Texas volunteers put their flexibility to the test in NYC
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___NEW YORK CITY--"Two key principles to keep in mind while on a mission trip are to be patient and stay flexible. The attached activities schedule is very much subject to change."
___There was no way Glenn Sampson, director of missions ministries development at Parkway Hills Baptist Church in Plano, could have known how appropriate that note on a cover letter to a missions team leaving for New York City would be.
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CONSTRUCTION on the "Graffiti Church" building in New York earlier this year.
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___The team arrived in New York City Sept. 8 to help East 7th Street Baptist Church and its Graffiti Mission minister to the diverse community in lower Manhattan. Three days later, terrorists aimed passenger-filled jetliners at the World Trade Center.
___The community served by the church and ministry center once was a rundown and dangerous area, primarily populated by people living in squats--abandoned buildings without running water, electricity and heat. The squatters still are there. But now, they may be living next door to luxury apartments that rent for $2,000 to $3,000 per month.
___"Models, doctors, lawyers, students, the homeless and the very poor walk past each other, not speaking to each other, and probably not even seeing each other," Sampson reported.
___The team attended church Sunday morning, went to the observation deck on the World Trade Center and then caught the subway underneath to the Lower East Side.
___Monday, they helped with sale of heavily discounted school supplies to mission neighborhood residents. They didn't know it, but that would be the last time things would go as planned.
___The next morning, team member Brenda Fish was sitting on some steps reading her Bible when she heard a loud crash. Other members of the team soon left to walk to the 14th Street subway station. On the way, a passerby told them a plane had hit the World Trade Center.
___"We thought it must be an accident," Sampson explained. "At that time, we thought a small plane must have hit the building. But we didn't understand how a small plane could have made such a big hole, and we couldn't see how it could have gotten so far off course on such a bright, clear day. A lot of things weren't making sense for us at that time."
___They also thought back to visiting the World Trade Center's observation deck just two days before.
___"When we heard the first report, the first thought was: 'That's not the tower with the observation deck. We would have been OK,'" Sampson recalled. Later events changed those thoughts, however.
___By the time the group reached 10th Street, they could see the gaping hole and took a photograph and prayed that the loss of life would be minimal.
___They proceeded to Metro Baptist Church on 40th Street by subway. While on the subway, they learned of the attack of the second plane and, like millions of Americans watching on TV, realized the first plane had not crashed accidently.
___At Metro Church, the Texans watched as further events unfolded, and they helped the church set up for prayer. Signs were posted at busy intersections letting passersby know the church was open and available.
___The team also knew their families would be worried, so they called home to say they were safe.
___After about three hours, the group made its way back to their lodgings on 8th Street, just prior to the area being cordoned off to non-residents by police.
___"People could leave the area, but only those with photo IDs proving that they lived there could enter," Sampson said. "Had we been delayed, we likely would not have been able to return for several days to Angel House, where we were staying."
___They group did not, however, go the World Trade Center area.
___"We did not want to be in the way of trained rescue workers who were coming into the area by the busload," Sampson recalled.
___The group continued to minister at the Graffiti Mission, although in a different way than they had planned.
___"We were scheduled to work weekday afternoons with the Graffiti Mission's after-school program, but the schools had closed," Sampson said.
___They contacted the mission's pastor and told him they still wanted to be of service to the mission and the people of the neighborhood, most of whom were missing relatives, friends and acquaintances.
___So early Wednesday morning, they began making signs that alerted people the mission had been converted to a prayer room. A poster was provided for people to list names of those for whom they wanted prayer, and chairs were and a television were provided for people who wanted to watch events unfold.
___The day was full of activity, Sampson said.
___"Throughout the day, neighborhood people wrote prayer requests on the poster, prayed in the prayer room, watched TV, conversed with us and with each other in hushed voices," he recalled.
___"Witnessing was easy. Yuppies mixed with and talked to the less affluent. Everyone wanted to talk to anyone. No professions of faith were made, but many seeds were planted."
___That evening, the mission team assisted with the Wednesday night dinner, attended by about 40 homeless people. A prayer meeting followed.
___Parkway Hills Pastor Sam Dennis and Associate Pastor Tommy Shumate returned home Wednesday, because they felt it important to be with their Texas congregation on Sunday. But Fish and the Sampsons remained.
___On Thursday, the Texans met with North American Mission Board missionary to the United Nations Ken Wellborn and his counterparts with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Ana and David D'Amico. All three told of opportunities to witness to United Nations ambassadors and staff. The D'Amicos had spent Wednesday at a local hospital, consoling and witnessing to victims of the tower attacks.
___"I could not have been prouder of our missionaries," Sampson said.
___It had become apparent to the group that a flight home was not going to be available soon, so they rented a car for the two-day trip back to Plano.
___After all they had experienced, Sampson asked Fish if she would like to come back to the area for another mission trip in the future. He was astonished when she replied, "What I would really like to do is move here."
___The mission trip was one none of them will forget, Sampson said.
___"The ministry we went there to do was important, but when you're dealing with people in a time of crisis and they are wanting to talk, that can be a little more enduring. We didn't see any conversions, but I know we planted many, many seeds."
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