It Freed a Slave. What can your spare change do?

Hilldale Baptist Church MOPS Moms Unite to Free the Enslaved!

It still exists. Maybe not in a North vs. South kind of way, but slavery is still very much active all over the world. Small children, and entire families forced to work under unforgiving, illegal circumstances. Young girls deceived, kidnapped, and forced into prostitution. Their stories are gut-wrenching, and brought out the Momma Bear in our MOPS Moms. We couldn't just stand by and let these kind of atrocities happen on our watch. Our God is a God of action, justice, mercy. He tells us to "do justice, love mercy," and walk humbly with Him, and so, Hilldale's MOPS Mom's made it their mission to take action. It was game time! War paint on! Can someone say, 'Minivan Warriors?'

We partnered with the IJM (International Justice Mission), a Christian based organization that works through the government to legally free those enslaved and prosecute the perpetrators. Amazing organization, please check them out! It costs around $500 to free one child in slavery, and around $1000 to free a girl in forced prostitution. The IJM are not paying ransom notes, they are using this money for aftercare of the child, and to cover the costs of what it takes to rescue them--swat teams, lawyers, travel etc.

How could we, a small group of women, make a difference? Five hundred to a thousand dollars is a lot--but if we all could save our spare change, maybe we could do it. AND WE DID!!

For two months, each MOPS table (there are 11 tables in all), brought in their spare change. Some put bills in, a few put checks, but for the most part it was A LOT OF COINAGE! Crazy heavy stuff! To make it a bit more appealing, we added in a table competition. Each person assigned to the table bringing in the most change would receive a SECRET prize. FUN!!

In TWO meetings, that's right, TWO, we had made our goal of $500!! We are awaiting the final tally, but something tells there's gonna be a whole lot of FREEDOM going around!!

So. What can your spare change do? It can FREE someone, who will then be presented with the Gospel! I feel like saying AMEN!!

We would love to hear from you! Tell us how your MOPS is changing the world. :)