The Answer Staff Writer

What if Christ asked you to start ministering to the men who rape underage girls in the VIP rooms of strip clubs in Las Vegas?  What if He asked you to love the pimps who enslave wayward children with prostitution?  What if He said he needed you on the front lines to help the women and female children involved in the burgeoning sex trade in Nevada?  Would you do it?

Joseph South, founder of Cry of the People, has heard this call and hopes that many more in Las Vegas will not only wake up to the disturbing reality of human trafficking and sexual slavery, but also help in his mission to bring Jesus’ love and healing to both the victims and perpetrators.

South believes that 2010 will be the year that there will be a “coming to light” of the issue of human trafficking in Las Vegas, “due to the recession and the media.”  “We acknowledge the issue overseas, but not here,” South said. His prayer is that information will erase apathy and that, working together, individuals, churches and organizations will begin to chip away at an issue that people still know too little about.

How big is child trafficking in Las Vegas?  “Nevada, and Las Vegas in particular, face one of the most serious commercial sexual exploitation of children problems in the United States,” wrote Dr. Alexis Kennedy of UNLV’s Department of Criminal Justice in her 2009 needs assessment study. The study reported that there were nearly 1,500 victims of child sexual exploitation identified by law enforcement between 1994 and 2006 and that an average of 150-200 victims are apprehended each year.  As Kennedy explained, child prostitutes who are taken into custody in Vegas “are funneled through a single juvenile delinquency docket presided over by Judge William Voy.”  Of the minors charged with prostitution-related offenses, Kennedy said, more than 50% are from states other than Nevada. 

The information revealed through Kennedy’s study triggers three serious questions: 1) How many child prostitutes are not identified through law enforcement channels and, therefore, not helped or “counted” in statistics driving assistance and prevention programs?  2) How many and how are children brought in from other states to work as prostitutes here?  3)  What are we doing about it?

Currently, there are several organizations working locally on different aspects of prostitution and child exploitation including Nevada Child Seekers, PSEC Nevada, Shared Hope International, Westcare, Hookers for Jesus, Stop Child Trafficking Now, Christians Against Sexual Slavery, XXX Church and others.  But, as South said, there needs to be a more comprehensive and public effort.  Moreover, South believes that the only way to truly abolish human trafficking is by empowering others to work on Christ’s behalf to rectify the lack of love and lack of justice at the heart of the issue.

South was contacted in 2009 by Stop Child Trafficking Now to mobilize efforts to battle child trafficking in Las Vegas.  The son of a missionary father who has worked on many social issues, South believes that following Christ is the only effective course in dealing with exploitation.  “We have to believe in redemption for both the victim and perpetrator,” South said.  “We have to believe in the redemption of pain and the power of the movement of God,” he added.

The first charge in abolishing trafficking may be to eradicate the appetite for prostitution as a means for sex and for financial gain.  Contrary to what some may believe, prostitution in Las Vegas itself is not legal, South pointed out.  Sadly, though, most purveyors and customers of prostitution “don’t care about legality and are getting away with it,” he added.

The “demand for sex” that’s driving the issue of exploitation is rampant in Vegas, said South. As Kennedy stated, Las Vegas has a “unique, hyper-sexual atmosphere” which puts people in jeopardy of engaging in risky and illegal behaviors.

“The popular tourist slogan, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ promotes an environment attractive to both traffickers who want to profit from the millions of visitors to Las Vegas each year and to the tourists who opportunitistically or purposefully engage in commercial sexual activity with minors,” Kennedy said.

For child prostitutes, primarily ranging in age from 8 to 17, entry into the sex trade usually stems from running away from home.  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, approximately 450,000 minors run away from home each year.  The Center estimates that a third of these are lured into prostitution.

South talked about the lack of real “headship” in the families of girls - and boys for that matter - who run away from home and/or engage in a number of other risky behaviors, eventually resulting in prostitution.  Discipling to fathers regarding God’s call for them to “provide and protect” is a crucial issue in preventing all sorts of pain and hardship, South pointed out. “We need to get in and start doing the preventative work,” he proclaimed.

On the other side of the coin, are the men who become the customers and purveyors of the sex trade.  For them, South explained, “the value of life is so diminished” that they don’t look at themselves or their victims as anything worth loving. 

“There is pain on both sides,” South said as a reminder to all who want to “side” with the prostitutes without realizing that everyone involved in child exploitation is actually a victim and in need of Christ’s love.

“I believe in a God of reconciliation,” South said. 

South also believes that the sheer flesh-and-bone will of people who effort to correct societal wrongs is not enough to make real headway in human trafficking or in any other social issue.  Cry of the People (COTP) was founded by Christ followers who “after efforts to mobilize volunteers for outreach and aftercare ministries, began to grow tired and weary from the work.”

“Through God’s prompting, priorities of these Christians shifted first to discipleship so that justice ministry could then grow from an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, instead of working in the strength of the flesh,” South wrote on the COTP website.

South long ago recognized that battles, such as that of human trafficking, are only won through the power of Christ.  “When we desire the power of God, all it takes is an invitation,” South said.  To empower Christians, COTP has begun a series of free, monthly discipleship training workshops at Las Vegas churches. A more robust discipleship conference, called Cry of the People Summit, will be held in October.  This three-day event will be dedicated to prayer, worship, discipleship teaching, intercession and anti- human trafficking workshops. 

“We are inviting congregations and believers from around the world to join us in Las Vegas for a discipleship experience that trains believers spiritually and practically to join the modern abolition movement,” South said. 

“A lot of people believe, but do they follow,” South asked of Christians.  If following Christ’s call to love and correct injustice resonates with you, South encourages you to learn more and get involved.

Visit the Cry of the People website at www.cryofthepeoplesociety.org or find out about the summit at www.cryofthepeoplesummit.com.  More information about Dr. Alexis Kennedy is available at www.alexiskennedy.com and her study is published at www.nevadachild.com.