It’s late Saturday night and we’re in the production booth wrapping Day #2 of GPG 2010, prepping for our final morning of worship and prayer. It has been an incredible weekend of gathering with prayer partners and IJM field staff from nearly every continent - the privilege of having these days together is simply beyond words…
There’s a constant buzz of conversation happening over on the GPG Online page - http://www.ijm.org/gpgonline—I hope you’ve been able to join. If you’ve missed any sessions, note that most of this weekend’s content was recorded and is available for download on-demand.
One of our staff members has been writing reflections on her experience at the GPG and we’d like to share those with you as well over the next few days. Alyson Quinn serves on our Donor Relations team, and here are her thoughts from the last night’s experience:
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For me, a four-year IJM staff member, the Global Prayer Gathering starts here: 5 o’clock on Friday night, shivering in the stiff breeze outside of the Sheraton Premiere. IJM staff from across North America, Europe and the developing world congregate in the sunken garden for a brief meeting. Dressed all alike in immaculate black suits, the IJM uniform, we are also united in some degree of exhaustion. Long, exacting hours of preparation for the GPG have brought us to this point: cold, tired, and standing on the brink of a weekend of yet more work.
But in defiance of the sobriety of our dress and the numbing tiredness of our bodies, the meeting is charged, surprisingly, with joy. Laughter ripples through the throng of us. We cheer, clap and smile at the leaders who lead us in the litany of final details. Why should such gladness infuse us today, when the hours of preparation have led only to this: a Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the job?
For one thing, the GPG is our family reunion. The staff, many of whom labor in distant countries or in lone-ranger outposts, come together again. Our community rejoices in the fulness of its numbers.
But there is another reason behind the lightness of our spirits.
The reason lies in the nature of the work that we undertake this weekend. Our work will be the labor of prayer.
Make no mistake. Prayer is work of the hardest kind.
A note from our Director of Media Relations, Amy Roth - a 3 min video clip you will not want to miss:
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For those of you who didn’t see it, ABC World News aired a piece last night featuring Don Brewster and Clayton Butler of AGAPE, our aftercare partners in Cambodia; our client Bella, who has thrived in AGAPE’s loving care; and some powerful IJM undercover footage of Bella, shot by one of our investigators when he first encountered her in the very dark and dangerous Anarchy building.
If you have not already heard, Jeff Shinabarger (the creative mind behind the Catalyst Conferences, founder of Gift Card Giver, and strategist for many NGO’s and innovative ventures) recently launch a new community called Plywood People. In their own words, they are “searching for social problems with the hope to match them with entrepreneurial creativity to organize, innovate, and manage ideas that produce change.”
We’re thrilled to announce that Gregg Helvey’s film, KAVI, just made the short-list for the 2010 Oscars! His film is a 17 minute view into the life of a young boy enslaved in a South Asian brick kiln. It is a film of striking beauty, heartache, and passion… Words truly fail to describe what Gregg has captured.
If you are local to the DC area, I want to make sure you have the opportunity to attend a special screening of this film on Capitol Hill. Gregg Helvey has been invited by Donald Payne and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to show his film Tuesday December 15 at 6pm, and we would be honored if you, as Institute readers and members, would attend as well.
Take a moment to watch the trailer - details for the screening are below:
Where: 2168 Gold Room, Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington DC. To see a map, please go to http://www.aoc.gov/cc/cc_map.cfm
Whenever possible, I like to share with you rescue stories as told by the very people who are daily living on the front lines of our work. Below is a case update sent to me by Crystal Sprague - she has taken this year to give of her skills and serve in a volunteer capacity as one of IJM’s Aftercare Fellows in the Philippines.
Feel free to post any questions you might have for Crystal by using the “comment” feature below - she will be encouraged by the dialogue with you!
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Testimonies of God answering prayer are not uncommon in the work done here in the Cebu office, nor in other IJM field offices around the world. But I don’t always see them or hear about them firsthand. Even when we do not immediately see the answers to our prayers, we continue to persevere in the work because God’s Word speaks of God’s desire that his people fight for justice and uphold the cause of the weak and oppressed.
But the work can be hard—very hard. Even after a rescue, many clients have a very hard time adjusting to their new lives of freedom. Some have been trafficked by family members and can’t go home because they will be pressured to go back into the brothels. Most rescued girls come from backgrounds of abuse and neglect—to teach them that they are worth love and respect is a very long and hard process.
But in just the right timing, God very often brings a breakthrough carrying much needed encouragement; a testimony that reminds us that there is much more going on under the surface than we know or realize; a testimony that gives us a much needed push to continue the fight.
This past weekend IJM assisted a police task force in an anti-trafficking operation against a well known bar with powerful owners. The police did a great job gathering evidence and doing the background investigation, however, the night of the operation didn’t go entirely as hoped.
Just received this video from the student ministries department at Northland: A Church Distributed in Orlando, FL.
In short, they hosted a fundraiser for IJM… via food fight.
Note: they used expired food that was no longer viable for giving to others.
Note: I am pleased to introduce you to the IJM Institute’s intern for this semester, Tim Hakim. Tim will be guest-blogging for the Institute this week, bringing you news of significant casework victories from the past few days. I’ll look forward to sharing more about who Tim is throughout this week. As always, please feel free to leave your comments and questions and Tim will enjoy the opportunity to dialogue with you on these matters.
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This past week IJM Manila (Philippines) saw the conviction of a pimp accused of sexual abuse and prostitution of minor boys in Paco, Manila. After four years in litigation, Albert Sanchez was found guilty of qualified trafficking and has been sentenced by a Manila court to serve a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison. This case is particularly significant for IJM on several fronts: The charge of qualified trafficking, which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years, is a particularly serious charge requiring a more complex standard of proof, and there are only a handful of successful convictions each year on this charge. In addition, this case involved a series of difficulties that threatened to derail the case and prevent this perpetrator from being held accountable for his actions. The case’s success is a testament to God’s grace and the integrity of the Philippine judicial system to administer justice even in difficult cases. This case is also unique in that it marks the first conviction for qualified trafficking of male victims in the Philippines, even outside of IJM’s work.
You may be aware that IJM is working to expand and deepen our relationships with local churches throughout the developing world. We have always held the conviction that the Church is God’s ultimate plan for bringing rescue and justice to the oppressed, and every day is a learning process as we seek to grow in fellowship with churches not only here in North America but all throughout the world.
IJM Cambodia has made significant strides over this past week in their work with churches in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Below is an excerpt from a report we received from staff team on the ground:
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At a round table this past week with pastors from one of the largest churches in Cambodia, representatives from IJM’s field office in Phnom Penh opened discussions on launching an expanded initiative to bring the biblical mandate of seeking justice to the attention of Christians throughout Cambodia.
Field Office intern Karen Genzink has been working for months to lay the groundwork for this initiative and hopes that the meeting last week was the first of many to engage the Cambodian church in ways that are increasingly robust and sustainable.
IJM Cambodia will lead trainings to equip pastors on how to engage issues of sexual exploitation within their communities - enabling churches to serve as a resource to confront this challenge. Genzink also looks forward to sharing more deeply the mission of IJM throughout the body of Christ in Cambodia with the ultimate goal of witnessing the Holy Spirit move this part of the global church to action on behalf of those who are suffering as a result of human trafficking.
“We have to talk about the realities of oppression and the hope of biblical justice if we expect to see real transformation,” she says. “The church will be the lasting change.”
She says as more people advocate for change and justice in their own neighborhoods, the problem of oppression can be combated. The work has just begun for IJM Cambodia, but Genzink is confident that the road ahead is worth it. “This has the potential to be powerful.”
I’m eager to introduce you to our National Director of Church Mobilization, Jim Martin. I’m sure some of you are already quite familiar with Jim, and I look forward to all of you getting a chance to know him better as he begins to guest blog here at the Institute on a regular basis. Here is an update from Jim on IJM’s brand new documentary, At the End of Slavery and details on how you can be involved in the movement!
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Dear friends,
As of today more than 85 churches have decided to host a screening of IJM’s new documentary film, At the End of Slavery. The response to the film has overwhelming! We are thankful and excited for the gathering momentum of this movement. Many churches see screening this 30 minute documentary as a rare opportunity for their church to be on the forefront of an issue that really matters to the people of their neighborhoods and community. And by following the simple suggestions contained in the screening kit (what we’re calling a “house party-in-a-box"), churches are not only providing their communities with much-needed education regarding the modern horror of slavery, they are offering something even more essential and rare: concrete action steps that every-day citizens can take to join the battle against violent oppression.
If you would like to encourage your church to screen this film, we can resource you with everything you need. The invitation is a simple one: Host a screening in your church facility and invite everyone to come. The screening kit provides dozens of helpful tips for everything from how to introduce the film to how to move people to action after the screening. The film itself does a wonderful job of presenting to reality of modern-day slavery while offering substantive hope based on real change taking place in our world right now. The kit also provides 2 copies of the film - one for your use, and one for you to give away to someone else who commits to hosting a house party.
Consider connecting your church with these resources:
View the trailer at:http://www.attheendofslavery.com/ Contact IJM directly to host a screening by sending an email to: .
Don’t miss this opportunity! To access this event from wherever you are (tomorrow @ 1pm EST) please go to http://event.pingg.com/ateos and RSVP.
The screening will be held from 1-2pm EST (film itself is 31 mins). Details and URL for viewing the film will be sent to you today after you submit your RSVP.
Let us know what you think! Leave your comments here after the film.
At the End of Slavery will be released in September 2009. If you are interested in hosting a house-party, please email
What do you make of Andy’s claims? What unique cultural goods do you sense God prompting you to bring to the work of seeking justice for the oppressed? What risk might God be asking you to take?
Part 2 of my conversation with Andy Crouch last week. Here Andy addresses his claim that “we can’t change the world.” My question to him - where’s the hope in that? How do we then move forward to bring true transformation?
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BETHANY: Throughout all different sectors of society today we hear much talk about “changing the world.” What are we to make of this? How do you think we are to go about changing the world?
ANDY: Whenever you make culture, if by the grace of God you’re successful, it leads to transformation and change in the world. That being said, I think that we get carried away sometimes… There are hundreds of books with the subtitle: “How such-and-such changed the world.” But it’s much harder in the midst of history or culture [as opposed to looking in retrospect] to be at all sure that what you do is going to have a transformative effect. If you’re in it, if you’re in the cultural project, to strategically bring a change, and that’s your goal, I think you run the risk basically of pride and of overreaching, of trying to strategize your way into enough cultural power to achieve your goal. The problem is that no one [person] has enough cultural power to achieve the kind of change they want to happen in the world, and so we can easily burn out on ‘changing the world.’
This week I had an opportunity to chat with Andy Crouch, one of our Senior Fellows here at the Institute, about his new book Culture Making . Andy has been a wonderful source of wisdom, ideas, and inspiration to IJM. He has traveled to experience our field work in Africa and India and frequently uses his wide-reaching influence as a writer and speaker to encourage others toward seeking justice for the oppressed. He also blesses us with his gifts in spiritual leadership at our Global Prayer Gatherings that happen each spring. His official bio can be found here in the Senior Fellows section of our website. For more information and archives of all his writings, be sure to check-out Andy’s website at www.culture-making.com.
I am going to post a few highlights from our conversation. Due to length, I will separate the highlights over several posts. The full transcript will be available in our upcoming Resource Reservoir—or, if you to join the Institute, I will send you a copy on Monday.
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BETHANY: Andy, thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions about your book. To begin, what led you to write this book in the first place?
One of the regular features here on the IJM Institute blog will be an interview series that we are calling “5 Minutes With...” This series will offer highlights from interviews that we conduct with a wide variety of leaders who are impacting the way the global Church understands and responds to injustice in our world today. (The “5 minute” version will be posted here on the blog and the full text of each interview will be available in the forthcoming Institute Resource Reservoir.)
This afternoon I’ll be spending some time talking with Andy Crouch about his new book Culture Making. This book just released in July and is truly remarkable. I am excited to have this opportunity to talk with Andy and to share our conversation with you later this week (be sure to check back).
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.
