Bold by Sean Feucht

Author:Sean Feucht
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Salem Books
Published: 2022-07-26T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHT BOLD OBEDIENCE

Knowing the correct password—saying “Master, Master,” for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills.

—Matthew 7:21 MSG

After Seattle, we received strong calls from pastors and leaders to go to New York. At that point, everything we had done had been on the West Coast, but now we were starting to get calls to hold events in the East. If we were looking for where things seemed to be the darkest and most desperate, New York City seemed a logical next event.

As the fall of 2020 rolled around, New York seemed to be getting hit hardest by COVID. It had the highest number of cases and was the most locked-down city in the nation. As a result, isolation was at its highest, and people on the ground there told us the sense of oppression and fear was palpable.

Not only that, but NYC has also had a special place in my heart, similar to Seattle. My family had moved to the East Coast when I was young, and all through my teenage years, New York was a special place to go. My first missions trip with my youth group was actually to the area—I spent a summer in the Bronx working with a local church. It was also the last place I had preached in 2019 before we knew about such things as pandemics and how one might affect us.

With this first gathering on the East Coast, we felt it would be as symbolic as when we’d had praise and worship on the Golden Gate Bridge—and because of that, we needed a venue just as iconic. Washington Square came to mind, and it made perfect sense.

If you’ve ever watched a movie set in New York City, especially a romantic comedy, there’s often a scene where the couple strolls near the arch in Washington Square or sits on the sides of the fountain there. It is one of my favorite places in the City That Never Sleeps. My wife and I spent many date nights cruising through that park when we lived on the East Coast. In late 2020, it also became a central gathering place for protestors. A friend of mine was doing outreach to them, so it was already being prayed over.

Again, we couldn’t get a permit through official channels, but since that didn’t stop the protestors, we decided not to let it affect us, either. All the same, we went in with minimal gear. We found a company in New Jersey willing to help us out, and they set up our mics and speakers under the archway.

When the police saw us setting up, they came over to talk with us. When we explained to them we were holding a peaceful prayer and worship event calling for hope and unity, they were incredibly kind and more supportive than any police we had interacted with anywhere else up to that point. A couple of them even said, “We need this right now in the city.

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