by Sam | Mar 5, 2014 | Inspiration, Reflection
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” – James 4:8 There are many great promises in the Bible, and this is definitely one of them. When we draw near to God, He promises to draw near to us. Can you imagine that? The Great Pursuer Himself desires to be pursued; so He invites us to come as close as we want. As we enter into the season of Lent, we want to be a people who desires to seek God and draw near to Him above all else. Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. What is Lent you ask? Lent is part of the liturgical calendar that marks the beginning of 40 days (46 if you include Sundays) until Good Friday and Easter Sunday While Lent doesn’t appear in Scripture, it has been a practice of believers for centuries. Forty days is a significant number because that’s how many days Jesus spent in the desert in preparation before His ministry began. Traditionally people have taken this time to prepare themselves through prayer, fasting, self-denial, and repentance Often times Lent is all about what we give up and our efforts to keep our promises. Yet Lent is more than having self-control and giving something up for the sake of giving something up, nor is it to try and appease God. Religion is man’s attempt to try to control God; to make an unpredictable God predictable based on our behaviors. People do this out of fear… fear of punishment or circumstances or of “missing out”, but we celebrate Lent out of love and devotion. Devotion...
by Sam | Feb 28, 2014 | Pursuitcast
We did it! We launched our very own podcast called, Pursuitcast. Although we just started, it’s already been an adventure full of fun and excitement. So far we released 2 episodes on our SoundCloud page (iTunes is in the works!). We had the privilege of interviewing some of the leading voices in our region about what God is doing in the Tri-state area. The first interview was with the worship pastor of The River, Andrew Meher, and the second was with director of Worship as 1, Sam Choi. We have many other awesome interviews lined up as well as sermons, roundtables, and much more, including giveaways! The mission behind Pursuitcast is that we will be able to share what God is doing in our midst and in our region to help listeners join in and partner with what God is already doing in their region and in their midst. Our vision is that this podcast will encourage, provoke, and stir hearts for revival. Pursuitcast is an extension of our ministry that we believe will really minister and bless the listeners. It is a way to go deeper with a wider audience, especially those who cannot physically attend any of our gatherings. Yet in order to keep moving forward in all that God is doing, we need your help! For instance SoundCloud puts a cap on how many minutes you can upload unless you upgrade to a Pro account. If you click this link, you can see that it costs $135 to upgrade. With just 2 episodes, we are almost maxed out on our upload limit. To help us continue...
by Sam | Feb 18, 2014 | Pursuitcast, Worship
The Bible says that the Father is looking for worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. I believe that God is truly raising up men and women who are lovers of His presence in these last days. These are the people of God who genuinely walk with Him daily. Without a doubt, one of those worshipers is Andrew Meher, who is currently serving as the worship pastor at The River. Andrew Meher & The River practicing for the Open Up the Roof release event This past Sunday I had a chance to sit down and talk with Andrew about worship, revival, and his new album, Open Up the Roof. It was an awesome time of just hearing his heart for the Lord and the region. Many times we want to have great songs rather than a great move of God. Yet we forget that every move of God births new creative expressions of who He is and what He is doing in the here and now. In a way these songs are markers of where we were and where we are going in the things of God. Whenever God moves, He births new anthems. And you definitely get a sense of that when you listen to Andrew’s new album. Interviewing Andrew for Pursuit NYC’s podcast Andrew’s new album will be coming out this Friday, February 21. There will be a special album release event and worship night coinciding with the release. For more information about this event, click the link posted above to be redirected to Andrew’s personal website You can hear more about his album and the rest of...
by Sam | Feb 13, 2014 | Events
These past three weeks were full of obstacles, opposition, last minute changes, and tons of snow (is it spring yet?). Through it all though, we were still able to successfully launch our Liftoff services in both New Jersey and New York City! We had over 20 young adults from all over the NYC Metropolitan area at each meeting . It was truly a time of powerful worship and intercession on behalf of our region. KCC Englewood @ 01/29/2014 In order to make both services happen, we had so many people step up and serve. From worship team to set up all the way to faithful prayer warriors, we can say that we are blessed by so many amazing people who share the same dream and vision for revival. Also we could not have had such a great time of seeking God’s presence without the help of local churches. A special thanks to KCC of Englewood and Little Flock Church of Queens, NY for opening up their facilities for us! Little Flock Church @ 02/12/2014 We are super encouraged by those who are willing to stand with us to see God do what only God can do. As we look forward to all that is ahead, we are full of excitement and expectancy. In every step of the way, we are in awe of His goodness and faithfulness! Stay tuned for more information on upcoming gatherings and events. Surely the best is yet to...
by Sam | Jan 31, 2014 | Reflection
“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.” – Galatians 5:4 So many times we associate the phrase “falling from grace” to a moral failure. Someone is caught in sin, makes a mistake, etc., and the next thing you know, “So-and-so falls from grace” is all over the news. It has become a headline we see way too often. It’s always tragic to see that happen. Yet the Bible does not consider someone failing morally to be the same thing as falling from grace (nor any sin for that matter). We only fall from grace when we try to earn God’s love, His favor, and His salvation. It’s never the “sinner” that falls from grace as much as it’s the self-righteous and proud. When our Christianity becomes about us, that’s when we start to fall. We fall from grace because we rely on our merits and efforts more than we do on the grace of God. Our Christianity isn’t based on our performance, but simply on the person of Christ. We can never make ourselves right with God. Galatians 2 says that if we can be made righteous by keeping the law, then Christ died for nothing. Yet it’s so easy to make it about discipline, duty, and what I am doing and not doing in the name of Jesus. Even when it comes to our identity, it’s much easier to find it in being a leader or a minister or even a Christian. But the truth is,...
