I haven't been visiting my friends at the strip clubs along with the "church ladies". I just had too much going on towards the end of the marathon training. I'll be taking some time to regroup after the marathon is over and hopefully get my house clean as well. I really miss my friends and hope they are doing well. One of my friends who is a "church lady" said that this ministry is the clearest reflection of the Acts church that she has ever experienced. I agree. As far as the phrase "church ladies", some of the club employees started calling us the church ladies a few years ago and it stuck. We think it's funny and endearing.
Although I won't be going to the clubs for a while; names, faces, stories and prayer requests will be heavy on my heart until I rejoin the church ladies.
I will forever be haunted by the story of an exotic dancer I met a few years ago. We will call her Samantha. Samantha is a spunky outgoing and hilarious girl. Covered with tattoos and piercings somehow Samantha made any hair color beautiful. I don't have a problem with tattoos and piercings. I had piercings in the past. My husband is tattooed and already has our 3 year old son asking for one like Daddy's. I told him if he wants to get a tattoo with a heart that says "I love my Momma", I'll take him today. Ha! Even though outward appearance is meaningless to me I will be the first to say I was a bit intimidated when I initially met Samantha. You could just sense that she had a STORY, and she did.
After a bit of small talk over a home cooked meal in the dressing room of a local strip club Samantha unloads her story with me and a few other church ladies.....
"I went to church when I was a little kid. The church was WEIRD!!! One Sunday I had to go to big church with the grown ups. The preacher brought out a box full if snakes and let them out onto the floor. He said that those who were really "saved" and had faith would not be afraid of the snakes. I was only 5 years old and I started to cry I tried not to but when one of the snakes got close to my foot I screamed and jumped up into my chair. The preacher said anyone without faith was going to hell. I've never seen the point in trying since then. If you have to go to church to get to heaven I guess I'm going to hell. I would rather go to hell than go to church again. One of my friends was sexually abused by a leader in her church, WHAT is up with that? She hates church too."...
After shedding some tears and an appropriate moment of silence I said,
'I'm so sorry Samantha',
and gave her a hug. The other church ladies chimed in and said,
'we are SO SORRY'
and embraced her. She stood up to leave the room with angry tears streaming down. Before she walked out of the room I said,
'Samantha, I hope you know that's not what we believe.'
She shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room. She never brought it up again.
How will Samantha know that we don't believe the same things she learned about the church because of her experience? Samantha will know what a person believes by their ACTIONS.
I've been asked, "Why aren't you guys more evangelistic in this ministry? You may only have one opportunity to talk to some of these girls shouldn't your number one goal be to tell them about Jesus and invite them to church? Why is your number one priority to love them and befriend them?"
Let me ask a question.....
If I had invited Samantha to church the first time I met her do you think she would have ever talked to me again?
Let me ask you another question.... Considering Samantha's life story and the fact that this absurd experience was her only view of church do you blame her for not wanting to go?
As the church we have a reputation and a name to reclaim. We are going to have to take responsibility for situations like Samantha's. We are going to have to earn back the trust of many people who have been hurt by the church whether or not we inflicted the pain. Most people who want nothing to do with the church have good reasons for that decision. We need to accept the fact that there are valid reasons people might not want to be friends with a Christian and earn back their trust by living TRUE lives. We need to learn more stories like Samantha's by breaking out of the walls of our churches.
I have a five year old daughter. She is so sweet. She is very sensitive and tender hearted. We have to be really careful with what she sees even with children's cartoons. If she gets frightened she will have nightmares for weeks. I can't imagine how traumatized my little girl would be if she saw 1 snake. I think about Samantha as a little girl and realize what a terrible scar was left on her heart by the church. She grew up believing she was going to hell.... Samantha had heard the biblical story of Jesus in Sunday school. She even knew some the bible, but with her experience she is going to have to SEE some people who claim Jesus start acting like Jesus.
The number one priority is to love. Love does not condone. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. Samantha's truth hurts. Love takes the time to get to know a person. Love is patient. Love tries to understand where a person is coming from. There are times that God ordains conversations about Jesus and about church. The majority of the times that I met a dancer for the first time they asked what church I was from. I told them and often felt lead to invite them to go with me.
You have to BE Jesus before you talk Jesus. The church ladies are subject to the direction of the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible if they weren't. There was one occasion where God ordained a conversation and all in about an hour one of the church ladies met a dancer for the first time, the dancer told her life story to the church lady. As God had planned, it just so happened that the church lady's past was very similar to the issues the dancer was dealing with. The church lady shared her life story and got to tell the dancer about her relationship with Jesus inside the strip club. She was in a desperate situation looking for answers. After that night the church lady never saw her again in the club.
I witnessed one of the church ladies courageously going into the club for the first time and by the end of the night she had invited a several of the girls to church got a great response from it. I've heard the story of one of the older church ladies who was asked to pray for a dancer in the dressing room of the club. She knelt down to pray like she always did and when she opened her eyes there was a room full of dancers kneeling in prayer. If we can just BE Jesus by dying to ourselves; He will do the talking when and where it needs to take place.
4 days..... And counting....
Let's go for a run!
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