Go Beyond

Our missions ministry supports justice initiatives in South Asia, East Africa, Central America, and in our own community. Sex trafficking is not just something that happens in other places, it is happening in our own community. The Department of Justice designated Interstate 10 as the number one route for human trafficking in the United States. Thousands of young girls trafficked to our country are transported along I-10 and many of these girls are forced to service clients in spas and cantinas in Houston. That’s why we are partnering with local ministries that are working to rescue and to provide aftercare services for the victims of sex trafficking.

This morning, Brian Stone and our single adults worked on the grounds of Home of Hope — Texas, a ministry poised to provide aftercare for those rescued from sex trafficking. We spent the morning improving walkways with crushed granite and spreading mulch in all of the flower beds on their campus. Our team also learned about how young girls are ensnared and forced to work in the seedy world of commercial sex. Next month we will begin work on refurbishing and furnishing a new aftercare facility in our community that will be operated by Redeemed Ministries. These two local ministries are addressing a pressing need to provide safe havens for girls who have been trafficked domestically. Currently there are few services available for domestic victims of sex trafficking.

This afternoon, several of our Justice Team members visited local spas that have been identified as fronts for prostitution. It was a sobering experience for our team to personally see the places where girls are enslaved and forced to submit themselves to a life of prostitution or rape for profit. Being on-site gave them greater insight into Satan’s intentions “to steal, and kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). The battle is real and precious lives are at stake. Vicki, one of our team members, called me this afternoon to share her heart about what she’d seen and experienced. Kelly, another team member who participated in our afternoon justice initiative sent me an e-mail. She said, in part:

I don’t think I will ever forget my first brothel experience. I walked in the door one person, and I walked out changed, hurt, appalled, and amazed. We came face to face with true darkness today, but God has reminded me that if we want to pierce the darkness, we have to go where it resides. He showed me a verse yesterday in the Psalms that says He is “resplendent with light.” What good is that light if we don’t use it?

Indeed, what good is the light if we don’t use it? We must pierce the darkness. We must not remain silent or detached from this kind of evil in our community. We must work to “loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke” (Isaiah 58:6). We must champion the cause of the oppressed. Passion about justice must inevitably result in presence — in showing up to do something to help, in digging deep to support justice initiatives, and in kneeling long to intercede for the oppressed. Thanks to each of you who participated in this day for justice.