Sermon Illustrations
Church Helps Woman in Strip Club Start a New Life
We have a number of people from our church and from a few other churches in our community who are a part of a ministry called New Name. This ministry "infiltrates" what is euphemistically known as the "adult entertainment industry." If you came to Dupage County, Illinois, for the first time, and you saw our leafy suburbs and our high tech corridor, you'd probably say, "Oh, I'm sure they don't have lots of gentlemen's clubs, and strip bars, and message parlors." O friends, we do—a lot of them! And so the women involved in New Name go into those places and befriend the women who work there—many of whom do not have a way out.
Awhile ago they were in a club, and they met a woman they call "Ms. M" (to protect her privacy and safety as well). And Ms. M. told this team of brave Christians, "I just found out I'm pregnant." When they visited her a few weeks later, she told them, "I'd love to get a job outside this bar. I gotta get out of here." So the people from New Name did some research, and they found this place in Kentucky called Refuge for Women, a place for women coming out of the "adult entertainment" or sex-trafficking business. It was started by some Christ-followers who sold their home and bought an old dilapidated farm. They remodeled the farm and established a safe haven for women like Ms. M. who need to start a new life.
So the women from New Name went back to Ms. M. and told her, "There's a way out for you. It's called Refuge for Women. It's in Kentucky. We'll help you. We'll get you there. You can have your baby there. You can start a new life there." And she said, "A weight has just lifted off my shoulders. Last week I walked out of the bar, and I walked over to a drug store near it, and Iprayed, 'God, help me get out of this situation. I know it's not good for me, and I just want a new, better life for my baby girl.' And this is it."
And so, people from our church and this other church went together and put together all this stuff she would need for a baby, and they loaded up the trunk of her car, so she could take all that to Kentucky. It was like a mobile baby shower in her car. She got down there, and the people who have seen her most recently said, "She looks the healthiest she's ever looked. She stopped smoking because of the pregnancy, and she's got a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She said, 'If I ever come back to Chicago, I want to go with you. I want to tell those other girls there's a refuge. You can get out.'"