Jose Humphreys

Also see: Open Source Preaching Pt. 1
I had a sermon prepared for our church’s weekly gathering at the National Black Theater.  I also had a question prepared at the beginning of this sermon.  In anticipation of preaching about The Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father” in particular, I began the sermon by asking our community, “When we [...]

Open source is a software phenomenon that allows one developer to allow others to modify/improve upon the original design.  Mozilla Fire Fox is an example of an open source search engine that has gone through many modifications by different developers.
This term has become more widely adopted in theological circles as well, looking at theology as [...]

Church planting has some intense moments of  loneliness.  This is what I’m hearing from both seasoned planters and “rookies” alike.  I’ve experienced it  for myself as someone who is a new church planter and pastor here in East Harlem.  I’m finding more and more, loneliness is not so much about whether people around, but the [...]

Harlem has some great museums. The Arturo Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture contains a large collection of art relating to the history of Black people. What many people don’t know about Schomburg is that he is Black, and of Puerto Rican descent. I love this convergence because it’s one I [...]

We’ve entered our 7th week as a church plant. God has been doing wonderful work in our growing community. There’s definitely a buzz and people are telling there friends about the church. Visitors are finding it to be a safe and welcoming place, while others are rediscovering and engaging Jesus.
The gathering [...]

Below are some random links of places & happenings in Harlem. Stuff I personally enjoy.
Jazz Museum in Harlem. Jazz is a new found enjoyment of mine. I’ll be posting more on that.
Harlem Jazz Concert Festival. I’ll be getting tickets for this, hopefully.
El Caminito, a new Argentinian steakhouse in Spanish Harlem. [...]

Some great stuff has happened the last few days. Our church, Metro Hope, had its first annual barbecue at Marcus Garvey Park. We had friends, neighbors, and relatives come down for a great time. Mayra happened to overhear some people in the park talk about the diversity of the group, which was [...]

Having relationships only with Christians made it difficult to obey the teachings of Jesus about being on a mission for him and being salt and light to the world…I started to feel convicted that I had become a part of the Christian subculture, that strange bubble which little by little sucks you into it, and [...]

Got together with some folks from our church plant and had some great laughs at IHOP in Harlem. We were originally supposed to go to the Schomburg Center for an exhibit called Stereotypes vs. Humantypes: Images of Blacks in 19th & 20th Centuries, but it was filled to capacity.
It’s okay. The laughs over [...]

Should I not be concerned about that great city?
-Jonah 4:11
Mayra has some interesting prayers while we walk or drive through the streets of Harlem. Her prayers concern locally owned small businesses. The Mexican guy selling mangos in the corner, the street merchants on 1-2-5th Street, the black owned cafe, the soul food restaurant [...]

The church will always be a foreigner in the city until it learns to love the city. If we are going to be truly effective in urban ministry, we must first give ourselves permission to fall in love with our city.
Got that quote from Lindy Erin’s blog.
A group of us got together Friday and Saturday [...]

This was Detective Keith Frazier’s response (Denzel Washington) to a Seik bank employee in the Spike Lee thriller, Inside Man. This bank employee had been complaining about the cops taking away his turben, and the fact that he had been facing alot of harrassment since 911.
I like this film because it demonstrates [...]

It has been Harlem Week for almost 1 month. Not sure how that works….
Living in Harlem for close to 4 years now has been great. We’re located at the midpoint between Spanish & Black Harlem, so we Blatinos (as Liz would say) get the best of both worlds.
When you visit Harlem, you may want to [...]