LAS VEGAS, Oct. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Is God only for the good, the polished, the nice — the "religious"? Or is He there for the bad and the ugly, the misfit, the underdog, the overlooked, the lost, and the left-behind? Does He have a place for the bruised and broken, the abused and addicted, those living in the shadows or beaten down by the worst this world can dish out? Is He the God for those of us who feel awkward and out-of-place in church?
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The answer is a resounding "YES!" says Vince Antonucci, pastor of Verve Church in Las Vegas and host of God for the Rest of Us, an exciting, new, and out-of-the-ordinary show airing Tuesdays at 11 p.m. Pacific on faith-and-family television leader Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).
Vince will be the guest for a special TBN Praise the Lord program Thursday, October 29th, at 7 p.m. Pacific (9 p.m. Central, 10 p.m Eastern) to talk about God for the Rest of Us and share some amazing testimonies from Verve's unique outreach to those who work and live in "Sin City" — Las Vegas.
Vince recently shared that he and wife Jennifer were pastoring a vibrant congregation in Virginia Beach when out of the blue God called them to Las Vegas in 2010 to launch a church specifically reaching those working, living, and lost along the infamous Las Vegas Strip. There is a back story to Vince's life that made the move totally conceivable. "My father was a professional poker player and degenerate gambler and con man in Las Vegas," recalled Vince. "He ruined his life here, he ruined my parents' marriage here, he ruined my childhood here. So the idea of bringing redemption to that story made sense."
Vince said his passion has always been to reach those who are the most marginalized, lost, and the furthest from God, "and I realized that there would be more people like that in Las Vegas than there are in Virginia Beach." Three years into the new church plant Vince and his ministry team came up with a new slogan that would bring explosive growth to the congregation: "God for the Rest of us." Within just a short time attendance at Verve grew by forty percent. "And it wasn't people from other churches," Vince emphasized. "It was un-churched, non-Christians who were coming, drawn by this message that maybe God had a place for them."
While all churches are called to reach the lost, Verve's focus is on those in society who are the most marginalized — "those that other churches won't or can't reach," said Vince. "We see atheists, gang members, pimps, and prostitutes come to Christ and just really experience dramatic life change." He added that "one thing I've come to believe in all of this is that if you want to have someone who is radical about following Jesus, the best place to start is with somebody who is radically opposed to Jesus. Because it takes such a sacrifice to say no to your past and yes to Jesus, they're not going to do it unless they're really serious and all in. And we see that all the time here."
There's a reason Jesus is called the "friend of sinners," noted TBN Chairman Matthew Crouch. "Vince Antonucci and his new TBN program, God for the Rest of Us, show the real and unvarnished truth about Christ's life-transforming friendship and love for the unloved, the forgotten, the disdained, the ignored. God for the Rest of Us will take you out of your comfort zone, and challenge you about what it means to take God's love to the lost."
Check out the video clip linked HERE, and check out God for the Rest of Us Tuesdays at 11 p.m. Pacific on TBN. And don't miss TBN's Praise the Lord program Thursday, October 29, at 7 p.m. Pacific (9 p.m. Central, 10 p.m. Eastern) as hosts Matthew and Laurie Crouch welcome Pastor Vince Antonucci to talk his Las Vegas church and this new, soul-riveting weekly program on the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks.
About the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks
With 28 networks and growing worldwide, the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks is the world's largest faith-and-family television group, airing a broad range of church and ministry programming, Christian music, family-friendly movies, children's programming, and shows for teens and young adults 24 hours a day to every inhabited continent via 86 satellite channels and thousands of television and cable affiliates. In addition, TBN's most popular global networks are available on computers, smart phones, and other mobile devices, and over 36,000 entertaining and inspirational On-Demand programs are accessible via TBN's innovative online network, iTBN.org. To find out more about the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks, log on to www.tbn.org.
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