Recently I had the priviledge of asking Jocelyn a few questions about Slavery No More and how they are working to abolish modern day slavery.
How
did you become aware of modern day slavery and human trafficking? I
first became deeply aware and moved to action when watching a Leadership Summit
DVD that featured Gary Haugen, President of International Justice Mission.
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Recently I heard Brenda Salter McNeil say that Samaria is the place where you do not want to go. It’s the place where the people who you despise live. Samarians are hostile. Samaria is the place we build freeways around so we don’t have to drive through. There are two significant passages of red letter scripture where Jesus is clear as newly washed glass windows regarding a place called Samaria and a people group called Samarians. The first is the all too famous story of Jesus` encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jesus is fully present with the woman at the well. He goes straight to her heart and penetrates her deepest well of her soul. The Samaritan woman is then quick to determine Jesus is who he says he is. Jesus is a credible witness to her in her life.
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Grace, Love & Murder? May 20, 2011 Christian Buckley Some questions, or rather problems, are too big for my head to get around. I try my hardest to work through and dissect them – but my mind just gives out. It is like when you ask an old computer to do too many things at the same time and it just locks up and stares at you with indignation. That’s what happens to me when I try to figure out something like how Grace, Love, and Murder - a specific murder – fit together. Brain lock. A couple of preface notes to what follows are in order. -- This is a horrible post and will unsettle you – I hope – assuming you have a soul. -- I, unlike I would venture to say 99.9999% of you, have first hand deep experience in this topic. I go to death row in California every couple of months because I represent men there who have murdered people. That work takes me through dark places, lives, and realities I didn’t know existed and still wish I didn’t. That doesn’t make me special – it just gives you some background and probably gives me a different view of the topic.
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Awhile back I visited a mini conference in the Los Angeles area with Gary Haugen as the speaker. Gary Haugen is founder and president of International Justice Mission, a DC based organization that works in a number of countries to combat slavery and ultimately wipe it out completely.
Immediately following the quote above, Gary said, “We are
called to help rescue people.” I agree with Gary. As I continue to seek in the
Bible what God would have of me in this life, I am more and more convinced that
it is the work of justice. In fact, God doesn’t even want my offering and
worship to him if I’m not obeying his commands to care and serve those in need.
Read Isaiah 58 and you'll see what I mean.
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When I was 19, I wanted to work at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Ca. My aunt, who was an employee at the time and still is today, allowed me to put her name down as a referral on my application. She even made a phone call on my behalf to the casting department which helped me get an interview and eventually led to employment as a cast member of the magic kingdom. (After working there for awhile, the magic kingdom morphs into the tragic kingdom). Since it was her referral that got me the job, I wanted to be a good, dependable worker so that her referral was not made in vain. If I had been a lazy, unreliable worker, one, I would have made my aunt look bad and two, the casting department could have lost trust in her abilities to bring on good workers to the resort. My actions had a direct relation to her reputation as my referral.
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Tony Maddox, CNN International Executive Vice President and managing director was quoted today saying, “It’s our journalism-based assertion that this [human trafficking] is the greatest uncovered news story of today, and CNN plans to rip the lid off.” CNN’s effort to “rip the lid off” begins with the official launch of The Freedom Project. The site will include regular features such as tracking the numbers of people currently enslaved, solutions to the issues and success stories of survivors and organizations committed to ending the world’s problem of human trafficking.
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There is a lot of crap in the world today, no doubt about it. Sin is everywhere and people are hurting. There is no denying it. Tonight I gave a presentation on Human Trafficking to some cool local college students. As they discovered, this issue is dark. The only hope I see in it all, is the light of Christ which reveals itself in those who know Christ on the personal level. As Moses' face radiated after seeing God, so do Christ's followers radiate light where there is darkness. This video is what light looks like when shone over the dark. I am a human being. I am loved. I am a work of art. I am precious. I am created with purpose. I am no different than any other person God has created. Here is a man who gets what it means to be a created human being and live with purpose. It's awesome really what one person can do. This guy could be you.
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My son, Jesse, lost a friend on Friday night. Shaky lived in one of the parks in Santa Barbara and, as I understand it, was a bit of a legend in his community. He and his friends were together Friday evening and he decided to go to sleep before the others. In the morning, Gator, Shaky's best friend and constant companion, went to wake him but Shaky was gone.
Jesse didn't get to the park until Shaky's body had already been taken away. He was told they'll cremate him and wait to hear if there is something that someone somewhere wants done with the ashes. Jesse gathered Shaky's earthly possessions from behind the dumpster where he had been asleep and brought them to Gator and the others. There wasn't much. Gator had a number for a woman he believed to be Shaky's mama. He didn't want the coroner to contact her about the death so asked Jesse to please make the call. Jesse did. He found out that she was actually Shaky's grandmother and he explained to her that he had some bad news. Of course, she was very upset by it but Jesse let her know that Shaky had been well loved.
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January is National Slavery Awareness Month. In fact, tomorrow, January 11th, is National Slavery Awareness Day. I know, I know. It's hard to believe slavery still exists today, especially in America where slavery was abolished back in Abe Lincolns day. Wiliam Wilberforce spent 26 years of his life to get the Slave Trade Act of 1807 in place abolishing England's slave trade. Yet long after the days of the honest President and the philanthropist Willberforce, slavery or human trafficking is the second largest grossing industry in the world. National Geographic estimates there are roughly 27 million people are held captive as slaves around the world, approximately 1 million of those are living in the States.
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“To be honest, I don’t understand how anyone could not be excited about the work that IJM is doing. We feel that we are called to rescue,justice and mercy, and it moves our heart to see how effectively and passionately IJM exhibits all three. Since God broke our chains, we want to be involved in breaking the chains of others.” Tenth Avenue North is just one of the 40 artist you'll hear on Freedom, a new CD benefiting the work of International Justice Mission (IJM). Every purchase of “Freedom” helps support IJM’s work tobring rescue, justice and long-term aftercare to victims of violence.The collection, which retails for only $5, also equips supporters to become advocates for the 27 million children, women and men held as slaves today. Each album includes a bonus DVD featuring IJM’sdocumentary At the End of Slavery,designed as a tool to introduce others to the reality of modern-dayslavery and the hope for a final end to this crime, and an introduction to Family Christian Stores’ James Fund in support of orphans and widows.
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