City in Focus: Las Vegas
PRAYER BRIEFING
A common misconception about Las Vegas is that prostitution is legal there. It’s not. There are only two counties in all of the United States that have legalized prostitution, but, while both are in Nevada, Clark County, the home of the Fabulous Las Vegas, is not one of them. And yet the sex industry generates billions of dollars in revenue every year in Las Vegas.
If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, one stroll down the famous Las Vegas strip, lined with mega-hotels and casino-resorts, and you will understand why that fact is misleading. Sex is everywhere, on billboards, on taxis, on eye-popping digital marquis– and incarnate in the thousands of women in impossibly-high-heels. Open a phone book, and you’ll see page after page of explicit advertisements for sex services. The numbers are that only 10% of sex work conducted in Nevada is actually legal; the lion’s share of prostitution is conducted under the guise of “massage parlors” or “escort services,” or even in residential dwellings that have been converted into brothels.
It is only recently that the authorities in Las Vegas have began investigating the probability that the sex-charged milieu of Sin City was fueled, at least in part, by trafficking initiatives. In 2007, The State Department announced that after two years of research they found that Las Vegas was the epicenter for humantrafficking throughout all of North America, and one of the top 17 destinations for trafficked women in the world. In response, the Las Vegas Police Department launched the Anti Trafficking League Against Slavery (ATLAS), a devision of the Nevada Human Trafficking Task Force specifically designed to address this problem.
But the systems are still not yet able to address the scope of the problem. It’s too vast, too deep. The motto of this town has been “what happens here stays here” for far too long, and this self-proclaimed “adult playground” is likely a prison and nightmare for thousands.
MINISTRIES
XXXchurch.com www.XXXchurch.com
This ministry aims to address all manners of sexual brokenness that stems from the pornography industry. They work hand in hand with The Strip Church which actually hosts out reaches for women in prostitution and the pornography industry in Las Vegas.
Hookers for Jesus www.hookersforjesus.net
Hookers for Jesus is an international faith-based initiative to end human trafficking globally, and emphasize the link between pornography and human sex slavery. They are based out of Las Vegas and headed by a former Vegas call girl.
PRAYER POINTS
- Pray for massive revival to hit Las Vegas.
- Pray for strengthening of the police forces, that they would make a greater and greater impact upon this wicked industry.
- Pray for restoration of the hearts of the women who decide to leave the prostitution/porn/exotic-dancing industry.
