According to research done by David Olson in his book, American Church in Crisis only 9.7% of the people in Nevada regularly attend a Christian church service. That makes Nevada the second lowest in the United Sates. (Mormons were not included in the study. Utah ranked last in percentage attending church with 3.4%) The need for churches is extremely high in the state of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas. There are many great churches in Las Vegas (I know this surprises a lot of you, but where sin abounds so does grace) including:
- Calvary Chapel
- Canyon Ridge Christian Church
- Central Christian Church
- Church of South Las Vegas
- Community Lutheran Church
- Grace Point Church
- Hope Baptist Church
- International Church of Las Vegas
- South Hills Church Community
- The Crossing
- Trinity Life Center
- Valley Bible Fellowship
- Warm Springs Baptist Church
I am sure there are some that I missed, but the point is that there are plenty of great churches in Las Vegas, but here is the thing that all these churches have in common: they are in suburbia. That is what makes Verve so special. Vince Antonucci is a great leader, pastor and friend. He felt a prompting last year to move to Las Vegas and start a church. When you think of Las Vegas what do you think of? The Strip. So did Vince. In January of 2009 Vince made the move to Vegas to start the ground work to launch a church on the Las Vegas strip.
Vince is the former pastor of Forefront Church in Virginia Beach. He has a huge heart for those who are far from God and has this crazy ability to attract brokenhearted people to God. The church does not start having official services until February of 2010, but in the mean time, his team is laying the ground work for a much needed church in a state where there is no shortage of hurting and broken people. I know that Vince’s heart is not to steal attendees from other churches but to help change the lives of those whom are in need of God’s love. I love Verve’s tag line: “Stripping Church and Seeking Life.”
The sheer amount of work, planning and effort that goes into starting a church is overwhelming for the “normal” church-planter. I can not even imagine the weight of trying to figure out how to plant a church on the Las Vegas strip. Pray for Vince and his team as they move forward and make plans to start a one of a kind ministry and non-profit foundation to serve the needs of a very unreached area of the Las Vegas Valley. For more information visit: www.vivalaverve.org or for more about Vince visit www.vinceantonucci.com. I can’t wait to bring you more updates from the amazing things that will happen with this church.
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