Archives For human trafficking

Briefing: EC’s Frank Page resigns over ‘personal failing,’ tricky SBC election, America’s not happy

ib2newseditor —  March 27, 2018

The Briefing

EC’s Frank Page resigns over ‘personal failing’
Frank S. Page has resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, effective March 27 over what is described as “a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past.”

Southern Baptists face tricky election—again
The 2018 election for president of the Southern Baptist Convention looks a lot like what happened in St. Louis two years ago. But one thing is different about the race between J.D. Greear and Ken Hemphill—public campaigning is making a comeback.

Billy Graham’s death leads 10,000 to pray for salvation
More than 1.2 million have visited BillyGrahamMemorial.org in just a month, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). The online memorial features a link to a site with a clip of Graham inviting crowds at his crusades to make a decision for Christ, followed by a list of steps to pray to accept Jesus as their Savior. More than 113,000 have visited that site, StepstoPeace.org, in the month since Graham’s death, and 10,500 indicated they prayed to either profess faith for the first time or to renew lapsed faith.

Congress passes online, anti-trafficking bill
Congress has approved legislation designed to thwart sex trafficking by holding accountable online sites that facilitate the crime. The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) would amend a 1996 anti-obscenity federal law to authorize the prosecution of websites that support the sale of people in the sex trade. The proposal would clarify trafficking victims have the right to bring civil action against online sites.

America falls in world happiness rankings
According to a recent World Happiness Report, the United States dropped four spots from last year—moving from 14th place to 18th in a survey of 156 countries taken from 2015 to 2017. The rankings are based on six key areas of well-being: healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust, income, and generosity. Finland took first place, followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.

Sources: Baptist Press, IB2news, Christianity Today, Baptist Press, Facts and Trends

In Briefing , , , , , ,
permalink

Teen walks for freedom: 300-mile journey spotlights human trafficking

ib2newseditor —  June 22, 2017
Lindsey Yoder

Photos courtesy Walk4Freedom via Facebook

“Sometimes putting one foot in front of another is a lot harder than it sounds.”

That’s especially true for 14-year-old Lindsey Yoder who is walking 15 miles a day along the dusty back roads of Illinois—from her home in Arthur to Nashville, Tennessee—in a quest to raise awareness about human trafficking. She hopes to complete the trek in four weeks.

It might be said that the journey began in Springfield in November 2015, when young Yoder attended AWSOM, the Illinois Baptist Women’s annual event for teen girls. “Human trafficking was the focus,” her mother, Regina, said, “and that fueled her interest in the issue.” When a movie about the international sale and trade of vulnerable young women was shown near her town, Lindsey knew she was ready to make a difference.

“My heart was broken at the thought of all the girls who are in this horrible situation, and I asked God specifically to tell me how I can help,” the teen said in an interview from the road with the Illinois Baptist. “Priceless” is a 2016 film about a man who realizes the young women he’s being paid to drive cross country are actually being sold into the sex trade.

About 57,000 people in the U.S. are victims of human trafficking. According to Shared Hope International, “the common age a child enters sex trafficking is 14-16, when they’re too young and naïve to realize what’s happening.” Most victims are girls, but boys are trafficked and sold to pimps as well.

Lindsey is walking to Tennessee because Nashville is the U.S. home of Hope for Justice, an organization that works internationally to stop human trafficking through its offices in Cambodia, England, and Norway. Her eventual goal is to raise enough money to support 30 rescue operations–$195,000.

Why not do a car wash or some other typical student ministry fundraiser? “Because God asked me to walk, so I’m doing it out of obedience. It wasn’t my idea. My faith was the main reason I decided to do step out and do this event that is bigger than me.”

“God has her attention,” said Carmen Halsey, director of IBSA’s Women’s Missions. “She sees the people through his eyes. Lindsey’s not just sitting in a pew. She’s put feet to the vision—literally!”

Lindsey’s biggest challenge walking so far has been the unusually early summer heat. The bugs are are a problem too, but “I’d rather have the heat than the bugs,” she said.

Lindsey Yoder 3

Awesome family project
As a homeschooling family, the Yoders lead a missional lifestyle. Last year Lindsey went to Honduras on what she called a “class field trip” with her grandfather. She has travelled to Haiti with her mother and sister to work in an orphanage. And she wants to become a teacher in India, working as a full-time missionary.

For this trip, her family is, again, all in. “My mom planned all the routes, and we took two pilot trips to make sure all the roads are safe for walking. My dad is at home working hard at his job and is super supportive of my walk. My three older brothers each drove all the way from Ohio to walk the first two miles with me. My younger siblings are along for the ride, even though they’d rather be home. They haven’t bit each other’s heads off yet.”

And the support extends to her church family. “My church has been incredibly supportive…even more than I expected,” Lindsey said of Arthur Southern Baptist Church. “My youth group sold candy bars in the Walmart parking lot to help cover expenses for lodging and gas as we travel. Our church also gave me funds to cover more of our expenses.”

Lindsey started her walk after the May 28 Sunday morning service where several in the congregation gathered to lay on hands and pray for her. When it was time to start the walk, “about 80 people joined me for the first two miles of the walk,” she said. “It was so fun to be supported and surrounded by the people in my church.”

And her request of fellow Baptists in Illinois? “I really need people praying that I can see this through to the end, for those who have no voice and need to be set free.”

Editor’s note: Lindsey’s made it to Nashville, Tennessee. She will reach the 300-mile mark and celebrate at Bicentennial Park at 2 p.m. (eastern) Saturday, June 24. Follow her on Facebook and learn how you can donate.

In Heartland , , , , , , ,
permalink

Worth the risk

ib2newseditor —  May 2, 2016
A whirl of color – The Illinois mission team tries on pieces of the sari indigenous to the culture.

A whirl of color – The Illinois mission team tries on pieces of the sari indigenous to the culture.

As Carmen Halsey walked the roads of this South Asian country, she challenged herself to a game of sorts. “I’m a make eye contact, smile kind of person,” said IBSA’s director of women’s ministry and missions. Halsey tried to lock eyes with women she passed and see if she could get them to smile. But it never happened.

“I’ve never seen the face of oppression like what I saw there,” Halsey said, remembering how she tired of the multiple calls to prayer at the mosque, ringing out daily and reminding her mission team of how many people are walking in spiritual darkness.

Halsey’s trip to South Asia was actually years in the making. When she joined the IBSA staff in 2013, she mobilized women in the state around awareness and prevention of human trafficking—a focus started by National Woman’s Missionary Union.

In Illinois, Halsey has continued that emphasis, putting in place a task force to study the issue, create resources for churches, and facilitate mission trips in North America and internationally to be involved in rescuing victims of trafficking. The trafficking focus is how Halsey met Kimberly Sowell and Bangladesh: For Faith and Freedom.

The April trip, led by Sowell, gave Halsey and Illinois women an opportunity to see up-close trafficking prevention and rescue at the Light of Hope Center. But they also saw the importance of encouraging national Christians—South Asian women who have come to Christ and are now risking persecution to reach others with the gospel.

During their trip, the Illinois women saw in a new, real way the threats Christians face in other parts of the world. The awareness that believers in South Asia could lose their lives for their faith spurred the team on, Halsey said, and inspired “intense, beautiful” prayer. It also left Halsey wrestling with a bigger question: As Christians in the U.S., most of us don’t have a target on our backs. Why then are we not sharing here?

As the team ministered in a village one day, they were asked to pray for people who were sick. One woman went to get her son, a Muslim, so Halsey could pray for him. Halsey describes what happened next as her boldest moment. “I looked at him and said, ‘I will pray for you. But I have got to be clear: There is only one name I’ll pray to.”

In this place, where people are in desperate need of hope, only one Name can deliver it: Jesus.

For more information about IBSA mission opportunities, contact Carmen Halsey at (217) 391-3138 or CarmenHalsey@IBSA.org.

– Meredith Flynn

In Heartland , , , ,
permalink

The Briefing: Is racial justice a ‘gospel demand?’

Meredith Flynn —  December 9, 2014

Leaders debate in wake of grand jury decisions

THE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

The Christian Post reports on a disagreement among some Southern Baptist leaders, following a grand jury’s decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson in the death of Missouri teenager Michael Brown.

The_Briefing“Seems to me that racial reconciliation is a good thing and is a social issue, not a doctrinal or theological issue, and certainly not a “gospel demand,'” blogged Texas pastor Randy White. “If there is something Biblical that expresses racial reconciliation as a gospel demand, I’ve missed it.”

White’s Nov. 26 post at randywhiteministries.org was in response to Southern Seminary vice president Matthew Hall, who wrote about racial injustice after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death. Hall blogged the gospel demands racial reconciliation and justice, and gave five reasons why Christians ought to heed its instruction on the issues.

“…It’s high time that we start listening to our African-American brothers and sisters when they tell us that they’re experiencing a problem in this country,” Russell Moore said after a Staten Island grand jury did not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. In a Questions & Ethics podcast recorded after the verdict was announced Dec. 3, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President denounced racial divisions in and among churches.

As a 13-year-old, Christian rapper Lecrae went free after harassing people with a pellet gun, he said in a Dec. 3 Facebook post. “One officer decided not to arrest me years ago but instead challenged me to get in my Bible.” The post was published on the same day as the Cleveland funeral of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed by a police officer while carrying a pellet gun.

A Southern Baptist pastor in Florida was killed Dec. 4 by a gunman who also took the lives of two women. Baptist Press reported police arrested Andres Avalos in Bradenton two days after the murders of Pastor Tripp Battle, Amber Avalos (Andres Avalos’ wife), and Denise Potter. Battle was the pastor of Bayshore Baptist Church in Bradenton; his father-in-law, Keith Johnson, was formerly on staff at FBC Machesney Park and Vale Church (Bloomington) in Illinois.

Six in ten Americans say the government shouldn’t define or regulate marriage, according to this recent LifeWay Research study, and more than half say clergy should no longer be involved in the state’s licensing of marriage.

A group of religion leaders, including Pope Francis, have pledged to do everything they can to end human slavery by 2020.

Religion News Services wonders how Christians will respond to “Unbroken,” the Louis Zamperini biopic from director Angelina Jolie. The film reportedly doesn’t deal with Zamperini’s Christian faith, chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 book from its beginnings at a 1949 Billy Graham Crusade.

 

 

In Briefing , , , , , ,
permalink

Trafficking victim’s testimony calls teens to action

Meredith Flynn —  January 7, 2014

Tuesday_BriefingTHE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

“The reason I am here is because I don’t want to have to rescue you.” 

Tajuan McCarty stood in front of more than 100 teenage girls and their leaders in November, pulling no punches as she told her story. Speaking in short, unflinching sentences, she explained how she was pushed into prostitution at age 15, and trafficked into every state except Hawaii and Alaska over the next 11 years.

“I am a survivor of trafficking.”

McCarty is founder and director of The Wellhouse, a ministry that rescues women trapped in the same kind of life that once enslaved her. Headquartered in Birmingham, The Wellhouse is in a prime location to fight trafficking along I-20, known as the sex trafficking superhighway. She also helps raise awareness about the global problem that is deeply entrenched in the United States.

McCarty has been a Christian for four years, so her message begins with this: All women are beautiful, because they’re made in God’s image.

“If you walk away from here thinking prostitution is a choice and/or she’s doing it because she’s on drugs, I have not done my job,” McCarty told a captivated audience at AWSOM, an annual missions event for young women in Illinois. Drugs are only a symptom of the problem, she added.

“At The Wellhouse, what we try to do is reach the core of the problem. And yes, we introduce them to Jesus because that is the only way to heal people.”

Read more in the new Illinois Baptist, online at http://ibonline.IBSA.org.

Other news:

New missions housing opens in Chicagoland
The new home of the Chicago Metro Baptist Association also has room for volunteers serving in the city. The Rockwell Street building’s 9,000 square feet on three floors have been remodeled into several large spaces for mission teams to stay, plus a chapel/meeting space, and in the basement a large dining hall and full commercial kitchen. And nine showers. At $15 per mission tripper per night, “it’s a clean, affordable, functional place,” said Jay Noh, “and I am prayerfully optimistic that many more churches will be able to bring groups to minister in the city.” Read more here, and check out page 6 of the newest Illinois Baptist for information about another mission housing opportunity in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield.

Rainer blogs 14 trends for 2014
LifeWay President Thom Rainer’s predictions for 2014 include more megachurches, downsized denominations, smaller worship centers and a stronger focus on small groups. Read more of his 14 predictions for churches at ThomRainer.com. (Note: Predictions are split into two posts.)

Creation Museum president vs. Science Guy in evolution debate
The president of a museum dedicated to creationism will soon debate Bill “the Science Guy” Nye on evolution. Ken Ham, president of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., and Nye will engage in a sold-out public debate at the museum on Feb. 4. “It is an important debate to have as we deal with the question, ‘Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?'” Ham posted on his blog.

Nye, host of TV’s “Bill Nye the Science Guy” in the mid-1990s, made headlines last year with a YouTube video calling creationism inappropriate for kids. A recent study by Pew Research found 60% of Americans believe in evolution. Read more about the survey here, and go to anwersingenesis.org for more about the debate, which also will be live streamed.

Most popular Scripture passages of 2013
According to analysis shared on ChristianityToday.com, Philippians 4:13 was the most popular verse on the YouVersion Bible app last year, followed by Isaiah 40:31, Matthew 6:13, Joshua 1:9, and Philippians 4:6. Read YouVersion’s top 10 shared verses of 2013 at ChristianityToday.com.

In Briefing , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

SBC President Luter visits Springfield this week

Meredith Flynn —  April 16, 2013

Luter_blogTHE BRIEFING | Meredith Flynn

Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter is in Springfield today to meet with Illinois Baptist pastors and leaders at the Illinois Baptist State Association building. Luter also is preaching a three-day “Festival of Hope” at Union Baptist Church, a congregation affiliated with National Baptists. David Howard, director of missions for the Capital City Baptist Association invited Luter to Springfield in an effort to build bridges with African American churches in the city. The SBC president will engage in a Q&A time later today, and speak in the IBSA chapel service tomorrow morning. Check back here and on Facebook.com/IllinoisBaptist for more throughout the day.

Warren shares grief, faith on Twitter
In the days following his son’s death, Rick Warren’s personal Twitter feed told at least part of the story of how he and his family dealt with their grief. “Kay and I are overwhelmed by your love, prayers, and kind words. You are all encouraging our #brokenhearts,” Warren tweeted April 7, two days after Matthew Warren, 27, committed suicide.

He also responded to comments from Christians and non-Christians alike who took to social media to criticize and speculate about the Warren family. “Grieving is hard. Grieving as public figures, harder. Grieving while haters celebrate your pain, hardest. Your notes sustained us,” Warren wrote April 8.

He also offered forgiveness to the person who sold his son an unregistered gun, citing Matthew 6:15, and wrote about God’s faithfulness in trouble. Citing Psalm 34:1, Warren wrote, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.”

Read more about Warren’s Twitter reflections on BPNews.net.

Pro-life advocates use tweets to force media’s hand on Gosnell trial
U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and actress Patricia Heaton were among those who participated in a TweetFest last week to force the media to cover the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist charged with killing seven babies after delivery. He also is charged in the death of Karnamaya Monger, who died after she was given a Demerol overdose at Gosnell’s West Philadelphia Women’s Medical Society.

The trial has received virtually no media coverage from many major outlets, so pro-life activists Bryan Kemper and Andy Moore decided to use social media to get the word out. Read the full story at ChristianPost.com.

Pope Francis speaks out against church’s hypocrisy
A month into his papacy, Pope Francis called out the Catholic Church on the inconsistencies between what is taught and what is lived. “Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the intangible witness of one’s life,” he said at a Mass at St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome on April 14. “Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they from our lips, and so give glory to God!” Read more at ChristianPost.com.

‘Not Today’ movie sheds light on human trafficking
A new feature film, released Friday, April 12, tells the tragic story of human trafficking. “Not Today,” produced by Friends Church in Yorba Linda, Ca., chronicles a young man’s struggle to rescue a girl sold into slavery, and to overcome his own apathy. The movie was filmed on location in India, but producer Brent Martz told Baptist Press that human trafficking is an issue everywhere. “I wish we could say that it didn’t exist here. It is easy maybe to put our head in the sand and say, that’s a problem that is halfway around the world, but it is happening here.” Read more about the movie at BPNews.net, and check the film’s website to find out where it’s showing near you.

In Briefing , , , , , , ,
permalink