Who Said It
Jud Wilhite

Jud Wilhite smoked pot for the first time in junior high. For the next four years it got worse. Now he pastors Central Christian Church, "a community of grace," in greater Las Vegas, "a messy town."

"Do we withdraw into a holy huddle," asks Jud, "or open our arms and really start engaging sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors? Out of my own past, I have a heart for people broken and struggling. I want them to also come to grace, find healing, and take steps to God."

What He Said
"They'll Help You"

I know a woman who relocated to Vegas with her husband, only to find her happiness slipping away six months after they arrived. She felt that her marriage, along with the rest of her life, was falling apart.

It all came to a head one afternoon, and she sat in a grocery store parking lot with her head down and wept. Suddenly a stranger knocked on her window and said, "Ma'am, I don't know what's wrong, but I can tell that you are hurting. You should go to my church. They'll help you there."

The woman got directions and drove from the grocery to Central. What changed her life was not the building, but the people inside. They led her that day into a relationship with Jesus. She was back that weekend with her husband and, as the months went on, they credited the people of the church for significantly turning their life and relationship around. This is the church at its best, helping and loving people one at a time.

Adapted from Stripped (Multnomah, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to model the gospel so caringly that people will demand an explanation.

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