NYC26 | Session 2

NYC Live (Session 2, NYC 2026) — Overview

NYC Live (Session 2, NYC 2026) was hosted from Salt Lake City, Utah, featuring large student attendance and a worship-focused program centered on God’s call to “ascend” into freedom, purpose, and connection.

Worship and Framing the Theme

• The service opened with high-energy worship, including songs drawn from Scripture (e.g., Psalm 145) and a newly introduced song, “Worship in Wonder” (based on Psalm 8).
• The message emphasized that God is active in students’ lives now—not only in the biblical past—calling them to lean in and hear God’s voice above other influences.

Compassion Ministry Promotion: Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM)

Pastor JP Vendolson introduced Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) as a:

• Global emergency relief and community development organization
• Working through local Nazarene churches, rather than “parachuting in”

Emergency Relief Examples

• NCM partners with local Nazarene churches after disasters (e.g., tornado devastation) to provide both:
  • Immediate mercy relief
  • Longer-term support

Community Development Focus

NCM works in areas including:

• Anti-human trafficking
• Clean water
• Food security
• Refugee/immigration support
• Holistic child development

“Compassion Starts with Connection”

Although NCM’s work is global, Vendolson highlighted why it appears in NYC:

• Helping students find commonality and respond to God’s stirring wherever they are.
• Students can become part of a worldwide compassion network.

Key Initiative Highlighted: “Lunch Buddies”

A featured initiative, “Lunch Buddies,” included:

• A 6-month program
• Weekly text messages
• Two videos per month
• Connecting students worldwide with children in Nazarene child development centers

Storytelling approach:

• Stories shared from both perspectives—what children say and why the centers are needed.

Example shared:

• In Trinidad, Venezuelan refugees face barriers to schooling, and a local Nazarene church responds.

Call-to-action:

• Text “lunch” to the number shown on screen
• Cost presented as nothing except time
• A longer-term Christmas project focused on displaced children

Future expansion:

• NCM hopes the initiative helps U.S./Canada students join a worldwide network
• Plans to expand to Spain/Eurasia were mentioned

Main Sermon (Pastor Gabby Rodriguez): “Voices,” Identity, and Ascend

Pastor Gabby Rodriguez preached from 1 Kings 19 (Elijah under the broom tree) and argued that the central battle isn’t only external circumstances, but the voices that get inside a person’s head.

Key Themes and Points

• Jezebel as the “voice inside”
  • Jezebel represented oppressive, identity-shaping lies
  • Even when Jezebel is no longer “wearing a crown,” she can still be “sitting in your head”
• One sentence can unravel people
  • Harmful words—labels, rejection, humiliation, shame—can stick and shape identity without immediate physical danger
• God meets Elijah in exhaustion
  • Elijah collapses and asks to die
  • God rescues him repeatedly through bread and water, framed as rescue, not punishment or guilt
• Jesus changes the voice, not just the situation
  • Worship as daily choosing which voice “lives” within you
  • Jesus brings truth and healing that replaces the lie-based identity system
  • Repeated contrast between performance/striving and gift-based grace
    • “It’s never been about performance… it’s only by the blood.”
• Guided moment of surrender
  • Students were invited to name the “Jezebel-like” voice (lies, shame, fear)
  • Then place it in Jesus’ hands and ask what Jesus says instead (e.g., “You are loved… you belong to me…”)
• Corporate response: “Answer the voice with truth”
  • The congregation practiced replying to specific lies (e.g., “You’re not enough,” “You’ll never change,” “You don’t belong…”) with truth
  • The response was portrayed as powerful when thousands of students answer together

Expected Outcome

Rodriguez described how students who believe Jesus’ voice will impact:

• Schools, families, and communities
• Long-term calling into roles such as pastors, teachers, counselors, missionaries, and church planters

Post-Service Interview (NYC Live Segment) and Game Theme

After the service, Pastor Brady Bratz interviewed Pastor Gabby in a post-story segment tied to a “Jenga” metaphor:

• Instead of trusting God, people often place lies/voices into the “bottom” foundation
• The metaphor encouraged moving those “bottom” lies/voices out of identity and into the “top” rather than letting them hold everything up

Rodriguez emphasized:

• The enemy tries to keep lies adhered to identity
• Freedom comes by leaning into Jesus’ voice and praying with honesty
• The church community can help dissolve the power of hidden secrets and shame

Encouragement to viewers:

• God can make people new through Jesus’ death and resurrection
• Shame/guilt can be reframed as conviction pointing back to God, while identity lies are “nailed to the cross”
• Closing statement: “Jezebel’s voice won’t win. Jesus wins.”

Closing Direction for NYC Continuation

Organizers emphasized that NYC is not limited to the building:

• God’s voice and presence can meet people at home too
• The program looked forward to more services and student opportunities to serve in Salt Lake City
• Afterward, short campus videos featured Nazarene universities across USA/Canada, highlighting Christian higher education options

Presenters / Contributors

• Pastor Brady Bratz (host)
• Pastor Hadley Halbert
• Pastor JP Vendolson
• Pastor Gabby Rodriguez
• Ashton Underwood (host for university videos segment)
• Bella Riddle (mentioned in opening remarks; San Diego First Church of the Nazarene)
• Tyler Cook (mentioned in Gabby’s sermon illustration)
• Nathan Snow (Ambrose University video)
• Students/recruiters shown in Nazarene university videos, including:
  • Ambrose University participants
  • A referenced NNU participant (“brother” in the clip)