Lisa Reidel: Laid Off, Now What?

Laid off, now what?

I was working as a Sales Manger for a group of hotels. I loved what I did, but didn’t care for the management team.  I started praying for another job opportunity.  After a few months God told me to pray for the management team as well.  I finally said it is in your hands God. 

I walked into my office on June 4, 2009 and was told today was my last day. The General Manager had packed my personal belongings and pushed the box toward me without saying a word.

UGH!! My pride was crushed. I MEAN CRUSHED!!! What the hell! I was the one who left the job, who do they think they are? I picked up my pre-packed box and walked out to my car. I had to calm my heart, breath, breath I told myself. Tears began to flow. I calmly called my husband – “Hey, what ya doing? Guess what, I just got laid off!!!” More tears! We talked for a few minutes and I headed home.
Five minutes later my husband called and said “Lisa, there is nothing to worry about, we will be fine. We will take the girls out of daycare.  This will give you the summer with them and we will save money. Do not worry, we will be fine.”

Within 24 hours I knew I was going to be fine. I had my faith and God would continue to guide me. There was something bigger and better for me.

I had been praying for opportunities to serve God. I was doing small things, but I knew there was something more. I started volunteering more at my church.  The “real” more didn’t happen until December 2009 – Vince Antonucci was a guest speaker at my church. He said he was planting a church in Vegas.

When I woke up on Monday morning the first thing I thought about was Vince. I emailed Vince requesting information on volunteering. He quickly replied and asked that I complete the attached volunteer application.  I started the process. The first page was general information – easy! Second page, what? You want me to  share my personal spiritual journey, explain why I believe I should help plant this Church, list my strengths, skills and spiritual gifts. Describe my past ministry experience.  REALLY?  This took three days.

And the last question  - How confident are you at this point of Gods’ calling on your life to be a part of this team?  Here is my answer -  "LOL – very! As I complete this application and start to doubt myself and I know that is because I am going into uncharted territory and feel a little scared, but excited!"

I thank Jesus everyday for that lay off on June 4, 2009. My life at Verve has been enriched with many wonderful people and opportunities to serve.  My relationship has grown stronger with my husband, children and God!

Now I embrace change –God has the plan, I just need to listen and follow.

Ernesto Rodriguez: We Found A Journey

About 30 weeks ago a church opened up called Verve church and they dubbed themselves as church for people who don't like church.  We got a door hanger on our front door back in March.  I grabbed it and told Sarah to check it out and said, "We don't really like church." I was raised Catholic and Sarah didn't really go to church.  It wasn't that we didn't like church, I just didn't like the way church was when I was growing up.  So of course when I got older I stopped going and my parent's didn't really go either.  I spent most of my adolescence years thinking that church people were crazy people.  What I gathered was that they were all judgmental and never knew how to have fun.

Now, lets fast forward to present day or almost present day.  We went to the church for people who don't like church and instantly fell in love with it.  To this day we have only missed 3 services because we were out of town.

They made an announcement that they were looking for musicians.  I thought to myself I play the drums and was looking forward to helping them out.  I signed up and did an audition and was playing the next week.  To sum it all up we went from wanting to go to some kind of church to being part of a new church and really getting involved.  It has been the best thing we have ever done.  Sarah even volunteers for the day care.

Aside from finding a church and doing stuff with the church we found something even bigger.  We found a journey with a relationship with God.  I know what you're thinking again.  You think that sounds cheesy and back in the day I would rolled my eyes too.  This journey we're on, and I say journey because you can't make this decision overnight and if you do then you probably haven't really thought about it.  There is more to it than just worshiping some thing, I think you really learn about yourself as a person and what kind of person you want to be in life.  It's almost like you are in the middle of a crowed stadium and everyone is cheering you on!

Warren Ross: I Was Dead

Thought it might be cool to have a video story of a life God has changed at Verve.  So here you go:

Share Your Stories: Cookies For The Garbage Man

Last week we asked everyone at Verve to make cookies for their garbage man.  It's a way for us to ambush our community with God's radical compassion, as we seek to live life as guerrilla lovers.  (To learn more about guerrilla love, check out www.guerrillalovers.com.)

And now ... let's share some stories.  It doesn't have to be over-the-top amazing.  If you were impacted by making and giving the cookies, or if you feel you impacted your garbage man, tell us about it.

Leave your story in the comments section, and it would probably be best to keep it kinda brief.

Thanks, and be guerrilla!

I Am Verve

A few days ago Jessica Legan shared her story.  This video features Jessica and a few other Ververs telling a bit about themselves and how they have found community at Verve.

Jessica Legan: The Words Of My Daughter

How do you start a life with God? It is not that I wasn’t a believer. I wanted to believe in God. Somewhere deep inside of my soul it felt as though I did. The problem I was faced with was incorporating faith and belief into my life on a daily basis. That seemed like a big commitment. Taking into account the limited exposure I had with religion, there was no one religion that touched my heart. There was no place that I truly felt I could call home.

Church, to me, is like a dirty little word. It encompasses a society of people who believe they are better than those who don’t believe. They are a league of followers who feel that they have been “blessed” with the right to judge those who follow a different belief structure than the one that they have chosen. Why would I chose to join a Church filled with people who certainly didn’t love me, but even more than that- clearly didn’t seem to love even God?

Falling into a relationship with God was not a choice for me. It was almost destiny. I suppose that seems a little “new age” for some of you, but I would like to explain. I am a mother to two wonderful children. They are a blessing and they allow me to see the world through the innocence of a child daily.  This gift from our children is often over looked and taken for granted. My advice to you is to slow down. It is this innocence that lead me to the most important decision I have ever made. 

The words of my daughter struck my heart and soul with an intensity I did not expect, “Who is God?” This was a question that I simply could not answer. The questions did not stop there “Where did Grandma go when she died?” “What is heaven?”  I was at a loss for words. Even more so- part of me felt very empty, and almost afraid that I did not have answers to the questions that make up the very core of my so-called-faith. My daughter relied upon me for guidance, and I had no idea which way to lead her.

We got the very first door-hanger the next day. It was an advertisement for a new church in our area called Verve. I threw it away. This was a problem that I could handle this on my own. Church, after all, is a dirty little word. A few days later another door hanger hung from the knob of my front door. I stood on the steps of my front porch and stared at that piece of paper as it fluttered in the breeze. That breeze was blowing straight into my soul. This was the turning point.

Sunday came quickly- and my heart pounded in my chest. I was so nervous that this was going to be the same as the churches from my past; the judging, the staring, people whispering under their breath. I waited for it, and waited. It never happened. The people at Verve were genuine. They cared about us. There with no judgment at all. Could this be real?

Looking back, it is easy to see that I was being lead to Verve by God’s hand. I was being lead to a new life, to a new family, and ultimately to God’s love. I would have missed it had I not slowed down. Had I not listened to my children and stopped to enjoy the breeze, I would have missed God.