A note from our Director of Media Relations, Amy Roth - a 3 min video clip you will not want to miss:
*****
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.
Featuring:
• Rich Stearns, President, World Vision U.S.
• Kay Warren, Saddleback Church Joseph D’Souza, International President, Dalit Freedom Network
• Mark Labberton, Director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute for Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary and Senior Fellow of the IJM Institute
• Joseph D’Souza, International President, Dalit Freedom Network
• Sean Litton, VP Field Operations, International Justice Mission
• Jim Martin, VP Church Mobilization, International Justice Mission
• Larry Martin, SVP Education, International Justice Mission
Panels and presentations will discuss:
• The Biblical Foundations for Justice
• Mobilizing the Church to Seek Justice
• Seeking Justice Domestically
• Seeking Justice Globally
We’d love to know if you plan to attend - just leave a note in the comments, and the IJM team will look forward to meeting you at the event.
IJM is calling on the international community to immediately implement measures to protect vulnerable children from trafficking risks and other forms of abuse in Haiti.
This timely and thoughtful piece in The Atlantic highlights the multitude of dangers brewing for children in Haiti, calls on people to protect the vulnerable, and features IJM’s work and methodology as a solution to such horrors, wherever they may occur.
Please do share this article with others, especially if they are engaged in relief work in Haiti at this time. Questions are rising about the implications of the Haiti earthquake on the vulnerability of women and children - and the implications are indeed grave.
Please do consider this article to be a resource. We will continue to get other helpful resources into your hands as this crisis continues.
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
This Fall the National Association of Evangelicals has focused the message of their newsletter on matters of justice. We worked with NAE on this issue by providing a cover story written by IJM Founder and President, Gary Haugen. Access the PDF of the newsletter with the link below - and please let us know your thoughts and questions - you can leave a comment here on the blog or send an email to .
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!
******************************************
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
Monday, July 13 is a critical day for the case of Yuri, a client of ours in Peru.
8 year-old Yuri was brutally raped and murdered, and many years later, her family is still battling to see true justice won against her perpetrators. Key forensic evidence was lost early in the case and there has been much corruption on every level, but Yuri’s parents have never stopped believing that justice can rule the day.
I met Yuri’s family in the winter of 2006 while visiting our office in Peru. I will never forget their courage, their devastation, their resolve. Yuri’s attorneys - our IJM staff in Peru - are heros, and I ask you to pray for them as they continue this tireless fight against all odds.
July 13th, this coming Monday, is the final hearing in Yuri’s case, after many years. Please pray that justice will win, that corruption will be cast to the wayside. Please pray for Yuri’s family, for IJM’s attorneys (Paz Y Esperanza), for the court’s justices, for the other attorneys involved on both sides, and for those who know they commited this crime.
Pray for clarity, pray for conviction, and most of all, pray for hope.
For IJM, our work of fighting violent injustice and helping broken public justice systems work for the poor could easily be summed up in just one word:
Story.
Story of deception, story of redemption.
Story of wrong, story of rescue.
Story of paralyzed despair, story of catalyzed hope.
Story of the millions, story of the one.
For us it is critical that abstract statistics and macro systems of injustice be grabbed and translated into a clear, compelling, lazer-focused story of the One. One life that has been transformed. One life held accountable for wrongs. One life redeemed. One life rescued that ripples out to transform millions of lives: your life, my life, and the global neighborhood God has entrusted into our care.
And so, in short, I’m excited to tell you about a ground-breaking event happening in Chicago this October - in partnership with Zondervan, many Chicago-area churches, and phenomenal story-tellers from all over, my long-time friend Ben Arment is launching ”Story. I absolutely cannot wait.
If you have even a remote appreciation for coffee, or simply know others who love the brew, there are 3 and a half days left to turn coffee-love into sustainable rescue and rehabilitation for victims of violent injustice.
Storyville Coffee is giving every dollar that comes in during May - including shipping costs - to IJM.
Up to ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
Take a moment to check-out their coffee and products and consider sending someone a gift or just stocking up for your own home’s supply.
For a small window of time, coffee can literally translate into rescue. Every dollar counts, and they’re giving it all to IJM’s work around the world. Simply phenomenal!
A HUGE thanks is due to the folks over at the Catalyst Conference. You know how much I love being a part of the Catalyst community - going to their Atlanta conference each October with 12,000+ other leaders, speaking at the Catalyst West Coast event last month, writing for their Catalyst Monthly and Groupzine publications, and on and on.
I’m excited to let you know that if you simply SIGN-UP to join the community yourself (no cost whatsoever - just your contact information) - they will give you a chance to select 1 of 10 organizations to whom THEY will give $1 as a result of your signing-up and selecting that org. This is an amazing way for IJM and other wonderful orgs to easily receive several thousand dollars. It costs you nothing, but helps us a ton!
Would you take a moment to click on this link, give your contact info, select an organization, and then ask other Christian leaders in your network to do the same?
Yesterday in our staff prayer time Gary gave each of us a half-sheet enscribed with scripture and a few bullet points. I’d love to share this encouragement that we received, in hopes of bringing you refreshment as well - from the truth of God’s word.
How do you intentionally draw near to Jesus and let him rest you?
*****
COME TO ME, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will rest you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. -Matthew 11:28-30
- “Martha, Martha...You are doing many things… Only one thing is needful...” (Luke 10:38)
- What is Jesus doing?
- What does Jesus want me to do… in joy?
- What does Jesus want me to let go of?
- What is my plan for Sabbath, Shalom, Abundance? (Is. 58:13-14)
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the publication of IJM’s foundational book, Good News About Injustice, written by our President Gary Haugen when IJM was a mere 2 years young.
IVP is working with us to release a 10th Anniversary Edition and our Comms team has been incorporating loads of fresh material, stats, stories, and study aids. What would you appreciate seeing incorporated into this new edition?
The Global Prayer Gathering has a total capacity of 800 and already we are seeing the spots fill at a rate faster than all previous years. We are thrilled as an organization to be able to offer this event again and hope that many Institute readers will be joining in prayer and worship with our global staff March 27-29 here in the DC area.
Ready to register? Just go to www.ijm.org/gpg for registration and details.
Have questions? Leave a comment - the Institute runs this event and we’d love to help you with any details you need.
(p.s… in addition to Gary Haugen, our global field directors, and even clients we’ve served, we’ll also be joined and led by Sara Groves and Lamont Hiebert...)
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.
