Viva las repentance? Sin city's religious makeover

Vegas is a town where anything goes, where people are accepted for who they are, where strange is normal. I mean, after a while it doesn’t seem odd that your neighbor is washing his car in his driveway at 5:30 a.m. because he just got home from work. Yet it is also a town of great optimism, great faith, and a contagious openness to God. In short order, I fell in love with the town and its people, with its quirkiness, with its brokenness and pain.

In fact, I no longer see Vegas as Sin City, but as a remarkable place where God is doing remarkable things, with stories of new beginnings at almost every turn.

Grace is God’s greatest gift to us, His faltering, failing followers. And in Vegas, the experience of God’s grace is what can only be described as “uncensored.” But what, exactly, is uncensored grace? I have learned from living in this city and interacting with its people that God’s grace is always uncensored. It is His followers who try to limit it, who withhold it from some who are not “good enough” for God. But in this place where I have known of the most egregious sins, I have also seen the most heartfelt, life-changing conversions. God’s grace is as big and as powerful as we allow it to be, and my idea of how far it can reach gets bigger, wider, and higher every time I see someone who is beyond saving being saved by Christ.

A gambler once claimed that Vegas is the only city in America where, when people pray, they really mean it. I’ve found that people here do mean it when they pray, but for much better reasons than a bet. Maybe you have reasons to pray as well. Perhaps the doubting and struggling of your own life will be mirrored in these pages. If so, the people you meet will show you there is something more. Their lives speak of the purpose faith can bring into your life.

The pressure of relationships, kids, and work is overwhelming. You long for something real in your faith, not pretense and clichés. Nothing frustrates you more than judgmental and self-righteous religious types. I believe the true stories in Stripped will bring you encouragement and inspiration by sharing with you the humility and honesty you’ve been searching for.

Perhaps you feel disqualified from life by your past. It could be drug addiction, an affair, a betrayal, or a dream that was never fulfilled. The sense of guilt hangs over you like a cloud. But there is good news. The people you’re about to meet want you to know that there is forgiveness and hope no matter what you have done or experienced.

It has been said that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” But we couldn’t keep these stories to ourselves—because what happens in Vegas could change your life. When I first visited this city, I didn’t know what to expect, except the unexpected. I was not disappointed. And as we explore a fresh vision of the Christian faith and a different side of Vegas together, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed either.

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