Hope Will Rise 2021: Region-Wide Simulcast

[Music] [Music] eyes [Music] he loves [Music] is [Music] [Music] he is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] he is [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you for joining us for hopeful rise we are honored that you have chosen to join us tonight street hope tennessee is a faith-driven and face supported movement in response to the evil of child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking and tonight we're shining a light on this darkness because yes the world is broken and yes the darkness surrounding us seems so deep and overwhelming sometimes but friends darkness loses all its power in the light and we know the light in his name is jesus christ the lion of judah who conquered death in the grave for our freedom from sin and all darkness and he shines into the darkness and that darkness could not and cannot extinguish it friends when we take this to heart i mean when we really believe this and we see this evil giant of sin and darkness in the world around us not in view of who we are but in view of who god is a conquering king who has already secured the ultimate victory in the end then we can look into this darkness with hope because this once crippling giant ultimately loses all its power before this almighty king who one day everything and everyone in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow before so tonight when you hear about this deep darkness of child sexual exploitation and trafficking and yet you hear us say hope will rise it's because we know it's true because hope true biblical hope is the confident expectation that this same god is able and will do all that he says said and promised for these children and when he says he is near to the brokenhearted he means it and when he says he seeks justice for the afflicted and the persecuted he means it and when he says he gives beauty in exchange for ashes he means it and when he says he has a hope and a future plan for these kids he means it because this same savior is the same creator god who's made every single child in his image set them apart filled them with his purpose and saw them as being so valuable that he sent his son to die so that those who believe in him can truly live so yes in spite of the darkness all is not lost as sure as the sun will rise every single day and the moon will set hope will rise but how will they know if we don't tell them who will protect them if we don't we're inviting you to join us tonight as a body an army filled with the same power that raised jesus christ from the dead to make war against the darkness and to be the hands and feet of jesus because their story is not over friends it has truly just begun [Music] it is domestic minor sex trafficking or dmst it's the commercial sexual exploitation of a child through prostitution pornography or sexual performance in exchange for something of value like money food shelter or drugs in 2018 over half of all human trafficking cases in the u.s were sex trafficking cases involving only children and it's estimated that every two minutes a child is sold for sex in the united states in 2012 20 million people worldwide were involved in what we call modern-day slavery or trafficking in 2018 that number was 42 million so the dramatic rise in that just shows that where our society is going human trafficking is a 150 billion dollar a year industry um and about 99 billion of that is in sex trafficking and in the united states domestic minor sex trafficking is a huge portion of that and the number is increasing where it's familial where you've got family members who are trafficking moms and dads trafficking their children i was trafficked until i was 17 years old whenever i talk about me being trafficked i will sometimes show a photo of myself when i was a child when i was six or 14 or whatever because i look so normal you know i look happy i look healthy i'm well groomed i don't look like i'm starving yet behind closed doors i was being sold the primary targets are girls from the ages to 13 to 15. um but it can be any we're seeing a rise in boys that are being trafficked it can be as young as as i said before as young as infants child sex trafficking in the united states is not what most people think it is on average this is not a crime that involves being snatched and grabbed off the street most of the time it involves someone known to the child exploiting and selling them for sex by using force threats or lies it can be a family member a friend teacher a church member or even someone they've met online someone who has built a relationship with them and made them feel loved significant valuable and the victims are vulnerable children from all walks of life i think we've really got to get rid of the stereotypes where we see a child and we say oh well that child can't be trafficked look at them they look so healthy they look so clean they look happy that look they're smiling in that photo you know and two and two doesn't always equal four you know and i think we have to be really careful like how we're judging things and um because we could be closing an opportunity for a child to get free to get help i went to school until i was 12. so you know from age five to age 12 what if a teacher had known what to look for you know what if they had been able to catch it and call the police in 2020 there were 26 500 miners reported as runaways to the national center for missing and exploited children it's likely that one in six of those runaways were victims of child sex trafficking a case i helped with several years back two girls here in east tennessee ran from foster care in a state-run facility ran from that and [Music] a girl calls a friend of her brothers and says hey can you come and get us and he did he picked him up and instead of taking him where they wanted to go he took him to a house gave him meth and then proceeded to call me in to come to the house 13 year old and 15 year old subsequent interviews after the girls were rescued um it was determined the 13 year old was forced to have sex with 16 men in a 24 hour period and as i'm working this case and i'm dealing with the normal things we deal with with the victims it hit me i was like so within 25 minutes of knoxville there were 16 men at the drop of the hat willing to come and have sex with a 13 year old girl this is not in the philippines this is not around the world this is in knoxville tennessee the buckle of the bible belt so so they say did you know the average teenager spends 9 hours a day on social media why does that matter in 2020 alone there was a 97.5 increase in reports of online enticement of minors that means an individual intentionally communicated with the child via the internet with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction this includes sextortion where a child is groomed to take sexually explicit images and or ultimately meet face to face with someone for sexual purposes or to engage in a sexual conversation online or in some instances to sell or trade the child sexual images and this type of victimization takes place across every platform social media messaging apps gaming platforms etc we're the generation that has the world at our fingertips but we your children are truly at the world's fingertips too and unfortunately because of this in our state alone approximately 100 kids are sold for sex online every single month about 80 percent of all sex trafficking victims make their initial contact with that world through social media uh it's a huge uh a huge inlet into that world and so it's important that you not only that you're aware that it exists but that you know how to protect yourself and your family from it and then also make sure the kids understand who to talk to who not to talk to and that's all part of the awareness and education that we try to do to to make sure that people know and understand what this is and to prevent it from happening to begin with predators are looking for low self-esteem they're looking for the children that they're looking for the the ones that there's not very confident they're they they want to pump them with this oh you're beautiful oh you're great oh what are your parents doing why are they doing that most people are smart enough to know that if someone says you know hey um you're good looking and i think you would uh make me a lot of money uh if i were to exploit you for sex most people are smart enough to run the other direction but when it's hey you're beautiful you're smart um i know your parents don't understand you but i do those different types of things and that's what we call grooming and that is that is commonplace online that is commonplace even in person when you're in involved with these people that you don't necessarily know and that opens the door into the sex trafficking industry while all of this information seems heavy and maybe even hopeless we want you to know there is hope because god sees us his children made in his image he loves us and he has not forgotten us and not only has he not forgotten us he has also appointed his body of christ to care for us too you can be part of this army that raises up for us whether you're married or single a parent or not a victim or an advocate you can be a voice for us you can be our protectors you can be an example for us and you can stand in the gap just like these warriors and an easy question but the hardest question to answer is what do we do to stop trafficking how can we stop trafficking we have to educate ourselves as parents we have to educate ourselves of what our children are doing online to catch it before it starts and so it's created this heart and this passion for i think not only rescuing people but also prevention and education and awareness because that's kind of where we have to start you know so many people aren't aware that that's happening like here now you know in 2021 in our backyards at the at the young age of seven i was sexually abused and that um was something that i held on to for a very very long time i didn't share it with anyone and as i got older and as i realized that something was very wrong with that it really just started just placing something in the on the inside of me to want to protect want to protect children want to protect people that are younger people that maybe may not have a voice teenagers maybe young girls that are in group homes and things like that it really just placed a hunger inside of me to want to just be a blessing and to really just be like that protective person but also to be a voice for those that may not be able to speak up for themselves as well so i'm not a victim i'm victorious only through christ but i thank god because now i'm able to come alongside other parents and encourage them and help them and walk with them and you know to be that advocate for people that can speak up for themselves and i've asked these children why didn't you get help i feel so bad for you i wish you gonna have you know what they always say i was afraid i would get in trouble i was afraid i would get in trouble because i was talking to somebody that i should have been encourage your children if you mess up if you make a mistake it's okay we're going to get through this right we'll get through it but we need to know about it as soon as possible we can fix it to where one mistake doesn't come two three four and then it's a snowball effect you know and now you're in the middle of something and the parents have no idea it's because the children are afraid so it's very important to teach your child self-importance build your children's self-esteem not with filters but with interaction with love with communication you know talk to your child about how beautiful they are because in in god's image we're all beautiful and we don't need filters our children don't need filters on the photos and they don't need this false persona of who they are as parents we have a responsibility to equip our children and the home is the training ground to give them the tools in the home to equip them to have these hard conversations with them to just give them an opportunity to even ask questions if they have questions and we always had an open door policy and they could come to me at any time and i understand that even with them coming to me about anything it was important i felt like it was really the lord teaching me how to pray for my kids very specifically so as they would come i would feel sometimes like the lord would say you know don't even make a reaction because if you even react and they see it in your face they're going to shut down and they're not going to share in all of the cases that i've worked both the child pornography cases the sex trafficking cases i have never spoken to a single individual my first exposure to this world to this to to child pornography to the sex trafficking industry my first exposure to that was child pornography or the sex trafficking industry it started with something else and without exception it started with and i don't even like using the term regular but regular pornography basic pornography and that's when you your brain adapts to that research shows that that pornography acts on the part the same part of the brain in the same manner as heroin it's an addictive behavior but it's not just addictive it's a progressive addictive behavior and so you may think it's not a big deal i just i just i watch pornography occasionally these are people and every time that you look at that you're victimizing that person what if it were your sister or your mom or your daughter would you want a million guys gawking at them so to say that it's normal and it's okay is just beyond my comprehension i had a parent in one of my presentations and i made that something similar an analogy similar to that and i had a dad come up to me afterwards and said dude they're teenage boys that's what they do that's normal you know what no it's not and it's not okay because they are starting and they're they're they're developing their mind at that age if dad says it's okay and he says it's okay by doing it himself if that says it it's okay then that gives them permission and that develops who they are for my life and for my children you know what i want them to see when they look up to me is that yes i experienced some serious hardships human suffering you know we all go through it at one point or another one level or another we all experience suffering it is just the human journey to suffer but you know we can take that suffering and we can turn it into something beautiful for ourselves and for other people and i think that's powerful you know and something i even teach my children you know when they suffer whatever that looks like you know take it and make something powerful out of it take it and make it something that not only affects you but affects the world around you i think we have to be willing to get in the mud with people because sometimes i think we pull away from that we don't want to get in the mud and i tell people sometime ministry is messy you have to get in a mud with people and you know what as you get in the mud how many women i apologize to you know how many teen girls i apologize to and i say that i'm i am so sorry that that happened to you where nobody ever apologized to these women they just want to hear that somebody is willing to and i feel like is the lord sometimes just saying apologize tell them tell them you're sorry that they went through this and when you do that i'm telling you it's so freeing is so healing for them because they realize man somebody actually care and you know they put up a facade but when you go deep with people you know what they'll open up and they'll start sharing some stuff with you that it just breaks you and you know what stand with them stand with them pray with them it breaks me because i see people put up a post and they get three comments and bless your heart and all this stuff but they need a person they need a person they need jesus with flesh on that's gonna say i'm coming i'm coming now i'm telling you they do they need it they need it they need for you to say you know what i saw your post i'm coming i'm on my way people need to see love in action we've got to really kind of take this theory in our mind and really bring it down to a heart level to where we can flesh it out and to where other people other survivors can grab a hold of it and say oh this is what it means to be loved by god this is what it means that you know i'm more than my suffering this is what it means that i can do something with my life that i can do something with my suffering there's this strength of person you know that comes from being surrounded by literally the body of christ showing love showing care showing you know who god really is fleshed out is so important what survivors need is for someone else to be that for them to to come in front of them to be skinned to be someone that they can touch and see and feel and it be a picture of christ when i first came to the lord i'm telling you i had i looked like i was going to the club that's all i had was club clothes but i thank god for jesus because you know what i was in love with the lord he grabbed a hole in my heart but i just didn't have church clothes but they loved me they loved me so much they loved me they embraced me they spoke into my life you know i just was blown away and you know the enemy kept saying these ladies are going to get tired of you and i'm like man i'm not going to let them get close to me then because i already was dealing with my own low self-esteem and low self-worth and they just kept pursuing me kept picking me up for church and i'm like well one day if they don't pick me up i'm not going to that church i knew i needed to be there i wasn't strong enough to get myself there but they came they came every time so as a body of believers how do we how do we approach this thing of exploitation of sex trafficking as a cop for a long time it was very easy for me and was normal for me and all of us to say they're prostitutes they're hookers they're doing this on their own that's that's where they are that's and and you know to not have a lot of compassion to not realize why they are where they are i would say the vast majority are there i don't know that i've ever talked to any girl or lady that it was their goal as a child to grow up to be a prostitute i don't i've never come across anybody like that and thousands of people that i've dealt with by fraud force or coercion or their circumstances and situations have have forced them into that end of that life as a body of believers as children of god we need to have love for these people we need to show them compassion we need to understand and realize these are these victims are children of god [Music] tonight you've heard a lot of information from statistics to testimonies but it's important to remember that these represent actual human lives individual people individual children god's children at street hope tennessee we believe that the body of christ has a responsibility and is commanded by the lord to stand up speak up and fight for those who cannot do so themselves because people children are not products they are not renewable resources they are god's image bearers chosen before the foundation of the world filled with this purpose and set apart for this moment significantly loved and valuable to our god and they are not for sale at street hope tennessee we work to eliminate the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and to provide safe environments to foster healing and hope through jesus christ we do this through awareness prevention restoration and prayer because we don't just want to see trafficking numbers decrease we want to see an end to sexual exploitation and actual human lives changed and that can only happen through christ jesus we bring light to the darkness that is trafficking by training and equipping individuals to identify and report trafficking from teachers and school resource officers to health care workers and everyone in between because having more individuals trained to identify trafficking leads to more victims being identified and reported and finding freedom secondly we provide sexual exploitation prevention education through in-person trainings with students as well as our free internet safety curriculum because child sexual exploitation and trafficking is not happening because creepy people are pulling up in vans and offering your children lollipops it's happening because families are selling their own children like they're commodities and people are buying them and for many child victims this is just normal it's just a way of life it's happening because vulnerable children are seeking love affirmation and protection and strangers are coming alongside them and offering them whatever they need whatever they feel like is missing in their lives remember that scripture satan comes disguised as an angel of light that's this in real life and it's happening because we live in a generation where the world is at our kids fingertips but our kids are at the world's fingertips and what's devastating is that our kids aren't even being equipped to have a fighting chance and neither are our parents so we educate we educate to try and prevent exploitation from ever happening we provide sexual exploitation and internet safety trainings and curriculum not just to our churches but to our schools and our community and we do it for free because this is not a luxury education every single child should be equipped with tools to protect themselves they need to know why they need to be safe online they need to know how to be safe what can happen if they're not and for some they have to know how to get out if they're being exploited or abused even if it's happening at home because they are loved they are significant and they are valuable regardless of the circumstances surrounding how they ended up here and we provide the same opportunities for parents so that you can be equipped to protect your kids in person and online too third we are working to provide a home a restoration for children did you know that across the united states according to polaris there are only 1644 shelter beds available to all survivors of human trafficking in the u.s 1644 that's for kids and adults as a result these victims are left feeling hopeless with scarce resources and services for restoration outside of a safe home the road to recovery is significantly impaired that's why street hope tennessee is opening garland oaks a home for kids which will provide hope and comfort to girls ages 12 to 17 who are survivors of sex trafficking sitting on 15 beautiful acres of land in a remote area of east tennessee this home will offer restoration without the restrictions of limited government programs as planned garland oaks will provide education protection spiritual restoration for 10 girls at a time and tonight you all get the first inside look and glimpse at what a day in the life of a resident of garland oaks will look like when a girl walks through the doors of garland oaks she enters a home maybe her first real home built with love and prayer standing as a shelter from her past now in this safe place she can find hope [Music] she sees healing words written on the walls she feels the security of a loving home she meets her house mother teacher counselor and other caring staff who teach her to build trusting honest and caring relationships she experiences grace and mercy she learns about boundaries perhaps for the first time she learns about respect worth and peace most importantly she learns about jesus the only one who can strengthen sustain and heal her as she enters her room she finds a place of sanctuary her own space a place to retreat as she navigates the work of restoration [Music] dinner will be in a family setting with other girls who understand where she's been and a house mother who can see where she will go she is taught what it means to be responsible and accountable as she cares for her new home she has the opportunity to join in family activities game nights crafts and praise and worship after breakfast each morning she will walk to her classroom a creative and inspirational space designed to help her flourish through studies and she is allowed to work at her own pace between times of school and study she meets her care coordinator who helps her navigate paths of independent living self-care and career goals she talks to her counselor shares her deepest pain grieves shares her brokenness and learns what it means to heal her life is shaped by gentleness and godly nurturing and now because she is safe she can be still and know jesus did you hear that here she will learn about her worth and her identity here she will see and learn about what real love looks like here she will learn about jesus and his abiding love for her where she can walk forward in victory knowing that her past does not define or dictate her future here because she is safe she can be still and know jesus currently we're nearing the completion of construction on garland oaks and we have paid to build this 1.2 million dollar home in cash we are completely debt free now we're working diligently to complete our programming for our home which will serve as a key role in leading our survivors down a path of healing and restoration we're also raising the necessary funding to open our doors and operate garland oaks for our first two years this will ensure that when we begin serving residents we start out on a firm foundation and are able to focus on each individual girl's healing but that we are also prepared with a plan to help us sustain this home for years to come once funding is secured we'll be able to hire our staff train our staff and apply for our licensure with the department of children services and then we can open our doors to our first resident finally we pray we pray because awareness prevention and restoration while really great things are just defensive measures that will never end the actual problem they may act as fences that protect our kids or help them find healing but we have to stop addressing the gates of hell with workings trafficking and sexual exploitation is a deteriorating heart problem which is inflamed by the sexualization of the culture today and perpetuated by pornography it's causing us to treat people like commodities did you hear that it's sin and we have to call it what it is and then we have to take it seriously because the body of christ has to stop sitting soaking and souring and then we have to act like we actually believe we're filled with the holy spirit the same holy spirit that raised jesus christ from the dead because we are and then we have to mobilize it we have to actually go and advocate for the voiceless care for the least of these binding up the brokenhearted proclaiming liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners and we have to storm the gates of hell with prayer because it's god himself who can change the hearts of kings like channels of water he alone can make hearts of stone into flesh he gives beauty in exchange for ashes and he executes righteous justice and he alone is able to completely eliminate any trace of sin and brokenness that leads to children being sexually exploited the reason i'm passionate about street hope is pure and simple it's our children bottom line the reason why ron and i support street hope tennessee is because first and foremost we're dads after just statistic after statistic from chad sparks that just completely destroyed me and a lot of tears and a lot of passion from this young girl named devin an hour later i was completely wrecked it literally changed the way i looked around from a day-to-day basis it literally has been front of mind for me ever since amy um and i had lunch one day and she started telling me about street hope and and i just couldn't the first thing i could not believe that there was really so much of a need for that for that kind of ministry it just you know it just wasn't something that i thought about a lot that these sweet sweet children were being abused in such ways but and god actually kind of put a thought in my mind you know karen i want you to do this i want you to be involved in this in some way so then it kind of just went on and on from there and i was thrilled i was thrilled in 2019 i was blessed with the opportunity to travel across the world to patia thailand where i witnessed i mean sex trafficking firsthand children being rescued out of child pornography and i thought how in the world is this happening this is insane what what are we doing about this and one of the leaders of that foundation said it's the same thing there's there's no way there's gonna end it because it's mostly western white men who are traveling to this country to do this because of pornography every time a pornography video is played you are funding you are essentially funding this kind of behavior so i came back from pattaya thailand and i thought we've got to do something about it well guess what 2020 hit the pandemic hit and caleb and i we were we were stuck we couldn't go to patia thailand to do something about it and so we prayed we prayed we prayed we thought god what can we do about this i care very much so about that organization they're doing an amazing work in apache thailand but guys it's happening here in east tennessee this happening in knoxville and i fully believe that we can end sex trafficking but we can't do it without support yeah i got completely freaked out just where you know i'd cry and then um i realized that there is one thing i can do i can't the lord has not equipped me to teach or to do a lot of things that you know you all do and all that but he has given me this one thing that i can do which is you know help with the furniture and design and that kind of thing and that's what i would tell people to do ask the lord what can i do here if it's to write a check awesome if it's to make a meal awesome if it's to donate just your time awesome how we support street hope is a multitude of different ways by donating our time donating our resources sharing their message on all platforms that's that's just as much as important i think as what they are doing by you know educating the public well it's our responsibility as the public to share that information my wife and i financially support street hope we pray to support street hope we volunteer at garland oaks to support street hope as far as the church goes the church has been a financial supporter pretty consistently for street hope over the years and we've also supplied volunteers to be at various functions to serve it we're called to be on the front line as believers we're called to to pick up our shield to pick up our sword and to go into the fight you know we're supposed to be on the front line men listen in addition to serving alongside an amazing organization like street hope you can help by just starting in your own home listen i'm a father of four amazing kids and my biggest role responsibility in ending domestic minor sex trafficking is by just loving my children and showing them what true love is in my own home so as a junior advocate i've had the opportunity to serve street hope through leading a training about internet safety for middle school girls and i've had the opportunity to host an information table at my church and through all of those opportunities it's just about raising awareness and making sure others know how to prevent it so it's been an amazing opportunity to serve street hope through those things as i get to talk about others about street hope's mission it's just been very amazing to see others become just as passionate about ending sex trafficking street hope tennessee cannot bring an end to domestic minor sex trafficking without support they can't they've got to have support from our community they've got to have support from organizations and businesses like modern reins they got to have support from families they got to have support from the viewers watching this video we have to find a way to get support and and communicate how important it is that if we're wanting to bring an end to this it has to start with support right here in our neighborhood i see that the vital importance for churches for the body of christ to support street hope honestly because firsthand i've seen what it can do from our local body and the impact that it's had on everything you know jesus himself said that people will know he is who he is by our unity by our unity and spirit if local churches don't unify and rally together i don't think we succeed in combating sex trafficking so i think it's crucial that we come together as a unified spirit we be the tip of the spear and we really go out and we lead the way through the local church we saw it go from the dream of garland oaks to the reality of garland oaks we have seen it over the years go from a dream to a concept to a blueprint to a physical house that i've been in that i've walked through that i've cried in because i remember all those steps i think it's powerful to have this place this safe place you know where kids can come and say you know here's what i've been through and you're creating a place where their suffering can be witnessed and then there's someone there to witness that you know to say we see it we're walking it walking it through with you we've seen some just amazing things happen with the building of this house we've seen god's hand all over it and god cleared the path always and just miraculously really and all we have to do is sit back and kind of admire it and enjoy it and say you know if he's in it no one is going to stop it and he's in it so he's in this house and it's it gives us chills to see how it's come together how beautiful it is how uh what um you know the property became available the zoning became available everything became available and just came together and got built through a pandemic through a year that you know it's just like how did that happen you know and it did and it's magnificent i can't wait to see the the the kids that come out of here i just can't wait to see their hearts and the change it's gonna be in them and he's going to do it and this is where community comes in this is where you the viewers come in we need people um who are willing to serve and give their time give their talents give their money give their prayers you know lift street hope up in prayer and lift the women who are affected the girls are living at garland oaks lift them up it is up to you i serve an incredible god and i know without a doubt that he is able we can attack this from every aspect from increasing the penalties from increasing awareness from increasing resources for victims as much as we want but god almighty that's where this is going to end is through what we do in his name what we do as his children in obedience to him you may think this is just too big of a thing how can i help just poor little me how can i help god calls you to do what you do god calls you to impact the people around you but god calls you to respond god calls you to act you can pray you some of you have re resources um to to to help those of us who are in the in the mix and doing that you know it we we can't do this for free we can't we can't build this home to provide restoration for these girls for nothing so there's a lot of different things that you can do to help i believe that there is a way that it can we can see an end to it in our generation and i believe that god can do it through us but it's going to take each and every person and as we pray he's going to give us instruction he's going to give us direction he's going to give us clarity he's going to give us discernment and he's going to give us a strategy but but i feel like he's calling us to have courageous faith in this season and it's going to take us being really bold in our faith and being very open about being courageous so now that you know what are you going to do as the porn industry grows and becomes more accessible with improving technology every day the demand for illicit sex grows too and this makes it more and more lucrative for people to prey on the vulnerable on children and that's why we must fight back with our awareness with training education and a place of restoration for these victims why because that's what christ asks of us we who believe are to be salt and light we're to be on mission with christ who came to set captives free we cannot we will not sit back and do nothing while children are exploited this is our generation slavery and the body of christ must respond you have the opportunity to be a part by god's grace we've expanded our reach in tennessee and we're finally on the cusp of opening garland oaks so how will you be a part there's no secret here we believe god wants his people to support this work so we're not relying on government we believe christ and his people are the answer that means we are depending on god to raise up both churches and individual christians to give and to pray because this is no small task let me spell out just a few of the challenges ahead we must constantly update and improve our curriculum for schools to educate kids of the dangers they face we must pursue more opportunities to train adults to know how to recognize threats and protect kids we must advertise all these free materials and make them available to anyone in the state of tennessee we must stay active on social media and stay involved in law enforcement and other government agencies we must launch our men's initiative to combat porn and porn addiction we must finish raising the first two years funding for garland oaks so that we can open the doors and receive our first survivors all these things take qualified staff with expertise and spiritual maturity who can do these things with excellence yeah we've got our work cut out for us in fact the goal for us is even bigger the end of child sex slavery do you think that's too big was it too big for believers who hated slavery more than they loved their own lives and previous generations well now it's our turn and our opportunity to sacrifice like those and like christ who gave his life to free others and what will history say about us what will god say here's our chance to determine that these things are not too big for god for whom nothing is impossible and who works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure so i'm asking you to search your heart listen to god's spirit as he moves you i encourage you to pray even now god how do you want me to take part in this fight do you sense him moving you to give how much maybe you're like the widow who only gave two coins but was commended by jesus because it was all she had see god will use the gift given in sacrifice what does sacrifice look like to you one starbucks coffee a week what can you give every month or maybe you have the ability to give a sizable gift now maybe god has blessed you and you want to make a real difference or maybe both see the easiest way to give is to scan the qr code in your program with the camera on your smartphone or to visit streethopetn.org hope will rise there is a response card in your program if you prefer the old-fashioned method on it you can give by check or credit card or even make a non-cash donation like stock real estate or other business interests through our partnership with ncf besides giving we ask you to pray for our ministry and to share about us through hosting an event or training and there are many ways to volunteer last thing if you fill out a card make sure to enclose it in the envelope you received and turn it in as you leave and i want to say thanks for joining us tonight the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners to proclaim the favorable year of our god the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all who mourn and to grant those who mourn in zion giving them a garland of beauty instead of ashes joy instead of mourning a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting so they will be called oaks of righteousness the planting of the lord that he may be glorified [Music] thank you for joining us tonight as many hearts gathered together across tennessee as one voice for the voiceless and the words of one champion from the counter-trafficking movement sometimes the enormity and the magnitude of this problem is absolutely overwhelming you get paralyzed and you think what can i do i can't do everything so instead we oftentimes end up doing nothing instead of doing the one thing that could activate something friends don't walk away tonight paralyzed by the magnitude of this problem god has given you each specific gifts to be used for his glory use those gifts because if we those of us who know the lord who believe that every human life is made in god's image and filled with his purpose don't care about these children we don't care about the voiceless or those in poverty or the dejected and quite frankly those who just don't know about the freedom in christ then who will we must walk forward boldly and confidently knowing that the same power inside us is far greater than that that we are facing we don't have the luxury of sending back or choosing to look away there are truly lives at stake not just here but throughout eternity yes street hope is doing the work of ending child sex trafficking but more importantly we proclaim christ and when his name is proclaimed lives are changed not just the lives of victims traffickers and buyers but all lives are changed and all onlookers are changed do you see that do you understand how incredible that is street hope tennessee is not limited to victims and traffickers but to people who need jesus but we can't do it alone we're asking you to join this army the lord is raising up because how will they hear that true healing restoration and freedom is available if there's no one to tell them you

Channel: Street Hope TN

Views: 517

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: _KYaQuYazpc

Length: 60min 20sec (3620 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021