Things are moving right along with the Gracehaven house. Three requests below deal with some important details. A God who has numbered the hairs on our heads is into the details, so please pray over these things.

As I am writing this, two thoughts come to mind. One is that, as Jesus said, “My Father (our Father) is always at work.” So, even when certain things don’t seem to be happening, we can know with confidence that God is always at work. That should be a boost to our confidence.

The other thought was about Jesus’ comment that faith can move mountains. But it’’s not the amount of our faith that moves mountains; it’s the power of the person in whom we put our faith–Jesus. Jesus loves to take our meager fishes and loaves and do great things with them.

Please pray in the name of Jesus that God would bring forth donors who will provide the money needed to open the Gracehaven house so that we can begin helping girls in the grip of sex trafficking. What a way to glorify God!

1. Pray that the state acts quickly on the permit to install a fire suppression system
2. Pray that we can get the team in quickly to install the fire suppression system
3. Pray that the Lord will bring the person of His choice to be our program director

The purpose of the Prayer and Fasting Weekend is to bring awareness to the existence of human trafficking in the Central Ohio community. Additionally, the weekend is intended to provide action steps for faith communities to offer support, healing, hope, and pure love to victims of human trafficking. Activists will battle the darkness through prayer and fasting.

Attached is the flyer for The Salvation Army’s 5th Annual Weekend of Prayer
and Fasting for Victims of Sex Trafficking.This is a three day free event
from Sept 24-26. Everyone is welcome to all events or just the ones they
find most intriguing. Kindly spread this amongst your contacts who you
feel would like to use their faith to fight trafficking!

Feel free to call or email with any questions and thank you for your
support and prayer in helping free the slaves of our time. I know in unity
we will be able to see true freedom and restoration for all in our
lifetime.

-Christina

If you ever suspect a trafficking situation call 24hour hotline at
614-285-4357 (HELP)
“The responsibility of freedom is to free someone else”

Christina Conrad
Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist
The Salvation Army, Columbus
(614) 358-2629
christina.conrad@use.salvationarmy.org

Schedule of Events:

Rosedale International Center
2120 E 5th Ave. Columbus, OH

Friday September 24
7:30pm to 8:00pm
Candle Light Vigil to honor survivors and current
victims of the sex trade in the Ohio and globally
Location: OSU Campus (specific area TBA)
Saturday September 25
3:30-5:30 Human Trafficking 101 Presentation
5:45-7:00 In house and Community Prayer Walk
7:00-7:30 Debriefing Session
Location: Rosedale International Center
Sunday September 26
10:00am – Noon The Essential Role of the Church in
Providing Care for Trafficking Survivors: Sermon by
Nathan Feathers
Noon-1:30 Breaking the Fast Pot Luck
Location: Rosedale International Center

Please write Craigslist an email/letter thanking them for taking down the
Adult Services Section where so many trafficking victims have been bought
and sold and tell them how important it is to you that it stay down.
They’ll lose revenue if they permanently remove the adult services section,
which earns them at least $36 million a year. They need to know that a
permanent shut down would be a smart business move because those of us who
have boycotted their services would finally be back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/technology/05craigs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijE8ghEyZTvfzAddOR1DDMwpU4RQD9I1AOI80
Tabitha M. Woodruff
2012 Juris Doctor candidate
OSU Moritz College of Law

co-chair; legislation & lobbying
volunteer coordinator
Central Ohio Rescue & Restore

We hear that question a lot as we go to speak to various community groups and churches. We tell audiences about the statistics and the news stories, the definitions of ‘domestic minor sex trafficking’ and explain misnomers like ‘child prostitution’, and invariably, we get the question – “but what can we do?”

This is a compelling video telling the story of two Toledo teens (14 and 15) kidnapped and exploited along Toledo’s truck stops. One average working man’s observation and phone call made all the difference to them and their family.

Watch Truckers Against Trafficking Teaser (3 min)

So what can you do?

Educate Yourself: Learn about ‘Red Flags’ and Warning signs of domestic minor sex trafficking.
Educate Others: Tell two people what you’ve learned about human trafficking. Stay involved in the lives of those around you. Be a ‘nosy neighbor’.

If you suspect that you may have encountered someone who is being trafficked, please call the National 24 Hour Human Trafficking TIPline at:

1-888-3737-888

The event was covered by local WCTN News.

Read entire ONN News Article:

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/onnnews/stories/2010/05/06/story_human_trafficking_promotable.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=102

• Alaska
• Colorado
• Hawaii
• Massachusetts
• Ohio
• South Caroline
• South Dakota
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

States are evaluated on the strength and inclusion of statutes on: 1) Sex trafficking 2) Labor trafficking 3) Assett forfeiture for human trafficking crimes 4) Training on human trafficking for law enforcement 5) Human trafficking commision, task force or advisory committee 6) Posting of a human trafficking hotline 7) Safe harbor 8) No requirement for force fraud or coercion for minors 9) Victim assistance 10) Civil remedy

Purpose/vision

• Host a fringe stage at The Circus House outside Comfest to raise money and awareness to combat human trafficking in Ohio
• Restore a piece of Comfest to its original vision of community building.
• Give Gracehaven platform to highlight important underground issue at event where trafficking could happen (tens of thousands of people)
• Give God’s people in the neighborhood a way to serve together from all different churches
• Raise money by selling water, iced coffee, freeze pops, artsy headbands, popcorn, and cotton candy (in keeping with the circus theme of the host home and booth design). Bands were also slated to play (many of whom are featured on the Gracehaven CD) and a silent art auction was scheduled for Saturday night.

Process

• Things were off to a good start on Friday until one Comfest volunteer, over the period of several hours, by contacting various city officials, was able to get us shut down, first from selling anything and later to get the bands silenced. We were so disappointed and went to bed, ready to come back in the morning to clean everything up.
• In the morning, phones began to ring and e-mails went out announcing the move of God’s hand in the night on behalf of His praying people. At 1:30 AM, after Comfest’s debriefing meeting, the Comfest leaders invited Fritz Harding to a meeting with them. They were appalled at what had happened to us and apologized profusely to us and told us that what we were doing is exactly what they want Comfest to be about. They invited us to come into the park and sell our water at the main entrance in the best spot of the whole festival! And we could have the bands play on our stage acoustically.
• Victory in Jesus! We were back on with our fundraising but inside the park instead of across the street and our human trafficking awareness and petitions were going inside with us. We mobilized the troops and throughout the whole day we had teams of people, including families with their children, manning our water sales station on both sides of the sidewalk along with petitions and a booth on human trafficking. We had a blast and sold all 3500 bottles of water on a sultry 90+ degree day. We got tons of signatures on our petitions and made many new friends among the Comfest crowd.
• The next week, one of the original founders of Comfest stopped by the circus house to again apologize for us being shut down and began to share with us some ideas for next year. He said what we did at the circus house was what they used to do when the festival began and was eager to have us involved on a greater level.

Outcomes

• Several hundred people signed the Gracehaven petition for new trafficking laws
• Lots of indepth conversations with festivalgoers to teach about human trafficking in Ohio
• $500 raised for Gracehaven

Hopes moving forward

• On the next Sunday morning as one of our prayer team thanked the Lord and reveled in His glory that He manifested to us, He gave her this word:

  These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Rev. 3:7-8

  As she inquired about the door that had been opened before us, she knew that it was the door of joining Him in the things that only God can do – not what man can do with God’s help. We’re excited to see what God has in store!

• Initial thoughts include: Joining the Comfest planning committee to serve, influence, and love and hosting a fundraiser next year at Comfest too, maybe with a broader scope.

Thank you for being such an important part of this with you! While we weren’t able to raise as much money as we hoped, we know God used it for His purposes. Blessings to you from the people of God in Victorian Village.

Thank you to JP Morgan Chase for your generosity. Thank you to everyone who braved the confusion of the facebook application maze and voted for us!

Check out the Columbus Dispatch Article

Congratulations to the other 199 organizations who also made it to the top – may God Bless your efforts!