Every month we get together and worship at New Harvest Christian Church. Every month looks different, different bands, worship leaders, different formats. A few months ago, we got the idea to go over the top with Stations of the Cross for Easter! And that's what we did! With the help of New Harvest Christian Church, Hope Community Church, Madison Church of the Nazarene (Adrian, MI) and several other people, we pulled off a wonderful night. Together, we encountered the cross through interactive and meditative ex
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Thursday night our care team headed out to four Toledo clubs to deliver Easter gifts and good news about a free medical clinic. Women in the sex industry do not have access medical insurance because they are considered independent contractors, much like a Mary Kay sales rep. They are not technically employed by the clubs, but instead rent space like a cosmetologist would from a hair salon. So free medical clinics that give out actual medical care are an important resource to them. Sixty gifts went to sixty wonderful women! We had great conversations with women we've known for years and with several new women that we met for the first time. We even got to have a phone conversation with one of the ladies who was recovering from surgery and just happened to call when we were there. It was great to chat with the managers and did we mention that two of the clubs it was our first time into them and we were warmly welcomed! It is such an honor and a privilege to walk where we have been given opportunity to walk! God is so good! And he loves exotic dancers, this we are more and more convinced of every day! This was our Easter message to the ladies: Free2BMe has been busy playing elves for Santa! Last weekend we had our first ever Breakfast for Santa for the children of the women we serve! The event was held at the Eastern YMCA and we had our very own visit from Santa Claus! The kids had fun and we were even able to invite Y guests to join in on the fun! We have also been working on blessing the ladies we serve with Christmas gifts for their children. Several churches and organizations partnered with us this year to make Christmas happen for several families! Thank you to Genesis Christian Fellowship, Madison Church of the Nazarene and Bay Park Community Hospital. We also want to send a thank you to Nu-Vizion for our new partnership for our Praise & Prayer Gatherings. They have generously opened their building to Free2BMe once a month! We are excited about this ministry partnership! On Tuesday, I awoke to the news that one of our clubs was burning. We immediately went into action - getting people praying for the safety of all involved, for provision for those who will be out of work, for staff, employees, managers, owners...for everyone involved to just be wrapped in God's love in this horrific moment, when everything that they know came crashing to the ground. Imagine coming to work and realizing that there was no work. There would be no money, no food, no rent, no car payment, nothing. And to top that off...there will also be no unemployment benefits because most who are affected by this circumstance are exactly in that boat. Your world would be crushed and you would panic, especially when you have children. We began to work on how we could serve this club selflessly in this crazy time. We contacted the managers and the employees that we had contact info for and began to get the ball rolling on loving these women in this time of need. Tonight we had opportunity to love unconditionally in a very special way. We are always blown away by the ways God allows us to serve women in the sex industry! It is such an honor and privilege to know these precious women. Tonight we delivered a couple weeks of groceries to a woman who is out of work because of this week's fire at Platinum Showgirls! It was amazing to see the children smile and run to help unload. Neighbors joined in as well. The kids came running out of the house after taking the groceries in, each having claimed their own box of cereal for themselves, yelling "Thank You! Thank You!" And "H" gave many hugs and thank yous. She has kept the cards from our visits to the club in her purse for encouragement. She pulls them out and reads the prayers on them. She is a treasure! And we pray only blessings over her life and the life of her family! It was such a blessing to us to be able to meet her, her family and her neighbors tonight! We can't help but think that even if only for the next couple of days, this family won't have to worry how they are going to put food on the table. The children can go to bed knowing that all is not lost, there is hope... |
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