The Bay Ridge Life

The view down 3rd avenue in Bay Ridge.

So you're probably wondering what the KamPughs are up to during our 6 weeks in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. As I mentioned in my second post, we get the pleasure of serving Cornerstone Church at Bay Ridge. It has already been such a sweet time [at the 3 week mark already!] and we're excited to see how the Lord continues to use us for the remainder of our stay in this city. Here's a glimpse of what's going on in the life of Cornerstone church...

The Saturday after we arrived, I was blessed to have the opportunity to immediately dive into the community here and meet a handful of the ladies of the church at their first bi-monthly fellowship of the summer. This morning was just an initial time of togetherness, but since then we've been reading through Francis Chan's Crazy Love. It's been encouraging to become fast friends with these women and get a glimpse of the community they have.

Other things on our weekly schedule include staff meetings on Monday evenings to discuss the upcoming week's responsibilities. We also attend small groups on Tuesday and Thursday nights [there are 2 different groups that meet, we just get the honor of gathering with both of them!]. During these times, we usually share a meal together, fill everyone in about our weeks, and pray for one another. On Wednesday nights, we have dinner with the Curtis family [the folks who are graciously renting out their basement to us!]. Paul Curtis is a pastor who planted a church here in Bay Ridge about 14 years ago. We've been able to have great conversations with him and his family about the work the Lord is doing here. There is much wisdom to be gleaned from those the Lord has put around us during this season. On Sundays, Cornerstone comes together for worship at a local hotel. Kameron and I are able to be on the crew that helps set things up for that to take place. I've also had opportunities to serve and teach in the nursery every other Sunday. There are 5 usual nusery-goers, all 3 years and under! It's been sweet to be able to love on these children.

Speaking of children, another way we've been able to serve the body here at Cornerstone is by watching over little ones so that parents can get some much needed away time. It's been fun to be able to give them that simple gift and it's definitely been good preparation for Kam and I :) Did I mention that he's a pro? All the kiddos love him...

These are the Tubbs children. Sweet Sophia is 2 and Caleb just turned 7 months. I may have teared up a bit when I took the picture on the right. Lord willing, that will be us and our little boy one day soon!

Another outlet of service for us interns has been at a neighborhood park. Cornerstone has become rather involved in one of the park conservancies around here, which has given them a great presence in the community and continues to open doors for loving on the people of Bay Ridge. We were recently involved in an event called It's My Park Day. A handful of groups got together [including the fabulous folks of Cornerstone] to do some volunteer park maintenance from 10:00-2:00 on Saturday the 19th. Our task was to clear an overgrown hill area. I discovered another talent of my husband's that day: weed-eating.

Tomorrow we have a team coming in to volunteer with Cornerstone for the day. I think we'll be putting up flyers in local businesses and possibly picking up trash around the city. This will actually be the only volunteer team we'll be able to work with while we're here. The bulk of them are coming after we head out, so pray that we'll redeem the time with this group!

That's just a little snapshot of our life here. As always, there's more to come. Thanks for your interest and support. Kam and I are so blessed to share this season of our lives with you.