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.