Well, Julia and I are usually the only two people who consistently go on outreach to the pimps and prostitutes, along with a few other women who come out with us whenever they are able to and we are SO GRATEFUL for them!

Earlier today, Julia text me to let me know that she couldn’t come out tonight… and I felt a little relieved. Then I struggled… I have a tendency to feel “guilty” whenever I don’t go out… (which is just me – condemnation is not from God)…

I’m sharing my heart here – I LOVE the men and women we reach out to. There is so much more that I wish I could do to help them… if I had my way, I’d go out every night… but that isn’t practical and I know that it isn’t what God called me to do. Going out at 3 in the morning really takes a lot out of a person, even if they don’t have a bunch of medical problems. I feel like all my years of drinking, drugging and abusing my body is finally catching up with me!!!

Ideally, I would love to have enough trained leaders to alternate going out on the street every other week. There are so few people that are willing to commit to go out with us on a regular, consistent basis… not too many people want to go out at 3 in the morning (not to mention, go to the ghetto at 3 in the morning). Of course we don’t always go to South Central LA or Compton – but that’s where we can pretty much count on regularly seeing girls.

We have a number of people who hear what we do and they get all excited and seemed passionate about reaching out to the prostitutes (not so much the pimps – but we make it clear that we reach out to BOTH the prostitutes AND the pimps) and they want to know how they can help, or they say that they want to start coming out on outreach with us… but things don’t ever seem to pan out. Or they go out with us one or two times and because it is rare that we see immediate “fruit,” salvation, and changed lives they decide not to come out on outreach again.

We are not quick to pray the “sinners prayer” with prostitutes, because we do not want to turn them into Christian hookers – give them a false sense of assurance that they’ll go to heaven when they’re still living like hell. There have been a number of times where the Lord has prompted us to lead girls to the Lord but most times we never even see them after that.

Let me just say that this is a LONG SUFFERING ministry. It requires consistency, love and relationship skills. We require that people attend a mandatory class before they go on outreach with us… and I believe that actually discourages many people from coming out – having the class is good to “weed out” people who may just want to go “sight seeing.”

We ask that people PRAY and ask the Lord if he is calling them to go on outreach with us. They do NOT have to have a background of something crazy like prostitution or drug abuse to come out with us. The only thing we ask is that they have a deep LOVE and COMMITMENT for JESUS CHRIST, because He will take care of the rest. We do encourage people to come out with us at least two times to get a “feel” for what we do. Unfortunately, every week we go out is totally different and unpredictable. One week there may only be one prostitute out on the street, another only homeless people. Another there may be pimps and prostitutes everywhere – or like last week – see a half naked man hitchhiking.

After attending our class, many people seem to be a bit intimidated. That is not our intention… but we do take this ministry very, very seriously. We want to train people, raise people up into passionate leaders… reaching out to prostitutes and pimps is somewhat different from doing your typical street ministry, which is why we teach people about the Game and about the relationship between the pimp and the prostitute.

It is so important that people realize that we are representing JESUS and we want to make sure to give people an accurate example of who HE is. This is why we are STRICT about men not coming out with us if they have a bad attitude toward the pimps. We do not need “bodyguards” when we are out there. We need (and have) the Holy Spirit and His power, not the power of any man of flesh and blood. Unless a man is able to set his ego aside and truly LOVE the pimps on the street – we’d rather just have them they stay at home. They don’t realize that they can do more harm than good if they don’t know about the Game and the street dynamics.

We also ask that people who go out with us have a clean heart before the Lord, for: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, EPH 6:12

We ask that “compromising” Christians who go out partying like a rock star in public places and sleep around (even if you are “engaged”) really stop and think about the way they are living before they decide to come out with us. If I sense that someone is living in un-confessed sin, I do not have a problem coming out and asking – and I expect that someone would do the same to me if things were the other way around. We need to hold each other accountable. Because we are working with people in the sex industry – it is SO important that those who go on outreach with us do not have (an active) problem with pornography or who is compromising in the area of sex.

I probably sound like a real hard a** but I do always try to err on the side of grace. I believe with all my heart that God will bring the right people He wants to work with us, in His time. I care more about the people we are reaching out to then compromising and “settling” – working with people just because we don’t have any other choice. There are lives that are at stake. The people we reach out to are precious to us and even more precious to God.

MY PRAYER IS THAT THE LORD WILL GIVE US MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO SPEAK – AT CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, EVEN THE POLICE STATIONS – TO EDUCATE PEOPLE AND POSSIBLY INSPIRE THEM TO LEARN MORE AND EVEN COME ON OUTREACH WITH US.

WE WILL BE SENDING IN $750 TO THE IRS FOR OUR 501C3 AS SOON AS WE GET ONE MORE FORM FROM THEM IN THE MAIL WHICH SHOULD ARRIVE WITHIN THE WEEK. WE ALSO ALWAYS NEED FINANCES, FOR GAS, GIFT BAGS, ETC.

PLEASE PRAY FOR WISDOM, DIRECTION, FAITHFUL WORKERS AND CHURCHES TO PARTNER WITH US.