Las
Vegas Rescue Mission
"Would you like some homemade
cookies?" I asked the woman walking along North Las Vegas Blvd.
"You can take those
cookies," she answered, "And stick them up..." Well, I won't
complete her sentence. But I'd much rather eat the cookies than do what she
suggested.
Mindy and I went out Saturday
morning with our new friend Kathleen Quirk to deliver cookies to street people in
the less touristy locations in Las Vegas.
Kathleen has been baking cookies and
handing them out for about four years now. It wasn't long before that Kathleen
was living on these streets herself, but now she's the kitchen director of the
kitchen at Las Vegas Rescue Mission. I had read online about her ministry, Cookies and Hope, in an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We connected on
Facebook, and I asked her if we could join her on her cookie run.
And most of the street people, unlike
the woman mentioned above (who didn't seem to be having a good day) were quite
appreciative of the cookies. Kathleen says that when she was on the street she
would pray for someone to come her way and give something to her. She hopes she
is the answer to prayers made by people on the street.
I asked Kathleen about her favorite
memory of handing out cookies, and she told us about the time a man put a gun
to her head. Initially she'd met a young woman on the street and started a
conversation, giving the woman a business card with her phone number, so the
woman could call her she ever wanted to get off the street. Not too long after,
the woman called. Kathleen went to help the woman. A man was there, probably
the woman's pimp, and he put a gun to Kathleen's head and told her to stay away
from his girl. Days later, Kathleen was driving and saw the woman, who got into
Kathleen's car. Kathleen called someone who could take the woman to safety out
of state. That woman returned to her family and is doing well today, partly due
to some cookies.
Another woman that Kathleen met in
her cookie ministry is now in the rehabilitation program at the Las Vegas
Rescue Mission. We met Nikki as she was sorting clothes for the Rescue Mission
while we were taking a tour of the facilities.
We saw the entry rooms to the men's
dorms and the women's dorms (the dorms themselves are kept private from
visitors). We saw classrooms for those in rehabilitation programs, including a
room full of computers that people farther along in the program can use to
research employment opportunities.
We saw the dining room that every
night feeds five to six hundred people. (There's no worship attendance
requirement to eat the evening meal, but those spending the night are required
to attend the evening worship service). We heard that the Sunday evening
service open to the people is very well attended, usually filling up all
the seats. There's a second Sunday evening "family" service for those
in the Mission's program.
Mindy and I attended that service,
at 7:30 pm Sunday evening. When we went inside, a gentleman in the program let
Mindy know where the seating for women was as she wandered toward the men's
section. (We later learned that married couples and families were allowed to sit
together in one section, but it was fun for me to sit with the guys, and Mindy
enjoyed sitting with Kathleen and the women in their section.)
As the service began, everyone was
encouraged to stand, though a few guys in the back row with me stayed seated.
The two guys on guitars who led the worship had graduated from the program
years earlier, but return almost every Sunday night. A ninety year old man
named Bob led a time of prayer. Bob has been a part of the ministry of the LVRM
for the last thirty years. He prayed for blessings on President Obama, the
director of the Mission, and the pastor of the Mission, Jeff. Afterward, Pastor
Jeff came forward and told the congregation they'd start the year strong, as he
said, "God is good" and the congregation said, "All the
time!" Jeff then said, "All the time," and the congregation
responded with "God is good!"
Jeff read the passage from Mark 8
about Jesus healing the blind man. In the story, the blind man is not
immediately healed completely. At first he sees "men looking like trees."
Jeff said that many of us have a fuzzy picture of Jesus. We need to go to God's
word to see Jesus clearly. He urged people to make a commitment to read God's
Word and pray in the New Year to come. Appropriately, the service concluded
with the chorus, Open the Eyes of my Heart.
I must admit that not many people talked to us before or after the service,
although we were greeted as we entered. Most people there knew each other, and
we were obvious outsiders. It was good enough to watch the members of the
program greet each other with love and good spirits.
Statistics
Service Length: 1 hour 1
minute
Sermon Length: 25 minutes
Visitor Treatment: we were
greeted as we came in, but other than Mindy's being directed toward the women's
section, no particular attention was paid to us as guests
Followup by Tuesday Morning:
none
Our Rough Count: 98
Probable Ushers' Count: As
people came in, their nametags were scanned and their pictures went up on the
screen in front -- so the attendance count would be quite accurate if they
added the pastor (who told us he'd forgotten his nametag), Kathleen and
us.
Snacks: none
Musicians: all male: drums,
electric guitar, electric bass, and percussion/tambourine. The two guitar
players traded off leading songs
Songs: Come, Now is the Time
to Worship
Heart
of Worship
Blessed
be Your Name
New
Year
Open
the Eyes of my Heart
Miles to church: 12
Miles from start: 85
Total 2016 Miles: 703
Church website: http://www.vegasrescue.org/
Mindy and I had been warmly greeted
already that day when we went to the morning worship service at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Las Vegas . We were meeting
Tracy and Troy Morris at the service, friends of friends from Healdsburg Community Church. Tracy had been a part of First Christian Church for most of her life. Now
she and Troy are part of the leadership (elders and deacons were installed
during the service; Troy was ordained as an elder).
Since it was Epiphany Sunday,
Christmas continued in the worship service. Pastor Steve Willis was wearing a
white stole with his robe for the season, and I was happy to have one more week
of Christmas carols. The morning sermon was pretty much directed toward us,
even though Steve hadn't known we were coming. The title was "God is in
the Relocation Business," and our life this year is all about moving as we
head for a new state every week.
The two places we worshiped Sunday,
though in the same city, seemed like two different worlds. But it was good to
see God present in both.
Statistics:
Service Length: 1 hour 17
minutes
Sermon Length: 17 minutes
Visitor Treatment: we were
greeted as we entered; our new friends Tracy and Troy introduced us to several
people. Mindy signed a guest book near the door to the sanctuary, and Dean
registered us as visitors on the attendance sheet in the pew.
Followup by Tuesday Morning:
none
Our Rough Count: 102
Probable Ushers' Count: 125
Snacks: We arrived too late
to visit the church's coffee shop, Holy Grounds, which is open between the two
worship services (from 9:00 am to 10:30 am)
Musicians: the choir director
(a man) played the organ and a synthesizer; there were 12 women and 9 men in
the robed choir
Songs: All Creatures of our
God and King
Joy
to the World
Children
Welcome in the Name of Jesus
Lord,
Listen to Your Children Praying
(choir
only) Seven-fold Amen
(choir
only) He is Born
Thy
Word
Praise
God from Whom All Blessings Flow
We
Three Kings
Go
Tell it on the Mountain
Miles to church: 12
Miles from start: 686
Total 2016 Miles: 40
Church website: http://www.fcclv.org/
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