NYU Navigators

Welcome Class of 2013 and returning students!!

2009-08-27T04:19:00.005-04:00

We're excited for the new year!

Welcome Freshman! Check out our CALENDAR for our WELCOME WEEK activities including the Governor's Island Excursion on Saturday. To sign up, contact Aimee at aimster613@nyu.edu or (970) 261-7659.

Plus, all students are invited to our WELCOME BACK BBQ on Monday, September 7th at 5pm at 43 St. Nicholas Place NY, NY 10031. Hope to see you there!

Finally, mark your calendars for the First Nav Night of the Year on September 9th at 7pm!

Nav Nite Locations!

2008-09-10T12:25:00.005-04:00

Nav Nite, tonight, September 10th, will be in 5 Washington Pl, room #101. This is the same room that the Purple State of Mind screening was held in last year, as well as our eating disorders seminar.

If you're still confused, here's a map: it's the building on the NE of the intersection between Mercer and Washington Pl.
Click here for map.

In the larder scheme of things, if you've been around, you know that we're having an extremely hard time finding a location for Nav Nite this semester. Last year, we were kicked out of Stern (they only are letting Stern clubs in there from now on,) and have not found another home. This has lead to us have to make several last-minute calls on Nav Nite location.

in order to keep you updated on the location, there are a few things that you can do. First is get on our listserve, which you can do through NYU home (we're called "navigators") or by e-mailing Jason Jiang (jj765@nyu.edu) or Richelle Blauvelt (richelle.blauvelt@gmail.com).

Secondly, you can check this site's "calendar" page.

But lastly, and most importantly, you can sign up to receive emergency text updates from us. Click below.

Hope to see you all tonight!

Welcome Freshmen!

2008-08-14T04:37:00.007-04:00

Hello, incoming Freshmen! The NYU Navigators would like to welcome you to the City! Congratulations on making the choice to come to NYU- we hope you like it.

Weather you've found this page because you're looking for a good Christain community, or because you're just checking out religion on campus, we would invite you to check out what we do- it's open to all, and there are many differnt ways to get involved in what we do!

We have weekly meetings with praise music, teaching, prayer and community, special events and parties for fun, and weekend retreats out of the city to help take the stress off and get some time in nature! If you're interested in discussing the Bible and what it may mean to your life, we have Bible studies as well as Spiritual Interest Groups- groups that meet to openly discuss and debate God, religion, and the Bible. We have different meetings times and places for both groups- many in NYU dorms so you don't even have to leave!

Check out the below survey to let us know what you're interested in and how we can be of service!

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Simple, Practical, Everyday Social Justice

2008-03-25T01:53:00.002-04:00

Simple ways that you can love people around you. From The Simple Way's website - www.thesimpleway.org. To quote them: add your idea to the mix and let’s brew up some holy mischief.

* Go out to eat with someone who is homeless, or invite them to your home or cafeteria to eat with you.
* Leave a random tip in the college bathrooms for the folks who clean them.
* Find out who makes the clothes for the athletic department and if those companies reflect the values of Christ.
* Learn to sew and begin making your own clothes.
* Start tithing 10% of all income directly to the poor (relationaltithe.com).
* Connect with a group of farmworkers who grow food for your cafeteria or favorite restaurant (such as Taco Bells Immokalee workers ciw-online.org).
* Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you are.
* Ask to see the budget of your school. What do the workers get paid compared to the administrators? Make sure folks know -- if you are proud of this, affirm the folks who make those decisions... If not, begin a conversation with both workers and administrators of how this could be better.
* Ask where the campus gets its energy. Is it renewable? If not begin a plan for moving toward renewable energy (talk to folks at Eastern University about how they have done it by an optional ecological tax that is tacked onto tuition -- it's only a few dollars per student).
* Write one CEO a month -- affirm or critique the ethics of their company (you may need to do a little research).
* Try sitting in silence for 15 minutes a day.
* Kill your TV -- or go TV free for a year.
* Go down a line of parked cars and pay for the meters that are about to expire... Leave a little anonymous note of niceness.
* Beat a war machine into a plow, without hurting anyone of course (Isaiah 2:4) -- NOTE: you might want to plan on a little sabbatical after this one, a little reading and writing retreat -- in jail.
* Write to one social justice organizer or leader each month, just to encourage them in their work.
* Experiment with a post-oil era by going fuel free for a week -- ride a bike everywhere, carpool, walk or hitchhike.
* Gut your TV and turn it into a pot for a plant.
* Try reading only female writers for a year (since many of our problems seem to be stemming from men).
* Go to a retirement home and ask to visit a few old folks who don't get any visitors.
* Spend some time with someone who cleans the campus, get to know each other, share your stories.
* Invite one of the college cafeteria staff to your home for dinner or go to their home.
* Try jack-hammering the church parking lot to make space for potato plants.
* Track to its source one item you eat regularly
* Give your car away to a stranger
* Buy only used (thrift- not "vintage") clothes for a year.
* Cover up brand names

Craig Detweiler @ Nav Nite - 2/28/08

2008-02-28T00:31:00.006-05:00

We were fortunate enough to have Craig Detweiler (now an official Ph. D) come and speak to us about "Joining the Cultural Conversation" at Nav Nite. Mike Donovan had the foresight to record the event and the marvelous Q&A, linked below for your listening pleasure.

"Joining the Cultural Conversation" - Q&A
Click on it (or right-click or control-click) and hit "save as file" or something of the sort.

Craig just wrote a new book, Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century, one of RELEVANT Magazine's 3 most anticipated books of 2008. Also check out A Matrix of Meanings.

The Room of Grace

2008-02-19T01:29:00.005-05:00

We watched a DVD of John Lynch giving this talk at Nav Nite a few weeks ago. I figured I would throw it up here in care anyone wants to listen to it that wasn't at Navs, or (like me) just need to hear it often.

This is taken from a talk given at the 2003 National Navigators Staff confrence. Click (or right click) on the link below and hit "save to disk" or the equivalent.

The Room of Grace

Purple State of Mind Screening and Discussion

2008-02-12T00:22:00.000-05:00

Hey all!

We're super excited about a new event that we're putting on, co-hosted with the Atheists, Agnostics, and Freethinkers Club at NYU. A screening of Purple State of Mind, a new documentary film, as well as a question and answer session with the co-directors, John Marks and Craig Detweiler.

The event will be at 7PM on Thursday, February 28th, in Room 101 in 5 Washington Place- aka the Psychology building, across the street from Myer Hall. There is also a Facebook event here.

Check out the trailer:

Craig will also be speaking at Nav Nite on Feb. 27th, the Wed. prior to the screening, an event that you don't want to miss. He'll be speaking on the theme of his new book, Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century, one of RELEVANT Magazine's 3 most anticipated books of 2008.

From The Former USSR

2007-12-26T01:49:00.000-05:00

We received the following letter from Alison Whitelaw, an NYU Nav who is spending two years in Russia studying and ministering. She's got some great stuff for us, and without being heretical, I really feel like the letter is strangely epistolic (I don't know if that is a word,) but it is very reminiscent of Paul writing back to churches that supported him on his missionary work. We may be on to something here.

To My Dear Brothers and Sisters in New York,

Greetings to you all from the former Soviet Union.

You should know that you are all on my mind and in my prayers. Although I am very far away, New York shows up in the majority of movies I watch (not to mention I am still an avid “Friends” watcher, and even though it’s in Russian, I still give a shout out every time I see New Yorky things).

I am very happy to hear about all the exciting things you have been up to this semester. From artist gatherings, supporting each other’s individual performances, to really awesome sounding seminars, your community is always abuzz with something new. Every week I comment to my roommate about some new thing you guys are doing that week, and she is also amazed with the talent, passion, and creativity that comes out of NYU. I know you all know how talented you are in the secular world, I guess I’m just really impressed with the creativity and passion you all show in the spiritual realm as well.

But I think the deepest impression NYU left in me is the powerful love you all have for one another. Even now, thousands of miles away from West Fourth Street, I can feel the love pouring out from you as a community as well as individuals. This deep love is both inspiring and uplifting to me. I am amazed that I can be so far away and yet still feel secure in the knowledge that there are bonds in the heavenly family that span oceans. It would be an honor for me to know even a few of you personally, but I have the joy of knowing many more than a few of you. To those of you who I have never met, I hope that one day we can meet face-to-face and chat over a cup of tea at one of my favorite little West Vill cafes.

To all of you, thank you for the support that you have shown me through funding and prayer my first semester away. I will never forget the response I received from the NYU community when I was so drastically underfunded several months ago. It was truly a sight to watch God move in your hearts as I heard of your eagerness to give to me. Thank you for the ways that you have and continue, day-by-day, encourage me in the work God is using me for in Russia.

I want to take this opportunity now to encourage you in what you are doing at NYU and in New York at large. Whether you are aware of it or not, you are part of a work that our Father in Heaven has going on there. In a place that is forever introspective, consumer-driven, prideful, lonely, and competitive, your community is a well of love, passion, true community, grace, and understanding that I know God desires to use to bless the rest of the University as well as the city.

In his book “Bread for the Journey,” Henri Nouwen explains that “community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.” You all epitomize that for me.

However, it is important in this celebration of community to remember the goal of all Christian community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes it as the merciful opportunity given by God to “meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation”. You are all certainly the bringers of salvation to one another. I saw community bringing salvation to one another in many ways during the two short years I was at NYU: I realized for the first time the truth that it is by God’s mercy that I am saved, not by my desires or efforts. I gave and received true confession first on a farm in Vermont. I also danced on roofs in China town, played Nintendo Wii and Settlers of Catan, drank a lot of tea, and ate a whole lot of Thai food with the best friends I’ve ever had in those two years.

But besides being bringers of salvation to one another, I feel that it is my duty as a current foreign missionary to remind you that it is also your responsibility and gift from God to bring the message of salvation to those outside of our Christian community. I just think of how well you all love each other and make God’s redemption real to one another, and then think of the great need there is for this exact kind of love in both NYU and in New York City.

There are people hurting everywhere in a city filled with literally millions of lonely people. I know that the knowledge of this can become overwhelming at times, especially when faced with personal depression, family strife, and that looming final exam. But I want to encourage you in your love for one another, that it may spread outwards and fight against the apathy,indifference, or secular forms of social justice that always fall short of meeting the spiritual needs of your friends. This love is such a powerful tool that we possess, but we must not onlyseek itfrom human community, but from the one who created humans and blessed them with community. It then becomes an endless stream of deliverance available to us so we may also bring this deliverance to others.

As a final word, I pray that God pours out His love not only in your community but also through your lives. I pray daily that He deepens your hunger and thirst for not only the things the Lord has to offer, but for Him Himself. If I’ve learned anything in the short time I’ve been abroad (or in exile, as Bonhoeffer calls it), it’s that even though you have true community, great Bible studies, and sound systematic theology, there is no substitute for God Himself. I pray that this becomes real to you and your loved ones as you prepare to go home for that sometimes rocky winter break.

So as we say in the old NYU way: Shalom.

I love you all.

In Him, Alison

Scripture Memory

2007-11-02T13:59:00.001-04:00

So, weather or not I show up to leadership meetings with my memory verses memorized, one of the Navigators' cornerstones of discipleship is scripture memory.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
- Joshua 1:8

If you feel like you could benefit from memorizing some scripture, the Navigators have put together something called the Topical Memory System. The system is based on memorizing passages of scripture that all relate to the same topic, building the fundamental parts of our faith.

Some nice person from Jersey has put up these verses on convienient sheets for you to print out, cut out, and stick in your wallet/mirror. Check it: http://preceptaustin.org/TMS/

A Sister in Russia

2007-10-20T02:59:00.000-04:00

Hey, all. I just thought that I would provide some more information on our sister, Alison Whitelaw, and what she's doing in Russia. You know that we prayed for her and collected money for her, resulting in a truly generous outpouring of cash! She is very blessed to have a generous "church" (in the true sense of the word) community!

Alison is a member of our navigator community at NYU who would be a Junior this year. Last year, she responded to a very distinct calling from God to give a year or two of her life as a missionary in a small city in southern Russia. She has been there since July hanging out with high school-aged students, sharing her knowledge and wisdom mentoring young college-aged Christians, and learning Russian at the local university. She is truly a gifted discipler, and it is clear from her e-mails that she has been pursuing relationships with both Christians and non-Christians with ferocity.

I was in Russia this summer with her, as a part of a wilderness adventure/English camp that the American center in Pyatigorsk (the Navigators' "tent-making" ministry in the town). For lack of a better word, us 10 Americans that came over to help at the camp were very much "bait" or an attractive push to meet high school students that people like Alison and the other Navigators will and have been building relationships with over the past year. Click on the picture to check out the quick summer story here.

If you know Alison, drop her a line on Facebook- she's busy, so you may not get a heart-to-heart, but she would love to hear from you. She sends out periodic ministry updates, and if you would like to receive them, just e-mail her at aowhitelaw@gmail.com. More anecdotal stories can be fond on her blog.

If you still want to give her money, that can be done by sending a check to:

"The Navigators", with her account number (#23710478) in the memo line. Mail them to:
The Navigators

Attn: Income Accounting

P.O. Box 6000
Colorado Springs, CO 80934

Fulton St. Revival/Concerts of Prayer

2007-09-18T17:25:00.000-04:00

Several area churches are putting together an exciting confrence about the 1857 Fulton Street Revival, and we thought that some of you would like to know about it. It would be awesome if a group of Navigators who felt particularly called to prayer could go to this and bring what they learn back to our community.

Many of us in Navigators have felt called to pray more, for our group, for our campus, our city, world (etc, etc.) We are going to try to encourage people to talk (perhaps on the comments section of this blog, online, over coffee, mcdonalds, etc,) about what we can do as a community to become more prayerful, and then how do we implement this. Think about it. Pray about it.

Christ Church Visit - 9/16

2007-09-14T17:34:00.000-04:00

Hey, all. We're visiting Christ Church NYC (an independent Anglican church). One of the pastors, Justin Moffatt, has made a Youtube video inviting YOU to the student welcome picnic that they're having on Sunday, after the service.

Check out the video.

To come, just meet Stephanie and Meredith at Kimmel Center at 9am, we'll go to the service and then the picnic!

Inter-Varsity Evangelism Seminar

2007-09-12T18:34:00.001-04:00

I received the following e-mail from Greg Essington, the president of one of our other great campus fellowships, Inter-Varsity. They are hosting a seminar this Saturday and have invited us to come. If you are interested in discussing how to (and then going and getting your hands a little dirty,) sharing with people the "hope that you have," then read on.

The Lord is making our campus ripe for the harvest. Both the secular media, such as New York Times, and the Christian media are reporting on the increasing spiritual hunger on campuses across the nation. An article in the Washington Square News speaks of the "Spiritual Secular Student" who challenges the religious trends and authorities. These students are a reflection of the post-modern pluralistic attitudes we see today and little do most of our fellow students know that Jesus himself came to this earth to challenge the religious authorities of his time. They actually have more in common with Christ than they think.

This Saturday, the 15th, from 10am-2pm in the Kimmel 7th Floor Lounge we will be having evangelism training focused on how to share the gospel clearly and how to give people an opportunity to respond specifically in our post-modern context. First two hours we will have training, and the second two hours we will have lunch go out to share the gospel with our fellow students on campus. Everyone is welcome and feel free to come to part of it if you have other plans.

Just as Christ said in his time "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." As we pray for more workers we need to step out into the fields as workers ourselves. I know there are many people out there who would be ready to commit their lives to Christ if we would just share what he is offering to them clearly and give them an opportunity to respond.

So there you have it folks. Take it or leave it.

First Nav Notes

2007-09-07T21:37:00.000-04:00

He will say 'Come forth my drunk ones, my weak ones, my shameless ones!' And we will all come forth, without being ashamed, and stand there. And He will say "Swine you are! Of the image of the beast and of his seal; but come, you, too!

- Marmeladov, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

What I think is interesting about Dostoevsky is that he has this propensity for putting his most beautiful and eloquent prose in the mouths of his most pitiful characters; he gives the greatest lines to characters who just seem so utterly inconsequential, like the chronically drunk Russian official Marmeladov. He colors the high-powered and aristocratic varying shades of gray, while the lowly he renders in full-color. It seems so... backwards, nearly scandalous, how Dostoevsky empowers those in humble circumstances (even those who are there by their own choosing), and he humbles the powerful.

But he wasn't the first. That's exactly how Jesus did things. The very man who would save the world chose the most undeserving punks in the Mediterranean to be his closest assistants and his confidants. He chose these guys because he wanted to make a point: the love Jesus brought is a love that befriends and empowers the lowly, the lonely, the bold, the broken; the betrayed and the betrayers.

That means us--somehow we're caught in the middle of this irresistable love and revolutionary message. Come hang out as we figure out where we fit in to that.