Club music deafening, dancing silhouettes on stage surrounded by men, neon lights advertising women, and menus listing sexual favors instead of food. It pains me to write this, but four years ago I would have thought this place was wild and cool. Now I know this as a slice of hell: Welcome to The Walking Street, Pattaya, Thailand.
At the start of this month, X-Squad marched behind enemy lines and did what many Christians won’t touch: fight back against the sex trafficking industry. No, we didn’t set up barricades to the bars or stand on a box with a megaphone yelling condemnations. We didn’t even hand out tracts. We simply prayed and loved. We acknowledged people for who they are, not their bodies.
My team and I prayed as we started our way down the street. We made small talk with a couple guys who were in Spongebob and Patrick costumes. They were the bachelors who were to get married in a couple days. We made our way down and realized people were not there to talk, but there to have fun.
Then something pretty cool happened.
Tiffany, Bee, and Rachel made their way into a strip club with at least ten bars. It was a long hallway and at the end of it, I noticed a bright light. I realized quickly it was a cross lit up across the lake. The girls had no clue the cross was there until we told them after.
Ben and I decided to follow along and just keep our eyes fixed on the cross. It was weird, but I felt no desire to avert my eyes to the bartenders who were yelling, trying to grab our attention. We made it to the back of the bar and it was there that I saw two men at separate tables waiting to buy a woman for the night.
My initial reaction was anger, but it immediately turned into sadness. I saw some of my old self in their eyes. Starving for satisfaction, affirmation, and worth. Searching for it in the wrong place.
I came to know Jesus as my savior three and a half years ago, and he’s changed my mind and heart on many things. My view of women in specific. I was one to start relationships on a strictly physical basis, and end them when they began to get emotional. I thought I was simply “being one of the guys”, but then I realized real men don’t objectify women. I thank God that He changed my heart a few years ago, now there’s no turning back.
I used to be so ashamed of my story, now I see how God can use my story to change the lives of other men stuck in sin, away from God.
We tried to talk to these men, but they wouldn’t even look us in the eyes. We were quickly hurried out of the bar for not buying a drink.
No we didn’t see anyone saved that night, but we still count it as a victorious night.
The ladies on my team handed out roses to the women working and left them astonished. I’ll never forget the baffled look on one girl’s face as she was given a rose. I can’t help but think she may have never received unconditional love like that.
We saw glimpses of light in the darkest place I’ve ever been. We saw John 3:17 lived out through his disciples: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past year, it’s that we’re not commanded to condemn. We’re commanded to love instead. Love the sinners and saints, enemies and neighbors, pastors and prostitutes.
I’m not going to claim I’m good at loving people well. My heart is still a work in progress. The Holy Spirit is shaping me day by day, but I do know that he is changing me for the better. I’m excited to see what he’s going to do in my heart, in the hearts of the men and women on The Walking Street, and in everyone back home.
