Human Trafficking

The Price of Life in Michigan

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 20:26:39 +0000

Gordon Govier

The Price of Life in Michigan

UPDATE: The preliminary report indicates 254 students became new followers of Jesus during the University of Michigan Price of Life Invitational. A total of 419 students and volunteers were trained in evangelism. For more information, check this report by David Ruark.

The University of Michigan’s Price of Life Invitational asked the question, “What if U of M’s iconic football stadium, The Big House, was filled with trafficked children?” The capacity of The Big House, the largest stadium in the U.S., is almost 110,000. That number is comparable to the number of children currently enslaved in the U.S.

The week of October 19-24, 2014, the Price of Life Invitational was held on the University of Michigan campus to draw attention to the issue of human trafficking, and to mobilize a response towards the goal of eliminating it. In other words, the goal was to empty The Big House. More than 70 organizations partnered with ��ñ�� to sponsor over 30 events throughout the week.

“��ñ�� developed this model of justice and gospel oriented campus saturation outreaches and sponsors the Price of Life Invitational to help people explore what God might have to do with injustice and how faith could empower the search for justice,” said Dave Paladino, the Price of Life director. “Our goals are to engage 5,000 people in and around U of M’s campus in significant conversations about human trafficking and raise awareness about human trafficking to 30,000 people in the state of Michigan and see 200 commit their lives to Jesus.”

��ñ�� has been involved in more than a dozen Price of Life Invitationals over the last decade, last year most prominently in New York City. Participants include lawmakers from both political parties who are interested in enacting tougher laws to fight human trafficking. Additional organizations involved include other campus ministries, local Ann Arbor churches, and international humanitarian organizations.

The kick-off rally was held Sunday afternoon at the central campus bell tower, featuring trafficking survivor Danielle Douglass and ��ñ��'s National Evangelist York Moore. As she spoke, Danielle said, “It wasn’t until I got connected to ��ñ�� and the Price of Life that I connected my survival as a trafficking victim to God and I’m so excited to be following Jesus.” Danielle had become a follower of Jesus at York's invitation at a meeting just before the rally started.

Other Price of Life Invitational speakers include professor Bridgette Carr, director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School; Kelly Carter, Michigan Assistant Attorney General; E. Christopher Johnson, CEO and co-founder of the Center for Justice Rights and Dignity; Ron Soodalter, author of The Slave Next Door; Greta Uehling, a lecturer on international studies at the University of Michigan and hundreds of trained and dedicated students and ��ñ�� staff.

The final event of the week on Friday evening at the Michigan Theater included a celebration with musical artists and rappers Tedashii, KB, and NF; a testimony from a survivor of human trafficking; and a gospel proclamation and invitation by ��ñ�� staff member and Urbana 12 speaker Ram Sridharan. During the week hundreds of ��ñ�� students and other students engaged the campus community with interactive displays that connect justice and the gospel, and invited them to respond to Jesus.

“We hope to saturate the campus with this issue for Jesus' sake,” said ��ñ�� Regional Director Fred Bailey. “While combating modern slavery, we are also explicitly connecting the gospel of Jesus and justice, helping people explore and respond to what God says and does regarding injustice, and how God’s heart and our faith drive the search for justice.”

Original Price of Life promotional video:

For more information:

the U of M Price of Life Invitational website

News coverage:

Michigan Law newsroom

News Keywords

What is the Price of Life?

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 16:37:24 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

What is the Price of Life?

In the midst of the 8.4 million people who live in the United States’ largest city, the question is being asked, “What is the price of a life?” The Price of Life Invitational is being held October 1-12, 2013, centered on more than 15 New York City college and university campuses, spearheaded by ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship working with a coalition of more than 75 other organizations.

The Price of Life Invitational is promoting awareness and action on human trafficking. “By educating 150,000 of tomorrow’s leaders about the problem of human trafficking, we are creating the largest human trafficking awareness campaign in the history of New York City,” said Price of Life Director Dave Ruark. “We are making college students aware that modern day slavery is real, and it’s happening in New York City and around the world.”

In addition to awareness and action, Price of Life asks deeper spiritual questions about the purpose of life and personal freedom, and presents answers found in the life-changing ministry of Jesus Christ. “Price of Life aims to develop students into lifelong world changers and justice-seekers,” said Jeannie Rose Field, the campaign’s assistant director.

During the Price of Life Invitational:

Interactive displays called Proxe stations, designed to initiate conversations about human trafficking-related issues, are being set up along pedestrian routes of participating campuses.
Guest speakers from business, law, entertainment, social services, and other fields share their experiences and perspectives on human trafficking at 100 Price of Life events, including lectures, exhibitions, panel discussions, etc.
Concerts are held featuring musicians against trafficking.
Price of Life will raise money to support organizations aligned against trafficking on three basic levels:
- Prevention (World Vision),
- Rehabilitation and Recovery (Restore NYC)
- Skills Building for Independence (Nomi Network)
Even small steps will be encouraged to fight human trafficking:
- Asking a coffee shop if their coffee is fair and slave free.
- Asking about fair and slave free chocolate at the grocery store.
- Putting the Human Trafficking Hotline number in your phone: 888-373-7888

Since 2007, ��ñ�� has coordinated The Price of Life at six colleges and universities in four states, including Michigan State University and Ohio State University.

Jonathan Walton is the spokesman for Price of Life New York City and is the director of ��ñ��'s New York City Urban Project. Learn more about his ministry in New York City here.

News Keywords

New York City

Modern Slavery

Human Trafficking

Sharing God’s Vision of Freedom

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 19:09:24 +0000

News

Kathryn Brill

Sharing God’s Vision of Freedom

“From the first time I learned what human trafficking was, I could not turn a blind eye,” said Marilyn Limon, who first learned about the enslavement and sale of human beings as a freshman in high school, through the movie Human Trafficking. “My heart broke, and I felt immense compassion.”

As a student at St. Lawrence University and current president of the ��ñ�� chapter there, Marilyn expresses her compassion by working to eliminate human trafficking and showing her campus that God cares about justice.

Going Where God Leads

Marilyn, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in their early twenties, grew up in Huntington Park, California. She became a Christian in 2009, as a junior in high school, and was full of enthusiasm for growing in her faith: “I like to think of myself as a sponge. I was hungry to learn as much as I could.”

When it came time to choose a college, Marilyn sought God’s guidance, and felt a calling to attend St. Lawrence, despite its faraway location in Canton, New York. “Without a doubt, God directed me there,” she said. Once she landed on campus, God directed Marilyn to ��ñ��, where she got involved and began serving the chapter through simple tasks, such as making announcements at the large group meeting. ��ñ�� quickly became a safe community for Marilyn, supporting her as she has developed as a Christian. “Without ��ñ��, I wouldn’t have had the ability to grow in my faith,” she said. “It was where I learned how to spread God’s word.”

A New Heart for Justice

During the spring semester of her sophomore year, Marilyn helped her chapter spread God’s word to the campus in a new way. She brought the Human Wrong campaign, an initiative of the humanitarian aid organization World Vision, to St. Lawrence. The Human Wrong campaign seeks to help college students raise their awareness of child slavery and speak out against it on campus.

At St. Lawrence, the initiative spanned two weeks, with one week focused on raising awareness and the other focused on raising money. The ��ñ�� chapter showed films, held demonstrations, and collected signatures to help pass anti-slavery legislation. The culminating event was a panel of professors, counselors and researchers from the university discussing the effects of human trafficking.

These events gave St. Lawrence students a new understanding of the realities of human trafficking—but the events also brought a new understanding of what ��ñ�� was all about. Before the Human Wrong campaign, ��ñ�� wasn’t well known on campus, and those who did know it considered it a group exclusively for Christians. But Human Wrong changed all that.

“The initiative let students know that we also care about social justice issues, because God cares deeply about justice,” said Marilyn. “Through the Human Wrong campaign, our presence and involvement grew and God’s glory was made known to the campus.” The St. Lawrence ��ñ�� chapter members had a new context for sharing God’s love with their campus, as well as a greater vision for how their activities could reflect the fullness of what God cares about.

Change Beyond the Campus

Marilyn was excited to have helped raise awareness on her campus, but she didn’t stop there. During the spring of 2013, she studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, where prostitution is legal. Marilyn volunteered with Herz Werk (Heart Work), a nonprofit that offers support and counseling to women in prostitution. Although not all of these women are trafficked, many of them are, and the volunteers of Herz Work visit, pray with, and provide resources for them all.

Marilyn witnessed the trust and peace that came when volunteers and women prayed together. “God is the only one who can cast out all fear and renew a damaged soul,” she said. Marilyn has had other opportunities to work with nonprofits as they serve trafficking victims, including praying for change while walking in high-risk areas with Nightlight International Los Angeles and visiting safe houses for victims in the Cancun, Mexico, area. “God has put many opportunities in my life that have allowed me to minister to young girls,” said Marilyn.

Marilyn has also seen how fighting trafficking works on a larger institutional level. While she was interning for a state Senator in California this summer, Marilyn was able to speak with politicians, lobbyists, and the Attorney General, who all share her passion for ending modern-day slavery. “I got to see what it’s like to work with agencies and institutions to enact change,” she explained.

Through her experiences in the Senate, Marilyn realized that she wanted to continue working for justice through enacting public policy: “I feel like working in the legislature is where I can actually make a difference. I want to dedicate my career to combating human trafficking in California.”

Although she believes that everyone should educate themselves about and work to end human trafficking, Marilyn is also committed to the spiritual side of helping victims of trafficking: “A victim can be rescued and freed, but I believe that only God can truly free the person in all areas.”

It’s Marilyn’s prayer that “God’s unshaken truth, God’s unmatched hope, and God’s unconditional love” transform the lives of victims and traffickers alike, and it’s her hope that she can spend her career fighting slavery for the sake of God’s love for every human being.

News Keywords

St. Lawrence University

Modern Slavery

Human Trafficking