We are often asked, how can the church help stop this and protect children?

And I think one of the reasons the church hasn’t been too concerned about it, is because men aren’t being taught in the church what a real man should be. A lot of men, if I can say this boldly, are tied up in pornography themselves. Our culture is saturated with it. And that’s why people don’t react to the victimization of these children, because that implicates them and then they have to say, “I’m guilty in some way.” We have got to do a better job in the church of learning what it means to be a true Christian and a true man as God designed you to be. Addressing porn addiction is a good place to begin.

Visualization to actualization sounds very simple, but so many guys are watching pornography that it’s become considered normal. And children are being exposed to it at younger and younger ages, and the stimulation is more and more violent and perverted. A generation of buyers and traffickers is being groomed through online pornography. When it no longer satisfies to just watch the abuse, some are going to go out there, when they decide to go “actual,” and look for someone to act out what he’s seen. And now he’s looking for a younger person, because only younger or more vulnerable will do the things that he’s seen in pornography. Now that’s hard to hear in a Christian setting, but it’s true.

What is happening in the real world of child sex trafficking, is that there are two ways that the traffickers make money. First, they take pictures from the child’s first act, and sell it to guy who get their kicks watching the taking of innocence, whether the child knows they’re being taken or not. It’s having a sexual experience with that child without consent that plants ideas and desires for more that they find hard to resist. And commercially explicit images of children are a whole billion-dollar market all its own.

Most don’t realize that when they’re watching pornography, they’re participating in child sex trafficking. Whether that child appears to enjoy it or not, as in the case of Lacy, that child is in her own head, thinking of protecting her 10-year-old sister. And by watching, you’re taking away that child’s life. Don’t think pornography that is ‘just one click or one view’ doesn’t hurt anyone, because when you listen to Lacy’s story, Part 1 | Part 2 you have to realize that she that lost all of her junior high and high school childhood to men who produced that video or took those pictures, and because there are consumers like the men who sit in our church pews. We can’t be silent anymore. We need to teach about the connection of the abuse of children that is closely tied to those who watch those images. And the church can help those who are addicted to it to find freedom. We must help them find freedom. Because without their demand, there would be no market and children like Lacy would have a childhood.

Shared Hope developed a Faith in Action kit with all the tools to begin a four-week Bible study with men to find freedom. It’s available at https://sharedhope.org/product/faith-action-kit/ and it gives you all the resources you need to first educate your church, and tools to educate your community!

Receive your free copy of the video Chosen here featuring two survivor’s stories.

Hear the stories Lacy/Stephanie tells in her own voice at Focus on the Family.
Part 1 | Part 2

In the number of years that I’ve worked on many of these cases in the United States, I’ve watched law enforcement change dramatically. They’re realizing that victims of prostitution are just somebody’s daughter, son, mom, cousin, sister or brother. And they’re starting to understand that, and they’re starting to change how they work with girls like Lacy. 

Lacy: As a young teen, I didn’t get to go to a real school, and I didn’t get to have a prom or any of the stuff that normal kids do. I didn’t get any of that, because of what happened to me. So, there was so much anger and bitterness inside and there was just this one point in time when my youth pastor talked to me, and he was a man, so I always just disliked him. And even though he was a pastor I didn’t care, but he never gave up on trying to reach me.

And then one day, he just says, “Hey, do you want to go to a baby shower?” I didn’t like kids back then because it reminded me of my brothers and sisters and that hurt a lot, and I didn’t want to see kids, especially babies. And I don’t know why, but I said, okay. It may have been that he offered Starbucks before, but you know, I went. At that time, the school I went to, had a program for teenage mothers. And there were all these Christian women who came to this baby shower. And I’m in my head thinking, you know, well, they shouldn’t be rewarding her, because they’re Christian. And Christians, don’t help you if you’ve done wrong. That’s what I was thinking in my head. I grew up in a Christian church, but no one helped me.

So, in my head, they shouldn’t be helping this girl who had sex, you know, before marriage and got pregnant. They shouldn’t be showering her with gifts and love. And there was just something in these women that, when they smiled at me, it got to me, but I didn’t smile back. I was just watching them. I stood in the back of the whole baby shower and watched them, and they were giving gifts that were brand-new, you know, expensive things. And they weren’t just buying things for the baby. They were buying things for the mother, as well.

And I just watched and they had this happiness inside them. And I got angry for a second and I thought to myself, I said, “See, God, that’s what You stole from me.” And then, I just kept watching for probably about two hours in the background. I didn’t sit down. I didn’t have anything to eat. I stood in the corner and I watched these women, these Christian women how they had this happiness. And every time they walked past me, there was something they had that I wanted that drew me towards them, where I wanted to just stand next to them. And finally, there was just this feeling, like I was so heavy. I couldn’t stand. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t breathe, so I pulled my pastor to the side. I grabbed him by the arm (and I didn’t touch men back then) So I said to my pastor, “Whatever those women have, I want it now.” And he prayed with me, and as soon as I said ‘yes’ to Jesus, it was like that feeling, that overwhelming sense of depression, everything was lifted off. All in one moment I could breathe again.

It was a few weeks later when I decided that, you know, my trafficker took everything and I’m not gonna let him take my name. That’s one thing he can’t have. And he can’t take my happiness. And he can’t take everything that he tried to. That was when I decided to be Stephanie again. And after that, there was this connection between me and God that can never go away. It’s like, you know, it’s like when married people go through so much together and there’s that bond, that strength that can’t be moved. That’s how it is with me and God.

I listen to Christian radio every morning, and this guy told everyone, “When we’re going through trials and we feel like God’s left you, that’s not true, because when you’re in school and you’re taking a test, the teacher is always quiet.” That’s when I realized that during that awful time, God never left me; He was just quiet.

And now I can see there were times when He did try to speak, and I ignored Him, because I thought He blamed me for what had happened to me, and I didn’t want anything to do with Him. During those times when He was quiet, I felt deserted. And it’s not bad for God to be quiet, because the truth is, He’s still with us. I used to lead worship for my church and for the youth group before I got married and had my son and I feel the love of God today and those broken fences in my heart are mended.

Sometimes I think about the baggage in my life. But I think about if I could go back and have the choice not to go through what I went through, or go through what I went through, and have the chance to speak out against it and have the chance to save hundreds of girls, thousands of kids, then I think about if I didn’t go through it, I wouldn’t be able to become that voice to protect other kids.

Now I have this need to speak out against it, this need to teach and this need to reflect the Bible verse that God showed to me a lot, was “Behold, I’m making all things new.” I have this need to help these kids make their life new. And if that means just sharing my story every now and then, making the Chosen video and having that, that’s what touches my heart. If that’s how I can spend my life, then that’s what I want to do.

Receive your free copy of the video Chosen here featuring two survivor’s stories.

Hear the stories Lacy/Stephanie tells in her own voice at Focus on the Family.
Part 1   | Part 2

Share this story with others to better understand what happens to children caught in child sex trafficking.

Lacy is one of the survivors featured in the Chosen film, who was thirteen years old at the time she was trafficked.  Sharing today from an interview when she was nineteen years of age. Asking the question: How did your rescue occur?

Lacy: Well, my rescue occurred because Linda Smith trained my probation officer when I was arrested. My probation officer was then able to “flag” my case and brought it to Linda’s attention, and they screened me while I was in juvenile detention. I met one of the Shared Hope advocates there, and she was a detention officer. There were a lot of people who would interview me with their different backgrounds or wherever they were in the system, but only one of them really stood out, and now I know she was trained by Shared Hope International. She really knew how to not intrude with questions and just kind of, just let me know that Shared Hope’s here for you kind of thing. She knew not to be pushing on me, ’cause as soon as you push on these girls, they’re gonna run.

So it was more comfortable talking to her and I started opening up. I think what really got to me was, she had brought me a Snickers bar in the interview room. The rest of them just kind of jumped right in: your name, this, that and the other, and were kind of very formal about it. But this person was very nice, and not intrusive, and just respected that I didn’t really want to speak to anyone, you know.

I was just turning 15 when she came and I’d been trafficked then for two years. I had really started becoming hardened in that environment, just being abused that way.

Before I was trafficked, I was a really nice person. I was probably one of the nicest people you could meet. (laughing) And then after that time frame, you know, I just became a different person, just slowly transitioning. During that time while you’re being trafficked, you start forgetting your self-worth and things like that, so that reflects on who you are, and you just don’t care anymore because all your choices are taken away. And you don’t care about other people anymore.

I was very angry and became very aggressive and ya just don’t look at people like people anymore. You look at them like monsters, you know. There’s been times when I was arrested and one of the purchasers or clients was, you know told, “You can go,” by the police. And then you start looking at the people that are supposed to be helping you, like the police and our justice system, and they’re the enemies. You start seeing them that way because that’s what your traffickers are telling you in the first place, is “They’re not gonna help you. They’re not gonna care for you.” And then they reflect that by letting the buyers go and taking you to jail in handcuffs.

And I fell for it, you know, because it wasn’t like what you would think from a movie, and they have like this trench coat and they’re hiding in a shadows barely lit. No, buyers are just average people, average men, you know. They go to work, they come home, and then they run to the grocery store with car seats in the back, and they rent me for about 30 minutes before they go back home with the milk that the wife asked for. It makes me angry and it’s so gross, because they don’t see what they’re doing as wrong. And if they do see it, they don’t care and they’re just taking away a kids’ life like mine, just to bring themselves momentary happiness or whatever they get from it.

People ask me, “How did you get through this, being hurt and wounded and men doing things to you in the way that they did? How did you trust that God is still there for you?”

Actually I didn’t trust that God still loved me, you know, after those times. Sometimes I think God would try to reveal Himself to me, but I’d tell Him to go away. I didn’t want anything to do with God, because how did You let me, a good kid, go through this horrible stuff?  You know, I read books to my brothers and sisters, and took them out on little play dates, and just different things like that. I volunteered in my community and went to youth group and youth retreats. I did my Ten Commandments. How could You let something like that happen to me?

There was a lot that I didn’t understand during that time, that God had to later reveal to me when I was ready, because I thought that He was quiet when all this was happening to me. Not that He was quiet, but that He was gone. I felt like He left me because of the things I did.

I blamed myself for everything. Like I put myself into this position by choosing to skip school to be with this guy. In my mind it seemed that I did it to myself. And I realize now, you know, thinking back on it, I was blaming myself for what my trafficker brainwashed me to believe. So, I suffered through a lot of anger, depression, a lot of guilt and I was just so angry. I hated everyone and I know hate is a very strong word, but at the time, that’s exactly how I felt, is I hated everybody. I didn’t know you, but I hated you.

I think Linda was the only person who got on a good side with me every time I saw her. I don’t know how she did it, but she did (laughing) Because I still did not like anyone. You could be the nicest person, but if you came up to me, especially if you were a man, I hated you. I didn’t want anything to do with you. I didn’t want you around me.

And there’s been plenty of times when I was in a home where they placed me at, a new staff member wasn’t aware of my predisposition towards men and would approach me, thinking I was just like all the other kids. And I would flip out and have anger issues and they would have to, you know, bring in staff members that I knew and trusted to calm me down because I didn’t like men anywhere near me. I freaked out if they were within an arm’s reach of me. I didn’t like them in the same hallways as me. I didn’t like them around at all.

And my anger started reflecting towards especially teachers and guidance counselors at the school and especially the police, because I was angry. All I could think was I should’ve been helped by them, but instead, I was the criminal. I was angry because in order for me to be protected, I had to be shipped across the country and I couldn’t see my family. I had no control over any of this, and you know, I was just really angry.

(Watch for Part 2 of Lacy’s story, how God began to reach through her anger)

Click here to receive your free download copy of the Chosen film .

The story is chilling in its content, but the end brings relief. If only every kid could have loving parents like Gordy and Robyn, who would’ve done anything for anyone of their children, especially their ‘baby’ Brianna, the youngest of five. Every kid deserves a friend like Evan who knew to speak up, and an educated police officer who knew what needed to be done, and strong Defenders who were willing to get involved during a busy Christmas season. 

How could her parents have known she would be Chosen?
Brianna had just turned eighteen, and she thrived in the freedom her parents had given her to excel and achieve. When Brianna called her mother to say she was going to stay overnight at a girlfriend’s house, Robyn didn’t think twice. But then Brianna didn’t come home. When Robyn tried to phone, and there was no answer, each attempt brought mounting panic.  

When someone finally picked up the phone, Robyn had a moment of relief — but then she heard a man’s voice, her blood ran cold. “Sounds like her parents,” he said to someone else. He chuckled. “If they only knew where she was!” He laughed again. For the first time, there was no doubt: Her daughter was in serious trouble. She made frantic calculations. Brianna was legally an adult; she had a legal right to leave, to do anything she wanted. She had one of the family’s cars; she could go wherever she wanted. And she had accumulated her own savings account; she had money to burn. 

But where was she, and with whom…?  

What her parents couldn’t know was that for months, sex-traffickers had been posing as ordinary customers in the restaurant where Brianna worked. They had wormed their way into her confidence, convinced her that it was time to do something daring. The “daring move”? Taking off on her own for a Christmas vacation in Phoenix. They were even going to buy her plane ticket. 

 By the grace of God, someone made a small but fateful decision: to return the family car. Brianna contacted a buddy named Evan and told him she was going to bring the car to him; then she would be off to Phoenix! Evan, she said, should return the car to her family.

One of the unseen heroes in this story?  Brianna’s friend, Evan. His father had shared with him what he had learned at Rotary, about the signs of trafficking and what could happen to unsuspecting girls. Every young person needs to know what Evan knew so they can defend their friends. Evan’s call to his dad set off a chain of protection for Brianna. 

Her parents got the word and rushed to Evan’s place. The police had already placed a call to “someone named Linda” who knew something about this type of situation.  

That someone was Linda Smith. In her own words she describes the next few hours: 

I arrived in the dark and the rain, and found Brianna distraught and impatient. I tried to explain what might actually have happened. She might be involved with traffickers, who often engage in sophisticated deception strategies, trapping even the smartest of pretty girls. 

 I knew she could bolt, and her parents might never see her again. So I reached out to her as gently as possible, and invited her to go with me to a restaurant nearby, just to talk. Maybe she’d like to learn more about how traffickers work? We left together (as I silently thanked God for giving me favor with the girl), leaving them to wait — for several hours, as it turned out — to see what Brianna would do next.  

It was the middle of the night when I finally brought her back to them — in the parking lot of a local store, where I felt they would be safe for the moment. Brianna wanted to go home. They wilted with relief. 

I explained to them that the traffickers had Brianna’s ID, so they knew where she lived — which meant they might come after her. At the very least, they needed to store her car someplace else, so visitors wouldn’t know she was home.  

Her parents arranged to park the car in the garage at the hospital where Robyn worked. 

Later that same night, a car crawled onto the family’s property, headlights off, and not seeing her car, they turned around and left. Law enforcement officers speculated that Brianna had become too high a risk, so the traffickers were moving on to other targets. In any case, phone records revealed that the traffickers had several other girls in the deception process. 

The family learned later that Brianna had already been shown like property to prospective buyers, and her airline tickets had already been purchased; she was being moved to Phoenix for New Year’s Eve parties there. There, finally, she would have learned the real reason she was in Phoenix.  

Brianna began to heal from the trauma, and wanted to fight back. She was not just afraid for herself, but with all she learned from Shared Hope, when she realized what could have happened to her, she was afraid for every young girl in the world. “She was determined to tell her story,” her mother says, “so it wouldn’t happen to someone else. We supported her decision to be a voice because we were at such a loss on how to deal with the fact that someone can come into your child’s life with such an evil agenda, calculated and practiced.”  

Brianna’s father, Gordon, pleads from the depth of a father’s being, “I just couldn’t protect her. I didn’t know she was in danger.”  He urges other parents to learn how traffickers operate, and to warn their kids. “There is much we still don’t know about those who preyed on our child and nearly stole her future,” they relate. “What we do know, though, is that we were not prepared to protect her. We had not told her about trafficking, and how the traffickers work, because we didn’t know ourselves. If this could happen to us, it could happen to any family.” Click here to get your free download copy of the Chosen film today and share it with a parent or teen.  

“All we can do is speak out, and educate, to save the children yet to be targeted, and stop the evil from succeeding.” 

The Defender’s in the story? Vern Smith drove with his wife to meet Brianna, and sat in the car at the restaurant to keep watch that cold December night. The police officer, John Chapman, was also watching from nearby in case the traffickers somehow had followed her. John had been notified by a Rotarian Ron Hart, who had been called by Evan’s father, Newt, that there may be a problem. That set off the chain of events that led to Brianna’s safe return to her family. 

The result of this harrowing experience was Chosen, a powerful Shared Hope video teaching tool that tells Brianna’s story, among others, and gives children, parents, educators, law enforcers, and others the information and resources to protect themselves from sex-traffickers. Many thousands — in schools, churches, and other community settings — have seen the video. And it continues to make a powerful impact. 

Brianna’s parents urge, “Every single family should learn the signs of trafficking to protect their kids or grandkids. Every family should see Chosen.” 

Click here to get your free download copy of the Chosen film today.