Over the last decade the topic of w has caught the attention of many people across our nation. This attention has been deserved and needed as an estimate of 600,000 to 820,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. In 2007 there was an estimated 27 million known slaves in the world. The trafficking of people generates 32 billion dollars a year. This is generates the third largest amount of criminal revenue worldwide.
The topic of human trafficking took hold of my heart in the early Spring of 2008 when I attended a missions conference put on by my church in Waco, Texas. At the conference there was a prayer room that used music, arts and other media sources to portray God’s heart for the hurts, pains and injustices of the Earth. In this prayer room there was a corner that provided a visual illustration of the depravity and the darkness that was associated with children who are trafficked for purposes of commercial sex work. My heart broke as I viewed a remake of what a child’s room might look like in a South East Asian brothel. The room depicted the innocence of a child with a small bed, children’s clothes and a small stuffed animal. The room portrayed how the innocence of a child is perpetrated with the lust of man by having the bed caged with handcuffs attached, having sheets with stains and tears, and posted above it all was a for sale sign that read “Child $300”. When I saw this my heart broke. Children being sold for a mere $300 and even less in other countries. I was paralyzed with sadness for the children who have their innocence robbed because of greed, lust and power put in the hands of evil. As my heart broke I felt God tell me that I didn’t have to be immobilized in grief and despair but instead I can live my life to help these children. I believe that God wants to mobilize broken hearts to take action.
It has been about two years since my heart originally broke for these children who are coerced for profit. Since this time of having my heart awakened to this I have been on a journey of taking action to help those who are dying from this injustice. To put it simply it has been a journey of praying, giving and going. I have prayed for these women and children who are afflicted and overlooked. I have spent hours crying for the pains of the oppressed. I have raised awareness in my circles of influence. I have given finances to those who provide practical and eternal services to this group. Practical services such as post traumatic stress counseling, job training to those rescued and the eternal service of the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I have talked to dozens of professionals who serve in our nation and nations around the world trying to find out the best way for me to serve with the gifting and talents that God has given me. In my city I have become a close friend who assists with practical and eternal needs to those who suffer from drug addictions, homelessness and with prostitution.
I say all of this not to brag but to help envision you and empower you to not just be stuck in the sadness of what is going on with this issue but to respond in love by praying, giving and serving to help rescue those in captivity and to administer healing to those who have been freed both in your own city and around the world. What the world needs is the people of God to respond to issues that are breaking God’s heart. This isn’t just a trend, fad or cause that is popular to serve so that we can feel good about ourselves. This isn’t something that will be conquered over night. It isn’t something that will be defeated by groups who are only serving practical needs on a humanistic level that doesn’t address the need for salvation. This is something that is requiring the complete gospel- meeting the practical needs of an individual and receiving forgiveness of all sin through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is where the people of God need to be the hands and feet of God. We need to respond, to go, and to distribute the love of God to this hurting world that needs them. That is what I want to do and it is what I am pleading others to do.
I have been going on short term trips all over the world to find out how to most effectively serve long term. There are two main lessons that God has taught me through these service orientated exploratory trips. One is that we desperately need a foundation of purity if we want to fight this issue. Without purity all of our work is done in vain. Lust thrives on impurity. For example most child molesters have a strong correlation with pornography addiction which originates with impure thoughts that are not taken captive. We need to address the deception and destruction of sexual immorality in our lives in the lives of those in our church if we want to make a dent in destroying the evil that is involved with sex trafficking.
The second important lesson that I have learned through all of this is that children grow, learn and develop best in the context of families. Having received revelation of this I have been motivated to help my church make steps in developing a model of church planting that takes kids in third world countries that have been rescued from forced prostitution and then reintegrated into families that will adopt these kids. The church planting team would be educated, skilled and gifted in a way that will empower the foster families to care for traumatized kids. The team would also monitor them to ensure that the child is developing at an optimal level and that abuse is not occurring. This team will play a part in providing practical needs as well as the eternal need of salvation through a relationship with Jesus Christ. This team would tend to the spiritual needs of the children, the parents, the home, the village and the surrounding communities as they share the gospel, lead them to Jesus Christ and teach them how to follow Him. Reintegrating kids into families provides several opportunities to share the love of Jesus in a holistic approach that tends to spiritual and practical needs. This will be a vehicle that will provide great potential to plant several house churches that are based out of these families receiving these kids.
What I desire to see is not just a house church that is planted but a house church that is healthy, life giving and that reproduces other house churches as they share the gospel and disciple the new believers that they have led to Christ. Really what I desire to see is what God is desiring- a distribution of his goodness, mercy and love spread across the nations as a single church takes the call of God serious and forms into a church planting movement that spreads across the globe. My local church and its leaders have been wonderful strategic coordinator in helping me move this vision forward. They have suggested as a next step to move to Cambodia where I will learn on behalf of my church and the potential team that may form in the near future. While in Cambodia I will be learning from an organization that has been serving for years to the needs of children being exploited in the sex trade. This group I am with takes care of practical needs while sharing Jesus with them.
One of the most important needs they tend to is assisting with rescue of these children and then the placement of these kids into aftercare where they receive trauma counseling, education and an opportunity to develop into all that God has created them for. While learning from this group I will seek answers on behalf of my church that will help us making decisions in starting a long term team that trains nationals of developing countries in taking care of traumatized children that they have adopted into their homes. While in Cambodia researching for my church is only one of the roles that I will get to play. I will also share Jesus and help gather information of documented abuse in areas that have high volumes of child prostitutes. Another great opportunity has recently been opened up by brothel owners that want the church to come inside the four walls of the brothel house to help start a children’s church! In this home the mothers they feel like they must sell themselves and their children for sex in order to survive. Some of these women are seeing that there is an opportunity for them and their children to leave this trade if they can receive education. This particular home has seen how the church has diligently responded to the needs of the oppressed in their surrounding community and they want the hope that the church has brought others. They desire for the church to come and teach their children about Jesus as well as give them education in English, math and computer skills so that they will have more potential of getting better jobs other than selling themselves. Talk about favor from the most High God! Also there will be potential for me to reach out to pimps, brothel owners and the pedophiles that perpetrate these kids. In the USA I have worked as a nurse for about 3 years in the psychiatric and general field. I will get to use this skill as I do physical and psychiatric assessments of boys that are being abused. Some of this will be on the investigative side as I am assisting others who do the rescue in getting these kids out of the sex trade. I will also use my nursing background as I assist with the boys who have been rescued and are being placed into aftercare. I have also been asked to teach CPR and basic first aid to the staff that provides direct aftercare with recovering children. I look forward to these opportunities as well as the fun I will have in learning a new language and driving a motorcycle for the first time. I will leave in a few days. Please pray for safety, discernment and for a consistent spirit of wisdom and revelation from God.