Life in the United States has been significantly different since the infamous attacks of 9/11. New York City is dramatically different from what it was prior to that Tuesday morning when terrorists maliciously flew American airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Now there is a cavernous hole where the WTC once dominated the Manhattan skyline. New Yorkers, once known for their brashness, may be more gentle and kind as a result of that fateful day in 2001. America’s largest city continues to remain high on the terrorists’ hit list. The upcoming Republican National Convention makes the city all the more vulnerable.

Many NYC police officers now carry new, high-powered weapons once reserved for elite units. The weapons include MP5 submachine guns and mini-14 rifles as well as standard-issue handguns. Under normal conditions Gotham has 40,000 police officers employed to keep the peace. That number is sure to swell as the Republican National Convention draws near.

 

Committed to the fight

It is in this kind of environment that Gary Frost fulfills God’s call upon his life as the new executive director of the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. He declares, “We live in a city that is rampant with paganism, humanism, materialism and hedonism, but just like Ephesus of old, New York City is inhabited by souls for whom Christ died. We must be committed to fight the opposition on bended knee and rescue the perishing with the gospel of atoning love.”

Prior to accepting his position with the MNYBA on February 16, Frost served almost three years at the North American Mission Board as vice president of the Strategic Partnership Group. His work with NAMB included overseeing diplomatic ministry offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, as well as Strategic Focus Cities.

Frost emphatically states, “I was not pushed from NAMB, but I was pulled to New York. I call it my September surprise.” It was in September of 2003 that God began to tug at Frost’s heart about the opportunity in Manhattan.

 

Having a global perspective

The scope of Frost’s ministry is mind-boggling. In a recent interview he pointed out that there are 22 million people living within a 75-mile radius of Times Square. That is his mission field. Within that densely populated area the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association has 252 churches with 20 different language groups. The association takes in part of New Jersey and part of Connecticut as well as metropolitan New York.

The First Haitian Baptist Church in Brooklyn is the largest church in the MNYBA with an average Sunday worship attendance of 1,500. Among the newer churches is Mosaic Manhattan Church, a Southern Baptist Congregation started near “ground zero” after the tragedy on 9/11. This church is served by lead pastor Gregg Farah and has almost 200 worshippers each Sunday.

Frost’s vision is to have all the churches in his association become Acts 1:8 churches. Reflecting on the passage in Acts, Frost remarked, “We’ve got a mighty big Jerusalem where we are, but our missionary responsibility does not end here. We are trying to build churches with a global perspective.”

Recognizing the demographic challenges presented to him in his association, Frost has divided the MNYBA into eleven fellowship groups, which are segmented both ethnically and geographically. Frost says, “New York is really a city of cities. We need to work together to ‘earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.’

“New Yorkers are opinionated, but they have a willingness to listen. We need to befriend them and then reach out to them with a passionate confrontationalism.”

 

Partnerships for ministry

Frost has found it helpful to partner with the Concerts of Prayer movement in New York and with Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s Church Multiplication Alliance in order to accomplish some of his objectives. He remarked, “There is a slender nerve of connectivity among evangelicals in New York. We partner with Concerts of Prayer to pray for revival. We partner with the Church Multiplication Alliance to see that we saturate our Jerusalem with a sufficient number of churches. Our goal is to plant 800 churches in New York City in the next 10 years.”

In addition to the secularism and hedonism of the city, however, Frost acknowledges that there are other challenges as well. “The Mormon Church is making its presence felt in Manhattan as well,” he reports. “They are renovating a rather large church on Broadway almost across the street from the American Bible Society.”

 

More workers needed

Frost welcomes the partnership established between the Georgia and New York Baptist Conventions. He says, “Our Jerusalem is your Samaria, and our Samaria is your Jerusalem. We look forward to joining with Georgia Baptist Churches in this mission partnership. We want to serve with you to fulfill the Great Commission.”

If your church is interested in making this partnership come alive, contact Frost or the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association at (212) 787-7037 or www.metronybaptist.org.