Renewed Dedication

     It has been over year since a newsletter was last sent out. That is not because we have abandoned our mission to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Las Vegas. Instead it is due to some changes in priorities and a need for additional support.      

     The change of priorities came from the desire to support the church that Las Vegas Outreach Team (LVOT) sits under. The Las Vegas Outreach Team is a ministry under the eldership of the First Baptist Church of The Lakes (FBCL). In the spring of 2007 when the LVOT was created, it was the desire of the Coordinators to eventually be under proper church leadership.  In 2008 a request was made by the Coordinators to be under the leadership of the Elders at FBCL. Then in 2009 the church body voted the ministry in and we have been blessed by the church’s leadership.

     In the spring of 2010 LVOT had a change in focus as the ministry spent a year supporting and training individuals from First Baptist Church of The Lakes. This is a very different direction for the ministry, because all previous teaching and training involved a limited number of training sessions, but not a week after week support for over a year. Although, some might say that this effort has produced few new workers, we are thankful for those who have grown in their knowledge and ability to share the gospel. We are confident that those who have continually been a part of the Thursday Night Outreach will continue to grow in their zeal to share the Gospel. We plan to continue supporting the Thursday night outreach and believe that these efforts will bring new laborers and new coverts into the church.

     With both Marty and Doug helping to support the Thursday Night Outreach, there was a reduction in street witnessing. With this change there was a need for a new individual who would help redirect energy out into the streets. This past year a young gentleman named, David Mann, began to attend First Baptist Church of The Lakes. To the members of FBCL, it was clear that this new attendee had a passion for God, and a tremendous love for the scriptures. As the members began to talk with David more, we quickly realized why we especially liked him so much; he would open air preach in front of the Bellagio on a weekly basis. After some time, David Mann joined FBCL. Earlier this spring, David decided that he wanted to do more with reaching the lost on his college campus, UNLV. It was then that David came to Marty, Doug, and other street preachers and asked if he could become a Coordinator for LVOT. We are happy to announce that David Mann is the newest Team Coordinator for LVOT and so we want to give you a chance to get to know him in this newsletter, along with the future outreach that David will lead.

                                                                       New LVOT Coordinator: David Mann

     Hi everyone, my name is David Mann and I look forward to getting to know each of you as well as labor with you in the coming months and years. I have spoken and prayed with Doug and Marty and it is clear that I am to be a new Coordinator for the Las Vegas Outreach Team. I will be coming on to labor in anyway that I can to fulfill the original goal of glorifying God by the proclamation of His Son and the training of saints in the Las Vegas valley.

     For those of you who don’t know me I would like to introduce myself. I am twenty-six years old and have lived in Las Vegas all my life. I was saved a little under five years ago. Before I came to know Christ I was a drug addict. Not a day went by that I wasn’t high on something or other. Meth and weed were my drugs of choice and the drugs ruined me. I look back now at those days and marvel in my foolishness, but I was blinded by sin and had no idea what the true gospel was. But the day I was born again the Lord changed me within the span of a day. The day I cried out to God I was high on meth, had not eaten or slept in three days, and for the first time in my life contemplated suicide. But God in His mercy, reached down and rescued me. By His providence he led me to the point of calling upon His name and in a supernatural experience everything changed. An undeniable overflow of the Holy Spirit came upon me when I was despairing over life, contemplating suicide, and in physical and emotional anguish. Fourteen hours later from the moment God intervened in my life, I became a new creature in Christ and EVERYTHING changed.

     I would go on to spend two years at a bible college that brought me all over the world from Iraq to Germany. After graduating bible college three other guys and myself embarked on a two month cross country evangelism road trip from L.A. to N.Y. and back where we would go from city to city sharing the gospel of Christ. On this trip, God gave me a call to publically preach the gospel. I now go out to the Las Vegas strip one to two times a week to Open Air Preach at the Bellagio.

     God has given me ample experience in biblical evangelism and I want to take what God has given me and use it to edify the saints as we labor and strive for the kingdom. Under the leadership of Doug and Marty I will come along side and labor in every way that I can in order to find other ways to proclaim the gospel and inspire and equip the saints to do the same.

In Christ,