This is part of a series I'm starting to directly answer questions about human trafficking. You can send your questions to my Twitter or Facebook.

What is human trafficking?
How does human trafficking affect me?
How can I make a difference today?

What is human trafficking?

Exploiters (human traffickers) might purchase humans for redistribution (like a Wal-Mart of people) or direct use purposes like sex, mining ore, making shirts and blouses, or some other means of providing free (a.k.a. “slave”) labor. What happens to these human “products” once their purpose is served?

A few years ago, I went to the store and purchased a bundle of six washcloths that were on sale for $2.99. I knew that they would be great to clean with and they were a great value for my money. 

Two years later and I only have two of those washcloths left. I threw the other four out when they got too stained from use that, cosmetically speaking, they weren’t pleasant enough to look at anymore.

Imagine if the sole purpose of your existence was to fulfill the needs of others despite your will and without your consent. You are ever a means to someone else's fulfillment. You desires are not even secondary to your purpose-- they don't exist because you are a meaningless object and objects don't possess a will or desire or emotions. You are a thing. You are a washcloth. You, in fact, are a victim of human trafficking.

Further reading:

How Much Does the Five-Year-Old Boy Cost?
The Land of Innocence Forcibly Lost

How does human trafficking affect me?

Human trafficking pervades our daily life. When did you last buy:

• a shirt/blouse
• chocolate
• a cellphone/tablet computer?

Human trafficking is not limited to prostitution and sexual deviance. Victims include children sewing shoes in Southeast Asian sweatshops, men and women who receive starvation wages for meticulous backbreaking work, immigrants in the USA whose labor is extorted by threat of deportation, and yes, women, men, and children sold for sexual consumption.

The dishwasher at your favorite restaurant might well receive no pay except that his master doesn't turn him in to INS for deportation. Your favorite dress or shirt might have been sewn together with the darling fingers of an underpaid, nine year old boy. Your favorite iFruit cellphone might have been put together by a mother of three who, despite sixteen hours of work, can't feed her children and herself.

So, does human trafficking affect your daily life?

Further reading:

How many slaves are working for you?
Labor trafficking in the U.S.
Is there slavery in your chocolate?

How can I make a difference today?

“learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widows cause.” Isaiah 1:17

1. Think before you purchase.

“Who really made this mp3 player? Was the person who picked the cocoa beans that ended up in my Mocha Frappe compensated for her work?”

Your money ends up in someone's pocket. What will that person do with that money? Would you really give your money to a company that enslaves people or pays unlivable wages in unsafe factories of remote countries? Know from whom you are buying and how they acquire their product. 

Download Not For Sale Campaign’s Free2Work application for your smartphone. It’ll tell you the rating of the companies you purchase food from, clothing, flowers, and more. Are the products you buy slave free? Download the app to find out.

2. Leverage your resources for activism.

Actively oppose human trafficking by participating with any number of organizations that seek to end or disrupt human trafficking. I participate with Wellspring Living as an advocate and a volunteer speaker. I also manage the 1800 Campaign, which raises money through Cross Current Ministries to generate awareness and also educates and activates men to become agents of change within this injustice.

3. Educate other people about human trafficking.

We need abolitionists who will speak out about the prevalence of human trafficking. Bring it up in conversation with coworkers. Post a tweet promoting a human trafficking organization. Host an awareness party. Or get involved with one of these organizations. 

Further 
reading:

How Men Can Fight Human Trafficking in 2012
24 Things You Can Do To Fight Human Trafficking

I feel it’s appropriate to quickly update you on the progress of the 1800 Campaign as of recent. In case you have no idea what the 1800 Campaign is, it is the campaign I’m running to secure the funding necessary to continue this human trafficking ministry full-time. 

Prayer Ministry

As my 36 prayer partners well know, their spiritual muscles have been getting quite a workout in recent weeks. I typically send out updates twice a month with several key points for prayer, but this past month I included an emergency prayer alert. Things are good – now – and I’m thankful for their partnership.

My goal is to have 50 people partnering with me in prayer. If you’re interested in signing up to receive email updates on how you can cover me and this ministry in prayer, then you can sign up by clicking here. 

Men’s Ministry

One of my goals in this anti-trafficking focused ministry is to encourage men to be more involved in terms of prevention, advocacy, and education. I’ve been blessed to meet one-on-one with several guys in the past month and help connect them with ways that they can get plugged into existing ministries.

There have also been a few other mens-focused ministry needs present themselves in the last week or two. I’m currently praying through how I can respond to them most effectively. And while I'm usually quick to announce what's on my mind, I'm choosing to hold back this time. But I’d love it if you would join me in prayer for that regardless.

Mayor Kasim Reed at Lobby Day 2012 | Photo by Matthew SnyderOther Opportunities

A few weeks ago, I was asked by Janie Chu, a local Indie rock artist, if I would manage the PR for the END DEMAND Campaign she had developed. Janie has a heart for addressing the issue of human trafficking, specifically in tackling the demand. You can read more about the campaign here.

Next week I’m hosting the Free Your Voice awareness party at my apartment.  If you live in Gainesville, GA, then I’d love for you to come by. Details here (and please RVSP).

Support Alert

I’ve currently only met about 20% of my support raising goal. I still need to raise another $1200 in monthly support in order to continue this ministry full-time. If I cannot raise enough funds, I’m going to have to suspend the 1800 Campaign and find another part-time job. Please prayerfully consider giving a financial gift towards Cross Current Ministries and the work that I’m doing to fight human trafficking. You can give via my donation page by clicking here.

So that’s the latest! Pray for me this weekend as I seek the Lord for more guidance in how to respond to the opportunities on the table before me. 

And if you haven’t already, subscribe here for blog updates. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

I recently met with a college student from the University of Georgia who wanted to get involved in anti-trafficking. He asked me how it all started for me and I recalled this story that I will always share. It's what fuels me. And I'll precursor this with saying: parts of today's post are a little graphic and probably not for little kids or people who don't like reading about the realities of some things that happen on a daily basis in the world. That's all. Read away now.

It's funny how all these different memories I have in my mind begin floating to the surface when something provokes them. I vividly remember the one night Mark and I summoned bravery from the depths of the royalty hibernating within us, and ventured willingly into the Red Light District tucked away in downtown Bangkok.

I'm not sure we really knew what was in store for us.

I would write more about it, but I already did that here. What I'm thinking of has much of nothing to do with prostitutes or strip clubs. It has more to do with injustice fueled by man's selfishness. It has to do with a humble 'crippled' man named Wood.

He was missing a leg.

As Mark and I were walking around one evening praying relentlessly for the Kingdom of God to manifest itself with absolute authority in one of the darkest places either of us had ever been, we ran into Wood. It's not like one could easily not notice him. In the midst of a swarm of white Western men stood a sole Asian man on one leg. Clinging to his crutches, he stretched out his hand to each person that passed him by, holding out a cup and shaking it about in an attempt to solicit some extra change.

He wasn't having much luck.

Mark and I walked over to Wood and introduced ourselves because during our travels, our hearts began to normally open up to beggars. They're family, and because of that, we approached our brother with sincere joy.

We made conversation with Wood for a good 15 or 20 minutes. He didn't know much English, but no matter what, he never wiped the smile from his face. He was from Cambodia and was trying to get enough money for a bus ticket back to the border where he lived.  Wood lost his leg to a land mine years earlier, and while it handicapped him, I'm not so sure that he really cared.

We prayed for his leg to grow back, but it didn't.  It's our luck, eh?

After time, Wood went on his way begging sex tourist after sex tourist, hoping to score some extra cash that the women on the street might have received for a tip. I thought it was wise marketing on his part, but he was obviously having no success. Before I knew it, I lost track of Wood and I carried on with prayer and people-watching, plotting my next move in how I might unleash God's loving wrath in the form of a fist on the next American's face that crossed my path (thankfully, that never happened).

About half an hour later I noticed a girl, no older than 15 years of age, standing about ten feet in front of me. She was young and as she stood there in barely any clothing, I could see her shaking.

She was scared.

I immediately knew in my spirit that this was her first time on the street.

Next thing I know, I see an American male in his mid-forties walk up with a bunch of his cronies - wedding band on hand and all. I wanted to beat him in the face because he walked up to the girl and slipped his arm around her like some creep. Then he forcefully grabbed her chin and turned her head side-to-side looking her over. He pulled her in closer to him and displayed his approval by talking quietly to her.

My ears pierced through the crowded street to their conversation, the whole time I burned with the Lord's passion for this girl.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing out here? Where are you staying? Why are you staying there? You need somewhere with a soft pillow. Why don't you come back to my room? You'll sleep much better there."

He wouldn't stop. To top it all off, the girl wasn't responding to him. And then to make it even worse, she kept looking back at me with glances that screamed for me to come liberate her. She knew that I wasn't there to take advantage of her. She knew that men like me rescue her.

But I couldn't.

The grown man's buddies fawned over women surrounding the fifteen-year-old girl and they didn't appear to be having any luck. I'm not sure that they had done this before themselves. And while I could easily say I was disgusted with these men, I was more broken for them than anything else. They were just as enslaved, fooled, and deceived as this girl.

And then I saw it. My heart shattered and I knew what was coming next.

Wood began hobbling up to the American man with the little girl. As he situated himself and propped his stub-for-a-leg on his crutch, Wood tapped the man on the arm with his cup. He turned around, looked at Wood's face, looked at his leg, jumped back, and then screamed while taking position behind the girl as if Wood was going to hurt him.

Then he turned to the girl and said, "he almost got me."

I was ready to crawl out of my skin. In the matter of seconds the man shoo'd Wood away and went back to trying to get the 15-year-old to have sex with him. I was steaming with anger. No matter how hard I tried to move, no matter how much I pleaded with God, He wouldn't let me move. He simply said: WATCH.

Wood continued down the line of cronies, and each time, he was turned away.

I was angered at the injustice.

But this is the kind of stuff I remember, the kind of stuff that I carry around with me in my heart every day. It's experiences like this one I had in Thailand that motivate me to do what I do, to continue to raise up a multi-generational generation of abolitionists and justice-seekers.

I don't know what happened to Wood and I don't know where he is. I have no idea what happened to the 15-year-old girl stuck in a lifestyle of imprisonment. And I don't know what happened to the American man who cheated on his wife.

I just know that freedom is here, His name is Jesus, and I'm going to take that freedom into the heart of darkness.

"At some point, you're going to have to break away from certainty to do a great thing of faith..."

I was listening to God speak the other day (yeah, I'm one of those guys who believes He still talks to us). I've been really seeking God for direction on some things. The result has been encouragement, challenge, and a certain degree of hope. There is also the weight of a responsibility attached to it. When God speaks, it's easy to sit still and not move. But we have to move. His words provoke our hearts to forward motion...

He said to me what's quoted above. I was busy yammering about this, that, and the other when He gracefully told me to put a sock in it and said, "at some point, matthew, you're going to have to break away from certainty to do a great thing of faith."

See, I have a notebook of ideas and my problem is that I usually let my ideas fester. I share them and I tell people about all of my ideas and the impact that they could have. And then I entertain the idea until I get bored with the thought of it, and then I move on to the next idea.

It's really a vicious cycle of unproductivity and God's challenging me to actually pursue something in the midst of it.

And who am I to ignore the voice of the Lord? I believe that I have been given the grace to tackle the things before me. 

In Quitter, Jon Acuff writes about the need to start small with our dreams. Sometimes we have to grow into them subtly, practicing in the shadows of humility the thing that the Lord has prepared in advance for us to do. It's very rare that an author sits down and writes an award winning novel at the first go. Usually, she takes years before being able to acheive such a feat. The same goes for a renown speaker. He usually begins speaking to small groups before giving the keynote address to a crowd of 15,000.

What is it that you feel the Lord is calling you to? What do you need to risk?

Please subscribe here for updates and follow me on Twitter @matthewlasnyder

I feel like too many people live their lives for themselves.  Sounds selfish, I know, but we all do it.  Too many Christians breathe day in and day out without making a change.  It's kind of like John Mayer's song, "waiting on the world to change," but then immediately I think back to Ghandi's classic statement, "be the change you want to see in the world."

What if we started actually being the "change" that we want to see?

The truth is that you don't have to have it all together before helping somebody. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have a college degree. You don