Consumeristic

I’m sharing some things I’ve been learning about Vegas so…

One of the things we’ve heard repeatedly here is that Las Vegas is a consumeristic, what’s in it for me, culture. Now we could say, “Please! All of America is a consumeristic culture!” But I think in Vegas it’s like on steroids. The entire city is built around it and, apparently, it bleeds into nearly everything and everyone.

One person told me he thinks it’s nearly impossible for churches here not to fall in line. It’s kinda like, if you’re trying to attract people you’re gonna put some bait on the hook. And if the bait that works is playing to people’s consumer mentality, then you’ll end up using that bait.

So … I just can’t play that game. I’m the guy who keeps preaching, “If you’re a Christian and you’re not going to serve and invite your friends, you need to find a different church. We need your seat, plus we can’t afford for your attitude to become contagious here.” So my prayer is that there is something attractive about our counter-cultural, counter-consumer message at Verve. That people realize that what they’ve been missing is a focus on serving others rather than themselves.