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Advocate Series Ep. 1 | A Call to the Church: Confronting Human Trafficking with Francis Chan
2 Playsin 17 hours
About this Episode:
Human trafficking is happening in our communities, often hidden in plain sight. In this first episode of the Advocate Series, Francis Chan and others call the Church to step into the fight—grounded in Scripture, moved by compassion, and ready to act. Watch full series here.
Full Description:
The Advocate Series is back—relaunched for the first time as a podcast and YouTube series. In this opening episode, pastor and author Francis Chan joins with survivors, advocates, and leaders to expose the heartbreaking reality of human trafficking in the United States—and to call the Church to respond with biblical conviction, compassion, and action.
From the historical fight against slavery to today’s battle against modern exploitation, this episode shines a light on both the darkness of trafficking and the hope we have in Christ to bring freedom and restoration.
🔔 Subscribe to Trafficking Free America and join the mission to advocate hope for the hopeless.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Content warning & introduction
2:14 – Historical perspective: Wilberforce and abolishing slavery
4:19 – Jesus’ mission: proclaiming freedom for the oppressed
5:20 – Modern-day slavery: human trafficking in America
6:45 – The Church’s calling: light in the darkness
8:14 – Survivor stories of abuse and exploitation
9:30 – Trafficking hidden in plain sight: schools, malls, churches
10:30 – Survivor testimony: betrayal and exploitation from loved ones
11:10 – Kevin Malone’s story: from missions trip to anti-trafficking advocate
12:52 – A call to righteous anger and action in the Church
14:55 – The body of Christ: unique gifts, one mission
16:29 – Francis Chan on compassion as a gift from God
18:29 – Humility vs. pride in advocacy
18:51 – Closing prayer for love, humility, and action
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Transcript
Introduction and Sensitivity Notice
00:00:00
Speaker
Before we begin, I want to provide a warning. Because of the subject matter, you're going to hear stories that are not pleasant. These stories are given to us by individuals who have dealt with being sex trafficked.
00:00:17
Speaker
By the grace of God, each of these stories end with God's redemption in their lives. While these stories are troubling, I ask you to listen, understand, and hear their stories.
00:00:30
Speaker
because they're bravely sharing them so that we can learn and advocate for the hope of others. This is not entertainment, it's education. These are not just stories, but perspectives shared directly from real people who are survivors.
00:00:49
Speaker
However, if the subject matter is a trigger for some of you in this room, Please feel free to excuse yourself during these segments. You also might hear some profanity in these stories that we've censored.
00:01:03
Speaker
And again, it's important to understand the reality of the individuals in these stories and the culture that they came from. So I'm just asking for your grace as you watch and listen.
00:01:17
Speaker
Thank you again for choosing to walk through this series. advocate defending hope for the hopeless.
Historical Context: Britain and the Slave Trade
00:02:14
Speaker
For 167 Britain was the leading slave trader in the world. And just one decade during that period, less than 20 years before the slave trade was abolished, they made 1,340 voyages to capture, kidnap, and bring people back to be sold as slaves.
00:02:37
Speaker
These were people who had families, much like you and me. They had relationships, they had a home, they had a life. The slave trade lasted for over 300 years.
00:02:50
Speaker
That's a ah such a long time. To give you a perspective, our country, the United States, is not even 300 years old yet But in 1807, everything changed.
00:03:04
Speaker
Parliament decided to finally meet about a matter that they've been hearing about for decades. More specifically, they allowed an abolitionist by the name of William Wilberforce to bring forth a vote to abolish the Atlantic slave trade.
00:03:20
Speaker
Wilberforce wasn't the first person to present this bill and it took him 20 years to get to this point. But on that day after 300 years of slave trade, it all came crashing down.
00:03:35
Speaker
So why do I bring this up?
Christian Values Against Darkness
00:03:37
Speaker
Our world is so full of darkness. Even when many people believe that something is wrong, it can still flourish.
00:03:48
Speaker
so So then we try to either justify the evil that others are doing or we turn away from it. Sometimes even ignoring it exists so that we don't have to get involved.
00:04:00
Speaker
Yet we know that Jesus has called us, his church, to be salt and light in the world. He's called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light that we may do the good works which he has said in advance for us to do.
00:04:17
Speaker
As we follow Jesus on mission, remember that he laid out his intentions from the very beginning of his ministry when he said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.
00:04:42
Speaker
to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
00:04:50
Speaker
I think that all too often when we're faced with an evil that seems insurmountable, we forget the very words of Jesus. We seem to forget that all power and authority has been given to him, that he lives with us and in us and has supernaturally gifted us to fulfill his mission.
00:05:10
Speaker
For the contemporaries of Wilberforce, the thought of abolishing slavery, something so widely accepted and profitable, probably seemed insane. I mean, who can accomplish something like that?
00:05:24
Speaker
Today, in a 21st century America, there's a different kind of slavery and it's happening in our society.
Sex Trafficking in the USA
00:05:32
Speaker
According to experts, the United States is one of the largest consumers of commercial sex in the world.
00:05:39
Speaker
And even though it's both illegal and publicly frowned upon, human trafficking is one of the most prevalent evils in our modern day society. Over the past few decades, as this practice has been exposed, we've come to realize just how widespread it is in our neighborhoods, cities, schools, and even in our churches.
00:06:02
Speaker
It's not something that's only limited to the the shadows, the outskirts, or bad neighborhoods, but rather men, women, and children are being sold and exploited every day out in the open and in places where we were we would assume these are these are safe and clean places.
00:06:22
Speaker
It's a problem that's so big and so ugly, it feels insurmountable. Now the purpose of this study is not to guilt trip or to wallow in darkness, but to help us remember who we are in Christ and to remember our calling to follow him into the places and situations where we might feel uncomfortable.
00:06:46
Speaker
It's to show how the kingdom of God can and will prevail against the gates of hell. If God can work through his people to abolish something as big and as prevalent as a slave trade in the 1800s, we can trust that God can do something supernatural again today.
00:07:04
Speaker
Through education, faith, trust, and love, we can influence a culture into ending human trafficking in our nation and possibly around the world.
00:07:17
Speaker
I pray you grow in your love and faith in Jesus Christ through this study as we look at some very hard facts and stories. I also pray that God moves through and talks to you through this time as we prepare our hearts to learn so that we can properly act.
00:07:38
Speaker
We want to abolish human trafficking. We want to abolish slavery. We want to abolish the mindset that a person, someone made in the image of God, can be dehumanized and seen of lesser value for the sake of someone else's pleasure.
00:07:57
Speaker
This study is to help us know how we can advocate for those who feel hopeless, to stand in the gap for the marginalized and the abused, and to let them know that hope is not lost.
00:08:14
Speaker
i was I was crying, I was like, don't wanna do that, like, no, no, don't wanna do that. When he dragged me out the car, it was like, you ain't got no home, your mama putting locks in the windows and y'all nobody wants your. It's like, you know, in that moment at 11 years old, I was like, like, he about to make me prostitute right now.
00:08:31
Speaker
My little boy said, I hope my mom isn't out in the streets doing drugs and getting murdered. And right in that instant, I collapsed. Her first words to me were, Pastor, you have to take me to the courthouse and wipe away the fact I ever existed.
00:08:44
Speaker
I've changed my name, my social security number, my birth certificate. They will find me and they will kill me. Sex trafficking is the same regardless of where you're at in the country. Almost three dozen missing children recovered in Southern California through a multi-agency investigation.
00:09:00
Speaker
They arrested two suspected sex traffickers. Sex traffickers are people that take vulnerable women and literally wreck their lives by making them into sex slaves. you have to ask, who would do something like that?
00:09:12
Speaker
People need to understand that this is absolutely occurring, and it's occurring right under our noses oftentimes. It's happening everywhere around us. It's happening in our malls, it's happening in our churches, it's happening in our high schools, our middle schools.
00:09:23
Speaker
It's happening everywhere around us. I would bet we don't go a single day without picking up a juvenile involved in prostitution. We haven't done a great job of educating on boys as being victims of sex trafficking. I was with her, and her drug dealer offered her a $10 piece of crack for me instead of for her.
00:09:41
Speaker
I even asked her why she didn't, and she said, because now I can get what I want and I don't have to do anything.
00:09:49
Speaker
Suicide is very high with human trafficker survivors, sometimes up to just the age 28, and they don't live past that because they have a lot of abuse in their bodies.
00:10:01
Speaker
Just as complex as the issue is, our commitment to walk and our talk must be as comprehensive. Right now, it is estimated that there are over 5,600 victims of child sex trafficking in Nevada.
00:10:17
Speaker
Even this estimate is largely believed to be low. Where those that have been trafficked still have some level of affinity and care and sometimes they even say love for their trafficker because they had just never received that anywhere else they had been. And I know we can't change the facts of their story, but we can change the ending of their story.
00:10:37
Speaker
I think it's almost too much sometimes for people, and they don't want to don't want to think about it. It's just too much, man. I can't think about somebody being abused 20 times a day. i i can't wrap my head around that.
00:10:51
Speaker
It's overwhelming. But every life that we can touch is a life that's worth touching.
Kevin's Story and Advocacy
00:11:10
Speaker
Hi, my name is Kevin Malone. Years ago, I went on a missions trip with Francis Chan to Thailand. It was there that I learned what human trafficking really was.
00:11:22
Speaker
I met several children who had been sex trafficked and it broke my heart.
00:11:28
Speaker
When I came back to the States, I began researching if it was happening in my own hometown, Unfortunately, I found that the United States has an abundant amount of sex trafficking of adults and children.
00:11:43
Speaker
This journey led me to begin two organizations, the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking and Kids Not For Sale. Over the years, I've learned more about how it happens, what loopholes are causing it to flourish, and how deep the system goes.
00:12:01
Speaker
But what has troubled me throughout my journey in learning and fighting human trafficking is the lack of care, effort, and engagement from others to fight this. Please don't get me wrong.
00:12:13
Speaker
This is not something to easily fight. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that happens illegally. There will be years of work to truly make a dent in this industry.
00:12:26
Speaker
I know how hard it is to commit to something when you know that you may never see the end in sight. But when I look at how God has used men and women throughout history, it's clear that this fight isn't about us witnessing the end goal.
00:12:42
Speaker
The reality is that human trafficking must end. So I'm going to do everything God allows me to do in my lifetime to make a difference. This video series is a call to action to the church.
00:12:56
Speaker
to those who believe and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I call on you to become enraged that this occurs in your community. If it makes you upset that children are being sowed 10 to 15 times in one night for months on end, it should.
00:13:11
Speaker
But what is righteous anger without a step forward to engage? We need to show why we care and why we involve ourselves in these campaigns. We must find ways to move the needle to make a true dent in the following ways.
00:13:25
Speaker
First is to focus on the prevention of grooming and the purchasing of sex. Second is to help those who are being trafficked and pursue those helping the trafficking to occur.
00:13:37
Speaker
And third, to care for those victims and survivors who have a long road to recovery.
00:13:44
Speaker
I started this journey many years ago and I still consider myself in the beginning stages. I'm still learning and finding new ways to fight this. I want to know that I did the best I could in bringing the hope of Jesus Christ into the world in my lifetime.
00:14:02
Speaker
One of the darkest places that need hope are the victims, perpetrators, and buyers involved in human trafficking.
Call to Action and Humility in Activism
00:14:09
Speaker
Please seek to find how the Lord can use your gifts, your heart, and your ability to fight human trafficking in your community, in our nation, and around the world to defend hope for the hopeless.
00:14:27
Speaker
I actually know Kevin pretty well. try not to admit it, but he's actually a very dear friend of mine, and I've seen his journey as he's come to grips about the horrific reality of human trafficking happening here in North America.
00:14:43
Speaker
And I've seen him become educated, enraged, and then finally engaged to end human trafficking using the giftings and resources that God has given him.
00:14:56
Speaker
The beauty about how God has set up his church is that with Jesus as the head, we are made up of many parts with different gifts and talents as he chooses to bestow.
00:15:09
Speaker
We don't need to do the same thing, but we can all join Christ in his mission and bring light where there's darkness.
00:15:29
Speaker
I want to tell you something that I've struggled with in the past and probably still do. You know, you you see some of these things that are going on and you start getting involved.
00:15:42
Speaker
It's easy to get frustrated with people and even judge people because they're not doing anything. But there's another side of something that can happen in your own soul that is not good, where you become self-righteous or you just feel like, I don't know, any type of pride which is such, just such ugliness to God, pride that he opposes. And I just want to say, be careful of that and remember that it's a good thing that we care, but that's a gift from God. some Something I love about
00:16:26
Speaker
what he says to the the church in Corinth. He says, hey, I want you to know about the grace of God that he gave to these other churches and in Macedonia.
00:16:39
Speaker
um that they became so generous. But I love the way it starts because he says, I want you to know about the grace of God that he put this in their hearts that he would that they would give so generously.
00:16:53
Speaker
So he wasn't boasting about those people. I want to tell you how great they are. He goes, I want to tell you about the grace of God. God made them into givers.
00:17:03
Speaker
That is a gift. It's almost if it's like if someone gave you a billion dollars and then you judge other people for not having money. that's That's ridiculous. You were handed something.
00:17:17
Speaker
Why would you judge them for something they were not handed? Your compassion, your love is something that was gifted to you by God.
00:17:28
Speaker
And now your job, when you see other people who don't have it, is to somehow, maybe you can you can be a ah channel of that grace to them, or you just get on your face and say, God,
00:17:40
Speaker
Thank you for giving me compassion for these people. Would you put that in Joe's life, in David's life, in Tina's life? like Would you just pour that grace upon them like you did for me?
00:17:55
Speaker
Because if we don't see this as a gift, our passion and love, we will get proud and we will judge people.
00:18:10
Speaker
and it'll lead us to a pride that the Bible says God will oppose. But if we humble ourselves and recognize, well, God, thank you that I just naturally want to give my life to people in need, and that's a gift from you.
00:18:32
Speaker
That's the type of humility that ah God will increase the grace
00:18:51
Speaker
Father, I pray and somehow you would be honored by all of this.
00:18:59
Speaker
That your spirit would move people to the right actions.
00:19:08
Speaker
Pray for a spirit of love and humility. Help us, Lord, with our anger, our indifference, our questions.
00:19:24
Speaker
God, whatever we end up doing,
00:19:29
Speaker
God, help us to really do it because of our love. So God, we thank you.
00:19:38
Speaker
thank you that we're in a position to even sit and think about something like this and have the freedom to act.
00:19:49
Speaker
God, just help us become more like you in this process.
00:19:54
Speaker
In Jesus' name, amen. amen