Planting Legacy in New York

Planting in Manhattan: Divine Timing, NYC Myths, & Pastoring at a Sustainable Pace | Ryan Schlachter

What happens when God calls you to plant a church in the heart of New York City—and lands you in the exact same ballroom where your grandmother ran a street ministry four decades earlier?

In this episode of the Build the Church Podcast, host Josh Roberie sits down with native New Yorker and lead pastor of Legacy Church NYC, Ryan Schlachter. Ryan shares the unbelievable story of launching Legacy Church in Manhattan, debunks common misconceptions about pastoring in big cities, and breaks down the practical systems needed to disciple people in a fast-paced, transient environment.

🎙️ Key Takeaways from This Episode:

• The Power of God's Timing: The story behind planting in the Prince George Ballroom and honoring a family legacy that spans generations.
• Debunking NYC Myths: Why New Yorkers are actually friendly (and family-oriented) despite the stereotypes.
• Overcoming Transience: How to invest deeply in leaders even when you know they might eventually move away.
• Setting the Pace of Ministry: Why matching the frantic speed of your city burns your team out—and how to build a culture of sustainable joy instead.
• Being a Lighthouse: How to pastor in the middle of cultural friction without "clutching your pearls."
• Neighborhood-Based Systems: How Legacy Church uses localized groups and weekly prayer to combat urban loneliness.

🔗 Resources & Links Mentioned:

• This Episode's Sponsor: Try YourTeam Pro Tier free for 30 days at yourteam.church — Upgrade your Next Steps class with custom-branded, AI-powered personality assessments for volunteer matching!
• Connect with Ryan: Follow Pastor Ryan Schlachter and team on social media or check out legacychurch.nyc.
• Build the Church Podcast: Stay connected with Josh Roberie for practical advice, best practices, and encouragement to help you grow your church and go the distance in ministry.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it helps other pastors and leaders find the show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Do not let the city inform you of your identity. You gotta understand that if God has called you to a hard city, then God has called you to that city. And if the city is hard to you, harsh to you, if you get some scars from that city, that does not mean that you are not called to that city.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome back to the Build the Church Podcast, where we help you gain momentum, grow your church, and go the distance in ministry. I'm Josh Drogry. The goal of this podcast is simple that each episode be a quick resource for you, offering practical advice, best practices, and encouragement in your mission as a pastor. In this episode, we take a break from the practical side of things to hear a church planner story that's so full of God's fingerprints, I almost couldn't make it up. I'm sitting down with my friend Pastor Ryan Schlechter, who planned a legacy church in the heart of Manhattan, and waited till you hear the connection between his current church and the ministry his grandmother did in New York decades ago. It's the kind of story that reminds us that God is with us no matter what, and our story is a lot longer than we realize. Ryan Schleichter is a native New Yorker, a tortured Mets fan, and the lead pastor of Legacy Church NYC, which he and his wife Janine planted in Manhattan. They planted their church the week before Easter earlier this year, which nobody does, but God showed up in a big way when 770 people showed up to the first service. I actually got to be there for the lunch weekend with my 10-year-old daughter and it was a special day I will never forget. I can't wait for you to hear Ryan's heart. Ryan Schakter is a native New Yorker, a torture meds fan, and the lead pastor of Legacy Church NYC, which Tina's wife Janice planted in Manhattan. They planted their church the week before Easter earlier this year, which nobody does, but God showed up in a big way when 770 people showed up to their first service. I can't wait for you to hear Ryan's heart. Before we go to Ryan, let me ask you something. Are you still matching volunteers to teens with pen, a legal pad, and a hopeful prayer to get their math right for their score? No judgment, I did the exact same thing for a long time. Of course that was back before the iPhone existed, before high-speed internet, and honestly, it was before Michael Jordan even won its first championship. But you don't have to live in the Stone Age when it comes to bringing your church through a personality assessment. Your team gives your church a custom URL with your own branding so people can take the personality assessment right on their own device in a fraction of the time. It actually uses AI to match into the teams where they'll thrive and gives them in-depth personality insights churches have never had access to before. The bonus is it takes about half the time as the paper and pen tests. Help your volunteers discover how God inspired them and exactly where they belong on the team. Try the Your Team Pro Tier free for 30 days right now at your team.church. Now let's get into it with my friend Ryan Schlechter. All right, Ryan, I'm so glad to finally have you on the podcast. Looking forward to chatting with you today. Oh man, pumped to be here, man. Honored to uh to be on with you. Well, you're a born and bred New Yorker, a diehard Mets fan. So let's go ahead and settle this right off. Yeah, let's just go ahead and settle this right off the bat. And maybe you can't think of any good reasons, but why should someone cheer for the Mets over the Yankees?

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Well, if they want to be Christ-like, they should cheer for the Mets. Um, you know, the Bible talks a lot about suffering and suffering leading to glory. I've suffered a lot as a Mets fan, and so I think it's a it's a very biblical thing. Um But I'm also, you know, I think the Yankees' success commercially in the late 90s led to a lot of um, you know, their hat is very iconic, but I think with that comes a lot of people who maybe associate with their stuff out of sheer popularity and not like actual like you see somebody with a Mets hat on and they're like an actual fan of the Mets, it's not really trendy. With a Yankee hat, you never really know. And so I think I I think that it takes a lot of endurance to cheer for a bad team for a long time. And I think it I think it builds a grit in you. So I just I I'm an underdog guy and I think the Mets are like a real New York team.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Well, that's true. If you see the New York hat, I mean nine times out of ten, I I assume they're not a baseball fan. Exactly. And they're just wearing it. Uh, but a Mets fan, okay, you know, wearing a Mets New York hat, they're yeah, they really care. They're all percent.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

100%.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah. Okay, great. So you're you're you grew up in Queens, right? Yep. Yep. You didn't move to New York to plant Legacy Church. It's a it's a place that you know and love. What are some things that maybe people misunderstand about New York? Because it can easily, just like the Yankees hat, be over overly glamorized. Yeah. Uh it can kind of seem one way if you watch movies and see TV, but what's maybe something about living there and even pasturing there that maybe people don't realize?

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I'd say two things. I'd say one is a general like cultural thing about New York, is I think there's a misconception that New Yorkers aren't nice or friendly. And and they New Yorkers are actually incredibly friendly and incredibly nice. We're just not kind, you know? And so there's a big difference. Uh uh New Yorkers are really nice and and really helpful. There's actually a story that that's quite uh it's one of my favorites because I think it depicts New York really well. There was a young, uh, an older gentleman, he was an Asian man, and he didn't he had very, very broken English. And he was trying to get uptown to 53rd Street, and a younger guy kind of led him onto the train and just kind of shouted on the train and was like, Yo, my man's trying to get to 53rd Street, y'all got him. And then nobody answered at first because you kind of just ignore like New Yorkers are really good at just ignoring whatever's happening around them. Yeah. Um, but then he kind of repeated, he said, Yo, he's trying to get to 53rd Street, y'all got him. And somebody was like, Yeah, I got him. And then the guy just left him. And then when they got to 53rd Street, they let the guy know, hey, this is your stop. And so it's like a very nice thing to do. It's just not, you know, we're not gonna give you like top of the morning, how are you? You know what I mean? Like you're not gonna get that from us. Um, but but New York is actually New Yorkers are actually incredibly uh nice, and we we actually really do look out for other people. And so it's a very unified city.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

I'm so glad that you chose to highlight that because I've been able to visit New York a few times in the last couple years, I guess the last nine years or so, I've been able to go up there almost every year. And I used to stay in Midtown because it just it I was familiar with it, it helped me get around so easily. And then I started staying in the in different parts of the city. And when you get out of that area, like the upper west side, it is just like Birmingham, Alabama, there. I mean, people with strollers, people talking to you, chit-chatting. Oh, yeah. Uh polite as could be. It's just, I guess if you're only in the tourist spots, you get the tourist treatment.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah. Yeah, you gotta get out. Like it New York has incredible neighborhoods, and even outside of Manhattan, I mean, you'd be um people are stunned like when they come to the neighborhood that I live in because they're like, this doesn't even feel like New York. But yeah, to that point, I think New York is incredibly family oriented, and I just don't think a lot of people think of it in that context. We've got a lot to offer, and we'll be really we'll be really nice to you if you come here.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Okay, so when it came to pastoring New York growing up there, how did you sense that call that maybe you would be there in the city as a pastor?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, you know, it's actually funny. So my grandmother had planted a church in New York with her husband at the time, and then uh, you know, very long story short, uh, we ended up leaving that church when I was about 12. And I gave my my life to the Lord the summer of 2009. But then the following year, uh I actually moved out to Seattle, Washington to do like a Bible college internship at a church. And that was the first time I felt called to ministry. And I I never really I I always um I think the thing about being a New Yorker is like you always have pride about being New Yorker. Like I see, I see how people have pride for their countries during the World Cup, and I think that's how that's how New Yorkers are all the time. Um, and so I think I always had a heart for New York and anything pertaining to New York, but didn't know what ministry would look like. And then I think once I moved back to New York, I was like, oh, this is where I'm supposed to be. Um, because I think I had a very open hand. Being born and raised here, I always had a heart for the city. Once God called me into ministry and called me back to New York, it became very evident of like this is always kind of what you've been purposed to do. And this is the city that you've been called to.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

I can't imagine you being anywhere else and just hanging out with you in the city, just seeing your love and a passion for it. I mean, you're just not a casual. It's you're almost like someone that wears the I Heart New York shirt in your soul. I mean, you love you love your city. I do.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

That's a great way to put it.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

It's a huge compliment, by the way. Thank you. Because I know you would never wear one on the outside because that would uh Oh my gosh. That's like a cardinal sin. Yeah, yeah. That's a huge cardinal sin in your cities. Uh so you've been pastoring and building uh in New York before you planted Legacy Church. What are some lessons that you learned in ministry from that season that are paying off well today that you're still able to use and maybe could benefit some other pastors out there?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

So there there were kind of two things. One that was New York specific, and then the other that was general. The the general principle was kind of like because New York is so transient, I had to learn to be really okay with people leaving and not changing my level of investment in people based off the duration that they were gonna be here for. I think that there's wisdom and uh there's a reasonableness that comes with that. But I think for the most part, I had to learn that people leaving was a natural part of it. I think one of the one one of the costs of love is grief. When you love people to see them leave is is hard. But then I think more specific to New York, I think one of the things I learned really quickly is that there's a temptation, uh especially in a city like New York or any maybe urban city, there's a temptation to try to match the pace of the city. And I think New York is such an insanely fast-paced place. And while I'm probably used to it because I'm from here, there's always a temptation to do ministry at the pace of the city in which you're in. And I had to learn that you have to know the city, but you cannot mimic the city in terms of what it puts out because if not, people will come in and they'll feel exactly the way that they do at their job. And if you have a fast-paced church in a fast-paced city, but now you have people that are burnt out incredibly fast. And so I really learned the value of not just slowing down for the sake of it, but intentionally slowing down to counteract what the city demands of people. And I found that that actually makes church a lot more refreshing and joy-filled for people.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Those are huge points you just made. First of all, when you know, about investing in people, whether they stay or go, and learning that lesson because you just had to in New York. But that's a lesson that every pastor in America deals with. When I talk to pastors about what they're discouraged about, about 80% of the time it's about people that they've invested in have left and they're grieving that. And so it reminds me of the prodigal son. You know, the prodigal son, his father invested him not because he was staying, but because of who he was. He was his son. And so, where did the son come back to when he needed help? He came back to the father.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

And it's fascinating because I think one of the biggest things that maybe pastors aren't as honest about is like how much we will take things personally. It's very, I don't know a job where you can't take things as personally as as ministry. And so, in an arena where there is such a sensitivity to those things, people leaving we will take as a personal thing, or what did we do wrong, or could we have done more, or this had no value. But I think one of the things that's given me great comfort is knowing that in the same way that we're called to be faithful in every season, our faithfulness in every season isn't just for every season that we're in, but it's every season that we have with people. So for my wife and I, we've tried to take the pressure off ourselves of like, okay, cool. You know, true story, we've we've literally had since we launched, we've had seven people on our core team move out of state. These are people that we love dearly and people that we dreamed about in the beginning of things, and we're not even at the halfway point and and they've left. But I can tell you that it it absolutely has not hit as hard as it would have a few years ago because we've just held things with an open hand. It saved us a lot of exhaustion emotionally. Where you have to have a good emotional reserve.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

And then what you said about knowing your city, but not duplicating your city with your church. I think that's great wisdom for church planners. Sometimes I see church planners that are parachuting into a city and they don't really know the city yet. And so they build their whole culture and identity around a caricature of that city. And it's almost like, hey man, you're you're promoting a postcard that people in the city don't live in. And so I think that's a great, great idea that you that you mentioned that you have to know the culture of your city, but your goal isn't to reproduce that culture, but to give that culture what it needs.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

My wife and I have tried very strategically in the early days is we want people to come into church and not just be filled with joy and feel refreshed because they rested, but because they worked at a pace that was sustainable for them. I would not say that rest is the only thing that's synonymous with joy. I think there's joy in building his church. Um, but I think it's building his church in a way that allows for joy to be possible. But if we're not creating any space for that to be possible because of the pace in which we're running, well, now everybody's just exhausted and nobody has joys. It's something we're still learning and um takes a lot of experimenting, but it's something that we're really intentional about trying to do for the people that have said yes to to building legacy.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Well, you you said right there, legacy. You planted legacy in New York City, but you're also a planting legacy uh in New York City. And you have one of the craziest stories I've ever heard of someone kind of walking in the footsteps of those who've come before them. And I'd love for people just to hear the story and how things worked out uh for Legacy Church.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

We had been serving at a church, I was on staff for uh another church in New York City for about seven, eight years, had been there for almost 10 overall. And my wife and I had felt called to senior leadership. We didn't know what that looked like, uh, but then circumstantially it just became clear that we were called to plant in New York. And so we were praying about I was convinced in my heart, I was like, man, we were planting in Queens, it would be no other place, it's the best borough, you know, the Mets are here, they need Jesus. Like, of course, you know, we're just gonna have services in City Field. But then through prayer, through conversations, uh, primarily with my wife, we just we kind of felt it was actually the first thing that I felt like God asked me to lay down was Queens. And he just asked me, he said, you know, will you build a church where I want? And I said, Okay. And so we we started looking in the Chelsea area in Manhattan and we ended up being able to connect with a venue called the Prince George Ballroom. When I told my grandmother, she she freaked out. It's because back in the 80s, my grandmother uh and her husband at the time had had a Christian radio show, and they uh out of that kind of had planted a local church. First it started in Union Square, and then they moved down to Tribeca and then ended up on Church Street in Tribeca. What my grandmother felt really called to do very early on uh was outreach for the homeless. There was a hotel that was a welfare hotel, a new initiative of the city. And what my grandmother would do is she would start a she started a Bible study there, which turned into a feeding program, which turned into Christmas parties, which turned into teaching people how to read. And all of this was taking place in the Prince George Ballroom. I had kind of known loosely, but she had never really told me the details. And so when I told her that we were planting and our location was going to be in Prince George Ballroom, she just she couldn't, her mind was blown. So it was really special to have her there on our launch Sunday in a building that she had been in, you know, four decades earlier, feeding those who were hungry and preaching the gospel to those who were in darkness. So really, really cool story.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, and the name, you know, you already had that name before the ballroom, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yeah, yeah. We we had had that name before we even had a like a leader's meeting, you know, before we knew where we were gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

It was a wink from God for sure. He orders our steps, he knows the plans, he has for you. And hopefully that gave you a little confidence that you were doing the right thing. Because sometimes in ministry we get some scars, we get some knocks and bruises, and you know, we kind of have to get back up and we're wondering which is the best path. But man, that just had to be such a huge confirmation to you that you're doing the right thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Again, going back to uh what we were talking about in terms of pastoring and and the emotional side of it and the insecurities that we can feel. I think, I think pastors need encouragement every week that they're doing the right thing. You know what I mean? I think just weekly going into that room, it's a reminder of what he's called us to and ultimately what he wants to establish in the city. And it also helps us to kind of dream forward of like, man, this is this is what we can be for somebody else and the other stories that'll come out of this church, and hopefully they'll have more church plants that come through. Parents that you know served in in our God's sovereign, he's good, and uh he's he's also got a sense of humor.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

So yeah, and I have your your vision statement here a family of faith that spans generations, and that's what you guys are doing. You're you're moving that forward for other generations. Your launch had a huge impact on me. I happen to be able to be there. I don't always get to to go to every launch that I want to, but I was able to be there for your launch. Yours was a little off season. You launched at a very unique time the week before Easter, which I'd never heard of anybody do it before. Yeah. So, what kind of systems and things did you have to immediately put in place to pasture those people? And how are you still doing that today?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

We wanted to make sure that we had a weekly rhythm for people, and then we wanted to make sure that we had small groups for people. And so we have groups that are seasonal. We trialed them, and when I say trialed, I mean we we started them from February to May, even though when we started in February, we didn't have a technically a Sunday service. Um, but we wanted people to be able to connect in communal settings. Um, so we wanted to have a place that people could connect on a relational level, but then we wanted to have a weekly staple that pe that we could point people to. Because I think it's important on Sunday that for anybody, here is a next step for you. And so we had a midweek prayer meeting that we started uh in January, actually. So we prayed every Wednesday from January up until our launch, and we do that every week. And that was what we pointed people to. When people were filling out cars or wanting to stay connected, we were we had both myself and leaders reaching out to them, following up with them, just saying, Hey, I am personally inviting you. I would love to see you on Wednesday. And then from there, we connected based off of the neighborhoods and stuff that they were in. What we found is that people want consistency, but also fluidity. And so we had the consistency of a midweek prayer meeting and a Sunday gathering. Um, but then we had the fluidity of groups that met at different times. And we felt like both of those things gave us enough coverage for the people that were coming into our church that wanted to connect, wanted to go further, wanted to be a part of a local community. And so consistency and fluidity are the things that we try to make sure exist in kind of any arena within legacy.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

And what does that look like in a city where if you want to go somewhere, it's such a huge commitment to, you know, to drop everything and get across a borough or two. Yeah. What does that look like in your culture?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

We know that in New York City, you know, it's not big in terms of land area, uh, but it feels like different countries depending on which train you take in. So we made sure that everything that we did was neighborhood-based. So our groups are not set in one particular location. They're based off of neighborhoods. Uh, and we found that as we make them neighborhood-based, it's a lot more attractive to people because they'll be like, oh, that's right by me, or oh, I'm three stops away from here. So it's super easier. I can walk there right after work. And so uh we found that neighborhood-based was the most important thing. But then also connecting people in settings that allowed them to enjoy themselves. And so one of the things that's probably super misunderstood about New York is that people love a good like dinner at uh with friends or like a good home cooked dinner. Um, and so we just had them in homes based in neighborhoods, and people love having people over and people connecting, you know, uh around a table. We just made sure that our groups were centered in that way where, man, I can find an apartment in my neighborhood that I can connect with somebody. And as we did that, uh, we found that people were much more inclined because one of the misconceptions about New York is that because there's so many people here, you can't really feel lonely. But lonely is an epidemic in New York City. And so people are starved for community, and uh, we want to make sure that they know that it's available to them in a place that's convenient for them.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

When we were there, uh like I said, I had my 10-year-old daughter, and in between services, we walked over to the flat iron building, which is like a couple blocks from you, and walked back. And there was this strange dichotomy happening there. One is we walked by the park there, I can't remember which park that was. Families there, Shake Shack's there. It was the park that Shake Shack started in, actually. Yeah, Madison Square Park. Yeah, Madison Square Park. So uh Shake Shack's there, it's families. You go to this iconic building, and that's the kind of stuff you think about in New York, and you come back, and then as we walk back to your church, we walk by the museum of sex, and it had uh it had different things in the windows. And you know, I have my daughter, and I'm walking by and I'm like doing my best to like look over there, what's happening down the street, you know. Maybe talk about the dichotomy of pastoring in in in your city, because even like a day like just going to your church on Sunday, what you have to do to get a truck in there. I mean, it's crazy, but even the values and and the expectations.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah. You know, it's sorry about that, by the way. It was uh I tried to give I tried to give my grandmother a heads up. I was like, hey Ma, you should uh you should come in through Madison Ave, not fifth, because uh it's a lot safer. Um but yeah, you know, one of the things that I think I learned really early on in pastoring was um you just you can't really clutch your pearls at sin. And it doesn't that that doesn't mean that that you get comfortable with sin um or things in culture that are sin, but it means that if we're really going to reach the lost, we can't have people who are lost coming in feeling ostracized by the way that we treated. Even having that museum right on our corner, we have to walk by that pretty much every day, but it's an opportunity for us to pray. Man, I you know, I was just on a prayer walk uh the other day on Wednesday, and I'm just like, man, God, I I just pray for every single person that's Going to come into this building, but I pray for every single person that's in this hotel, and I pray for every person that goes into the Museum of Sex that would be, you know, enticed by something like this, that they would feel the love of God. And so I think God wants light in the darkness. The cool thing about New York City is that anybody can see a building like the Flatiron or Madison Square Park or things like that, these very iconic venues. Um, but for every iconic venue, there's a thing like the Museum of Sex. And I think that that would be a dichotomy for people as well. It's filled with celebrities, but it's also filled with people that nobody knows, nobody sees, but are that are deeply broken. And so for me, I'm like, man, this is where else would we be? You know, like I don't, I don't, don't put me where the museum is. I'm like, put me on the block that the museum of sex is in, you know, put me on the block where the drug dealers are. Put me on, we we had, it's so funny, there's a parade like every single week. We've had to apply for a pass from the city because our block always gets closed off, which makes the truck impossible to get in or out. And if it does get in, we can't leave like we can't get it out after we are done with services. But for the Pride Parade this year, the floats and the balloons and all of that stuff was outside of our building and around the corner was where the parade started. And I was like, Man, thank God. Thank God it's in front of our building. Because we we don't get to avoid things that are difficult, but we don't get to create a chasm from people that need to be. I don't see Jesus ever avoiding dark places. I see him going to dark places and going to people that are broken. And the beautiful thing about New York City is there's not a lot of space to really sit down, so there's definitely not a lot of space uh to get away from people um that desperately need the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

They don't put lighthouses in the middle of cornfields in Nebraska. That's right. They put lighthouses on the rocks because that's where people are most likely going to crash their show. And so you guys are a lighthouse in that city. I'm so grateful that you're there. Um my heart goes out to you so much because of the work that you're doing. And so if there's a church planner out there that's thinking of planting in a hard place, thinking of going to a city that's maybe hard to reach or expensive, maybe close that will give us some advice to that person.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

My first piece of advice is don't have a newborn three weeks before you launch. Yeah, that's what I would tell people. That's what we did. And uh man, it would it was uh it was a whirlwind. But two things that I would really commend anybody that wants to plant in a hard city is one, have friends that are safe places, that you can vent to, that you can be vulnerable with. You are not going to make it in ministry, let alone in a hard city, if you have to be uh a proverbial superhero all the time. You need to have your walls down and people that you can be honest with. Um that's the one thing I'd say you need really safe friends. But then the other thing I'd say is like, do not let the city inform you of your identity. You gotta understand that if God has called you to a hard city, then God has called you to that city. And if the city is hard to you, harsh to you, if you get some scars from that city, that does not mean that you are not called to that city. And so um don't don't let the city inform your identity. Know that that you need to be there. I I likened it to um when I the thing I try to tell my daughter all the time, because she's really scared of bugs right now. Um, and I try to tell her, I'm like, baby, that bug is more scared of you than you need to be of that. You know what I mean? Because you are ten times the size of that. And I think in cities uh like New York, it's really easy to be like, oh man, I'm so intimidated. You gotta understand the darkness in the city, the difficulty of the city, the city itself. It's scared of you and and the God that's on the inside of you. So um, so yeah, those would be my my encouragements to anybody that wants to plant in a in a place like New York or or somewhere that is somewhat equal to it.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

Well, this has been so helpful. I know a lot of pastors are going to not only enjoy hearing your story, but learn from what you shared today. There's so many practical takeaways. But I just love you. Thank you a great man, and just am so happy that our paths cross through ARC and to get to watch what God's doing at Legacy. Thank you so much, Josh.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

It's a it's it's been a joy. And uh, you know, I told you this when we had dinner, but um I'm just uh I'm my wife and I are so grateful for you and uh the team at Arc. We just we we we thank God uh often uh and and we don't say that lightly. So we we love you guys.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

I'm so grateful to my friend Ryan for sharing his story. What gets me is that God had this plan long before Ryan ever knew it, and God has a plan for you that stretches back further both ways than you can even imagine. That's what legacy really is, and I think it's something God is writing for all of us, not just for Ryan and his story. So love for you to go follow Ryan and Legacy Church in New York City on social media, cheer them on, pray for them as they reach their city, and if you're ever in Manhattan, I know a good church for you to check out. If you're enjoying these episodes, I'd love for you to go wherever you listen to your podcast and give us a rating, leave a review, let people know that this podcast is making a difference. And this episode was brought to you by your team. Your team.church is a digital assessment platform you can use to connect volunteers to a team where they can thrive. Your church gets a custom branded URL to use right in your next step class, plus AI powered matching and personality insights that are second to none. You also get a volunteer dashboard that syncs with planning center and will help your people discover how God wired them and where they belong. Try the Pro Tier free for 30 days at your team.church. Thank you for joining me today. I can't wait for you to be here next time until then keep building and believing strong.