I first heard about sex trafficking my junior year of high school when I was involved in a small group at my church. My small group leader somehow learned of human and sex trafficking and taught us all about it at one of our small group meetings. We watched informative videos, read a lot of news articles, and we even watched Taken to get a better idea and understanding of how it all works.
I first learned of B@AP through Kevin Brown. I currently attend Bethel College, and this summer before all the new freshmen arrived at school, there was an “Incoming Freshmen to BC 2011” Facebook page where we all wrote on the wall of this page to get to know each other better. One of the questions asked on this page was, “What is one thing you are really passionate about?” So I answered, talking about human trafficking and how I want to become involved with spreading awareness, etc. Kevin saw my answer to that, messaged me on Facebook, and told me all about B@AP.
I get my dates all mixed up, but sometime last summer, around the same time that I learned of B@AP through Kevin, I became friends with Bri Pierce (we met at registration for Bethel classes). We became really good friends, and she told me of a small concert that B@AP would be holding later that summer, and she asked if I would want to come. So I drove to Leo, to learn what B@AP was all about.
B@AP and being friends with two of the wonderful people who started this shin dig has really opened my eyes to the understanding that I CAN do something about it. I’ve grown up hearing adults saying, “You can do anything you set your mind to” or quoting that famous Bible verse, “Don’t let people look down on you because you are young…” Yes, all of things were good things to hear and helped my self-esteem and confidence growing up, but to actually see high schoolers living out this truth….I was taken aback. I started questioning my own selfish motives in life. Fear cannot be a factor when living out the life of Christ.
Over the past TWO days, I have had FIVE encounters hearing about sex trafficking, reading about sex trafficking, and talking about sex trafficking. The fifth time, the subject popped up in a homework assignment I was doing, and as soon as I saw that, I figured God was trying to get my attention to speak to me. I started really praying about it. Before this encounter, though, I had really been struggling with what God might be calling me to do after college. I had contemplated all things dealing with ministry, but the one that stood out to me the most was missions. I wrestled and played with this idea in my mind, not sure what I could do. But one of the ideas God brought to my mind was to do missions here in the United States. And not just short-term missions trips to other states, but long-term missions. In this plan, I would live and breathe missions. As of right now, I do not know what this plan might look like. I just hope to keep my ears, eyes, and heart open to the voice of God.
I am Lauren Linhart, and I am Bought At A Price.
I first learned of B@AP through Kevin Brown. I currently attend Bethel College, and this summer before all the new freshmen arrived at school, there was an “Incoming Freshmen to BC 2011” Facebook page where we all wrote on the wall of this page to get to know each other better. One of the questions asked on this page was, “What is one thing you are really passionate about?” So I answered, talking about human trafficking and how I want to become involved with spreading awareness, etc. Kevin saw my answer to that, messaged me on Facebook, and told me all about B@AP.
I get my dates all mixed up, but sometime last summer, around the same time that I learned of B@AP through Kevin, I became friends with Bri Pierce (we met at registration for Bethel classes). We became really good friends, and she told me of a small concert that B@AP would be holding later that summer, and she asked if I would want to come. So I drove to Leo, to learn what B@AP was all about.
B@AP and being friends with two of the wonderful people who started this shin dig has really opened my eyes to the understanding that I CAN do something about it. I’ve grown up hearing adults saying, “You can do anything you set your mind to” or quoting that famous Bible verse, “Don’t let people look down on you because you are young…” Yes, all of things were good things to hear and helped my self-esteem and confidence growing up, but to actually see high schoolers living out this truth….I was taken aback. I started questioning my own selfish motives in life. Fear cannot be a factor when living out the life of Christ.
Over the past TWO days, I have had FIVE encounters hearing about sex trafficking, reading about sex trafficking, and talking about sex trafficking. The fifth time, the subject popped up in a homework assignment I was doing, and as soon as I saw that, I figured God was trying to get my attention to speak to me. I started really praying about it. Before this encounter, though, I had really been struggling with what God might be calling me to do after college. I had contemplated all things dealing with ministry, but the one that stood out to me the most was missions. I wrestled and played with this idea in my mind, not sure what I could do. But one of the ideas God brought to my mind was to do missions here in the United States. And not just short-term missions trips to other states, but long-term missions. In this plan, I would live and breathe missions. As of right now, I do not know what this plan might look like. I just hope to keep my ears, eyes, and heart open to the voice of God.
I am Lauren Linhart, and I am Bought At A Price.
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