Surviving 9/11: A Cop's Testimony of Faith and Resilience (Part 2)

Part 2 of Pastor Carlos Aviles (Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Clermont in Clermont, FL) sharing with Daniel Mamora and Pastor Gary Kusunoki his remarkable journey from being a NYPD officer to a dedicated pastor, recounting his experiences during 9/11, the challenges of ministry, and the power of faith in overcoming adversity. This episode offers deep insights into the realities of law enforcement, the spiritual impact of tragedy, and the importance of perseverance in ministry. This compelling interview recounts personal stories and lessons from 9/11, highlighting divine appointments, community resilience, and faith-based outreach efforts in New York City. It offers insights into the spiritual and practical responses to tragedy, emphasizing prayer, unity, and service.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Welcome to God Story, the broadcast ministry of integrated national religious. Where our mission is to share the love of Christ with others around the world. We decide on the rate of leaders to preach the gospel to unreached people. Minister to the inner city and poverty-stricken areas in the U.S. and abroad. Provide support to local police and relief organizations in response to natural disasters. We work to train up capitalists in the police of civilian industry. And we assist churches in training to information in disaster response. We hope you're blessed by what you hear in this next half hour or so about what God is doing through this industry.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So I was at road for they told all the cops don't go down there. Do not go down there, stay at the office 5040's gonna happen. So we're all in uniform. So it was at one o'clock in the morning. So I told the guy, hey, let's just go down there to help out. Just see what's going on. We left. We're supposed to stay in the office. We went down on there.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

And now here's part two of the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

So Gary comes on the scene and we got together, you know, with twins. I don't know if you noticed that. We look alike. Don't get confused when you see here and here. I know you're gonna start calling Carlos. We got no. We we're okay. Yep. And and Gary, God put that together. God, that was God. We we had so much uh ministry going on down there, right? God opened, God blew the doors open in the mayor's office.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Yeah. I I just remember when when that when we got there and you took us down to the mayor's office and and we met uh the deputy mayor Louis Hernandez. Yeah. And he was he was asking me, hey, what do you guys want to do? And I said, I don't know. I thought maybe we'd uh you know put a table and a tent up outside of ground zero. And and he goes, no. He goes, you need to be in ground zero. And that's when he he said, We have a a chapel.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

And that's the Catholic Church, it was.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yeah, the Catholic Church has a chapel and it's right at ground zero, and obviously they can't be in it or anything, but but they're gonna let you use it. And so that's how we got started with St.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Joseph's.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Yeah, St. Joseph's. And we were um part of, you know, there were three respite centers at Ground Zero for the the police firefighters and the the rescue workers and and uh the recovery workers after that. And and so the Red Cross had one, the uh other was run by um Salvation Army, and then we had the third one with with uh Peace Officers for Christ, NYPD. And uh and at that time the the organization was called Safe Harbor, yeah. And so it was it God just opened incredible doors and you know we started feeding the cops around the clock and you know, giving them a place to rest, computers, I mean, because everyone's cut off from everything at that point. And so, um, and and it's just you know, it was incredible ministry. I mean I remember one time I was in in, I was actually back in California, I was at Disneyland with the the family, and I get a call from Carlos. And and Carlos goes, hey Gary, he goes, somebody that wants to talk to you. And uh I don't know if you remember this, but she put a female uh police officer on the line, and and she just the first thing she says is, if someone were to kill themselves, would they still go to heaven? And I mean, that's the way she started this conversation. And and I mean, and then she just began to share about how hard it is, you know, even to go to work, and her her child is begging her not to go and afraid that she's gonna die, and you know, all the death and destruction that that she's seen in 9-11 at Ground Zero. I mean, it was it was incredible. But but you know what God did is He allowed us to give hope to the hopeless. And um, you know, all the all these people that are, you know, we're Americans and and things like this don't happen in our country, right? And so, you know, it everyone was just like thrown for a loop. And so in the midst of that, we were able to bring the gospel and see people get saved. And we were able to bring cops out from California, we were able to to go to the the briefings and uh and pray in the the briefings before the cops hit the street, and we went and worked. A group of us remember went and worked Staten Island and um at the Fresh Kills Landfill. Right. Yeah, because they would take all the the rubble from ground zero and they would put it on a barge, they would take it to Staten Island, to Fresh Kills Landfill, and then they had uh this field that, I mean, it was surreal. It was it was bigger than a football field.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

That was the last chance the people got to identify their loved ones.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

On that, that I found the ear, they found a badge, you know, and that was the last thing for DNA. They had the FBI there, remember with the bucket, the red bucket was body parts, uh, and the yellow was ID or whatever you found. But I remember at the respite center when we first started that, you you told me, come over here, come over here. You send me you walk me outside of St. Joseph's and there was a plaque there. You remember that plaque on the outside of St. Joseph's that they had on that says, We're here to help out the police and firemen, something like that. We took a picture of that. Yeah, yeah. Yep. I remember that. I says, Wow. But you know what? When this happened, what broke my heart is that you saw when I go to work, I go across the George Washington Bridge. And it said, New York City's closed. Now, New York City is a 24-7 place. Yes. And they said it's closed. That broke my heart. Then another what cheered my heart up is every neighborhood we had in New York City, we have the Italian neighborhood, the Irish, the Puerto Rican, the Dominican, every there's different neighborhoods, and they fly their flags. You know, if you go to uh Little Italy, it's the Italian flags, you know. You go to uh Spanish Holland, Puerto Rican flag, you know. That day you couldn't find one flag from any nation with nothing but American flags. And these young kids that used to write low riders with that Mexican flag too and all that, you couldn't find one Mexican flag, one Puerto Rican flag, no Irish, nothing. Only American flags. All over, all over. Everywhere. That was just that was awesome to see that happening. You know, even though this was tragic, a lot of tragedy, but we saw a lot of people get saved. We saw firemen with their remember represent taking Bibles in their jackets with them. Taking teddy bears that Chuck Smith sent, or no, where the teddy bears came from. You guys, somebody came from the case. Yeah. Actually came from the sheriffs. And it just amazing what God was doing. I know that the first three months the place was crowded, all the churches. After that, you saw what happened. You know, people were just hungry for the Lord when that happened. Even liberals, let me tell you something. They found the cross at ground zero. Even the liberals said, Don't take it out, leave it alone, leave it alone. Three months before, five months later, get it out of here, get it out of here. That's liberals, you know?

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Yeah. So, I mean, the the ground zero, the the pile uh was just that. It was just a massive pile of rubble where the towers had gone down, and you know, you would hear around the clock, you would hear all the the heavy machinery and equipment going, and all of a sudden, and then everything would go dead silent. I mean, you wouldn't hear anything. And what that means is that that they found a body. Yeah, yeah. And you know, they found police or or firefighter, and they were bringing them out. And you know, everybody just lined up wherever they were and saluted, and you know, it was emotional.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Remember the motorcycle? Yeah. Exporting the ambulance to the to the monk.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah. So I mean, it was that was a crazy time, let me tell you. So, but it's really, you know, um, we were really there as part of our chaplaincy program, but but you know, we were there as cops. And so we just wanted to go and and help. And and because we were there as cops, it it gave us an opportunity to talk to other cops where you know others couldn't. And I remember w one time we were at the the the Fresh Kills Landfill, and we were, I mean, you're literally going through debris with a rake, and you're just searching through every little speck of debris, looking for anything, a body part, uh whatever might help someone identify a loved one. And you know, and then afterwards we took a break. We weren't talking to the watch commander, myself, and another uh buddy that's was uh Tom Iman that was LAPD. And, you know, and and so we're there as chaplains, right? And and we actually had like a they had set up a trailer for us for people to come, the you know, the officers and firefighters, whoever can go to this trailer if they wanted prayer. Well, nobody came. And so we said, forget this, we're gonna go out there and we're gonna work. And so, but we we went into the watch commander's office and there was this FBI agent there, and she goes, she was talking to the watch commander. Um, actually, we were talking to the watch commander. She comes in and she goes, you know, if one more chaplain comes and tells me that that he knows how I feel and and wants to pray for me, she said, I'm gonna throw up. And and not that nice, but that's what she said.

SPEAKER_05 11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

So, anyways, the watch commander just kind of smiles and he points at us and he goes, Hey, have you met two of our chaplains? And she looks, and and you know, we got our ray jackets on, we got our badges and guns and everything. And she goes, You guys are cops. And she goes, and I saw you guys out there uh on the, you know, on the debris field. And I said, Yeah. And we said, we're also chaplains. And she goes, if you're out there working with me, then you earn the right to talk to me. And so, I mean, that was just there's so many divine appointments that that God did through this incredible tragedy. Um, now I know Carlos, you lost friends, right? In in the towers.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

I was a union guy, and we lost uh a couple of guys I worked with too when I was in uniform. You know, that was uh that had been well died from the World Trade Center, had been murdered. And how would you feel too? You're in the city, we got 46,000 police officers assigned to the city, and we couldn't do the job. All the state police was down there. I saw cars from San Diego, Chicago, directed traffic in my town. You know, one of those things. Whoa, whoa, whoa, my city, and you see uh these cops with these checkerboard hats directing traffic. You see these cops from San Diego, from California, from all over in our police cars answering jobs, like that that was stunning, you know, just to see that happening. You know that your city, and you couldn't even protect it. That's how we felt. We needed all the help we could get, right? Cops from all over United. Florida, they brought cadaver dogs, everybody. There was horses, there was boats from um was it Maine? Up there, uh I forgot. Yeah, up in Maine, we St. Joseph's, we had a um a harbor there. Remember that? Boats came in, the police boats. We God set that all up where we were, right at ground zero, right at ground zero, right by the water, where there's a harbor there. The cops from um uh um Vermont came down, they parked, they ate, they helped out. God did amazing. It was all of God. Did you know ten years later they found a piece of uh wing of the plane on top of a rooftop building?

unknown 13:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Wow. It's crazy. Whoa. Yeah, I said, don't they look? And it says, Where's everything? World Trade Center had seven buildings that they went down. World Trade Center was consist of seven buildings. Tower one, tower two, and the smaller buildings. The FBI had one building, Secret Service, you know, and they went they went down too. If you notice that, Gary, right? When you walked all that, you saw those other small buildings? That was the other, that was uh World Trade 7, World Trade 6. One and two of the tall towers, they went down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah, it was, and I'll tell you it was crazy. Walking around Manhattan, and Manhattan is empty, you know. Quiet. And it's just like everything just stopped at one second. I mean, it to me it was like the a horror movie, you know, when you see the aftermath of a a nuclear attack. And uh it it was it was overwhelming. It was overwhelming for me just to see as both uh a police officer, an American, a pastor. I mean, it it was like it it was overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

You remember when the plane went down in Queens?

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yep. After everything happens, everybody's nervous, whatever, a plane, a passenger plane crashes in Queens. They were on their way to Santo Domingo. Remember that? And and and in Palm Harbor or something like that? Yep. That was that was uh uh two weeks or maybe uh three weeks after something like that. The plane goes down, passenger plane. We rushed. And that was crazy too. Yeah, did Jacob Javis? Office of emergency management. Remember? O E M.

SPEAKER_06 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

So when we I I gotta tell you one story. We were we're we're in the mayor's office, right? And we're with uh Louis Hernandez, and and you know, he still tells his story, but but you know, we're talking about what we're gonna do, and he goes, I want you here, and you know, you can help with this and help with the police, you can pray. And so I'm like, Well, we need ID cards, and and he goes, Well, we don't have time to make up ID cards. I go, I can make them. And so I'm in his office on his computer, and he goes, better, better than the better than the media's office, remember?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

He was scared of you. He was scared of you. Wait, Mr.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Gary, the day of, where what agency were you with? Were you with OC Sheriff's at the time or or where were you, or who were you with at the time at the day of uh 9-11?

SPEAKER_02 16:32

The day of, I I was actually I wasn't with, I had actually already retired. You retired. I retired early, but uh but I um we were we were in uh um the Grand Canyon. Okay. And so I had no signal that day. And so we were on a family vacation, and we as soon as we drove out and we got signal, my phone just started going crazy. I had all these text messages, and you know, one of them was my buddies, Terry, saying we are at war, the World Trade Center's been attacked, and they've they've they've come down. I mean, it was just it was crazy. And um, and that's when I'm like, okay, we need to go. We need to get there.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

So crazy is you with a gun in New York City. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

And what year did you guys meet again?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

So that was the the year 2009-11, right after 2001 when we met. I I can't remember. No, right? Yeah, no, we met we met there. So, and then when I met Carlos, um he uh um oh the guy that we sent down, his name from New York upstate, his name was Matt uh Rita. Matt Rita. And he's the one that connected with you. Rita and then he connected us. And so when uh he's doing good. The last time I talked to him, he seemed to be doing good. So I said hi, remember him now, yeah? Yeah. So so, anyways, we Matt hooked us up, and and you know, it it's all history from there. Carlos just took it and run and ran. And uh it was like, and we did how many meals did we do every day?

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Um well, um like thousands of meals because we did breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Yeah, I think we did, I if I remember right, like a thousand meals each time. Yeah, and then that was so and then it's like we're trying to figure out how do we cook all this, and then then I don't know if if it's still there, but but Nino's Italian uh restaurant, um they stepped up and they said, We'll give you all the food you need. Yeah, but they provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

But we paid them three thousand dollars every Monday.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, but it was like But it was hot food, everything, yeah. And it was good food. You know the guys are going, you know, it's another place they have MREs, but you got Nino's.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

I remember I was with Mike McIntosh down there and added a pile it was nighttime and just a cloud, two firemen came out, and we got to witness to them.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

So that the the pile was smoking like weeks after there's still fires burning underneath.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

We got out of there, I I did seven months down there. I left in April 2002.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Wow. How how uh where were you uh Pastor Carlos when the first tower collapsed? How far were you from? On my way to work. So you're on your way to work, okay. I was yeah, driving. So you're driving. Wow. And so Wow, that's that's insane. So then like um, so you retired in April two of 2002. Um how did you so now you're a pastor, how did you go from there in 2004? Oh, excuse me, 2004, sorry. Yeah, and then and then how did you get into you know where God called you into full-time ministry?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Well, I started uh Calvary Chapel in a barber shop. I used to uh for seven years I would go up to Poughkeepsie, New York, an hour and change, and take two cars. My wife would take one, I'll take one, then I had to go to work from there. Uh Bobby Hargrave was uh pastor there now. Yes, yes. Yeah, I Bobby Hargrave, he used to attend Calvary Chapel Yonkers with us. Yeah. I know his whole family. Okay. So he started a Bible study up there, so I joined him, became one of his assistants for about almost six, seven years, something like that. Then I said, this is too much. So I ended up doing uh in a in a Jewish barber shop, they gave me the barbershop to do a Bible study. Huh. Then I don't know if you ever you know Eddie Pinero. He's Calvin's. I remember Eddie. Yeah. He's a pastor now up in Melford, Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

He has a NYPD. Yeah, right? We're talking about St. Manny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

He's a chaplain there. He retired, you know. He's pastoring there in Pennsylvania. So he um he was my worship leader at the barbershop before 9-11. So he's doing that and everything's going good, and then 9-11 happened. And I says, Who's gonna take over this barbershop? What are we gonna do? So Bob Coy, I don't know if you ever heard of Bob Coy.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yeah, Bob Coy. Fort Lauderdale, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

He sends me his youth pastor up. And his youth pastor took over to build it up, then he did build it up, then he let it go, or something happened, and that was it, you know, years later.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Mm-hmm. Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah, so you know.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

Yeah. Wow. And so, um, how did the Lord lead you to Florida where you're at right now? 'Cause you went from New York to Florida. And what year was that?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Okay, um, that was two thousand and four. Wow. August, yeah. I I told my wife, Wanda, I said, listen, you know, I'm retiring and we're gonna move to Florida. She laughs at me. You know, I'm I'm with her 53 years now. Wow. She laughed, yeah, I married with her. We're together 53 years. Wow. And um, she laughs at me. I said, Oh, yeah, we are moving to Florida because I was on vacation spot for all these 50 years. We end up, I said, pack up, we'll sell the house, we're out of here. And we did. We end up moving staying in an apartment until they build that home that we're here now. And then um past the gibb. You know, we've been every time we go on vacation, we stop at that Calvary. You know, every Sunday we'll, you know, we'll stop there before we go home on Sunday, if it falls on a Sunday. So then he's the one that told me, um I went to him uh and I says, Listen, I retire now and I want to start a Bible study at my home. And he says, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So then he told me in his office, he says, you know what? You're the first guy that comes to my office and told me you're gonna start a Calvary chapel, the Lord's leading you there. Because every time I open my eyes, there's a Calvary chapel opened up down the block. Nobody told me nothing. And I said, Yeah, no, I just wanted you to know. So he says, okay. So he says, Come back Monday. We'll talk about it Monday, it was Friday. I come back Monday, he sits in his office and he's showing me around. You know, his office, the office. So he says, see that empty office, you're gonna be sitting there. I said, I'm gonna be sitting there. Oh, that's right. And then he says, that he says, tomorrow morning, be here at eight in the morning. He told me that Friday for Monday, so I'm there Monday. Now he told me to come back Tuesday in the morning. So I go home to Wanda. I says, I don't know how these people operate, the Calvary's here. He's giving me an office. He told me that's gonna be my office. I said, I didn't know they give you an office to start a Bible a Bible study in your home. It was puzzling to me. So at 8 o'clock, I go there. Then he tells me, You're gonna be in charge of the men's fellowship, you're gonna be doing counseling. I said, Whoa, whoa, whoa. I said, I I think you misunderstand. I'm not looking for a job. I said, the Lord is leaving me for a Bible study. He said, No, but you're gonna do the men's fellowship. So I thought that's what you gotta do then. You know? Then he tells me eight o'clock, eight to four, you're gonna be doing this whole week. And I said, Whoa. I says, I I really wanna start a Bible study. He said, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tell him, I tell you what, I'm gonna give you two months, and then I gotta leave because I feel the Lord's leading me. He says, sure. Two and a half years later. I stood there for two and a half years, and then I gotta tell him, hey, listen, I gotta go. God is really calling me. He didn't want to let me go, man. Why? He said, You sure, you sure? He walks away. Yeah, but I'm sure. What happened? And that's how it happened. So then um we end up doing a Bible study at home, and it started growing.

unknown 25:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

You know, a lot of people started coming, and I says, Wow, you know, I don't know how the uh pastor this. And so the problem was, Wanda was my problem. She would feed the people. You're not supposed to feed people. You start feeding, they're not coming for Bible study, they're coming for golden corral. They think that this is a smortgage board. That's what they were doing. So, what draw the line, and I told Wanda, you can ask what draw the line is I'm sitting in the living room with all these people, and we're opening the Bible study. I look and I saw this one guy going for my Captain Crunch. He was in my my uh, you know, where you keep the food. I had my Captain Crunch there every morning. Captain Crunch, he takes it and he's taking it with no milk. I go, oh, this is gonna end. Yeah. You know what? Look how God works.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I I we had no money to do this, but this Bible study.

SPEAKER_05 26:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I go to a real estate and I told the girl, hey, I have no money, I'm doing a Bible study. Sometimes when you think that you think God's ahead of uh, you know, hey, yeah, I'm working for God. You gotta open things for me, you gotta give me money. So I went to the bank. I mean, I went to the real estate, the real estate says, We're not gonna give you none, you got no money. He said, Why don't you go to the bank? And she gave me the name, the guy whose name was Chris in the bank, the manager. So I go to the bank and I said, excuse me, is Chris here? Oh, Chris, how you doing? And I start talking, I says, We got no money, but uh real estate lady told me to come here. So I figured he's gonna give me a bunch of, I'm gonna walk out with bags of money or something. I don't know. So then he tells me we're talking and talking. Then I tell him, I retire from the police. He says, Really? My cousin was in Long Island police. Then we made a connection. Then he tells me, Why don't you do your Bible study here at the bank? He gives me the key to the bank.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Wow. And I said, You want me to do this here?

SPEAKER_01 27:52

But don't do a church. I said, I won't do a church. Let me tell you something. Because they had a community room in the bank, yeah, set up like a church, because it had a community room, bathrooms, a kitchen, and a little cubby hall for the kids. Things are going good. We took pictures, we got it. Everything was going good. And two, people started putting church in the bank signs all over the highway and everything. Corporate call them up and says, Didn't I tell you? I says 30 days, you gotta get out of here in 30 days. So that Sunday I told the people who put signs on 50, that's 50 Highway 50 27. Who put signs there? Yes, who did it? Yes, who did it? Nobody. I said, no, but who put the sign? And I found that was not me, did it? So everybody, not me, not me. So I'm looking for this not me guy. If he's saved or not, I don't know. But if I find not me, I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna get that guy. So we left the bank. We end up getting our own little place. And then we had a church split. We had a warehouse. Then we had a church split, and we end up in this uh this Muslim guy gives us a building, a small building, and now we're there now and we're looking for it to expand. So keep us in prayer for a lot of things. We've been praying for three years. God having He makes silence. So I figured he was silent for 400 years, and now I'm praying. I hope it's not 400 years, he's gonna keep why. I don't know. But keep us in prayer that we need that. We need that. We need the funds, we need the bank. I mean, we need everything.

unknown 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

Hey, Abraham waited all these years.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

I gotta tell one donut story about Carlos. Okay, here we go. There we go.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Donuts. So you know how to see that.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

All of us cops have been, you know, we're all stereotyped just going for the donuts shop. Me personally, I didn't like donuts. But so, anyways, I think we're going to a funeral or something of one of the police officers, but we stopped afterwards at a crispy cream's and they were brand new. And so we're standing, we're going there, we're in uniform, we're in like dress blues and stuff, and and we're watching the the donuts flown by. And Carlos is like, I love you. He's blowing them kids baby. Like, oh man, you're embarrassing me. Stop it. So don't let Carlos fool you. He is all about the food. Okay, he is. All right, but Carlos, now last thing, because we are running out of time. But um we're some now it's been, I can't believe it's been 25 years.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

Almost 25 years.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

That's yeah, so this September 11th. So there's some things going on that people can be a part of. And um, so why don't you fill us in on that?

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Okay, um, we're sending teams out August 29th with Mike McIntosh and people from Colorado, they're coming over and um uh to um September 3rd. It's from August 29th to September 3rd is a Friday. The reason we're doing we're doing this a week before ground zero, before 9-11, in case something goes wrong, we don't want to take our people there. And so what we're gonna do, we're gonna be visiting police stations, firehouses, especially firehouse 10. We're aiming on that. Mike back in tax is trying to get gifts to give out to firemen and cops when we go to the road calls and all this other stuff. So they're working on that. Um, I'm taking a team for my church there also. We're gonna go pray around New York City, every borough. We're gonna hit uh Statue of Liberty, we're gonna pray in Statue of Liberty, and then if they want to go up to see it, they can go in, whatever, and then we go to lunch. Lunch. Okay. I'm a union guy, I gotta have lunch. So then uh uh Calvary Chapel pastor named Byrne, he's in Manhattan, he was from California. He's gonna take us to a tour, free tour, uh, to the oldest church, which is uh Trinity. Remember Trinity Church? Uh they're gonna talk about that. They're gonna talk about uh the Ground Zero, of course, and and and Wall Street, stuff like that. Then they're gonna go to St. Joseph's where we have our place. They're gonna set that up, you know, as one of the tour places to go there and talk about our story. You're gonna be there, so maybe you're gonna be the one that's gonna explain all that. You know, since you're gonna be there. See, I gave them a food already.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah, if as long as there's food, I'll talk.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Yeah, so uh they're planning to do that. So every borough, we're gonna also pray at the Bronx Supreme Court. We're gonna pray over there. Yankee Stadium. You know, uh we're gonna have teams each day go to each borough and we're gonna pray and and do that, and then go to police stations and things like that, and firehouses. We're gonna also go to the sanitation department because they're the ones that that was running um Staten Island, uh the landfill. So we wanna talk with them too. The only drawback is this is 25 years ago. A lot of gu guys died from cancer, you know, from down there. Do you get checked, Harry? Uh no. No. I gave you the number. We're talking about it. I know. Yeah, yeah. Every year get checked because the cops are dying. Later, 25 years later, they got cancer, the firemen, and all that. So that's what uh the 9-11 program is all about. If you volunteered, you were a law enforcement or or anything, uh, you put your name on the list, they've been given checks out too, and free free health care. There's a lot to that to do with that. So that's what we're gonna be doing um down at uh in Manhattan, in New York City. Praying in locations, uh just telling the police and firemen and the and the respondents there that we still love them, still care for them 25 years later. You know? I know we got this mayor that uh don't like cops. I tell you, and I'll tell you him, if so. We know that. Uh already we got a green light with police officers for Christ, they're gonna be with us going into the police stations. They can't stop that because it's a fraternal organization. So we got that going. The fire department, firefighters for Christ. Remember that, Gary? FD for Christ. Uh we're going into firehouses. Already, uh I I don't want to say where we got permission. I'm gonna keep it off the two for now until we gather over there so we can know what we're doing. Um that's what we're gonna do. Pray and and then different locations, staff, uh, police stations, everything. Like I said, a week before the 9-11, you know, because some places are gonna be tight. You know, they don't want nobody in there. You know, you know how that goes. So we'll see what happens with other locations. Especially Port Authority police, they always open their hearts to us, you know. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. We want to make sure. Max says he wants to try to do a breakfast. Remember how we did the breakfast? Yep. He wants to do something like that. So I don't know how you're gonna get those firemen and cops together on that. I don't know. But he says maybe police officer Christ will tell the communion breakfast, and then we just pay for it. You know, remember I tell you we uh sponsor it. You know, chip in and sponsor it. So that's where we're at with that, what's gonna happen. So we're excited about what God's gonna do there. Keep us in prayer on that too. It's called NYC26.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

And when's the date for that again?

SPEAKER_01 36:33

August 29th. That's uh uh Friday.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

It's a Friday all the way to September 3rd. No, a Saturday to Friday. I'm sorry. That's a Saturday, the 29th. And then we're everybody's heading back home on Friday, the uh third, I think. Friday's the third.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Gotcha. And uh, and so um, and is this open to is this just law enforcement?

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Is this like or if we're just for uh no, we want all the churches to be involved, okay, you know, uh, which then we we just want to show them that we do love them out there, you know. Absolutely, whatever we do. Um, I'm trying to set up a place in the Bowery. I went, I did a dry run run. And I like that because it was this retired sergeant and some cops I knew, retired guys from Cops of Christ, they were preaching in the building, like a warehouse, and they had like probably 200 homeless people there. Girl ladies, too. They were there, they they give them an hour to preach or say whatever you gotta say. Then we leave, and then the the homeless people go to the other side of the warehouse and eat. They serve them food. So they only give you an hour. So I'm trying to get an hour out of it, you know, to see if we go there and let the team that comes with us, you know, extra people, pray for them, lay hands on them. Why we just give them the gospel and give them free Bibles and stuff, you know, like that.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yes. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

And it's ministry that we want to do ministry to the city of New York. That's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

Yeah. Yep. And I can't believe we're getting close to 25 years for that. And uh, guys, if you want to uh, you know, join in that trip, uh please pray about it. It will be on our website, anchorrelief.org. And um, yeah, just uh and be praying too, whether you're gonna join us, join us to the trip or not. Uh, because um New York City, especially, I mean, uh, they could definitely use the love of Christ, especially with the current administration and in the mayor's office that's going on right now, bringing um the concepts of Islam into the city. And and uh we need Holy Spirit believers, Holy Spirit-filled people to to um be a light in that city. And so be praying about that.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

I mean, yeah, and if people want to to give towards the the breakfast, they can do that on our website also, um anchoredrelief.org forward slash donate in the memo section. They all they have to do is put NYPD. And if they want to go, they're interested in going with us, they can email us at info at anchoredrelief.org and we'll get them the information.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Instead of NYPD and the NYCD, instead of NYPD, just put NYD. Yeah. So just put it NYC26. You know, you get 2026. So NYC26.

SPEAKER_03 39:39

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

So make sure that that if you're giving towards that breakfast, you put that or that any other outreaches that that you put that in the memo section, NYC26 on anchoredrelief.org forward slash donate.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Yes. And if you want to subscribe to our text, you can text the word air to 949-3849282. You can also contact us directly, 949-4326777. And also uh give a little plug for Pastor Carlos. Uh, if you're ever in the Orlando area, uh please check out his church uh every Sunday morning. Uh what's her what's your services? Uh Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Uh 1030, Sunday morning. Uh uh 6 6 30 at uh Wednesdays.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

So if you're ever in the Orlando area.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

At 10 in the morning on Thursday for prayer, hour of prayer.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Yes. Yeah, and if you need to find a church if you're in the Orlando area, please visit uh Claremont, Florida, right there. He's right there. About well, it's about a few but about 20 minutes or half an hour, you know.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Yeah, 25 minutes from Orlando.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

Yeah, and if you want to uh go to his website, go to the church's website, ccclaremont.org. All the information is over there. Um and the pastor Carlos does nothing but teach the word of God verse by verse, and so and that's what we as Christians need to do is like um just faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. And so um we're just so planted by that. And uh um hope you guys were ministered tonight um or today, wherever you whenever you're listening to this. And so um, but um, Pastor Carlos, why don't you close us out in prayer?

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Absolutely, yeah. Father, it's so wonderful, Lord, that as we could gather together through this waves, Lord Father, uh through the internet, Lord, Father. We just pray for those who are watching, Lord, Father, that you will fill their hearts, Lord, touch them, Lord. Those that don't know you, Lord, Father, they get to know you and draw close to you and be like that lady says, All I want to do is touch his garment. That's all I want to do. And I pray that that Jesus would say, Someone touch me, even in the crowds, Lord. Father, bless your people today, Lord, Father, and every day, Lord, Father. We ask it in your name, in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Thanks, Carla. Thank you, guys. God bless your name.

SPEAKER_04 42:08

Yes, all right. Have a great night, guys. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

We'd like to thank every single one of you for listening to God's story. To connect with us, go to anchorrelief.org. And follow us on Instagram or follow us at our blog at Anchorrelief.blog. You could also subscribe to our YouTube channel, as well as our Apple Podcasts and Spotify. To subscribe to our text thread, text the word Air AIR to the number 949-384-9282. Again, that's 949-384-9282. Or you can call us directly on our office line at area code 949-432-6777. That's 949-432-6777.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

The preceding of the production and broadcast mystery of Anchored International Relief.