God is Amazing

First, an Apology!

            We are sincerely sorry! It is now 2013, and we have been silent for too long! Yes, we are still here and still searching for ways to further God’s kingdom by being the voice of the oppressed. We hope that you will forgive us entirely and we will make it a point to post more often!

Now, an Extraordinary Story and a Blessing from God!

            Somewhere during the month of September 2012, one of our team members, Kevin, received a voice mail from a pastor, Pastor Jack. Pastor Jack told Kevin in the voice mail that he had received Bethel College’s magazine in the mail. On the cover he saw Kevin’s familiar face. He flipped through the magazine to find the corresponding article, and there he learned about Bought at a Price. He loved our story and what we are doing, and he wanted to support us. He had called Kevin to find out how best he could support us.

            Kevin and Pastor Jack could not get their schedules to align, so after a month or two of playing phone tag, they finally were able to talk towards the end of November. Kevin was able to explain more in detail about B@AP, that we stand for raising awareness for and eliminating sex trafficking. He told Pastor Jack about the missionary we support.  The Missionary is passionately living out the life God has called him to: rescuing as many girls from sex slavery as possible through the power of prayer, etc. The best way that Pastor Jack could support B@AP, Kevin explained, is by helping us support The Missionary.

            Pastor Jack and his church were blown away by our ministry and our desire to make a difference in this world. The church wanted to help. They expressed interest in buying our T-shirts and bracelets as way to support our ministry, but the biggest surprise was still yet to come. A week or two later, we received a check in the mail. It was more than anything we could have asked for, and it was for The Missionary. We were stunned. The Missionary felt so blessed and was so grateful.

            Needless to say, God is amazing, and we give Him all the glory. He is doing some big things in the realm of human trafficking. Join us in prayer and fighting for those who cannot speak for themselves. 

Check Out Our Merch!

Finally, the day has arrived! The online store is now up and running! We have many bracelets and shirts available to purchase right here online. Please click our "Store" link at the top of the page and be sure to check out some of the awesome merchandise we have for sale!

WFRN Friend Fest

July 1st, 2012 - Kevin Brown represented Bought At A Price in a featured article found in the WFRN Friend Fest Magazine!  WFRN Friend Fest, a two day Christian Concert Series, was held in Nappanee, Indiana from June 29-30. Bethel College, along with many other sponsors, organized this event that brought in 20 major recording artists such as: Casting Crowns, David Crowder, and Tenth Avenue North. We are so excited to see God's blessing and movement among Bought At A Price! Thanks so much WFRN and Bethel College! 

Indiana Youth Seek to Fight Human Trafficking - By Aaron Charles

May 22, 2012/South Bend, Indiana/ By Aaron Charles for Word News

The global market of child trafficking is over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims (UNICEF). Ninety-five percent of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking. Statistics such as these are shocking, and they drove one youth group in Northern Indiana to act.

On Saturday, May 19, the youth group of Hillside Missionary Church in South Bend, Indiana, held a spaghetti dinner to raise money for Tiny Hands International – a Christian organization which fights human trafficking in Nepal. During the evening, the teens prepared and served the meal to attendees as well as giving three separate presentations to raise awareness for the plight of human trafficking. Shirts and bracelets were available for sale and attendees were encouraged to give donations as well. All proceeds from the event went to Tiny Hands, and in total, the group of 15 teenagers raised over $800 at the event – enough to save 21 girls out of slavery.

But the story does not begin there.

It begins back in January as the group was sitting in the church’s youth room listening to a presentation from Jon Andrews, Director of Midwest Development at Tiny Hands International. His testimony of actually going to Nepal and seeing the devastation caused by human trafficking really caught the teens’ attention.

“I hadn’t heard about human trafficking before Jon Andrews came,” said 14-year old Alexis Snyder, a member of the youth group and one of the presenters at the event.

In fact, Andrews made such an impact that the teens invited him back to share his story at the dinner as well. However, he considered the teens’ drive to make a difference to be more impactful.

“This isn’t about me,” said Andrews. “These kids are the future and I’m just excited about what they’ve done.”

From there, the teens (as well as their adult leaders) went through months of planning and preparation. It was hard work and at times it proved stressful, but the teens were determined to make a difference.

“[Human trafficking] is terrible and someone needs to do something about it,” said 15-year old Blake Marshall.

“Even if we only save one person, it matters,” said Aaron Burdin, the youth pastor at Hillside Missionary Church.

So what fueled this determination? The gravity of the situation really hit home for the teens when they realized that these statistics and stories represented real people.

“I have two younger sisters and I just kept thinking about them going into slavery,” said sophomore Ryan Arick.

“My passion is little kids,” said 17-year old Tiffaney Soule, “I just realized that these are real people.”

All the hard work culminated in a successful evening by all accounts. Not just because they had raised money, but because they had made a difference.

“I’m really impressed by the willingness of our group to jump in,” said Burdin, “It may not be a big thing, but they made a difference.”

And the message didn’t end there. The teens want to continue to make a difference by inspiring others to get involved.

“Try your best to do anything,” encouraged Snyder.

You can find information about human trafficking and efforts to stop it at www.tinyhandsinternational.org.

A Calling (Amanda's Story)

  I first heard about sex trafficking right before my first trip to Kenya. We learned about different things going on in the community and surrounding areas of where we were staying and human trafficking and prostitution was very evident in the area.

  I first heard about B@AP in January 2012 at the first meeting that I went to, to get more information about what the group we wanted to start would look like. I knew that a friend of mine wanted to start some type of group to get the word out about trafficking but I had no idea that their was already a group that had something great already going.

  I decided to get involved with B@AP because the first time I heard about human trafficking it hit me hard emotionally. There has been certain things that have gone on in my life that a way I kind of almost relate to what is going on in the lives of these girls. And I also had another thought that there are girls younger than my little sister out there being trafficked. That just did not sit right with me. So I decided to join B@AP to no longer sit by and wonder if I could help out some way, but to actually get involved.


  Honestly, I have not been apart of B@AP for all that long. But just being connected with the people in this group and knowing that in some way they feel a connection to human trafficking too is awesome.


  I feel God calling me to spread the word. And not only to spread the word but to go. To go to the ones in need. I would love to be the person that saves and comforts girls that have come out of trafficking. I know that doing nothing is not an option anymore.

Bethel Magazine

Check out the Bethel Magazine Online featuring: Bought At A Price

Bought At A Price Promo Video (Bethel College)

A Calling (Aaron's story)

  I first heard about trafficking when I was 14 I think, I went to 3DYC (district youth conference) and they mentioned it in a seminar. It didn't really hit me at that point what the magnitude of human trafficking really was.

  I heard about B@AP through Kevin, who was in my block at Bethel, and he did one of his speeches on it. I was so amazed that a group of people my age had done so much. And I was appalled at all the stories and statistics. I didn't realize it was such a problem in the US. So I felt like the least I could do would be to spread the word about Bought At A Price.

  Bought At A Price has bolstered my faith in God. To see all the ways he directed this group, it's just amazing. And it just breaks my heart to hear these stories. It has shown me that if I trust in God, anything can happen.


  I feel that God has given me some gifts, and I feel that I can use them to spread the word. I love to write, and I've already done some writing for the Bethel Beacon (the school newspaper) concerning Bought At A Price. I'm a youth leader at my church (Hillside Missionary) and I had the group come and present on a Wednesday night. So I feel like my job is to continue to spread the word in whatever way possible, and to tell this amazing story as much as I can. I love what has happened with Bought At A Price and I want to tell that story to anyone who will listen.


I am Aaron Charles, and I'm Bought At A Price.

A Calling (Lauren's story)

  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.

Spreading the Word

  Last night, Wednesday, a couple of the team members, Luke, Kevin, and Bri, went to their friend, Aaron's, church, Hillside Missionary. Jon Andrews of Tiny Hands International was also with the group to talk to the junior/senior high youth group at Hillside. The youth group had been doing a series on human trafficking and Aaron, who helps out with the youth group and knowing about Bought At A Price, asked if we would come and talk about how we got started. It was very encouraging to hear ways that the youth group could raise money to help stop trafficking. We were able to sell some shirts and even gice some of the shirts to kids in the youth group to sell at their schools. The main purpose of B@AP speaking was to just let the youth group know that their dreams, when alined with God's will, are possible.


Just one more way that Bought At A Price is speading the word.

Organizations Worth Looking Into

http://force4good.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rhema-Project/107704629267433

Bought At A Price Worship Night!

  Last night the Bought At A Price team held a worship night at the Robbins house. We had over 80 people show up for the event even though it was outside and over 90 degrees. We really felt God show himself to us and he did big things throughout the night! We had two guest speakers come from Ohio, who are missionaries. Their testimonies and stories just blew us away. They spoke in between two worship set that were played by our Bought At A Price worship team. All the money from the pizza that we sold and the money from the love offering went to the organization that they are going with for their trip. The money will help them with their expenses. They leave on their trip in just a few short months. Please pray for them as they prepare for this journey. We raised over 480 dollars for them and we raised over 200 dollars in t-shirts sales. God really opened the hearts of the people there. It was just a really awesome God experience.


One of the missionaries who spoke last night wanted us to share this link with you guys So CHECK IT OUT! :)


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seeing-RED/232418010110476

Check out our new event on July 18th! Bought At A Price Worship Night

T-Shirt Bags!

We now have t-shirt bags available for $15! They are handmade by the Bought At A Price Team

CDYC

   Our group just got back from CDYC, Central District Youth Conference, and we were given the opportunity to show our video and sell some of our shirts there. The cool thing is we brought all the shirts we had thinking that we would sell maybe one or two, but we ended up selling all of them. Not only did we sell all of them but we had to start writing people's names down so we could get them a shirt. So if you are one of those people that ordered one we are working on it this week so they should be in the mail soon. Our God is so big and works in various ways. If you still want a shirt but didn't get your name on the paper email us at iamboughtataprice@gmail.com.

T-Shirts

 We currently have this shirt in black or red for only $15.

If you would like one you can contact us at iamboughtataprice@gmail.com.