'Strip Church' ministry helps Tennessee exotic dancers shed their pasts

FoxNews.com ^ | 9/17/2013 | Joshua Rhett Miller

[RoosterRedux]

Stevens said she’s met with roughly 100 exotic dancers among Nashville’s 10-15 gentlemen clubs, many of which are dens of debauchery leading to higher rates of drug use, alcohol abuse and potentially prostitution.

“A lot of them have pasts that they can’t get over, so I just say Jesus knows all that you’ve done and still sees you as 100 percent forgivable,” Stevens said. “His love is unconditional and that seems to resonate with these girls. I tell them, ‘God sees you as valuable and I see you as valuable.’”

Stevens points to a 23-year-old mother of two who stopped working as a stripper shortly after meeting her last year as proof that the approach works. The former dancer, whose name is being withheld to protect her identity, has since quit smoking and now wants to work in law enforcement after completing her degree in criminal justice.

“She wants to be a cop now,” Stevens said. “She has taken giant leaps of faith and she has really stepped up. She came to know the Lord; she left and didn’t even have another job lined up.”

[Talisker]

“A lot of them have pasts that they can’t get over, so I just say Jesus knows all that you’ve done and still sees you as 100 percent forgivable,” Stevens said. “His love is unconditional and that seems to resonate with these girls. I tell them, ‘God sees you as valuable and I see you as valuable.’”

This is beautiful.

Too bad so many feel the need to mock.

I guess it's because of their spiritual superiority in the eyes of God.

[Smokin' Joe]

From stripper to whore to cop. There's a joke in there, somewhere, I'm sure.

I must have missed the whore part. It said she quit stripping, and quit smoking, but nothing about whoring.

[RoosterRedux]

Too bad so many feel the need to mock.

I guess it's because of their spiritual superiority in the eyes of God.

I don't think they meant to mock.

It's just that sometimes matters of extreme profundity go down best with a bit of humor (it's like gallows humor in reverse).

The subject is actually so intensely powerful and important that it would be difficult for some to even speak of it without tears...hence a sprinkling of humor balance the mood.