All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Strip Club
Rachelle Starrn was raised in a Christian home & had never been inside a strip club in her life. But she felt this calling from God to reach out to women in the sex industry. She knew that God had given her a passion for those women to know how much He loves them & how precious they were in His eyes. Whatever doubts, she knew God was calling her to take action. He didn't want her to just to feel compassion for them but to do something about it.
In 2008, she started Scarlet Hope, a ministry that reaches out to women involved in the sex industry. They take big, southern-comfort-style dinners to strip clubs. Their prayer is that they're not just feeding their stomachs but they're feeding a deeper spiritual hunger. In some clubs, they fix hair & make-up so they can get some one-on-one time with the girls. It gives them the opportunity to pray with women in the middle of the strip club.
She states that many hearts have been changed & lives touched & many turned to Christ for forgiveness & new beginnings. She says she has seen Jesus show up many times in the back of a strip club dressing room. Many dancers opened up to them, sharing their struggles, asking for prayers, & some have even accepted their invitations to church.
What are your thoughts on this testimony? When I read it I must admit doubts flooded me. I know Jesus goes to the sinners but He didn't put their make-up on before prostituting themselves. Am I wrong with my feelings? No one knows the mind of God but do you really believe God would have them take such drastic steps to reach others?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Janie,
It would take a strong Christian IMO who knows who she is in Christ and who is walking in her freedom in Christ to be able to participate in this way of outreach. I couldn't do it because just walking into a so called "gentleman's club" would wound my conscience. In light of the good things they are doing in Louisville, KY, I just can't simply write off the whole ministry. Perhaps in time they can move away from going into the clubs. I don't know. God is omnipresent. The presence of God isn't manifested everywhere. Jesus is the light but we are lights also. Do we have freedom to shine in such a place? That is the true question.
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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I agree Janie. My Coca-Colas are on the beer aisle at my store. Not a lot I can do about that. If someone judges me without any being in my cart, that would be a sad thing.Kroger is a grocery store.
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Amanda,
Actually, I knew what they say their goal is. My hairdresser is my daughter & myself & was my mother before passing 7 years ago tomorrow. I would never tell a hairdresser nothing as I have a license myself. I know how those beauty shops work. I did want to make it clear that I wasn't altogether ignorant of their goal. The problem I have with the makeup & hair is they are aiding them. Anyways, I'm still reading & haven't drawn my conclusions on the whole thing yet. I'm still not sure but wanted to comment along the way because you know how these discussions can get all over the place & you don't know who is talking to who.
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I understand. It's good to research and opinions can always change. Mine hasn't changed. I think the good they do outweighs any negative aspects. I hope they can move away from actually going into the clubs, but I believe we are all being transformed and ministries are being transformed, too. I'm trusting God to work in my life to transform me and give me spiritual maturity and insight. I know God will enlighten other Christians according to His will and in His time frame and according to His calling and plan for each one of them. It's just that the testimonies of some of the women are very moving and that really gets me. They need our prayers. As for the woman who trims my hair, she is a Christian and I like her and I know gossip is a risk in hair salons but some people who cut hair become very trusted by their patrons and do earn that trust, a very small minority maybe, and I have trouble trusting anyway but I have told her things but I have confided those things also in others as well. Maybe my example of the hairdresser was a bad one.
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Well, the woman who cuts my hair co-owns her salon with only one other person and those are the only two who work there and she never gossips to me about others. If she gossips about me to others, then that's on her, not on me, as a Christian. But I can't see your point. Are you saying hairdressers can't be trusted or saying fixing hair isn't a good way to gain the trust of someone you want to befriend, or something else totally different? If you're saying that fixing hair for the strippers to prepare them to dance is wrong, then I totally agree. But I don't know if that's what they are doing. I don't think it is. But I could be wrong.
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By this time Amanda, you should know I sling as must joke as I do truth. Most understand. I have no point with that statement. I do try to be more serious when addressing you because of how you take things. Sorry you didn't get the giggle. I haven't worked in 22 years & my mother has been dead for 7. My daughter does my hair - in my house & I ain't about to pay her. I done paid to put her thru school. So, I don't go to hairdressers though I need to lately. Glad u found a great one.
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Permalink Reply by Grazer #E2H on
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How can you spread the gospel to those who don't have it, if you don't go to where they are?
This comes back to the discussion re: what Paul meant about getting on people's level. I still stand by the view that earning people's trust is a huge part in reaching out to people. They help with hair and make up, in return they get an opportunity to pray with them. You sometimes have to get your hands dirty in reaching out.
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Paul talked about using his freedom to become all things to all men that he might by all means save some. The question here is if this ministry is free in Christ to do this.
Jesus said, "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor
drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” (Luke 7:31-34).
Jesus sounds rueful here. I feel sorry for Jesus when I read these words, thinking about how others made Him feel.
Then, it goes on to tell of a sinful woman anointing Him.
We can't please everyone but we can seek to please God.
I've never seen the inside of a strip club either but I know that in my job I have helped the sick, elderly, and disabled on a very personal level, including supplying personal care. The setting was different, yes, totally, but not all were Christians or born again and if you've ever been in the home of the unsaved and very worldly, then you will understand how even someone's home who is lost and without God and without hope in the world can be extremely offensive to the Christian faith and even unsafe. Homecare workers are instructed about having police officers accompany them into some neighborhoods and never to make a visit alone after dark, etc ...
None of us are without sin. Jeremiah 18:1-6 tells me I’m marred but it happened while I was in the Potter’s hands and now He’s making me again. As it seems good to the Potter to make me. Am I any better than these women working in the sex industry? No. Their sins, which are many, can be forgiven. My sins, which were many, have been forgiven. IMO it's a good ministry. Also, no ministry is perfect IMO.
The word of faith is to be planted and watered. Can it be done without getting our hands and feet dirty? Jesus was accused and, yet, we know He was without sin. We also know from Romans 15:3 how He was insulted, of which an example is clearly seen in Luke 7.
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You are free to keep your POV but what you've said isn't enough to make me change mine. I believe the ministry is Spirit led.
Their ministry also reaches out to children. You are looking at and fixating on only a small detail which is being taken out of context and their goal for being inside the clubs isn't to get the girls prepared for the shows. In fact, it is to offer them an alternative and a way out, to leave right at that moment or to know that the door is open anytime. It's to help them see their options and to plant faith in their hearts through sharing the word of God and through praying for the women. Many of those women are very hardened and the moments to talk with them about God when they might have ears to hear are very few but this ministry has found a way and that isn't all they do but in doing that they talk to over 400 women every week and form friendships, all the while saying Jesus is your only hope and you have a choice.
They have the living home (a residential program) which is a 12 bed facility that just opened recently for women to help them transition out of their lifestyle, and they have two residential programs for children to keep them from joining a gang or entering adult entertainment.
Here are a few words about their ministry to children:
"While both Hope for Kids and Hope for Kids Two can be extremely exhausting and thankless, our younger kids in Hope for Kids are much easier to discipline and entertain, and they are much more receptive to our love and affection. HFK2 has brought about a very new challenge to the ministry, but it’s also brought about a very real way for God to display His abundant love, strength, and power. We are weekly sobered by the reality that these teens are only a few years, if not only a few months away from making the decision to either finish high school or join a gang. It’s only a matter of time before our precious teenage girls decide whether to get a job at a fast food restaurant or enter the adult entertainment industry “where the real money is.” What an overwhelming opportunity and responsibility the Lord has entrusted to us!"
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Amanda, I say Amen to all that they do but I still disagree with how they do it. Many ministries help kids but I feel there can be a better way as far as the dancers go. But I think you already know my view there but am glad that they are offering a way out as far as housing as well as for the kids. That's a lot of reason people don't or can't change because they don't have a way out. It's easy to say stop but what is the next step. I think that is a great thing they are providing
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