What’s In a Name – 5

Why did we choose the name verve for the new church we’re planting on the Vegas Strip?

Another reason is because we wanted a name that felt like it fit the Vegas Strip. On one of my trips there recently I focused on the shows on the Strip. One thing I noticed is that many of them have one word titles: Mystique, Believe, Ice, Jubilee, Zumanity, Love, Bite, Fantasy.

That started to catch my attention and I thought it might be cool to have a one word name for our church. In fact, I thought it might work to have a name that people could assume is one of the new shows or a new club on the Strip. Maybe someone would ask, “What’s verve?” thinking it’s a show, and find out about this new church.

By the way, we did consider waiting to name the church until we had lived in Vegas for a few months, to try and really make sure it fit the culture. I would have liked to do that, but there’s one reason I didn’t. When I move out there, the people I want to connect with are the unchurched. And for an unchurched person, hearing that you moved out to start a new church is totally BIZARRE. It sounds crazy and unstable. And so I started picturing this conversation, “Why did you move here?” “To start a new church.” “Ohhhh, so, when are your services?” “We don’t have services yet.” “Ohhh, so where will you meet?” “We don’t know yet.” “Ohhhh, so what is your name?” “We don’t have one yet.”

I wanted to be able to answer at least one question I might be asked! And that may sound silly, but seriously, I want to be able to present some semblance of stability. And so being able to tell the person the name we’ll have and the web site address, being able to hand them a business card with the name and logo of the church on it … I think that helps a little.