Splagna

“We have been here for you in the good times. Thank you for being here for us now.”   This has become the new town slogan.  We have seen this on several electronic billboards. While this city has come together in an incredible way over this horrific act- as Christians we know that what this city really needs is total transformation.

• Las Vegas has a 200% higher alcohol consumption than anywhere else
• Las Vegas has the highest suicide rate in the nation
• Las Vegas has the highest high school drop out rate in the nation
• 10,000 strippers call Las Vegas home
• Human trafficking is rampant

So many times throughout Jesus life, he spent time with unexpected people. If He were here today, Las Vegas would probably be a place he would come.  After all, healthy people don’t need a doctor.

Jesus heart is broken for Las Vegas.  Is yours?  Is mine?  Those are some extremely alarming statistics.  From what we have seen thus far, Verve Church is ALL IN to reach people who are far from God.  The word compassion in the original Greek language is SPLAGNA.  In Matthew 9:36, Jesus has compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.   We need to have some splagna for Las Vegas.  When we hear these statistics, we should be on our knees.   Here is our challenge!  Las Vegas is the third most recognizable brand in the world behind Coke and Google.  Whenever we hear the word Las Vegas- PRAY!  Feel that splagna deep in your gut and move to action!

A few items we have done to come alongside Verve this week are:

Invitation Cards– this is a neat experience.

The way Verve tries to reach people is through postcards delivered in neighborhoods, to local shops etc. Our team passed out 3000-4000 cards this week!  We all hopped in the van on 3 seperate occasions and went out to reach the neighborhoods. We had such positive response from this postcard. This one is a bit different than usual- it is focused on a VegasStrong vs the usual- “A church people who don’t like church.”  A few of us replaced the cards we already saw on the doors or cars…. while 1/2 half off a haircut is a good deal- life in eternity is a much better deal  ❤️

Building projects / Set up and tear down –  Verve Church does an excellent job with their facility, but it was absolutely our pleasure to go in and release some of the volunteers from their normal duties. They had several programs This week – a 5/6 lock in, a support group help minister to  the grieving, bible studies  etc.  We cleaned and organized their kitchen area, vacuumed, folded laundry,   It felt so great to help their volunteers!