By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS – Vance Pitman says he may be pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, but at times he feels like he is pastoring “First Century Church” in Jerusalem, Holy Land.
Founding pastor of Hope Church, planted in September 2001, Pitman told the Baptist Message he is amazed each day he wakes and ministers in the city alternately known as the “City of Lights” and “Sin City.”
His congregation, which averages 3,000 during Sunday worship services, is putting forth its best effort to share the love of Christ, he said. But even with that number of members ministering within their neighborhoods, work places and various recreational settings, the task is monumental in a metropolitan population of 2 million in which only one in 10 residents professes Christ as Lord and Savior.
“Everybody who steps inside our church is genuinely in love with Jesus or asking if Jesus is what they need,” Pitman said. “There is no cultural Christianity. It is very authentic and real. It’s intoxicating in our ministry because it’s so real.
“There’s real transparency and honesty,” he said. “That’s really the church in Las Vegas.”
Such openness has been characteristic of his congregation, since he and a few families started Hope Church as a church plant by First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga.
Those 18 people met in Pitman’s living room for Bible study, but they also were ever-present in the community — prayer walking, conducting surveys and distributing the Gospel of John.
While the church grew, Pitman continued to emphasize the need for Hope Church to understand God was doing something bigger than one church. As a result his congregation has planted 34 new churches since 2001, and baptized 300 converts, just in 2016.
“Everywhere you turn around in Las Vegas, you run into a lost person,” Pitman said. “We have taught our people to live on mission. Our people are constantly talking about Jesus and are sharing the Gospel. We do everything we can to engage the city.”
Ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1994 by First Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, Ala., Pitman believes a great awakening is possible in the West.
He envisions a great church planting movement in that region with hundreds more churches established during the next 20 years, and is confident God is about to move in a dramatic way there.
“We’re trying to start churches and figure out how to stay ahead of the curve,” Pitman said. “We try to stay really sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and realize it’s His movement, not ours.
“You trust the Holy Spirit of God when He is doing something and that He is big enough to control His own movement. If God will continue to send people, we will continue to train leaders.”
Pitman is slated as a feature speaker at the Louisiana Baptist 2017 Evangelism Conference, scheduled Jan. 23-24 at Temple Baptist Church, Ruston.
For more information, visit https://louisianabaptists.org/event/ECON2017.
