LAS VEGAS, NV (April 1, 2010) – The first-ever Evangelical Covenant Church congregation in Las Vegas officially launches today.

Amistad (Friendship) Covenant Church is ministering to the Hispanic community in the northeastern section of the city, says Wayne Carlson, director of church planting for the Pacific Southwest Conference (PSWC).

Arturo and Sandra Salas are pastoring the congregation. After completing the Covenant’s Church Planting Assessment Center in August, the couple began to teach family seminars and conduct outreach events. “With the generous offer of meeting space from a Korean Full Gospel Church in the center of that community, families began to come and the group began to grow,” Carlson says.

The church is starting with a core group of around 30 people and has connected with 150-200 other individuals through various outreach events, Carlson says. The top photo shows Arturo preaching during one of the preview events.

Amistad’s ministry already is impacting the people of the area, says Arturo Salas. In December the church received a call from a woman whose husband had been laid off from his construction job for two months. The couple has five children, but had no food and no money, with three days left before Christmas.

“We did not have a lot to offer, but we prayed for them that morning,” Salas recalls. “God provided for them a large food pantry and toys. They also received Jesus into their hearts and saw the grace of God as he provided more than they imagined – their landlord gave them two months of free rent and the husband now has a job.”

Planting a church in Las Vegas has long been a desire of PSWC leadership. Carlson says the conference hopes to plant between five to 10 churches in the region by 2015.