The Vegas Missional Outpost

What's in a name?

This has been the hardest idea to develop so far. CORE VALUES have been a piece of cake compared to this. Location has been a piece of cake compared to this. Preaching should be a piece of cake compared to this: picking a name for the church.

Let me explain by way of analogy. See, I would like to get a tatoo. I think tatoos are cool, missional, and can really add to one's persona. My buddy Kenny has a ton of tatoo's, and it makes him look like an even bigger bad ass. My buddy Wojo has tatoos that tell the story of his life. I have another friend who was saved by a parachurch organization and got the organization's logo right on his shoulder. This was great, until he decided he wasn't going on staff with them anymore. That, due to the fact that I would never get a logo for a tatoo, isn't my reason for not getting a tatoo. My reason lies with my wife's scrapbooks and photo albums. When looking back at photos of myself from 1, 3, even 5 years ago I keep asking myself questions like, "Why was I wearing that?", or "What in the world is wrong with my hair?" So quite frankly, the reason I cannot bring myself to get a tatoo is simple: I don't trust that I have good enough taste to last the test of time.

AND NOW I HAVE TO NAME A CHURCH THAT I PLAN ON BEING AT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

Many churches have wished they thought more seriously after naming themselves after a particular street, and then moving to a different street. I know of Churches named after things that you would never find in that particaular area. I have seen churches here in Vegas whose logo has streams of water in it. "Where is that in this town?" I often wonder. This has all weighed very heavily on myself, and a few close friends as I have asked them to lend as many suggestions as possible. Before getting into my reasoning for picking a name (and the name for that matter) I would like to share some of the proposed names that
didn't make the cut:

- Jesus Church: while simple and to the point. It was decided that this would be confusing in a town with a high Mormon population.
- Christ Church: see above.
- Imago Dei: if only that one guy didn't write that one book, then we could totally steal this well fitting name.
- Penthouse Church: I personal favorite. This sprouted out of the "Upper Room" being mentioned. I tried to contexualize it by translating it to Vegas, but then it came out sounding like a brothel.
- Rock of Ages: this was my brothers selection. Don't get too weirded out, this will eventually be the name of his rock climbing gym.
- Pure Church: those of you familiar with this blog will understand where this came from. Those of you that aren't, CLICK HERE to read why.
- Light Church: At this point we were just taking club names and adding church to the end (how's that for missional). But at the end, I just kept thinking of Light Beer everytime I said Light Church. That is a connection I hope is never made with our church.
- Aduro Church: my wife said it was Latin for something spiritual, and she loved it. But everytime she said it I kept thinking she was saying "a burro church". Which, when translated from spanish to english means: ass church.

In the end there were two main factors that helped us choose a church name. MISSIOLOGY and THEOLOGY. We wanted the name to be catchy, culturally relevant, and easy to say.

MISSIOLOGY
Vegas loves the short one word names for things: PURE, LIGHT, TRYST, WYNN, BELAGGIO, PARIS, LOVE, "O", the STRIP, etc. So from the beginning we wanted our church to have a short, simple name that could easily roll off the tounge. So names like Emmanuel Baptist Church on 5th Street were out of the question. We were so particular about this that in the end, we would throw out any two word phrases to put before church.

THEOLOGY
Really, you want your church to have deep theological meaning. And since you are deciding on a name from nothing, this process requires a ton of praying and seeking scripture. Granted, this process made me realize why I am against topical sermons (decide what you want to preach on, and then find the verses to back it up), but in the end it proved very fruitfull.

THE NAME
"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:4-6

When we examine the city of Las Vegas, we see many people of whom Satan has blinded their eyes from seeing "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ". In a city full of lights, most people are blind to the real light: God's glory shining in the face of Christ. This is why Jesus said he must be lifted up as Moses lifted the snake, so that his glory may shine, and that people would thusly be saved. Since this what we will be doing, our name should fit.

                                                               

DOXA

DOXA means "glory" in greek. By using the greek word for glory we are able to meet our missional qualifications for the name. It is short, sleek, easy to say, and very similar to the one word names already in use all over the valley. In this way we are also able to contain the bleeding heart of our mission in one word. We are very pleased to call ourselves DOXA Church. Well, unless there already is a DOXA Church, at which time we will just be DOXA, or DOXA Baptist Church of 5th Street.

Comming over the weekend: the CORE VALUES of DOXA

Drafting the BLUEPRINT

If you were to start a church what would it look like?

Where would you have it? Who would preach? What would they preach about? What kind of music would you have? How often would you do communion? Why? What would you call your church?

And another question, the most important in fact: why did you decide on these things? What were the convictions that made these your decisions?

These are all questions that, over the past few weeks, I have earnestly sought God for the answers. The reality is that there are very strong convictions that have brought my wife and I back to Las Vegas. What I have attempted to do over the past few weeks is flush those out into CORE VALUES. So that in this way, there will be four distinct CORE VALUES that determine everything the church does. They will determine the preaching, the community, the service, the impact, the details, the vision; EVERYTHING.

Over the next few days it is my desire to share here where these CORE VALUES have come from, and how they will shape the church community we are starting. To be specific, these core values will directly affect the church's MISSIOLOGY (how we live out our mission) and ECCLESIOLOGY (how we do church). A quick primer on the two, and some examples regarding the Vegas culture.

MISSIOLOGY: What will shape our mission?
On a large scale, world domination would be nice. But since Jesus is taking care of that when he brings his kingdom, like Paul, we'll just focus on a influential city. When determining what the mission to the city should look like, three questions can help form a basic framework:
- Where is God already working in the city?
Are there blatant forms of mindless or senseless worship? Is there a segment or part of the city that is becoming aware of its sin, and would be open to hearing about Jesus immediately? Are there openings in the nomenclature or media to discuss truth, or even God? Would the city consider itself spiritual, apathetic, or something else? Has God raised up specific persons of peace to help connect you to the culture?
- What about the city can we receive?
What forms of entertainment are generally neutral? Do people eat together? Other examples include: youth sports, recreation activities, art, music, marriage, community service, community awareness.
- What about the city must we reject?
A point must be made here that many times the church instead of just rejecting aspects of the culture has both rejected, separated, and condemned. To be very clear, our community will only reject, and will not separate from or condemn the culture. There is a huge difference between condemning, and calling people to repent. We believe in the latter. Some example of things we reject: We accept marriage, but we reject adultery and divorce. We accept men adoring naked women, as long as they are their wives and not strippers. We accept women making themselves beautiful, we reject low cut shirts and bandannas used as skirts. We accept people being in community, we reject swingers clubs. We accept that owning a home is a good, we reject shady real estate dealings. Our community cannot accept things that God does not accept, and we will trust that God will grant repentance to those in our community as we show them his kindness.

As we ask continually ask ourselves these questions in regards to our community, we have no doubt God will help shape our mission.

ECCLESIOLOGY: What will shape our church?
The long answer to the question would take up hundreds of pages, and by the time by-laws and memoirs are written, it probably will. The short answer is much more simple: Jesus.

The person and work of Jesus Christ will, more than anything, shape our church. Jesus said it best himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus here is calling himself Jacob's Ladder. He is saying that it is he that connects people to God. Since the entire point of church is to connect people to God, we might want to take what Jesus said seriously. With this is mind, our church will bring everything back to the person and work of Christ. Our preaching will always be brought back to Jesus. Our worship will always be brought back to Jesus. Our community will always be about Jesus.

Jesus defined his mission of connecting us to God even more narrowly: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” And how did he accomplish his mission: "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus connects us to God through his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Whereby God's wrath was propitiated, all the filth and guilt of our sin was taken from us and put on Jesus, we were redeemed from our life of sin, we were justified in the sight of God, and all of this so that we could be reconciled to God. Because of this we will not lift up any Jesus other than the one who lived a sinless life, was crucified dead and buried, who rose to reign as King of Kings, and who is coming back to bring the Kingdom he purchased through all his work. A few points of how having this picture of Jesus shapes a church:
- communion is done weekly. This makes the cross central and the focal point  of everything we do.    Also, Jesus said to do this as often as we remember him, and we want to remember him often.
- we preach through the Bible. Since the entire Bible is about Jesus, and as Devin Hudson says, "there is a shadow of the cross over the entire Bible", preaching through books of the Bible should give us a big picture of Jesus.
There are obviously more factors, these two happen to be paramount.

A church plant hangs on it's MISSIOLOGY and ECCLESIOLOGY, and the missiology and ecclesiology depend on a good Christology (a right understanding of the person and work of Jesus). So, all that to be said, my aim is to be a close and learn as much as I can about Jesus, and let the church form from there.

Tomorrow I will discuss how all this plays into coming up with the CHURCH NAME. Which also means I will reveal the name for the church. I know you can't wait.

Matt

Say What?

This has been a very interesting month for Vicky and I. Vicky has finally started her job at Norwalk Furniture after about two months of waiting. As for me, well, this month saw my departure from Grace Point Church.

To make a long story short, it was not a good fit for either myself or the church. There were no significant theological issues between the church and Vicky and I. There were, however, ministry philosophy differences that could not be reconciled. I was not able to give Grace Point what they wanted, neither were Vicky and I able to get started on the things we felt God has called us to.

I am currently sending out resumes and applications looking for a good full-time job here in Las Vegas, while hoping to start seminary classes through Regent College's distance learning program.

We are continuing to serve and attend Grace Point, and believe that God will continue to use it to reach many people in the North Las Vegas/Aliante area. If you still have an interest in being a part of what God is doing through Grace Point, the current associate and youth pastor IV Marsh is in need of support. IV is a great godly man who has moved his family of five to Las Vegas to help Grace Point bring people to Jesus. Please prayerfully consider supporting IV, his family, and his ministry.

Also, if you have not given in December, please send you last check in. We do not want to leave Grace Point with an account deficit.

So the obvious question: WHAT NOW?

Well, upon the advice of the lead pastor at Grace Point, and some other godly men, VICKY AND I ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH GOD'S CALL TO BUILD A COMMUNITY OF CHRIST FOLLOWERS IN LAS VEGAS.

So the obvious next question: WHAT, WHEN, WHERE?

Currently the plan is to start a mid-week gathering in SW Las Vegas starting this January, and see what God does from there. There will be more information on what this gathering will look like, and when and where it will be next week.

Thank you for all your love and support, if you have any questions please e-mail me.

Blessings,
Matt

Christian Blogging

Here is a must read article my buddy Ryan Kearns has written on Christian blogging.

"Good grief. I am glad I don't read the web very much. I would sin with anger too much. "Roaring debate" !-- these people have too much time on their hands."
                                                                             John Piper

It has been some time since I have thrown a post up. Honestly I have just been bombarded in life over the last few weeks. Usually when this happens my natural instinct is just to go into survival mode and just try to keep my head above water each day. My semester has turned out to be quite back loaded and I am really paying the price for that right now. I have a few more weeks in which I really need to run hard and finish strong and then I can begin to catch my breath. In the midst of all this I have been trying to keep first things first and consistently hang out with Jesus. I have been praying a lot recently and just wanting God to stir my affections for him. My heart is easily hardened and when it is the rest of me suffers because I have stopped battling sin, replenishing grace, and finding rest in Jesus.

Along that note one of the most harmful things I think we can do at times is blog. This could be writing on one's own blog, as you try to think of something creative and funny to say. This could be reading blogs that you like/dislike/why the hell am I reading this? as doing so can take your focus away from the good works that God has prepared for you to do. And last you can even post comments on blogs, this is hardly ever goes well. I imagine it is a lot like what frat guys think when they have a one night stand with the crazy needy girl who they know they should stay away from. That night with the cheap beer flowing and the beer goggles in full effect you throw caution into the wind and say "ah this won't end so bad, in fact I think this will turn out well." This is foolish thinking. The frat guy wakes up in the morning with a raging headache wondering what the hell he just did, and a crazy girl who is making his life miserable. This can be like commenting on blogs especially if it is on something controversial. Then you are just asking for it. You may as well just schedule your STD test down at the free clinic right then.

Anyway, I am re-thinking blogging in many ways because of experiences like this. I have a few conclusions that I have come to. No matter what the form of communication that blogging is, automatically gives to people distorting and manipulating another person's words in order to make their point. Yeah yeah I know this should not happen on Christian blogs, but it does there more than anywhere else probably. On secular blogs you can just say "Hey F@#k you!" when you do not like what someone says. In the Christian blog world you have to be much more sly then that. You have to be passive aggressive make the other person out to be an idiot pull quotes out of their comment and then find ways to deconstruct them. Oh yes this is Christian blogging when it comes to controversial matters. In many ways I think I would just perfer the "F@%K you!" on a secular blog. These threads will then begin to just spiral out of control and fall way off course of what they were intended to discuss. One more thing unless you are bald guy in your fifties, and have a docile personality do not speak of being "generous" either. Giving people grace, and trying to really use our brains to understand what they are saying is too much to ask for.

So I conclude what should Christians who want to love Jesus and advance the Kingdom do? Well I think it to be unwise to just retreat from blogdom this is what the Amish and quakers do when they do not like how culture and its communication forms evolve, they just say, "Hey F&$k it, we are just going to make butter and wear overalls." Sometimes I think I can understand this mentality and wonder if it would be so bad to just be Amish. Then I remember that we can not run from the world and times that God has placed us in. Blogging is here to stay, it is a reality that we as pastors will have to interact and deal with for the rest of our lives and ministry. Yet I think since it is so hostile to good honest dialouge we should be slow to participate in the mayhem (I am mainly speaking to myself here.) Becasue blogging has this tendency to bring out the worst in a lot of Christians. There is no way half of us would say to another person face to face what we say on a blog. I think this should be a rule we try to abide by as we blog, "Would I say this to their face?" If we can answer yes then I think we are doing pretty good. There is much more to throw out there about this subject but this is just some stuff of the top of my head. I threw the Piper quote at the top because it made me realize that Piper does not even blog but still knows more about it than most of us who do, and because I could just imagine him dropping F bombs as he furiously rebutted stupid people all across Christian blogdom."

Amen Ryan, Amen.

Blessings,
Matt

5 Sermons that Changed my Life

In the last few years I have become quite friendly with listening to sermons. Now that I have a 30gb ipod, and often drive for 45 minutes at a time, I often find myself listening to many different sermons. Some of the more funny quotes I have heard:
"I don't know about you, but that sounds like a chicken dinner to me." - A.W. Tozer
"That will get you dookie points with God." - Tim Keller

On a serious note, I can identify at least five sermons that have slayed me, drastically changed my view of God, and drastically changed the way I live my life. Here they are:

1. The Whole Glory of Christ - John Piper

While the sermon was my theological introduction to "imputation of Christ's righteousness to me", it affected much more at a heart level. Here Piper deals with cross being an "abomination" to God (Proverbs 17:15). Propitiation becomes much more than theory, it becomes the greatest act of love, and the greatest cost to God. I was literally prostrate crying out to God after listening to this for the first time.

2. Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth - C.H. Spurgeon

This is actually a sermon that I have never heard, but like many Spurgeon sermon's, I have simply read. (See Ages Library Online.) This is a must read sermon for the preacher. The pastoral epistles center around Paul's admonishment that Timothy feed God's people "healthy doctrine". Spurgeon's exegesis of the text slays the heart, and lays upon the preacher the great responsibility that every preacher should feel. May we all have the great respect and humilty towards scripture that Spurgeon teaches us to have in this wonderful sermon.

3. Preaching the Gospel - Timothy "freaking" Keller

If you want a deeper understanding of the gospel, get your hands and ears of everything Keller has to say about it. Nothing has ever stretched my understanding of the gospel, and our motives and ways of preaching it than this sermon. Keller's ability to see the gospel outside of a set of principles, or a simple presentation is phenomenal. For years I have taught college students to know the gospel by heart, so that they might share it genuinely in any circumstance. This was the first thing I ever heard Keller speak on, and since then, he has taught me more and more how to know the gospel deeply so that I may preach it genuinely from any text.

4. Bending Under the Word - How to be Studied by Scripture:  Mark Driscoll

The best teaching on biblical exegesis in under two hours. This sermon gave me another "oh yeah" moment when it comes to understanding that all of scripture is about Jesus. He quoted John 5:39 so many times that it is now scorched into my brain. Driscoll was able to focus in on the authority, necessity, and sufficiency of scripture. It pretty much blew my mind, and I haven't been the same. Even the way I read the Bible with my wife now, is much more founded in the scriptures ability to speak to and change me.

5. The Ox - Qualifications of an Acts 29 Church Planter - Driscoll

Arguably the best Driscoll has to give young men. Mark always says that "hard words make soft people", and his simple exegesis of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 will definitely soft if you are humble. No sermon has been more beneficial more my marriage. I took Driscoll to heart when he said that the best way to see where one is at in comparison to the qualifications is to ask one's wife how they are doing in comparison to the text. Our marriage, and direction in ministry has never been the same.

Thanks be to God for the Internet, and ipods.

Matt