I've been giving you a recommendation a week lately, just because I'm that committed to you and changing your life so it looks more like mine. (Just like you've been dreaming about.)
So here's my recommendation for this week: Label your shelves. Like wherever you keep your food - pantry, kitchen cabinets. Label those shelves. For instance, you may need labels like: "Drink Mixes" and "Canned Vegetables" and "Cake Mixes" and "Cereal."
Why? Because that way you can quickly glance at your shelves, see what's missing, and know what you have to buy at the grocery store. Gone are the days of, "I didn't realize we were out of Soy Sauce, what will we do?!?" Say goodbye to, "How was I supposed to know we had no fruit cocktail?" You will save time, stress, and arguments.
And when that happens, you can look up to the sky, smile, and say, "Thank you Vince. What would we do without you?"
One of the things that really helped us pull off our Grand Opening Month was having Mission Teams here from churches around the country. This August/September we're planning on doing another big push in our "phase approach" of launching Verve, and it would be great to have some more teams from out-of-town to help.
So ... want to bring a Mission Team (of 3 to 18 people) from your church? Here are the dates when we could use extra help:
September 9-12
September 16 - 19
September 2 - 5
August 19 - 22
August 26 - 29
You can let me know at vince@vivalaverve.org. Thanks!
The other day my daughter asked, "Dad, when you write a check for someone, do they just get the money, or do you actually have to give them the money?"
She thought that you can write checks, and a person can go to the bank and cash it, and no one (other than maybe the bank?) would have to pay for it!
I told her that the person who wrote the check had to pay and she, with great disappointment, said, "Ohhh. I was going to ask people to start writing me checks. And I was going to start writing checks to people." Classic!
And the funny thing is, there are a lot of people who handle their finances without much more wisdom than that...
This weekend at Verve we begin a brand new series: The Jesus I Never Knew. Maybe you grew up going to church and remember the flannel graph Jesus stories, or Jesus cartoons. Maybe you've even gone to church as an adult and heard Jesus' name a bunch of times. But ... maybe there's a Jesus you don't really know. Maybe the Jesus of the Bible is different than your assumptions and pre-conceived notions.
Show up at Verve to meet the Jesus you never knew.
We just finished a series through the Old Testament book of Esther. In the series I sang/impersonated pieces of songs by Alanis Morissette, Adam Lambert, The Black Eyed Peas, and Louis Armstrong. I got tons of great feedback on the series ... but none on my singing.
Our Verge course, a series of classes talking through how to start and grow in a relationship with God, is going really well. About 50 people are taking it, and I think they're learning and applying important things.
Love what's going on in our Children's and Student Ministries. They are off to a great start.
Can't wait for the baptism service we're doing this Sunday!
My 3rd grade daughter's teacher (who is a Christian) texted my wife on Thursday to let her know that their class had just had Social Studies and discussed the English colonies and religious freedom.
One of the girls in the class raised her hand and told the class that she started the year with no religious beliefs. But Marissa (that's my daughter) always shared things about her "religion." And, she said, she was now a Christian because Marissa shared so much and she wanted what Marissa had.
On May 22, 1990, twenty years ago today, I gave my life to God and started following Jesus. It was, by far, the most shocking day of my life. Never would I have imagined that would have happened. And I had no idea what would happen in my life because of that decision.
I was twenty years old. I'm forty now. So half my life has now been with Jesus, half without.
I didn't know what would happen for me because I gave me to God, and if I had guessed, I wouldn't have even been close to right. There's been bad, and there's been lots of good, and it's been a crazy adventure for sure. But more than anything here's what I know: Deciding for Jesus was the greatest decision I have ever made, because Jesus is the greatest thing. Period.
I am writing my next book. It's not official, as we haven't even approached a publisher with it yet, so I don't think I should say so much. But I can tell you that it includes: stories from the start of Verve, boobs popping out of dresses, high stakes poker, religious legalists, Jesus, 300+ pound cross-dressing comedians, dancing pirates, and much, much more.
This weekend we end our In The Shadows series. We're going through the book of Esther and this week we do the ending, which is the greatest ending ever. It's a shocking reversal of fortunes that changes the course of human history.
And maybe, just maybe, what you learn this week of Verve could change your future. Don't miss it.
Mark 10:32 is one of my favorite verses. We're told that those who followed Jesus were astonished and afraid. Following Jesus should not give us warm fuzzies in our heart, but messes in our underwear.
If you're a follower, when's the last time following Jesus really caused you to be astonished and afraid? And if it's been awhile ... how closely are you following Jesus?
To the uninitiated, a rocket launch is … well, a rocket launch.But there are actually several phases involved in launching a rocket.The same is true with a new church.In March we had our “Grand Opening Month” and some might say, “Okay, the church is launched.”But the reality is that there are phases to a church launching.We had a pre-Grand Opening phase, when we were meeting at my house and then at the Greek Isles hotel.And now that we’ve gone through the Grand Opening phase, we’re ready to make this Fall the biggest push of Verve’s launching.In fact, most new churches open in the Fall because it’s the best time to start.But we started in the Spring so we could build momentum going into the Fall.
So … this Fall we plan to make a big push, with lots of inviting, and some advertising, and a new phase of serving our community as we start Verve Groups.And you (yes you) are now a part of the core of this church, who will be working together to further launch us towards truly becoming a church that loves God, loves people, and turns the world upside down.(And, by the way, that’s exciting!)We want to help you be ready to do your part in this, and we realized we have a unique opportunity to do so.
Summer is rolling in, and during summer there are vacations and days at the lake and so attendance at churches is typically down a bit. Because of that we realized we’d probably be able to fit everyone in one Sunday service and one Monday service. In the Spring we would have had too many people, and this Fall we’ll have too many, but over summer, it can work.
And so we’ve decided to not have the 11:35 Sunday service from May 30 to August 15.We will bring it back on August 22.Until then we want to encourage everyone to attend the 10:05 Sunday service, or the 7:05 Monday service.
The reason we are doing this is to take the 11:35 time slot this summer to really equip you to do your part for the big push in August/September.There will be two primary components to this.
First, the month of June is going to be Community Building Month.We will have a (60 to 90 minute) event every Sunday at 11:35 that will help you to get to know others from Verve.The reality is that you don’t need to know everyone, but we do want everyone to know someone.Some of the events will be service oriented, while others will be just plain fun and goofy.
Then, starting July 11, we will offer two Verve University courses:Verge and Verb at 11:35.Verge will help you to understand God and how to start and grow in a relationship with Him.Verb will help you to make your faith active, you’ll learn how to understand yourself and to start serving and leading in way that fits you.We’re hoping a ton of you will take advantage of this convenient time for these Verve U courses.
So … let’s get ready for a really important summer at Verve, and a really exciting push this Fall.It’s going to be an adventure, and I’m glad you’re a part of it!
We are putting up a new guerrilla lover assignment every week on www.guerrillalovers.com. It's a great opportunity to be inspired and trained towards becoming a guerrilla lover.
Today I'm flying to Austin, Texas and tomorrow I'll get to teach the staff of Gateway Church about being guerrilla lovers and sparking a guerrilla lover revolution.
A bunch of churches are doing the guerrilla lover series, and several other churches are starting it in the near future.
Okay, I'll admit it, I like the name Jeff Vanvonderen so much, I would be a fan of anything he did. If a guy named Jeff Vanvonderen sold monkey brains, I'd start buying monkey brains. If he was singer, I'd be singing along. If Jeff Vanvonderen performed pap smears, I'd, well, forget it. It's just an awesome name.
But ... what he is is an author, and he's written the best book I've ever read on marriage and parenting. It's called, Families Where Grace Is In Place and it is a must read. Seriously, you must read it.
My mother and step-father were in town this weekend so....
We went to a Jewish deli for lunch on Friday.
They took my kids to the movies on Friday, so Jen and I went and saw Gordie Brown - for free. (We only go to things for free because ... I am CHEAP.) Gordie Brown is an impersonator/ parodiest. Pretty entertaining, especially for free.
Saturday my son had a baseball game and we all hung out. Getting closer to normal May temperatures in Vegas. It's been cold! (By Vegas standards...)
This morning at Verve we continued our new series In The Shadows. I love great stories, and so I love this series, because it is taking us through an amazing story. And we are doing perhaps the oddest series of drama's in the history of churches, or ... the world.
Need a good laugh today? If you haven't yet, you should seriously check out my daughter pretending she's a drunk Carol Burnett in the movie version of Annie, singing the song Little Girls. Hysterical. (Well, in my opinion.)
You can do so here.
At Verve we believe strongly in generosity. That if God has given us something, we should share it. So when we realized we were going to have our own building we viewed it as something to share. We decided to not make it look like a church, and to not name the building the name of our church, so that it would be a more appealing meeting space to other groups or for concerts or comedy nights or whatever.
So ... so far it hasn't happened but... two weeks ago a guy from a local alternative rock station came by and they are considering doing a concert series in our building. And then last week someone came by from a local High School to look around. She said that their school ceremonies (like their upcoming football awards ceremony) are held in the school cafeteria, and they are very interested in using our space as it's way better. And this week someone is asking about using it for some classes on nutrition and healthy eating.
Last week at Verve we began a three week journey through the Old Testament book of Esther. Sound boring? Yeah, right. The book of Esther has parties, sex, drunkenness, violence, murder, more parties, political power plays, you name it. The one thing that isn't in the book of Esther is ... God.
Or is He?
And maybe you feel like the one thing not in your life (or some area of your life) right now is ... God. Or is He? Show up this week at Verve to learn how God works in the shadows of life, and what He might be doing in yours'.
Two funny things from the world of the world wide web...
One is that my daughter has a new video on my wife's youtube channel. This is her third try at making singing videos, and this one is funny. It's her doing an impression of Carol Burnett in the movie version of Annie, drunkenly singing Little Girls. If you need a good laugh, you must check it out.
The other is that last week I had people e-mail to let me know that if you went to the web site for my first book, instead of the web site appearing, it was a naked video of Brittany Spears. Apparently she got a lousy t-shirt, and took it off. The people who created the site went to work to restore things, and they now are, but it was quite exciting to have Brittany doing that promotional work for my book for awhile.
There's a wide variety of people who read this blog. One group are church planters. And starting a new church is incredibly difficult. And we've had all kinds of great things happening here, and lots of good reports to give, so it may be a bit frustrating to people who are struggling with the new churches they're starting.
So, just to encourage you guys: This weekend was a bit frustrating. We had major technological difficulties with my microphone. Major. And our attendance was way down. (Not sure why. Most churches go up on Mother's Day, but my experience has always been a drop on Mother's Day. I think because we're not "parent approved.") I'm not huge about attendance numbers, but when the room is feeling really empty, it's hard to have energy in the service...
Now there is a ton of great stuff happening too, it's not like things are going bad, they're going awesome overall. But just so you know, we have rough moments too.
Most of my favorite bands you've probably heard of - Snow Patrol, Counting Crows, Foo Fighters, etc. But it's possible some of you don't know about one of my fav's, Jack's Mannequin. And everyone should know about Jack's Mannequin.
The band started as a side project of Andrew McMahon, who was the lead singer of Something Corporate. As Jack's first CD was coming out, McMahon was diagnosed leukemia. He's since fully recovered, and went on to put out out a second CD.
So why do I like this band so much? My favorite bands tend to be one's where it sounds like the singer is just pouring his heart out. Where it seems like the singer is just too passionate and emotional to care how he sounds. This dude is that. If you want to hear McMahon at maybe his most emotional, check out Caves. If you want to hear a more typical song, check out Mixed Tape. My favorite song might be I'm Ready or The Resolution.
And, by the way, how many weeks do you think it took me to get a Jack's Mannequin song worked into a Verve service? ... Five.
On Friday I drove my wife all over Vegas (because she's not allowed to drive) and we went out for lunch.
Friday night is Family Game Night and we played MLB Monopoly.
Saturday morning Dawson had a baseball game. Not one of our best. We lost 8-4.
Saturday afternoon we sealed the deck in our backyard. Fun! (That is sarcasm, for the sarcasm impaired.)
And Saturday night we went to a concert by ... wait for it ... wait for it ... Barry Manilow. If you know me, you are rolling on the floor, laughing till your stomach hurts. We joined this thing where we get free tickets for shows, and we had the opportunity to get free Manilow tickets, and my wife wanted to go, and it's Mother's Day weekend, and holy crap, I have now seen Barry Manilow in concert. If it were possible, the high school me would time warp to this moment and beat the crap out of me.
Sunday morning we started a new series at Verve, In The Shadows. Talking about: Does God, and how does God work in your life when you're not aware of His involvement?
After church we took "Mommy" to lunch - Hash House a Go Go. Highly recommended when you're visiting Vegas.
Tonight we've got Verge - our class for not-yet and new Christians. I can't wait...
Frank McCourt is the owner of the first love of my life, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Well, did you see yesterday that a court has ordered to pay his just divorced ex-wife ... $637,000 a month in spousal support. And ... spit take!
One more time ... he's paying $637,000 ... a month ... in spousal support!
So many questions: Like, if you pay $637,000 a month for something, like one line item in your budget, what the crap is your monthly income?! And if you can make about 7.5 million a year by being the divorcee of a baseball owner, ummmm, sign me up? And ... if Frank has this kind of money, why can't he sign us an ace pitcher?!?
So this week I met with a guy who has been coming to Verve since our first Sunday and who is really exploring Christianity. He talked about how fun Verve is, and that his favorite thing is how loved we make him feel. Then he said that the surprising thing to him about Verve is that we're "fundamentalists." How we're so sure the Bible is true, and we're so into Jesus and that God's way is the only way and right way.
I don't know what I think of it, but I've never been called a fundamentalist before. But I guess, if I'm going to be called one, I'd want to be a fun one who is good at loving people...
This week we begin a brand new series (our third series) at Verve. It's called, In The Shadows and I am psyched for it.
We're going to look through the only book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned, and we're going to see how even still God is all over the book. And we're going to see how sometimes when it seems like God is not in our lives, when it seems like He's absent or not paying attention, the truth is that He's all up in our lives, working ... in the shadows.
Do not miss this series. Seriously. It will change your life.
There are several churches around the country currently doing the Guerrilla Lover series/campaign, and I'm hearing some really cool stuff.
At the guerrilla lover website we are providing a ton of stuff, all for free, to churches who want to do the series and help their people become guerrilla lovers.
Some churches are having their people do a G.L. assignment each week, lots of cool stories coming out of that.
Want your church to experience the revolution? Check out the resources and plan the series!
So I've been sharing things that I recommend and this week I recommend ... having a decibel reader on your iPhone.
The reason I have a decibel meter on my iPhone is so we can see how loud our music is at Verve's gatherings. Normally a church has to buy an expensive decibel meter, but for 99 cents I have one on my phone.
The reason you should have a decibel meter on your iPhone is not that. I think it's obvious. Your husband starts yelling at you. You say, "Stop yelling." He says, "I'm not yelling." You say, "Dude, that was 95 decibels." Argument over. You win.
Or you tell your teenager, "Turn that music down!" "Dad, it's not that loud!" "It's 104 decibels." No more debate. The proof is in the pudding. Well, actually, in the iPhone.
We're doing guerrilla lover assignments every week at the Guerrilla Lover website. It's a chance for you to add some purpose to your day, and to bring God's love into someone else's day. And that's pretty cool.
My daughter has recently become a Brownie. (Not the kind you eat.) (Mmmmm, brownies.) But the Girl Scout kind. This weekend she had a Brownie's camping trip, so she and my wife were gone from Friday afternoon till Sunday morning.
So it was a bachelor weekend for the boys. What does that mean? Chinese food, video games, and steak, and ... no that's pretty much it. Well, he also had a baseball game Saturday afternoon. (And not only did Dawson get a hit and score two runs. He also came in to pitch in the last inning with two outs, and two guys on base, and struck out the last batter to get the save.)
This morning at Verve we concluded our "I Want a Movie Life" series with "Transformers. We've been doing little parody videos of scenes which have been really funny, and the one for this morning was the creme of the crop. Can't wait to see it again at tomorrow night's service.
Tonight we have our second session of our Verve University course called "Verge." We're gonna be talking about evidence for the Bible and for Jesus. Will be fun.
Last week I told you that my wife went into the hospital because she had been randomly fainting (or something that looks like fainting).
There's not much of an update. She did get out of the hospital. The tests they've done thus far haven't shown anything, which is frustrating but good. They're doing more tests - in fact, she has to wear a heart monitor thing for a month. She's no longer allowed to drive. Fun! And she's making a few changes to her life so that she's a little less overwhelmed with stuff to do.
Thanks for caring, praying, and checking in. I really appreciate it.
I've been giving you a recommendation a week lately, just because I'm that committed to you and changing your life so it looks more like mine. (Just like you've been dreaming about.)
