The Vegas Project

We hope to use the internet (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, You Tube, etc.) to create a buzz about our church in the community. Please pray that God gives us really creative ideas and supernaturally uses those ideas to get attention and establish a presence in the community.

In addition to the church, we are also starting a community service organization called The Verve Foundation.   We (mostly Robb) have done close to 200 needs assessment interviews to determine what are some of the un-met needs in Vegas.  One of the obvious things is the massive problems the economy has created.  Las Vegas leads the nation in home foreclosures, and many more are on the brink of losing their homes and are trying to figure out how to make it from week to week.

In response, we are planning on starting a Food Co-op, which may not be what you think.  Basically it’s a way of removing the grocery store from the equation, so you can offer people groceries at the same prices stores buy them.  We would be able to provide about $100 of groceries for approximately $40.  We’re connected to the right people nationally who can help us to make this happen.

Please pray that it’s an effective way to serve people and to show them the love of God.

David and Jennifer Tobey and their two kids were the very first family to move to Vegas to be a part of starting Verve.  They were living in Austin, Texas and left everything behind to follow Jesus and become a part of His mission in Vegas.

Please pray that the Tobeys stay focused on God and the mission for which He’s brought them across the country.

When you’re starting a church you tend to do a lot of outreach, events designed to create a first contact with people in the community.  But it’s also wise to do “comeback events,” something you schedule to invite people who attend the outreach event back to.  This will create a second contact, and help people to take the next step towards full involvement in the life of the church, and towards Jesus.

Please pray that we come up with great comeback events, and that they effectively serve their purpose.

Las Vegas is a town built on greed.  It’s also a place where there are a million ways to spend and waste money.  Because of this most people in Vegas have serious financial problems and often massive indebtedness.  We want to help people with that and lead them to financial freedom.

We plan to use the very popular Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey to help people with their money.  The popularity of FPU allows a church to use it not only as discipleship material with it’s own people, but also as an outreach tool with those outside the church.  Please pray that it does both of those for us.

We feel called to love and serve people who are often ignored or shunned.  Why?  Because Jesus loved and served people who were typically ignored or shunned.  (And if you want to see that, read almost every chapter of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.)

There are somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 strippers in Vegas.  We’d love to see a bunch of them at Verve someday, discovering the grace of God and learning to follow Jesus.  We want to “adopt” a couple of Strip Clubs and serve the people who work there, as a way of showing them the love of Christ.  Please pray that this works out and works great.

Robb and Shaula Overholt and their two children have moved from Virginia Beach to Las Vegas to help start the church.  They are serving in a variety of capacities, with Robb (who is on staff) focusing especially on community service and outreach.  Shaula has been leading our Block Party efforts. Please pray that God continues to prepare them and use them in powerful ways.  Pray that they stay focused on and close to Jesus throughout this entire journey.

Eventually we will have weekly services on Sunday mornings.  We want these services to connect to people right where they’re at and to point them to Jesus.  We want them to be practical and emotive, funny and serious.  We want to see people (as a result of our services) come to Christ and grow in Christ.  Please pray that God will help us as we plan them, execute them, and that He will draw people to His Son and change their lives.

We hope to do a couple of Preview Services leading up to our “Grand Opening” service.  These preview services will give people a hint as to what we’re gonna be about.  They will also give our Launch Team something cool to which they can invite their friends.  Please pray that they go exceptionally well, that there is an increasing number of people at each one, and that they really build momentum up to our launch.

We seem to constantly have people joining our Launch Team (the group that is going to work and pray together to start this new church on the Strip).

On one hand, we want as many people as possible. On the other hand, we only want the “right” people.  People who either are not yet Christians, or who are Christians but are called by God to join us and totally get our vision.

So please pray that God adds to our numbers and that we get people who will be a real help to what we’re trying to do.