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Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas
“Uncensored grace is what you get from a loving God when all the religious types have gone home, and every last hope for your own effort has blown up in your face.”
What comes to mind first when you think “Las Vegas”? Maybe glitz and glam. Or dealers and dancers, high rollers and hell raisers. And why not? After all, the town they call Sin City is an American icon, an anything-goes shrine to pleasure, money, sex–and another lucky roll of the dice.
Probably when you think Las Vegas, you don’t think about God or grace.
Neither did Jud Wilhite when he was first invited to become the senior pastor at the city’s largest church. But the people he’s met since moving there with his family have changed all that. Today, Vegas stands for something much different and more surprising for Jud. He doesn’t think of Vegas as Sin City anymore. Now, to him, it is Grace City.
Working with veteran journalist Bill Taaffe, Jud takes you past the neon and the hype to another side of Vegas–where people whose lives have been marred by loneliness, addiction, and despair are finding hope and freedom in a vital community of faith. Stripped is an account of what happens when ordinary people get honest with each other and an extraordinary God. In its pages you’ll meet gaming industry movers and shakers. You’ll meet working exotic dancers, a Flying Elvis, an American Idol contestant, a cop who won the hearts of a crime-hardened city, and more.
Each of them has encountered what Jud calls “uncensored grace.” He writes, “Uncensored means that there is no formula or membership or performance that stands between you and God’s goodness.”
Stripped is their unforgettable account of people who are betting everything on a very big that as wide and deep and high as your mountain of personal ruin might get, God’s transforming grace is always wider and deeper and higher.
What comes to mind first when you think “Las Vegas”? Maybe glitz and glam. Or dealers and dancers, high rollers and hell raisers. And why not? After all, the town they call Sin City is an American icon, an anything-goes shrine to pleasure, money, sex–and another lucky roll of the dice.
Probably when you think Las Vegas, you don’t think about God or grace.
Neither did Jud Wilhite when he was first invited to become the senior pastor at the city’s largest church. But the people he’s met since moving there with his family have changed all that. Today, Vegas stands for something much different and more surprising for Jud. He doesn’t think of Vegas as Sin City anymore. Now, to him, it is Grace City.
Working with veteran journalist Bill Taaffe, Jud takes you past the neon and the hype to another side of Vegas–where people whose lives have been marred by loneliness, addiction, and despair are finding hope and freedom in a vital community of faith. Stripped is an account of what happens when ordinary people get honest with each other and an extraordinary God. In its pages you’ll meet gaming industry movers and shakers. You’ll meet working exotic dancers, a Flying Elvis, an American Idol contestant, a cop who won the hearts of a crime-hardened city, and more.
Each of them has encountered what Jud calls “uncensored grace.” He writes, “Uncensored means that there is no formula or membership or performance that stands between you and God’s goodness.”
Stripped is their unforgettable account of people who are betting everything on a very big that as wide and deep and high as your mountain of personal ruin might get, God’s transforming grace is always wider and deeper and higher.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 2007
3 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Jud Wilhite
43 books21 followersJud Wilhite is an author, speaker, and senior pastor of Central Christian Church, a church founded in Las Vegas with multiple campuses, both national and international. Central is recognized as one of the largest and fastest growing churches in America. Jud is the author of several books, including Pursued, a New York Times bestseller, Torn, Throw it Down, and Uncensored Grace. He and his wife, Lori, have two kids and live in the Las Vegas area.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 20, 2022
Givande bok där man tydligt får följa många människors liv. Det är en tydlig påminnelse om att man inte måste vara perfekt för att vara kristen eller vara med i en församling.
(läst på svenska)
(läst på svenska)
October 8, 2011
Excellent read. The last three chapters of the book were my favorite. If I ever get out to Vegas I would love to visit Jud's church. Excellent recount of stories and really great detail. The theme of the book is grace and we all need to learn how to give it since we demand so much of it from others.
May 25, 2014
Ten years ago my wife, children, and I were living in the southern Midwest, in a town frequently referred to as "the buckle of the Bible belt". My wife and I were doing our best to live our lives and raise our children in accordance with God's direction as expressed in His word. We attended a sound, Bible teaching church, had great Christian friends and strong support, were engaged in serving Him in our work, our home, and in our church. Even better, it seemed the entire area was steeped with people who pretty much thought, believed, and acted as we did. I thought - what a great place to raise our children through the teen years and into adulthood.
Then the bottom fell out. My job came to an unexpected and inglorious end. I wondered why - hadn't I been diligently serving God in my job as I understood He wanted me to? Hadn't I been growing in grace, leading in the community, modeling Christlike behavior at my work and in my home and church? What had I done wrong or failed to do?
But then it got even more interesting. Another relocation was clearly on our horizon. I applied for jobs in New York, Maryland, Tennessee, Washington state, and Washington DC. But none were the right fit for various reasons. Then, I was offered a job - the only job I would be offered - in "Sin City". As I proceeded through the site visits, the interviewing process, and evaluating the final offer it soon became clear that God was leading us to Las Vegas, Nevada.
I remember asking God, and engaging our small group to ask Him with me: "God, am I hearing You right? You want me to be a Godly husband and father, to provide for my family and live my life accordingly to Your word. You want me to teach my children to know You and to pray they might embrace Your love as well. And now I'm supposed to move us all from the Bible belt to Sin City? Really?"
Well, here we are. Ten years later and I'm still shaking my head. During that decade God has brought or allowed more personal testing, growth, pain, and finally joy and peace, that I could have imagined. And I have found Him to be completely faithful and sufficient. He has dealt with longstanding weaknesses in my life that I had almost despaired of ever being relieved of - and He did it in Sin City!
So I related easily to this book by Pastor Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of the very large and successful Central Christian Church in the Las Vegas valley. He describes a similar odyssey for he and his family. A Pastor in Las Vegas? Huh? In the book He describes real stories of changed lives here in Las Vegas, examples of God demonstrating His power in one of the most unlikely areas and in some of the most unlikely lives (a drug addict, dancers in topless or nude shows, very successful businessmen, a homosexual). I have friends from our old town that to this day refuse to visit Las Vegas because of its reputation. But as I read the book and compared it with my own experience here I was reminded that Jesus didn't avoid the less reputable areas and people of His time. I guess one could say that Samaria in Jesus' day was roughly equivalent in reputation - at least to the religious establishment of the day - as Las Vegas is to the conservative Christian establishment in 2014.
I am so thankful that God sent pastors like Jud Wilhite, Michael Rochelle, Kevin Odor, and others to the Las Vegas valley. I'm thankful that He cared enough about the people here to do so. I'm thankful to be a small part of His team here in the valley. And I'm thankful that books like this one exist to tell "the rest of the story" about Las Vegas. Check it out!
Then the bottom fell out. My job came to an unexpected and inglorious end. I wondered why - hadn't I been diligently serving God in my job as I understood He wanted me to? Hadn't I been growing in grace, leading in the community, modeling Christlike behavior at my work and in my home and church? What had I done wrong or failed to do?
But then it got even more interesting. Another relocation was clearly on our horizon. I applied for jobs in New York, Maryland, Tennessee, Washington state, and Washington DC. But none were the right fit for various reasons. Then, I was offered a job - the only job I would be offered - in "Sin City". As I proceeded through the site visits, the interviewing process, and evaluating the final offer it soon became clear that God was leading us to Las Vegas, Nevada.
I remember asking God, and engaging our small group to ask Him with me: "God, am I hearing You right? You want me to be a Godly husband and father, to provide for my family and live my life accordingly to Your word. You want me to teach my children to know You and to pray they might embrace Your love as well. And now I'm supposed to move us all from the Bible belt to Sin City? Really?"
Well, here we are. Ten years later and I'm still shaking my head. During that decade God has brought or allowed more personal testing, growth, pain, and finally joy and peace, that I could have imagined. And I have found Him to be completely faithful and sufficient. He has dealt with longstanding weaknesses in my life that I had almost despaired of ever being relieved of - and He did it in Sin City!
So I related easily to this book by Pastor Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of the very large and successful Central Christian Church in the Las Vegas valley. He describes a similar odyssey for he and his family. A Pastor in Las Vegas? Huh? In the book He describes real stories of changed lives here in Las Vegas, examples of God demonstrating His power in one of the most unlikely areas and in some of the most unlikely lives (a drug addict, dancers in topless or nude shows, very successful businessmen, a homosexual). I have friends from our old town that to this day refuse to visit Las Vegas because of its reputation. But as I read the book and compared it with my own experience here I was reminded that Jesus didn't avoid the less reputable areas and people of His time. I guess one could say that Samaria in Jesus' day was roughly equivalent in reputation - at least to the religious establishment of the day - as Las Vegas is to the conservative Christian establishment in 2014.
I am so thankful that God sent pastors like Jud Wilhite, Michael Rochelle, Kevin Odor, and others to the Las Vegas valley. I'm thankful that He cared enough about the people here to do so. I'm thankful to be a small part of His team here in the valley. And I'm thankful that books like this one exist to tell "the rest of the story" about Las Vegas. Check it out!
January 22, 2008
I LOVE this book. Almost makes me want to move to Vegas after so long of thinking I'd never even set foot there again.
This book renames "Sin City" as "Grace City" and very well so. Written by a conservative Christian, the pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas.
Many stories of changed lives through the power of God's love and grace.
I cried a lot.
This book renames "Sin City" as "Grace City" and very well so. Written by a conservative Christian, the pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas.
Many stories of changed lives through the power of God's love and grace.
I cried a lot.
January 19, 2009
Book is a great collection of heart tugging true stories told by a Preacher of Central Church located in Las Vegas. Each Chapter provoked thought and brought many questions to mind in regards to my faith.
April 13, 2011
There are people in Las Vegas who have problems, other than addiction to gambling. There is hope for anyone!
March 27, 2008
This book is great, its from the Central pastor
May 11, 2009
It's the same book as Uncensored Grace, which I just read. Still an awesome book.
June 26, 2012
Read this. It will get you out of your Sunday morning mindset.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews