First 2 Weeks

After 2 days of driving through fog, mountain snow, and rare desert rain I arrived in "Fabulous" Las Vegas. And I hit the ground running.

Wednesday: Twenty-Four hours later I got to witness the birth of City-Wide Redeemer Central, the new Wednesday night worship gathering site just blocks from the Vegas Strip. Here we saw a group of mostly young men come together to hear about God's Word and what it means to trust it as we seek to follow Jesus (pictured above).

Thursday: I got lunch with a friend from my St. Louis church, now going to school at UNLV. I'm trusting God to be working through him and his relational network to draw people to himself.

Friday: After a weekend trip to L.A. was cancelled because of closed mountain passes I was initiated into the Las Vegas swing dance scene. There I met all sorts of people, from a local teacher who came to faith through tragedy after being brought up in the LDS (Mormon) church, to a relocated New York actor/singer now doing solo work in one of Vegas's best know shows. The latter seemed quite surprised to meet someone who came to Vegas to pastor and work as a DJ.

Saturday: I "trained" at my first wedding reception with a local company similar to the one I worked for in St. Louis.

Sunday: I was introcuded to the rest of City-Wide Redeemer and got to know more of the young musicians in the church - many of whom came to faith in the past 6 months.

This past week: Spent a lot of time preparing for the sermon I preached on the 31st and getting to know where everything is in this "neon jungle." Apparently I'm right next to Chinatown. I worked a bridal show Saturday and booked a couple brides for the coming year before observing another DJ at a wedding at a local casino-hotel. Never thought I'd attend an outdoor pool-side wedding ceremony in January. After preaching the next morning I found out that many at the Sunday service were first-time visitors, including someone I met swing dancing. It's encouraging to see how God is working here.

Items for Prayer:
Even for an outgoing guy it's tough to be in a new town and have to start forming new friendships. Please pray that God sustains me in this time of transition. I'll be spending much of the next week preparing for my licensure examinations and following up some local leads. Please pray that these can be fruitful times. I look forward to seeing what God has in store here when (if?) I get into a "normal" schedule.