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).