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GraceHaven House from Clay Productions on Vimeo.

The Story of Gracehaven

The Story Behind Gracehaven

When I give a public presentation about the work of Gracehaven, inevitably someone asks me about the story of how Gracehaven was started. It is a story of God’s calling and His faithfulness to that calling, and I love sharing it. In order to give some perspective though…I need to first give a little background about myself.

While in college, I sensed God’s call for me to enter the field of medicine. I completed my medical training as an Ob/Gyn in 1984 and started a practice in a small town outside of Columbus Ohio. Initially, MY goal was to practice for a few years and then take my young family to Africa where I would serve as a medical missionary. However, as is often the case, MY plans did not unfold and various things kept me from fulfilling that dream. Instead, God put within me the desire to save as much money as I could while at the same time blessing my practice here in Ohio. For over 15 years, the Lord built my medical practice until there were 3 of us seeing as many patients as we could possibly handle. It was a wonderful season to serve the Lord by providing compassionate medical care to those within our community and I was blessed in many ways. But in 1998, the Lord began to move in my heart and call me out of the practice to a more overt ministry with the Christian Medical Dental Association (CMDA). In July of 1999, I left the full time practice of Ob/Gyn and began working with CMDA in their medical education missionary outreach called Medical Education International. I did continue to practice office Gyn on a part time basis to help support my ministry. Over the next 5 years, I had the opportunity to travel all over the world teaching doctors in developing countries and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In 2004, another staff member of CMDA asked me to give my opinion as an Ob/Gyn on the issue of human trafficking. I had to write back and ask the question… “What is human trafficking?” Even though I had traveled all over the world, I had not yet heard about the issue of human trafficking. I began to research the issue and was horrified to learn just how prevalent it was and how little was being done to fight it. Initially, like most people, the human trafficking I learned about was the trafficking occurring overseas, not the trafficking that is happening right in our neighborhoods. After several months of research, I began to develop an interest in helping young victims of child sex trafficking in other countries…perhaps helping to provide medical care for them.

This led me to have a pivotal phone conversation with an expert in the field of child sex trafficking.  I began the conversation thinking that I would be traveling to places like Cambodia and Thailand to render care to these young victims. But as the conversation progressed, he asked… “Why are you going overseas to help the girls?” I answered… “Because that’s where the girls are…right?”  He then asked me what state I lived in. When I answered Ohio, he informed me that Ohio was one of the leading states in terms of victims of child sex trafficking within the U.S. I was dumbfounded! I then asked him what was being done to help these girls. When he answered “nothing”, it was then that the Lord gave me the name Gracehaven and called me to start an organization that would bring the love of Christ to these lost and forgotten children. That was in 2005.

But I must confess… I pulled a “Jonah”. Within a few weeks of that phone call, I had convinced myself that God couldn’t possibly be calling me to start Gracehaven because the task seemed overwhelming in so many ways, and certainly there were many ways that I could help these victims medically. So, I began to move in other directions seeking to establish a program to train medical professionals on the issue of human trafficking, and for many months, I worked to develop a program that would help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS across sub-Saharan Africa through sex trafficking. But God had other plans, and by the fall of 2007, all MY plans to affect this issue through a medical perspective had fallen apart. I’m very thankful that He didn’t have me thrown into the ocean!

So in the fall of 2007, I realized that in fact God had called me to start Gracehaven, and in spite of all the challenges that lay ahead, I was to trust Him to provide for all our needs. I began recruiting a Board of Directors and in February of 2008, we had our first Board meeting. Gracehaven Home Inc. was officially incorporated by the State of Ohio in April of 2008, and from there the adventure continues! God has truly blessed Gracehaven in many ways that I could not have imagined! His hand on our work has been clear from the beginning. Though I had hoped we would have the house open by this time, I know that His timing is best. However, God continues to move in mighty ways in helping us finish the house and most recently, to hire our program director. I am very hopeful that we will finally be able to open the house sometime early in 2012.

Gracehaven on NBC’s Today Show

Today Show Video

You can view Theresa’s appearance on NBC’s Today Show via this link.