April 25, 2008

We went to the strip clubs last Friday night (4/25/08) and gave gift bags to the dancers. Well, we TRIED to give gift bags to the dancers. New owners took over 2 of our clubs (same owners for both clubs) and wouldn't let us in nor would they let us leave gift bags for the girls. I feel this is probably due to their religious preference which is NOT Christ-based.

It wasn't a total loss. We got to talk to Richard who is the manager/bouncer of one of the clubs under new ownership. I told him we were going to pray that he either gets new owners or gets a new job completely out of the business.

He laughed and said, "I'm 60 years old. There's nothing else I can do."
I told him that with God all things are possible.
"But I'm a hard case."
"God likes hard cases. He's up to the challenge."
He laughed and thanked us.

At the last club, where we've only been twice, we got to meet the manager -- we already knew him. He used to work at one of the other clubs we go to on Tuesday nights. He recognized us, was very friendly, and hand-delivered the bags to the girls himself. After Friday night, I'm beginning to think this ministry is for/to the managers...

It's been amazing to see God move beyond the girls (the original focal point of the ministry) to also include the managers, bartenders, djays, valet parkers, and customers. He cares as much about the managers, & yes even the customers, as he does about the girls. What an amazing God!

Our next outreaches in May will be for Mother's Day. We have some kids from local churches making homemade Mother's Day cards for the girls. Our girls just love receiving these cards! The dates for the outreaches are 5/9 and 5/13.

Please pray for direction as to how to deal w/the Friday night outreach. We could include those clubs on Tuesday nights, but it would be a very long night for us, and most of the team have to go to work the next day. We'll either add new clubs on Fridays, or God will do a sovereign work, and we'll be back in those 2 clubs that turned us away. Please pray for Richard, the 60-year old manager, to find a new line of work. He needs to see that God still cares about him.

Piercing the Darkness,
Drenda

P.S. Now for a little bit of ministry promotion....I'm going to be interviewed on a blog http://sexloveandmarriage.wordpress.com

This came about as one of my faithful readers/friend forwarded the "last night" emails to her friends. The interview should be up in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted.