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.
