Bruno Mars played in the background, cigarette smoke filled the air. The haze and blaring music was like a disguise masking the reason men entered dimly lit doorways into buildings with no windows. The reason is simple: Sex sells.
We held hot pink gift bags with zebra print tissue paper tightly in our hands. Be casual, act natural, I repeatedly said in my head as I opened the door to the strip club. I pranced up to the bouncer like I’ve been his friend since 1998, flashed a big smile and asked if we could give some gifts to girls working in the club. Suspiciously he asked why. The short script I memorized flowed out like I was selling ice to an eskimo: cool, smooth, and as if it was needed.
The bouncer, still suspicious of why three clean-cut girls would enter a seedy gentlemen’s club to give gifts to strippers, kept us in the doorway as he spoke to the owner. We gave him some homemade cookies as a thank you [and a bribe] and prayed to God we would be let in. The last time we were there, access was denied.
The bouncer returned chewing on the cookies and escorted us to the dancer’s room backstage. I was expecting white vanities littered with makeup, round lightbulbs across the top of the vanity, and directors chairs draped in satin robes. Just like Hollywood portrays.
I walked into a small, filthy room with incandescent lighting. No chairs or vanities with starlet lighting options. Just animal print duffel bags, chips, and flip flops laid around the periphery of the room leaving a small space to stand or change outfits in the center. There was a counter top with a bit of space. We placed the gift bags on the cramped countertop and waited until the girls returned from “working the floor.”
As the seconds ticked by, the signs near the door reminded me of the life the girls led. Bullet-pointed and laminated, the sign listed penalties and fines if mandates weren’t made.
- A fine of ___ will be charged if you are sick
- A fine of ___ will be charged if you leave early
- A fine of ___ will be charged if outfits are old
- Your money is due to the management at the end of each night
“What is this,” a girl screeched with excitement as she entered the room. She recognized us from last time and knew we had returned to give a small gift of makeup, nail polish, and lotion. With childlike glee she pulled out a rose-colored blush from the hot pink bag and began applying it to her heavily painted face.
Within seconds other girls filed into the room excited about opening their gift bag. Bags were opened, tissue paper pulled out, makeup tried on. It felt like an x-rated Christmas party!
One scantily clad girl in blue lingerie held a small, microwaveable dinner in one hand and the gift bag in the other. “What is this for? I don’t get why you guys are here…” She trailed off in thought. Perhaps she was drunk. Perhaps she forgot what an unconditional gift felt like. Whatever the case, I explained that the gifts were small reminders that they are special, thought of, and cared for. She said thank you. I looked into her eyes and smiled. She turned her face and walked away.
As we walked back to the van where the rest of our team waited and prayed, I was reminded why we were there. We were allowed into the club because we divinely needed to remind ourselves and the girls working the floor that Jesus loves strippers. Just as he loves drunks. Just as he loves pastors. Just as he loves you. Just as he loves me.
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Bless you, Bianca. What a beautiful thing you did in the name of Jesus.
such a good reminder about God’s love.
Wow! What an insight. A strip club was opened blocks from our church, CC South Bay…how sad to have forgetten that these girls need a savior too!
Dude! Thats so rad!
Bianca, I know you work hard to fight sex trafficking. I am part of an organization called Destiny Rescue and we do a lot of work rescuing children from prostitution. Because of my connections I know there is a lot of research that says 60-90% of strippers are actually being pimped in some way. Most of them have to give 50-100% their earnings over to someone else at the end of the night. I definitely think of these women as victims, not as exhibitionists, and I certainly don’t think they want to be where they are. YES!!! YES! YES! Jesus DOES love them! He died for them! And he wants them to be cared for. Thank you for what you do. For women. For souls. For the gospel. 🙂 I appreciate your courage. This is a great post.
While I I think it is AWESOME that you guys are dedicated to such a noble cause, I would say that your concern that a majority of these girls are giving up 50-100% of thier money to someone else or even that a majority of these girls are being pimped should be put to rest. The majority of them are keeping the money themselves or wasting it on boyfriends and husbands that have no respect for them. These statistics are DEFINITELY not true. I myself worked this industry for a couple of years and I have worked in MANY states and locations. If sex trafficking is your biggest concern, I can tell you how and why these girls get themselves into such messes; 1. some of them feel they HAVE to be there to make ends me financially. Whether they have a drug problem or a budgeting/spending problem or simply have come on some hard times and are trying to take care of thier kids and a single mom. They NEED the money and are either pursuaded to “Do MORE” to make more by the customers. Sometimes the dancers are desperate to make the money and even THEY are the ones to initiate. 2. Some of them go into it with decent boundaries but find it difficult to make money because either they are uncomfortable with the circumstance of having to work there to begin with, or they are too shy and therefore are not aggressive enough in a seductive way that will pursuade a man to spend money on them. So they resort to drinking or doing drugs to loosen them up enough to become someone else. Here again, thier boundaries become blurred. 3. MANY of them are victims of sexual abuse and have a VERY warped sense of self-worth. They are simply numb and have no regard for thier bodies. They feel nothing to use thier bodies and let men use thier bodies to get what they need. Truely, they are dead inside and feel nothing. While they can understand that MOST people believe it is wrong as a matter of fact, they have no conviction of it being wrong and don’t understand what the big deal is. Here is where we can apply Jesus’s prayer to God “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” They truly have no divine understanding of thier worth and of thier true purpose. Again, I LOVE what you guys are doing. And I would say the best way to help these girls is to TRULY find a way to befriend them and get to know them individually on a personal level. Only then can you understand where they are struggling and prevent possibly prevent them from crossing boundaries, assist them in meeting thier need through an alternate method and rehabilitate them from the assualts that have been made on thier minds, bodies and souls. And if I can be of any help to you, I would be Honored to support your cause in any way that I can.
LOVE! I just love this so very much!
this is awesome and necessary! thanks for showing love to everyone! 🙂
Beautiful–those girls will always remember those gifts
Dope!!! Keep reaching the lost. We all need Jesus!
Bless up,
Manny
Yes Jesus does love them, thats for sure. Although I would disdagree with the person who said that most strippers are victims. At the end of the day it is a choice and I would know as I used to be a male stripper here in SoCal. I know the inside of the business and many of these women do this on their own volition in order to pay for school, pay the rent and guess what some actually do it because they like it. Very few actually get pimped altho it does happen in usually the more seedier places. Mnay women just like men do this because they can, they have the body and they want to use it to make money and many of them do enjoy it. The middle of the road and high end clubs actually protect the stippers pretty well. This post reminds me of the scripture that reads
2 Timothy 3:2-“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,”
This was me, I was a lover of myself and that is what usually leads to one wanting to show off their body. Our bodies are only meant to be shared with out wife/husband and no one else. Modesty is the best policy. And yes I had a very tough upbringing but it’s still no excuse for being Lewd.
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Love it Bianca! I love the way you get dirty for Jesus! Your ministry inspires me daily
I was blessed by this article, how awesome our Lord is, and how beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news!
Great ministry.
But I guess I missed the gospel?
Can you go into more detail as to what was said to the ladies?
Thank you and God bless you.
The power of God. WOW. That is an awesome and inspiring thing you did Bianca. God Bless all of you that were a part of it. If only more people could understand God’s love, they would know that YES people of all walks of life have Jesus to love too!
Beautiful example of loving others the way Jesus loves each of us!
Thank you Bianca (and the other people who went with you). It wasn’t just a gift bag. But, a gift with no expectations. I’m sure it was the only thing freely, joyfully, and lovingly given to them that day. All because you wanted them to know that God cares for them. You all had courage and obedience for putting yourself in that position to go after the lost. Perhaps some of the women “wanted” to be there, but I’m sure most of them did not and would give anything to be treated with dignity, to know security and love. You prayed for them, you showed up, and you loved on them. That’s a start – in them knowing their worth and who died for them. You brought light into a dark place. Well done.
Such a great post! Wonderfully written…I felt like I was there! I will come back to this post as a reminder to pray.
Love, love, love this! Thank you for sharing the Fathers love with them!!
<3
I LOVED this so much more than I can explain.
I love people who actually understand how many people outside the walls of their church & comfort zone need Jesus. Thanks, and props to you!
Love,
RK
Thanks for being brave and doing this Bianca! The Lord continue to bless this ministry. Beautifully written. I felt like I was there with you!
God is definitely doing a work with the Bay Girls Club down the street from CC South Bay, a worker came in the office on a Saturday after his shift and knew he needed Jesus in his life. One of our pastors lead him to the Lord! We will keep praying!
This makes my heart hurt so badly for these girls. I cannot imagine what all they have been through as i sit here in my home with my family that has loved me since i’ve been little, and has taught me God’s Truth above all else. Of course Jesus loves them too! I am no better than ANY one of them! When these girls cry silent tears and the hurt devours them inside….i know that it makes Jesus cry too. He cannot bear to see them suffer for the sin He died to deliver them from. Oh that Jesus would shine a light in their lives and rescue them from darkness!!! Many prayers for these precious ones<3