Hello Family, Friends & Partners!
It is with great pleasure that I announce to you that on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 the San Gabriel Valley Children’s Restoration Center Task Force had its inaugural meeting on the campus of Azusa Pacific University! We have a wonderful group of men and women assembled for the next three months. Among our members are a social worker, a pastor/house of prayer leader who does outreach to prostituted women, a professor/missionary, a director of an anti-human trafficking organization, a pastor who specializes in fundraising, and a survivor of trafficking. We all work well together and have a Spirit of unity that was my biggest prayer leading up to our gathering. We are meeting every other week through the end of April, when we will have a strategic business plan that will be used to implement the task force finding, and secure prayer partners and financial support.
Two days after our first meeting, some members of our task force visited the Institute for Children’s Aid, a faith-based organization that deals with adoptions and foster care. (This is where our social worker works.) They showed us an amazing interactive display that kids and adults go through that teaches about children’s human rights, child soldiers, poverty, and human trafficking. Then, over lunch, we talked about ways we could work together. Laura, the founder of ICA, said that we could use their state license to operate our restoration center under. This is a really big deal because it is very difficult to obtain a state license, and if you don’t have one, you have to obtain a separate license for every county you work in. There are many details to be worked out in this arrangement but as you can see, the Lord is already moving on our behalf.
A week before our task force launched here in L.A., I flew to Terre Haute, Indiana to meet with a group from the Wabash Valley House of Prayer. This is a group CRTEC trained last summer and they wanted us to help them get ready to start their task force. So some of our CRTEC staff drove in for a Saturday meeting where we answered questions and provided direction for them as they seek to establish their own CRC (Child Restoration Center). It’s important to note that the task forces in L.A. and Terre Haute are the intended outcome of CRTEC’s TIP-ID (Trafficking In Persons- Identification) program. We train people in human trafficking identification, and then assist those who want to take the action step of putting together a task force with the purpose of establishing a CRC in their community. Since there are less than 100 beds in the United States for child victims of human trafficking, and over 100,000 victims every year, WE (that’s you and me) have a lot of work to do.
On April 16, an important event will take place in conjunction with Worldteam Foundation (the missions organization CRTEC is working with in L.A.). It is called Proclaim Freedom, and it is a major fundraising evening with the proceeds going towards CRC’s in Thailand and the one we are establishing here in Southern California. Madisen Beaty, who played opposite a young Brad Pitt in the movie Benjamin Button, will be the MC for the evening, and we will be presenting the vision for a CRC in the San Gabriel Valley. We covet your prayers over the next few weeks leading up to April 16, that those who attend would respond to the Lord’s call, and join with Worldteam in launching a place for children to be restored from trafficking.
Here are some things we would ask you to join us in prayer for over the coming weeks:
1. We have many medical bills coming in from Nicole’s stay in the hospital in November-December and no money to pay them.
2. That Nicole would be able to find a job. She has applied to numerous places and nothing has panned out. It’s important for her to find work to help us cover our expenses.
3. For the task forces in L.A. and Terre Haute to be faithful to the vision the Lord has given them in establishing CRC’s, and that they would be successful in their endeavor.
4. For the Proclaim Freedom fundraiser event in April to be successful in raising money but also in recruiting men and women to join the movement to end modern day slavery.
Lastly, I want you to consider your part the fight against human trafficking. What if you could play a role in helping boys and girls who have been sexually exploited receive the help they need to have a new life? You can start making a difference today regarding this issue by refusing to buy the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue or by assuming that all women and children in prostitution are not their by choice but are being prostituted. But I would ask you to also consider supporting Nicole and I financially, either with a one-time gift or on a monthly basis. This allows us to concentrate less on working to pay bills, and more on seeing this CRC become a reality. But supporting us also connects you to the children we help and I want you to become more aware and involved with protecting children around you in your own community. We have a mandate from God to take care of the exploited, such as Proverbs 31:8-9,”Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, ensure justice for those who are perishing. Yes, speak up for the poor and the helpless, and see that they get justice.”
So for those of you who are reading this and are standing on the sidelines, please pray about supporting us financially and/or as prayer warriors. And for those of you who are supporting us financially and praying for us- THANK YOU! We couldn’t be doing this work in Los Angeles without you. Whichever camp you may fall in, we love all of you and treasure your friendship. God’s richest blessings on all of you!
In Him, DJ &Nicole
P.S. Please prayerfully consider supporting us online at www.crtec.org OR send check to: CRTEC
PO Box 296
Hiawatha, IA 52233
Remember to pray for Los Angeles & Terre Haute task forces and our Proclaim Freedom fundraiser in April. And please help us out by reading the following questions about our newsletter and responding to nicole@windandfire.org with your thoughts and comments. Thank you for your feedback!
1. Do you read our newsletter? If not, why? (Is it too long? Are you too busy? Does the content not interest you?)
2. Has our newsletter moved you to action in any way? (Do you now pray about human trafficking? Do you talk about it more?)
3. What do you like about it?
4. What don’t you like about it?
5. What would you like to be better informed about?
6. Do you know of others that would be interested in reading and acting on this information?
