Coming soon...

A year ago I was invited out to Las Vegas with these words: "You can come to Vegas, do some preaching, teaching and discipling, maybe start a few Missional Communities, all while working bivocationally as a DJ. After a year you just might pause, look around, and say, 'I think I just planted a church.'" It sounded incredible at the time, but 1 year into my time in Las Vegas this dream is becoming a reality. We are just weeks away from the launch of weekly public worship for City-Wide Redeemer - Paradise. On Christmas Eve we had 27 in attendance at our Paradise Christmas Eve Service, our first worship gathering in this part of the city. On the 23rd of this month we have a "Preview" service at the UNLV Student Union before we begin weekly public worship on February 20th. Please be in prayer for this time as it will serve as many people's introduction to us as a church. You can see the invitation below.

We are thankful to have space to meet in and many new friends here eager to help get things started. God has truly gone before us. Please pray for God's protection during this fragile stage, and that God would provide the funding to carry us through our "launch" phase. Thank you all for your continued prayers for what God is doing here.

Carols and Cookies at Rosemont

The week before Christmas some folks from all 3 of City-Wide Redeemer's Missional Communities "joined forces" to go carolling and Christmas cookie delivering in a low income apartment complex called Rosemont. This is a community that litterally sought us out as a church and offered us free meeting space if we could use it to serve this community. Wow! What started as a group of 15 or so carollers from one church grew to quite the festive crowd of singers, guitar players, cookie deliverers, and laughing children, as many of those we met along the way decided to join us in spreading the joy of Christmas to their neighbors (pictured above). One father of 3, who plays the role of father to many more in that neighborhood, surprised me when he said how greatful he was to live to be 50. He began asking where we met for worship and wanted to keep in touch after that night. I was amazed at how well we were recieved, simply because we took an interest in them as a community. The following week we held a bilingual (English / Spanish) Christmas Eve service there, drawing a handful of folks from this community that we had just met. God has definitely gone before us on this one. Pray that He continues what he seems to be starting among the people of Rosemont.

Home Sweet Home

This past weekend bad sweaters were in abundance as I hosted our Missional Community's Christmas party at MY NEW PLACE (pictured above). After nearly 7 months of searching, waiting, frustrating (or rather "being" frustrated), I finally moved into the community of Paradise last week. I'm now within a mile of UNLV, the airport, the Strip, and 2-3 of the core families that will help launch City-Wide Redeemer-Paradise this February. This month alone we've seen a number of needs of people in the city met simply because God is leading His people toward areas of need, rather than away from them.

Our Paradise Christmas Eve service will be our first public worship "presence," serving as a preview for what is to come later this winter. There's also a good possibility that the UNLV Student Union will be the site for our weekly worship gatherings. This widely familiar, central location would make us accessible to both the students population and to the many contacts we have that find our North Las Vegas worship site too far to drive to. Thank you to the many who have been praying for all of this to come together.

"My Drug Dealer Led Me To The Lord"

That’s what a stagehand named Billy told us as we met for breakfast one morning. Over 2 decades after his unusual conversion he now helps recruit for a Bible study for others who work at the same show. Last week 2 from our church attended this “between shows” Bible study to see what it looks like to reach out to those whose lives (and schedules) revolve around the hospitality and entertainment industry that drive the Vegas economy. We’ve seen that it takes a certain boldness and sensitivity, such that few have attempted it and even fewer have been able to connect with the workers while doing it. Yet God is at work there. Others have gone before us in establishing this type of ministry, and we long to see what role we might play in seeing it continue. Those working behind the scenes at the many Vegas attractions on the Strip need to see that Christ’s church is not afraid to meet them where they’re at. They too are precious in His sight.

ATL -> STL -> PTL!

This month has been full of travels. Before coming home to Nebraska for Thanksgiving and meeting a seminary roommate at the Grand Canyon (pictured above), I was in Atlanta (the ATL) for a weekend of training. While there I was greatly encouraged to meet many who have been and will soon be supporting God’s work in Vegas in various ways. On the way back I stopped in St. Louis (the STL) to reconnect with old friends while sharing what God has been doing in Las Vegas. I also got to answer some questions from those considering a Vegas visit to see if God might be leading them to join us here. A few told me they were praying for the “A-Team” here [see post: “I (Heart) Atheists”]. The following week I was hanging out with this same group when I witnessed one of them, a professing Atheist, start recruiting her friends to come hear me preach at Christmas. What?! It was a wonderful reminder that God works through people’s prayers. All I can say is “Praise the Lord” (PTL)!

4:44 on 2-20

On Sunday, February 20th at 4:44 PM (tentative time), we plan on launching public worship for City-Wide Redeemer – Paradise. Paradise is a community of nearly a quarter-million people sandwiched between the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson and home to the Las Vegas Strip, McCarran Airport, and the UNLV campus (with its 28,000 students). Of the tens of millions of people that visit Las Vegas each year, most all of them arrive, stay and play in Paradise. If you’ve heard of it, it’s probably in Paradise. What we’ve noticed, though, is that most Christian churches tend to locate outside this region, or maybe on the perimeter. We want to plant a church right in the heart of it.


We are hoping to have monthly “preview” worship services leading up to the February launch. Many we know would come to something like this that are not already a part of ours or any other church. In the meantime this venture will take lots of prayer, preparation, gathering, prayer, networking, fundraising, finding the right place for worship, oh and prayer too. It’s been encouraging to see those who were once uncertain about their relationship with our church as a whole are now eager to do whatever is needed to help launch this new site. This, again, is in answer to your prayers. Thank you again for all your support, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Ordination

After 4 years of seminary and 6+ months that featured 5 exams (each coming in 3 different forms), 3 submitted papers, 2 trips to L.A. and a sermon to boot, I finished the ordination process this past weekend here in Las Vegas. On September 25th we hosted a college of pastors from the Las Vegas and Las Angeles areas (the Pacific presbytery). They are the ones who oversaw my ordination process. Above you can see Rick Schaeffer (another pastor in our presbytery) reading from the Scriptures my charge as a pastor. What followed was my being surrounded by a group of pastors from L.A. and Las Vegas as they laid hands on me and prayed over me as I was ordained as a minister of the gospel, serving with City-Wide Redeemer. At the end I was delighted to have this group of pastors committed to me (and I to them) as a "band of brothers," with one heart to minister to the people God has placed in our midst. A few hours later I got to celebrate the wedding of a couple from our church at a beautiful estate on the outskirts of town. No I wasn't DJing or even officiating (though I can do that now) - just a guest. It was a relaxing end to a big day and I'm glad I was able to share it with my new friends.