Strip Clubs & Baptisms

STRIP CLUBS & BAPTISMS…

7 years ago, during Treasures’ first ever Vegas outreach, we met Abby*.  A bright young woman, full of life and personality in spite of having faced some very painful circumstances in her life, she had just entered the sex industry.  

“This is perfect,” I thought.  “Perhaps after meeting the Treasures team, she will decide to leave the industry before she gets too deep into it-- before it gets too deep into her.”  

The journey that has followed has caused me to practice everything I preach—Loving people right where they are at, trusting that God will do a work in their heart as they draw near to Him, knowing that it is His goodness that leads people to change.   

I would ask God, “What do you want me to say to Abby?”

“Nothing.  Just listen,” He would speak to my heart.   

In the past 7 years, there were moments when I had the opportunity to tell her how much God loves her or to pray with her about a challenge she was facing.  I have to admit, there were times when I thought to myself, “Okay God…I know that healing is a journey, and that I am supposed to love people where they are at…but 7 years?” 

He would remind me that His love is unfailing, unchanging, unrelenting, unstoppable, and that I am to love as He does. 

This weekend, God’s work in Abby’s heart had our team in tears.  She let us know that she wasn’t going into work, despite it being a potentially lucrative holiday weekend and that she just wanted to be around us.  So she joined in all of our activities for the weekend.  During our volunteer prayer, she jumped in and asked us to pray for her.  Before we prayed, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said, “Every night when I show up at work, I pray that ‘the Prince song’ will come on because I want to leave like you did, Harmony.”   

I literally started balling.  I couldn’t even hold back the tears if I wanted to.  Because I know that she was referencing a pivotal moment in my own life when ‘the Prince song’ Purple Rain came on, and I had an encounter with God in the middle of the strip club.  It was at that moment that I left the industry. 

We all cried and prayed with Abby.  We told her that God’s plans for her are good and encouraged her that He would make a way for her, just as He made a way for me. 

The next day, Abby asked us to come to church with her and was delighted to show up with an entourage of girls.  That day, she told us that she wanted to be baptized but had no one to cheer her on they day her church offered baptisms.  She asked if I would be willing to do the honors of baptizing her.  So, with her Treasures family cheering loudly at the hotel pool, Abby was baptized! 

I love that God loves us and meets us right where we are at—in strip clubs and hotel swimming pools, whether we are still dealing with pride or envy…or stripping—He loves us and He always shows up!  He is unrelenting in His pursuit of us and I am honored to witness His pursuit of Abby and the beautiful work He is doing in her life.

Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team

PS. For more Vegas highlights, check out the Twitter highlights!  www.twitter.com/TreasuresLA

And you can watch one of our poolside baptisms here! http://yfrog.com/5j366z

(*Name changed to protect confidentiality)

Wounds and Stilettos

Wounds and Stilettos

If I had to come up with a word to describe Friday’s strip club outreach, it would be “breakthrough”.   From getting into a club for the 1^st time in 7 years with gift bags, to talking to a manager who says he is leaving the industry in 3 weeks because “God told him to” and he wants to “follow in His footsteps”, to seeing the intense compassion in a bouncer who says his own heart breaks for the girls and seeing what they go through, it was an incredible night.

One of the most rewarding moments on a personal level came when we gave gifts (and lots of hugs) to the girls in a dressing room I hadn’t been in since the night I last worked there. 

Over 12 years ago, I showed up at this particular club for one of their weekly contests where I, along with dozens of other women, paraded naked around the stage hoping for the loudest applause and the $300 prize.  Early that night, before all the parading and madness began, I found myself sitting in the empty club next to a “competitor”.

“I think I am going to write a book about it.” I said starring at the empty stage.  

“About what?” she seemed surprised I was talking to her.

“About this…about stripping.” I began to ponder the nature of it all.  Exposing myself to the scrutiny of strangers and being openly judged solely on physical appearance. How familiar it had become.

The idea of writing a book lay dormant for years to come.  I suppose I had to live out

more of the story before I could record it.  If I had written it then, I probably would have had to call it “Wounds and Stilettos” rather than “Scars and Stilettos”.  Because before they are scars, they are wounds.  It would be a long while before the healing process turned my wounds to scars.   

Last Friday night, we passed the spot where I sat talking to the girl years ago.  I pictured my 20-year-old self and remembered what it felt like to be her.  If I could, I would give her a little pink gift bag and a hug and tell her “Precious Harmony, you are loved, valued, and purposed…”  

Love, Harmony

www.IAmATreasure.com

www.ScarsAndStilettos.com

PS. If you’re not following @TreasuresLA and @HarmonyDust on Twitter, here’s what you missed!

.                 Wow! I just went into the dressing room of a club for the 1st time since I worked there. Got so many hugs from the girls! 10:59 PM May 21st via Twitterrific

           

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Strip club mngr told us my # is written in sharpie on the dressing room wall 4 emergency help. Not the 1st time my # was written on a wallJ 10:42 PM May 21st via Twitterrific

             

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Bouncer says his heart breaks evry night 4 the girls that work in the club-that seein what these girls go thru makes him wanna b a better dad 10:30 PM May 21st via Twitterrific

            

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We just got into a strip club with giftbags that we haven't been able to get into for 7 yrs!! Via @TreasuresLA 9:54 PM May 21st via Twitterrific

            

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Strip Club manager is leaving the industry in 3 wks because God told him to...says he has to follow in His footsteps. Via @TreasuresLA 9:22 PM May 21st via Twitterrific

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Strip Club Outreach tonight! May we show God's love 2women who feel separated from it. You can be part of their stories http://bit.ly/dpvIru  8:53 AM May 21st via Twitterrific

Will you stop?

Will You Stop?

I am believing for a day when strip club outreach will be a normal part of the way the local church loves and reaches her community. I imagine there was a time when soup kitchens and homeless ministry was not commonplace—when people walked by a man laying on the street without stopping, much like the religious leaders in the story of the Good Samaritan.

Today, I wonder how many people walk by strip clubs, porn conventions, and women walking the streets without stopping and asking themselves, “What is really going on here? And what can I do about it?”

I wonder how many turn away in judgment, assuming that “those kinds of women” must like what they are doing and that they are all there by choice.

This weekend, the Treasures team had the honor of training over 30 women, from all over the nation, to do Strip Club Outreach. These are the sorts of leaders that have made a decision to STOP. They have asked the question: “How can I be a part of the solution?”

During the training, they learned that 87% of women in the industry would leave if they could*, and that there is a lot more going on behind the façade of glamour. After discussing everything from vision and logistics, to after-care and healing, we put it all into action during an outreach to Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles.

Each time I handed a little pink gift bag to a woman, I had generations in mind. As we link arms and reach women, the capacity to impact generations grows exponentially. As women in the sex industry make decisions to walk in healing and freedom, the lives of their children and grandchildren will be impacted.

And I believe that as people like you and I, make a decision to stop along the way, whether it be through prayer, outreach, giving or any other way, we become a part of these stories of freedom. Generations are affected.

Love, Harmony
www.iamatreasure.com/donations

PS. Tell your friends! This week you can catch me on the radio…

March 24th, 6pm (PT)
The Frank Pastore Show
Station call letters: KKLA
http://www.frankpastore.com

March 26th, 10am (PT)
Midday Connection
Host: Melinda Schmidt
MOODY RADIO
http://www.middayconnection.org

*Based on research conducted by Dr. Melissa Farley

National Training, 700 Club, MI and more!

We've got some exciting things happening at Treasures and we don't want you to miss out!

Saturday, March 20th, we will be hosting a Strip Club Outreach training for leaders throughout the nation (and even Australia) interested in started outreaches in their communities. They will be joining the ranks of the 16 other outreaches we have trained using the Treasures model of outreach. I am excited to partner with them and potential impact is unfathomable!

If you are in the Los Angeles area and are considering volunteering on the Treasures team, this training is open to you too! Please email Brey at info@iamatreasure.com for details and to register. Please do so quickly as space is limited.

Attention Michigan peeps: I will be speaking at Gateway Assembly this weekend and would love to see you there. Check out our upcoming events to see when I might be speaking in your area. AZ and GA are next month. www.iamatreasure.com/events

And finally, in case you missed out on the 700 Club Episode I taped last week, here it is.

Where Was God?

Where was God?



It was an incredible weekend for Treasures! On Friday night, we headed to the City of Industry where we gave out nearly 300 gifts to women working in strip clubs. Having a multi-lingual team definitely came in handy!



At one club, a volunteer made a connection with a Spanish-speaking woman who called us in desperation the next day. She said that she is fed up with working in the industry and being treated like a “whore” every night, but she feels like she has no other options. A volunteer is meeting with her tomorrow to offer her support and assistance.



At the end of the night, one of our volunteers from Jordan came across an Arabic-speaking strip club manager. When he realized she spoke Arabic too, he began to explain to her that he felt stuck working at the strip club. He wanted out of the business but couldn’t seem to find another job. He asked her if she would pray for him. She replied, “Just keep your eyes open like we are having a conversation” and prayed for him right there! He told her that he plans on coming to the church she attends and offered to help our team get into the other clubs he is affiliated with.



Saturday night was God Chicks Night of Freedom. I had the honor of sharing my story and had my first ever book signing! There wasn’t an empty seat in the house and one point during the service, Holly asked if anyone had an area in their life in which they needed freedom and nearly EVERY HAND IN THE HOUSE WAS RAISED! It was a night of freedom indeed!



Then, on Sunday, I had an encounter that blew me away. A girl at church came up to me and said, “I just want you to know that I always appreciated receiving your gifts. They meant a lot to me and all of the girls.” As it turns out, she had been working as a dancer at a local club for several years, receiving our gift bags! Today, she is out of the business and planted at the Oasis! It makes me wonder how many more women have had their lives impacted in such significant ways without us even knowing!



When I look back over my own life, I have asked myself “Where was God when I was going through so much pain?” The truth is, I can see Him in the people who showed up, just at the right time. It is my hope and prayer that when the women we are reaching look back on their lives and ask themselves, “Where was God?” they will see Him in the moments we showed up for them.



Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team



PS…

NEW SITE LAUNCHED! We launched a new site for the Scars and Stilettos book release. Read the first few pages, leave a comment, and check out the preface by Craig Gross and Foreword by Holly Wagner. www.scarsandstilettos.com



If you are in the LA area, please join us for our GIFT BAG ASSEMBLY on January 23rd at 10 am Oasis www.iamatreasure.com/events


Don’t miss THE STILETTO PROJECT Exhibit and Memoir Release Party! (See attached flyer)
Featuring the artwork of commercialized sexual exploitation and trafficking over-comers.

Chasing other Lovers

A Treasure for You: The Treasures E-Devotional

Chasing other Lovers

I believe that one of the deepest desires of the human heart is for true intimacy. To be fully known and fully loved. Yet in my own life, for so many years, it seemed that the harder I chased after love, the more it eluded me.

My memoir, Scars and Stilettos, tells my story. Growing up, I never had a clear picture of what healthy love looked like. Abandoned by my father before I was a year old, sexually abused at the hands of multiple people—my picture of intimacy was completely skewed. I was so desperate for anything that resembled love, at the young age of 14, I slept with the first boy who came along and told me he loved me. He broke up with me soon after and raped me repeatedly over the course of the next year. Filled with hurt and shame, I remember thinking, “Is this what love looks like? Surely love can’t hurt so bad?”

The next relationship I became involved in quickly became emotionally and physically abusive. Still I stayed. Because “to him who is hungry, even what is bitter tastes sweet” (Proverbs 27:7). Although the relationship was bitter and painful, I preferred it to the alternative—being alone.

It was that relationship that led me into a world of selling myself in strip clubs. So desperate to keep my boyfriend from leaving me, I attempted to buy his love with the money I earned while dancing for other men. Once again, my skewed view of love brought me pain. For the next few years, I lay awake at night hoping, praying even, that if I tried hard enough, if I chased him long enough, he would love me one day.

How could I know what True Love looks like if I had never experienced it? It wasn’t until I began my relationship with God that I began to that it is patient. It is kind. It is not easily angered. True Love always protects.

It is no wonder that we crave intimacy so deeply. We were created for relationship. In Genesis, we learn that it was Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit that brings separation between God and humanity, separation from our perfect intimacy with God. Eve has access to everything she would ever need to fill the longings and desires of her heart, yet she still chooses forbidden fruit. How often do we fall to the same temptation and create fracture in our relationship with God? How often do we try to fill legitimate needs in illegitimate ways?

For years, I chased after men, looking to them to fill me. Nowadays, I tend to turn to chocolate. Just last week I was having a frustrating day and the first thing I did was grab a piece of my favorite, dark organic chocolate. The chocolate was delicious, but it did nothing to ease my pain. My prescription was insufficient.

The real trouble comes when our prescriptions become our addictions. It’s when that piece of chocolate leads to binge eating, leads to obesity and compromised health. It’s when social drinking becomes I-just-need-a-glass-of-wine-to-take-the-edge-off, becomes excessive drinking, becomes alcoholism. It’s when a full social calendar becomes a lifestyle so bogged down with running from one appointment to another that we barely have a moment to catch our breath. Our prescriptions for our pain can become our addictions.

Ultimately, it is these insufficient prescriptions and addictions that stand in the way of the one thing that can truly satisfy—an authentic, unhindered relationship with our Creator. I believe that God is calling each of us to surrender the fragmented pieces of ourselves so we can experience true intimacy and love.

God is wooing you and I— hoping that we will give up our other lovers—whether they be man, woman, food, money, sex, busyness, beauty or something else. He knows the hollow end of those affairs. He knows that none of it will fill you like He can. The deepest longings of our hearts can only be truly satisfied by being fully known and fully loved by Him. There is no substitute—there is no filler—there is no other lover worth chasing.

Love, Harmony
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PS. You can order my new memoir, Scars and Stilettos at www.iamatreasure.com/store

Out of the Mouths of Treasures

Out of the Mouths of Treasures!

When you partner with Treasures, YOU are making a difference! Below are thank you notes from our girls that I wanted to share with you…

Loved.

“Just wanted to say a little thank you for all you allow Him to do through you. Thank you for sharing His love with me through this ministry. In chains of shame I am most often shackled, usually without a fight... You have helped me to see that I am truly a treasure, truly a new creation. My worth is far above rubies, and I am better cared for than the birds of the air who neither reap nor sow. I am in His hands and Loved fully, completely by Him.

Thank you for helping me to continue to realize these truths. Thank you for helping me to no longer dwell on the past, but instead keep moving forward into healing and restoration. Thank you!”

Valued.

“Being a dancer for almost ten years took its toll on me and I witnessed many unfortunate things during my life as a dancer. Your organization has helped me and countless other women to quit a life of degradation to better our lives. Today I hope that my story will help others to understand how dangerous this lifestyle really is. Thank you!”

Purposed.

“I've become so much stronger! I was almost pronounced dead earlier this year and even had to have heart surgery. During my struggles, I would read the testimonies from Treasures of other women like me and I would cry and thank God for what he's doing. I knew that what He did for them, He could do for me too. My dream now is to travel and do mission work, help build homes for the needy, and to do charity work, wherever God leads me. I want to encourage people that God is real and there is nothing He can't do. God even said we would do great things and today, I believe it and receive it. Thank you all for your prayers, support, and love.”

Treasured.

So I just wanted to send an email to let you guys know what God has done through the Treasures organization. I've heard of you guys and I turned my life around 2 years ago! Recently I began seeing how I needed to face my past and be completely healed. I know God will use my past to bring other girls to Him but I needed to deal with it first. I started listening to the Treasures teaching cds. Just from listening to the first CD my heart got turned back to Him. I trust you guys and I read ALL of the devotionals that you send out! I'm just so excited because with what I hear and apply to MY own life with what is being taught I know God is faithful to fully heal and restore me! So I just wanted to say THANK YOU.”

Treasures.

It's hard to believe that this month marks 6 years since I founded Treasures. We've come a long way since then but our vision is still the same. Seeing young women go from needing support and mentoring to reaching and serving other women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, and life in the sex industry is watching the vision come full-circle!

None of this would be possible without YOU, our supporter! Your giving is essential to continuing to offer support and mentoring to these precious women. Before the year ends, we are asking you to consider making a financial contribution so that in 2010, we can continue strong in offering hope and restoration to the women we serve.

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Harmony & The Treasures Team

PS. One-time and monthly contributions can be made at www.iamatreasure.com/donations

What's in a Name?

What’s in a name?

On Friday night, the Treasures team reached 790 women working in strip clubs in Downtown Los Angeles! Some were your typical razzle-dazzle clubs with bright lights and valet parking, while others were dingy joints tucked away near Skid Row.

790. It’s more than a number. That figure represents women—unique, adored, purposed women—and God knows each of them by name. To be known is one of our deepest human desires. One of the encounters we had during the outreach reflected the depth of this desire.

We walked into a small dressing room where a couple of girls were primping. I handed a gift to a half-dressed young woman who was counting her tips. “What’s this for?” she asked. “A gift for you. Just to let you know you are loved.” I responded.

She cracked a smile as she peered into the little pink bag. “Why are you guys doing this for us?” she continued.

I went on to explain that I had been a dancer too and now we go back into strip clubs to offer encouragement and support to other women working there. “You can call us if you just need someone to talk to or if you ever need any help or resources”. Her eyes welled with tears and she threw her arms around me. I held her for a moment and she said her name is Precious.

“Your name is Precious!? Look at the card in your gift! It was made for you!” I exclaimed pointing to the top of the note addressed: “Precious Woman”.

Seeing her name written on the card, she turned away and began to weep.

How significant it is to be known. Sought out. Called by name.

There is a Love calling each of us by name. He sees all. Knows all. And He loves every bit of you. May we be as overcome by that truth as Precious was.

Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team


P.S…
Harmony will be featured on an episode of Pure Passion TV on Sunday, October 25th.
That's Direct TV #376 & Dish Network #267 at 8 PM (PT). www.PurePassion.us

One Step...

I have been enamored with my daughter as I watch her learn to walk. Standing on wobbly little legs. Carefully placing one foot in front of the other. And it has occurred to me that she will make the entire journey that way. One foot in front of the other. It never gets more complicated than that. And, so it is for all of us.

This weekend, during our National Strip Club Outreach and Training, we had the honor of training 3 new outreach leaders along with 18 outreach volunteers. I looked around the room at this amazing group of women, hearts filled with passion and love, and I reflected on all that God has done since the conception of Treasures.

Out of the vision God has placed in my heart, hundreds of strip clubs are being reached in 15 cities throughout the US and Canada. I have had the opportunity to share my story with a global audience through media and speaking engagements. We provide resources, prayer and encouragement to hundreds of women and are seeing their lives transformed. None of this has been the product of striving for success or achievement. It has all been the result of steadily and prayerfully placing one foot in front of the other.

I truly believe that God has a purpose for each of us that is greater than we can ask, think, or imagine (Eph 3:20). More freedom and healing than we thought possible. More impact than we ever dreamed of. More of our gifts, experiences, and passion used for good. And sometimes the breadth and scope of what He is calling us to may seem unfathomable. “How on earth will I ever get there?” we ask ourselves.

"Come, follow me". I can hear His voice calling, asking us to walk with Him.

On Saturday night, we followed Him. Into 12 strip clubs in Hollywood. Into dressing rooms and conversations. We saw women touched by our gifts, our hugs, our love, our presence—all extensions of following Him.

Where ever you are, right now, in this moment—no matter how exciting, dreary or daunting the road ahead—I encourage you to fix your eyes on Him and continue to place one foot in front of the other. You can make the entire journey that way.

Love, Harmony & The Treasures Team

PS. For information on how to get involved, visit www.iamatreasure.com/donations and to see a list of Treasures Trained outreaches, visit our resource section