Our Urban Voices

Matthew Bennett unpacks sin, forgiveness and atonement – comparing the Biblical and Quranic views. In a conversation between Muslims and Christians, the same word can communicate very different ideas. Those unexplored differences can become obvious in how the afterlife is described. How is the Quran’s Paradise understood in comparison to the Bible’s description of Heaven? Takeaways: What are the m...

Pastor Michael Herbert shares about the attitude, expectations and gifting that contribute to a thriving ministry for pastors and church planters in New York City. Episode Summary: Pastor Michael Herbert is the son of Caribbean immigrants. After becoming a follower of Jesus, he was led into serving as a pastor and in cross-cultural ministry. Today, he serves as the Pastor of the English Congregati...

Dr. Ron Walborn serves as the Dean of a seminary in the heart of New York City, where the goal is to prepare the hearts as well as the minds of students. Episode Summary: Dr. Ron Walborn serves as the Dean of Alliance Theological Seminary that recently relocated all campus activity to New York City's downtown where students can engage an international community. He is committed to preparing servan...

Shirley Annan serves as the chair of Spark of Justice, the social justice ministry of Bethel Gospel Assembly, an evangelical church in Upper Manhattan, NYC. Episode Summary: Shirley Annan serves as the Ministry Coordinator and Chair of Spark of Justice for a New York City, evangelical, Pentecostal church. She talks about the needs of the church’s neighborhood, the ministry of reconciliation, and l...

Valerie Althouse, D. Min., provides insight about how campus ministry adapted during covid19 restrictions, mobilizing the church’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic urban residents as local missionaries and reaching unreached people groups scattered throughout American towns and cities. She desires to connect missional believers to serve and reach students and individuals who come from an international...

Pastor Walter Sotelo shares about the challenges of church planting in New York City and the privilege of engaging the lost in a modern day Babylon that has a global influence. He has served in New York City for over 25 years as a pastor, mobilizer, church planter and more recently he has seen the need to be a peacemaker Episode Summary: Pastor Walter Sotelo shares about the challenges of church p...

Pastor Mimsie Robinson offers insights about a traditionally African-American, Harlem church in the face of a changing neighborhood, immigration, gentrification, crime and injustice. He is a native New Yorker and native Harlemite who serves as the Missions Pastor of Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. Episode summary: Pastor Mimsie Robinson serves as the Missions Pas...

Pastor Jerry discusses the church as a missionary sending agency, benefits of short-term missions, and founding an international organization that holistically serves the poor and persecuted through relief, medical care, development and training. Pastor Jerry began his career as a computer programmer; he founded a not-for-profit and worked on Wall Street as he served at Brooklyn Tabernacle Church,...

George Russ shares his bird’s eye view of approximately 250 Baptist churches in metro New York City that have been impacted by COVID-19, recent racial justice movements, immigration and more. He serves a diverse group of Baptist churches in New York City, helping them to stay on mission and multiply. Episode Summary: George Russ, a native New Yorker, serves as the Executive Director of the Metro N...

Chris Clayman shares insights about cities being strategic platforms for international missions to unengaged and unreached people groups who have migrated to urban areas. Chris Clayman went from Austin, Texas to England and Mali in order to get to the mission field in New York City. Episode Summary: Chris Clayman, Associate Director and Co-Founder of Global Gates, talks about how God cultivated hi...

Pastor Boto Joseph talks about ministry in New York City’s Southeast Asian immigrant community and how the witness of new believers reaches family members back home in Southeast Asia. Pastor Boto Joseph’s journey from India led him to ministry in ‘Little India’ in Jackson Heights, Queens—the most ethnically diverse community in New York City. Episode summary: Boto Joseph is a pastor, missionary, w...