By Shirley Anne Love Rayburn
From an early age I was exposed to the adventures of people who chose to pour out their time, talents and energy in far-away lands. I grew up having guests who stayed with our family with tales of grand adventures and harrowing experiences. I held heroes like missionaries Jim and Elizabeth Elliot in high regard.
After such childhood exposure, I suppose it should not have been surprising that instead of longing for the “house with a white-picket fence,” my dream home became a hut in the wilds of Indonesia. There was a deep desire for adventure in me that seemed to have been planted by the One who created me.
Longing for Adventure
After college I spent a year in the Philippines. This only solidified my longing for adventure. Not long after I returned to Canada, another respected and admired overseas adventurer, Miriam Charter, advised me to work in the local church setting for at least five years. I wasn’t sure what I would do in a church—my passion was to be overseas— but maybe there would be a place for me in some church, I thought. In the spring of 1993 I had an interview with the Board of Elders at North Shore Alliance Church in North Vancouver. They were looking for a Director of Christian Education. I had taken only one course in College on the topic. I told them that if they “took the risk” of hiring me I would commit to staying for five years. They took the risk.
After the five years passed, I asked God: “Is now the time to take the next step?” Through circumstances it remained clear that I was to stay right where I was …
It was the winter of 2004. I was reading Isaiah 61, and focused on verses 1-3:
The Year of the Lord’s Favor
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
To comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve In Zion -
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
I loved the clarity and focus in this passage and recognized in it a fresh job description for life. Jesus himself had quoted this passage when he first spoke in a synagogue.
Freedom
The word Freedom soon became the thematic focus in my life. I studied the word, researched it in scripture and took informal surveys in order to deepen my understanding of this very complex, often abused and misunderstood word. The five-year commitment of serving in a local church stretched out to more than a decade. I learned so much, and there had been many life changes. I shifted from being a single woman in ministry, to being married in ministry and three years later I was expecting our first child. Again I asked: “What next? Is this the time for a change in ministry focus? May I go on my Overseas Adventure now?”
These Big Life questions have a way of being answered in surprising ways. Not long after I asked these questions, I found myself—a new mother—packing up our household and moving to Los Angeles, California!
As our family was preparing to leave, a Life Coach took me through the process of writing a personal mission statement:
My mission is to delight in freedom and spread its outrageous power throughout the world.
This statement was no surprise. It fit the Freedom Passage Job Description very well.
When we moved, I planned to partner with Linwood House Ministries, a ministry led by a dear friend and mentor who had been instrumental in developing this vision for Freedom. We hoped our home would be a center for service.
I was in the middle of the strategic planning phase for this new work when I was stopped in my tracks. A week-long vacation to Canada in August 2006 was extended to 12 weeks due to confusion over visa requirements and waiting for official standing with the US government. This time proved to be crucial in the execution of the mission. I was forced to slow down the pace of the strategic path I had been pursuing. There were obstacles that came up and issues to address. The classic questions followed: Are these obstacles to be fought through? Or are they to indicate a shift in direction? What organizational structure would be best for this mission?
On October 22, 2005, my 18-month old daughter and I were back on a plane, delighted to be returning home to California. The vacation “extension” had taken its toll and it took longer than expected to recover from the ordeal. I was discouraged and felt side-lined, wondering if I would find the strength to take further steps in this work of Freedom Fighting.
More Vision
Not long after my return State-side, I was involved in a book study that focused, once again, on developing a Vision Statement. Had I not done this enough, I wondered? I had written a vision statement as a student, and then again through work at the church. After the discouragements of the recent months, I had little desire to stir up visions and dreams. I liked the women who were involved in the study, so I chose to go. I reluctantly wondered if maybe this would re-light the spark in my soul.
The vision statement was formulated:
I have a dream … to see women and children valued on earth as they are in heaven.
I looked at the mission statement from 18 months earlier and combined it with this new vision statement. It seemed to reinforce the direction that God had started me on. I was in awe. When the study had started, I had been fully prepared, even expecting (perhaps hoping) that something completely different was going to be revealed. Instead, the spark for the old vision was re-lit. It was the beginning of a New Year with renewed hope.
Human Trafficking
In the next two months, I began to see the issue of Human Trafficking in every direction I looked. It had been on my “radar,” but I considered it as one of many issues that someone with my interests could focus on. Then it hit me: the least free humans on this planet are those who are literally enslaved. I read the alarming statistic that 80 percent of slaves are women and 50 percent are children. It seemed as though the vision statement was God’s way of preparing my heart to recognize that this issue is where God would have me pour my time, talents and energy into. (This vision comes after my most important job of being Mama to our beautiful baby girl, of course!)
After a lot of thinking and praying, it became clear that this was the ministry for me. I recalled an article I read in a magazine that profiled the key role that “stay-at-home women” played in the 18th century abolitionist movement. This was my tribe. I stepped out in faith and started a new ministry.
The journey of “birthing” this ministry has been filled with challenges. The temptation to stop in my tracks before it got too difficult was strong. One compelling thought kept recurring: If I don’t walk in these steps God seems to be leading me in, I will regret it for the rest of my life. I would always wonder, “What if?”
As often happens to me as I head into new work, thoughts soon followed like: “Who am I?; What do I have to offer?; I’m just a …” I was reminded of Moses and his response when God, through the burning bush, asked him to lead His people from slavery. If God were able to say, through a stuttering, reformed murderer, “Let my people go”, just maybe He would be able to speak through me.
About Shirley: Shirley Love Rayburn is Executive Director of Voice for the Voiceless, International Society with the following mission statement: We exist to cry out on behalf of enslaved women and children, labouring until they are valued on earth as they are in heaven. Shirley delights in celebrating life and freedom with her husband, Matthew, and their pre-school daughter, Adia Talitha.
Abolish trafficking. Legalize prostitution. And yes there is a difference despite the lies told by the Office of Human Trafficking.
About one month ago, the Human Trafficking office admitted that they could only find 1100 trafficking “victims” in the US in comparison to the 400,000 they estimated they would find in the 8 years the law has been in force. With that track record of willfully generated and willfully accepted lies, it appears this issue has been greatly overexaggerated by hysterical sensationalists.
My response to the above comment has taken a while to formulate.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard questioning of the reality of the breadth and depth of the problem of trafficking in the US.
I am glad that people are taking the time to give this issue attention. I have read a few articles myself and I am thankful that journalists are working to objectively investigate.
I would be one very hapy woman if there was less of a problem than previously thought. My hope is that all abolitionists would be soon able to shift our attention to other matters.
But I can’t shake the truth of the stories I’ve heard, and I continue to hear of new reports. There are people, around the world, who are forced to work inparticipate in work in conditions that would be considered unacceptable.
It is worth the time I spend weekly to raise my voice to bring attention to this issue as well as being involved in Outreach efforts.
Even if there were only a handful of victims, I would continue to do this work. I simply need to consider what I would do if it were my daughter being forced to participate in ‘work’ she didn’t agree to. I would spend every waking moment, pray through sleepless nights, and try to rally as many as I could to help me find her.
So…as long as there is even one child who is forced to engage in work, sexual or otherwise, for an adults pleasure or greed, I will continue to serve as a Modern-day abolitionist.