Today Is THE Day

Today is the opening of the major league baseball season.  Baseball was my first love (yes, seriously) and is still towards the top of my list.  Want to romance me?  Have Vin Scully read me the poem you wrote.  I am a blue bleeding die hard Dodger fan, but here are my non-biased picks for how this season ends:

A.L. Championship:  Red Sox over A's
N.L. Championship: Phillies over Dodgers

World Series: Phillies over Red Sox

My Own Worst Enemy

Occasionally we peek out of denial long enough to see our problems, and that we're stuck.
When we do we often commit to change. The problem is that the commitment happens, but wanes, and the change doesn't happen at all. And we become even more resigned to the idea that we'll stay stuck forever.

So why don't we stay committed? Why don't we change? Perhaps it's because we've been taught self-help and self-improvement, but "self" is what got us stuck in the first place. "Self" is not going to get me unstuck. I need power to get unstuck, but it's a power "self" does not possess.

When we realize we're stuck, we can try harder, we can give up, or we can look up.  We can turn to God because the power we need is a power only He possesses.

VERVE Happs

We had another great week at Verve. 

And, by the way, I'm not blowing smoke.  God is really doing amazing things here and its just such an honor to get to be a part of it.  It's been interesting the last few weekends because I've had a few pastor friends in town for our services.  And before and after the service I've been able to introduce them to people who's lives have been changed at Verve.  And point out others and tell them bits of their stories.  And after hearing story after story they're like, "You do realize this isn't normal, right?  This doesn't happen in churches.  If it does, you might have your one story, but to have so many...  This just isn't normal."

Well, I'll take not normal, thanks. And if this isn't normal, I wish everyone could experience not normal.

Thanks to all the Ververs who volunteer and give and invite their friends, and thanks to everyone around the country who are supporting what we're doing in so many ways.

Vince Recommends...

Because I love you so much, I keep giving you these amazing recommendations that will rock your world and/or change your life.  Today's is a "for locals only" for the Vegas crowd.  It's the 4x4x2 Challenge at RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay.

I've done it twice, and it was one of the most fun dates I've had with my wife, and one of our most fun family outings since moving here.

The deal is that they give you sixteen bowls of unidentified ice cream and you have to guess what the flavors are. If you get them all right (you won't) the ice cream is free. (If not, the cost is about $20.)

The flavors are mostly FUNKY.  A few are great, a few are gross (shrimp cocktail ice cream, anyone?), most are good.  But it's just really fun to try together to identify the flavors.

You're welcome.

Feels Like The Second Time: Youth

A year ago we launched Verve, which is the second new church I've started.  I thought it may be interesting for some of you if I shared a few of the things I've noticed about starting a church for the second time.  So here's the third:

I like watching poker on TV and one of the interesting things to me is how it's a young man's game.  It's actually pretty extraordinary.  The World Series will start with every age group well represented, and end with final tables of 20 year olds, and maybe one guy in his 30's.  Year after year the "Youngest Player Ever To Win" record gets broken.  Why is that?  I don't know, but I think it's because those poker tournaments go on all day, day after day, and the older players start to wear down and lose their edge.

Church planting goes on all day, day after day.  Starting a new church takes a level of energy and endurance that just isn't quite necessary for pastors of established churches.  And, honestly, I never would have said this before starting Verve (at the age of 40) but there is a lot to be said for starting a church young.  (I was 27 the first time.)  Fortunately, I have always had excess energy and endurance so I'm fine, but it was easier when I was 27...

this weekend @ VERVE

This Sunday and Monday we're talking about the fact that God Gives A Damn ... About Your Brain. One of my favorite things about God is that He doesn't ask us to have a blind faith. He could, but He doesn't. Instead He provides all kinds of evidence so we can believe with our brains.

If you don't believe, or if you do but don't know why you believe what you believe, you need to be at Verve this week. We'll look at some of the hard core evidence.

And it will be a great day to bring some friends with you, so bring 'em!

Desert Flowers

Occasionally it rains in the dessert and, when it does, flowers will often pop up. The flowers are all excited about the new home they’ve discovered, but then it doesn’t rain again for three months. The flowers realize they were deceived. And the flowers don’t have deep enough roots to continue growing, so they shrivel up and die. 

I wonder what the desert flowers have to teach us about life in Las Vegas in the middle of the dessert? And if you live here in Vegas, what can you do to give yourself deep roots so you don't shrivel up and die here?

A Place Of Healing

We named our church Verve not because it sounds kind of cool, but because of what it means. Verve means: vivacity, energy, vitality, liveliness, or the spirit and enthusiasm inspiring or animating artistic composition or performance. Jesus said, in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” We could take a little poetic license and paraphrase that, “I have come that they may have verve.” But before we can have verve, we need healing.

The path to healing is stop running and stop hiding - our hurts, our sins - but instead to just be honest. We moved to Las Vegas to open a church for people who are running, so they could find a place not to hide but to expose their hurts and their sin, and to find grace. Because Las Vegas is a place people run to, it’s even a place where people will be honest about their issues, but it’s not a place of healing. And so we set up our church right in the middle of Sin City because Verve is a place of healing, and that's what we all need.

VERVE Happs

This was a really cool week at Verve...

1. We started our new series: God Gives A Damn, which is based off our...
2. GodGivesADamn.org billboards, which are now up.  Honestly, I haven't heard of anyone who has come as a result of them yet.  But I've been told that with billboard advertising, it generally takes several weeks before the results.  People need to see the billboard a few times...  So I don't think we have new people from them, and yet...
3. We had our highest attendance since last Easter. On Sunday morning we had to add a row of seats to accommodate all the people, and on Monday night we had to add a couple rows of seats. Again, Monday night had the most people by about 20.
4. I heard tons of comments of people saying it was one of their favorite services ever.
5. We opened up the "Verve Mail Bag" for the first time. Fun.
6. Our Management Team was in town.  I've got 6 people who give me wisdom and help me make big decisions. We've got an amazing team of people - I'm so grateful for them, they make it hard for me to screw things up...
7. God is doing something great at Verve. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Leaving Las Vegas

In the movie Leaving Las Vegas, Sera (a prostitute) falls in love with a guy named Ben, who is drinking himself to death.  She vows to accept him for who he is, tells him, "I know that you'll never change" and gives him a silver flask for his birthday.  In the end, Ben dies of alcohol abuse.

One of the things we say a lot at Verve is:  God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way.  True love is unconditional, but it loves too much to ignore what will destroy the one who is loved. That's how God loves us. And I wonder if there's someone you need to show that kind of love?

Feels Like The Second Time: Perspective

A year ago we launched Verve, which is the second new church I've started.  I thought it may be interesting for some of you if I shared a few of the things I've noticed about starting a church for the second time.  So here's the second:

One of the nice things the experience of having started a church provides is perspective.  For example: When we planted Forefront, we would get on the news and I would think, "We are going to double in size this week!" and then we wouldn't.  Or we would lose a core family and I would think, "We are going to fall apart this week!" and then we wouldn't.  This time, starting Verve, we got some free publicity and I thought, "Probably won't do much" and it didn't.  Core people left and I thought, "Probably won't do much" and it didn't.

The experience of having done it gives you the perspective that today is just one day in a long journey, that there will be lots of ups and downs, and that ultimately God is in control.

Check out Vault, Verve's conference on church planting. 

My Name Is Matt Foley, And I Am...

One of the interesting things at Verve is that we now have 2 professional speakers attending regularly, and another 3 or 4 attending occasionally.  We're talking about people who travel all around the world getting paid big bucks to give inspirational speeches by like Fortune 500 companies.  It could be kinda intimidating if I let it be...

One of the guys was cool enough to invite me to come, for free, to a "learn how to become a better speaker" seminar a couple weeks ago.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I've never been to anything like that.  There was some really good stuff - how to be a better story teller, use your stage more effectively, etc.  Now if I can just put those into effect...

The Power of Nostalgia

My wife, and everyone else from Buffalo, New York, will tell you that Ted's has the best hot dogs in the world. Guess what? They're not. They're okay, but the reason Buffalo natives rave about them is they grew up eating them. It's the power of nostalgia.

You've got a place like that too, right?

And people who grew up going to a church probably either have a sense of bitterness towards it, or feel the power of nostalgia.

So here's the question: If you're starting a brand new church, how do you get the power of nostalgia going for you?

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

VERVE Happs

We had another awesome week at Verve...

1. We had a mission team in from Chicago.  Four people from one of our supporting churches who came to help and serve in any way they could.  It's humbling and inspiring for us.
2. Verve's Amazing Race on Saturday was a huge success.  So cool because the idea for it didn't come from our staff, but from someone in our church - Warren - who did an incredible job planning it out.  People had fun and lots of new friendships were made.
3. We had our one year anniversary services, and talked about how God wants us to continue to have an impact - through serving and ambushing Las Vegas with His love.
4. Our God Gives a Damn billboards are up, and the series starts this upcoming weekend.  We're also selling GodGivesADamn shirts for $10, come by and pick one up on Thursday if you can!
5. Speaking of Thursday, we're going to have the NCAA Tournament on our big screen from morning till the end of the afternoon.  And join our Verve Bracket Challenge at espn.com, our league is Viva La Verve, and the password is vivalaverve.

Vince Recommends...

If you're a public speaker of any kind, this is a really interesting video worth the 18 minutes. It's a presentation from TEDx East by Nancy Duarte on, “You Have the Power to Change the World.”


Nancy Duarte's talk at TEDx East from Duarte Design on Vimeo.

One Year Of Verve!

Today is Verve's one year anniversary.  A year ago today I woke up at like 4:00 in the morning, couldn't fall back asleep, drove over to our building, realized it was still a complete disaster as people didn't have time to clean up the completion of the construction efforts which had ended just a couple hours earlier, freaked out, and went back home.

A few hours later we were waiting to see if anyone would show up.  They did.  And we got to show them a different way of doing church, and tell them that God loved them and that Jesus came for them.

And the last year has been pretty amazing.  God is doing amazing things here as we attempt to be a city of refuge in the middle of Sin City.  We've seen people coming to church who never thought they would, marriages saved, and 42 people give their lives to Christ and get baptized.

Now at the one year mark, I feel like we're starting to get things right and pick up momentum like never before.

We owe all the good that's happened to God - He's the hero of this story.  But tons of people have pitched in to make this happen, and I want to thank all of you who have prayed for us and given financially and come on mission trips.  Thank you.  I am totally grateful.

Vivalaverve!

Feels Like The Second Time: Expectations

A year ago we launched Verve, which is the second new church I've started.  I thought it may be interesting for some of you if I shared a few of the things I've noticed about starting a church for the second time.  So here's the first:

If you're first church was "successful" there's a tendency for you, and everyone else, to assume that you will see the same results the second time.  This can be dangerous as it can create unreasonable expectations.  It can also lead to bad decision making.  Like, "Well, we know we'll be this size by this time, so let's start with a staff of this many..."

The problem is that success once does not mean success twice.  There are so many factors that go into how a new church does - the readiness of the area, the fit of the planter with the people in that area, the attention the new church can garner, the resources available, etc.  So you may have the same guy leading in both plants, but if those other factors diverge there can be vastly different results.

Check out Vault, Verve's conference on church planting.

this weekend @ VERVE

We conclude our What Up G? series by talking about what it means that we want to be guerrilla lovers.  Could becoming a guerrilla lover be the thing you've been wanting for yourself your whole life?  Could it give your life purpose?

This weekend is also Verve's one year anniversary!  It was one year ago this Sunday that we had our first service.  We'll take a few minutes to look back and celebrate, so definitely don't miss it!

Saturday we're having Verve's Amazing Race.  If you want a day of fun, be at the Venue by noon, and plan on being in a crazy scavenger hunt till 5:00.  After party is from 5 to 7ish.

And don't forget to turn your clocks forward on Saturday night!

An Immersive Seminar?

So we've got this conference we're doing (again) in October called Vault.  And if I were you I'd be asking, "Why should I go?  I mean, sure, it's in Vegas and that's cool.  And it's only like $100 and that's cheap.  But why should I go to this over another conference?"

Answer?  Because it's an immersive seminar.  If you want amazing speakers, Vault is not the best choice?  Want dance troops?  Not Vault.  Want a light show?  No to Vault.  But if you want an immersive seminar ... Vault is for you. 

What do I mean?  I mean if you want to be a church for people who don't like church, a church that knows how to connect with people who are far from God and help them to find God, we will take you into the vault.  We will show you what we do.  You will experience what we do.  You will meet atheists and church haters who have had their minds and lives changed at Verve.  You will hear their stories.  You will get to ask questions of the speakers.  And we will vault you out with principles that you can apply in your setting, in the way that fits for you who you are.

To do all that, we have to keep the numbers intentionally small.  We will not allow more than 125 people to come.  Registration is open, people are starting to sign-up.  If you're not one of the first 125, we'll have to say no.  So register soon.

Honest City?

So here’s one way Las Vegas is probably different from where you live. Ask people in your town why they moved there and you’ll get a lot of, “For a job” and “To be closer to friends/family.” And you’ll hear those answers in Vegas, too. But you’ll also hear a ton of people say things like, “I had totally messed up my life” and “I was running and Vegas seemed like the place to run to” and “I needed a fresh start and I thought there was no better place to get it than Las Vegas.”

My friend recently took a taxi to the airport and asked the driver why he was in Sin City. The driver said, “Well, I’m from Ohio, but I really screwed up there. And I had to get away, I just wanted to disappear, and Vegas seemed like the city for it.”

There’s something about a City of Sin that makes people who have screwed up their lives feel comfortable. It’s like the one place where you feel like everyone is a screw-up. There seems to be level ground morally, and the level is rock bottom.

One of the cool things about this is that it makes Vegas an incredibly honest place. People will tell you their sin, because they assume your sin is probably just as bad.

VERVE Happs

Maybe my favorite weekend of Verve yet.

Eleven people were baptized.  It was awesome hearing each of their stories and, for most, knowing even more than they had time to share.  God is doing amazing things in people's lives at Verve, and it's exciting to have a front row seat.

One of the best and most important services we've done.  We talked about being grace wholesalers.  If you missed it, you can listen to the message here.  Loved the songs the band played and how it all weaved together.  Poetry.

We announced that Jake Keck has joined our staff.  He will be overseeing our Creative Arts and Family Ministries.  Jake is great and is a critical addition to our staff.  

Vince Recommends...

Alright, I shared this at Verve last month, so might as well share it with the world.

The next time you're looking for a cheap date ... think about ... the free donuts at your local car mechanic.

Now it's helpful if you're actually bringing your car in to get it fixed, or at least looked at.  But if not, maybe just show up, explain that you believe in dating your spouse, have no cash, and would like to take advantage of the delicious free donuts.  Who could say no to a romantic sob story like that?

Think Blue

It is awesome to have great friends like Greg Rohlinger, who got my son and I tickets this weekend for the Dodger's pre-season game at Camelback Stadium in Phoenix!

Played against the Giants who, in addition to being the World Series champs, are our hated enemies.  Sorry Giants, but this is the Dodgers year...  I hope.

Saturday...

It's Saturday.  I love Saturdays, except for one thing.

When I speak on Sunday mornings, I don't use notes.  There are a variety of reasons I do that.  But not using notes on Sunday means that I have to "internalize" my message on Saturday.  I'll read it through several times, making sure it's settled in my brain. So here's the deal: I LOVE writing messages, I like giving messages, but I HATE reading my message over and over on Saturday.

So why do I do it? I like the way the old boxer Joe Frazier said it, "You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, you're down to your reflexes, that's where your roadwork shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, you're getting found out now under the bright lights."

Hypeless?

With a lot of conferences there are all kinds of incentives to register, and early bird specials, and sign-up now and get a free kidney kind of deals.  And I understand all that, and I'm not knocking it.  Part of it is that you want your conference to have as many people as possible, so you need to hype it some.

We're putting on a conference this Fall, and we're not trying to get as many people as possible.  In fact, we won't allow more than 120 people to come.  We can fit 300, but we did this last year with about 90 people and the smaller size allowed some import dynamics to happen that we refuse to lose.  At most conferences you can't talk to the speaker right after he leaves the stage, get to know everyone, really network, etc.

The most unique thing about our conference is the content.  We got rave reviews last year from, well, everyone who attended.  And we heard repeatedly that what they were taught no one else is saying.  It's a conference on how to truly do church for people who truly don't like church.

So, if you're interested, here's they hype:  You have to be one of the first 120 to register or you can't come.  You can register at the www.vaultconference.com website.

Intellectual Dishonesty

One thing that drives me nuts is when someone makes an argument, but isn't intellectually honest about it...

For instance, there's a conservative, legalistic Christian radio host who plays sermons on his show and rips them apart for being too "liberal."  He's done this with my sermons, which is fine.  But he carefully picks them out.  He'll choose one and then deride me for not talking about sin or repentance or hell, acting like I'm too liberal to address such topics.  But he doesn't mention that the very week before my sermon was about sin and repentance and hell.  How convenient.

Or there's the movie Religulous, where Bill Maher sets out to prove how stupid people of faith are.  But he only chooses to talk to uninformed people of faith who can't answer his questions, though they would be easy for many to answer.  For instance, the Professor Emeritus of Harvard Law is a Christian who tried to disprove the gospels but instead found them true. Does Maher debate with him? Nope, instead he debates truckers at a truck stop chapel service. Maher also makes absurd claims like that there is no evidence that Jesus ever lived.  (Really?!)  And he uses "facts" against Christianity, but facts that have been proven untrue repeatedly.

It's like if you're going to make an argument, at least be honest about it.  And if you can't make your argument without being honest, maybe you shouldn't make your argument.

VERVE Happs

I had a crazy week - I was gone from Monday to Thursday at a convention that I spoke at like six or seven times.  Then I came back into town, and attended a convention all day on Friday and Saturday. So it was nice to be back at Verve on Sunday and with our staff on Monday.

Our attendance was low on Sunday and huge on Monday.  I think it was the most people we ever had on a Monday night - it was way bigger than either service on Sunday. 

We talked about being God Stalkers.  I don't know if it was the best message I ever gave, but I think it maybe was the most important.  Like if I had to give one message and then die, I think that would be it.  If you missed it and would like to listen, you can do so here.

We are doing baptisms on Sunday after second service and after the Monday night service.  Looks like more than ten people will be getting baptized.  Awesome!  If you're interested but haven't let us know ... let us know!