Ministering to Victims of Sex Trafficking

So I first volunteered to make art things. The girls can’t have scissors or anything they could use as a weapon, so I said, “How ‘bout if I do some art projects that you can go in and do with the girls?” And then there was a training coming up. You have to get a background check and everything to be able to go into detention, and they didn’t offer those very often, but they were offering one. So I took that, ‘cause I wanted to go in and meet the girls and work with them, and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t – I thought, “I’m so much older. I don’t know if I could relate to them…” But I told the Lord, “If you can love me through them, I’ll do this.”

I – and it’s been amazing. I mean, these – I expected hardened girls, that it would be really hard to break into their worlds, but they are just fun, and smart, and warm, and affectionate. I mean, they’re just so glad to see us and just thank us all the time for coming. And it’s been a real surprise at how easy this has been, so –

And then we are – one of the other things we do is provide a Thanksgiving meal to all of the kids in juvenile detention: the boys, and the girls, and the volunteers. So we’ll do that every year, and that’s just a way to communicate to all the kids that they all matter, even the ones that we don’t directly interact with. So Christina Mackenzie will send out just a newsletter and just kind of – people underwrite that for us, so we serve them Thanksgiving, which is fun. We get to know all the kids, and see them, and –

So we’ll pick kind of a topic, and we try to listen to what the girls – we’ve asked them, “What do you want us to talk about? What would help you most?” So if we see a need or if they express a need, then we’ll address that. We’ll do it a lot of different ways: we’ll do it through maybe some – watching some videos; we’ll have interactive things; we’ll talk to them. We try to make it fun and interesting and kind of vary it. And then lots of times we’ll do a craft, but we’ll try to tie the craft into what we do so then they’ll kind of remember it. But we also just wanna give them an opportunity to make something that’s beautiful that they see that they can, and in that, we’re always looking for, “What are their strengths? What can we encourage them in? How did God gift them?”

And then if we hear of things like – a girl’s maybe shared that she was abused or something, we make sure that someone’s aware of that; we make sure that she’s getting the help that she needs. And then we also – the girls have a lot of time to read in there, so we’ll get really good Christian books on, say, recovering from sexual abuse that would appeal to their age range. And we’re like, “If there’re books that you want us to get that would help you, we can get resources for you. We wanna make sure that you get the help that you need.” And they’re – I know we have one case where a girl had disclosed that, and we talked to her about it.

And there’s a really good book called Breath and Hush, which are – a young woman who was molested by her stepfather. And I said, “I’ll get those books. I’ll bring them next week and” – I mean, she had read both those books by the next week and just said, “Thank you so much. You remembered, and I’ve read them both,” and there was just the calmness in her mind after – I mean, her – so, we’re able to help them wherever we see a need.

When they finally get it, they’re like – I know that they see it as being rescued, because they – they’re living pretty unsafe lives, so if they’re living on the streets, if they’re involved in the things that they’re involved in – most of these kids know someone who’s been killed – either died from a drug overdose or been shot in maybe gang violence or something. So they live pretty dangerous lives, so –

And so it makes you say, “What are they running from there? Is it – is there love there? Is there support there? Is there respect there?” Because if she’s getting that love and surrounded by that, then she won’t run. And so that’s the key component to breaking that cycle, but that’s the key question we have to answer.

But it’s very – the job skills, the education, the long-term sustainability is a critical component, because if she does not believe she can provide for those two children at her kitchen table, she will continue that cycle. And so we have to let her know that we’ve got her back. That way, if she works the program and if she will really follow through, then we’re gonna follow through too; and that there is a bridge, and the other end of that bridge is being self-sufficient and providing for her children in a long-term way.

And so if we can work with the families as well to provide some healing and some resources, and some real tools for them, then she can go back to a safe place, again, full of love and support; but it comes through really working both with the young girl and with their families, because, when she’s a minor, they really – unless they relinquish the rights, they have the control to decide if she can go to a safe house, if she can go get the resources she needs when she leaves the facility.

It goes – it really stretches the gamut. If you can make that decision and get the help you need to stop buying that commercial sex, that’s step one. Then step two is, decide how you can engage. What – our goal is always to say, “What’s your passion and your gifts?” It never ceases to amaze me that we’ll have a teacher come in to – and wanna volunteer. And we’ll say, “Great. We’ll put you in our children’s program,” and she’ll say, “Ugh, I can’t take another minute with children. I spend all day, every day – please, can I work with women?” Yes. Okay. You can be a budget counselor. You can be a career works volunteer. You can help come and serve meals on Wednesday nights when we have our Bible studies. You can help – there are so many things that women and men can do to volunteer their time, and their efforts, and their energy, and the talents. We just wanna help decide what that is for you. What’s that spark that God put on your heart? And then let’s find the right fit for that.

And the other thing that’s interesting is kids have a lot of time in detention to read. And I’m surprised, ‘cause here – this is such a great environment. You’ve got kids that don’t have their cell phones, they don’t have their computers, they don’t have the friends to run around with to get them in trouble, and you’re the best thing to show up all week, besides the – they value their families, too. And so, just – if you can encourage them to do things and provide things for them to where, now, you have a captive audience; and things that didn’t appeal to them otherwise appeal to them a lot; and you have time and opportunities to change their minds, and their thoughts about things, and attitudes, that would be great with both the boys and the girls.

– was probably taken already, so –

Get in the Word, and find out what it says about that and how Jesus responded to that. And that’s the best news I know, is to tell pastors that it’s okay – there are resources out there available, to where we can talk about it in our churches. And to know that, very likely, there are for sure guaranteed abused women in your congregation, and possibly trafficked girls in your congregation. And so the sensitivity that comes to that is very important. And so we offer resources on how to talk to these young girls – talk to abuse survivors so that there’s sensitivity that goes around that. And then third, just to know that there are resources out there that can be met.

The one thing that we do ask our church partners is please don’t just put another Band-Aid on that wound. If she comes to you and says, “Well, I just need my rent paid. I just want my groceries” – there is true transformation. There is a full-fledged program to get her a new life. And so we say, instead of putting a Band Aide on and saying, “Okay, here’s your rent. Go down the road.”

And this is more than a women’s rights issue; it’s a human’s – human right issue. And then, also, just – there’s a link – quite a link between pornography and trafficking, that that is creating a lot more of a demand for sex. And if there are 300,000, say, trafficked women in the US, those women have anywhere from 5 to 30 men a night that they have as customers. That’s an awful lot of men that are driving this, and it is – if there weren’t a demand, there wouldn’t be a supply. And so, I think to change attitudes toward this, both on viewing the women with compassion and then holding the men accountable for what they’re doing. So –

If you had a chance to say something to a small group or a Bible study that might be diving into this for the first time, and it’s brand new, or whatever, what might you say to them about what their opportunities might be? ‘Cause a lot of small groups meet together and they sometimes get asked the question, “Well, what could we as a group do in ministry together:” that kind of thing. What –

Maybe put it in a Bible and a great book that they read and give those so that we can pass those out to the women and children: really, any way that they can just kind of get engaged and know that there’s something that can be done in their community. They can show films. There’s lots of films out now that small groups are doing to raise awareness, where they watch the film and discuss that, or they read a book and they’ll discuss what that means.

If there was a large group, they could kind of divide up so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming if they felt like, “Well, I can’t give one night a week, but I could give one night every second or third week.” And then – so – and the other thing – we send out prayer requests each week. We take prayer requests from the girls and we send those out each week. So if anyone wanted to get on our list and just pray for our girls, that would be great. So that – those are all things – also, a lot of the girls want mentors when we get out – when they get out, so if someone wanted to be a mentor.

And the other thing that’s kind of been disappointing is, a lot of the church groups go in and don’t – they don’t really preach a message of grace to these girls. They come in very – girls will say, “This other group said this,” and it’s something that isn’t biblical at all. And so it’s kind of scary, ‘cause their concept of what God is – they’re hearing a lot of different perspectives from different groups. And so when that happens – we’re always sharing the Bible. We always say, “Well” – if they say that, we’ll go, “Well, let’s go see what the Bible says about that, because that – a lot of people can say a lot of things about God, and we need to see what the Bible says.”

So we always try to turn them to the Bible, and then we’ll give them verse cards that have a really pretty picture and scripture that I make and have printed at photo places, and just – if churches wanted to even help Alert to, say, get scripture in their hands, ‘cause they say those and we teach those – I mean, we get them just to hold on to them. They like those a lot, so – I don’t know.

And then this is a book by Victor Malarek who went – interviewed a lot of men who buy sex just to kinda get a profile of the men that buy sex and what drives. I thought that was a – really, I –

But the one that we’ve just – that we’re doing, this one, is important because it is really – it represents an invitation to people to take advantage of the opportunity to minister in a way. Some people say, “What can I possibly do,” or, “What might be of value,” so I thought – in closing, I thought what I’d let you all do is – I’m gonna ask you all for – do you have one story of kind of hope or encouragement that we could end with? ‘Cause this, in some ways, is a grim topic. I mean, it’s a – it – we’re very much looking at the underside of how people treat one another. So do you have some story of hope or encouragement that you could offer to people?

And when she got out she got in contact with a survivor from New Friends New Life, and she said, “The second I leave this prison I’m going to that office, and they’re – I’m gonna make sure they talk to me the day I get out of prison,” and she did, and that was three years ago. She now has a fantastic job. Her daughter is in a private school and is excelling. She’s probably gonna be president of the United States some day; I would not be surprised. She has a new home through Habitat for Humanity. Her daughter is signing up and enrolling for college.

I mean, it is a true story of transformation and breaking that – what we’ve talked about – that generational cycle of abuse, but it came because she was courageous and she said, “I believe that I can,” and then He said, “I know you can, through Me.” And so she accepted the love of Christ, and accepted that not only for herself but her changed family. And it didn’t just change her and her children: it changed her whole community now. It changed her family. It changed her neighbors. It changed everyone around her, and that’s what a transformed life can do.

So we hear stories like that all the time, where God just works in their heart and it brings them out of what they’re – and sets them aside kind of – only about 5 percent of people who need help for drug abuse get it. And so just the fact that they’re there and we’re able to share truth with them – so we hear stories like that all the time from girls.