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