Church, BBQ, and Swimming
DTT232 June 20th, 2007
| July 1, 2007 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 1:00 pm |
Church will be at the Trianas at 11AM. BBQ and swimming will follow!
Archive for June, 2007
Baseball Game and Fireworks
DTT232 June 20th, 2007
| June 30, 2007 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 10:00 pm |
51’s baseball game and fireworks at Cashman Field @ 7:00PM.
Picnic & First Century Communion Service
DTT232 June 11th, 2007
| June 15, 2007 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 9:00 pm |
Picnic and Communion Service at Lone Mountain Park. Park is located at the end of Craig Rd. (heading West).
Church
DTT232 June 7th, 2007
| June 10, 2007 | ||
| 12:20 pm | to | 2:20 pm |
| June 17, 2007 | ||
| 12:20 pm | to | 2:20 pm |
| June 24, 2007 | ||
| 12:20 pm | to | 2:20 pm |
12 PM at UNLV - Moyer Student Union- room 205
Drive-in Movies
DTT232 June 7th, 2007
| June 8, 2007 | ||
| 5:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
Friday, June 8th at 7:30 PM - Rancho Drive In Cinemas
Superbowl Sunday in Las Vegas
DTT232 June 7th, 2007
Guest Editorial By Kip McKean
Dan and Dennie Triana“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland…to give drink to my people, my chosen…that they may proclaim my praise.” Isaiah 43:18-21
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is just one slogan that lured 600,000 people to travel to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend. The greater Las Vegas population is two million people and is the fastest growing city in America with 7,000 moving there each month! Located in a picturesque desert valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains, Las Vegas has been nicknamed “Sin City” for its world famous casinos and notorious nightlife.
On February 4, 2007 at Super Bowl XLI between the Colts and Bears, Tony Dungy became the first African-American coach to win this most watched event in America. History was also made the same day in the new Portland Discipling Movement. As God spoke in Isaiah 43, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” On Super Bowl Sunday at the University of Nevada : Las Vegas (UNLV), Elena and I were honored to participate in the inaugural service of the Las Vegas International Christian Church. Praise was given to God in joyful hymns, inspirational preaching of the Word and a warm fellowship as 77 were in attendance! (53 adults, 24 children) As God said, “Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert [Las Vegas] and streams in the wasteland…to give drink to my people, my chosen…that they may proclaim my praise.”
Dan and Dennie Triana lead this noble effort for God’s honor. Dan and Dennie, now 36 and 35 respectively, have three incredible kids : Ben (11), Sophie (8) and Sonia (6). Dan and Dennie began dating when Dan was 14 and Dennie was 13! Dan was converted in 1991 as a college wrestler at Cal State Fullerton through the efforts of the LA International Church of Christ (ICOC). When he was converted he broke up with his fiancée, Dennie who attended UNLV. However, he continued to share with her about Christ and Dennie was baptized in 1992! Inspirationally, Dan and Dennie were married in the Kingdom in 1994! Later, the Trianas served in the full-time ministry in Las Vegas for two years and San Diego for three years. Presently, Dan serves as the principal for a secondary school and Dennie is a vice-principal for a middle school!
Desperate for revival in June 2004, they attended the first Portland World Missions Jubilee. Dan recently reminisced, “At the first Jubilee, we saw again the church we were baptized in and how far we had drifted in our devotion to God.” After three more visits and constant pleading to the leadership of the Greater Las Vegas ICOC to repent, the Trianas wrote the following letter.
Dear Greater Las Vegas Church of Christ Leadership,
We have spent several months in prayer to try to determine God’s plan. We are thankful for the years of great fellowship we have enjoyed and endured with the GLVCC. We respect and appreciate everyone’s commitment especially the past few years with all of the challenges the church has had to wrestle with. However, we are saddened to see the lack of progress with resolving relational issues which have resulted in several members leaving the fellowship, the lack of progress in communicating a clear vision and direction for the church. Most of all, we are saddened to see the lack of progress with our teen, campus, and singles ministries. (Zero disciples in the teens, zero disciples in the campus, and singles dating non-christians and going “clubbing” etc.) So many of our standards have been compromised over the years, so many of our practices are now optional…
Our three children are growing up fast and they do not have a dynamic ministry to point to and say, “I can’t wait to be part of that!”…Well we don’t have time to keep waiting. Therefore, God has put it on our hearts to step out on faith and start a new fellowship, under a different leadership, in Las Vegas. We are asking Kip and Elena McKean and the Portland family of churches to help and support our decision. We do not want to cut off our relational ties with the GLVCC family, but we also realize you may decide to ostracize us from the GLVCC for placing membership with the Portland family of churches. We want to renew our dream to win our family members, our friends and anyone else, and to build a ministry that is committed to wholehearted devotion to God…
Sincerely,
Daniel and Dennie Triana
The founding members of the Las Vegas International Christian Church include the Trianas, Hill and Isabelle Pichon, Rick and Lawauna Darden, Karen Renard, and Portland’s own Daniel Hoerner. Prayerfully, Clarence, Daniel’s fellow student at UNLV and ironically from the Portland area, will be baptized this Sunday! Also in attendance at the inaugural service were Dan and Dennie’s parents!
During the weekend, Elena and I were asked two very important questions. The first, “Where in the Scriptures does it teach to be a sold-out disciple?” On the spot, I had the questioners read aloud two passages: Luke 14:33, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Then they read Matthew 13:44-46, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.’” Immediately I asked, “What does Jesus teach in these passages?” Each person happily answered, “He calls each of us to be a sold-out disciple!”
The second important question asked of us was, “Why have several ICOC Churches disfellowshiped you, the father of faith for all the ICOC Churches, for being divisive?” I began by saying, not all division is sinful. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:34-36) Sinful division is where “the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.” (John 10:12) In other words, “the wolf” takes a person away from God, our shepherd, and kills them spiritually. We in the Portland Discipling Movement are calling out a remnant from the ICOC, the mainline Churches of Christ, the conservative Christian Churches as well as those who have “walked away” from the ICOC. God is using this rapidly multiplying remnant to form a new movement of churches, which are distinguished by our sold-out commitment to God and our love for one another through discipling. Each disciple’s love of Christ compels us to collectively dream of evangelizing the world in this generation. These were our original teachings in 1979 which God used to form the Boston Movement, which officially became the ICOC in 1994. Now we are considered divisive, because the present ICOC church leaders no longer fully embrace these teachings. We are not drawing people away from God, but are unapologetically calling everyone to repent of lukewarmness, bitterness and unbelief and return to God as sold-out disciples. Bottom line, the question must be asked to the present leaders of the ICOC, “Who divided from whom?” After this answer, the questioners stated they now understood divisiveness was not always sinful and why those threatened by our new movement wrongfully label us “sinfully divisive.” Yet even then I reiterated, “If disciples feel that they will be closer to God and more fruitful in the old ICOC Churches, then I wish them well and pray they will multiply disciples there. The Portland Discipling Movement leaders are striving ‘to turn the other cheek’ by refusing to draw a line of fellowship. We want there to be a genuine ‘bridge of fellowship’ to visit our congregations to see what God is doing among us. Daily we pray that more individuals and whole congregations will join us.”
Kip McKeanInterestingly, a high-profile leader of the old Las Vegas ICOC commented to his friend Dan Triana, “The Las Vegas ICOC leadership is not wise. By marking you and Dennie for ‘divisiveness’ on their website, they are advertising that there is now an alternative to their shrinking congregation.” Another member, when contacted by the Las Vegas ICOC leadership, was told that she was to have no contact with the Trianas because they were “divisive.” In reply she asked, “Have we now gone from being the persecuted to the persecuting?”
Two thousand years ago there were many “Super Bowls” in the Roman Coliseum full of people rooting for the “Lions” against the “Saints.” Those “Saints,” our brothers and sisters, won the ultimate victory over sin and death every time! Though most visitors to Las Vegas are people betting and risking in some cases their entire fortunes, Elena and I have never gambled in casinos or even on a “one armed bandit.” However, we are betting on a sure thing : God working through a new congregation composed of only sold-out disciples to evangelize all of Las Vegas, and side-by-side with the other Portland Discipling Movement congregations, the entire world in our generation! Congratulations to Jay Hernandez and “his” Colts. Condolences to Dan Triana for losing in the finals of the Post Super Bowl Ping Pong Championship! You see, what happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas : the good news of Jesus cannot be stopped. And to God be the glory!
Kip McKean
