Coolness

We had a get-together tonight with eleven of the people who are moving to Vegas to start Verve. Four were visiting, the other seven are already moved here. We each shared our stories and how God called us out here. We laughed at each other, a lot, and we prayed together.

We talked some about how we’re going to define success:

(1) Obedience. True success is being obedient to God. So, in a very real sense, we have succeeded by showing up.
(2) Reaching People Who Are Far From God. It’s not that difficult to grow a big church – just “do church” better than the other churches in town and Christians will flock to you. But we’re not interested in reaching people who are already Christians. We want to reach the people in Vegas who haven’t been reached, and won’t be reached by other churches.
(3) A Presence On The Strip. We’re not going to put an end to gambling or shut down all the strip clubs or end prostitution on the Strip. But we do want to have a presence on the Strip, to be the presence of God on the Strip. We hope that someday, because of the way we served in love, and because of all the people whose lives are being changed, Verve would be known and talked about by the people who live around and work on the Strip. And we pray that our being known and talked about would bring glory to God, not us.

It was a great night. Coolness.