Milestones

 

The past few weeks have been filled with a number of milestones. Mid October marked the first anniversary of Fresh Start, our homeless outreach. In the past year we’ve seen thousands of homeless fed, hundreds receive toiletries and survival supplies, dozens get their IDs, about a dozen get into temporary housing, and another dozen joining us for church services and fellowship dinners. Many have heard the gospel only after first seeing it acted out (offering what one could never pay for or say they earned). Many non-Christians have come to our church simply because they see what we’re doing outside of church. Lately our focus has shifted from those still on the streets to those we have in temporary housing. Yesterday marked a milestone for 3 of those men (with a combined 8 years living on the streets) who just moved into their own place, able to pay their own rent, and officially given a “Fresh Start!”

This past weekend also marked our first adult baptism (pictured above). It was a joy meeting with her to hear the story of God’s grace in her life. In the last year we’ve seen God deliver her from the streets and addiction, then use her to offer hospitality and care to others in various forms of need. Following the service we held a feast to celebrate with her and the other new members (3 adults, 2 children). Please pray for God's hand on their lives. 

Learning patience

I like to get things done now and see results yesterday. Church planting usually doesn’t offer those luxuries or timetables. One guy I’ve been pursuing for 2 years (meaning we have a great talk, then I send him a follow up message and have to wait a few months before hearing back) sent me a random message last night. He told me his wife had just left him for another man and he didn’t know what to do – but wanted me to pray for him. After obliging I took the opportunity to direct him to how Jesus weeps with us over the losses and injustices in our lives, then offered to meet up with him if he’d like. For some people it takes years before God opens a door, and sometimes it takes seeing the sin of others to help us grasp our own sin and need for forgiveness. Please pray that I take the long view and not panic over efforts that may take months or years to see fruit.

Getting what we need, not what we deserve

Recently God used a rough day to remind me how his grace works. Two of us were helping a disabled man who used to be homeless move into his new place. When he started barking orders and insulting our “voluntary” moving efforts, the other volunteer took offense. When he spoke up about it, the resulting altercation led the hurt volunteer to quickly speed off, leaving me to finish the move myself. I was then “ordered” to go get another mover to help, but I didn’t want to subject anyone else to his belligerence. It was very hard to not leave him myself a number of times. Nobody deserves to be treated the way he treats people, and nobody who acts that way “deserves” free help from those they abuse. Then it hit me – that’s exactly how God’s grace works. God doesn’t give Christians what they deserve; he gives them what they need. That man didn’t deserve our help any more than we deserve Christ’s help. In fact, we deserved to be abandoned. Instead Christ was abandoned on the cross, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was abandoned so we wouldn’t be. He gave us what we needed, not what we deserved. And that’s what enables us to give others the same. Please pray that God gives us his heart of grace for those we serve.

Summer Summary

The past 3 months have seen tremendous highs and lows in the life of our church plant.

The Highs:

This summer we began 2 new Bible studies. Both were hosted by those who had experienced tremendous hurt because of the actions of those they’d known from previous church experiences. It was encouraging to see God changing hearts from when we first met them, while bringing healing and hope to the spiritually wounded. One host, who just a few months earlier called the streets of Las Vegas home, celebrated their birthday clean and sober for the first time in years and enjoys being able to offer hospitality to others now. Another has shown tremendous growth in grace, even in the midst of personal heartache. Additionally, I'll be giving a neighbor a ride to our church this weekend after her boss finally gave her the weekend off so she could go to the church she'd been praying for (see post from Aug. 7).

The Lows:

In between these reasons for joy we’ve also experienced our share of heartache. Some Christians who have visited our church have decided to worship elsewhere, at least partially because they’re uncomfortable with our homeless outreach. Earlier this summer a man we helped get off the streets and into hospice care lost his battle with cancer. A few weeks later I got word that one of our first members, while doing time for a crime committed before we met him, had abandoned Christianity for Islam. And just weeks ago, the couple whose home our church plant began in – the wife of which came to Christ through our first church plant – filed for divorce and has cut off all communication with the church. All together we’ve had plenty of opportunity to practice Romans 12:15 together: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

New Beginnings:

This fall began a new outreach to UNLV students and the surrounding community called “The Thomas Society.” Named after Doubting Thomas, it welcomes those struggling with their faith, skeptics, and those longing for honest answers to hard questions in a safe context. This approach has earned us the trust of the UNLV Secular Student Alliance (SSA), who actively promoted our first meeting. While our first attendees were all non-Christians from that group, a Christian who dropped in on our last meeting reminded me why there’s such a need for a safe place for doubters and skeptics. His one careless comment (suggesting the “garbage” a student heard at a SSA meeting led to his recent suicide) seriously offended a former officer in that group and jeopardized the reputation of our group. Fortunately the upcoming topics were too enticing for the offended party to give up on us too quickly.

For those already in the church we are beginning to form new discipleship groups with the hope that God uses them to equip our people to minister to others out of an overflow of their own robust faith.

As a planter, this season has solidified my conviction that “Without (Christ), you can do nothing.” I earnestly welcome prayers for the healing of the broken-hearted, the advance of the gospel among the lost in Las Vegas, God’s financial provision for the work here, and the growth in grace of his saints here. Thank you.

Pastoring In Vegas Is A Lot Like...

Pastoring in Las Vegas is a lot like being a doctor who time travels to the ancient world. Let me explain…

Imagine you’re in medical school. In it you learn about the largest human organ – the skin. It’s designed to keep certain things out (germs), while letting other things pass freely (air, sweat to cool you off, etc.). It’s also designed to hurt when it’s broken or damaged as a means of your own defense (at least partly to teach us to not keep our hand on that hot stove we just touched). You would also learn about hypodermic needles and shots as a means of delivering life-saving medicine to where it’s needed, but only by (painfully) puncturing the skin.

Now imagine you’re fully trained as a doctor and somehow time traveled to the ancient world. You see before you people dying of the very thing you’ve been saved from due to a shot you received (which, of course, hurt at the time). Their symptoms are obvious and painful. Your heart grieves for those around you and you long for them to receive the same cure you’ve been given. Here’s the problem. You’re offering something they’ve never heard of before. They don’t understand the nature of “viruses” and “bacteria” and more than they do “immunizations” or “antibiotics.” So, they are left to interpret your words and actions based on what they are familiar with.

A hypodermic needle would most closely resemble an odd little sword or knife. Those hurt. They’re used to hunt not to heal. All they know is you’re asking them to do something they know will hurt – with something that only seemingly someone wishing them harm would use – and they’ve never associated that with coming from someone they can trust. All they know is you’re asking someone who’s already suffering to let you do something that will definitely cause pain, yet asking them to trust you that it’s for the best.

In a sense, that’s what it’s like to be a pastor in Las Vegas. I constantly meet people suffering from the effects of what the Bible calls “sin,” whether they’d call it that or not. As a Christian bringing God’s Word, I initially call to mind for them other painful experiences with others they associate with their view of Christianity that only made things worse for them. Even in the church, God’s prescriptions – which bear the brand names of “Faith,” “Confession” and “Repentance” – are often seen only for the initial pain or loss that comes from turning away from sin, rather than as God’s ordained means of healing.

If people don’t deeply trust someone, they won’t heed their call to do what is initially painful or costly in order to find greater healing on the other side. As a pastor sometimes that means letting people get to know me as a person – as the guy who DJs or helps start community service organizations – before I tell them I’m also a pastor. For others it’s demonstrating God’s grace as their sin comes to the surface. Yet eventually it’s not me they really need to trust in. That’s where the call to preach and demonstrate the gospel of grace offered in Christ comes in. Nobody will respond to God’s call to confession, faith and repentance as long as they believe God is one they’ll be happier keeping at arm’s length.

Please pray that God allows us to introduce Las Vegans to a Jesus who is worthy of their faith and who offers something worth the temporary discomfort of confession and repentance – namely forgiveness and new life.

Grace at Starbucks

I was standing in line at Starbucks and noticed hair clipping on the shirt in front of me. “Where’d you get your hair cut” I asked. When he turned around I noticed a cross around his neck. Later he offered me a seat while I was waiting for my order. When I asked him about the cross he said it was from an old roommate. He said he grew up going to church but hadn’t been back for years.

As a sexually active, gay, HIV-positive Latino he had found the church of his youth an unsafe place to worship. Though he says he’s a happy person, he confessed that there’s a missing piece spiritually in his life. When I asked him what his concept of grace was, he had no answer. That gave me the chance to share the gospel with him and introduce him to the grace offered in Jesus Christ.

Like many in Las Vegas, he is longing for a place where he can be honest and yet still feel acceptance. The LGBT community, though valuing honesty in one area, has proven to be an unsafe place for him to be honest in other areas. I told him that as humans we all long to be fully known and fully and loved, but often believe we have to choose one or the other. What Christ offers us is a way to be both. We exchanged information before he left so we could stay in touch.

What my new friend is longing for is nothing short of God’s grace. Please pray that he finds what he longs for.

Curveball

A good rule of church planting is to expect the unexpected. The weekend of July 22 was no exception. The night before we were to move our services to a new location the unexpected happened. The deal fell through. What started out looking like a situation “too good to pass up” showed itself to be “too good to be true.” Fortunately we kept our reservations at UNLV and have been able to continue worshiping there.

What’s happened since this "curveball" has been a reminder that God is still in control and knows what he’s doing. The next week I made 3 visits to neighborhood coffee shops and pubs that I wouldn’t have made had we moved our church services to another neighborhood. The result? Conversations with 5 people I had never met that were excited to hear about the church. Most of them are not yet Christians yet want to come and join us soon.

One of these people, after already mentioning their past sexual exploits and the stories behind most of their tattoos, asked me what I did for a living. When I told her she grew silent. Then she said, “I need to tell you something. I grew up going to church but have fallen away since then. I’ve been to 8 of my friends funerals the past 3 years. The last was my boyfriend’s, who overdosed 4 months ago.” Then came the part I wasn’t expecting. “Lately I’ve been praying to God for a church in the neighborhood where I could go and hear the word of God.”

What!? Really? Then she mentioned this wasn’t even the place she usually hung out, but for some reason decided to go there that night.
When our plans to move our services last month fell through I had no idea what was happening … but God did. God knew what it would take to meet those who need Him and his church – even if it meant keeping us at UNLV another couple weeks (or months). Please pray for God’s protection over their lives. Pray that their longing to connect with God and his people would not be hindered.

Faithfulness

I often receive updates from other church planters here in Vegas and around the country. This includes stories from planters who start with teams of as many as 20 adults who all move to a city solely for the purpose of helping plant a church. That’s awesome! It opens up so many opportunities for a church plant. But … it can also be difficult to hear stories of people doing things we’d like to be doing, but simply don’t have the manpower or resources to do yet.

Church plant “success” is often measured in “nickels and noses” – the more the better. Yet a while ago a pastor friend shared a very different perspective. Biblical success is measured in faithfulness. As a result he often asks himself, “Am I being faithful to God’s call on my life, and am I faithfully using my gifts?” So where’s he getting that from? 

Well, in Matthew 25 Jesus tells a parable of 3 servants, each entrusted with a different amount of resources from their master. While none of them are given the same as the others, the same thing is expected of all of them: faithfulness. Faithfulness with what they’ve been given.

The trap I was falling into was comparing results and resources, rather than asking God what he’d have me do with what he’s entrusted to me. When faithfulness is the goal, I’m free to rejoice over what God has given others, even if he hasn’t given it to us.

Please pray for my own faithfulness with what God has given while trusting him to continue to provide for the work he’s doing here in Las Vegas.

A New Home

Nope, I’m not moving – but our church services are! Beginning July 22 we will begin worshiping Sunday mornings at the Ethiopian Christians Fellowship Church, just 1/2 mile east of Las Vegas Blvd and in the heart of the neighborhood where most of our members and their contacts live. This gives us a 24/7 visible presence in the community as we’ll be using the currently empty roadside frame for our signage. Since this church doesn’t hold services in English they are delighted for their building to be used to reach the surrounding English-speaking community.

The move will also change our services to Sunday mornings. While our afternoon service time allowed us to share some pastoral resources during our first year, we’ve discovered that Sunday mornings actually draw more people (Christian and not-yet-Christian), despite what one would expect in a 24-hour town like Las Vegas. It also takes less of a toll on volunteers. A recent meeting with a veteran Vegas church planter helped confirm some of the same things God was leading to through prayer.

This ends a rollercoaster of events where we’ve tried and failed to find (and afford) a new location. After being turned down numerous places, we were left only with options that were beyond our budget once some major donors fell through. Those temporary setbacks kept us out of long term commitments to places that wouldn’t be nearly as good for us. That kept us looking long enough to find just the right place. Even a major miscommunication this week turned out for the best when we were offered a 25% discount for the first 6 months.  In the end God delivered!

Please pray for this time of transition. Pray for God to be preparing the hearts of those whom we’ll meet through this new location. Pray also that we will effectively offer the welcome of Christ to those who need him. Thank you.

Doubting Our Doubts

Since Easter we’ve been looking at the issues that most trouble people about Christianity in our sermon series “Doubting Our Doubts.” What was surprising is that the ones needing these messages most were not the unchurched friends of our members, but those already in our church. Some are intellectuals wrestling with doubts due to their natural skepticism. Others are struggling to pursue God in the face of great suffering. Yet some who wouldn’t yet call themselves Christians are just happy to learn from those they now trust and consider more open than the other churches they’ve known. Please pray that believers and doubters alike would be drawn to a deeper confidence in the God of the Bible, and for wisdom for me as I attempt to graciously respond to hard yet honest questions.

"You're Gonna Get Nailed"

That’s what another church planter told me within seconds of hearing that I was coming to Vegas to church plant. He was referring to the spiritual warfare that we commonly experience here. We’ve definitely been feeling it lately. The day I preached on “Suffering: The Problem of Evil,” the pastoral prayer included reference to 3 cancer patients in our small congregation. Two of them were just diagnosed in the last month, while the other is terminal and has about a month to live. One family was gone while making preparations for a funeral, while another was back with us after dealing with a suicide in the family. Two more folks were missing because they had to pack up after their apartment was auctioned off, one of which had just suffered a mental breakdown. Meanwhile another was missing due to allegations from the mother of his child that got him locked up for over 2 weeks without being able to see a judge. That’s a lot for a church of fewer than 50 people to experience in just one month.

In the midst of it all, God has had to stretch me as a pastor. Seminary doesn’t prepare you for this. If pastoral care is where God most wants to grow me, He’s sure given me ample opportunity. Please pray for protection from the Evil One, for perseverance, and most of all for the hope of the Gospel to be experienced by us all as we walk through these difficult times. 

Life On Life

It may surprise people that Jesus’ “Master Plan of Evangelism” was to spend 3 years of intense training with a small group of disciples. Yet after His resurrection, that modest group was who God used to turn the world upside down. We call this model of deep investment “Life on Life” discipleship. Lately it’s been bearing fruit. Tonight (Monday) was an absolute joy, which reminded me of why we committed to this approach to discipleship. Personally I’m seeing our men’s hearts for their coworkers, roommates and family members grow the past few weeks, as well as a rediscovery of their love for God. Meanwhile I’ve been encouraged by the level of openness with the men I meet with every week. Please pray for continued internal growth (love for God and people) for our church, that it may translate into external growth (more people coming into the church and into God’s kingdom).

Ups and Downs

Planting churches has been full of ups and downs. Here are a few examples:

• 31 people in church one week (while missing 14 others), then 14 total the next week.
• One moment we’re seeing PBJ volunteers we hardly know willing to donate haircuts, cell phones and medical aid to help folks get back on their feet – the next moment I’m praying over the effects of miscommunications that threaten to sink the whole ministry.
• We’re seeing God connect us to people in places we hadn't been focusing, while some places we have focused are not producing the contacts we thought they would.

Fortunately it’s been mostly “ups” lately. We’re seeing from 2-8 folks from our homeless outreach (PBJ) at church each week (both volunteers and those we’re helping), along with a new wave of young single adults. Currently 6 PBJ men are off the streets and into temporary housing, while 2 already have jobs and 2 have been saved from life-threatening infections through volunteer intervention. Also, we now have fully functional men’s and women’s discipleship groups and had 8 attendees at our last Newcomer Café (many of who hadn't been in a church in years).

Season of Change

Next month the first CWR church plant in the Aliante community (North Las Vegas) becomes its own “particular” church, and will be planting a 3^rd (yikes!) church 10 miles west of there in May. As a result we’ve shifted our pastoral responsibilities. For me that means a lot more work planning, preaching and doing training for the church in the southern half of the city, all to help us better become who we need to be to reach our part of the city with our unique group of people (where it’s quite common for an engineer to pass the communion tray to a homeless man, who in turn passes it to a young mom).

As our core group has changed and we’ve gotten to know our community better, we’ve noticed a few things. First, the urban poor we longed to reach are coming to us more through our homeless outreach (folks we give rides to) than our worship site location. Meanwhile, our partnering with another church in Paradise that better fits that neighborhood has enabled us both to reach our different groups more effectively. Most of the folks that we see coming, and who we feel best equipped to reach, actually live south of our current worship site. At the same time we’re seeing Sundays where we’re afraid we’ll run out of seating if everyone shows up the same day. All that, coupled with a place further south that’s literally been waiting 3 years for a church like ours to move in, means we’re likely moving our worship site later this spring. The new location would make us more accessible to the quarter-of-a-million people living in Henderson (second largest city in Nevada, where most of our church’s contacts live), and would serve as a beachhead for further church planting in the southern half of the metro area, just as our Aliante church has for North Las Vegas. 

As we’ve been preaching through the book of Acts we’ve seen how the first church planter (Paul) was told “No” when he wanted to go somewhere other than where God wanted him, then was redirected to the people God was preparing for him to reach. I can now see how God has been redirecting us as well the past few months. To better prepare for this new phase of the church plant I'm scaling back DJing to once per month (which also means more fundraising to replace that income). Please pray for wisdom and courage during this time of transition. Pray for endurance as I take on more weekly responsibilities. Pray for protection from the schemes of the enemy. Finally, pray that God brings us a church planting apprentice to assist in the current work and to help plant more churches in the years to come. Thank you.

Park Bench Justice

PBJ volunteers preparing "Survival Backpacks" for 40 homeless

One night in October I thought we could help better connect with a spiritual seeker (whom I randomly met bowling) by planning to take the unused food from a potluck dinner to some of the homeless she knew living by the Strip. Somehow, due to a miscommunication, she ended up not coming that night. As we drove around randomly looking for the homeless (since we’d lost the one person who knew where they stayed) we met a community of 20 homeless that sticks together for safety and support. Upon meeting them and hearing their stories God started doing something in the hearts of those in our Missional Community. By the end of the night they were already planning their next trip to do the same.

A few weeks later “Park Bench Justice” (PBJ) was born out of our Missional Community (www.facebook.com/ParkBenchJustice). Since then it’s grown beyond what any of us could have imagined. Every week we’re meeting new people coming to join us for our bi-weekly deliveries to 30-45 of the most needy in our city. They include people from other churches, people who have walked away from church, and people who never claimed one to begin with. The week before Christmas over 20 came out to help us pack and deliver “survival backpacks” (pictured above) full of supplies to help them through the winter. Recently we've been able to help 2 of them get off the streets and into housing, with another couple about to do the same this week, once his disability check arrives. Most of them, having experienced life on the streets, are now eager to help in any way they can. Many of them have joined us for worship services, 2 of whom are also in a discipleship group. Our Christmas Eve service, which was half newcomers, included 4 we had just fed that afternoon and 1 Mormon PBJ volunteer who hadn’t been to any church since her mother died 2 years ago.

Christ is growing his church as his people respond to his call to be the church. And he’s doing it in such a way that we can’t take credit for it. People are beginning to serve out of gifts and passions we (and maybe even they) didn’t know were there. In the process we’re seeing rapid spiritual growth as living “on mission” stretches them to the place where they see their need of God’s enabling power, and rejoice at what He’s doing in, around and through them. The culture and feel of the church has totally changed from when we first launched. It’s not what we had planned. It’s probably something better.

Please be in prayer for those serving in and being reached by this new endeavor. Please pray for endurance for those offering the most time and energy to this ministry. Pray that the resources necessary to keep this going are provided. Pray that hearts are united as the gospel goes forth in both word and deed. Pray for guidance as we seek how this development might affect our current ministry priorities and direction. Finally, pray for protection for us all as the Enemy loves to steal and kill and destroy, especially when Jesus is using his people to bring life and hope to dark places. Thank you.