VERVE Happs

Good things continue to happen at Verve - Robb did a great job this weekend continuing our Office series, excited about the first ever Christmas Eve at Verve, and more.

But I thought I'd do a special Verve Happs in the spirit of Thanksgiving and express my appreciation to all the individuals and churches who have contributed financially to make Verve happen.  This weekend I was speaking at one of our supporting churches  (Discovery Church), which I'm trying to do several times a year - to stay connected and say thank you.  The reality is that Verve would not exist without the faith and generosity of people all around the country who want to see God's grace held up in the middle of Sin City.  We are so grateful for all of you who have given.  Thank you!

By the way, if you don't give, but would like to - honestly we could use your support.  You can give a one-time gift or set up ongoing giving online through our web site.  Thank you!

And also by the way, I'm so proud of Michael Lukaszewski of Oak Leaf, one of our supporting churches, who just announced to his church outside Atlanta that he's moving to New York City to start a new church.  I've been there, done that, and it may sound exciting and romantic to move to a new place to start a new venture, but the reality is that it's scary and difficult.  Leaving something good for something unknown is not something you'd ever choose for you and your family.  But sometimes you have no choice.

Tenacity

A few weeks ago in our Unstuck series at Verve we talked about the importance of tenacity. 

Well, I'm currently reading through the book of Romans in my personal Bible study and I noticed something in Romans 2:5-7.  Verse 5 describes people who are absolutely stubborn about living against God and not doing what He wants.  Verse 7 describes people who are absolutely persistent about living for God and doing the good He wants.

What's interesting to me is that either way, you have to be tenacious.  Whether you live against God or for Him, it's gonna be a lot of work and you're going to want to quit.

The way I figure it, if I'm gonna have tenacity, I might as well be tenacious for the One who loves me and died for me and has eternal reward waiting for me in Heaven.

Vince Recommends...

You may want to smoke some crack first, but check out this video:



You're welcome.

That's Guerrilla Love

Elizabeth Morris is a woman from a small Kentucky town who, two days before Christmas in 1982, was sitting up one night waiting for her son Ted to come home from his job at the mall.  He was in college but had come home and was working a temporary job over Christmas break to make some extra money for school.  And he was late.  And at 10:40 p.m., Elizabeth got the telephone call that all parents fear.  “Mrs. Morris, this is the hospital.  Your son has been killed in an accident.”

A 24-year-old man named Tommy Pigage had been driving drunk – his blood alcohol level was 3 times the legal limit – and had crossed the highway’s center line & smashed head-on into Ted’s car.  The drunk driver was only slightly injured, but 18-year-old Ted Morris was dead.

Elizabeth and her husband, Frank, were devastated.  Ted was their only child.  And their anger only escalated when, at the trial, their son’s killer, Tommy Pigage, was only given probation.  Elizabeth says that day after day she would replay her mental videotape of that night like a horror movie.  She wanted revenge.  She would fantasize about driving down the road, seeing Tommy walking, and driving him into a tree, then watching him die slowly in agony.  She actually spent a lot of her time tracking Tommy, hoping she could catch him violating his probation so he could be sent to prison.

There was only one problem.  Elizabeth was a Christian.  And as she brought her feelings to God, and prayed about all it, she came to the realization that her heavenly Father had also lost His only Son.  But on the cross Jesus had said, “Father, forgive them” about the soldiers who had tortured and crucified Him.  And that in a very real sense she had put Jesus on the cross, her sins had, and yet God had forgiven her.  And she realized that she had to forgive Tommy.  It wasn’t a feeling, she didn’t feel like forgiving Tommy, but she had to, and she chose to, as an act of her will.  She decided to and offered forgiveness to the man who killed her only son.  

But … check this out.  She didn’t just forgive him.  She and her husband actually began to build a relationship with her son’s killer.  And after some time they led Tommy Pigage to Christ.  Because of their influence, in part because of their compassion, because of their forgiveness, because of their guerrilla love, he decided to follow Jesus and become a Christian. That's guerrilla love.

Want to learn how to become a guerrilla lover? Join the guerrilla revolution? Then check out my book, Guerrilla Lovers.

Antonucci Stuff

It's been a fun holiday weekend for me...

• On Wednesday night I went out to dinner (Rio Buffet - half-price for locals!) with two of my good friends from Verve.
• Thanksgiving our family just hung out at home, watched all three NFL games...  We made peanut butter & banana stuffed French Toast for breakfast (yep, as good as it sounds), and I deep fried my first turkey for dinner.  Interesting experience.  After being warned repeatedly (from a variety of people) that I would kill myself or burn down my house, we put the frier together barely reading the directions, and having several pieces left-over, that didn't seem like they should be.  Then I took the thing outside and couldn't figure out how to light it.  My wife asked, "Didn't you read the directions?"  "No."  She continued, "Don't you want to read the directions?"  "Nah."  Pretty soon I had fried a turkey, without dying or burning down anything, and it was goooood.
• Yesterday we played Monopoly and I got to watch lots of college football.
• In L.A. today.
• Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

America's Disease, The Sequel

Yesterday I shared some thoughts on the problem we have with greed, and an idea or two on how to combat greed. Here's one more...

Greed is natural. It's natural for us to want more, and so the trick is to want more of God.

And if I'm someone who believes in God, and I find myself wanting more of other things, I need to ask myself two difficult questions:

1. Do I really believe God is in control? Because when I look at what I don't have and want, what I'm really saying is, "God, you don't know. I know what I need better than you do. You're not providing for me." If I truly believe God is in control, I'll be content with what I have.
2. Do I really believe God is enough? Because God has promised to take care of me, but He's also said, "No matter what you have or don't have, I've already taken care of your only true need. Because all you truly need is me. I am enough for you."

I'm learning that the best place to direct our "want more" is God, because God is the only thing that has ever truly satisfied me.

To learn more about leaving behind the mundane and really living the life, check out my book, I Became A Christian And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.

America's Disease

In the buffet line of the seven deadly sins, it seems that Americans have piled their plates high with greed. In an article in the Chicago Sun Times, Andrew Greely called greed "American's disease." Foreclosed homes and corporate scandals speak to the accuracy of his diagnosis. And perhaps nowhere is that more obvious than in Las Vegas, a city built on greed.

We all want more. A study was done where they asked people in all different income brackets how much more money they would need to make to be content. Guess what the amount was? 23% more. For almost every income bracket! Poor people picked a number about 23% more than they were making, and so did the rich! We live in the United States of More, where "In More We Trust."

The problem is that more is never enough. There's no amount that will ever satisfy us. And so we need to combat greed in our lives. How do we do that? Well, partly through gratitude and generosity. Instead of thinking of what we don't have and want, we need to think of what we do have and are grateful for. And instead of always trying to get more, we need to give more away.

And Thanksgiving seems like a good day to start thinking and living this way. Don't ya think?

To learn more about leaving behind the mundane and really living the life, check out my book, I Became A Christian And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.

this weekend @ VERVE

At Verve we're currently in a series called The Office, in which we're talking about your J - O - B.  (Or your lack of a J - O - B!)

Question: Do you think it's possible that you make too big a deal about your job, that it's not as important as you think it is?

Another question: Do you think it's possible that there is something about your job that you're not making nearly enough of a big deal about, that there's something more important than you think it is?

Confused? Intrigued? Annoyed? Well, come this weekend to Verve and it all may make sense ... or maybe not. Maybe your entire approach to work will change ... orrrrr, maybe not.

The Makings Of A Church Planter (2)

A week or so ago I shared what I consider to be the most critical characteristic of a church planter, here's what might be second:  A great motor.

If you're a football fan you've heard announcers talk about the "motor" of a great running back. What they mean is that there's a drive in them that won't let them go down. When hit by a linebacker, you can see the motor of the running back in his legs - they don't stop. They keep churning, often allowing them to get a couple extra yards or even break a tackle.

In church planting there are endless things that will stop your momentum, hurt your feelings, potentially kill the church or crush your spirit. And if you don't have a great motor, you will go down. If you don't have the resilience to keep your legs churning and never stop, you'll find you're leading one of the eight in ten new churches that die within three years of opening. You've got to have a great motor.

Want to learn about church planting, especially how to start a church for people who don't like church? Come to our next Vault Church Planting Lab!

ESTJ?

I'm testing a theory of mine and need your help.  If you are someone who is:

1. A regular reader of this blog, and
2. Knows their Myers Briggs personality type (if you don't, but would like to, you can take a free online version here), and
3. Is an ESTJ

Would you e-mail me (vince@vivalaverve.org) and let me know.  You can just say, "Yeah, I'm an ESTJ, what's it to you?" or "I'm an ESTJ and proud of it!" or whatever you want, but e-mail me and let me know you read this blog and are an ESTJ.

Thanks.

VERVE Happs

This week at Verve we continued our The Office series as we talked about Discovering Your Calling.  Important stuff!  If you missed it, you can listen here.  And, if you missed it, you missed the band rocking the crap out of Living On A Prayer.

On Sunday morning three people gave their lives to Christ in baptism.  Awesome.  One of them told me that until pretty recently he wasn't even open to the idea that there could be a God.  That story is actually becoming kind of normal at Verve.  God is doing amazing things in people's lives!

This week we're starting a sock drive for the homeless of Vegas.  We're helping to bring it to a bunch of churches around the valley.  Bring some new socks with you.

A Steak Restaurant for P.E.T.A. Activists

At Verve we say we're church for people who don't like church. On one hand that may sound daring or even noble, but on the other hand it’s got to be about the stupidest mission in the world. To start a church for the one group of people who are not interested in church. It’s kind of like starting a steak restaurant for P.E.T.A. activists.  That would be a guaranteed, rock-solid failure because no one tries to offer their product to the one group of people who aren’t interested in it. But that’s exactly what we do. But our venture is not a guaranteed, rock-solid failure because we have God.

But it does make our task very difficult. And it’s why we do many of the things we do, the way we do them. Think about it: If you did start a steak restaurant for P.E.T.A. activists:

• What kind of advertising would you do to convince them to give your restaurant a try?
• What would you want the exterior of your building to look like, so when this skeptical person drives up, they don’t just turn around? You probably wouldn’t have a big picture of a steer with a spear in its throat out front!
• How would you do your interior design? What kind of vibe would you try to create?
• What would the menu look like? What verbiage would you use in it, and what wouldn’t you use?
• How would you want your wait staff to act?
• And how would you feel if your target – a PETA activist – tentatively walked through the front door one night, and right at that moment some guy at a table yells out, “More beef! I want the 32 ounce ribeye!”?

What God has called us to do is church … for people who don’t like church. And that’s crazy. And it’s difficult. And it means we have to very carefully think through everything we do. We want to still be the church, and do what the church does, but do it in a way that attracts and appeals to people who have already made up their mind that they don’t like church.

That's Vervalicious

Every couple of months we do an event we call Vervalicious.

We have some great desserts, which is almost reason enough to come, but it's way more. It's a time for people who are new to Verve to hear the history and vision for the future of our church. It's a chance to meet our staff and see their families. It's an opportunity to learn how to grow at Verve and how to get connected.

I think for a lot of people it's when they go from "Your church" to "My church." From "You guys have a cool church" to "I am a part of a great church." And that's a huge transition.

If you're a pastor or church planter, you need an event like this.

And if you're a part of Verve and have never attended, be there tonight, 'cause you need to go to an event like this.

Around The Web

A few posts I enjoyed on other blogs this week:

• I TOTALLY relate to this one on being an introverted pastor.
• This one on having a squirrel brain is so true, but mostly just made me laugh.
• I like this post, because I get quoted in it!  (Thanks Paul)

And one of Vault "alma matter" is moving full steam ahead with planting his church in Portland.

And my kids and their friend Laney have made an odd series of videos that your kids might think is funny.

Team Bonehead

So I've been asking myself a question... One of the most amazing things to me is how boneheaded the people in the Bible are. Go through the list: Moses murdered, Abraham lied, Noah got drunk, passed out and laid there naked, David committed adultery... Look at the twelve "disciples" of Jesus, they were constantly doubting, arguing, running in fear. All boneheads.

So here's the question: Did God intentionally pick people who were especially boneheaded (maybe to show us that He loves everyone) OR is it that everyone is equally boneheaded and these people just seem extra because we're getting such a close look at their lives.

I'm not sure, but I'm glad God's team is Team Bonehead, because it means I fit right in.

Post On A Post

I have a post on my writing agent's blog today.

If you'd like to check it out, you can do so here.

this weekend @ VERVE

Do you hate your job?  Maybe you've become convinced that you're in the wrong career?  Or perhaps you've lost your job and so you now have a chance to start over.

Last week we started a brand new series called The Office and we talked about how to like a job you don't like.

This Sunday and Monday we'll discuss how to find a job that's the right fit for you and that you can love.  ("Is there stuff like that in the Bible?  Is it really that practical?" "Yup.")

So I'll see you this weekend at Verve.

The Makings Of A Church Planter

I talk to a lot of people who are thinking of starting a church. Some are wondering if they're the right person to do it. So I thought I'd share a few of the critical characteristics of a church planter.

Just one today, and it's a must: You must have no choice. In my opinion, starting a church from scratch is one of the most difficult and confusing things a person can do. It's rewarding, but it's not fun. It's painful. And you will regret doing it and you will want out. So if you had a choice, if it wasn't something you had to do, you'll feel like an idiot for doing it. And you'll quit when you get a chance.

I'm serious. Don't start a church unless you feel confident the idea is from God, and it's burning deep in your bones.

Want to learn about church planting, especially how to start a church for people who don't like church? Come to our next Vault Church Planting Lab!

VERVE Happs

This weekend we started a new series, The Office.  We're talking about our jobs. I haven't heard of many churches do series on what the Bible says about our jobs, which I've always found odd. They take up so much of our lives, seems like we should know what God has to say about 'em.

We had a first:  Our highest attended service this week was Monday night!  Part of it was that Sunday was light - we had a bunch of regulars and volunteers call in sick or let us know they'd be out-of-town.  But even still, Monday night had the most people!  That's crazy.

Excited for this next week.  We're doing baptisms and having our Vervalicious event.

Not Random, Strategic

Two people mentioned to me recently that they view my Guerrilla Lovers book and the guerrilla lover revolution we're unleashing on the world (I think big!) is another way of packaging random acts of kindness.

Nope.

It's not random acts of kindness, it's strategic acts of kindness. Big difference. There's nothing wrong with random acts of kindness, but they don't have much lasting or significant influence. If I help a guy who's car is broken down, he may tell a few people about this great (and sexy) guy who came to his assistance, but that's it. It's pretty much just, well, random.

Guerrilla love is about strategic acts of kindness. It's love with a plan. With some intelligence and creativity behind it. And with way more potential for life changing, maybe even eternal, impact.

Random acts of kindness make people feel good. Guerrilla love changes the world.

Want to learn how to become a guerrilla lover? Join the guerrilla revolution? Then check out my book, Guerrilla Lovers.

Raider Nation!

This is the first time I've been able to say this in years, and it may be the last time I get to say this for years, so let me say it right now:  The Raiders are in first place!!

That should be followed by looks of shock and staggering around in a drunken-like stupor. I don't know how it's happened (other than the fact that they're in such a crappy division) but I'm just praying it lasts!

Vince Recommends...

That you read The Corporate Athlete: How to Achieve Maximal Performance in Business and Life, by Jack Groppel.

Is it because he went to the University of Illinois, like me? No. But go Illini!

It's because he lays out a fascinating, pretty holistic approach to performing, using a lot of sports science secrets that could really help you.

It won't be the most fun book you read, but stuff that's good for you isn't always fun. (At least that's what my momma taught me.)

And ... you're welcome.

Light In The Dark

In it's most famous verse, the Bible says that God so loved the world He sent His one and only Son. (Interesting, the very next verse, not nearly so popular, says, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.") Later, Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Those who choose Jesus are sent not to condemn, but to love. We're sent to seek and save the "lost". To help them get found and to find their way home.

And the place you do that is where the lost people have gotten lost. So we don't just hang out in Christian coffee shops with the good people. No, we go straight into the heart of darkness. We have to, because we're God's light, and we can only serve our purpose if we're in the darkness. And if we're going to be people who follow Jesus, we probably need to go pretty far and get quite uncomfortable. In fact, if we never ask, "What in the world am I doing here?!" maybe we're not truly following Jesus...

The Thing About Being Lost

Christians call people who aren't currently connected to God through Jesus "lost." And I think there's truth in that. The problem is that they sometimes say it in a derisive way, like it's an insult. But there's something we need to remember.

I was reminded of it once when my family was driving from Virginia Beach to Buffalo to see our parents. It was a journey we had made many times. My wife, Jen, was tired. She asked me to drive so she could sleep, making me promise not to wake her unless we got in an accident, and making me promise we wouldn't get in an accident. I woke her up about two hours later.

     "Did we get in an accident?" She was groggy, yet alarmed. (Which, by the way, sounds a lot like drunk and paranoid.)
     "No, we're lost." I didn't know if this was good or bad news.
     "Lost! How can we be lost?" She was groggy, yet annoyed. (Which, by the way, sounds a lot like drunk and irate."
     "I don't know, but we're lost."
     "Well, how long has it been since you've known where we are?" She was groggy, yet calculating. (Which, by the way, sounds a lot like drunk and remorseful.)
     I did some math in my head. "Probably an hour and a half."
     "An hour and a half?!" She was no longer groggy. "Where are we? Are we in New York yet?"
     "Listen, Boo," I thought using a friendly term of endearment might calm her down, "I have no idea what state we're in. I'm not even sure we're still on the east coast."
     "Don't call me Boo!" she yelled. I decided I liked her better when she seemed drunk.
     "Okay, Sir," hoping a non-friendly term of respect might help, "But you do know, I didn't get lost on purpose."

That's the thing about being lost. No one gets lost on purpose.

People Are Sick In This Town

My wife works at a gym. She does administrative stuff so mostly she's back in an office, but she's very friendly and empathetic so it's easy for her to get to know people.

One lady who works out at the gym is a stripper. She was talking to Jen once and explained that she was giving some dude a lap dance and he popped her fake boob. Apparently, the guy didn't mean to do it, it was innocent - you know, an innocent lap dance resulting in an innocent bursting of an innocent fake boob.

So my wife's empathy kicks in and she starts saying, "Oh no! I'm so sorry, poor thing, that was probably painful, or maybe not, and now you have, well, only one boob, that must be awful, you know, to have only, well, ummm, one boob."

"No, actually," the stripper tells her, "I'm making way more money now that I only have one boob. Apparently, guys prefer girls with only one boob."

My wife is a bit incredulous at this point and asks, "Oh. Wait. Really? I mean, wait, really? Are you serious?"

And the stripper says, "Yeah. People are sick in this town."

this weekend @ VERVE

This weekend at Verve we launch a brand new series: The Office. Will we be talking about Michael's herpes, Jim and Pam's baby, or Andy's singing career? Well, no, not really. (Though they may make an appearance.)

What we'll be talking about is your job. (Or lack of a job.) So whether you love, hate, or have never seen The Office, this series is for you. Well, if you have a job, have had a job, or plan to someday have a job.

In week one we'll talk about how to go from a "Take this job and shove it" to a "Take this job and love it" kind of attitude.

See ya there!

Act Your Way Into Feeling

I was talking to someone a few weeks ago who is stuck in a certain (and important) area of his life. He doesn't like where things are headed, and he knows what to do to change the trajectory. The problem? He doesn't feel like it.

This is one of the key problems that keep us stuck. If we want to "feel like it" we will wait forever. 'Cause we never feel like it. So we need to act. We need to do the right thing, take the necessary steps, not because we feel like it, but because we need to. 12 Steppers would say we need to "fake it till we make it."

The cool thing is that research has proven that our feelings follow our actions (rather than the other way around). So if you act, even though you don't feel like acting, you'll soon start feeling it. So: Don't feel like going on a date with your spouse? Do it anyway, and soon you'll feel like it. Don't feel like losing weight? Start the diet, and soon you'll feel like it.

And if, instead, you choose to wait till you feel like it? You can plan on staying stuck forever. (So have fun with that!)

So ... what step do you know you need to take to get unstuck? Take it.

To learn more about leaving behind the mundane and really living the life, check out my book, I Became A Christian And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.

VERVE Happs

On Saturday we had the first ever Verve Kickball Game, and I wasn't there (unfortunately out of town) I heard it went great, with about 50 people playing, no major injuries, only a few fistfights...

This weekend we finished our Unstuck series. Definitely one of my favorites we've done. I'm praying that people take it seriously, get tenacious, and apply what we've talked about to their lives so they can truly experience freedom.

Want some real honesty? In these early years our church is getting by due to the financial support of other churches and Christians around the country. In the next couple years we'll need to become fully self-supporting, but for now we owe our existence to the generosity of others. Well, this week we had our fourth church let us know that they'd no longer be able to support us financially. For all four it's due to their own financial struggles due to the economy. All four are having to take other drastic measures to get by. And I understand, so I'm not feeling bitter. But, honestly, I am feeling scared. So please pray for us and our church finances.

This week we begin a brand new series: The Office. We're going to talk about our jobs, or lack of jobs - how do we learn to love our job, honor God at work, find a new job that's a better fit, overcome work-related temptations, and more. No sleep till Scranton!

Loved Right Through The Layer of Mud

I love this quote from Helmut Thielicke:  "Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which he could free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because he loved them right through the layer of mud."

It's so easy for us to identify people with their sin, and to identify ourselves with our sin. But we are not our sin. Yeah, we have gotten a bit dirty, but that doesn't change who we are or reduce our value. Yeah, we make stupid choices - the truth is, we're boneheads. But we're God's boneheads. He loves us despite the dirt, despite our boneheadedness.

Its not that He loves us because we're worthy. It's that His love makes us worthy.

Whew.

Vince Recommends...

The blog Indexed. It offers a twisted, brilliant laugh everyday. Kind of hard to describe what it is, but here's an example:

New Approach

I started this blog about four years ago because I was asked to by people who wanted to feature it on a website. I wrote about just one topic pretty much everyday.

Then about two years ago I moved to Vegas and changed the blog to focus almost exclusively on starting the church here, and serving the community, and little dumb things about my life.

So I've been wrestling for awhile about what's the best use of this blog and I've decided to make a change. I love to write, and I've got some things I'm passionate about, so I've decided to start writing about the things I'm passionate about. Well, maybe not all of them - I probably won't write much about the Dodgers or Cream Soda.

If you want to see the main topics I plan to cover, you can read more here.

You should start seeing the change effective right about now.....

Las Vegas Weekly

When we started the church in Virginia Beach, we were constantly in the news - TV, newspaper, you name it.  Not so much in Vegas.  Part of it is that it's a bigger city and harder to get attention.  Also, the news here tends to be, "Katie Perry in town for bridal shower!" and "Usher seen at Tao!"  So, as far as I know, we haven't been mentioned in the news ... until now.

This week the Las Vegas Weekly (a local magazine, kind of artsy/nightclub kind of thing) featured a review of our church.  Pretty positive I guess, and hopefully any press is good press.  If you'd like to read it, you can do so here.

Stay Classy Blog Readers

At the National Outreach Convention this week. Never been to it, and I've never been to San Diego.

The family's with me and we're gonna hit the San Diego Zoo while we're here and a few of the other sites, got a few killer restaurants to try...

this weekend @ VERVE

How does a person go from stuck to unstuck? And let's just be honest, most people spend most of their lives stuck in some way or other, or lots of others.

So is it really possible to get unstuck? And why do so few people accomplish it? And how can you accomplish it?

We'll talk about that this weekend at Verve as we conclude our series: Unstuck: The Remedy For A Crappy Life. Be there, or be stuck.

And don't forget: We're playing KICKBALL this Saturday!  Just a fun time to get out and be kid-like and meet some other Ververs.  Don't miss it: Desert Bloom Park at 10 a.m.

Riddle Me This

So, want to hear some stats? (You really don’t.) 

• Question: How many churches have grown into the thousands since 1990?  Answer: Tons of them. (For instance, from 2000 to 2005 the number of churches with attendance over 5,000 doubled).
• Question: How many churches have started in America since 1990? Answer: Tons of them. (Approximately 30,000)

So riddle me this: If, since 1990, hundreds of churches have blasted into the thousands (some into the tens of thousands), and about 30,000 new churches have been started (many of them growing into the thousands) … how is it possible that there are less people going to church now than in 1990 in every single county in the United States? And how is it possible that the number of people going to church is down by about 8 million). Answer that one Batman!

Here’s what I think: Our churches aren’t reaching "unchurched" people. If we were bringing in people who weren’t going to church the numbers couldn’t look like this. Seriously – think about it - there are hundreds of thousands of people now attending churches they weren’t attending twenty years ago (many in churches that didn’t even exist) and yet 8 million less people are in church.

Our churches are almost exclusively reaching people from other churches. And that has to change. Excited to talk about it today at the National Outreach Convention.

Rock Your World: Three Questions

Max Lucado writes in his new book, "Outlive Your Life"

A few years back, three questions rocked my world...  Question 1: Had you been a German Christian during World War II, would you have taken a stand against Hitler?  Question 2: Had you lived in the South during the civil rights conflict, would you have taken a stand against racism?  Question 3: When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?

Wow. Ouch. Thanks for that.

And you know what the right response is? Guerrilla love. To view yourself as someone who is on the earth to serve others and ambush them with God's outrageous compassion. That's why I wrote the book I did, and why I'll be teaching a seminar on it tomorrow at the National Outreach Convention.

Want to learn how to become a guerrilla lover? Join the guerrilla revolution? Then check out my book, Guerrilla Lovers.

VERVE Happs

Thought this was a great week at Verve...

1. I loved how the band rocked "The Sound" by Switchfoot.
2. I loved the message. A little biased? Well, yeah, I'm the one who did it - but I do most of them, and I don't love 'em all.  I just think what we talked about is absolutely critical to go from stuck to unstuck. If you missed the message, you can listen to it here.
3. I love how the new Velcro Bar is starting to work.  It's a place in the back of the auditorium for people who have questions, need prayer, want to make a decision, whatever.  Looked like some cool interactions were happening back there on Sunday.
4. I love how we're continuing to grow.  Every week there are some new people and our attendance gets a little higher.
5. I love how we get new people who are honest enough to say, "I don't know what I believe about all this stuff.  I don't think I believe what you do.  But I'm here, and I'm open."
6. I love that we're playing Kickball this Saturday!  Just a fun time to get out and be kid-like and meet some other Ververs.  Don't miss it: Desert Bloom Park at 10 a.m.

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You're welcome.