The Vegas Project

We have a bunch of people moving to Vegas to be on staff or to be volunteer leaders in the church. Most have homes they need to sell before moving. Some have done so, but there are still a few people who need to do this. Please pray that they will be able to sell their homes quickly and at good prices.

The University of Nevada at Las Vegas has about 27,000 students and is located about three miles from the location where we’re hoping to meet on Sundays. College is such an important time – a time when many kids who grew up in church lose their faith – a time when young people are making decisions about who they are and what their lives will be about. We would love to connect with students at UNLV and have many of them attend our church. Please pray for that. Also, there’s a college ministry I (Vince) am associated with, and I am praying that they will establish a campus ministry at UNLV, and that we’ll be able to help them.

Vivalaverve, Take One

So our first “weekend” of Verve gatherings is complete. I know a lot of people around the country who have been supporting us in all kinds of ways are wondering what happened, so here’s a review:

1. Overall, I thought things went awesome.
2. Our building barely got done on time, which was stressful, but it looks great.
3. All of our creative elements came together and, I thought, were very cool.
4. Our band rocked. In fact, last night we went over (at the invitation of a manager) to the Hard Rock because they are showing interest in booking our band. (I’m not kidding. Sunday was only, I think, the sixth time they had played together, but after hearing them the Hard Rock is talking about maybe having them play. Wild.)
5. I thought the message was clear: No matter who you are, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done, God loves you with a perfect love.
6. For people new to church, there was probably a whole lot of Jesus in the message – I just counted, I said “Jesus” at least 41 times. Hard not to talk about someone who loves you that much, and who has changed my life so dramatically.
7. We didn’t count people from out-of-town (and there were a lot). We also didn’t count the adult volunteers in our Children’s Ministry (figuring they would obviously all come to one of the adult services, and we didn’t want to count anyone twice). We tried not to count anyone twice – so, for instance, people like me who were at all the services were only counted once . So our attendance number should be a pretty accurate count not of how many people were there, but of how many people were there who might actually come back next week.
8. The total number was 277.
9. A cool thing is that we designed it to be a “Grand Opening Month” rather than a “Grand Opening Day.” So instead of doing all our advertising before the first Sunday, we have spread it out from March 8 to April 3. So we’re assuming we may get almost as many new people the next few weeks as we did this week.
10. I was surprised that we received 67 Connection Cards on Sunday morning. (Still haven’t heard about Monday night.) Those 67 cards probably represented about 140 people. I assume that someone who fills out a Connection Card at the end of the service enjoyed the service, and is planning on coming back.
11. A bigger surprise is that a bunch of new people left not only telling us they’d be back, but saying they’d bring their friends with them, and even asking for invite cards to give out.
12. Maybe the best thing were the comments we received. TONS of people were raving about their experience. “I didn’t know church could be like this.” “I’ve been waiting for this my entire life.” “Is it really gonna be like this every Sunday?” Several people left in tears. (Good, not bad, tears!) And I’ve received some amazing e-mails from people who felt like their one experience has already begun to change their lives.

So … one weekend down, couple thousand to go. Thanks, so much, to everyone for all the support you’ve given us and helping to make this dream a reality. Vivalaverve.

Please pray that God gives an incredible sense of unity from the earliest days and throughout the future of our church.  Pray that our unity is based on having the same Spirit and a common mission.

Please pray for our Grand Opening Services.  We are doing two on Sunday, at 10:05 and 11:35, and one on Monday night (for people who work weekends on the Strip) at 7:05.  Pray that people who need to be there are there, that they have an incredible first impression, that everything goes smoothly, that our band sounds great, that the message is clear, and most of all that God is honored.

We are advertising our Grand Opening in a bunch of ways:  Door Hangers, Radio Ads, Facebook Ads and (most importantly) personal invites.  Please pray that God opens the hearts of people who need Jesus to respond positively and to come to one of our Grand Opening Services.

We passed our final inspection and got our certificate of occupancy!  A local moms group has already asked to use our facility.  Things are moving!

We have a bunch of Mission Teams in town.  About 40 people!  Please pray that they have awesome times, and that God gives them lots of energy, because we will be working them hard!  Pray that they are effective in everything they do.

Our Grand Opening is only days away!  We have to get several permits for the warehouse space we are leasing.  Please pray that they all go well, and go fast!  We are really getting down to the wire!

Part of our plan for connecting and discipling people are Guerrilla Groups.  These groups will be somewhat like typical small groups, but with more of an outward focus and a huge community service element.  Please pray that our groups are incredibly effective in connecting and discipling the people God gives us, and in serving Las Vegas.