We are ambassadors of his kingdom.
We walk in, straight past the men gawking, playing pool and sipping their selective alcoholic drinks. We walk past the woman dancing, practically naked, and continue into their dressing room.
The temperature raises dramatically. The fans and stale air are evidence of broken a/c. Make-up, clothes, and towels litter the floor and counters, with mirrors covering the walls.
Another woman walks out of the bathroom, stark naked, and greets us.
The veteran outreach members quickly recognize faces and begin conversation while I and a few others begin to take it all in. Some dancers are quickly ashamed while others flaunt their bodies as if they’ve forgotten cultural standards all together. I wonder if some have completely become the identities of “worthless” and “hopeless” that they simply embrace a new character.
I try to battle shock by replaying what a Nightlight leader told us:
“If you don’t know where to look, look at their eyes.“
I tell myself over and over again.
I begin to feel like a fly on the wall. I begin to think about how I want to disappear. Then I begin to think how the girls probably feel the same way. I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb; around us they probably feel the same way.
10 white woman WANT to hang out with and pray for a room of naked black strippers?!
In the South?!
The thing is, we actually do.
I mean, think about the woman at the well and how Jesus broke through social, cultural, and even RELIGIOUS barriers to show love.
I finally snap out of my zone and pray for one woman. I pray for her five year old who she is raising without a daddy.
A friend prays for a woman to find her talents and worth outside of dancing and pleasing men. We remind her that at least she knows she can make white people laugh!!
Another two pray LIFE into a woman and her unborn child, who is scheduled to have an abortion in the morning.
Later, at a renovated convenience store next door, we talk to three adults who will soon open a new restaurant. We pray for health, prosperity, success of the business, and positive change in one man’s life. While we politely reject their offer at a bbq sample, we make three new friends.
