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June 28, 2021 by Jo Lembo

The Choice

Written by Pastor Nick and Jo Lembo

A question asked by many Christians who care deeply about others, especially for the vulnerable and the oppressed is, “Why doesn’t God stop evil people who hurt children?”

It seems there is a conflict between what we believe about our loving God (who knows us personally and gave His only Son to die so that we could have eternal life) and one who appears to be a passive all-powerful God who doesn’t step in, as if he does not care about what is happening to humans on this earth. Why would Jesus need to be “interceding at the right hand of the Father” if it’s God’s job to stop all evil on the earth? (Romans 8:34)

God’s ultimate goal is to be our Father and Friend, and through this relationship allow us to partner with Him in overseeing our home, planet earth. That is the plan He began in Genesis, and it is what Christ restored at the cross. If God had wanted more creatures just to serve Him, He could’ve made a billion more angels. His first desire is for family, as He created us in His image and likeness, and breathed His very Spirit and nature into us.

“I’ve given you everything to enjoy, but I ask you this one thing: Please don’t eat of this tree.”
Genesis 2:16-17

The answer to the question lies in the Garden where the first man and women were breathed into life by the eternal, loving God who wanted to have a creation to know Him and love Him back. He gave them an entire Garden to love and enjoy, and gave them one choice to show their love and appreciation back to Him. “I’ve given you everything to enjoy, but I ask you this one thing: Please don’t eat of this tree.” You know the rest of the story. Humans chose to disregard God’s heartfelt request, and they chose their own way. Humans chose to eat of tree of the knowledge of good and evil, rather than eating of every other tree that was given to them out of God’s heart of love. So they had to leave the Garden, or they would have lived forever and continued to sin without ever having a way back to relationship with God.

But God immediately stepped in with hope for them when He said, “Because the serpent has bruised your heel, you will toil to bring fruit from the earth, you will have pain in childbirth, but the seed of the woman will crush the serpent’s head.” God then clothed them in animal skins to replace their own fig leaves because now they had shame where before they had never known they were naked. (A picture of how He would institute sheep and goat as sacrifices foreshadowing how His only Son would die for all of mankind) Now they knew good and evil whereas before they walked and talked with God every day in the Garden, and shared His heart and love, and fully trusted in Him alone. Remember, before the fall, this was done out of their own free will, choosing to be with Him, and thus fulfilling His heart desire in His creation, and reaping a life of pure peace.

The Passion Translation – Romans 1 explains what happened as a result:

21 “Throughout human history the fingerprints of God were upon them, yet they refused to honor him as God or even be thankful for his kindness. Instead, they entertained corrupt and foolish thoughts about what God was like. This left them with nothing but misguided hearts, steeped in moral darkness.
28 And because they thought it was worthless to embrace the true knowledge of God, God gave them over to a worthless mind-set, to break all rules of proper conduct.” Romans 1:21, 28

The Bible is full of promises that show us how to find our way back to Him: to choose Him again, by giving up our own selfish desires, and becoming like Jesus, who gave up His life so that we might live forever with Him. The beauty of it is, it is always our choice. If God takes away humankind’s choice by intervening when others choose evil, then He is also taking away our choice to choose Him. His promise is to always be with us even through our own bad choices, and to walk with us through the hardships of the choices of a fallen and cursed world, where human beings choose to do unspeakably hurtful things to others.

This gives us the chance to choose Him every day where He restores, heals, cleanses, gives new life and new mercy every day. In that, His miraculous nature is demonstrated through us. This causes others to see His love and goodness and choose Him too.

May 7, 2021 by Guest

From the Field: Ambassadors at Work

As Ambassadors, we always hope that the seeds we plant will make a positive difference in some way. When we give a prevention and awareness event on DMST we highlight the signs to look for and the importance of saying something if you see something that does not seem right. We are sure to hand out the SHI Signs of Trafficking cards and explain the Human Trafficking hotlines that are staffed 24/7. We ask the audience to program the numbers into their cell phones.

During our events, we emphasize what Law Enforcement tells us when we ask, “How can we as a citizen best help you in dealing with possible DMST?” Their response is: “Be a good witness. Notice and record and remember the details of what you are seeing.” During our events, we are sure to encourage the audience to call 911 or local Law Enforcement if there appears a need for immediate response. However, we recognize that some people may not be comfortable for whatever reason or maybe in an unfamiliar location where they don’t know the number, so the Hotline Number is good to have programmed into their phone.

Yesterday we had a call from an attendee at one of our events and he recognized the signs and called the hotline number and then called us. He was able to give them valuable information about the type and color of the vehicle, the license tag number and details of what the people looked like and what they were doing. He was in a local Walmart parking lot and observed two older males putting a young girl who was crying into the back seat of a car that had blackened windows and it appeared she did not want to get in the car.

He called me to let us know that he just made the call. I thanked him for having good eyes and taking responsible action. Since the information warranted immediate action from local law enforcement, I followed up immediately with a call and made sure they were in the loop with the information that had been passed on to the national hotline. They had not received the information yet, so I gave them the number of the friend who had observed the incident and had the details.

They contacted him right away and were able to quickly determine that the license plate number was not a valid number, and they took action to view the parking lot video for additional details to follow up.

I did not want to assume that local Law Enforcement had this critical information, so the follow-up was the right course of action. My friend who had viewed the incident thanked us for helping him know what to look for and to be able to help.

We don’t know the final outcome but trust that the information and action made a difference and could have saved a young girl’s life.

May 6, 2021 by Guest

Pope Francis Appoints Survivor to Office to Protect Minors

On March 24, 2021, Pope Francis appointed Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of child sexual abuse, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was established in 2015 to formally address the scandal of sex abuse of minors within the Catholic church. Pope Francis is facing perhaps the greatest crisis of his papacy due to the new wave of sexual scandals that have emerged on his watch. The Pope’s appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz is a giant leap for change.

After The Boston Globe‘s 2002 coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese of the Catholic Church, U.S. bishops felt compelled to formulate a coordinated response. As the breadth and depth of the scandals became apparent in dioceses across the US, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in June 2002, unanimously approved a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (more commonly known as the Dallas Charter) that pledged that the Catholic Church in the U.S. would provide a “safe environment” for all children in Church-sponsored activities¹. To accomplish this, the U.S. bishops made a commitment to developing uniform procedures for handling sex-abuse allegations against lay teachers in Catholic schools, parish staff members, coaches, and other staff and volunteers who represent the Church to young people¹.

Pope Francis’ commitment to protecting children is evident in appointing Juan Carlos Cruz, elevating his voice as a survivor, lived-experience expert and member of the LGBTQ+ community. In a tweet, Juan Carlos Cruz stated, “I am very grateful to Pope Francis for trusting me with this appointment. I deeply appreciate it. This renews my commitment to continue working to end the scourge of abuse and for so many survivors who still do not have justice².” As we know within this movement, as quoted by the DOJ Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “the survivor voice is vital in establishing effective anti-trafficking strategies that address prosecution, protection and prevention³.”

While these cases of child sexual abuse are not necessarily considered commercial sexual exploitation of youth (CSEY), evidence shows that child sexual abuse can lead to exploitation in adolescence and adulthood. According to the CDC, “females exposed to child sexual abuse are at a 2-13 times increased risk of sexual victimization in adulthood⁴.” The adverse childhood experience can also result in depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance abuse, among others⁴.

There is evidence the U.S. Catholic church has cut down on the level of sex abuse since the Dallas Charter was implemented. According to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate — an authoritative source for statistics on Catholicism in the U.S. — there have been fewer than 300 allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors occurring since 2005 until 2020, compared with more than 11,500 allegations of abuse occurring in the 1970s and 1980s (2018)². However, victims and victim advocates claim more must be done to reduce the number of cases and to make offenders accountable for their crimes.

We commend Pope Francis for appointing survivor leader, Juan Carlos Cruz, to this vital role in the fight to protect children and youth from sexual abuse and further exploitation.

Retrieved from:

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Dr. Kim Robinson taught at Midwestern State University for several years including in the Study Abroad Program in London, England for 5 summers. While working in a private psychiatric hospital, she worked on a military unit and specialized in PTSD. She then worked for all 4 branches of the military until May of 2019. She currently is a “train the trainer” and consultant for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth for Child Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking. She has served as an ambassador for Shared Hope International for a year. She is now working for Ranch Hands Rescue, (RHR) a sanctuary for abused and neglected humans and animals, and where animal-assisted therapy is used when appropriate. RHR will open the first safe house for male victims of sex trafficking between the ages of 18 and 24 in May 2021.

January 27, 2021 by Mark Porter

Omni Hotels & Resorts steps up to fight sex trafficking through multi-year partnership with Shared Hope International

Washington, DC – January 27, 2021 – Leveraging its leadership position in the hospitality industry nationwide, Omni Hotels & Resorts announces that it will host the nation’s premier conference on child and youth sex trafficking. In the coming three years, Omni will be the banner hotel and host for the highly regarded JuST Conference (Juvenile Sex Trafficking) that Shared Hope International has annually brought to the nation over much of the past decade.

Said Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope, “Much of sex trafficking is conducted in, or facilitated through, the hospitality industry. This is where alert and trained employees can make a huge difference—literally, their awareness may actually save the life of a boy or a girl who is being targeted by a sex trafficker. Omni is an ideal partner due to the core values they hold as a corporation as well as the awareness and training programs they have already put in place.”

This exciting new relationship advances the fight against sex trafficking:

The partnership includes opportunities for Omni to participate in certain aspects of the conference which includes many survivors of sex trafficking along with disciplines such as law enforcement, healthcare, social work, policy and citizen advocates. By sponsoring elements of the conference including a networking reception, Omni will provide a unique opportunity for advocates to connect in a social setting outside structured workshops. As an authority with 25 years invested in addressing the issue of sex trafficking, Linda Smith will be available to speak at major Omni client events.

“Local market leadership is one of our core values, and we are committed to our partnership with Shared Hope International to ensure we’re supporting the communities in which we operate to end sex trafficking,” said Peter Strebel, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts. “Understanding that sex trafficking is very prevalent within the hospitality industry, we know we have to do our part in helping to educate our associates, who in turn, have the power to prevent these horrific acts.”

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ABOUT OMNI HOTELS AND RESORTS

Omni Hotels & Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at 60 distinct luxury hotels and resorts in leading business and leisure destinations across North America. With more than 25 iconic golf courses and 16 award-winning spas featured in dynamic locales nationwide, every Omni proudly opens its doors to share the true spirit of its destination. Reflected through local color, personalized service, unique wellness options, signature restaurants and creative culinary offerings, Omni leaves a lasting impression with every guest and a heightened level of recognition and rewards delivered through its Select Guest® loyalty program. As a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance, Select Guest is further expanded through the DISCOVERY loyalty program offering members additional global benefits. Omni is committed to reducing hunger and is on a mission through its Say Goodnight to Hunger initiative to provide millions of meals each year for food banks to feed children, families and seniors in communities in which it operates. Through its partnership with Shared Hope International, Omni is dedicated to the education and training of its associates to help combat human trafficking.

Omni Hotels & Resorts is the official hotel of the PGA TOUR® and PGA TOUR Champions. For information or to book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittany Peck, Director of Training, brittany@sharedhope.org, 360-830-6095.

Learn more about the 2021 JuST Conference: https://www.justconference.org/just-conference-2021/