next week, i am heading down to visit some of my friends at healing place church in baton rouge.? on my itinerary is “midnight outreach” – a late night trip to some of louisiana’s finest strip clubs.
i have to admit, i’m a little nervous about it.? growing up the daughter of a small town, southern baptist preacherman, i never envisioned one day i’d be hanging out in strip clubs for jesus.
but for every ounce of nervousness, there’s about a gallon of excitement.? i can’t wait to meet these girls and let them know how beautiful they are and how loved they are.? chances are, they haven’t ever really heard that in a meaningful way before.? and yet they are so beautiful.? they are so loved.
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26 responses to “my trip to the strip club”
You are the front line soldier.
May God bless you, keep you, shine his glory upon you. May God be gracious, smile upon you and give you peace.
what a cool opportunity. can’t wait to hear more about this one when you get back!
i’ve wanted to do something like that for a long time now. praying for your experience!
Anne,
Wishing the best on this trip! I’d love to grab coffee when you get back and hear more about how Healing Place reaches out to strippers… Maybe something they’re doing could help us be more effective as we reach out to strippers here in Nashville!
Much love, Michael
I can’t wait for your follow up story. What a fantastic ministry!
Anne – I have so much heartache for women in this industry. My cousin is a “dancer” and I know a lot of girls in this business through her. They just want to be loved and cherished and so many of them have histories of neglect and abuse. This has led many of them to believe that their worth comes only from their bodies and what they can do with them. God’s heart breaks for these women – it’s about time the church’s heart is broken for them too. I know you will be pleasantly surprised by their hunger to know God and be known by Him. So awesome….
Anne, you are awesome. Better than that, God is awesome IN you. To come from where you’ve been and to go where you’re going — is nothing short of amazing… can I carry your luggage for you? Your purse? Surely you need SOMEone to help you — ummm whatever!
Praying for you and especially for the beautiful women who need to hear, really hear the message you’re telling them.
The title caught my eye on Twitter. My sister-in-law is a stripper at a local club. My wife (her sister) used to hang out with her at the club fairly often before she came to know the Lord. Recently she went back to see her sister and was surprised by how disgusted she felt — but at the same time she was filled with compassion for these people, particularly for the dancers.
As a guy, I stay out of the clubs (not a good ministry for men) but for my wife and other women like yourself it is a great opportunity to show love to women who rarely see it. Albeit, the dancers are typically trashed and possibly high and you may not always be able to get though to them, but they honestly often just want someone to talk to, particularly if they are hardly making any money for the night or if someone made a mean comment to them, or if they got in a fight or broke up with a significant other — all of which are regular occurrences.
The only piece of advice I’d like to leave is this: Create a way to connect. I am sick of the door-to-door or outreach evangelism that has no connection. In other words, don’t expect to solve a girl’s problems in one meeting, and don’t point her to your church — point her to Jesus. Be sure that you are there to talk about Jesus because of what He has done in your life (which is genuine), not to show how cool a church is because they send people into bars and strip clubs (which is a sales tactic). I’m sure this is your intention, but I just want to say that. Be sure there is a way for the girl to personally connect with you, give her your cell phone number. A church business card or flyer or tract is too impersonal in my opinion. That sends the message that you are not interested in me or a relationship with me, you just want to “sell me” on your message. CONNECT!
Assuming you intend to connect with these girls, I commend you and wish you God’s blessings on your journey! Doubtlessly you will learn as much as you teach in the relationships you form! That’s one amazing part of God’s grace, it puts everyone on a level playing field – Gal 3:28, it’s great to see that you and the group you are going with is not wrapped up in the “holier than thou” mentality which has plagued many Christians for so long, that you recognize we are no better then a drug addict or a stripper — we are all desperate sinners in need of a gracious God.
Thanks for your service and willingness — Eph 6:15
As long as Chris isn’t going with you then I say go and be a light for them. They need all the positive encouragement they can get.
Have a fun turkey day as well.
very cool ministry :)
our church here in atlanta started in an infamous strip club. it opened a lot of doors for us. there are some great ministries here in atlanta that work with women in the sex industry, and we built some good relationships with these fine folks in the course of our stay at what was once called the gold club.
good luck and have fun. hopefully y’all will have some men with you (waiting outside, of course) to keep you safe – that’s one thing the different ministries around here always do.
quick story – it was easy for us to just see that place as an old dingy strip club. it was easy for us to write of the people that worked there. as we began to renovate we came across stacks and stacks of family photos in what used to be the dancers’ dressing room. school pictures, kids in baseball uniforms, moms in the hospital with their newborns. it was touching and was a constant reminder that we’re all broken and in need of God’s love. it was a reminder that we can’t write anyone off – Christ sure didn’t, and neither will we.
Hey Anne, thanks for posting this.
I would like to say that there is a little misconception from some of your readers about exactly what we do. We don’t preach to or even really talk to the girls working in the clubs. We are not allowed to do anything more then give them a rose, that is why we are allowed back into the clubs twice a month. All we are doing is letting them know that people who follow Jesus don’t hate them or look down on them but love them and are willing to go where they are to show them that. We give them a rose and the card attached to the rose has information about our church so they know if they ever want to attend they are welcome to do so. We don’t preach, we don’t do anything other then give them a rose. It’s all about them knowing Christ does love them FIRST, as His hands and feet we want to show love not judgment, grace and mercy not condemnation. As the leader of our outreach team puts it, “there is no need to tell them they are going to Hell, they live in the Hell of addiction, self loathing and humiliation already”.
I would encourage anyone who has questions about the way we do it at HPC to read my blog post. We are not the only church doing this kind of outreach, all are different, but this is just how we do it.
Thanks again and I really look forward to you going with us.
Carole
http://www.thewardrobeandthewhitetree.com/2008/11/first-time-i-walked-into-strip-club-i.html
I wish I could join you!!
Very cool Anne. I can’t wait to hear about it.
Sounds like a great outreach. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the people you will meet.
My wife took a group of gals from our church, they had a great time talking to the gals. I wanted to go but they would not let me. Can i go with you?
Anne, I had never heard of this this ministry, and I appreciate your post and Carole Turner’s explanation.
Before I came back to the Church I went to strip clubs occasionally, like most lost and lonely guys, and even then I knew that both I and every woman I talked to in there were putting on a facade and wishing we were somewhere else, or, rather, wishing we were someone else. Every time I see one now I feel very, very sad, because I understand a bit better that these places are microcosms of the cycle of money, drugs, anti-loneliness, un-fulfilling sex, and other addictions that the world runs on.
God bless you and the others for reaching out to these ladies and taking Jesus to them. None of us are perfect, all of us are hurting, and even a rose and a few kind words can bring someone back when they have given up on themselves. None of us deserve His Mercy, but He gives it freely.
I will pray for you and your success. I can’t wait to read about your adventures!
That is so cool. Words could not express the thanks I have for those like you who – do what millions of others could never do. Keep it up. God bless.
I SO can not wait to read your posts after this. Taking the church to the street. I LOVE IT! Grace on you, and dont worry about the nerves, if your not nervous it is not worth it!
Wow. If only more believers were willing to do this kind of ministry. I’m so excited for you! God bless!
Anne – as always, you are an inspiration. Said a prayer for the ministry there tonight and hope God does some amazing things while you are there. Definitely post a followup.
Anne, I will definitely keep this trip in prayer. This is a great idea and this type of ministry needs to be out there. I will pray that the Word can be shared with these ladies. It will accomplish its purpose and not return null and void.
Tom
Anne! One of my best friends works at Healing Place – Colleen Conti – I hope you get to meet her. She is fabulous – full of life and love.
anne – definitely looking forward to your visit here. actually thinking about seeing if you’d wanna make a REALLY long day of it and join us for an outreach to the homeless that morning before our staff chapel. we can talk about that more though. just wanna make sure you know we’re excited to have you coming and that you’re prepared to have your brain get docked up to some serious extraction of knowledge we’re trying to get from you. and come hungry. we do food. a lot.
also colleen (jessica turner’s friend she mentioned in the previous comment) is definitely on the gotta-meet-anne list. she’ll make you smile.
got a bunch of us here looking forward to your visit….
I work with a ministry to strippers in Nashville (Emmaus). I just want you to know that it is incredible! I was nervous the first time but it was heartbreaking and exciting all at the same time. There is no better place to shine light and love people than on the front lines! I would love to hear about it when you get back!
Hello. And Bye. :)
Good luck to your journey