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Rescue Ministry

I was asked to volunteer with Shared Hope International’s Defenders in conducting truck stop outreaches in Broward County. To do that, we went to major truck depots and made the drivers aware of the danger of minors being sold into prostitution. We helped them understand what kind of suspicious activity to watch for at the places they stop, such as restaurants, gas stations, and motels. We learned how to work with local law enforcement agents.

Of all the outreach work we have done, that is the most dangerous because the pimps are right there with the girls. Those handlers carry weapons and can be unpredictable.

At the invitation of the Secretary of State, George Sheldon, who had been the dean of students when I was at St. Thomas Law School in 2005–2006, I served on the ad hoc Committee for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the State of Florida. Our purpose was to help create a law to protect minors from being criminalized in prostitution and instead to be regarded as victims of human trafficking. We wanted to protect children used as prostitutes and send them to safe environments.

For us to get the law passed, the hardest thing I had to do was to stand before the Florida legislature and law enforcement officials and tell my story. It wasn’t easy—it’s never easy—but I did it. The same day I stood before them, I also first shared my idea of a faith-based mentoring program from survivors to survivors. That was a big step, and afterward I received the best possible confirmation for emphasizing the faith issue. Several Christians who were in law enforcement heard me speak and they thanked me.

I was part of that committee until it was dissolved by legislation in the summer of 2011. The Safe Harbor Act went into effect January 2013.

No longer are children criminalized as prostitutes here in Florida, because the law now considers them as victims of a crime. This law still needs to make its way to other states throughout the country. Instead of placing children in jail, where many of them had gone previously, the state is supposed to provide funding for safe houses and for professionals to work with those kids who have been identified as trafficking victims.

Statistics show that children who run away from abusive homes are likely to be contacted by a trafficker within twenty-four to forty-eight hours after leaving. I warn children, “Those traffickers won’t seem like someone you’ll suspect. They’ll be kind. Caring. They’ll listen and make you feel they want to help you.” I end by saying, “Before running away from an abusive situation, first try to get help in finding a safe place to go.”

I try to spread the word about our local helpline and the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which is 888-373-7888. If people want to get involved in the fight against human trafficking, they can contact There Is H.O.P.E. For Me, Inc. through our website, www.thereishopeforme.org.

We conduct training and offer free resources on our site, such as a human trafficking assessment tool. This is used by the public school system in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties—as well as by local and federal law enforcement agencies, detention centers, and child protection services—to identify victims of trafficking.

I began sharing my full story within the juvenile jail system in 2010. I also received several invitations to speak at various venues, including juvenile detention centers and public schools. My openness encouraged other girls who had been trafficked to speak out.

One girl explained how she had become a recruiter. One time her pimp took her to a park. He pointed to a nine-year-old girl. “You see that little one? Go get her. We have somebody waiting for her.” She recruited the child, and not long afterward she recruited a twelve-year-old girl.

I reported that to law enforcement, and that’s what began our unique system of dealing with the trafficking cases that come forward.

Girls tell me horror stories—many of them worse than anything I had endured, such as girls right in the state of Florida who are chained to their beds at night so they can’t run away. Their pimps feed them drugs like cocaine to keep them quiet and compliant.

There are different levels of trafficking and different organizations, but they all start by first choosing and then luring vulnerable children. After that, their methods differ. But those organizations are successful because of the neediness of their victims.

When I started seeing girls within the juvenile detention facilities coming forward to tell their stories and wanting a safe person to share with, I formed my own organization, There Is H.O.P.E. For Me, Inc. Girls told me they were forced into working without pay as dancers in strip clubs. Many of them told me of being beaten by their pimps.

I had been trained in doing this type of ministry and went into strip clubs to share the gospel message, and I saw many souls saved. I wanted There Is H.O.P.E. For Me, Inc. to be the kind of ministry that went out—like evangelists—to give the Good News and set the captives free, as the Bible declares. We couldn’t wait for them to come to us; we had to reach out to them.

This led to starting a ministry in strip clubs. We rely on the Lord to bring gifts of love to us so we can deliver them every month. We also distribute Bibles and have opportunities to share the gospel message.

Many of the dancers in strip clubs are single parents. Most dancers are survivors of some type of abuse. Many live in abusive relationships with boyfriends. Their needs touch me deeply because many of these girls started down the same path I did after being sexually or physically abused as children.

We had to close our office because traffickers found out where we were and tried to infiltrate our organization until their victims came forward. Since we caught on, those former victims are now involved in an investigation.

A church in Coral Springs gave us an office and resource center for the women who come for help. The majority of the girls in the strip clubs aren’t trafficking victims but victims of childhood abuse and domestic violence; they’re there because they’re desperate for work. A few of them broke away from trafficking situations and couldn’t get other jobs. Whenever we are faced with young women coming forward, we involve law enforcement. We’re bound by a confidential relationship with law enforcement, so we’re not allowed to divulge the details.

Most of the trafficking victims in clubs are either American minors or internationals, usually Asian or Russian girls who were brought to the United States under deceptive promises. Once here, they’re forced to strip. Their pimps sit in the audience, watch them perform, and wait for them to finish, or they use other girls in the clubs to control them. They maintain such tight control, the girls feel they can’t leave. Increasingly, American minors or women being controlled by pimps are being lured into this type of sex trade, and they don’t have the opportunity to leave their abusive and exploitative situations either.

Initially, the girls are suspicious when we approach them. We bring them roses, chocolates, pajamas or sleepwear, and New Testaments. We take small gifts to the managers and other employees as well.

If the girls want help, we give them a safe telephone number to call so they can get out and stay out. It doesn’t happen frequently, but occasionally a girl who wants to leave that terrible life calls us. Each time we reach out in a safe way and love them. We want them to feel safe by turning to Jesus.

Some of the girls leave stripping because of our involvement, and that’s not a problem for the clubs. Unfortunately, there are always plenty of other girls needing jobs and buying into the deceit of the glamour.

This kind of ministry brings tremendous highs and lows. When I first began visiting strip clubs, I went as part of a group. One night, eight girls came to the Lord through our efforts. That night God seemed to have infiltrated the whole building with his love. We had gone out to the floor and talked with the manager, and we had the privilege of leading him to Jesus Christ while a girl was dancing. We also gave tracts to most of the customers, and they accepted them. Tears flowed as Jesus broke off the shackles of bondage from all sorts of people, from the managers to the girls and even to some of their clientele.

On the other hand, I’ve never experienced so much spiritual opposition as I do in that kind of ministry—even more than in the jails or the group homes—and I’m sure it’s because we can make such an impact. I say it this way: “If you go into the devil’s camp to bring people out to salvation, you’ll find opposition—a lot of it—but it’s worth the effort.”

When we first give gifts to the girls, they don’t know how to respond. They’re used to bargaining and paying for everything. Many take the gifts and then ask, “How much do you want?”

“I don’t want any payment,” I say and smile. “This is a gift for you.”

“You don’t want anything?” They don’t seem to believe me at first. Why should they? I myself had been enslaved because of such promised kindness, so I understood they were skeptical. Most of the girls in the clubs have a history of abuse and mistrust. Even when they do collect money, those with pimps have to hand over most if not all of it.

“We’re here to show you that God loves you,” I tell them. “You owe us nothing. Not ever. God’s love is free for all who want it.”

When the dancers want to come out, they need a place to go—and we provide that. We send them to local congregations that collaborate with us, and they provide the girls with food, educate them, and help them find honorable work.

It’s surprising to realize who the girls are that end up in strip clubs. One girl in a strip club in Broward had been attending the local Christian school only the year before.

No one is immune.

I remember going into the locker room at the back of one club, and a young girl was sitting with us as we played worship music and ministered to her. She was crying and sucking her thumb. “I don’t want to go back out there.”

We reach out to those girls and women—and not just to make converts. We talk with them, often play worship music, and do Bible studies right there in the locker room of the club. We show them God’s love. God put it in my heart to minister to them with his acts of service. We also pray with the house mothers and managers on a regular basis.

One small act of kindness we perform: we wash their feet. Those young women dance for hours at a time while wearing spike heels, and they need the care we give them. Their feet are sore and bruised. Washing their feet is one of the simplest and kindest things we can do for them. They are grateful because they’ve known so little true tenderness in their lives.

While we stay in the locker room and minister to a few girls at a time, others are performing out on the floor. We do for them what we can. Many of the performers have issues with church and often feel unwanted or rejected by church members. Drug addiction is common. Several of the women who are struggling addicts are also mothers and have lost their children through the court system.

I worked in a group home for a while when starting my ministry. That was the first time I met children of a girl who worked as a dancer—two boys, and both had been sexually molested because their mom had left them with the wrong people.

I was able to see both sides of that dynamic. The moms cry, “I miss my kids.” The children moan, “I wish my mom was here.” I’ve shed many tears over those situations. The case that was the worst for me was a sweet-looking, nine-year-old boy who had to wear diapers. He had been so sexually traumatized, his body would no longer function normally. He finally went to a therapeutic foster home that was equipped to care for him. Such conditions aren’t that unusual.

For a long time we ministered without results. When some of the girls finally wanted counseling, they didn’t want it at the club. “Where’s your place?” they asked. “Where can I come to talk to people? Can you help me?”

That took us to the next step in our growth. Nowadays when we rescue someone out of abuse or sex trafficking, it’s a comprehensive process. We offer them not only the firsthand knowledge and experience of a survivor (which is the first step), but we also walk them through understanding what they have experienced. Most American trafficking victims don’t self-identify as victims of sex trafficking or slavery. They usually see themselves only as victims of abuse, or because of being brainwashed by their pimps, they think they voluntarily do that type of work.

There is so much manipulation involved in human trafficking that it takes time to talk to the girls and boys and get them to trust again. We offer them the opportunity to understand that the front man or woman they have met and perhaps even fallen in love with is just that—a front to a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry. Behind the scenes are rich, older men, many with ties to the Mafia or organized crime.

Once the girls see the truth through a personal example of someone who exited the life, they are much more likely to leave. That’s why we have such a high success rate.

It wasn’t easy to pursue my PhD studies and minister to the girls, who need so much love and time to learn to trust us. Many times I wanted to quit. Yet God continued to encourage me. I wanted to be able to stand before survivors and point out that I dropped out of school in ninth grade but have gone from a GED to earning my PhD.

When I’ve talked to some of the survivors, they’re amazed and give me exactly the right response: “If you could earn your PhD, there’s hope for me.” That’s what we always say with the ministry. “Because I made it and so have others, why can’t you? If there is hope for me, then there is hope for you.”