Laurie Ishii

Praise God! Things are coming together…

A few months ago we seemed to come to a “wall” as far as getting our 501C3 – non-profit organization tax ID number. Daryl said that we needed a lawyer, and money, etc. which may have been true – but I also felt that if God wanted us to get it, that He would provide everything we needed – so we just gave it up to Him to take care of. What I mean by that is that we just prayed that God would bring the people, the finances, etc. to start moving forward – and that we would do whatever He told us to do.

I really felt strongly at the new year that the Lord wanted us to take some action and start asking around about the 501C3 thing. Well, lo and behold – we went and asked our Pastor, Tim – and he said that he and Reality LA would be able to help us out with it. This was on Sunday. He also said that they were having a meeting about supporting us financially on a consistent basis, so we could rely on the money every month, so he’d get back to us after the meeting.

Well, he did, and PRAISE JESUS – not only are they blessing us every month – they are TOTALLY helping us with all the paperwork and step by step instructions to get the 501C3 going! Wednesday Tim gave us the paper to fill out and send to the Secretary of State. Then he explained a whole bunch of other stuff step by step – and when the really hard stuff comes along, there’s a guy who goes to Reality LA church who does that for a living (and has helped Reality LA get their 501C3) and he’ll help us! (For a fee of course, but very reasonable)

So we are on our way…we sent out the paper Tim gave us earlier this afternoon. What a blessing! We are SO GRATEFUL!!! We came up with a name for our ministry too – but until we find out if it’s available and file it I won’t say what it is…but Lord willing, it’ll go through. If worst came to worst, we could always use my name, which Daryl wanted to use originally – because there probably isn’t a “Laurie Ishii Ministry” anywhere else. But I’d really prefer not to have to do that.

Anyway, we also set up a time when I can ‘teach’ a class on the pimp and prostitute outreach, to let people know what they can expect if they decide to come out with us. I’ll also teach about the whole ‘game’ of prostitution – how the pimps and prostitutes work and operate – the business side of it… etc. I shared in my last blog how I learned some more of the “business side” of the business from one of the pimps we’ve been ministering to and I really want to communicate to people as much as possible things from his and many other pimps points of view.

This is NOT to make excuses for what they do – but to better understand them, to better understand how to pray for them and more efficiently minister to them. See, when most people think of the word ‘PIMP’ they think of some black guy with lots of gold rings and jewely, fur coat and hat etc. They’ve also heard how they treat women abusively, kidnap, beat and even kill their prostitutes if they’re out of line – which some have…

Okay, granted – the majority of the pimps we’ve met are black – except I have met a few middle eastern ones (which are actually ‘scarier’ if you ask me) and I’ve heard of white pimps, but personally I haven’t met one yet. They don’t all dress like stereo typical ‘old school’ pimps (but some do) and many are pretty young – gangster types. In fact, to me the younger ones look just like little hoodlums.

Many are not mean, disrespectful and rude either. At least they haven’t been to me – although I have encountered a few that were cold and short with words, looked at me crazy (like I was nuts for talking to them) or who just avoided me completely. Many of the pimps have also been brought up in Christian homes and they have a respect for the things of God.

In no way am I saying that there isn’t danger out there or that the pimps don’t ever do horrible things to the prostitutes – many do. One time when we were out there were a few younger pimps and one had a cattle prod, saying that that was how he kept his girls in line. Some treat women like animals. We heard a couple of pimps arguing one night about a lady (prostitute) and one of them said, “I can’t even believe that you feed that b****!

“In spite of what they do, these men are human beings created in the image of God – even if they don’t act like it. God still loves them. So we need to love them too. By communicating the ‘human’ side of these guys, people won’t be as likely to go out ministering with a slanted point of view…biased and even bitter toward these men. The pimps need to see the love of Jesus – not judgement.

The same goes with homosexuals. How many homosexuals have actually gotten saved and have turned from their sinful lifestyle because someone told them that they were going to hell for being gay? Not too many!!! Condemnation does not lead people to repentance. The bible says that it “…the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4) – not His judgement.In no way am I condoning a sinful lifestyle either – I’m just saying that condenming people usually isn’t effective. At Catholic school I learned that if I didn’t live according to the bible – I would go to hell. I was like, “Well there’s no way I can live up to those standards! I’m gonna go to hell for sure – so I may as well ‘earn’ my way there!” Which only made me rebel more.

Okay, I’d better end this now. Long winded as usual. Sorry. I’m just excited, that’s all! God is so good!