Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Love in any language

A woman at Tomoka Christian named Jennifer leads a new ministry to exotic dancers called The Power of Love. A team of ladies who stepped up to serve in that ministry went out for the first time recently to minister to those trapped in the sex industry at clubs in Daytona Beach. Below is a report from Jennifer.

Praise God! The Lord is so faithful. It was an amazing day from start to finish. We began the day with a powerful time of praise and worship, then we prepared and prayed for the gift bags. Julie went over the game plan for the outreach, and then Pastor Ray from the Daytona Outreach Center prayed for and anointed each of the team members. Ablaze with the Holy Spirit, the eight of us loaded up in the DOC van. Immediately the intercessors began praying and worship music filled the van.

God led us through five strip clubs in Daytona Beach. God prepared the way for His power of love to flow like rivers. We were welcomed into every club we set foot in!

The women and managers we met had looks on their faces as if they had been waiting for us. In the first club we entered, Julie explained to the manager that we were a faith-based organization that supported and offered help to people in the sex industry. He told us he had a girl for us, and then took us to the dressing room and introduced us to a girl who was 18 years old and five months pregnant. Julie and I gave her a hug and then handed her a gift bag with our contact information, letting her know if there was anything we could do for her she could call us for help.

At another club, the manager said: "Where have you been? I wish you would have been here last week. I had a girl that just quit. She was getting beat up by her boyfriend...and shooting up." By the end of the visit we agreed with the manager that we would work together to help these girls.

The most special part of the night for me was at a club whose manager thought we were joking when we said we wanted to come in to distribute gifts to the girls. He asked us: "Are you serious? Is this some kind of a joke?" We reassured him we were very serious and everything was free. He then took us into the club and started calling all the girls around to receive the bags, and even went into the dressing room to bring the rest of the girls out. We went back to that club later in the night, and one girl called Julie over and asked her if someone could pray for her. Three Power of Love team members gathered around her for prayer, and afterwards she asked us if we could pray for a friend of hers. She called over another girl and we were able to pray with her as well. The girls there were so open with us and wanted us to stay longer, but the manager came in the dressing room and said: "I don't mind that you're in here talking to my girls — we don't have any customers anyway — but that church van outside ain't good for my business." The team had a good laugh over that!

There are six strip clubs in Daytona Beach and God led us through five of them. The team chose not to enter one of the clubs because we didn't feel a peace about the place. Something was unsettled in our spirit and we decided it was best not to go. The name of the club is Molly Brown's and is located on Seabreeze. Please keep this club and the employees in your prayers.

The outreach team would like to thank you for your passionate prayers, your love and support. We all prayed, believed and expected God to rain down His Spirit, to open the hearts of the lost, for His glory to be revealed .... and He was, is and always will be faithful. He answered our prayers and exceeded our expectations.

Note: Jennifer may be reached via e-mail here.

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