Ill Disposed Toward Deserts

Check out a quote I read this week:

"As temperate-zone people, we have long been ill-disposed toward deserts and expanses of tundra and ice. They have been wastelands for us; historically we have not cared at all what happened in them or to them. I am inclined to think, however, that their value will one day prove to be inestimable to us" (From Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez).

I wonder if that's why America has put 'Sin City' in the middle of the desert, and why things happen 'only in Vegas' and 'stay in Vegas.' We don't care what happens there, whether it's with other people or even with us, because we can just leave it in the desert.

Well, personally I think the value of Las Vegas is inestimable to God and I'm honored to be someone who cares about it and gets to bring beauty to this great city.

More Than Meets The Eye

You may remember the cartoons, and you probably have seen the movies. You know about transformers ... more than meets the eye.

But did you know that you can become a transformer? And did you know that you becoming a transformer may be a key to what happens in individual lives, human history, and perhaps even the universe?

Well, maybe you didn't know, but show up this week at Verve, and you'll find out, and it will all make sense, and you may become ... more than meets the eye.

Crap-Meter To 11

Want to hear something that is crappy beyond the ability of any crap-meter to measure?

Robb Overholt moved to Vegas last January to lead our non-profit community service organization, and to lead worship for Verve, and he's also overseeing our ministry leaders, helping in our creative arts ministry, and more. Robb is great and has been great.

So, here comes the crap. Robb and I have raised all of our salaries to be here. Well, Robb's primary financial supporter didn't like that our advertising said, "A church for people who don't like church" and so they dropped Robb. We're talking about $2,000 a month! They didn't warn him, didn't finish out the commitment they had made to him, they just dropped him. I have never heard of anything like that and, honestly, it makes me sick.

It also puts Robb in a horrible situation, and I'm hoping you might be able to help him. If you're interested in finding out how you can help, you can e-mail me, or you can e-mail Robb directly. He really needs it, and it would mean a lot to me. Thanks.

Verve Happenings

This was a very cool week at Verve. God is really doing something.

Like ... somehow we had our biggest attendance week, other than Easter. I don't understand that, because new churches are supposed to see a drop in attendance. We're just not seeing it. Instead, this week we had about 20 more people than any weekend but Easter. It was almost the same as Easter.

Our gathering had a great feel. Our band rocked "Uprising" by Muse. Like it was ridiculous. We had fun, threw Mike & Ike's, and exposed the matrix.

And ... we had our first week of Verge. Verge is a six week seminar on Sunday nights, where we are looking at the foundations of Christianity: The identity of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit; the gospel; evidence for the Bible and Jesus; our identity in Christ; spiritual disciplines like bible study and prayer. So I was hoping that maybe we'd have 10 people for Verge. Guess again. 54! Seriously. 54 people . Wowwwwwww. The first week went great.

G.L. Review

I've been getting more and more cool e-mails and positive book reviews and blog posts on my new book, Guerrilla Lovers. When you take that much time to write a book, it's nice to know it's making a difference in people's lives...

Here's a review someone posted last week.

Vince Recommends...

So the other day I was eating breakfast with two of my friends and I mentioned the movie Memento. Both said they hadn't seen it. I was incredulous. Neither has been in a coma for the past ten years. Both enjoy movies. I told them it was by Chris Nolan. They both knew who he was and started talking about his great Batman movies.

Then I started screaming, "Shut up about Batman! You two are ignorant, and ... and ... and I hate you! You're talking about Batman?! Memento goes backwards! You watch the movie backwards! Shut up about Batman and go rent Memento. I hate you so much!"

Okay, I didn't say all that. But I should have. And if you haven't seen Memento, well, don't get me started...

I will warn you, if this matters to you, that it's R-rated and a bit violent and disturbing.

Now go rent it. (And you're welcome.)

Guerrilla Assignments

The new guerrilla assignment is up at guerrillalovers.com. Getting all kinds of cool e-mails of people who are doing the assignments and learning the joy and influence of living guerrilla.

Speaking of which, we had a technical glitch with people posting their stories on the site, but we've corrected the problem. So if you haven't shared your story because it seemed like no one else was, well, they were, and you can now see some of them, and please share your stories too!

Weekend

Friday night my son had a sleepover birthday party. If you have never had the honor of having a bunch of 11-ish year olds sleep at your house, well, you're not missing much. It's like a night just getting stolen out of your life. Actually, the next day is gone as well, 'cause you're so tired it's wasted.

Not much on Saturday. I had to get ready for Sunday. In addition to preaching in the morning, we are launching our "Verge" class. Six weeks on Sunday nights of giving people a fresh look at the foundations of Christianity and a relationship with God. Amazing, to me, that we have 40 people signed up for it!!

Sunday morning continuing our "I Want a Movie Life" series, where (this time) we're looking at "instant classics" from the past ten years. This week ... The Matrix.

Please Pray...

About three weeks ago we were eating dinner when my wife fainted into her piece of pizza. Like face plant right into pizza. It was quite funny. But ever since she's had a time or two almost every day where she is near passing out. Then yesterday at work she fainted right out of her chair to the floor. I got there about the same time as the EMT's. Jen was on the floor, barely with it, twitching a little, had no idea where she was, how old she was, or the answers to most of the questions they asked her.

She was rushed to the hospital, where she spent the night. They've done 3 or 4 tests on her so far, and have another 1 or 2 planned. It seems they're mostly studying her heart and brain. We're not sure when she'll be released, but are hoping it's today.

I tell you this so those of you who care can know, and this blog has a wide variety of types of readers, but most of you believe in God and, if so, would you please pray for her? I know many of you will want to offer to do something else, and I appreciate it, but there's really nothing else you can do now. I'll let you know when I know more. Thanks.

Pictures From Drive to L.A.

Drove to L.A. on Thursday. The mountains are not on fire, it's the sun sneaking under the clouds. Amazing.

Product Placement

Back when I decided to name our church Verve I had no that I would be contacted by people from the Verve energy drink company, and by several of their salespeople from around the country, all asking if they could send me some free samples if I might be interested in selling their energy drinks at our church, or giving them away, or using them as a fundraiser. Seriously never would have occurred to me that that might happen.

So based on this experience I've made a decision. I don't plan to ever start another church, but just in case I do, I already know what I'm gonna name it. Ready to hear? Wait for it... Wait for it... Yup, you guessed it: The Kentucky Fried Chicken Church.

And yes Colonial Sanders, I do want some free samples!

Follow The White Rabbit

Where should you follow the white rabbit? (Don't you hate it when someone tells you to follow the white rabbit but you don't know where you're following the white rabbit?)

You should follow the white rabbit to Verve, that's where. At Verve we're doing a series called I Want a Movie Life where we're looking at movies through a spiritual lens. We're not doing current movies, 'cause that would be too current. (Actually, we'll do this series with current movies in the Fall.) Instead we're looking at some "instant classics" from our generation, and this week it's ... The Matrix. Hence the white rabbit reference. (Ohhhhh.)

Don't miss this weekend at Verve, for if you do you will spend the rest of your life stuck in the matrix, and that's not cool for anyone.

11

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, because it's the day my best friend was born, my son Dawson.

When Dawson was born there were parts of me that came alive that I didn't even know about. My life has never been the same, and I can't imagine it without him.

Happy Birthday Dawson. You are the coolest and most caring (now) 11-year-old boy I have ever met.

The Wall

In the late 70's, Pink Floyd let us know that, "All in all it's just another brick in the wall." In 1987, Ronald Reagan stood in Berlin and told Mikhail Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall." In 2010, Vince Antonucci asked the world, "Will you help us build a wall?"

Here's the deal: We took a warehouse space and made it into a great facility for us to do church. We have one problem. We have a room where we're having our kindergarten through 5th grade class and, due to a lack of funds, put up a big curtain rather than close it in with a wall. It isn't working so well. When our band is playing in the adult room, the kids can totally hear them and can't hear their teacher. When the kids shout answers, we can hear them in the adult room.

We are realizing we really need to put up a wall. The cool thing is that we'll be able to use the huge curtain for several other applications that will help us. The bad thing is that the wall will cost us about $6,000. (Gulp.) So ... is there anyone out there who would like to help us build a wall? If you'd like to make a contribution, you can let me know by e-mailing me at vince@vivalaverve.org.

Last Weekend At Verve

If you're wondering: Because we're doing Monday night services (because so many people in Vegas work weekends and can't come to church on Sundays, even if they want to), our weekends are Sunday/Mondays.

This was our sixth week at Verve. I've been pointing to this weekend as the first that would have any degree of normalcy. I figured the first three would be different because, well, they were the first three. Then there was Easter, then the weekend after Easter (which is always odd), so this seemed like it would be the first normal-ish one.

I thought it was another great weekend. The band opened the service with a rockin', moody version of "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce, which was saaaa-weeeet. We had some funny videos. But my message had ... zero humor. Not a joke, not an attempt at a giggle. That is NOT normal, to say the least. But it was my favorite message I've done so far. I took about half of it to tell the story of the entire book of Hosea.

On Saturday we also did our first funeral. It was for the ex-husband of a lady who started coming last month. Bad situation, but it was nice that we could be there for people.

Change The Day

Today is a very ugly day in the history of the world. April 20th marks the anniversary of the Columbine shootings, the birth of Adolph Hitler, and the birth of my mother. (Sorry Mom. Trying to light up things a little, but humor was probably inappropriate on a variety of levels.) (Happy Birthday?)

Anyway, on a day that has been marked by so much hatred, let's bring a little love. Every week I'm providing guerrilla lover assignments inspired by the ideas in my new book, Guerrilla Lovers. C'mon people, let's bring the love.

Vince Recommends...

Why "Vince Recommends..." Because you're dying to know what I think, that's why. Because you have trouble sleeping at night wondering what you're missing that I'm enjoying, that's why. Because the universe demanded it, that's why.

What do I recommend this week? Well, I've recommended a restaurant, a drink, an airline, and probably some other crap I forget. This week I'll recommend a comedian ... Mike Birbiglia. Seriously funny. And, unless you're a Christian who is very easily offended, you need to hear his bit on Christian rock. You can do that here.

You're welcome.

Weekend

Friday Night: Jen is involved in a ministry that throws parties for strippers, at their strip clubs, so she was gone on Friday. The kids and I played Iron Chef making special desserts, then watched a movie.

Saturday my son had a game, Jen had a Pampered Chef event all day, then I had a funeral in the afternoon.

This morning at Verve we talked about how the greatest thing in all of life is just to love and be loved in return. Cool morning.

N.O.C.

I'm psyched about this years National Outreach Convention in November in San Diego. Why?

Well, (1) it's in San Diego. (Hello!) And ... (2) I am speaking at it on "Forget Shock and Awe, It's Time To Get Guerrilla." Will it be the best session at this convention? Maybe. Will it be the most practical? Possibly. Will it be the most interesting? Could be. Will I be the hottest looking presenter? Totally!

If you're involved in ministry and are on the left coast, consider going, and if you're gonna be there, maybe I'll see you. I'll be the hot looking guy...

America's Worst Driver

So you know how there's certain actors and actresses who are so accomplished they don't need to audition for roles? Like if you want Meryl Streep you don't ask her to audition, you just offer her the role.

Well, there's a new show on the Travel Channel called America's Worst Driver. And some of you who know me may think I should try out for it. But when you're as accomplished as I am, you don't need to audition. So there you go.

Moulin Seriously?

This weekend at Verve we continue our I Want a Movie Life series where we're looking at some "instant classic" movies and this week we're hitting ... Moulin Rouge.

Yes, seriously.

If you're into Glee and love musicals, you'll love Moulin Rouge and our take on it.

If you hate Glee and hate musicals, you may love Moulin Rouge anyway because it's pretty different, and you'll love it when we make fun of musicals.

This Sunday ... at Verve ... it's all going down. Don't miss it.

Ding Dong the iPhone Is Dead

If you're someone who might be calling or texting me today ... my cell phone is dead. It partially died about three days ago, and then completely died last night. So try e-mailing me, but unless I'm at my computer that won't help much.

It's really sucko because I'm gonna have to get a new phone, then the new 4G iPhones are gonna come out in June and I'll miss out on it because I'll just have bought the old version.

Perfect timing you stupid iPhone.

You Can Be Our Friend

Have you seen Verve's newly designed Facebook page?

Check it out here.

Verve, Take Five

This may have been my favorite week of Verve so far...

Robb spoke (on The Sixth Sense) and killed it. His message was so personal, not only to him, but to every (honest) person who heard it.

Our offering included a free movie pass ... and a recipe for sangria.

Something freaktastic is that this week was our first without advertising, and our fifth week which I would assume would mean a slowing down of momentum, and the weekend after Easter which is typically a bad attendance day for churches, but yet ... it was our highest ever attendance other than Easter. Weird and, I suppose, a really good sign.

My favorite part of the week was Vervalicious, a "meet the staff and hear the vision" event we're gonna do about every other month. We had over 40 people come to it, and hearing a lot of their stories was great. A bunch of people told me how they hadn't been to church in years, or ever. One lady (who has been to our Monday night service every week) explained that she hadn't been to church since she was six. She said, "I'm not buying this, but you've got me coming back every week." I asked why she came in the first place. She said that recently she told her husband, "I wish I had something to believe in" and then the Verve doorhanger showed up on their door. Pretty cool.

Ready For Ambush?

Okay, here's my opinion. One of the problems most people have with Christians is that they seem ineffectual, isolated and judgmental. And one of the problems most Christians have is that they're bored. So what's the answer?

Guerrilla love.

In my new book I talk about how if Christians can ambush the world with God's radical love, it will give them a sense of adventure and it will change the way others think of them.

Maybe that sounds good to you, but you don't know where to get started? That's why at the Guerrilla Lovers website I'm giving a guerrilla lover assignment each week. Check out the new one of this week here.

She's Back...

My daughter Marissa just put up her second singing video on Youtube. I'm thinking of becoming her talent agent, because we all know how well that worked for Lindsay Lohan and her dad, and Brittany Spears and her dad, and... Well, you get the idea.

So want to see the talent? You can check out her video here. You'll especially want to see the first and last half minute or so when Marissa reveals a bit of her personality for you.

And if you want to see her first attempt at youtube fame, you can do so here.

Vince Recommends...

Top Chef Masters.

Yes, I admit it. I like cooking shows. Well, I like competitive cooking shows. If there's cooking and a winner and a loser, I'll watch it. I like a bunch: Chopped, Throwdown, Iron Chef. But my favorite is Top Chef.

Top Chef Masters is not as good as Top Chef, but it's good.

Here's the funny thing about me liking cooking shows: I consider food to be future poop. If you tell me you'll take me to some great steak restaurant or McDonalds, I'll say, "Well, either way it's future poop, so might as well save money."

So why do I like cooking shows? Because if you're good enough it's art, not just food. And art is not future poop. (Well, unless you eat it.)

Weekend

Friday night is family fun night at the Antonucci's. Always fun.

Saturday we went to Pet-a-palooza. Never thought I'd say that. But the kids wanted to go, it was cheap, and they had some good bands (Five For Fighting, Kris Allen, Barenaked Ladies). I have NEVER seen so many dogs.

My son had a Little League game on Saturday afternoon. The other team scored 4 runs in the next to last inning to take an 8 to 6 lead. Then we got 2 immediate outs, but then scored 3 runs to take a 1 run lead in the top of the last inning. Then they got their first two guys on, but we then got 3 outs in a row to win the game. 10 year old pandemonium ensued.

This morning at Verve we continued our "I Want a Movie Life" with "The Sixth Sense." Great morning - more on that later. I see dead people.

Good Read on Launching

I know a lot of church planters read this blog, and at least a few entrepreneur types, and if you all want a great read, check out Seth Godin's blog entry from the other day.

He makes a bunch of great points about the launch of Apple's new iPad. My favorites?

• "Don't try to please everyone." -- We've already had some people say, on their way out of Verve, "I don't think this is for me." My answer, "Yeah, you're probably right." I don't try to convince them they're wrong, because they're right. We're not trying to please everyone. We're church ... for people who don't like church.
• "Create a culture of wonder." -- This is part of what's great about Christianity. It's filled with wonder and mystery. A lot of churches try to take all that out so everything makes total sense; we don't. That's part of the reason we do communion in our services, and teach on the Trinity in the first session of our class for new people. Because you can't completely understand it. But you're not supposed to. There's some wonder and mystery.
• "Be willing to fail." -- This has been one of our mantras from day one, and we have definitely lived this out.
  

Just Start Singing

I just had an epiphany.

A few years ago when Best Of You came out by the Foo Fighters, I loved it. Currently my favorite song is Savior by Rise Against. Do you know what they have in common? (I'll give you a minute to click on the links and go figure it out.) (Go ahead.) (I'm waiting patiently.)

Yeah, the singer starts the song. Immediately the dude starts singing. No musical intro. No guitars. No drums. Forget keyboards. Just jump in like you're already in the middle of the song.

I didn't know I liked that, but apparently I do. So I'm wondering how it could help some of my least favorite songs. Like what if you took out the crappy flute beginning from My Heart Will Go On? Maybe it would rock? Or the double keyboard intro from Muskrat Love? Maybe all of a sudden it would be awesome? Or the piano beginning from Everything I Do? It might be killer! Well, you'd have to take Bryan Adams out of it too. And any memories I have of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. But you get the idea...

I See Dead People

This week at Verve we continue the brand new series we just started, I WANT A MOVIE LIFE. We're looking at some "instant classics" and this week it's ... "The Sixth Sense."

Do you see dead people?

You may this week at Verve. Or you might not. You might see a dancing gorilla named Shecky. You might laugh. You might cry. You might leave smelling like root beer. You might develop a nervous twitch.

Or you might learn something about seeking life.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Braveheart - The Verve Version

This last weekend we wanted to show a clip from Braveheart, but didn't want to break any copyright laws. So we decided we could make our own version. We felt pretty sure we could re-create it almost exactly like the actual movie scene. See what you think...

Braveheart - The Verve Version from Verve on Vimeo.

First Easter

So we had our first Easter weekend of Verve, and I think it went great. We had a really fun service but also took a serious look at the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the idea that: Every man dies, not every man truly lives. And one man died that every man might truly live.

Seemed to be lots of energy and we definitely got lots of positive feedback.

This is maybe the last time I'll talk about our attendance numbers, because I don't think they're a big deal and I don't want to give the impression they are, but I know there are a lot of people around the country who have been supporting us and are wondering if anyone is actually showing up... So between Sunday (which had more people than normal) and Monday (which had less; stinkin' NCAA Championship!) we had 311 people.

Thanks to people far away who are supporting us, and to those who are here in Vegas and showed up at Verve.

Vince Recommends...

So last year I spoke all over the country. I get asked to do this kind of a lot, but I have to say no pretty often because as a pastor I need to be at my church. But last year we were living in Vegas and had the launch team for a church but not quite a church yet, so I was able to say yes more. And I spoke at something like 23 churches, several conferences, a college, a camp, you name it.

This means that I flew ... a lot. There were several airlines I flew on multiple times. And no one overly impressed me, but in comparison to the others I definitely recommend ... Delta. You get a TV in your seat, with free cable TV, you may get internet, you get some food.

I normally wouldn't put someone down publicly like this but ... I have to un-recommend someone as well. There is an airline that is so bad that twice I had flight attendant's ask me to please write letters complaining because "This has got to change." Actually, I'd feel bad stating their name, so how about this? I'll scramble up the letters and you see if you can figure out who it is. Ready? It's: American Airlinse.

Time To Get Guerrilla

The day has finally arrived.

This world needs a revolution, and we need to be the one's who ignite it. The way that will happen is when we take seriously God's call to be guerrilla lovers. To give each of us a kick start we have created a web site that starting today will feature a video "guerrilla lover assignment" every Monday.

I want to encourage you, nay challenge you, to not only check out the assignments, but to actually do them. In fact, it will take a lot of us to start a revolution, so tell all your friends about it. Let's see if we can turn this world upside down!

You can check out the first g.l. assignment here.

Weekend

Went and saw "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" with the family. I am so lucky.

Watched the Final Four games.

Excited about our first Easter Services at Verve.

Having like 17 people over for dinner.

And, perhaps most important, today is ... opening day for Major League Baseball! To me, tomorrow is the true opening day, but officially it's today, and I am psyched! Go Dodgers!!

I Want a Movie Life

Tomorrow we start a brand new series called "I Want A Movie Life." There's something about movies that appeal to us - whether it's the romance, or the adventure, or a great story. We watch movies because somewhere deep inside we want a movie life. Maybe we can have one, and maybe God has to be a part of that.

Here's a little preview for the series:

I Want A Movie Life from Verve on Vimeo.

Christian Atheist

Psyched that my friend Craig Groeschel has a new book out, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn't Exist.

Why am I excited about that?

(1) It's a needed book. So many Christians believe but don't really live the life. In fact, that was kind of the theme of my first book.

(2) Craig is the real deal. I've known him since before he was famous, got to hang out with him a year or so ago, and he's a real, down-to-earth, totally legit guy. He's not just saying crap, he actually lives this stuff.

Easter @ Verve

This Sunday/Monday will be the first ever Easter services at Verve. So ... some Q & A:

Q: Do I need to dress up for Verve because it's Easter?
A: No, but if you've got something really funky, go ahead.

Q: Do I have to wear my Easter bonnet?
A: No, but I would love it if you did. I need a good laugh.

Q: Will there be something special at Verve?
A: What's that? Are you serious? There's always something special at Verve!

Q: I've got some friends who don't go to church. Should I invite them?
A: Yes. But only if they promise to wear their bonnets.

See ya Sunday morning or Monday night - don't miss Verve's first ever Easter!