[subversive underground] PROSTITUTION

*sent on Friday, April 7th to the faithful subscribers of the email newsletter called the [subversive underground].

PROSTITUTION by Keith Giles

Some of you know that I took a team of young adults from Soul Survivor out to minister to prostitutes on Harbor blvd in Santa Ana a few weeks ago.

It was a big step outside my comfort zone, and for most of us in fact, yet this is something that I knew I needed to follow Jesus in doing.
Here's what happened and what we learned from the experience.

We had the benefit of going out with a team from a ministry called "Side By Side" that had done this sort of thing before. Their pastor is a former police officer so he knows the streets very well.

It went well, in the sense that it was a first step into an unknown world for all of us.

We met and had a short orientation first at our church building. Then we drove down to the area where the girls usually "work" and split into four teams of four or five people and started out.

At first it was hard for me to recognize which girls were prostitutes or not...but eventually, by the third girl, I was getting the hang of it.

What I didn't like about the way we did this was that these girls were all too busy to talk very long. Imagine the worst possible time to try to have a conversation with these girls....and THAT'S the time we were there!

So, my group prayed for 3 girls, but only for about 30 seconds each...before the light changed at the corner and they had to cross the street.

Very frustrating for me.

SO...our plan is to go back and work in 2 phases. First, we'll go out again between 8pm and 10pm to quickly hand them a coupon for a free coffee/breakfast at a local 24 hour restaurant. We'll invite them to meet us at 6pm where we will buy them coffee and breakfast and just hang out and talk to them. That's it. Just hang and talk. No Bibles. No tracts. No "Four Spiritual Laws". Just coffee and breakfast and "What's your name? Where are you from? What's your favorite movie? Etc."

We plan to do this at least once, maybe twice a month, on a consistent basis. Over time we hope to build genuine friendships with these girls and build a foundation for sharing with them, as friends, that there are other options for them to get off the streets...if they're interested and if they're ready.

I think it's going to be much more effective than our "drive by evangelism" strategy with the other group.
-kg
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