December 18, 2007

This past Tuesday night, 12/18/07, the team went to the strip clubs to take gift bags to the dancers. The gift was the book "Along Came Love" by Carrie Turansky. Thanks, Carrie, for donating 120 books to us for this outreach! What a blessing! We also gave collapsible duffle bags to some of the managers, dj's, valet guys, etc. who have welcomed us every month. I was unable to attend again, but God has blessed me with an incredible team who don't need me. :) Here are some highlights from Tammy:

We went to 4 Clubs and 1 Modeling Studio. Present were Bill, Sybil, Norma, Amanda, & Tammy.

Club #1 - Pretty quiet there tonight. Sybil talked to the DJ who said that his daughter ran off to get married because she’s pregnant. Sybil told him she’d pray for her. Girls weren’t very talkative in the club.

Club #2 – Even more quiet. Not many girls there. Left extra bags for girls who would come in later and gave a couple of bags to the parking-lot security guy.

Club #3 – Amanda & Tammy went into the small dressing room and found 6 girls: Cupid, Chelsea, Hollywood, Erotica, Mary Jane, and Amelia. They all seemed very happy to see us. Cupid asked if we could pray for them, and then clarified that she would like a “group prayer” right now. We gathered all 6 girls with Amanda and me in a circle and held hands. We asked if they wanted to pray for anything specific, and Cupid said “forgiveness.” Someone said, “peace” and Amelia said “The Devil is in this club!” We prayed fervently for forgiveness, peace, protection, renewing of their minds, and everything else we could think of. It was great. We assured them that we’d continue praying for each one of them by name and they wanted to know when we’d be back.

Modeling Studio: Sybil and Norma went in. There were 4 girls working tonight. They said that Marissa is back in jail. This is someone that Sybil has ministered to many times before. She always calls Sybil “Phyllis.”

Club #4 - When we were getting out of the van, one of the bouncers/security people were in the parking lot near the van. He saw us getting bags out of the van and told us how many girls he thought were working. When we got to the lobby of the club, the manager was in the lobby blocking the doorway into the club. We asked if we could go in and he asked who we were and what we were doing. We told him that we are a ministry bringing gifts to the girls and he just looked at us like we were crazy and said “GIFTS???” We told him that they were gifts and once again, we come every month. We thought that we weren’t going to be able to get in for sure. He looked at the girl behind the desk (who already had a gift) and said “do you know these people?” She said, “Yes, they are great; they come every month!” He moved aside and said, well, come on in! FAVOR! Amanda met Victoria, who had read “Redeeming Love” and then passed it on to her roommate, who has also read it! They loved it. Victoria now wants to get out of the business. Amanda talked with her at length about the book and the story of Hosea. She was very receptive. Norma and Tammy went into the dressing room and found several girls who were very happy to see us. Helena said that she had just said that very day that we should be coming back soon with some gift bags for them! She told Norma that she plans to leave the business as soon as Christmas is over. Jasmine hugged me and said how much she loves the gifts. As we were leaving I felt a tap on my shoulder and Savanna was standing there with tears in her eyes. She hugged me for a long time and said how much she appreciated what we were doing. We were approached by Fred as we were in the lobby about to leave the club. He was pretty drunk, but wanted to know what we were doing. When we told him, he said “Are you REAL Christians?” I’m not sure what that meant exactly, but I assured him we were the real deal. Fred asked for prayer for himself and his ex-wife Cindy, who he said left him to “find herself.” I felt impressed to tell him several times that no matter what, God loved him. I wasn’t sure if he’d remember anything tomorrow, but I told him that tomorrow I wanted him to think about how God sent us to that club tonight, while he was there, just to tell him how He loves him. He was taken aback and very emotional at times; I am praying that somehow God got through the alcohol to his heart to communicate His love to Him, and that he’ll remember it when he wakes up in the morning. As we left the club the security guys told us how much they appreciated what we were doing. All in all the most warm, open reception we’ve ever gotten at this club; God really gave us favor.

Obviously, God is moving and doing something in the hearts of everyone in these clubs. Thank you so much for your prayers and giving! We couldn't do it without you!

In January some of the team will be ministering at the porn convention in Vegas with xxxchurch.com. Please keep us in your prayers. It will be an intense time of ministry.

Piercing the Darkness with Spring 1st,
Drenda