New City Resources

Typically, around Christmas, I spend way too much time complaining about how materialism in America subverts the truth of God’s incarnation and diminishes our capacity to appreciate the depths of His relentless love for us.

In fact, the bewildering beauty of the Kingdom crashing into our world is rarely glimpsed by dwelling on the counterfeit. This I am learning, and I’m finding it easier now not to get drawn into the negative. 

I was helped to see this in the rediscovery of a remarkable passage in a Worldview conversation with some friends at New City this Fall. “For you know,” the Apostle Peter writes, ”that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you…but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, who was chosen before the creation of the world…” (1 Peter 1.18-20). I’m now using this scripture as a True-North point to help me navigate my seasonal curmudgeonly tendencies (known in some circles as SCT disorder!). [Read more →]

Thanks for visiting New City. There is a lot going on this Fall-in what is our ninth year in Knoxville’s Old City.  As usual, we have a good mix of local, regional, and national musical artists coming through the Café. Sandra McCracken, Andrew Peterson (with special guest, Jill Phillips), Jonah Werner, Shaun Groves, Derek Webb, Ryan Long, Ed Cash, among others.  Through story and song (and loads of lame jokes) these talented singer-songwriters remind us what is good and essential about life–about our joys and fears, and our sometimes silly and always sacred pursuit of love.  In addition to the cultivation of the performing Arts, we will host a handful of Christian worldview seminars and Cohorts, including a special weekend on “Mission and Community” with Professor Darrel Johnson (Regent College, Vancouver). Come join us and become a part of New City Community.

Respectfully Yours, 
 
Kenny Woodhull,
Executive Director, 
New City, August 2006

Thanks for your patience and your prayers during the Café’s recent season of rest and reflection. While substantive change is never easy-and this is true in personal and organizational settings alike-a disruption from the norm can be revealing and restorative. Such is our experience over the past five months. As a result of this process, it is abundantly clear that in Knoxville there continues to exist a vibrant community of musicians concerned to cultivate and integrate Faith and Art.

To this end, New City is delighted to announce the rekindling of one of Knoxville’s longest running weekly singer-songwriter evenings. Come join us every Wednesday night, starting March 1 at 8:30pm. Greg Adkins will shepherd the group through a strong team of volunteer hosts, stage hands, and wait-staff. As during the previous eight years of ministry, New City will also host regional and national artists on a regular basis. Several CD release concerts are now slated for the Spring, as well as a ticketed event with one of New City’s favorites, Ryan Long.

Numerous worldview workshops, Cohorts, seminars, and city-wide discussion groups continue to function through the efforts of New City Resources. And so, we say: “Further up and further in.”

Respectfully Yours, 

Kenny Woodhull,
Executive Director, 
New City, March 2006

New City Announces a Sabbath Season at the Cafe

After seven years of fruitful ministry in Knoxville’s Old City, New City Café is preparing to enter a season of rest and reflection. While the Cafe will continue to host a number of special events in October and November, our last regular weekend of music in 2005 will be Friday, September 30 with Andrew Peterson and friends.

To mark the end of a long and blessed season and the beginning of a Sabbath period, we would like to invite everyone to gather with us at the Café for a unique celebration service on Sunday, October 2, at 4pm. Along our journey, since first meeting on the sidewalks of the Old City in 1996, we have endeavored to walk with God-neither rushing ahead nor lagging behind his leadership. Our sense now is that we are being asked to wait, to take a break from the sustained pace of the Cafe and pause in such a way that we can more clearly discern the shape of his future purposes for this essential aspect of New City’s work.

To the many musicians who have graced our stage and engaged ourimaginations and to the many artists who have enlivened our walls with their work, New City says THANK YOU. To the army of volunteers who have served faithfully over the years-motivated solely by a desire to serve God and others-New City says THANK YOU. To the countless guests who have sipped cappuccinos, slurped New City Frizzles, and indulged themselves with New City’s famousPeanut Butter Pie, we say THANK YOU. To those who risked their resources in the form of financial donations, investments in the kingdom for purposes of sharing the gospel, cultivating community and encouraging Christian creativity, New City says THANK YOU. To our dedicated and skilled staff-special souls willing to relocate, work bi-vocationally, and/or labor for little or no remuneration at all-men and women who tirelessly merged the work of ministry and the ministry of work, blending hospitality and service with a humble willingness to sacrifice so much for the cause, New City says THANK YOU.

With this said, we very much need your help in making the next few weeks-running up to our celebration service on October 2–the best ever at the Café. Like never before, we need lots of volunteers to serve and offer hospitality to our many guests. Since most of our operating expenses will continue through September (and to an extent through November), we also humbly request your continued financial support to help us end this season well and in away that will allow us to honor all our current obligations. If you’ve always wanted to help New City and you never could figure out how or when, now is the time to jump in.

We would also like to have your input, advice, and prayers as we explore options pertaining to the future shape of ministry at the Café. At the end of this reflective process, we look forward to serving you in a new and vital ministry that is both consistent with the character of our past and progressive in its commitment to listen and respond anew to the Lord. During the Café’s sabbatical period, New City Resources will continue to utilize our location at 116 S Central to cultivate a variety of initiatives promoting the arts, city-wide unity and discipleship.

And so, we pray: gracious Lord thank you for your abiding presence and generous provision over these eight years. We ask now your blessing on the Cafe’s Sabbath rest that we might in the near future and with renewed strength honor you and the vision you have asked us to steward.

New City Friends,

Values and vision are essential to authentic community. Values speak to the principles that help us maintain who we are, clarifying what is important, and what is acceptable or unacceptable. Vision refers to mission, reminding ourselves of the bigger picture–where we have been, and what we are moving toward.

Regardless of what different terms might be used, it is important for every family, community, church, or organization to periodically revisit its values and through a process of reflection recast its vision. In a certain sense, this is what the Lord repeatedly asked of Israel. And it is precisely what his people repeatedly failed to do. A stanza of a favorite Hebrew song (Psalm 78) makes this clear:

Though armed with bows, they turned back on the day of battle.
They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by the law.
They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

In other words, Israel refused to live out her values, forgot her incredible history of deliverance from slavery and, though properly equipped, proved the coward in the heat of battle. It is a compelling picture and a powerful reminder for all of us to keep our hearts soft and full of God’s values and NEVER forget his miraculous provision for his people past, present, and future.

Accordingly, every year at this time, New City’s leadership withdraws from the battle and assesses our adherence to our values and measures progress in the light of our vision, repenting when necessary and realigning for the future. Like Israel, New City has a remarkable history of God’s provision: our first year (rent-free!) on the corner at 102 S Central; the raising of an army of volunteers from around the city to staff the Café EVERY Thursday, Friday, and Saturday since July 1998; and God’s gracious and miraculous provision (August 2002) of our current home for both Café and Consortium ministries.

The Lord has been VERY good to New City and all of this flows directly from your gracious giving of time, money, and skill! As we praise God for his ongoing provision, we want to thank you for your part in helping us carry out the vision: that is, to establish Christian community in the Old City through the cultivation of the Arts and Christian discipleship.

And now for two requests: Please pray for New City leadership as we retreat together Saturday, December 11. We also ask you to remember us in your end of year giving. While New City now generates 50% of it annual operating needs through activities related to the Café, as a non-profit organization we remain dependent upon charitable giving to cover the remaining 50% of our budget each year. Thanks for your time and your participation in this ministry.

Kenny Woodhull
New City, Director