May Day! May Day!

That's how I was feeling about 11:00 AM on May 1st (a.k.a. "May Day"). I had just returned from one intense week in Atlanta, after which I was given the formal "thumbs up" to help start new churches in the PCA, and was feeling exhausted already. Now some scheduling changes made me wonder if my licensure exams (the first half of the ordination process) would have to be pushed back a couple months. So at 11:00 AM, in the middle of an intense theological examination with the pastors overseeing my ordination, where my mind was fuzzy and feeling overwhelmed, a friend climbing a mountain hundreds of miles away felt led to pray for me - in the middle of her climb - but didn't know why. The next day she told me of the odd time and place where she felt led to pray. I then told her what was happening at that time, and how that moment was the turning point for me. By the end of my "May Day" my mind was clear, my heart settled, and I had passed my exams with flying colors. I left that experience even more convinced that God works through our prayers. Thank you all for your prayers for myself and the work God is doing here in Las Vegas.

Paradise Valley Missional Community

This is the name of the new missional community we began in April, meeting in the neighborhood east of the Strip and UNLV. Sunday night 15 of us gathered for dinner (pictured above). It was wonderful to see God bringing together people from different ethnic, educational, cultural, and even spiritual backgrounds (picture an Arab university scholar eating with an American fighter pilot, while a disabled man who lived on the streets for 2 years catches up with a professional musician). Last week I had lunch with one of them who says he's searching for Truth and the meaning of life, knows he's not a follower of Jesus, but is now considering whether the Bible is the Word of God, and whether his search for Truth and God needs to be redirected outward toward Christ, rather than an inward search for enlightenment. Please pray for Mike that his search for Truth leads him to the one who called himself, "The Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6).

On The Move

This next month I'll hopefully be moving into the Paradise Valley neighborhood. I still have to figure out the exact location, whether to rent or buy, roommates, etc. I'll also be scoping out potential worship gathering sites for down the road while also trying to network in the area. The decisions we make in the next few weeks will be pivotal to the mission of the church. Please pray for God's leading in this process. I look forward to updating you on what happens as the summer approaches.