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