Super Bowl, Sochi, and Prayer
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6
Prayer breaks chains and gives favor that is supernatural. It enables rescue and puts people in the right place at the right time.
Greetings! How are you? I hope you are doing well and that you were able to find a way to participate in the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day earlier this month. This awareness campaign runs for the entire month of January, so don’t be shy in sharing what you know. I have heard several great reports and am so excited for the ways you’re getting involved locally in your community! This newsletter is on the longer side – but we’re taking a world tour. Read on as we go from India, to America, and to Russia!
Rescue: Freedom International
As you may know from reading our anti-trafficking Action Points, our first action step is partnering with a ministry in prayer. I am proud to announce that we will now be praying for our NEW ANTI-TRAFFICKING PARTNER, Rescue: Freedom International! Rescue: Freedom International was born out of the ministry of an Assemblies of God missionary couple. This couple, working in India, was rescuing children from traffickers over 20 years ago, before the term “sex trafficking” had even been coined. Their work continues to this day, expanding and flourishing. Watch for an upcoming newsletter, highlighting the prayer requests that Rescue: Freedom has for that month.
USA and Russia
This month I want to focus on awareness of sex trafficking based around sporting events. Since both the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games are just around the corner, let’s turn our attention to the trafficking that happens around these, and other, sporting events.
USA Super Bowl, February 2, 2014 - New York/New Jersey MetLife Stadium
On Sunday, February 2, 2014, two teams will battle it out at the New York/New Jersey MetLife Stadium. Fans will gather, people will cheer, and the Seahawks will win!! (Hopefully.) But there’s another side to this great game - a dark side. And that’s sex trafficking. Because of the incredible numbers of people flocking to the city to watch and celebrate, it’s a prime gathering of potential customers - at least according to pimps and madams.
In 2011 when the Super Bowl was in Dallas, TX, a Shared Hope survivor sent a plea to the Super Bowl Host Committee. A.H. wrote, With the Super Bowl quickly approaching, you have a choice to help stop it (trafficking). Dallas/Fort Worth will soon become the nation’s biggest party – and every pimp’s center for business. You can read this letter on the Shared Hope International website.
According to this article from the Huffington Post the 2011 Super Bowl expected to generate as much traffic for prostitutes as it does for bartenders and bookies." With that information from past Super Bowls, what can we expect from this one?
Now, New Jersey is doing a great job preparing for this event, and is already cracking down on sex trafficking. BUT we need to act and pray. And, the problem isn’t limited to New Jersey. Many sporting events all over the country are prime opportunities for traffickers. Sports and sex seem to go together. This January 18, 2014 USA Today article says, "Anytime there is a large event that is primarily male-attended and there's a party atmosphere, that will result in incidents of human trafficking," said Nita Belles, who has worked during the last four Super Bowls with a coalition to prevent trafficking. "There is a 'boys will be boys' mentality."
People hire prostitutes to come to sports parties. Girls are seen as celebratory objects for the winning of a game, or a source of some perverted consolation when a team loses. They are literally used, all over the country, and discarded – as if they were a carton of pizza or a can of beer. This is atrocious and it must be stopped. I can’t stress enough, the importance of having – and giving out – the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline number: 888-373-7888. It’s as simple as this – if you see something suspicious, call. Many prostitutes are underage. Use your eyes. Follow your gut. Let the Holy Spirit guide you, and call.
Super Bowl season is particularly eye opening for me, as one of the most impactful trafficking stories I first heard was about a girl who was cornered and raped at a super bowl party – by her boyfriend and his friends. This boyfriend was a pimp, and that girl was trafficked for the next year – out of her own home. Thank God for His amazing grace - she was rescued, saved, and is living for God today.
2014 Olympic Games, February 7 – 23, 2014 – Sochi, Russia
The Super Bowl attracts many Americans, but this February the Olympic Games will draw winter sports fans from all over the world! And with the great winter celebrations, we have yet another huge group of potential sex buyers. Just like with American football, there will be people who travel to Russia solely to have sex with women and children, indifferent to the sports games. With room for over 75,000 spectators in the Olympic Village, this is a prime location for traffickers to bring girls.
Again, what can you do? If you’ll be there and you see something suspicious, call the international hotline. The number in Russia is: 8 800 200 2400 - Country code: 7-. If you have a friend who is going, make sure they have this number before they go.
As you watch the Olympic Games in your own town, or as your town has public gatherings to watch and celebrate various events, keep your own eyes open. If you see something locally, you make the phone call. See if your country has an international trafficking hotline here.
Prayer Points:
- Pray for the plans of the enemy to be thwarted.
- Pray protection over vulnerable girls who could be trafficked.
- Pray for rescue for trafficking victims, as security and awareness is especially heightened at this time.
And pray for integrity and strength for law enforcement, that they would help rescue victims.
Lastly, I want to remind you that while I speak of “the girls” most frequently, young boys are also used in sex trafficking. Please continue to lift these boys up in prayer, along with the girls. While I’m not discounting physical action in the least, don’t forget that prayer has incredible power. James 5:16b-18: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Let's be active participants in prayer and action this month.
Standing in the gap with you,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Anti-Trafficking Specialist
Aglow International
