Vegas Reflections No. 1

My time in Vegas has been both relaxing and informational. Saturday was spent with my mentor and his family watching their granddaughter's soccer game, eating Mexican for dinner at the District in Henderson, NV, and having Dairy Queen for dessert. Loren and I finished the night watching Illinois lose to Michigan.

The conference began this morning with a tour of Central Christian Church. We were able to get an overview of the various ministry environments and talk with key leaders and volunteers in each area. Having been here once before, I had seen many of the areas, but there were some new things I got to see. We even got to be backstage while Jud Wilhite (Lead Pastor) was speaking on stage. (I thought about peeking my head out from behind the curtain...)

We attended the last service of the morning (they have two services on Saturday evening & three on Sunday morning at the Henderson campus and three services on Sunday morning at the Summerlin campus) where they were launching a new series called sex: the naked truth. It was one of the best sermons I have ever heard on sex...and it was in Vegas! Check out the video here; if you would prefer the podcast, you can find it through the same link.

After the worship service, we gathered together with a number of key staff members for lunch and a couple more presentations. Jud did a presentation on creating a culture of uncensored grace, and Mike Bodine (Executive Pastor) did a presentation on key strategies and structure.

Key Thoughts...

• For too long, churches have required people to Behave then Believe and only then can they Belong. We must create churches where people can Belong first then come to Believe and then Become what God intends them to be.
• Truth follows Trust
• The stories you tell create your culture.
• Process not programs
• We believe God has called us to facilitate a movement!
• Expectations without application leads to frustration; however, expectations with application leads to celebration.
• We must constantly think like a new church.
• More is not better...best is better.

I'm spending all day tomorrow with the Small Groups pastors, so I'll have some small group-specific thoughts to share later. That's it for tonight...time for eating more ice cream and watching more football!