On Thursday, February 11, 2016 the West Church Local Outreach team hosted an event about Human Trafficking with Jasmine Marino as our guest speaker. Jasmine was personally enslaved in trafficking for about 5 years before God delivered her by His Grace and drew her to Jesus as Savior and Lord. She gave a beautiful testimony of God’s forgiveness, cleansing, healing and restoration. We heard her compelling story but also of her present day ministry working with the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Abolitionist Network and Bags of Hope ministries (@egcboston). Both of these ministries are involved in stopping Human Trafficking and mentoring women on the North Shore and in the Greater Boston Area. This is frontline ministry in dark evil places, the strong holds of Satan.
We had a wonderful turn out of about 140 people to hear what God is doing. Even though the temperature was cold, Jasmine was warmly received. Through the loving donations of those who attended, she left with a minivan full of supplies donated to Bags of Hope ministry and over a $1,000.00 in one time gifts to support the ministry financially. Many people worked together in handing out advertising flyers, putting articles on our Website and Facebook page, inviting people, and making cookies to make our night a blessing. This is only the First Step of what can be done. The Outreach team will continue to communicate with Jasmine for future support and involvement in abolishing this evil in our community. But there is opportunity for those in our fellowship to be involved further. Here are some examples of what you could do.
- Praying regularly for these ministries mentioned above and for Jasmine personally that God would empower to abolish this evil.
- Organize a quarterly drive in our church for new supplies for Bags of Hope.
- Consider representing West Church with the Abolition.net monthly prayer gathering and strategy planning group.
- Be a volunteer for with Bags of Hope
- Be a volunteer at one of the ‘Safe Houses’ in the area for mentoring women who have been rescued.
- Open up your home as a ‘Safe Home’ for a rescued woman to stay and heal.
God is bigger than this evil and He will give us power for victory. But it is going to take effort, involvement, time, money and getting our hands dirty to see this through.
Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Rick
