Week Two!

The second week of Verve is over and I am exhausted, excited and overwhelmed!!!!!

I just wanted to give you a quick update...

We had about 250 this weekend!!!! We only "lost" about 20 people this week, which is amazing considering that it's normal to have 50% less your second week.

People are pumped about our church and love it! We are hearing amazing stories from all kinds of people; including a lot who have never gone to church or haven't been since they were kids. It's been so cool to see the excitement and shock in people!

More to follow...

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AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our opening weekend is done! I slept 12 hours last night; I feel like I could sleep another 12 tonight!

We had an amazing weekend; about 211 on Sunday morning and 70 on Monday night. This didn't include any mission team members or well-wishers.

A bunch of my co-workers came, which was my favorite part. Hearing them rave about it and actually be excited about church was so cool.

Marissa's teacher, who is a Christian, had an awesome experience on the way to church. As she was getting gas a woman approached her and asked if she would buy her some gas. Wendy gave her $5 and drove away. But, she felt like God was telling her to go back to that woman and invite her to church. After checking with me, she went back to the gas station and told the girl that she would fill up her tank with gas if she went to church with her.

The girl, who is from China, came to Verve. It was the first time she had ever heard the name of Jesus. As they were sitting in the lobby the girl pointed to a man and said, "That man helped me too!" How cool is that? I'm not sure if she'll come back, but what an amazing "first" experience for her!

Another mission team arrived yesterday and one more comes tomorrow. We literally could not have started this church without them. They worked around the clock on the building, passed out thousands of fliers, and helped at our services. What an amazing group of people!

Thanks again for your support and prayers!!!!!

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One More Time!

Holy cow, God is so awesome! Over 2oo people showed up this morning for our first service. With the 45 additional mission team people, the place was packed! The energy was so good and the response was even better!

We have one more service tomorrow night at 7:05pm. Please continue to pray!

I'll be back with more details and stories!

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Three

WE PASSED OUR FINAL INSPECTION and got our Certificate of Occupancy! Thank you so much for praying; it really took a miracle for this to happen.

Now that we have the Certificate we can start putting in the lights and furniture! There is so much to be done; thankfully we have tons of help!

Here's my advice for the day: don't start a church and do a building project at the same time! Vince told me that 80% of pastors who start a building project leave their church shortly after it's done. Gulp! I totally understand why! Starting a church is one of the hardest things you can do; doing a building project is insanely difficult. Combining them is just plain stupid!

We made the choice to get the building for a bunch of reasons, primarily the cost. Las Vegas has been hit especially hard by the economy. People are dying to lease their space; even at a fraction of the price. The cost of renting a movie theater on Sunday mornings is just about the same as leasing our own 10,000 square foot space.

We also want to be a church for people who work on the Strip. Most of them work on Saturday night until the early hours on Sunday. They aren't going to get up and go to church. That's why we're starting a Monday night service that's exactly the same as the Sunday morning services. The easiest and most affordable way to do this was to have a space of our own.

I'm glad we made the decision, but it's definitely made things more difficult and stressful.

The kids and I passed out door hangers after school today. I met a girl who asked about using our space for her Mom's group. How awesome would it be to have a bunch of moms meeting in our space on a regular basis?! I guess it's worth it after all!!!!

Thanks again for praying and for all your support!

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Four

Can I just say that I love mission teams. 45 people from 6 churches are coming this week to help us! They are working on our building, passing out thousands of door hangers, serving and supporting us. I literally have no idea what we would do without them.

I spent the evening at Sam's Club buying all kinds of stuff for the building. We have our Certificate of Occupancy Inspection tomorrow. Please pray that we pass the inspection!

Marissa and I cleaned every bathroom and filled all the paper product/soap dispensers. She was such a trooper; never complaining and she even cleaned the urinals.

On the way home I said, "Marissa, how does it feel to start a church? Not many 8 year old girls get to start a church!" She said, "Exciting and scary!" Amen, Sister!

I gave invites to all my co-workers; please pray that they come. They are genuinely excited; hopefully they'll follow through on their excitement. One of my co-workers had questions like, "Do I have to wear a tie? Does Vince wear a robe? Do I need to bring shot records for my kids?" It reminded me how foreign the concept of church can be to people, and how important it is to put people at ease about attending church. Try to picture walking into a Buddhist Temple for services. What would you wear? Where would you go once inside the building? What would be expected of you; will people judge you? Will they have anything for your kids to do?

That's exactly how people feel about attending your church! So take some time and explain to them what's going to happen; give them a lot of details and let them ask questions. It'll make a world of a difference in that person's experience.

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Five

I think I lost my mind today! It's been one thing after another...all day long. We started the morning at Dawson's dermatologist. His biopsy from his hand came back cancer-free! He has some form of eczema, but we haven't found the correct treatment yet. Hopefully the new creams will help.

I got to work late and after 20 minutes had to leave for a meeting at the building. There is huge drama at the building with the contractors/inspections/certificate of occupancy from the city, etc. There is still so much to do and only 5 days to get it done. I have a new respect for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We still don't know if we'll get approval from the city. Please continue to pray!

I went back to work after the meeting for a few hours and managed to screw up a new gym membership, undercharging them $99. Gulp! After an apologetic phone call, we got it worked out!

Between picking up the kids, attending another meeting and cooking dinner I lost my cell phone and computer cord. Thankfully after much searching we found them both.

Several of you have emailed me and left comments on the blog offering encouragement and prayer. Thanks so much. Please keep it coming; every time I read one I feel some life come back into me!

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Six

Overwhelmed...

That's how I'm feeling! I am a detail-freak and it's killing me. I have lists upon lists upon lists. My brain is spinning!

We had our last launch team meetings yesterday and today (we do the same thing on Sunday morning and Monday night for people who work on the weekends). We've come so far as a group. In one sense it feels like we've been here forever and in another sense I don't feel ready; like we need more time.

Thoughts crept in today like, "What if no one shows up?" "How are we going to do this?" "What if we don't get the final OK from the city?" "What if...What if...What if..."

Marissa and I had a great talk on the way home from our launch team meeting. We were talking about Verve and she said, "I think most of the people will come later; once their friends tell them how awesome it is." I love her optimism and her lack of fear. I need to be more like her!

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Eight

I'm a little nostalgic about our last weekend before we launch. We had a pretty normal day; we went to see "Alice in Wonderland", had a play date with some new friends and had dinner with some old friends.

Tomorrow is our last launch team meeting. I can't believe we're done with these; I'm pretty excited! We started meeting at my house and then moved to the Greek Isles Hotel and Casino. The adults meet in a small theater and the kids meet in the wedding chapel. All the kids are together with no separation by age; it's insane.

The mission team passed out tons of door hangers today; please pray that they are received well.

I've attached another picture of our space. This one is looking directly at the stage. Please pray that everything gets done and that we get everything we need from the city in time for Sunday's service. Thanks so much!

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Nine

Today was Antonucci date day! We saw "Blind Side"; what a great movie! There is a mission team here from Chesapeake, VA. They passed out thousands of door hangers this afternoon. They are at the building tonight working their butts off!

Dawson has been having terrible problems with his hands. We got the confirmation today that it's not cancer!!!! We have an appointment next week to take out the stitches from his biopsy and get him on a treatment plan that actually works.

Do any of you use CCB for your database at church? If so, can you email me. I have a few questions.

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10 Days and Counting...

Verve officially launches in 10 days. Life is absolutely insane and overwhelming for everyone on our launch team. Satan is on the move in each of our lives. Traffic accidents, illnesses, emotional issues, lice...unbelievable, relationship problems, and financial problems. What a hot mess!

All this leads me to believe that God is going to do some really cool stuff through us. I think Satan is nervous!

We spent the afternoon working on our door hangers and maps. We're passing out 120,000 door hangers and 40,000 fliers, so it's quite a daunting task. Thankfully we have a bunch of mission teams coming in the next few weeks to help us.

Our building is coming along, but we're still not sure that it will get the "certificate of occupancy" from the city in time to open. Please pray for everything to work out. Construction crews and volunteers are working around the clock.

Thanks for praying for us and for all the encouragement!

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