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