James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow”
Since it was New Years Eve night and there were only 5 of us delivering in the clubs total, we all decided to visit both clubs. It was an extra special night for us to be able to go to both clubs and see all the girls at both clubs! So we backed our cars with presents, burritos with all the fixins, homemade brownies, and headed out.
Club 1
The girls went crazy over the Mexican food that we brought to the club this past Thursday night. We saw J the manager and said Merry Christmas to him. We haven’t seen him around very much in the past few months. We saw some other dancers that were not working last week when we brought the gifts so we all got to give out some more gifts to the girls and gave more stalkings out to some other male staff that were there.
Just a few updates in this club: S has a mother who in the past few months has been experiencing uncontrollable seizures lately, and catching up with her this week, she said her mom is still having the seizures and the doctors still do not know why. She asked if we could still keep praying for her mom’s health
M the talkative bartender we always share about, is looking for a crib. Her sister just had a baby and they are in great need for a crib so if any of you have a crib or know of anyone with one, please contact us asap.
Club 2
It was fairly busy in the club on this New Years Eve night. All the girls lined up as usual. Also at this club were a few girls who were not there last week when we brought all of the Christmas gifts! So we took a count and brought in more presents out of the car inside. C almost had a heart attack when we gave her a gift for herself and her 2 year old daughter. She said “You know, you ladies are the ONLY people who gave me a gift at ALL this year.” She said it meant even more that we thought of her daughter and got her daughter something because she couldn’t afford much this year. Can you believe that friends? It absolutely breaks my heart to think that these ladies have no one to share Christmas with.
Later Jessica and I went to the middle club and had a great conversation with another newer girl “J”. She told us the same thing that no one got her anything for Christmas and that we were the only people who got her anything. She is an adopted child with her birth family in PA and her adopted parents on the other side of the country. She knows no one in Louisville except her ex husband which is why she moved her (to reconcile their marriage). But He has been unfaithful to her on numerous accounts so she is just “existing ” in Louisville right now. She just sleeps and dances. Pray that our friendship grows with her an we can all hang out with her outside the club,
I had the opportunity to pray with a very broken dancer in one of the VIP rooms right before we left. It was an incredible experience to pray in a room that satan usually rip these women down, not build them up. You could just feel her desperation for God and as we prayed together. I know she felt the Holy Spirit last night. She dug her fingers into my arms and just teared up. With the stench of Alcohol on her breath, she very emotionally spilled her whole story out to me. She’s an ex drug addict. She’s been dancing since she was 18. She’s nearly 40 now. She has 3 kids. 12,8, and 4. She is in a very dysfunctional relationship. Her boyfriend’s ex-wife and children are living with them and she said she is just falling apart. Please cover these women in prayer that Satan will not attack them or control them or destroy them like he has been.
It was wonderful to just catch up with a lot of the usual ladies we see every week and be able to start the New Year together with our hearts in the right spot. It’s not about us, It’s all about Him! Everything we do is for Him and there is nothing better than seeing the work of the spirits hand in these women’s hearts and what he has done in our hearts over the past year. It has drastically changed my life and showed me even more of how my life should look and that I “have” way too much! Thank u for your prayers and for everyone who takes the time to read this. This is a serious battle we are entrusted with! I am so excited to see what God is going to do it 2010 with Scarlet Hope and all who are involved!
Club 2:
Reporting Jessica L.,
Team: Rachelle, Sarah, Valerie
This week we visited the clubs on Wednesday night, Christmas Eve Eve.
We had some wonderful ladies provide a homemade, delicious Christmas dinner!
Thank you ladies for all your help and support in this ministry! We also packed up our cars with Christmas presents galore for the men and ladies at the clubs plus for their kids This year we were able to provide blankets, baked goods, a bracelet, and a Bible for the ladies.
For the men, we had socks, after shave, Axe deodorant, sunflower seeds, baked goods, and a Bible. For the kids we were blessed for several different items from books, coloring books, crayons, stuffed animals, and so forth. This was a fun and exciting night to be Santa’s elves to these men and ladies. Thanks again to all who helped provide Christmas for this group, it is very much appreciated. After we arrived and got the food organized, Sarah and I walked over to one of the clubs to invite the girls to come over for some food and the bartender was on the phone. We walked back over later to talk to the bartender for a little while. We told her we had all the fixin’s and asked if she wanted a plate. She had already ordered dinner but we asked if she wanted a to go box to take home, she decided that she would rather eat with us and save her order to take home. So we gathered her some food and delivered the presents to the girls. They were all so appreciative of the gifts. After we were done visiting with those girls we went back to help Rachelle and Valerie with the handing out more presents to all the other girls. As we handed the gifts out to the girls, one of them B looked at us and said can I open it now? She was so excited. Later, B walked up to us and asked if we would help her put on her bracelet. We were able to provide the girls with a Psalm 23 bracelet which has a insert explaining the colors and how they apply to the verse. It was so cool to see she was excited to put on the bracelet. I pray the bracelet will bring up more conversations with these girls in the future. Again thank you all for your support in this ministry and providing Christmas to these people, they all were so appreciative and it was wonderful to see so many happy faces. As we walked out, one of the girls I’d never seen before walked up to all of us and gave us all hugs. It’s great to see the response that we did
tonight.
To read more about Scarlet Hope, please see click here.
Here is another update from our partner Scarlet Hope, and what they are doing to reach out to those enslaved by the sex industry.
Mathew 1:21 “She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is He who shall save his people from their sins”
This was our 2nd Christmas in the clubs and God just keeps bringing forth his Love and Power! The broken and ones deemed unlovely cry out for what God sent to seek and save the lost! For he did not send his son for the righteous but for the broken! We are only a mere small portion of the body that God used to bring celebration of the birth of Jesus to these women and men in the clubs. We can’t thank you each enough for your prayers, donations and support that made it possible to bring gifts of Love and a meal to our friends in the clubs this Christmas Season.
Thank you and Many Blessings, Loving Him, Rachelle Starr
Club 1 Hannah D. Reporting
Team: Amy, Brittani, and Kamille
Thank you Lord for giving us Jesus so we can be in a relationship with you. What an incredible Evening! It was a celebration of Christmas and our love for the girls on Wednesday night. We went to the club with cars FULL to the brim with food and presents for our precious ladies. We dinned on Honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrot sulfate, Corn pudding, coffee and dessert! The love and prayers that go into the food that is prepared for these women blows me away. All the girls presents were packed with a bible, a blanket, a Psalms 23 bracelet, and some yummy baked goods! Every girl got a present and every staff member got a stalking. The women who had children got presents for their kids too.
On this night we stayed at the club for over 2 hours! We just had so many awesome conversations one after another with new and old friends that we’ve met over the past year. A lot of the staff kept speaking of how “they could not believe that we’ve been coming faithfully every week for the past year to the club!” They spoke about last Christmas when we came and brought presents too.” They are all so shocked by what we (God) does every week!
Kamille and I had had a very interesting conversation with a patron in the hallway. He refused to tell us his name. These are always interesting conversations. We had offered to make a plate of food for a dancer that was sitting next to this patron on the bar side of the club. Well, when Kamille and I went back to make her a plate, the guy fallowed us! He stopped us in the hallway and the first two things out of his mouth were “You guys Church ladies?” You do know that what you are doing here for these women is very strange right??!” Kamille spoke to him for a bit about why we do what we do and explained a little about our church. This guy was sadly very lost and empty. He first said he came to the club because, as he said,” it’s healthy to have fantasies.” Then he went on to tell us he was engaged, Then he went on to explain to us that he knew God and he use to go to a church, but the church turned their back on him and hes fiancé because he is black and she is white. He was obviously very hurt by the church. He told us that he does not know of one church that would ever do what we were doing! Please pray for the seed that was planted with this guy. That God would just intervene in his life. I am so tired of Satan’s control over these women and these men and how he just want to kill their souls and joy! He is in the world But GOD, has overcome the world!!!
One new dancer came up to me with her bracelet already on and said” Thank you ladies so much for what you do! She went on to say how she was so excited when she saw the Bible in there because she had lost hers awhile ago and really wanted to start reading the word again! Praise God!
I met another new dancer named M who is unfortunately another sad story that I hear all too often. M is 21 and has a 14 month old baby boy at home. She’s a single mom. She dropped out of high school and ran away from home when she was 16. Then she got pregnant and her boyfriend left her right after that. I got to talk for quite some time about what she wants to be doing with her life and she explained how she wants to go to school. I gave M a present and a present for her son and she just started tearing up and hugged me for what felt like 10 minutes! It breaks my heart to see the lives that these women have been through. They are so valuable to God and to us and I am just so humbled for every opportunity we get to serve them! Thank you to everyone who donated their time and love into serving these women! God is tearing down walls and bringing them back to Him!
Brittani C, Report
Wednesday night was incredible. That’s really the only way to describe it. First the girls were so psyched about all the food we brought, it was a feast!!! One girl even ordered pizza and put it in the back for later and came and got two plates! It was not only crazy delicious, but it was such a wide variety. The girls loved it. You could tell they had no idea we had anything else for them and they weren’t expecting anything. When I was asking some of the girls if they had any kids and if they were a boy or girl.. you could see their curiosity peak and them begin to get excited. They were saying “why?! What are you girls doing?!?” When we got the gifts out and gave them to the girls, and to them for their kids, their faces and reactions were priceless. One girl almost cried, and just about all of them thanked us several times. I can honestly say I’m not sure my heart has ever been so filled before on Christmas than it was that night. I truly saw God and the heart that he sees in these girls through His eyes. It was incredible. I actually didn’t even sleep that night because I couldn’t stop thinking about how excited they were and some of the conversations I had!
SK- I met SK last night in the club. I hadn’t seen her before but that’s not saying much because I’ve only been going for a while. When we started talking though, this was only her second night there. She’d come from another club in Louisville where she didn’t get along with the girls so she transferred. She is 18. After talking for a while I discovered she has been in foster care since she was 15. Hearing her say that I thought about how hard being 15 was… let alone having to go into foster care. It killed me. She said she resubmitted herself after she was 18 so they’d pay for her schooling. She goes to school for Social Work. She has a little boy and he is currently in foster care because her son’s father isn’t supposed to be around the baby and she let him watch him one night while she worked, the state took him. SK was really upset about this, but was excited because she got to see him on Christmas. When we gave her his gift she was excited to bring it to him. I talked to her on Christmas Eve and wished her a merry Christmas, and she kept saying “thanks again for the gifts”. She’s a sweetheart.
IV- I had never met IV before either, but she actually isn’t new. She just doesn’t work very often so I’d never encountered her. Plus it was a Wed night we went to the club opposed to a Thurs so we had a diff crew. She was very chatty! She was actually talking with Amy when I walked up, and ended up telling us we should all hang out because she doesn’t have any good friends that are good influences on her. She actually said “when I come in here this is this… but when I leave… I’m a totally different person and I don’t like to hang out with these girls” I didn’t really know what to say to that but Amy and I assured her we would all hang out soon!! I talked to her too on Christmas Eve and she was excited to hear from me, and we said we’d talk again soon to make plans to hang out.
To read more about Scarlet Hope, please see click here.
Scarlet Hope is doing some amazing things in our community and we thought it would be cool to give you a glimpse into what their ministry looks like on a weekly basis. We think you’ll enjoy!
-Lee
Scarlet Hope – Journal Entry
Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?” That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us.
Romans 15 1-6 (The Message)
Club 1
Reporting: Rachelle S.
Team: Valerie S and Brittani C.
Guys filled Club 1 Thursday night. There weren’t a ton of girls working, but even though their were men in the club, the girls mostly complained that they weren’t making any money because the guys weren’t spending any money.
We had delicious, warming home feeling potato soup with rolls, cookies and brownies for dessert. When there are new girls in the club we always get that vibe of “who in the world are you..” but once the regular girls start to eat they quickly file in line and are very excited that we have come.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a first time dancer and in such a dark atmosphere at the end of your rope and then a bunch of ladies come in to “serve dinner”. I hope and pray that it gives them a glimpse of Light that shows them they are worth more than what this world tells them they are.
As I sat down at one of the tables in the club to have a bowl of soup with one of the dancers, FA a new dancer I had never met came and sat right by us. She is 23 and has a little girl that is 5. I began to ask FA questions. Did she have any kids, how long had she been doing this, on and on….her answers were all very short and to the point, but then something just went off and she started sharing a lot of different aspects of her life. I listened and she talked and talked, when she got done talking she sighed a huge sigh and said “wow, that felt so good to get off my chest”.
FA has been in the industry for about 6 months and got into a car accident not to long ago and totaled her car. She is trying to save up money while taking car of her daughter to get another car. She talked of how she has contemplated prostituting herself out for more money because when she goes home at night and looks in her cupboards to eat she has only oatmeal and a cans of tomato sauce. She said that’s what her and her daughter have been eating. She told me that the club penalizes you when you leave early and she said several times she has to go take care of her daughter and they have fined her over $150.00. This week she has worked every day and only made $50.00 total. This is the life these women become sucked into. They tell you you can pay off your fines if you stay there and work extra etc. etc. We talked about this idea of her prostituting herself out and she said with her own lips, I can not, do not want to do that. And I made sure she knew that there would be no way she would ever have to get to that point and how it is not worth anything in this life to do that… God will provide a way out.
Towards the end of our conversation she told me that her daughter talks about how much she is excited for Christmas because all of the kids she knows gets presents, so she is so sad that she can’t provide a Christmas for her daughter. She said she went down to sign up for the Angel tree the other day and they told her she was too late. After listening, and praying while listening to her, the Holy Spirit prompted me to tell her we will find a way to help her for the holidays. Praise the Lord, we have a family that is willing to sponsor a family for the holidays and God is going to provide for that need.
Before she had to go back up on stage to dance she asked me the question…..I get so excited about “why do you all do this?” I got to share Jesus with her. I told her because we loved her and wanted her to know that there is a God that created her and that loves her more than she will ever know. Jesus! She looked me straight in the eye for the first time at that point and said “I don’t know what to say….that is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard…”
I wish I could say she turned around and walked out of that club that second, but God planted a seed that night and he will water and grow that seed, I know.
It’s so awesome to see how God works in these women’s lives and in the life of this ministry! We are never without, because he provides the way.
Club 2:
Reporting Kamille B.
Team: Hannah D., Natalie G., Mandy L.
Club 2 had an eerie feeling about it Thursday night. We kept trying to bring the dancers cookies and food, but they all were very busy and seemed to want their privacy. We would give them plates of food smile and go to the other side.
They ate their plates fast with some sincere thankfulness. The bartender V looked terrible. She talked to Hannah briefly and told her about some troubles with her kids. There weren’t a lot of girls working this night and the abundance of customers kept the girls very busy and unable to talk.
I did get to talk with, R. She said the food was delicious and the warm soup hit the spot on this cold night. She lives with her brother and his family, but feels she needs to support herself. She has worked there for years on and off…this was the first time I had met R.
J the DJ has become increasingly more talkative when we are around. J has been coming to service at NCC off and on and he has been helping serve by cooking every now and then. The first two songs J played once we got there were dedicated to us. One was “son of a preacher man…” he came over and told us he did that for us. We weren’t to sure what to say, but thank you.
I watched for H the dancer, but she has moved to be one of the daytime bartenders and we won’t be seeing her very much anymore. She needs some special prayer regarding her family, relationship stress. She is a single mother who is financially struggling and her car was impounded. Please pray for H.
The girls have come to trust us little by little and they know we are true to our word by just showing up every week and fulfilling our commitment of showing them love every week.
Trusting and Loving Him,
Rachelle & The Scarlet Hope Team
The second part of our series that takes an honest look behind the scenes into what actually happens within the confines of a strip club. In case you missed the first entry, it can be found here.
Today’s entry takes a look at the club from a manager’s perspective. This portion is lengthy, but is the one that I found most interesting.
-Lee
The Manager’s Role
As far as female employees in adult entertainment nightclubs, everyone you hire you treat as a potential dancer. It really doesn’t matter if she’s hired as a waitress, hostess, or even a bartender.
First, you must make the girl feel at home in an environment that is so abnormal that most people have to be made comfortable. In fact, you could almost say they have to be “hardened’ to the club life. This is easily accomplished by working there as many hours as possible and by having all of the staff treat them as if they were long lost friends. It’s important for the management to do this also.
Second, after a few weeks, because the girl is now your friend, as a manager you bring up how short you are on girls that night or how short the amateur contestants are. You ask them to please help, that they don’t need to take their clothes off, but the club just needs an extra body. Usually, they happily agree to do this. You then have them change into dancing attire, usually a skimpy dress, a teddy, g-string or a t-bar (which is a very small pair of panties). Often, the girls, having become used to the environment and having seen nudity daily are intoxicated with the sense of being on stage and are lured out of their clothing by the other girls, customers, and promises of large tips.
Now, at this point, the manager’s job just starts. But, if the girl has not taken her clothes off, the manager again has to start in on her about needing more help on the floor. Again, most of the girls will agree to help the manager out. At this time, you tell them that things are not that busy, and you take them out for dinner, “my treat.” Of course, the club lways writes this off! So, you go out, have some drinks and small talk with the girl. Returning to the club she now believes that you’re good friends, plus she is under the influence of alcohol. At this point, she easily disrobes at the customer’s request, with the other girls welcoming a new dancer into their ranks. The experienced dancers will then go on about how beautiful she is and how much money she’ll make.
Of course, even now, she still might have not disrobed. But, by this point, you are her friend and can make her feel guilty about not helping out more and ask her to please disrobe, as without her, you’ll not make much money that night. She is needed. People who need her and customers who tell her how beautiful she is surround her.
She now experiences a variety of emotions and, being human, needs to be needed. With this emotion fulfilled, she finds herself wanting to be complemented, which she is, and she wants to make money, which she can. You then play on the “what more can a girl want?” and the subject of self-worth never really comes up.
At this point, if she still has not disrobed, you let her know you no longer need her for her position, but dancing is open if she wishes to still work at the club. This does not work unless she has incurred debts and needs the money, or she actually enjoyed the experience and doesn’t want to lose her new friends. If she stays, the manager must start training her to be a professional. This means changing almost everything about her including her personality; she must now be a passive/aggressive if she is to survive. This means that she needs to learn to say whatever it takes to make money. She can never talk about her personal life to anyone as clients can hear this. What you try to do is get the girls programmed to have regular customers. A regular customer is a customer who believes that this girl actually cares for him, and now his fantasy world is complete. He comes in on a regular basis and she invites him back on certain days and times as not to interfere with other regular customers. This is usually set for the club’s slow times because when it’s busy she can make money without her regular clientele. Of course, with all of these girls having regular clients, the club is guaranteed a steady income and solid revenues. The club regulars are usually family men looking for an escape from the real world, and the girls are taught to prey upon them.
Mandatory meetings are set for all the girls. This time is really used for mostly programming of the girls and getting into their heads. You again let them know what you want and motivate them by whatever it takes. Soon the new dancer starts running around with the more hardened and seasoned girls, and they realize how much easier this job is being drunk, high or, more often than not, both. By now she’s working until 2 am in the morning, staying out all night partying after work, and then grabbing a breakfast with the girls. They wake up, go to work, and the cycle starts all over.
They have no time to go to the post office, the dentist, or any other “normal” things. They are deep into the club scene and on the road to hard times and even self-destruction. At this point, school, family, and friends have faded into a world that no longer exists for them.
As a manager, at this point, anything you say, ask or demand of the girl will gladly be done because the club is now their home. The girls don’t realize this is their only world, and the club manager now has total control over what’s going on in their lives. The girls will even put up with degradation, verbal and emotional abuse and everything else the manager wants to do.
At this time the girl may feel fed up and leave, going to a new club thinking to herself that she finally made a decision on her own and things will be better. But she is really just fooling herself. The manager at the new club does the same things except now she has no friends to talk to and the manager knows that most of the time she cannot return to the old club so he abuses her even worse than the first manager. Of course, she then drinks more and gets high more than ever hoping it will go away. It will only get worse for her now.
All purchases of our Scarlet Hope shirt go directly towards giving these men and women a chance to be free from the entrapment of the sex industry.
All proceeds from the sale of the Scarlet shirt will go towards Scarlet Hope’s work of providing employment opportunities outside the sex and adult entertainment industry.
We have seen first hand the women that make up Scarlet Hope simply choose to do life with those they wish to love and serve. They understand the weight of their responsibility and respond with love that is absent of an agenda or ulterior motive.
Tangibly, the organization provides needs such as food, housing, schooling, counseling, and transportation to those trapped in the business. If there is a genuine need, it’s met.
They know that by Jesus’ example he went into the gutter of those who were living a life of poverty, prostitution, sickness, disease, and loneliness. He met each one of them where they were at.
Scarlet Hope wants the world to know that God loves every single woman and man in the sex industry, and that no one is outside the love, grace, and hope of Jesus Christ.
Every shirt that spendyourself agrees to produce has a specific story behind it, and this one is no different. Listed below is the story that comes from a woman in industry who goes by the stage name of Scarlet.
Scarlet’s story:
My name is Scarlet. Broken. Unloved. Unworthy.
I am a dancer who the world throws stones at. I am spit on, mocked, called a whore. People think I don’t deserve to live.
When I walked into the club, I thought I was going to be able to make some money dancing on tables and getting guys to buy me drinks. It wasn’t until I walked in that dreadful club that I realized how different my life was about to change. I immediately felt as though I was paralyzed and in a trance. I just wanted to go leave. However, I have four kids and they needed food. They hadn’t eaten a real meal in a week and I just got out of the hospital for attempted suicide. It was going to be fast, easy and I was going to make money to feed my kids.
I thought just one drink might take the edge off, but an hour later I was completely drunk. I hadn’t eaten in days, and hunger was gnawing at my insides.
In my drunken state I noticed a group of women coming in to bring a home cooked meal. Why were they coming in? Could I quiet my growling stomach finally?
I waited a minute until they set up, I was staggering all around and everyone was watching me make a fool of myself. I was a wreck. I went up to the table where the food was set up and asked if I could buy a plate, the girls looked at me and told me “no this is free for you, would you like a plate?” I immediately skipped the plates and started eating straight out of the pan. They helped me get a plate, but by this time I was gorging myself with food and couldn’t imagine eating anything better.
I was embarrassed yet I couldn’t stop. I wanted help, but I didn’t.
My stomach hadn’t had food in it for a week, and this sudden feast was feeling like it was going to come right back up.
I started to vomit everywhere and one of the girls put her arms around me and held me as I threw up. I looked into her eyes and was crying hysterically. I asked her if she knew Jesus…she looked me straight in the eye and said “yes I know Jesus, do you?” I told her I did, but that I was so far from him that I needed him to help me…I asked her to pray with me. So we started to pray, and by the middle of the prayer I was crying out to God louder than the music was playing in the club.
People all around us were watching. The other girls that came with her were praying behind us, God was there, I felt his spirit move.
At the most embarrassing, broken, unlovable time in my life, I was loved!
Unwavering. Unconditional. Love took hold of me that day, all because someone decided to come and love me.
There is a God that loves me deeper than anyone can explain. It’s a love that reaches to the very darkness that was in my soul. I am loved.
To read more about the women in the industry that Scarlet Hope serves please see the following blog entries:
