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New York City is the melting pot of America. It’s the place where people from all nations, backgrounds, cultures, families, faiths, and ethnicities collide to form one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. New York essentially serves as its own mission field, that is to say, it encapsulates the whole world in a single city. I’d even venture to say that a missionary endeavoring to fulfill the call of Acts 1:8 is doing just that merely by ministering to the citizens of New York. Accordingly, it’s to this metropolis that Erick Sorensen has been called to minister through the means of church planting, preaching, and conversing, in order to pursue people with the gospel of grace.

In this edition of Ministry Minded, I sit down with pastor and church planter Erick Sorensen. In this stirring discussion, we focus on the ups and downs of church planting and the hard realities of everyday ministry. Erick is passionate about preaching both God’s law and God’s gospel to the people of Manhattan. His goal is to reorient the way most people think about God and religion, opening their eyes to the truth of God’s desire for relationship, not mere formalism. No more clamoring after this idea or that belief. The felt need for deliverance will be realized only as the law and the gospel are rightly distinguished. Erick ministers by providing rest and relief for the weary and worn out.

This was a stirring discussion that I’m sure you’ll profit from, as Erick and I talk about the ups and downs of church planting, and how the gospel informs us during the crushing realities of everyday ministry.

Resources.

Martin Luther’s Theology, Oswald Bayer

The Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther

Where God Meets Man, Gerhard Forde

Grace: So Much More Than You Know and So Much Better Than You Think, Brad J. Gray

Sponsor.

This episode is brought to you by the Christian Standard Bible. Find out more by going to CSBible.com.

Notes.

Erick is the founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in New York City. Be sure and follow all the development there by following them on Facebook. Erick is also a writer and speaker for Christ Hold Fast. You can follow him on Twitter, @pastorerick.

Credits.

Intro music: “West Coast” by Ryan Little, licensed under CC BY 4.0.