I Think We Just Planted A Church...

At 4:44 PM this Sunday, City-Wide Redeemer - Paradise began meeting for weekly worship! [Pictured Above] Our Missional Community did a great job helping with all the behind-the-scenes work to help make this happen. Here are a few scenes from that night...

A homeless guy named "Rick" met me in the parking lot, where I've often seen him sitting on a wall. At first he had no interest in joining us for the service or the meal that would follow, but eventually he decided to come in. Right before the end of the service he stood up and asked if we would pray for his friend in the hospital, which our music team leader did on the spot. He ended up staying for the meal, where he met a few other men in the church. Right before he left he asked for a card - then he asked for more to give to friends he wanted to bring the next week. "I'm gonna pack this place out," he told us.

On the lighter side...

At the dinner that followed our service [pictured above] a musician who often works until 3 AM on Saturday nights was finally able to join us now that we meet in his neighborhood and at a more "musician friendly" time. He used this occasion to return a power tool he borrowed from one of our pastors...3 years ago!

After a few of us mentioned the likelihood of saying "This morning" out of habit, one gentleman kept track of how many times I accidentally said "morning" instead of "evening" after preaching the same message that I preached earlier that day. Final count...only 3. Yes, I am a creature of habit.

Today I returned from a short (but long-overdue) vacation in Los Angeles. It was a great time of rest, reflection and catching up with an old friend. I've returned with a clearer mind and a recharged battery. I'm thankful for working with a team that allowed me to take this time away, even as it meant some of them taking on additional responsibilities.

Though I'm technically past the 1-year mark of my 1-year apprenticeship, there is still much to be learned. Thank you to you all for your prayers over the past year. Please be in prayer for our follow up of the new connections we recently made (and will be making) from this new worship site, and for continued good relations with the facility hosting our worship services. 

Growing

At 4:44 PM three Sundays ago 27 men, women and children gathered in the UNLV Student Union for a "Preview" of City-Wide Redeemer's newest worship site in the heart of the city (pictured above). Some hadn't been in a church service for months. Some for years. Some came straight from work in a city where 9-5 on Monday through Friday is more a luxury than an expectation. For all of us it was a taste of what is to come as we being weekly worship on February 20th.

Since then even more people have contacted us about their interest in "the new church." Many who will be commissioned this Sunday (as the group helping to launch this new worship site) are or have been on the brink of homelessness, or don't own a vehicle. Some have steady jobs that support their family while others have lost their jobs and their family. Some can't remember a day they didn't know the grace of God in Christ, while others only have to look back a few months. Yet all of them are committed to follow Jesus in the city and long to be a part of Jesus' renewal of all things in and around Paradise.

In the process I've had to do some growing. It's been said that while pastors each have different gifts, they all need to become at least "average" in their areas of weakness. The past few weeks I've been forced to grow as I've needed to do a lot of things I'm not really "good" at yet. I've also learned what my limits are the hard way. It's too easy for me to get caught up in the needs of others and then forget my own. I would appreciate all your prayers during this time, that God's Spirit would be working among the people here, and that we would remember that He is the one that strengthens and enables his people to do his work.