I will attempt to Blog to the best of my ability what I experienced while going out on the streets to minister in a foreign Country the love of Christ to the prostitutes working in Australia.
It was back in November that I learned of a ministry in Australia that was ministering inside brothels (more commonly known as whorehouses here in the states). I learned that they would go in and give massages to the girls during the slow times of the day when there weren't as many customers looking for a date. My friend Narelle had told me of Shaz the leader and founder of this ministry and naturally it grabbed my heart. I thought how amazing would that be to minister in another Country and see first hand what prostitution is like in another culture and more importantly what could I pull from this ministry and incorporate back home in the United States. I also heard of Shaz's husband and the work that he was doing as well. I learned from Narelle that he was a former Anglican Priest who had had enough of the religious legalistic crowd and stepped down to do street ministry. He now has a ministry that focuses on ministering God's unconditional love to homosexuals and lesbians in Perth. I then quickly woke up from my day dreaming and thought that that is half way across the world and I am stuck here in Bakersfield...yet I never lost hope of one day teaming up with Shaz for an outreach.
Well as God would have it He spoke to a friend of mine and said to bless me and pay for my airfare. My friend Narelle had offered me a place to stay if I ever came to Perth, even my own room. I was overwhelmed with the thought of traveling to another Contentment and immediately went to prayer. If God is not in it then I would not want to go. Sometimes you might be presented with a "good thing" but, it might not be a "God thing". Well I asked a couple of my elders for advice and I sought God in prayer and His word. 5 different passages I looked at all had the word "go" or "went" in the scripture that I read. I felt peace and I said yes, I would be honored to come to Australia. I told my friend not only did I want to come down and visit with her but that I wanted and felt as if we would go out and minister with Shaz. I was also feeling as if God was calling me to rest in Him, and that He was giving me and oppertunity to recharge my battery.
6 weeks came and went and with my affairs in order I boarded a plane for Australia, bright eyed with the whole world in front of me anticipating what my God was going to do. I left not knowing for sure, exactly why I was going to Aussie land I just knew it was to rest and hang out with a friend and that God had showed me in a vision that I would worship Him before we would go to do an outreach (I didn't know where or with who, but that I would minister to prostitutes)...I knew in my spirit it was deeper and much more than just these three things.
Upon arrival into Perth I met my friend Narelle at the airport and we had dinner. Afterwords I got situated into my room before laying down to sleep (tired and a little weary from traveling 31 hours) I noticed that I had zero jet lag. God woke me at 2:00 am and said for me to read Jer 31. I did and it was on Hope and Restoration. God revealed to me at that time that I was sent by Him to Australia with a message of hope and to encourage the believers in Australia.
I soon met up with Andrew (Shaz's husband) to encourage him and find out about the work that he and his wife were doing. What an amazing man of God the fellow turned out to be. I had the honor of meeting his wife a few days later and I saw humility in both of them. Shaz and I talked about the wonderful work that God was doing here in the states and she told me of the wonderful things that He was doing in Perth. We set up a time to meet the following week to see about setting up an outreach. I had to be very respectful of the work that God was doing in the city through her and her team and did not want to compromise it in any way. Well, we meet up for coffee and dinner and there were 2 things that stood out to me. They were that (1) she was getting a feel for me and my heart and (2) was something that she said to me. She said that God has called us to go out as sheep among wolves. To be gentle in a hostile environment. She said that often we want to go out and be the aggressor and God has not called us to that. We are to be as gentle as doves and as shrewd as snakes. I agreed wholeheartedly and shared that we must go out as less than. She shared of the importance to go out on their turf and minister to them in an environment that they feel comfortable in. I took one thing from this meeting and that was that Shaz and I were from the same tribe meaning the way that she sees and does outreach and her approach was very similar to mine and that we were both on the same page. We both believe that an approach with love and compassion is the best way to minister to someone not shoving religion down someones throat and telling them if they don't change their ways they are going to hell. That is certainly not the way Jesus went about it.
We set up a date to go out and minister to the street walkers but , that wasn't going to be easy. There are not that many street walkers in Perth. Narelle and I went out to 3 different times to places we had heard that there might be street walkers but never found one. They all work in the brothels. I never found out how many brothel there were in Perth but it is a city twice the size of the land mass as Bakersfield and a population of 2 million people there, so I believe there were a lot. Also, understand the brothels are not legal nor are they illegal in a sense. They have a business license and most have neon "OPEN" signs in the window not to mention neon "ATM" signs lite up at night as well.n If there is trouble inside one of the brothels the police will come out and help the ladies.
So on Saturday February 5, 2011 we sat out to minister to the working girls on the streets of Perth, Western Australia. Earlier that day I went shopping and purchased gift bags and girly items to put in them; jewelry, nail polish, candy etc. These are the things that work back home so lets give them out here or so I thought. Shaz did what she knows and she got together the things that work in Australia. She got together tubs, towels, water and lotion to give massages in the camper van that her and her husband purchased for street ministry. It is named the "Pamper Van" rightfully so and it is set up and equipped with mattresses and couches to do massages. Well we got ready and met up at a park in the neighborhood of where we had heard the working girls walked and as we prayed over our night I thanked God for Shaz and her preparation for our outreach. She interrupted me and said that she forgot the water for the massages. I said "That's God". I suggested that we go over to a gas station and get some water. She said no it has to be "Hot" water. She then said well maybe I can ask to get some at a brothel around the corner. I replied, "That's God, lets go". Woo Hoo I knew God was moving.
Side note; when I heard of the pamper van from Shaz a week or so earlier and that there weren't many street walkers I prayed a simple prayer and that was, "God even if I could be the driver and sit and pray in the parking lot of the brothel while the women are inside ministering, then that is fine with me." That prayer came true as I watched both (Narelle and Shaz) enter the brothel after getting the Ok by the manager. The manager asked Shaz if she would mind talking one on one, to one of the girls who was "in a bad way". She said sure I will. The women working that night found out that these girls Shaz and Narelle were the ones who give massages on Tuesdays and Thursdays and they said we have been waiting for months for you to come here to massages us, will you? Shaz asked Narelle to massage while she went to talk to this one girl who was in a bad way. Don't forget I'm sitting in the parking lot praying like I never have before. Anointed prayers for both of the girls. So Shaz goes in to meet the girl that is in a bad way and the girl asks Shaz if she is a Christian? Shaz said yes...Then the girl asked do you speak in tongues? Shaz said yes...Then the girl said well then I guess you can massage me if you're a Christian. Turns out the girl was a Born Again, Tongue talking, Spirit filled believer who had back slide and started using meth and ended up working in this brothel. Shaz and this girl ended up praying and doing a bible study for two hours!!! How amazing is that??? Narelle listened and talked with two more girls and both asked her if she would come back the following week and she said yes. I had no idea that this was going on inside as I sat and prayed and man did I pray. Wow!!! I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if God had sent me to Aussie land that there would be a God story of epic proportion. Well there was so much fruit and since we had been invited back that we decided to do it again in a week. My next blog will be about the outreach that we did on February 12th. God bless- Doug Bennett
We at Magdalene Hope are a group of believers, called to minister the unconditional Love of Christ in an untraditional and unconventional way to those who are stuck/trapped in the commercial sex industry, namely prostitution and human trafficking. This blog is a first hand account of what happens in the ministry. Thank you for joining us on this journey!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Heavy Heart
I enter this blog with a heavy heart. I just left one of our clients not more than 10 minutes ago. I met with here at a neutral spot of her choosing to talk about possibly placing her in a sober living program. She had expressed to our street team that she wanted to get into a program so she could take the steps of getting off of drugs and stop prostituting herself and be a mother to her 6 children. She showed up a couple of minutes late and confessed that she had forgot about our meeting but said that she wanted to get into a program but just was not ready right now. I asked her about her kids but she quickly changed the subject as a john walked by that caught her eye. "That guy is looking to date me", she said with a look of I need to make my rent for my motel room (one that I have saw a hundred times before), and with that she said to me, "I'll see you around."
As I watched her climb into his car, I thought, man the devil just punked me and did me dirty...again. This kind of thing is nothing new and is pretty much par for the course for myself and our ministry. We can not get discouraged in our calling. Seeds were planted today and we have to remind ourselves that she was not ready today to make a change. We have to hold out hope that one day she will be ready to make a change and when she is we will be here for her with open arms. It still weighs heavy on my heart.
I am reminded of God's patience and Grace for me as I played "CHURCH" saying one thing on Sunday and doing the exact opposite the other 6 days of the week, but in that... I finally surrendered all to Christ 4 and a half years later. Which reminds me that God has a plan and a purpose for us all even if we don't act like it.
Even if it's 4 1/2 weeks or 4 1/2 years or 4 1/2 decades Just as God was patient with me so do I need to be patient with others as they discover a love for Christ.
All Glory to God,
- Doug Bennett
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