Artwork for podcast Dudes And Dads Podcast
Human Trafficking: Chris Russell
Episode 76th May 2024 • Dudes And Dads Podcast • Dudes And Dads Media
00:00:00 01:04:05

Share Episode

Shownotes

On this episode we talk with Chris Russell of Destiny Rescue about human trafficking and the slippery slope that pornography has leading to trafficking

Transcripts

Speaker:

On this episode of the dudes and dads podcast, we talk with our friend, Chris Russell about human trafficking.

Speaker:

You're listening to the dudes and dads podcast, a show dedicated to helping men be better dudes and dads by building community through meaningful conversation and storytelling.

Speaker:

And now here are your hosts, Joel DeMott and Andy Lehman.

Speaker:

Andy.

Speaker:

Hey, Joel.

Speaker:

How are you?

Speaker:

I'm good. I think I think I pushed all the right buttons tonight and got this thing going.

Speaker:

Nice. You know, every once in a while, Andy, something happens.

Speaker:

The podcast varies come in and they change things around.

Speaker:

And boy, do I love to watch you just put it all back together.

Speaker:

You know, though, Joel, it's way better than having to set it up every time we go ahead and do one of these things.

Speaker:

That's so true.

Speaker:

Because that never works.

Speaker:

That never works.

Speaker:

Love it.

Speaker:

Hey, everybody, welcome to the dudes and dads podcast. Glad to have each and every one of you with us.

Speaker:

Maybe you're watching the stream right now.

Speaker:

Maybe not.

Speaker:

But if you're not and you want to, you should.

Speaker:

You should.

Speaker:

You can watch now streaming and out live.

Speaker:

That's where you can find us at now streaming that life.

Speaker:

Is this a new edition?

Speaker:

No, it's we've had it for a while.

Speaker:

See, this goes to show you what I know.

Speaker:

I don't know where the things are, but.

Speaker:

Yeah, glad to have each and every one of you here tonight.

Speaker:

Excited about our our conversation.

Speaker:

So much to learn.

Speaker:

Joel, what is new tonight?

Speaker:

You know what?

Speaker:

Thanks for asking.

Speaker:

I left Josiah attending a large bonfire is what I did.

Speaker:

Is your wife home?

Speaker:

She is.

Speaker:

OK, good.

Speaker:

Had a clear line of sight.

Speaker:

He's a boy scout.

Speaker:

He's 13. I'm sure it's fine.

Speaker:

I mean, I trust him.

Speaker:

I'm sure it's fine.

Speaker:

I was clear about the parameters of being number one, that all fuel sources need to

Speaker:

be in far distance from that.

Speaker:

But we had a lot of brush and things that had to get burned.

Speaker:

And you know, you know, the weather the way it's been right.

Speaker:

While it's dry and there's no wind, it's like, let's get on it.

Speaker:

I had a fire last night because of that same reason.

Speaker:

That was like, you know, I've got to get it out there and get the brush done when I can't

Speaker:

get it done.

Speaker:

And because of the summer and spring sports stuff that all goes on, that also limits my

Speaker:

weekend burning opportunities.

Speaker:

It does.

Speaker:

So when you get it, you jump on it, you go.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And then I had to get here to the studio.

Speaker:

And so I was like, Josiah, I think I think you're this is good for you.

Speaker:

You can handle it.

Speaker:

You can handle this.

Speaker:

Please don't burn the garage, the garage or the barn down, please.

Speaker:

So, yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So as far as I know, everything's going great.

Speaker:

And I guess we'll find out when we get back.

Speaker:

How are things going for you?

Speaker:

Good.

Speaker:

So tonight we are actually doing a zoom back channel for our Patreon supporters.

Speaker:

For those of you that are concerned, zoom back channel is entirely legal.

Speaker:

I'm told it's entirely on the up.

Speaker:

It's essentially just a zoom meeting that you can be in and chat and with other listeners

Speaker:

and talk.

Speaker:

And then if you actually want to talk and we want to bring you on, we will bring you

Speaker:

on the show.

Speaker:

Andy, I thought that when we sent a man to the moon, I said, that is the pinnacle of

Speaker:

technological innovation and achievement.

Speaker:

And yet here you are tonight talking about the zoom back channel.

Speaker:

And I say, Hey, really?

Speaker:

The sky's the limit.

Speaker:

What else is possible before you'll be telling me that we that we the time travel is next.

Speaker:

I think that's probably the next step.

Speaker:

And Doc Brown is next door.

Speaker:

I think anyways, Joel tonight, we wanted to bring a Chris Russell on.

Speaker:

Chris is somebody that I've known for a little while.

Speaker:

He's come and visited our church and talked a little bit about destiny rescue.

Speaker:

And I remember thinking back then when he came on or came up, came on, came up to Clinton

Speaker:

frame.

Speaker:

You know, this would be a great, a great thing.

Speaker:

And then the, we were at the father's more, I can't get the words out tonight.

Speaker:

Fathers matter forum.

Speaker:

That's hard to say it is the other week.

Speaker:

And Chris had a booth not too far from us.

Speaker:

And he said, you know, I think that would be a great topic.

Speaker:

This I, this topic of human trafficking.

Speaker:

And I said, yes, actually it would.

Speaker:

It's always great to be in close booth proximity to people that are on mission.

Speaker:

We're on the same thing.

Speaker:

So it's great.

Speaker:

So welcome to the show.

Speaker:

Chris.

Speaker:

Hi, welcome.

Speaker:

Hey, thanks guys.

Speaker:

A little worried, Joel, looking out the window.

Speaker:

I see some smoke in the distance.

Speaker:

I'm not sure what direction your house is from location.

Speaker:

Well, that's we'll just ignore that.

Speaker:

I'm assuming looks to the best.

Speaker:

It's literally, it's going to be in the back of my mind the entire time recording.

Speaker:

There's a reason your back is taken.

Speaker:

We're just going to act like it's not happening.

Speaker:

Chris.

Speaker:

We always like to like to start off every show, getting a little more info about you.

Speaker:

And we like to call these the, the dad stats as it were.

Speaker:

So this is an opportunity for us to ask you to share anything you want to about yourself,

Speaker:

your family, anything you want to put out on the interwebs.

Speaker:

This is your time, but yeah, tell us about yourself.

Speaker:

Maybe a little background where you come from, how you ended up doing what you're doing and

Speaker:

yeah, your family, all that, all that good stuff.

Speaker:

We'd love to hear about it.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Well, thanks for having me on guys.

Speaker:

Appreciate it.

Speaker:

So I've actually been living in the Goshen area since 2010.

Speaker:

I came up here to be the lead pastor at community church of Waterford.

Speaker:

So did that from 2010 to 19.

Speaker:

And then that's when I came over full time with destiny rescue.

Speaker:

So asked her for 23 years and now I've been full time with destiny rescue for five, but

Speaker:

our church partnered with destiny rescue for four years before that.

Speaker:

So I've been connected to the ministry for nine years, but full time for a little five.

Speaker:

Gotcha.

Speaker:

And I'm assuming you're married.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

My wife and I are married and four kids.

Speaker:

Caleb is in Cincinnati.

Speaker:

He'll be 25 next month.

Speaker:

Nice.

Speaker:

I don't know how that works.

Speaker:

Does the kids get older and we don't.

Speaker:

Like I'm not sure how the math works on that, but, and then three girls, my wife and I adopted

Speaker:

three girls seven years ago.

Speaker:

And the, and by the way, all, all at one time, right?

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So the oldest one's actually going to be 21 on Saturday.

Speaker:

Another crazy one.

Speaker:

And the two at home are 16 and 10.

Speaker:

So yeah, I didn't think this through really well guys.

Speaker:

So I grew up one of three boys.

Speaker:

So getting three girls, there was a lot more drama with girls.

Speaker:

And yeah, I tell people I volunteered to go on the road a lot to speed.

Speaker:

Just kidding.

Speaker:

He loves it.

Speaker:

Quite different.

Speaker:

And I think about the fact with the age difference that they had, that I was going to have at

Speaker:

least one teenage girl for the next 16 years of my life.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So yeah, let us know how that goes.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Man.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

We'll keep that in mind.

Speaker:

I've got two, two girls that are coming up and while they're not actually, well, one's

Speaker:

teen, teenager.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But the other one, I think thinks she is sometimes she's working on it.

Speaker:

She is.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

She is.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I yeah, Chris, if you, I did the three boys and then the youngest is the, is the girl

Speaker:

and Molly is a survivor.

Speaker:

People, people just all the time with her, like, Oh, you have three older brothers.

Speaker:

They just assume like, man, she's just having to overcome so much.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

And it's like, she's got it made.

Speaker:

This is the baby of the family.

Speaker:

She she had this gig.

Speaker:

She's restarted this up now where we're brothers will give her piggyback rides.

Speaker:

I think if she's like, Hey, let's, let's go.

Speaker:

She's tops on when she gets older.

Speaker:

Any boy that's interested in her really doesn't stand a chance.

Speaker:

That's how I feel about it too.

Speaker:

So you're not even gonna have to step in dad.

Speaker:

I feel fine.

Speaker:

Chris.

Speaker:

I do wonder because I just, I don't know.

Speaker:

I have a particular fascination and curiosity with this for some strange reason.

Speaker:

I'm wondering stepping out of pastoral ministry and doing what you're doing now.

Speaker:

Have you felt like there was a very easy transition crossover?

Speaker:

Have you had strange out of body experiences since, since then?

Speaker:

I just, I wonder what that's been like every night after Mexican.

Speaker:

I wonder, I wonder we're talking about.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I wonder how that's gone for you.

Speaker:

Actually, it was a pretty smooth transition.

Speaker:

And you know, Andy and I were actually talking a little earlier about that transition.

Speaker:

So I was at community church of Waterford from 2010 to beginning of 2019, but my wife

Speaker:

and I, we finalized the adoption with our three girls on August 3rd of 2018.

Speaker:

And it was just a couple of weeks after that, that I actually sat down with our head elder.

Speaker:

Cause that was the time of the year where we typically kind of do a, it's not really

Speaker:

a review.

Speaker:

It's just like, Hey, let's have a conversation.

Speaker:

Let's discern like, is this still, or am I still the right person to lead the church

Speaker:

family?

Speaker:

Is it the right fit for me?

Speaker:

And I just told him, I said, Hey, I really feel like the answers are different this year

Speaker:

and I need help discerning this.

Speaker:

So we took about a month to really pray and talk that through and realized, yeah, God,

Speaker:

God had something up his sleeve and something was coming.

Speaker:

So we actually announced in October of 2018 that we were going to wrap up at the end of

Speaker:

the year and we had no idea what was coming next.

Speaker:

It was a great faith teaching moment for our church family that, you know, we had, anytime

Speaker:

you have transitioned in church, there's always people that are wondering, okay, what's the

Speaker:

real story?

Speaker:

Cause everything was good.

Speaker:

Everything was healthy, but you know, you're always just, you know, the enemy likes to

Speaker:

creep in there and make people doubt about stuff.

Speaker:

So we actually kind of sent the letter out.

Speaker:

So everybody got it on Friday.

Speaker:

So that kind of the bomb effect and then just, I invited everybody to come on Sunday and

Speaker:

we were just going to have a family meeting during service time.

Speaker:

And I, three barstools up on stage, it was me, our head elder, our head board member,

Speaker:

and we just shared the story and spent some time celebrating how God had called me there

Speaker:

in 2010, some of the great God moments in the time I was there.

Speaker:

And then how God had just been kind of changing how he had me wired, that something else was

Speaker:

coming up and that I was going to be stepping out of that.

Speaker:

And we just talked about kind of Abraham about the whole, I will show you as you go.

Speaker:

And that's kind of how we felt was like, we don't know what's next from a, from a human

Speaker:

standpoint, this makes no sense to make this decision to step, to be announcing that we

Speaker:

are leaving when we have nothing lined up, but from a faith perspective of going, there's

Speaker:

a time, cause we had just finished the series called sink and it was all about being in

Speaker:

sync with, you know, how God wires you and what he calls you to.

Speaker:

And that's what I use as that illustration is that, you know, just kind of being in sync

Speaker:

with God, but over time things had shifted and God was calling me to something else.

Speaker:

And there's a time that you take to pray and discern, but then there's a time where, you

Speaker:

know, the answer, and now you're stepping into disobedience.

Speaker:

If you continue down that road and just share that with the church, I said, I don't want

Speaker:

that for me.

Speaker:

I don't want that for my family.

Speaker:

I don't want that for our church family.

Speaker:

So we are going to trust God in this, that he's going to show us as we go.

Speaker:

And we're going to go ahead and in faith, we're going to announce that we are wrapping

Speaker:

up.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So, so you had mentioned that you didn't know where you were going, but shortly after that,

Speaker:

you joined destiny rescue.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Shortly after when that became public that we had announced that we were leaving, Kirk,

Speaker:

the CEO at the time of destiny rescue had reached out and he just wanted to get together

Speaker:

to kind of hear, cause we connected, I had been going in and doing devotions with their

Speaker:

staff and I'd spoken at several other events.

Speaker:

I was on their board.

Speaker:

He just kind of wanted to know like, Hey, what, what's been going on?

Speaker:

And about halfway through that conversation, he said, Hey, it really value having a conversation

Speaker:

with you about joining our team.

Speaker:

And that totally blindsided me.

Speaker:

And I was like, well, you know, this goes guys with the wives.

Speaker:

I called the wife.

Speaker:

She's like, yeah, I kind of expected that to happen.

Speaker:

I'm like, well, thanks for the heads up there there.

Speaker:

I had no idea that was coming.

Speaker:

And so it was just this awesome thing of, you know, I got to talk with him and then

Speaker:

a couple of days later I met with Jason Tash and our current CEO and we just had a chance

Speaker:

to talk cause he was a former pastor as well.

Speaker:

So it allowed me to say, okay, what's this look like to go into this nonprofit world

Speaker:

with a background as a pastor.

Speaker:

And it's, you know, we talked for a couple hours and then it kind of became a, okay,

Speaker:

what's this job look like?

Speaker:

And they're like, well, give us a week to come up with a job description.

Speaker:

And they came back a week later and kind of rolled it out and it was just everything in

Speaker:

my wheelhouse and in my, in what I was passionate about.

Speaker:

So, so tell us about your decision.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So tell us about your role, what that is, are, and maybe, I don't know, maybe it has

Speaker:

shifted or evolved some over time or if it's kind of maybe stayed in the same line, but

Speaker:

so I began pretty much in the role that I'm in now.

Speaker:

We did some adjustments where I, I moved into a different role and it was a lot more administrative,

Speaker:

a lot more meetings and it just wasn't life giving to me.

Speaker:

And really, and to their, to their credit, when I had those conversations with team members

Speaker:

of going like, Hey, this is my wheelhouse.

Speaker:

This is what I would really love to do.

Speaker:

And I'm willing to do whatever for the organization, but if at some point I can get back to what

Speaker:

I love, that's, and in short order, God provided someone to take some of that other leadership

Speaker:

on and I was able to slide into the, into my sweet spot.

Speaker:

And so, so I serve as the director of engagement.

Speaker:

I'm one of, we have about 30 of us on the US team.

Speaker:

Seven of us are pastors.

Speaker:

So I'm the, I serve as the director of engagement and I'm one of those seven pastors on staff.

Speaker:

So, so I get the opportunity to really connect with people.

Speaker:

I probably spend about half of my Sundays traveling the country and we do what we call

Speaker:

rescue Sundays.

Speaker:

So it's getting to speak at churches like you're talking about and you've been, you

Speaker:

know, been here getting ready to come back to Clinton frame in just three weeks for the

Speaker:

third rescue Sunday.

Speaker:

And it's really, let's, let's raise awareness on the issue.

Speaker:

Let's connect people to God's heart on the issue and then let's figure out what God's

Speaker:

call to action for our church family is.

Speaker:

So it still allows me to stay very connected to the church.

Speaker:

And now I really get to love on and coach up pastors and then helping them figure out

Speaker:

how do you get your church engaged?

Speaker:

How do you get them fired up and how do you release them for ministry to set kids free?

Speaker:

So that's really rewarding.

Speaker:

Can you tell me a little bit about what destiny rescue is for those who don't know what rescue

Speaker:

is?

Speaker:

So destiny rescue, we're an international Christian organization.

Speaker:

Our primary focus is rescuing underage girls out of sex trafficking situations.

Speaker:

Now in the process of that, we certainly get boys last year.

Speaker:

We actually 10% and that's our highest percentage ever.

Speaker:

And typically been hovering around like three to 4% before that.

Speaker:

But last year was 10%.

Speaker:

So but our primary focus starts by looking for underage girls, but in the process of

Speaker:

doing our raids undercover operations, of course we go in looking for the underage girls.

Speaker:

When we do the raid, we're taking everybody that we can.

Speaker:

So we end up with, you know, over half of our rescues end up being miners.

Speaker:

But we do get a lot in that like 18 to 25 range.

Speaker:

And then we, like I said, we get had about 10% males last year, but last year alone,

Speaker:

we were able to rescue 3,352 individuals.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

Trafficking situation.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

Goodness.

Speaker:

Our average rescue is 15 years old.

Speaker:

Our youngest two rescues to date are two eight month olds.

Speaker:

One of those was a kidnapping situation that we got asked to help out in.

Speaker:

And another one was a kind of a generational situation where the girl belonged to a brothel

Speaker:

and had a baby.

Speaker:

And now that baby belongs to the brothel.

Speaker:

It's just a matter of time before something happens to that little one.

Speaker:

We did rescue both before any abuse started, but it just shows you how deep and dark this

Speaker:

issue goes.

Speaker:

But we are an international organization and we, so when you, when you look at trafficking

Speaker:

in general, human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal activity in the world by

Speaker:

far.

Speaker:

It makes over $150 billion a year.

Speaker:

It's estimated about 99 billion of that is specifically sex trafficking.

Speaker:

And we know that right now there are well over a million kids on the planet being sex

Speaker:

trafficked.

Speaker:

It happens everywhere.

Speaker:

It happens in every country.

Speaker:

It happens in every state in our country.

Speaker:

It doesn't happen equally.

Speaker:

If you're looking at a world map, Southeast Asia is about 60% of those million kids that

Speaker:

are being sex trafficked is there.

Speaker:

There's kind of like, it's almost like old Testament view of women.

Speaker:

Like women are seen as second or third class citizens property.

Speaker:

The younger ladies have less opportunities for the kinds of jobs they can have in society

Speaker:

and the oldest girls responsible for the parents as they get older as well.

Speaker:

So you just put all those factors together and it just creates trafficking at massive

Speaker:

levels.

Speaker:

When you are are you frequently, cause you mentioned, is your organization contacted

Speaker:

to go into places or are you are you operating independently and then bringing other resources

Speaker:

to the country?

Speaker:

Cause I would imagine in terms of like law enforcement or these sort of things, when

Speaker:

you use the term raids, that's what comes to my mind.

Speaker:

So I'm wondering, you know, maybe how to whatever specifics you can give, what is the kind of

Speaker:

the formation of your effort?

Speaker:

How where does it start when you become aware of something to the, to the process of, of

Speaker:

going in and making that contact?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Great question.

Speaker:

So when you are doing undercover operations in a country, you have to have what's called

Speaker:

an MOU.

Speaker:

It's a memorandum of understanding, legal document spells out what you can and can't

Speaker:

do.

Speaker:

But that allows our undercover agents to wear the hidden body cameras on them and then go

Speaker:

in there.

Speaker:

It also spells out once we've rescued girls, do they come into our care?

Speaker:

Do they go into government care?

Speaker:

Are they able to be reunited with family?

Speaker:

I mean, the sad reality is it's estimated that about 40% of trafficking starts with

Speaker:

a family member.

Speaker:

So when we rescue girls, we definitely have to vet families before that's even considered

Speaker:

as a viable option.

Speaker:

Obviously it's the ideal option to get them back with their family if it's safe and healthy,

Speaker:

but otherwise it spells out.

Speaker:

So places like the Philippines, we actually do more raids in the Philippines than any

Speaker:

country that we work in.

Speaker:

We've done hundreds of raids, arrested hundreds of traffickers there, but they have a great

Speaker:

aftercare program for the kids.

Speaker:

So we help with the rescue efforts, but then they go into government care afterwards.

Speaker:

Other countries like Thailand and Cambodia where they don't have as many resources for

Speaker:

that, we do have programs in place that some of those kids come into our care.

Speaker:

So like last year, the 3,352 rescues that we had, about almost 600 came into our direct

Speaker:

care.

Speaker:

Others either were able to be reunited with family or they went into government care for

Speaker:

that aftercare component.

Speaker:

So when a raid happens, who all is involved in that raid specifically?

Speaker:

So when we do, once you have that MOU, then we're working hand in hand with local law

Speaker:

enforcement.

Speaker:

So what's beautiful is like in places like the Philippines, you cannot be American and

Speaker:

be a police officer.

Speaker:

So just by being present there, traffickers aren't worried about you being with the law

Speaker:

because they assume you're the tourist, which is the target audience for these traffickers.

Speaker:

So it allows us to, it's a great partnership with us to be able to work with local law

Speaker:

enforcement.

Speaker:

And so we have, we're one of the few organizations that actually has our own undercover agents.

Speaker:

We have typically 35 to 40 full-time undercover agents around the world.

Speaker:

A lot of anti-trafficking groups are, they gather intel, they hand it off to local authorities,

Speaker:

hoping something will happen, but local authorities are getting paid off to look the other way.

Speaker:

So we raise up our own rescue agents.

Speaker:

So some of these agents live in these different communities under assumed names and they're

Speaker:

building relationships with traffickers.

Speaker:

They're building a network of informants basically.

Speaker:

So when they gather enough intel, then what you could have, like, you know, it could be

Speaker:

a common thing would be, let's say you and I, you know, are working together with Destiny

Speaker:

Rescue and we're the undercover agents.

Speaker:

We're building these trusted relationships.

Speaker:

So we go to these guys and we say, hey guys, we've got a business deal going down and we

Speaker:

want to celebrate it Friday night, but we want a bunch of young girls.

Speaker:

So they're like, okay, yeah, we got, we got young girls.

Speaker:

We can bring young girls.

Speaker:

So let's just say you and I, Andy, we, we end up going in and we're the undercover agents.

Speaker:

We, we go in pretending to be customers and we go in, the traffickers show up and then

Speaker:

when the girls show up, when everything's in play, then we're able to send, you know,

Speaker:

some kind of signal with the phone or whatever to the rest of our team and the local team.

Speaker:

Then they come in to do that rate on that and we get arrested in the process as well.

Speaker:

So it helps keep our cover intact as well.

Speaker:

But in the Philippines, they, they're really coming down on that.

Speaker:

If you're caught trafficking two minors, it's a 30 year sentence, 30 years for each additional

Speaker:

child after that.

Speaker:

So a few years back, we were part of arresting a couple that had 10 kids and they each got

Speaker:

270 year sentences.

Speaker:

So I mean, I would assume, and is there a degree to which destiny rescue is doing policy

Speaker:

advocacy in those, in those regions as well?

Speaker:

Or are those regions kind of realizing the issue that they have and are they, are they

Speaker:

in terms of legislation, law enforcement, all of that sort of taking that, that banner

Speaker:

up themselves.

Speaker:

So we're definitely, cause you think about this guys, if you're going to partner with

Speaker:

the country on this kind of work, you're, you're putting as an undercover agent, you

Speaker:

are putting your life in other guys.

Speaker:

Cause think about this, you know, if you, there's a reason this is the fastest growing

Speaker:

criminal activity in the world and the money it's, it's going to surpass illegal drugs

Speaker:

and firearms and the not too distant future.

Speaker:

And it makes sense when you think about that, if you sell me a gun, you make a profit one

Speaker:

time if you own a girl thousands of times.

Speaker:

So it, yeah, you're, you're putting your life on their line.

Speaker:

So, so when you're, when you're doing that, you got to make sure that, you know, you really

Speaker:

believe that government is really serious about, about what they're doing.

Speaker:

So we don't work as much on the policy side of that.

Speaker:

I think that's the beauty of how God has called many different agencies to work together on

Speaker:

stuff like IJM, international justice mission, that that's their sweet spot is, is working

Speaker:

on that legislative side and really doing policy and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker:

And we, we get to work in partnership with them on, on some things.

Speaker:

It's just not a primary for us, but absolutely.

Speaker:

I believe the countries that we work with, if we didn't believe they were serious and

Speaker:

on their end, willing to work on some of this policy and stuff to stem the tide.

Speaker:

I don't, I don't think we would ever sign into that partnership.

Speaker:

Has the growth in the trend trafficking.

Speaker:

I mean, I would imagine that developments in technology have really aided trafficking

Speaker:

considerably.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

Would you say that that's, that's the primary cause or is there, or is there something else

Speaker:

going on that is it number one, are we just, do we just care about it more?

Speaker:

So we're more aware of that it's going on.

Speaker:

Are there other factors that are, that are building this industry?

Speaker:

I mean, as you said, it's going to surpass illegal firearms trading and narcotics.

Speaker:

Would you identify as the contributing factors societally?

Speaker:

Because, because it's, like you said, this is an international issue.

Speaker:

So I'm just, I'm just curious if you would have a, in one word, sin.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Great.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

That's really what it comes down to.

Speaker:

I mean, we are one messed up broken world and that shows itself in ugly, ugly ways and

Speaker:

nothing uglier than I think this issue.

Speaker:

But I think you're, you know, speaking to your point earlier, there's, I mean, technology,

Speaker:

the trafficking looks really different in different places in the world.

Speaker:

So even like here in the U S like if we're the partying type, we're not going to go out

Speaker:

to a bar and find a 15 year old girl working in the bar.

Speaker:

It's not going to happen.

Speaker:

We've got the laws against it and we have the bite to those laws.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

But I, you know, we could literally go over to Cambodia and Thailand right now and I could

Speaker:

take you one down one city block of the red light district and we're going to probably

Speaker:

find 10 underage kids working.

Speaker:

They just lie about their age.

Speaker:

They've got laws against it.

Speaker:

They just have no resources to force it.

Speaker:

And so they're really hiding in plain sight.

Speaker:

So it's just a very different scenario than what you would find here in the U S where

Speaker:

it's going to be much more high tech, much more underground.

Speaker:

So there are the technology stuff really is something that has aided the traffickers.

Speaker:

So I think a lot of times people see and hear about trafficking in other countries, but

Speaker:

you had mentioned it, it obviously happens here in the U S too.

Speaker:

And I think, you know, we had talked a little bit about when we met last that pornography

Speaker:

is a slope to that.

Speaker:

So can you, can you talk a little bit about, about that in general?

Speaker:

Cause I think a lot of times when, when men particularly get involved with watching pornography,

Speaker:

they don't necessarily think, Oh, I'm an I'm helping out trafficking.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Pornography is part of the monster human trafficking engine.

Speaker:

There's no separating that.

Speaker:

I mean, if you, if you do background on these guys that are deeply steeped and addicted

Speaker:

into abusing and using these young girls, pornography is predominant.

Speaker:

Like it's pretty much, I, I would guess it's gotta be a pretty darn close to 100% factor

Speaker:

across the border of history with that.

Speaker:

And I think this is where the enemy gets victory in guys lives is if a guy's, you know, sitting

Speaker:

behind a closed door and looking at something on their computer and doesn't feel like it's

Speaker:

really that big of a deal.

Speaker:

Like I'm not hurting anybody.

Speaker:

I'm not, you know, but, but the enemy loves that cause the enemy isn't always in a hurry.

Speaker:

The enemy, you remember the old casting crown song, it's a slow fade when you get like that.

Speaker:

That's really, I think how the enemy plays this battle of pornography with many men.

Speaker:

He's not in any hurry and he will just take you down slowly over time.

Speaker:

So guys start looking at, you know, your basic pornography.

Speaker:

And the problem is it's almost like a, how your body builds up tolerance for medication.

Speaker:

Like eventually that same dose doesn't do it anymore.

Speaker:

And then you've got, it's kind of like these like guard rails.

Speaker:

You know, if you picture those like on a road or something, you like you put those in place

Speaker:

and then all of a sudden you move them a little bit and you're willing to look at this and

Speaker:

that doesn't do it.

Speaker:

So you got to look at something a little more extreme.

Speaker:

So you just move those guard rails again and more and more and you just keep moving the

Speaker:

boundaries slowly.

Speaker:

The slow fade happens.

Speaker:

And eventually what you end up with is men who have a serious addiction to pornography.

Speaker:

And the reality is eventually the idea of having sex with a 15 year old girl doesn't

Speaker:

really seem that far out there because it's the slow fade that is just slowly rewired,

Speaker:

literally rewired their brains to think completely different about this whole issue.

Speaker:

With, I'm trying to think of the, the really the best way to ask this question, but for

Speaker:

a man here in the U S who, who eventually crosses over that line and who that now is,

Speaker:

that's like something that they're, that individual is going to seek after what, what is the court?

Speaker:

Cause I mean, I just sit here and I go like on my worst day, like on my worst day, I don't

Speaker:

even know where to like, how do you even think about where to access that or to, or to gain

Speaker:

or to gain that, gain that access.

Speaker:

And yet clearly it happens.

Speaker:

It's very, it's very real.

Speaker:

What are the places in the access points of that?

Speaker:

That's that's occurring.

Speaker:

What circles are people getting into where they now have access to that kind of, that

Speaker:

kind of opportunity?

Speaker:

Does that question make sense without, without like trying to instruct people?

Speaker:

And I'm not going to name any particular, www.no, we're not going to do that and plant

Speaker:

some seeds that don't need to be planted.

Speaker:

But I think, yeah, that there is such a dark underbelly to all of this even in the U S

Speaker:

you know, I know in general, which I think are okay to talk about the topic of that,

Speaker:

but like even just you know, like with the massage parlors and stuff like that, that's

Speaker:

very, I mean, obviously, you know, you hear about that in like Southeast Asia and that,

Speaker:

but that's, that's very much a thing here too, that, you know, you get these underage

Speaker:

girls that are working in some of these places and some of the websites, like I, I do some

Speaker:

deep dives, just, you know, kind of out of research and share that, you know, we have

Speaker:

teammates that share that information.

Speaker:

So there's some accountability with that, but really there's so much of this that comes

Speaker:

down to vulnerabilities and not just talking children here, but just women in general.

Speaker:

You know, there's websites that that men can pray on young women because they're, you know,

Speaker:

they might be single moms or they're, they're young, young girls trying to put themselves

Speaker:

through college and have nobody to support that.

Speaker:

And there's, there's websites you get on that like, you know, you set up, Hey, you can just

Speaker:

set up these kinds of arrangements where I'll help pay for this.

Speaker:

And in return, you know, like it's just, it's totally feeding on the vulnerabilities of

Speaker:

our women.

Speaker:

It's guys that are looking for easy prey.

Speaker:

And, you know, we have a whole program called a rescue op one 20 for our teenagers and we

Speaker:

go into schools and we talk to the kids about how traffickers think, how they use social

Speaker:

media.

Speaker:

I put my dad hat on, I talk about girls, what kinds of pictures you post, what message that

Speaker:

sends.

Speaker:

I talked to the boys about pornography and every time I go in, I have at least one girl

Speaker:

that shows me a conversation on her phone that I can guarantee is a draft.

Speaker:

And I, you know, it's embarrassing sometimes that I have this conversation with my own

Speaker:

kids from the standpoint of they hear me talk about this all the time.

Speaker:

And every now and then something comes up where it's like, are you, are you listening?

Speaker:

You're just, you're in that naive teen years where you're thinking now that can happen

Speaker:

to me.

Speaker:

And so, so as a, as a parent, so if you're addressing me and Joel as, as dads, what are

Speaker:

some things that we can do as parents to a help protect our kids and, and be help in

Speaker:

general, the whole idea of, of, of human trafficking.

Speaker:

Like what can we do sitting here in our comfy chairs and in the studio, like what can we

Speaker:

do?

Speaker:

Well, let's talk a little bit on the U S based side of stuff.

Speaker:

So when we're talking about the most vulnerable populations, when we're talking kids, we're

Speaker:

talking migrant workers, foster care, those are the two biggest vulnerability populations.

Speaker:

So I encourage people in churches, groups, whatever that is, how do you, how do you support

Speaker:

those groups?

Speaker:

You know, like there's boys and girls clubs, you know, there's the post here in town.

Speaker:

How do you come alongside foster families?

Speaker:

Maybe your church gets some, you know, people to get a license as foster families or how

Speaker:

do you support those networks of people, whether it's you doing it yourself as a foster parent

Speaker:

or coming alongside a foster family and really doing that whole, it takes a village to raise

Speaker:

kids kind of a thing.

Speaker:

So I think there's a lot of that that can happen and people can get more involved with

Speaker:

that.

Speaker:

As far as for your own like personal kids, I think open conversation, like you having

Speaker:

open lines is really important.

Speaker:

And I think as parents, the challenge here is that we've got to be careful about how

Speaker:

we set the table for that.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

Cause as a dad, you know, I think as dads, we get pretty fired up and passionate.

Speaker:

Especially in particular with our girls as far as protecting them.

Speaker:

And it'd be really easy to be like, you don't do this, you don't do that.

Speaker:

You know, like it would be really easy to do that.

Speaker:

And, but I think we have to be, I think our, our daughters need to hear our tender heart

Speaker:

side of things to recognize how much we value and cherish them and love them and want the

Speaker:

best for them.

Speaker:

And to realize that these predators are out there and that, you know, with our girls,

Speaker:

we talk about that, like if you get on something, if somebody contacts you and it's something

Speaker:

inappropriate, you bring that to us, you are not going to get in trouble for what somebody

Speaker:

else does.

Speaker:

Sure.

Speaker:

Now you're going to be accountable for what you decide to do in return or how you foster

Speaker:

or, you know, re you know, reply to that or build that, that situation up, but you're

Speaker:

not going to get in trouble if somebody, you know, sends you some picture or sends you

Speaker:

some really crude message or whatever, like just come and talk to us so we can help you

Speaker:

figure out the best way to handle that.

Speaker:

Because you know, the reality is nowadays, like even the little kids, the, the video

Speaker:

games they play, those all have chat features on them and there's traffickers all over those.

Speaker:

So you just got people pretending to be somebody they're not.

Speaker:

And you know, my kids know like the, the ceiling is you don't connect with anybody on social

Speaker:

media that you don't know in real life.

Speaker:

The reality is nowadays, even that's not necessarily guideline, but that's like the ceiling part

Speaker:

of that is like, you don't go past.

Speaker:

If you don't know someone in real life, you are not connected to them in any way on social

Speaker:

media.

Speaker:

It's just too dangerous of a world that we live in now.

Speaker:

We just, you just can't trust it.

Speaker:

So those open communication lines are really important.

Speaker:

So we need to be aware of what our kids are doing and what our kids are on with social

Speaker:

media.

Speaker:

We need to be monitoring that.

Speaker:

More parents need to have monitoring software with their kids' phones.

Speaker:

I mean, you're giving, you're giving immature kids, even if they're mature kids, they're

Speaker:

still kids.

Speaker:

You're giving them a phone with the power to access pretty much everything on the planet.

Speaker:

And especially when you're giving that to hormone driven boys and you're just giving

Speaker:

them a phone, like, what do you think is going to happen?

Speaker:

Like naturally they're going to find their way onto those things.

Speaker:

So that's what we've got to be able to have the heart to heart conversation.

Speaker:

You know, it's like scripture.

Speaker:

It's never just a God saying, don't do this, don't do like, there's always, what's his

Speaker:

heart behind that.

Speaker:

Because if we, his heart is always for us and if we understand his heart, then it doesn't

Speaker:

feel like a, Oh, I'm just going to do this.

Speaker:

Cause he says, don't do it.

Speaker:

You know, like if they understand that for all of us who are dads, if our kids understand

Speaker:

our hearts behind it, they're going to be much more receptive and open to the following

Speaker:

that wisdom.

Speaker:

So for, I think, you know, as our kids, we, and Andy and I have these conversations all

Speaker:

the time.

Speaker:

That's been the ongoing thing of I don't know what did I, I was, I was talking with some

Speaker:

educators the other day and I, I, I just said, and I, cause I've seen it.

Speaker:

I've seen a ton of, I'm always looking at with an adolescent studies.

Speaker:

I mean, I w I work for a, you know, a youth serving organization now and I'm always, I'm

Speaker:

always trying to stay very, very, you know, reasonably up to date in terms of technology

Speaker:

access with kids and what it's doing and across the spectrum, be, be secular or faith-based.

Speaker:

Everyone is saying the same, like it's one of the few times I think where we across the

Speaker:

country here where everyone is speaking pretty like the people who know and are doing the

Speaker:

research and are in, I think pretty much everyone knows like the results are all are in.

Speaker:

And I just, I said to somebody the other day, I was like, I was like, you're giving, you're

Speaker:

just, you're putting a gun in your kid's hands.

Speaker:

Just the bullets are super slow, you know, but it's, but it's loaded and it, it will

Speaker:

make, it'll make an impact.

Speaker:

And I think it makes an impact in this particular area.

Speaker:

We don't, we don't think about that, that piece.

Speaker:

That's an interesting point though, Joel, you know, both your kids and my kids are trained

Speaker:

in 4-H shooting sports.

Speaker:

We wouldn't have just gone out and said, Hey, here's a guy.

Speaker:

I mean, like really we wouldn't have, but we, we do that as parents to our kids with

Speaker:

the phone.

Speaker:

Like a lot of times we just say, here's a phone and we don't, we don't, we may put restrictions

Speaker:

on it, but we don't even talk about the fact that why we're doing that or what the restrictions

Speaker:

mean and, and how, how to actually be safe with it as opposed to just saying, okay, here's,

Speaker:

here's your phone.

Speaker:

Cause it is, I mean, you know, really to Chris, to your point, like it is a, it's a direct

Speaker:

line of access to your child and, and people who have nefarious intentions who, you know,

Speaker:

like it is, you know, and it's super easy.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I mean, it's just super easy to, to gain access to them, which is, you know, our, our policy

Speaker:

has been, and I don't think it's just, you know, my kids don't have social media at all

Speaker:

at this, at this age, like just zero access to that.

Speaker:

And and if I find out they are trying to get access to social media, I mean, I treat it

Speaker:

like I've treated, like they have stolen a vehicle.

Speaker:

Like I like it's, it's serious.

Speaker:

You know, it's serious.

Speaker:

My 16 year old has a track phone.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

That's all she's going to have for awhile.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Like you said, the studies are so conclusive, like depression level of is like young girls

Speaker:

that just get down there and comparing themselves to all these other, what they're seeing in

Speaker:

magazines and articles about what women should look like.

Speaker:

And it's just absolutely devastating on their, their self esteem and image

Speaker:

Without going down the rabbit hole too far.

Speaker:

I mean, this is the most, and this is this past fall is one of the seminars I was at

Speaker:

a researcher who is, who's done extensive research in this area.

Speaker:

They just, they do these national I'm going to get the name of the studies, but it's national

Speaker:

mental health wellbeing amongst adolescents specifically.

Speaker:

And so 2012 was the year that all this, it just started tanking, like tanking heavy.

Speaker:

And we're talking to the point where they, they had a hard time figuring out what in

Speaker:

the world would have caused such a dramatic decline in mental health amongst adolescents

Speaker:

because in 2012, like there were no wars really going on.

Speaker:

There was not like any major like economic crisis or like anything else, you know, going

Speaker:

on at the, at the time it's when the iPhone hit market saturation and when, when the technology

Speaker:

hit saturation, that's when youth gain access to it typically.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Cause the prices have gone down and mom and dad are like, okay, well, junior can have

Speaker:

one or whatever.

Speaker:

And then from then on out, just the steady decline of what we, and I just think about

Speaker:

the population you're talking about.

Speaker:

I mean, that are at risk.

Speaker:

If they are, if their mental health is already compromised, if they are, if they are a vulnerable

Speaker:

population in that alone and the right predator comes along.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

I just, it's like fish in a barrel, man.

Speaker:

It just seems like it's just how, how, how easy, how easy that would, that would be.

Speaker:

And again, this is not, I mean, we're not, these are, you've seen it.

Speaker:

I'm sure plenty.

Speaker:

That's not a scare tactic.

Speaker:

This is a real, like this, these are real life scenarios.

Speaker:

This is exactly how this happens.

Speaker:

And we weren't part of this particular case, but in Fort Wayne, right before COVID, there

Speaker:

was a 14 year old girl and a very similar thing.

Speaker:

She met somebody on social media, you know, the, you think about it.

Speaker:

If you, if we were predators and we were getting online and creating fake accounts, what are

Speaker:

we looking for when we're looking at all these other teenagers accounts, we're looking for

Speaker:

depression, just loneliness, suicidal tendencies, ones that don't get along with their parents.

Speaker:

Well, right.

Speaker:

Even better.

Speaker:

How easy is that for us to pretend to be that sympathetic ear and be like, no, you're amazing.

Speaker:

That's the way your parents shouldn't be able to tell you what to do.

Speaker:

Why do you listen to them?

Speaker:

You should just leave.

Speaker:

You're old enough to get out on your own.

Speaker:

And that's what happened with her was the guy convinced her to run away.

Speaker:

She runs away, meets up with him before she even knows what happens.

Speaker:

He takes the phone, disables all her social media, destroys her phone, and he starts to

Speaker:

abuse her and then start selling her to friends to abuse her.

Speaker:

And the only reason she got rescued was because a police officer went to a car that was parked

Speaker:

in an illegal zone and it was a woman who was transporting this girl.

Speaker:

And when he went to talk to her, he looked in the back seat and saw this girl who was

Speaker:

obviously very young with all this makeup and dressed up way older than she was and

Speaker:

realized that it was a trafficking situation.

Speaker:

That's the only reason that she got arrested.

Speaker:

I was right in Fort Wayne.

Speaker:

So I think for those who are listening, we, when we talk about these things, I mean, the

Speaker:

purpose is always to be real.

Speaker:

It is absolute to be real.

Speaker:

It is never to give you, to give anyone a sense of like, we should be fearful about

Speaker:

every single thing around every corner at the same time.

Speaker:

To be discerning is a necessary thing.

Speaker:

And social media really is the biggest thing.

Speaker:

You know, you see movies like, you know, everybody can quote Liam Neeson, right?

Speaker:

They've taken movies and even the sound of freedom came out, you know, the storyline

Speaker:

of kidnapping.

Speaker:

It's, it's a Hollywoodized, you know, that that's the storyline we want kind of thing.

Speaker:

But the reality is, is that is not extremely common.

Speaker:

It's much more traffickers that are exploiting vulnerabilities over time and grooming kids

Speaker:

for this.

Speaker:

So we, we gotta be careful not to think like, okay, where's my kid?

Speaker:

Where's my, you know, kidnapping.

Speaker:

Yes, be diligent about knowing where your kid is, make sure they're smart and they know

Speaker:

what they're looking for and being aware and being with others, not by themselves.

Speaker:

Like, yeah, absolutely do that.

Speaker:

But recognize that if you're doing that and you're not paying attention to the social

Speaker:

media side of things, that's the bigger threat.

Speaker:

Interesting.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I, I'm Chris, I wonder for you personally, I mean, when you say 3,352, I mean, that's

Speaker:

got to feel pretty good.

Speaker:

And yet for every single one of them, you know, there's plenty, plenty more.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

For you psychologically, mentally, spiritually, when you look at that, when you look at that

Speaker:

reality, what, what keeps you going?

Speaker:

What keeps you?

Speaker:

Cause I, I get a sense that you're as, as focused on the, on the mission as ever, which

Speaker:

we're so grateful for.

Speaker:

And maybe you could speak to for you and for others on the organization, because I mean,

Speaker:

you guys are looking, it's just constant darkness.

Speaker:

Like you are, you are perpetually aware of the, just the darkest underbelly of, of any

Speaker:

given society.

Speaker:

How do you do it?

Speaker:

How do you, how do you stay, stay well in the midst of all that?

Speaker:

Cause I just have to imagine, like it's, there's a lot of rough stories again and again.

Speaker:

You know, guys, I'm reminded of, you know, I think about in the book of Numbers when,

Speaker:

when Moses sends out the 12 spies to check out the land and all of the spies see the

Speaker:

same thing, but 10 of them come back and what do they say?

Speaker:

Yeah, this is terrible.

Speaker:

We can't do this.

Speaker:

We can't possibly do this giant, right?

Speaker:

And the other two who see the exact same thing, they come back and they're basically like,

Speaker:

let's go.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

God's got this.

Speaker:

And I think for me that plays a lot into this role because I think that situation applies

Speaker:

for all of us that have giants that feel overwhelming in our lives.

Speaker:

When that happens, you have two choices.

Speaker:

You look at the size of the problem or you look at the size of your God and we serve

Speaker:

a big, big God and he is knocking down doors and he's setting kids free.

Speaker:

And I think another part of that is like, I get that idea that, okay, 3,352 is amazing.

Speaker:

That's a ton of kids, but we've also said there's over a million kids being sex trafficked.

Speaker:

But I've also, I've also got to sit down with these rescue kids.

Speaker:

I've gotten to hug these rescue kids and love on these rescue kids and hear the stories

Speaker:

of these rescued kids.

Speaker:

And every single one of those kids matters.

Speaker:

Like, like think about it.

Speaker:

This was a situation with one of your kids, one of your daughters.

Speaker:

Would you want my team to not do whatever they could to get her out?

Speaker:

Even if it meant that there was a million other, you know, for everyone we get out,

Speaker:

it matters.

Speaker:

And I think the other thing you got to think about is the ripple effect.

Speaker:

So like if you go to our website, destinyrescue.org under get involved, there's a tab for advocacy

Speaker:

and there's a, we have documentaries.

Speaker:

There's like five documentaries.

Speaker:

We did one of those a few years ago at Clinton frame and the one we did actually, it's called

Speaker:

you are beautiful.

Speaker:

And it's one girl's story of how she got sold into trafficking by her mom.

Speaker:

And it tells her story of what happened or like growing up, the poor village she was

Speaker:

at, how she ended up going into town and thought she was going to work at a restaurant and

Speaker:

then ends up working at this bar where she's got to sit with men and ends up getting abused

Speaker:

by them.

Speaker:

And she's trying to, you know, talk to her mom about not wanting to do this and her mom

Speaker:

saying, Hey, you, you got to do what you got to do.

Speaker:

And it's just totally condoning this.

Speaker:

And then you actually hear audio files of the night that our agents are with her and

Speaker:

talking back and forth about her in particular to get her out of that situation, which is

Speaker:

really cool.

Speaker:

And then she gets rescued.

Speaker:

She comes into our aftercare.

Speaker:

And one of the things that the title of it is you are beautiful.

Speaker:

And that comes from the fact that day after day, she would show up at our residential

Speaker:

program and the ladies there would constantly say, you are beautiful.

Speaker:

You are beautiful.

Speaker:

But for the longest time she could not receive it because in her mind, the world had changed

Speaker:

the way she thought about herself and her mind.

Speaker:

She was not valuable anymore.

Speaker:

She thought she was going to have to do that work the rest of her life because it was all

Speaker:

she was good for in her mind.

Speaker:

That's what the enemy and the world had taught her was her value.

Speaker:

And so for her to, to start having people speak truth into her life, that she was a

Speaker:

daughter of the King of Kings and had infinite worth.

Speaker:

And, you know, she went on to get introduced and accept Jesus Christ as her savior.

Speaker:

She felt a calling to start working with children.

Speaker:

And as you see her story continue through the documentary, you just see this ripple

Speaker:

effect of hundreds of kids that she's interacting with and pouring into.

Speaker:

So every life that's rescued has a ripple effect of hundreds, if not thousands of other

Speaker:

lives.

Speaker:

You know, part of our empower program or aftercare program, that's a Christian based counseling

Speaker:

program.

Speaker:

And part of that's about forgiveness.

Speaker:

Now, you know, all of us have walked with Jesus long enough to know that sometimes it's

Speaker:

not easy to forgive.

Speaker:

You know, we can, that can be a hard process, but can you imagine talking to kids about

Speaker:

forgiveness who have been raped over and over and over and over again and talking to them

Speaker:

about forgiveness?

Speaker:

She learned about forgiveness.

Speaker:

This person, she went to forgive, she went back home to her home village to forgive her

Speaker:

mom.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

And it's not, she ended up leading her mom to Christ and it's not in the documentary,

Speaker:

but she ended up ultimately leading her entire family to Christ.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

So this ripple effect of, you know, it's not just 3,352.

Speaker:

That's how many got rescued.

Speaker:

That's hundreds of thousands of ripple effect lives from that.

Speaker:

And every single one of those matters.

Speaker:

So Chris, you've touched on it some here, but in terms of the aftercare process, because

Speaker:

it's not just about getting them out, it's about what happens to them after they get

Speaker:

out.

Speaker:

What does that look like for you guys?

Speaker:

How do you, how do you put that together for them?

Speaker:

Yeah, you're right.

Speaker:

It doesn't do us any good to get them out if we can't get them free.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

So it has to be a holistic ministry.

Speaker:

So that empower program is, is a kind of trauma resiliency program.

Speaker:

It's a 10 week program that they go through.

Speaker:

Obviously it's not like they're just suddenly healed at the end of that, you know, it's

Speaker:

just getting them started on that, on that healing process.

Speaker:

But so every girl that comes into our care, and I remember earlier we talked about, sometimes

Speaker:

they're reunified with family.

Speaker:

Sometimes they go into government care.

Speaker:

If they come into our care, then they have what we call a freedom plan.

Speaker:

So the freedom plan basically is everybody who works with each girl is going to come

Speaker:

up with a plan that's going to help them succeed for the long haul.

Speaker:

So they're going to look at, you know, what do they need?

Speaker:

Is it a younger kid that was rescued?

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So education is the need.

Speaker:

Is it older?

Speaker:

Is it a younger child?

Speaker:

Is it a younger generation is going to be the need?

Speaker:

What do they need psychologically?

Speaker:

What do they need medically?

Speaker:

What do they need emotionally, relationally, spiritually, all of those things are going

Speaker:

to be looked at to create a unique freedom plan for that, for that child.

Speaker:

And what's really neat is we, we partner with a lot of local ministries because we can just,

Speaker:

we can grow so much faster that way.

Speaker:

You know, if we go to a new country, if we got to start from ground zero, it takes years

Speaker:

to just build up that stuff.

Speaker:

But if we like, when we were in Zimbabwe, we went there.

Speaker:

There's a, essentially a ministry that's an orphanage there that's been there 25 years,

Speaker:

already well established, already trusted, already has relationships with those local

Speaker:

government leaders.

Speaker:

We come in and start partnering with them.

Speaker:

They have a facility that can hold up to 70 kids.

Speaker:

So kids who are hungry, kids who are homeless, they're able to do that.

Speaker:

They've got some agricultural training on campus that they, you know, done and they've

Speaker:

done this for 25 years, max out at 70 kids.

Speaker:

So we come in and we kind of add three components.

Speaker:

So we add field agents who are trained.

Speaker:

So we offer, we add the staff and the funding and the training so that these field agents

Speaker:

who know how to go out and identify kids who are being sex trafficked can go out and have

Speaker:

those conversations, bring kids into the program quickly.

Speaker:

That whole counseling side, the empower side, we add the staff and the training and the

Speaker:

funding for that.

Speaker:

And then the other part is the TOJ training on the job.

Speaker:

So they go out, they find local business leaders who are interested in things that the girls

Speaker:

want.

Speaker:

So like in Africa, sewing, catering, hair salon are the three big ones that the girls

Speaker:

want.

Speaker:

So we go find business leaders and most of them, because it's connections through the

Speaker:

church are Christian business leaders as well.

Speaker:

So they're not only just, they're not just building skill levels in the kids, they're

Speaker:

mentoring them spiritually, which is awesome.

Speaker:

So let's say, Andy, that you've got, you own a catering business and you agree to take

Speaker:

five of my girls.

Speaker:

So we're gonna, we're gonna come to an agreement on a six month agreement.

Speaker:

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to pay their full salary for two months, two thirds

Speaker:

for two months and a third for two months and return.

Speaker:

You're going to teach them everything they need to know about working and possibly even

Speaker:

running a catering business.

Speaker:

So at the end of six months, you've just got this win-win situation.

Speaker:

If you have openings, you know what you got, you trained them, right.

Speaker:

And if not, they're ready to go out and look for a job somewhere else.

Speaker:

So it's a great win-win situation and you're able to take kids who have only known getting

Speaker:

used and abused on a daily basis.

Speaker:

And within a matter of months, their lives have completely changed and the trajectory

Speaker:

of their lives is completely different.

Speaker:

That's awesome.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I, I think there's just something, you know, to be said for really a multi, a multifaceted

Speaker:

approach, a whole, you said this, a holistic approach to toward healing because you know,

Speaker:

while, while there are spiritual needs, obviously in all, in, in all of that, I mean, following

Speaker:

abuse, they need, they need a way, they need a way to support themselves.

Speaker:

They need, they need a way.

Speaker:

And without that support, by the way, without those skills, whatever they find themselves

Speaker:

very much, very easily back in the similar situation that they were, they were in.

Speaker:

And so, you know, I think for anyone listening, when, when you're thinking about partnering

Speaker:

with an organization, and we certainly hope that you partner with destiny rescue, if that's,

Speaker:

if that's a, something that, you know, an area that you want to pursue and want to support,

Speaker:

I, the thing that I love is that, you know, I think a ministry such as, such as yours

Speaker:

really has to look at the whole, has to look at the whole situation, has to look at the

Speaker:

whole person and empower the whole person toward greater independence, toward greater

Speaker:

healing.

Speaker:

Because, yeah, just to get them out of the situation is one thing.

Speaker:

But yeah, just to give them an opportunity for, for a better future and to see themselves

Speaker:

being able to contribute to their own, like to really stand on their own two feet and

Speaker:

say, I mean, I'm, I'm making a decision to walk forward from this.

Speaker:

That's that's, that's really, really powerful, really powerful.

Speaker:

It's a fun time for us too, from the standpoint of, you know, we've been doing this since

Speaker:

2001.

Speaker:

So we're at the point now where we've got girls who were rescued 10 years ago that are

Speaker:

now project leaders and pouring into the next generation and talking about being able to

Speaker:

completely understand what these girls have gone through.

Speaker:

That's a pretty powerful thing to see.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

So we appreciate you being on the show tonight, but first, before we let you go, we can't

Speaker:

let you go without doing.

Speaker:

And now it's time for the dudes and dads pop quiz.

Speaker:

All right guys.

Speaker:

So pop quiz, if you've never joined us is basically a time that we ask Chris random

Speaker:

questions that he can't prepare for that have nothing to do with the topic of rescue.

Speaker:

So do you get to go first?

Speaker:

You can go first.

Speaker:

Oh, fantastic.

Speaker:

You have one ready?

Speaker:

Um, tonight I'm feeling a little bit off the cuff, so we're gonna, we're gonna try, Chris,

Speaker:

if if you were made to, um, like right now, if I said, okay, you need to grab three things,

Speaker:

I'm sending you on, I'm sending you to a deserted Island.

Speaker:

You gotta grab three things before you leave.

Speaker:

You've only got a matter of minutes to grab them.

Speaker:

What are you taking?

Speaker:

What are you taking with you?

Speaker:

And you're gonna be on this deserted Island.

Speaker:

We're gonna, we're gonna put you on there for, uh, we'll do a couple of weeks.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So a couple of weeks on deserted Island.

Speaker:

You got three of them.

Speaker:

So you can take with you.

Speaker:

What are they?

Speaker:

Man?

Speaker:

I'm a guy.

Speaker:

So I'm thinking all food items.

Speaker:

Nothing else seems to really matter at that point.

Speaker:

So and I eat like a five year old.

Speaker:

Oh, nice.

Speaker:

So, um, you know, my, my first thought as you're asking the question was where do I

Speaker:

get a truckload of cherry Pepsi?

Speaker:

Cherry Pepsi.

Speaker:

Cause that's definitely one.

Speaker:

That's that's one of them.

Speaker:

Um, I love pizza, but I'm a little worried about how, you know, yeah.

Speaker:

I'm going to spoil three weeks with some practical concerns here, but you know, because I eat

Speaker:

like a five year old Lunchables, I think have a shelf life of seven and a half years.

Speaker:

So I think you're right.

Speaker:

I can get the bologna and cheese Lunchables and really cherry Pepsi Lunchables on those.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Um, I mean, great answer, but I, I would, I would just, uh, I would encourage you to

Speaker:

maybe think, think about, about that more in case, just in case you find yourself, it's

Speaker:

not a, you know, Tom Hanks.

Speaker:

So maybe I should take a volleyball as my third one.

Speaker:

Just right.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

Which bander artist dead or alive would play at your funeral?

Speaker:

Ooh, there we go.

Speaker:

Which band artist.

Speaker:

Man.

Speaker:

So I, I am a huge kid of the eighties.

Speaker:

So you could put together, you know, a whole crew of eighties band.

Speaker:

So I don't know, Def Leppard.

Speaker:

Oh, there we go.

Speaker:

There's a few of those that I would definitely be all about.

Speaker:

I, uh, I once saw Journey and Def Leppard play at the same show together.

Speaker:

They were co-build.

Speaker:

It was an experience.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Last year I went to Penn, Penn state, Journey and Toto.

Speaker:

Nice.

Speaker:

Toto's made a hard comeback.

Speaker:

Chris, in a zombie apocalypse, which one, still have a cherry Pepsi in the zombie apocalypse

Speaker:

of your family members.

Speaker:

Who's the last one standing.

Speaker:

That'd be me.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Yeah, definitely with the cherry Pepsi and pizza.

Speaker:

What is it about your skillset that enables you to survive in a zombie apocalypse?

Speaker:

The longest of my family.

Speaker:

Cause I can run the fastest.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

You just have to be able to outrun one at a time.

Speaker:

That's really what it comes down to.

Speaker:

That's fair.

Speaker:

Don't have to be the fastest always just faster than at least one.

Speaker:

Joel, yours are like the things questions that never would happen.

Speaker:

Mine are like the things that could possibly happen.

Speaker:

The practical and the deeply metaphysical.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

So what's the worst job we've talked about.

Speaker:

We've talked about your best job.

Speaker:

I remember your best job, but a job that matters most to you, but what's your worst job that

Speaker:

you've ever had.

Speaker:

Oh man, I've had a lot of those.

Speaker:

So when I was in college, when I was in college, I did those, you know, the temp agencies where

Speaker:

you just like work for a week or two.

Speaker:

Oh, those are horrid.

Speaker:

Those things.

Speaker:

There was one of those ones where, you know, the, um, like the block glass you get for

Speaker:

like basement windows and the guy that goes in that does the mortar work and everything,

Speaker:

he goes in like an hour earlier and then we go in and we've got the little, like the silver

Speaker:

hand tool that you go and scrape all the excess mortar out of.

Speaker:

And you got to go around twice and do that.

Speaker:

And then you got to go around with like one of those green scrubby pads.

Speaker:

And then you got to go around with like a wool pad and like do that.

Speaker:

And like you're doing that for hours and you can't get it enough with your, your, with

Speaker:

the gloves on.

Speaker:

So you got to do it bare handed.

Speaker:

And then you get all those like little silver splinters in your fingers.

Speaker:

And then you ever have, if you get that and you get near anything hot, you touch anything

Speaker:

hot, it like, it's terrible.

Speaker:

Like I did that for a week.

Speaker:

That was bored.

Speaker:

And then Woolie's fish market being in the refrigerator for eight hours a day with like

Speaker:

nice little stylish hair net and saran wrap and fish for eight hours.

Speaker:

That's right up there too.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Um, the two for one there.

Speaker:

I appreciate it.

Speaker:

Bonus.

Speaker:

Uh, Chris, what book should we be reading right now?

Speaker:

Aside from the Bible, I'll just, I'll put the copy out in there.

Speaker:

What book should you be reading right now?

Speaker:

Gosh, what was the last one I did?

Speaker:

Yeah, this is not deeply spiritual at all.

Speaker:

I just did the latest hunger games one, the prequel one, the ballad and songbirds and

Speaker:

snakes or whatever.

Speaker:

Total surprise to me.

Speaker:

Did not, I did not have him.

Speaker:

I didn't have him.

Speaker:

See, I didn't have him.

Speaker:

I didn't read the books.

Speaker:

But I feel like, you know, with your, you know, zombie apocalypse and island desertion,

Speaker:

the whole hunger games feels like it kind of fits in.

Speaker:

It's on brand.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

On brand.

Speaker:

A hundred percent.

Speaker:

Nice.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Uh, my favorite, my last question is what's the favorite thing that you've bought this

Speaker:

year?

Speaker:

Besides cherry Pepsi.

Speaker:

Um, let's see.

Speaker:

It could be pizza.

Speaker:

I mean, that's maybe, it might be the chief ice cream I had.

Speaker:

Oh, I'm trying to think of any, if I've done any like, you know, it's the thing that stinks

Speaker:

as you like get older, you get more excited about projects that just wouldn't excite you.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Like I'm excited about the fact that in a couple of months I got a, an inch of gravel

Speaker:

coming to cover the whole driveway, you know, like that was never something that would have

Speaker:

excited me 10 years ago.

Speaker:

I'd be excited about that.

Speaker:

Yeah, me too.

Speaker:

So I'm with the truck in, uh, we got the truck in cause we're putting in pastures for the

Speaker:

horses last summer and the reverse decided to stop working.

Speaker:

Oh, no.

Speaker:

Got the transmission fixed.

Speaker:

So my truck actually, every time you pull in the parking lot, you gotta be like, all

Speaker:

right, where do I park?

Speaker:

How am I going to get out of here?

Speaker:

And now I have reverse.

Speaker:

So that's probably the best, uh, best money I've spent this year.

Speaker:

The reverse.

Speaker:

Fantastic.

Speaker:

Well, congratulations cause you know, there's zombies.

Speaker:

You gotta have reverse.

Speaker:

You hit them, but you got to back up and check.

Speaker:

Well, congratulations, Chris.

Speaker:

You have successfully passed the dudes and heads pop quiz.

Speaker:

Well done.

Speaker:

Uh, we do thank you so much for joining us tonight.

Speaker:

This is super helpful.

Speaker:

Um, a really great, uh, a great topic, a great thing to be reflecting on Chris.

Speaker:

Where, where can people find out all about whether it's you or destiny rescue, where

Speaker:

do we want to send them?

Speaker:

So destiny rescue.org is our website.

Speaker:

And so there's a ton of great information on that.

Speaker:

We're on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik TOK as well.

Speaker:

Um, if you're listening to this really soon, then just come on over to Clinton frame on

Speaker:

the 26th in the morning.

Speaker:

What time service said I'm going to be here.

Speaker:

We're taking 10 30 at the 10 30 service on the 26th here at Clinton frame.

Speaker:

So I'll tell you two big fundraisers that are coming up this fall.

Speaker:

Just so you know, is August 15th through the 18th at community church Waterford over on

Speaker:

County road.

Speaker:

21 past cultures is the sale that saves.

Speaker:

That's a garage sale that started with the idea to rescue one kid, $1,500 to rescue a

Speaker:

kid.

Speaker:

And as of right now, they have raised enough over eight years with this year being the

Speaker:

eighth one, but we've added corporate sponsors this year.

Speaker:

So we've got businesses getting behind it and they have raised enough to rescue 125

Speaker:

kids.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

Four day garage sale.

Speaker:

And it's all about setting kids free.

Speaker:

So then August 15th to the 18th and then September 7th, keep it on your calendar.

Speaker:

We don't know the exact location, but the Goshen rotary does a freedom walk every year.

Speaker:

It's been at the Goshen high school the last three years.

Speaker:

They're talking about making it like a five K 10 K this year.

Speaker:

So it could be at Fiddler.

Speaker:

I'm not really sure exactly, but if you follow Goshen rotary, they have a Facebook page and

Speaker:

you can keep an eye on that, but set aside that date September 7th, but two of our actually

Speaker:

biggest fundraisers in the country right here in the Goshen area.

Speaker:

That's awesome.

Speaker:

Well get on board folks.

Speaker:

Get on board, get over there.

Speaker:

Support destiny rescue.

Speaker:

And Andy's waiting to touch the button.

Speaker:

Are you touching the button?

Speaker:

He did.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

Everybody, as always, get over to dudes and dads, dudesanddads.com.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I wasn't sure where you were going with the button.

Speaker:

I didn't know if you were going to stay on the button.

Speaker:

I didn't know if you were going to stay on the button.

Speaker:

I didn't know if you were going to stay on the button.

Speaker:

I didn't know if you were going to stay on the button.

Speaker:

I didn't know if you were going to stay on the button.

Speaker:

We're going to start.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Well, we're good.

Speaker:

Well, we'll machine over here.

Speaker:

Dues of that podcast at gmail.com.

Speaker:

If you've got any show ideas, responses, harsh rebukes, whatever you want to send over there,

Speaker:

feel free to email us.

Speaker:

And you can always, always, always call our voicemail, five seven four two one three 87

Speaker:

zero two, and you won't wait Joel or I up.

Speaker:

You will not, but we will listen to it and possibly put it on air.

Speaker:

Guys, we're so grateful for each and every one of you for tuning on.

Speaker:

Remember, share us, like us, do all that.

Speaker:

We appreciate it.

Speaker:

Subscribe to us.

Speaker:

All those good things.

Speaker:

And until next time, we wish you grace and peace.

Speaker:

Bye.

Speaker:

*OBE wellbeing community*

Speaker:

you

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube