Filed under: Uncategorized
When Jesus went to Samaria, He spent time with a woman who was bouncing from bed to bed and from man to man.
When He went to Jericho, He spent time with a corrupt tax collector.
When He went to Jerusalem, He headed straight for the pool where broken people hung out hoping for a healing.
Jesus always went to the darkest places and to the people who were most broken and enmeshed in sin.
So, question: If Jesus came today to America, where would He go?
We think He would go to the Las Vegas Strip.
- About 9% of Las Vegas’ two million people attend church. That means over 1,800,000 have no spiritual home.
- The Las Vegas Strip, though bright with neon, is probably the darkest place spiritually in America
– About 200,000 work in the Strip’s casinos.
– 10,000 strippers call Las Vegas home.
– Everywhere there are offers for “Girls in your room in 20 minutes!”
- According to the FBI, the highest crime and suicide rates are in Vegas.
- Alcohol consumption by residents is 200% above the national average.
- One author called the Strip, “A disease, a nightmare, a paradise for the misbegotten.”
- Another called it, “a modern amalgamation of Sodom, Gomorrah and Hell.”
So how many churches will you find on the Las Vegas Strip? … Zero.
How is it possible that we follow the one who came to seek and save the lost and to bring light to the darkness, who was anointed by a prostitute and hung out with Matthew’s sinful friends at a dinner party, who was called a friend of sinners, and yet as Christians we have forsaken the place Jesus would probably go to if He were to come to America today?
Craig Gross has said, “We cannot blame the darkness for being dark, but must blame the light for not shining in the darkness.” It’s time for the light to shine in the darkness. It’s time for Isaiah 9:2 to become a reality in the heart of Las Vegas, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
It’s time for a church on the Strip … and God has called us to make that happen. We will be moving to Las Vegas in 2009 and immediately begin serving the community and building relationships, laying the groundwork for the launch of an amazing new church that will very intentionally and strategically reach the lost of Las Vegas and help them to radically follow Jesus.
It’s time for a church on the Strip … and you can help make it happen.
