My Calling

I will very rarely tell my story on this blog, except as it pertains to training and ministries I have been a part of and women and children I have met who have permitted me to share, but as this is the beginning, I thought that I could make the statistics more personal by letting you all know how I became aware of this issue.

I went to a Christian leadership conference called Catalyst in the year 2010. The conference brings many diverse speakers to one location to preach and teach. One of the speakers there changed my life completely, although it would take a while for everything to fall into place. Although she was not the main speaker, and they brought her in to highlight a ministry, Christine Caine was the main event of the conference for me. She introduced me to the topic of human trafficking and opened my eyes to an entire world of hurting people.

I still remember vividly one of the stories she told about the conditions. Women are packed into crates with air holes, like livestock. They are placed on cargo ships and must use the restroom in that small, dark cage. Most of them don't survive the trip, but there is such a huge supply that it doesn't concern the ones who are trading them. In fact, if the ship ends up being subject to a surprise inspection, the crew will simply throw the crates of women overboard, without unlocking or releasing the captives. The story was so horrifying that I didn't want to believe it happened anywhere. She is one of my heroes, because she, through her A21 Campaign, has contributed a great deal to fighting the demand, changing legislation, healing women, and raising awareness.

Incidentally, a movie was released locally around the same time. This movie is called Stop the Candy Shop, and it's an allegory about the trafficking industry. I'll write up a separate review of this film, along with Street Grace, and post the PBA Documentary on the issue that accompanied the local release, but seeing that film made me realize that the issue was taking place in my own backyard. This broke my heart even further, however I was still unsure about how to really get involved and find my space.

The next year, when I returned to Catalyst, I learned about the International Justice Mission and their abolitionist movement to free slaves in all industries, from sex trade to waitressing, and I also met a volunteer from Wellspring Living. The people at Wellspring were asking conference attendees to tweet. For every tweet that went out with their hashtag, someone was donating $1 to their organization. Being a broke student who was overcommitted, there was little I felt like I could do... but I could certainly tweet. I sent out hundreds of tweets that weekend and encouraged others to do likewise. Finally, I had found something I could do and I was so very fired up and ready to make a difference.

As the next year went by, I kept hearing signs and words from God. I'd get an idea about a way to raise money here, or a full fledged 501c3 idea that I am still praying about beginning. I would hear a word from a wise friend about the possibility that God seemed to be calling me to make a difference, because out conversations went from social chatter and talk about my career in music to social justice issues. All I would talk about was these women and children, and how they needed help, and what could we all do, and that something had to be fixed.

The final straw was Catalyst this year. The woman I'd met the prior year actually remembered me a full year later, despite the thousands of people she must have met that weekend alone, much less at the other conferences she'd worked. It amazed me that she remembered me, and I couldn't believe I'd made enough of a mark. It couldn't have been simply anything I'd said or done, but rather God positioning me to take a more active role in this fight.

Wellspring has recently published a fantastic book called The White Umbrella. (http://www.thewhiteumbrellacampaign.com/) I'll write another entry about this book as well. I received a copy of this book at Catalyst. The copy is currently underlined, highlighted, and scrawled through the margins with words like "FIX THIS" and "SICK AND WRONG" throughout. It rocked my world. I have been unable to stop and return to the inactive apathy any longer.

I saw a showing of a DVD called Nefarious: Merchant of Souls recently, too. (Yes, another entry.) There were a couple other organizations there. I began talking to a representative from one of them, and realized that their twice-annually training was happening the next weekend. That's all I needed to know to realize that God was pushing me into this issue and saying NOW! No more waiting!

So, here I am. Beginning a blog about the things I have learned and trying to make more people aware of the huge issue and how to become involved in fighting.

Thanks for reading!