ywamlasvegas.org start here
HomeThe Official Web Site of Youth With A Mission Las VegasA part of YWAM International
Overview
What Is YWAM?
Our History
Campus Tour
Get Involved
Prayer Requests
Financial Partnership
Staff Opportunities
Staff Apps & Forms


"God is the only one who moves-we need only to empty ourselves and let him use us."


  Who The Heck Are We?
Our History
 

View Print-Friendly Version
In the first week of September 1996, Richard and Kara Thompson and their children moved to Las Vegas. One year earlier the Lord had begun to speak to them about moving there from Amsterdam. With them was a team of four other adults, and their first task was to conduct an extensive survey of all of the Las Vegas valley pastors and churches. Having a greater understanding of the needs of the city the following ministries were established.

We believe in positively impacting our world locally AND globally.

Key Ministry Moments in our History

                       

 

YWAM Las Vegas, launched September 1996

 

Since then we have seen the following developed:

 

 

Lost World Rescue, established 1997-present: Youth training and inner-city outreach for Las Vegas churches.

 

To date a total of about 50 local groups have been trained and mobilized to do outreach primarily in the inner city.

 

Feeding the Homeless through:

 

Street Café, 1998-2004: Established by YWAM LV in partnership with local churches.

 

Calvary Downtown Outreach, established 2004-present: A strategic inner city partner.

 

We have fed over 100,000 meals to the homeless since 1998.

 

Mission Adventures, established 1999-present: A one week training and outreach in Las Vegas for youth groups from all over North America and beyond. Hosted throughout the year.

 

Over 2000 youth have been mobilized to come to Las Vegas in community outreach.

 

International Mission Adventures Outreaches, established 2002-present: A three week overseas version of Mission Adventures.

 

About 200 youth mobilized internationally to date.

 

Winds Of Change (formerly LuminoCity) 1999-2005: An outreach to the estimated 15,000+ prostitutes in Las Vegas.

 

Commitment to India, 1999-2003: Raising and coordinating of funds to some of the poorest parts of Central and North East India – as well as providing financial oversight for microeconomic business development.

 

Discipleship Training Schools, established 2000-present: Three month lecture phase to train and equip youth, mobilizing them into missions with a two-to-three month cross-cultural international outreach.

 

80+ students have gone through our Discipleship Training School (the core course of a degree with the University of the Nations – the YWAM University with 30,000 students per year in campuses across 100 nations). 

 

These Las Vegas students have worked on community outreach projects in 17 countries.  Most recently in the slums of Jakarta, Indonesia and in the past such places as tsunami affected areas of Sri Lanka and inner city immigrants in Paris and Berlin.

 

45%+ have continued in work in YWAM or similar organizations in the USA or around the world.

 

X-Alt (King’s Kids), established 2001-present: Children learning about and displaying God’s love through performing arts, sports and community service projects.

 

From 2001-2007 up to seven after school Bible clubs were held weekly in four middle schools and three high schools – serving sometimes up to 1500 kids per week.

 

Hang Time established 2002-2005: An after-school homework club for neighborhood kids – ages from elementary through high school.

 

Up to 120 kids came on a regular basis up to 4 times a week in three different locations in the city.

 

Project Igal, 2003-2004: A performing-arts ministry.

 

YWAM Clothing, 2002-2004: Production of YWAM clothing for fundraising and promotional purposes.

 

The Point, established 2003-present: A Filipino community church.

 

The WISE School, 2004: A secondary school of more intensive missions training with credit from the University of the Nations.

 

Five students trained in Las Vegas with a two month outreach in Hungary and the UK.

 

RescueNet, established 2004-present: An international, rapid-deployment disaster response team.

 

Trained 27 YWAM members in disaster mitigation skills including emergency medical, disaster counseling, search and rescue, and refugee reception. Two of those trainees have joined full-time staff locally and are ready to deploy globally at a moment’s notice.

 

For example in December 2004 we deployed into the Philippines in response to Typhoon devastated areas and in November 2005 to Pakistan in response to the earthquakes.

 

One of our staff trained with and joined a local trauma counseling team (TIP).

 

Purchase of “The Beach House”, moved in April 2006.  This was our first purchased property.  A big house that is zoned commercial and residential – we accommodated staff and students here for small schools and housed our main offices.

 

Foster Connect, established 2006-present: Developed to minister to the broad needs of the 3,000 Foster Children in Clark County annually.  Connecting volunteers to opportunities, families to resources and families to families.

 

Practically and spiritually supported 18 foster families; have mobilized 24 families to take foster children into their homes and over 100 foster children have received positive benefit from Foster Connect to date.

 

Second Sunday, established 2007: a Missional community gathering open to the general public on the second Sunday of every month.

 

School Of Apostolic Pioneering (SOAP), established 2007-present: A brand new school pioneered for the University of the Nations and launched in Las Vegas – to equip students to encourage and launch new YWAM Ministries and Bases around the world.

 

Trained 9 students and staff in Las Vegas in 2007 and 15 students and staff in Kanpur, N. India in 2008.

 

The Anthill Project, established 2007-present: an educational development project targeting schools in war-torn W. Africa.

 

In December2007/January 2008 a research trip was completed to Ghana to visit the initial school to be rebuilt and to meet with local leaders.  Fundraising and promotion for this project has continued since.

 

Purchase of “The Pier”, purchased December 2007: A missionary training base and office hub for YWAM Las Vegas and a local church and ministry partnership providing social services for low and middle income clients.  With a projected launch date of September 2008, a $482,000 grant was supplied by the City of Las Vegas to help realize this project.

 

Other Involvement

 

~We have launched and/or assisted in bringing leadership to various networks in our city.  Through these we have promoted unity and developed partnerships with, for example, African-American church leaders, Filipino church leaders, the Christian Ministries Network, the Youth Pastors Network and the Global Missions Network.

 

~We have launched a new YWAM center from Las Vegas with seventeen staff at Pismo Beach/Central Coast California and are currently developing other locations around the world.

 

We have seen over 3,500 people make commitments to Christ in Las Vegas and the 35 nations in which we have ministered.