Christian College for one semester. Honestly, that semester I knew I would either embrace Jesus or leave him altogether. The kind and patient professors at the college wooed me with the gospel. Jesus called me into ministry through the college, and ultimately called me to plant a new church in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After graduation I spent 13 years in two South Florida youth ministries. I witnessed exponential growth in the youth ministries of First Christian Church in Boca Raton and at Community Christian Church in Fort Lauderdale. These two beautiful seasons of ministry growth created an appetite within me, a hunger to reproduce leaders and believers.
Scott Eynon, senior pastor at Community Christian Church in Fort Lauderdale, told me that he always wants to be in a place where he “can reach the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time.” That’s what I am hungry for. That is why I am in New Mexico today. New Mexico is lost. Less than 7 percent of New Mexicans attend an evangelical church on Sunday morning. In my city, the city Albuquerque, there are 800,000 people. This is a dark city in need of the light of Jesus. When I was in a dark place, God used Florida Christian College to shine the bright light of the gospel into my heart. It is that bright light that I hope to reflect in my city.
When my family and I moved to Albuquerque, we did not know one person in the entire city. We were moved here by particular verse of scripture, Matthew 6:10. It was clear that we were being called to pray for and create “heaven on earth” for others in Albuquerque. In January of this year we were able to gather 10 people in our living room for our first small group. We had 16 by February. On March 28 we had 40 at our first preview service. Since then we have been meeting weekly and growing primarily by word of mouth. We are in our fourth month, and we are now averaging about 60 people weekly. On Sunday, July 11 we had our first baptism service with two baptisms. At New City marriages are being mended, lives are being put back on track, souls are being saved, and all of this is the fruit of the gospel was planted in me at Florida Christian College.
We will officially launch New City Christian Church (www.newcityabq.org) on October 10, 2010. You can join the nation wide 10-10-10 initiative and mobilize your church, small group, or friends to support our work through using the tools provided at www.101010initiative.org/. On this site you can find a free sermon series, small group materials, and other resources to help you and your friends make a difference in Albuquerque, NM. We are planting New City Christian Church through partnerships with NewThing Network (www.newthing.org), Stadia (www.stadia.cc), Nexus (www.nexus.us), and Christian Church Starters (www.ccsnm.net). With your support we will be able to reach more people more quickly. Please consider becoming a monthly supporter of New City or taking up a special collection with your church or friends. Donations can be made online at www.newcityabq.org, or you can contact me at nate@newcityabq.org for more information. Thank you to Florida Christian College and her alumni for your support!
