Exotic dancers, drug dealers, addicts, Flying Elvi, American Idol hopefuls, 18-year olds with abusive fathers, manufacturers of slot machines, gay men, police officers dying in the line of duty: Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas is a book full of moving, true stories about people who are experiencing God’s grace in Las Vegas.
Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, didn’t know what he was getting into when God called him to Las Vegas. Chapter Four recounts his first conversations with a couple who both dance in adult shows in Vegas and yet describe themselves as committed Christians. Wilhite had not been in Vegas long, and he says that he found himself “in turmoil.”
Can an adult entertainer be a committed Christian? How could they possibly reconcile the Bible’s teachings on sexuality, marriage, and personal holiness with what their jobs required? How should I as their pastor respond?
But alongside the confusion and the questions, I also felt genuinely thrilled that Donte and Stephanie were opening their lives to God…. Where should confused and conflicted spiritual searchers be, anyway, if not in church?
Later in the book, Wilhite expands on this:
Some churches taught (and still teach) that first you believe, then you behave, and finally you belong. For these churches, belief in Christ is the first step in being part of a church, but you do not really belong until you behave. But many churches are more or less reversing this order out of a love for people who are far from God. Their philosophy is first you belong, then you believe, and finally you behave.
Sometimes a person belongs for months or even years before they believe. On any given weekend at Central, there are hundreds of people who would not define themselves as Christians if you asked them. I have friends who attend every weekend who are Jewish and do not yet place faith in Jesus. Or they are agnostic, but like the music. They may be a mix of many religions, but they sense the place is real. They are searching. They belong first, and my prayer is one day they will believe. We are honest and straightforward about sin and salvation through the person of Jesus. We do not water down the Bible or the teachings of Christ, but we do accommodate in every other way possible. We love people no matter where they are. Out of that love, life change will eventually occur.
This is a challenge to the way many people conceive of church. We pay lip service to church being a hospital for sinners, but secretly do we think that only “good” people belong in church? And even more secretly do we think of ourselves as one of the good people? If so, isn’t it time for that to stop? As Wilhite writes,
I’m ashamed and embarrassed that Bible-believing churches have so often failed the people God loves by holding on to judgment and refusing to show them His grace. But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to take risks to do things differently.
I’ve quoted Wilhite’s philosophy extensively, but I recommend Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas, written with coauthor Bill Taaffe, for its stories.
