Strip Club Outreach Has Begun
This summer, God opened a door we have been praying about for a long time.
After months of conversations, we were welcomed into a local strip club to begin building relationships with the women working there. We met the manager, introduced ourselves to the woman bartending, and found a slower evening each week when our presence would be welcomed. Since then, a small team of women has begun going in regularly, carrying outreach bags, offering prayer and encouragement, and simply getting to know the women. At the same time, another group remains outside, faithfully praying over every conversation taking place inside.
Walking into a strip club is unlike walking into almost any other place. The lights are low, music fills the room, and on a typical evening there may be 14 to 16 women working. Each one has experienced different hardships, trauma, or circumstances that brought her there. We are not there to force an exit. We want to invite them into the knowledge that they are people of value, there are options and ways to get help, and that God loves them and wants a relationship with them.
On one recent visit, we met a woman we'll call Diamond. As we talked with her, she realized we were Christians and smiled before saying, "My stage name isn't actually my name. My real name is ____ from the Bible because my mom was a Christian."
When that story was shared during one of our staff prayer times, I couldn't stop thinking about her mother. How many times had she prayed for her daughter? How many sleepless nights had she asked God to watch over her little girl? How many tears had she cried, wondering if anyone would ever care enough to step into her daughter's world and remind her that she is loved?
It struck me that perhaps we were standing in the answer to a mother's prayers.
That is why we go.
We want to stand in the gap for women who may feel forgotten. We want to be used by God to bring His light into places often marked by shame, loneliness, and hopelessness. Addiction, abuse, exploitation, and trafficking all are at work within this world. We want every woman we meet to know that she is not beyond His reach.
Jesus met people exactly where they were, offering grace before transformation. That is our prayer every time. We pray that each woman would discover she is not too far gone, that God knows her by name, and that His love is greater than her past.
You do not have to fix yourself up before you come to Him.
