Why ibranches....?

We are routinely asked "why ibranches?" There are many reasons and the list keeps growing, but first and foremost, we didn't choose it. The Lord gave us the name ibranches awhile back and over the years He has cultivated in our hearts His purpose for it. Branches is a pregnant word and preaches well the many core values of the Kingdom. Most notably; He is the vine, we are the branches, and only through Him is there life, growth, fruit, and ultimately more seed. As the vision for ibranches took root the Lord spoke to us about opening Faith's Place for girls, 11 and under, trafficked for sex right here in our country. This was to become a model to be reproduced in other communities throughout the nation. Just as a plant sends out runners over mounds of soil to find favorable ground to begin a new plant, so is the objective of ibranches. Our goal is to create an effective and efficient model and then go into other communities and empower others to also open homes of healing using the resources already available in that community. This growth is organic in nature and therefore each home will take on the personality of the community providing the resources. By design, God made each of us, our families, and our homes unique and so it will be with each home of healing in our nation. The 'i' has also taken on many meanings since it's inception. From international to integrity to most recently intentional. This path we are on is a journey and throughout this journey our eyes have been opened to things we didn't even know existed. We have to be intentional if we are going to see change and true restoration to the many lives effected by this atrocity. So here at ibranches, we plan to be intentional as we branch out to reach, restore, empower, and release God's precious little ones into their full potential. Bless...Greg and Teresa

Eleven.

The Lord has used the number eleven in many ways over the last few years to communicate His heart to us. From gently showing us that our lives and the work He has put to our hands would change drastically in 2011, to the chapter on faith, Hebrews 11, and most recently our hearts have been broken over the children forced into sex trafficking that are eleven and under. I remember like it was yesterday when this became crystal clear. Teresa was meeting with two amazing women in the living room working on the educational and physchological piece for Faith's Place while I was out walking in the garden one cool misty morning when the Lord spoke so clearly to me that the girls He would bring to our home would be eleven and under. When I heard that, I quickly made my way back to house to share this with Teresa and the ladies, only to find out that they had just realized that in both the educational and physchological piece of the program, there is a natural break between eleven and under and twelve and over. With this revelation the vision for iBranches was once again refined. Statistically the average age of minors forced into sex trafficking is twelve, therefore we know there must be just as many children eleven and under who also must be found, correctly identified, rescued, and restored. God has opened our eyes to these precious little ones.

He will redeem them from oppression and violence,
for their lives are precious to him. (Psalm 72:14 NLT)

You're Beautiful

These two simple words are straight from Heaven. And these words, you're beautiful, have washed over many young girls, set them free, and set the record straight about how our God sees them. I recall the powerful lyrics of Jenn Johnson, Bethel Music, as she sang, "I was ashamed, You called me beautiful...Now I'm Yours, You call me beautiful" and witnessed firsthand the transformation from the inside out of one of my daughters during a time of worship one Friday night at church. And recently I read a story on CNN.com that also attests to the power of these two simple words. The story tells of a young girl who at age 11 was first prostituted and it was many years before she gained the courage to leave 'the game' only after hearing the words, you're beautiful, spoken over her for the first time from another woman. You see, because of the Cross, we are healed and this revelation begins by knowing how our Father views us. He says, you're beautiful!

A Home of Healing

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good;
Haste makes mistakes. (Proverbs 19:2 NLT)

There certantly has not been a shortage of excitement around the iBranches headquarters these days. Many wonderful and passionate people have come alongside to offer support and encouragement as we continue down the path to offer a home of healing for these precious little girls in need of full restoration. With that though comes the task of compiling our own manual of 'Policies, Protocols, and Procedures'. We've been blessed through our relationships with IJM, Streetlight PHX, Bethel Transformation Center, Simpson University, and others to glean valuable information and acquire many resources to draw upon as we proceed. We have also been pouring over some excellent material from well established safe home/aftercare facilities around the world to include Cambodia, Nepal, and the Philippines. We are ever so grateful to those who have relentlessly gone before us and blazed the trail into the best practice and protocols for residential care for children who have been commercially sexually exploited. We are excited and humbled to work through this process and move one step closer to opening 'Faith's Place'. Bless....Greg and Teresa

Law Enforcement Training in the Wings

Today we met our Shasta County Sheriff, Tom Bosenko, at his office in Redding. He is a warm and friendly man with a lot of great stories and insight. He had many helpful suggestions as to the safety and security of the young girls that will soon find hope, healing, and shelter here at Faith's Place. We discussed working together with other law enforcement agencies in and around our area on a training to bring awareness to those on the front lines to recognize and properly identify victims of sex trafficking. Other agencies outside our area have offered to be a part of this training like Chief of Police of Truckee, California, Nick Sensley who has extensive knowledge of human trafficking here in our nation and abroad. We were blessed to hear him speak at a Congressional Hearing on Human Trafficking last month in Sacramento. The FBI will also be sending, Special Agents, of the Human Trafficking Task Force, Minerva Shelton and Janice Dean, up from Sacramento to help with the presentation. Partnering with us as hosts of the event will be our own 'justice family' from Bethel Church and the Redding Area Soroptimists Clubs who have worked to eradicate Sex Trafficking globally, as one of their goals, since 2007. Way to go ladies! We are very excited to be a part of this endeavor. Thanks to all of you who have supported us and iBranches as we continue to forge ahead with our vision, mission, and objectives. You are all an important part of the team. Bless.... Greg and Teresa

Every day!

Yes every day. This has been a word Teresa and I have thrown around a lot over the last six months of this journey we are on to do our part to see an end to sex trafficking in our nation and around the world. This is because every day we are one step closer to ending this horrific crime against our children. There are many many great and passionate orgs across our nation and around the globe doing something every day that chip away at the foundation of organized crime targeting the thousands upon thousands of innocent children being enslaved into the sex industry. We follow the amazing work of NGO's (non-governmental organization's) such as www.ijm.org, www.sharedhope.org, www.love146.org, and www.missingkids.com, to name but a few, through blogs, tweets, posts and newsletters and yes, every day we are collectively taking our ground back through education, awareness, arrests, convictions, and rescue and rehabilitation. You see, even today, as every day, we know a bit more than yesterday and that my friends is how we will see an end to modern day slavery!

Hello friends and family! This is our first blog and I just got writer's block. Opps. Please check back soon :)