Las Vegas Outreach Team Newsletter
Marty & Sheila Gillespie
For the past year Marty and Sheila have been standing about 300 yards away from the entrance of the Birth Control Care Center every Saturday. They’ve gone to this location because of a desire to see women choose to save the child they’re carrying, and to make people think about their sin against God through abortion. They thought they had to stand on the main cross street, since they were told that the alley to the killing place is private property. That was until Sheila came across an article online that talked about two people who stood right in front of the clinic. They were arrested for standing there, but later it was overturned by the court, so they decided to try it as well.
On Saturday December 28th a few of the members of the Las Vegas Outreach Team went to the Birth Control Care Center. We stood in front of a vacant building next to the killing place. We didn’t feel confident enough to stand in front of the killing place since the sidewalk in front of the facility was spray painted with “Private Property No Trespassing”. Even though we were not in front of the killing place we were only 15 feet from where the people entered the building. After pleading with a few people going in, a worker came out and told us that we were on private property and needed to leave. Marty told her that we weren’t on the clinic property but on the public sidewalk.
For the next thirty minutes we had a few opportunities to speak to individuals and we also received some threats from clinic worker. At one point the Director of the clinic said she was calling Homeland Security. An hour later the police arrived. They talked to Doug and Frank first, and everything seemed peaceful. Then one of them came to talk to Marty. He said he was making sure we weren’t holding an “unlawful assembly” or “threatening anyone”. Marty assured him that we weren’t doing either. Marty also told him that we wanted to obey the law and tell people that they are breaking God’s law. Marty asked him if the sidewalk where we were standing was considered public property. The officer said it was, and that we had the right to stand there. Marty then asked about the sidewalk in front of the clinic and the officer said that it is a public sidewalk as well. Finally, Marty asked about the no trespassing sign painted on the sidewalk, and the officer told Marty that the sign was “a waste of paint”.
Shortly after the police left, one couple came to the clinic by foot and took some resources from Doug. Five minutes later they left the clinic and then questioned Doug on why we were protesting. Doug told them we were not protesting but warning. He talked about the increased risk of cancer and mental health issues and asked the couple if they thought the staff would tell them of those risks? Doug then found out the guy wanted to keep the baby but the girl was scared to bring the child up in such a cruel world. Doug encouraged them that most parents would receive a God-given instinct to protect their child, and if they didn’t want to do that, then at least let the child to be adopted by someone who would. They left and didn’t kill their baby.
Frank and Marty were able to talk to a young lady who was waiting for her boyfriend. After talking to her and pleading with her she said she didn’t want to kill the child. It was her boyfriend that was pushing her to have an abortion. Marty told her about the First Choice Crisis Pregnancy Clinic across the street and gave her information for them. She and her boyfriend talked for a long time out in front to the killing place. Marty went to the window of her car to ask their names. He could see that the father was reading the information. Twenty minutes later they both left the killing place. As the pregnant mother drove past she rolled down her window and told Marty that they weren’t going to kill their baby. We were so blessed!
With our new found courage most of the people from the previous week went back on Friday, January 4th. Again the Director of the killing place called the police and again the police showed up. This time the director questioned if the alley was private property or public property. The Metro officers called the Clark County Government office and had the Public Works office pull up plans on the alley. To the teams horror the alley is considered private land until the main cross street. The team was frustrated by this new development until one of the officers mentioned to Frank that we should contact the owner of the building, next to the abortion clinic, for permission to stand there or rent the property. Either way we would be able to stand in front of the property next to the killing place.
Our prayer is that the Lord will show us His will in this situation. Our first step is to contact the owners of the building and see if they would consider doing a letter for us to stand in front of the building. If they are unwilling to write this letter, we’ll begin looking for the finances to rent a portion or the entire building next to the clinic. Please be in prayer that we can be a voice in front of the clinic for the girls who are seeking to kill their child, and for that defenseless child that they want to kill.
Frank & Sheila in from of the Frank and Marty set to
killing place. speak to the expecting mothers.
Seven Godly Resolutions
Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added to you.
I Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
…add to your faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge;
and to knowledge temperance;
and to temperance patience;
and to patience godliness;
and to godliness brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness charity. (II Peter 1:5-7).
Vegas-365
Frank & Carla Francesco
The month of December was a very successful month for Vegas-365. Like the month of November, every day of the month the gospel was being preached on the streets of Las Vegas.
The month of December was also a good month for the Lord providing the supplies needed to share the gospel. Over ten thousand of the Christmas Cash was purchased from Custom Tract Souce.
By Christmas Day there was about thousand of these tracts left. Are plans are to hold onto them for next year and to begin passing them out beginning Thanksgiving Day, 2008.
Early in the month, the team started to get ready for the Third Annual New Year Outreach. Like other years, we expected to see over 300,000 people on the Strip to bring in the New Year. This year was going to be unique from other New Year Eve Outreaches because there were three days of sharing the gospel on the streets. Team members would get together for fellowship and food three nights in row. This was going to be a unique opportunity to see all the team members. Since we frequently miss each other at the many different outreaches.
Like last year, we decided to purchase a tract that could be given out for the New Years Outreach and then the days proceeding the event, if any tracts were left. After a little deliberation the team put their money together and purchased 25,000 of “
So as you travel through 2008 you can be sure that the prayer for you and the rest of the brethren, by the Las Vegas Outreach Team, will be for your lives to reflect more virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. God Bless!
So how do you develop these characteristics? The scripture is very clear in verse 1:5 that to receive these characteristics we must, “give all diligence”. So are you ready to fight, are you ready to change your priorities, are you ready to seek after God? Because these characteristics are not handed to you like a cheap gift. Instead they are earned through the determination of seeking the Holy Spirit, turning from the world, and mortifying your fleshly desires.
If these characteristics are in your life then your life will be fruitful for the Father’s kingdom.
Now the Bible is clear that we are to have some resolutions that we strive to for the rest of our life. The Apostle Peter talked about them in II Peter 1. In fact Peter said in II Peter 1:12 that he would be negligent if he didn’t continue pointing out these things even though they already knew them. In other words, even though the brethren knew these things implicitly, Peter was inspired to tell the brethren over and over until his death. Peter did this because fruit would come from the brethren who developed these characteristics (II Peter 1:8). So what are these things we should resolve to desire and seek God for?
It is God’s desire that we seek Him first rather than food. It is God’s will that your body be well maintained so that it will function efficiently and enable you to be a capable bondservant. When we fight against the lust of food and we seek a desire for exercise, we are more capable of obeying the inspired words of Paul;
Now if you have made some resolutions for 2008, I hope you’ll take a second to see if you have established them for the right purpose. For argument sake, let’s say that there are two types of resolutions; there are resolutions for God’s glory, and resolutions for personal glory. The scary thing is that each of those resolutions looks almost identical. If you were to take the resolution of losing weight, you would find many different reasons for having this resolution. You may have the resolution because you feel fat, or to get into smaller clothes, or because you want to be able to keep up with your children. If you break apart these three reasons, it is clear that the focus is for personal reasons. But if you’ve taken the resolution to lose weight to not abuse the body God has given you, or a desire for more energy for God’s Kingdom work, or to mortify your lust for food, then the focus is upon God’s glory. Let us not forget what our Savior said,
As I was thinking about resolutions, it came to me that Christians are constantly making resolutions. For a Christian, a resolution is a battle against the flesh for the purpose of drawing closer to God. You probably recognize that this sounds like the process of sanctification, and as Christians, we should constantly be in that process.
Like the rest of the world, some of the members of the Las Vegas Outreach Team have put together their New Year’s resolutions. There are resolutions to lose weight, to get more rest, or to have a more consistent devotional time with their family.
Doug & Jennifer Koch
The Las Vegas Outreach Team wishes you a Happy New Year and a blessed 2008. The Outreach Team is excited about the upcoming year. The Holy Spirit has lead us to some new ideas for this year, as well as the strength to continue in the battles already progress.
After the three day event the Las Vegas Outreach Team is happy to report that the Team Outreach was a success. There were a couple dozen people coming out over the three nights. The team was encouraged to see the new people who have started to help LVOT over the past year. There was Brother Orlando, who was saved on the Strip in front of the old Stardust Hotel on January 18th, 2007. There was Pastor Gene, who introduced the Team to the evangelistic opportunity to share at the San Gennaro Feast. There was Brother Nick, who is a student at the UNLV campus, a member of Campus Crusade, and a faithful member of the Bellagio team each Saturday. There is Brother Anthony, who is also a student at UNLV and has developed a zeal to preach the gospel to the people at the Bellagio every Saturday. There is Matt Sweeny, who has heard the call to be an evangelist and who taught the Way of the Master class in his old church. Finally there is Sister Kristan, who just started coming out to the streets in December. She was having a discussion with Brother Sean Gann about evangelism, when the challenge came from Sean to go out to the streets. She has taken the call, and is now coming on Friday nights to Fremont. In some ways this event is perfect to reflect on the fruit that came to the team over the past year, and to look forward to what the Lord has for us next year.
The final things that we wanted to let you know about are the seeds that are being sown around the world. Recently, it came to me that we should keep track of the states and countries where seeds are being sown. Since I have been out on the streets full-time the past four months along with Brother Drew, we have begun to keep track of where people are from when they hear the entire gospel message. The results of our efforts have been overwhelming. In just four month’s time and only in front of the Bellagio Hotel and on the Fremont Street Experience the gospel has been given to people from 32 states and 30 countries. If you go to the website you can see the constantly updated maps, but for this newsletter we thought we would show you the current status.
Alaska Arizona Arkansas California
Colorado Florida Georgia Hawaii
Idaho Illinois Iowa Kansas
Kentucky Maryland Massachusetts Michigan
Minnesota Mississippi Nevada New Jersey
New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio
Oregon Pennsylvania Texas Utah
Vermont Virginia Washington Wisconsin
North, Central, & South America (5)
United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil
Africa (3)
Ethiopia, Egypt, South Africa
Europe (10)
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Middle East (5)
Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia
Asia(5)
India, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand
Australia & Pacific (2)
Australia, New Zealand
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By creating these maps, it shows how wonderful the city of Las Vegas is for sharing the gospel. Instead of needing to go to different countries to share the gospel, we are able to reach the world right on the Strip and Fremont Street. We praise God for creating such a wonderful opportunity.