The Difference with Matt and Kendal Hagee – “Hope Rescued”

Tara Roussett from SJRC an organization that offers healing and hope to children and families affected by abuse. Lisa Michelle shares her personal story of abuse and now helps other victims come out of human trafficking.

from hagy ministri Studios today on the

difference two women two amazing stories

of Hope and survival I can’t control

what happened to them yesterday but

today tonight I know they’re safe I know

their needs are met I know that they are

being cared for unconditionally and that

is what keeps me going my dad was an

abusive alcoholic and I ended up being

sexually abused by him from the time my

first memory was four years old

how do you bring healing to a child or

young adult that has been abandoned left

alone and filled with hopelessness today

on the difference we welcome Tera

rousette and Lisa Michelle two women

making a difference in the lives of

children and young adults affected by

trauma abuse and neglect

[Music]

back in in high school you know I really

had a a passion for just working with a

friends that maybe came from a different

background than I did um I certainly

didn’t have a most perfect life growing

up but I had a really good life my

parents are still married I know what a

happy childhood is I um I’m grateful for

the childhood that I had and so I really

have always identified with people who

maybe did had something different than

[Music]

me I was best stay-at home mom and

someone that I had worked with at

previous vious L at a different facility

worked here at sjrc and he reached out

to me and and kind of said you know what

are you doing nowadays and I told him

I’m staying home and I’m happy and I’m

raising my family and he said why don’t

you come back and and help me at at sjrc

help me with the girls home and at that

time I I said okay I’ll do it it worked

with my family it worked with my

schedule I really just wanted to to

serve at a direct care level we are 24/7

365 taking care of the most vulnerable

population of Children and Families and

so it’s just kind of weaved into what I

believe and what I um what I cherish and

value with the families I certainly

don’t know the struggle that these girls

and these families have gone through um

and I admire their strength but I do

know what it’s like to have um goodness

and and to have happiness I feel like

with my gifts that God has given me I am

able to lead this organization today

with the support of the staff that’s

here my family it’s it’s going to

everybody together that got me where I’m

at right

now so what I always say is I can’t

control what happened to them yesterday

and I can’t control what happens to them

tomorrow but today tonight I know

they’re safe I know their needs are met

I know that they are being cared for

unconditionally they’re learning how to

build trust they’re learning how to be

valued for who they are as humans and

that is what keeps me

going Kendall and I are so glad glad to

Welcome to the difference Tara rousette

the leader of sjrc Tara thank you for

joining us today thank you for having me

I’m so blessed to be here well we’re

honored to have you sit and share some

of the stories of sjrc with our audience

I became aware of your work as we

started to investigate how we could be

more effective in the work we’re during

doing at the sanctuary of Hope a and

what I became aware of is something that

you’ve been involved in for a long time

which is the vast amount of need that is

represented to young people young ladies

young boys uh in areas where they need a

safe environment to grow up because they

currently don’t live in one uh how is

sjrc working on that issue every day

what is sjrc first sure so sjrc was

formerly known as St Jude’s Ranch for

children but we have we go by SJC Texas

now and what we do is we take care of

all the needs of kids in the foster care

system survivors of child sex

trafficking we do inhome parenting

Prevention classes we have an array of

services for in the child welfare system

but at the heart of the work that we do

is we’re providing healing and hope we

meet the kids where they’re at every day

we we we take it to the most basic level

of looking each other in the eye and

having eye contact and just really

celebrating the preciousness of the

child of who they are and they’re they

they’re broken they have seen things

that I can’t even imagine that I don’t

ever want to imagine but we’re giving

them that chance at that true childhood

that they so deserve and you know in the

years that you’ve operated in this area

I’m certain that there has been so many

things that have evolved you know

because as you talk about providing

healing and hope that was always the

root cause that was always the desire

from day one but as you even mentioned

the work that sjrc Texas is doing you’re

now going into areas to try and do

preventative work so that these problems

don’t start that probably wasn’t

something that was done decades ago no

and in fact for our organization we’ve

been around 35 years and just this year

did we start our our prevention work uh

because truly we want the kids to stay

in the homes in a healthy environment

because we found through the years when

kids are removed from their home

everything that they’re doing is working

to go back to that home so so why not

invest our time and our energy at the

upfront and keeping them there and

offering the Supportive Services to the

families because ultimately that’s what

kids need there’s always going to be a

need to get take kids out of their home

because bad things happen

but the largest majority of people with

wraparound services and with support

they can heal and we can offer them that

hope again and you know you talk about

wraparound Services one of the things

that you mentioned and it’s a statement

that gets a lot of attention is sex

trafficking and I think it’s important

for our viewing audience to understand

that sex trafficking and that issue is

really a derivative of the abuse and

neglect issue because the children that

live in these environments will wind up

in areas like sex traffic trafficking

because of the path that their life is

on right they’re looking for for

unconditional love and if you don’t know

unconditional love people want

unconditional love and and so they’re

just searching and trying to find

connections and they’re unhealthy

connections so what we do is we have

survivors of child sex trafficking that

are pregnant Andor parenting at our

facility so what what’s so beautiful to

me about that program is there we truly

have a family unit we have that Mom and

her baby and we can teach them to bond

that so that their bond is a healthy

Bond going forward and get them so not

bonded to their trafficker and so it

takes again just that every day basic

level consistent listen giving them

voice value them for who they are

teaching them that there there’s more to

that they have a purpose in this life

and we’re going to help help them help

them to find that purpose and I think

one of the things that is so important

is for people to understand your work is

to give proper definition and context to

words like love and care because you

know these young ladies these young

people they heard those words from their

abusers oh sure they were abused and

then the abuser would say I love you and

they were mistreated and at the end of

the mistreatment they would say I do

this to you because I love you that’s

right and whenever you’re in such an

impressionable inform formative stage of

your life as a child you grow up

thinking well that must be what love

looks like that must be what love feels

feels like and that must be what love

does and so this is why you have a cycle

for the last 30 years where you start to

see these problems evolve and now you

need to go in and start even working in

the home to say look this cycle can be

broken it doesn’t need to start and in

the cases where it does happen we need

to redefine what the truth is about love

about Hope and about care that’s

absolutely right pastor Matt and I will

also add to that that so many times

these girls that come to us they

themselves don’t even know

that they’re being child sex trafficked

because they abuser because their

trafficker are telling them just those

in fact words and they don’t actually

know what real love and care is and so

we do a lot of testing upfront with them

we do a tool to help them identify and

then really we have to teach them often

that this is what’s happening because

they don’t they themselves don’t even

know and and through the history of our

organization truth be told we didn’t

know went back to several years ago we

didn’t even understand what was

happening these young ladies would come

in pregnant they would talk about their

boyfriend you know we started realizing

wait a minute this boyfriend doesn’t

actually he’s not the same age as you

and there’s just so many different

things and so we’ve evolved so much as

an organization then as Society now we

know what to look for we know signs and

and the the audience and everybody needs

to know that it does happen and if you

see something say something if something

doesn’t look right report it because

there’s people that can help and if

you’re wrong that’s okay that’s okay

absolutely you if you’re going in with

good intent and good will say something

because it’s going to take everybody

working together to save these children

when we come back we’re going to discuss

how we can all work together with a

young lady who’s doing exactly that you

don’t want to miss this issue because

it’s something that’s closer to you than

you want to imagine it affects every

city it affects our nation but it’s

something we can change and make a

difference you’re watching the

difference and when we come back we walk

into our local strip clubs into our

modern-day brothel which are illicit

massage businesses we walk into our porn

shops and we reach the women and

children that we see inside of these

commercial sex industry businesses a

crisis can change everything in an

instant but in that moment a familiar

word comes to mind one you’ve read so

many times that it’s now etched in your

memory this is why it’s so important to

be intentional about strengthening your

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spending time with fellow Believers you

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wonders I’m Lisa Michelle my childhood

was very broken my dad was an abusive

alcoholic and he owned a bar and I ended

up being sexually abused by him from the

time

my first memory was 4 years

old so growing up in that scene and

being around alcohol and drugs it was so

hard on me and I just leaned right into

that whole lifestyle as I finally

started to feel empty on the inside I

felt used and I felt broken inside and I

didn’t know where this feeling was

starting to rise up in me but I started

to do this soul

searching and my sister’s doing nails in

that salon and I’m walking by her

station and she’s doing a manicure on

one of her male clients and he reaches

out to me and he said hey Lisa I’d like

to invite you to church this Sunday I

said me Church why would you invite a

girl like me to church girls like me

don’t go to church I was so dumbfounded

by why he would ask me to go to church

and the pastor had an altar call and

back then you just stood up in your

chair and I stood up in my chair and the

whole church knew that I was giving my

life to the Lord cuz I was so excited I

was like that’s me I’m a sinner I give

my life to the Lord I cannot believe the

more I heard about this daddy and that

he accepted me and that he wanted me and

he adopted me and that I could be in his

kingdom I just thought where do I sign

up it makes me feel really proud to know

that I know that I know know who I am

and who I am and that I have a purpose

and a plan in my

[Music]

life Lisa you know Tera speaks about the

work that they’re doing at sjrc Texas

and really I kind of see that as being

involved in some of the after effects of

the situation that you grew up in right

and I hear your story and and what I

really wanted to say before we even got

into the questions was you know the

Bible talks about all things working

together for good one of the things that

makes people uncomfortable about

uncomfortable about talking about abuse

and sex trafficking is is they don’t

have a context for it they don’t have

any familiarity with the space you grew

up in that space so you don’t have all

of the the you know challenges of

addressing it that others would because

you’re familiar with it right you can

walk into a place where you see this

type of abuse and you recognize it for

what it is and you know who needs needs

to be rescued as opposed to somebody who

says I don’t even know how to identify

the victim from from the the perpetrator

at this point and so it takes all kinds

of people to address this issue and what

is the work that you’re doing on a daily

basis to help people with this issue

right so here in San Antonio we walk

into our local strip clubs into our

modern-day brothel which are illicit

massage businesses we walk into our porn

shops and we reach the women women and

children that we see inside of these

commercial sex industry businesses and

we meet them and give them a gift and

let them know that they’re loved they’re

valued and that they’re cared for and

just like you said there is this gift

that’s in me because of my lifestyle

because of the abuse I went through and

because of my background it’s a gift

that God gives me that I can see the one

and you reach those young ladies in in

very specific ways you’ll walk in and

and I remember you shared a testimony

you walk in sometimes with a box of

donuts yeah we come in with

cupcakes trust or you know how did they

I know you Crispy Cream goes a long way

we bring in Thanksgiving dinner we bring

in Christmas gifts yeah like human

beings absolutely and meet them right

where their needs are at for sure

actually during Co we fed over 25 single

moms and brought food to their home and

fed them and their children so Meeting

those tangible needs in such a dark time

to his built deep relationship with the

girls and so you know in some cases

those are individuals that they’re in an

adult phase of their life they’ve had an

abused childhood and they’re they’re

currently involved in this lifestyle not

knowing how they can get out of it how

often do you engage children that are in

this situation and their traffic and

they need to be taken out of this

situation into a place like sjrc yeah a

few years ago I had the honor to work in

our juvenile system and for girls that

were incarcerated that were domestic

trafficked right here in our backyard in

San Antonio so throughout those years of

being in the juvenile correctional

facilities I built relationships with

the girls that are in there and then

it’s trickled on and then we work with

other

organizations and it’s amazing I mean

the children that we work with today

building that relationship for four to

five years and just continually helping

them to grow through their healing

process as well you mentioned an

organization what’s the name of your

organization no strings attached no no

strings attached now how did you come to

that how did you come to that definition

that title yeah we want to provide a

tangible way to love everybody that we

encounter with no strings attached you

know so we bring gifts to the girls in

the clubs and just in a practical way

loving them loving them is there

somebody watching how can they get

involved with y’all’s organization how

can they help how can they pray for the

girls or the young children that are

there how does somebody support the work

cuz I I know that there’s people who are

watching they say I could never do what

Lisa does but I but I want to help do

what Lisa does so that young ladies

don’t have to live like that right so

nsag girls.org is the best way to get a

hold of us and email us and let us know

NSA not National Security advisory but

no strings attached girls exactly

absolutely well when we come back want

to visit with Tara and Lisa together as

we discuss how broad this issue is not

just in our area but all over the United

States and what we can do about it

you’re watching the difference thank you

for joining us today and coming up

next the way that these people get in is

through they they’re searching for

something else and these these

traffickers these perpetrators they know

that and they hone in on that and they

will use the vulnerability that these

kids and these young women are looking

for and and and groom they’re

grooming I’m so grateful that I chose

differently I’m so happy that I chose

you I get to see you become the person

God intended you to be I’m grateful for

sanctuary of Hope For Preparing Me for

guiding

me most importantly sanctuary of Hope is

my safe place it’s where I can lay my

baby’s head down

and know that God has his shield of

protection over us thank you heggy

Ministry Legacy partners because of you

my baby has a

chance because of you I had the option

to choose life there has never been a

better time to share the love of Christ

with a mother and a child than right now

when you partner with heggy Ministries

your legacy impacts lives and transforms

a nation call today or go to jhm.org

partner welcome back you’re watching the

difference we’ve been having a

conversation with Lisa and Tara about

bringing hope and healing to young

people who have been abused abandoned

and neglected Tara and Lisa this

question is is kind of for both of you

because you see it from so many

different perspectives we talk about the

issues of child abuse neglect and then

the symptoms and situations that are

involved in sex trafficking how large is

this issue I say especially here in San

anonio yeah let’s go ahead I’ll add to

it for me when I moved here 8 years ago

I was shocked at what I was seeing I

went out on the streets into our elicit

massage businesses into our strip clubs

and the porn shops and on the streets

and I was shocked at what I saw um for

the first time walking into a massage Po

and seeing women with all lingerie

on this is something you see in a third

world country not in San Antonio Texas

so for me I was shocked literally and

you know you mentioned walking in it

doesn’t sound like you had to look hard

to find it no yeah yeah so how big is

this issue I think I’ll add to that and

and agree with everything Lisa said you

know I think though sometimes our our

perceptions of how we get here are are

um a little skewed I think people think

that maybe they snatch kids off the

street and certainly that happens but

that’s not the way that it really

happens it’s through the way that these

people get in is through their they’re

searching for something else and these

these traffickers these perpetrators

they know that and they hone in on that

and they will use the vulnerability that

these kids and these young women are

looking for and and and groom it they’re

grooming it’s really a predatory kind of

thing yes and so sure it does happen

snatched off the street yes but the

large majority is something that takes

it it it happens in your backyard it’s

not a certain side of town it’s a

process yes and it’s and it’s it it does

not discriminate in any family and any

situation it is everywhere but it can be

something that as as a society and as

groups that are working partnering

together teaching to this learning about

it talking about it as you mentioned

earlier it’s not a fun subject to talk

about you have to talk about it be aware

and know that it can happen in any

family well and and you mentioned any

family I’m thankful that you did because

as a pastor I’ve had people in our

church come in and discuss this with

members of their family and there’s

always this shroud of Shame there’s

always this you know I mean when

somebody walks in and they say my my

son’s addicted to drugs they’ve either

become so familiar with that in society

or you know there’s enough situations

like that that are being discussed that

they don’t have a problem disclosing

that need but when they say I haven’t

seen my daughter in 6 months and I’m

afraid she’s been trafficked you know

they’re they’re terrified to share it

because there’s this concept of shame

that goes with it and the thing that I

really trying to pull out of the

conversation is as you mentioned

happening in your backyard it’s

happening on the social media platform

it’s happening when you’re not watching

because you’re not aware of what to

watch for and then someday this occurs

and you go oh my goodness what happen

what did I miss that’s right and I think

Lisa mentioned it and I mentioned it you

guys have mentioned it I think the key

that through all of it is relationship

relationships positive healthy

relationships can prevent it and can

also heal it correct people need to just

be aware and not be shameful and not be

scared to to mention and talk about it

and and if it when it if and when it

hits your your home your family your

environment reach out for help I think

that there’s parents who are watching

and they’re growing up in a world where

you know the word privacy gets thrown

around in a lot of places it doesn’t

apply what do you say to parents that

you know feel like well I would be

intruding in my child’s life if I took

the time to really go through their

phone or find out who they’re talking to

or I mean I have teenagers I have I’m

raising two teenagers right now yes yes

pray for me please on that specifically

but um but truly it’s about again

relationship I keep saying that word and

trust and so sure I trust my children

but that doesn’t mean that they have a a

right to privacy they’re children in my

home they I can look at their phone I I

pay for their phone so I I look at their

phone and it doesn’t mean that I don’t

trust them I do trust them I don’t trust

everybody else though I don’t trust

other people I don’t trust the world

that the phone gives you access that’s

right and so so we’re going to build on

that trust we to build that relationship

we’re going to have conversations we’re

going to talk about friends list we’re

going to say who’s on your Snapchat you

know just have those conversations and

then just keep talking and let them know

that there’s nothing that they can bring

to to me as a parent to my husband as a

father that’s going to scare us there’s

nothing that’s going to hurt us bring it

all let’s have a conversation it’s safe

let’s talk about it because those people

that are telling them they’re telling

them otherwise and they’re telling them

keep secrets and don’t tell your parents

and you know if and if they’re have to

hide this that’s right and if and if

kids are fearful of bringing things to

their parents they’re afraid they’re

going to get in trouble then they may

hold back and so it’s just that open

safe conversation of support that is

ongoing all the time I find the best

conversations are in the car because

they captive audience can’t right and

you don’t have to make eye contact

either if it’s an uncomfortable thing I

look at the road and you’re looking this

way and and that just it just but really

having that open dialogue all the time

don’t wait till it’s too late too late

Lisa you know you’ve heard Tara talk

about it happens at all levels you

mentioned specifically you’re walking

into places that a lot of people don’t

want to go they don’t want to go into a

strip club they don’t want to go into a

massage parlor right but how many young

ladies do you find in those places that

didn’t grow up like you grew up you know

your story is I grew up in a Hell’s

Angel bar I grew up in this life how

many of them do you find that didn’t

grow up in that life but fell into it to

it actually we would like to get the

hard numbers on that because we do find

a majority of the women that we meet are

pastor’s children’s I mean yeah pastor’s

children in the church and they grew up

in a better they grew up in a better

environment than the one that they is

right and sometimes I’ve heard the girls

say I just wanted to see what this life

was like I wanted to dabble in it

because I grew up in this really strict

home with all these rules and I just

felt like I just want to see what it’s

like on this other side and then when we

walk in and we’re there as a Ministry

and as God’s love and they see that and

they’re like okay God is actually coming

right for me right here in this darkness

and it’s a Divine appointment so we

believe they don’t belong there you know

this is such a huge issue that one

program doesn’t really give it the

justice that it needs if somebody is

looking for more information about how

they can help

sjrc and how they can be a part of

either volunteering recommending

referring where do they need to go so

everything is on our website www. sjrc

texas.org we have a wish list there we

have our volunteer you know and as you

mentioned earlier not everybody can do

everything not everybody can open their

heart in their home but everybody can do

something just that one thing if

donating clothes I mean there it all

matters and you mentioned it earlier in

the program you’re 247 365 so there are

seasons in times of years there’s

Christmas there’s Thanksgiving there’s

everybody has birthday yeah there’s

there’s points where we can all jump in

and say you know what I can’t be there

12 months out of the year but I can I

can serve in this moment that’s right

and there’s always opportunities for

that and and and I think people just

sometimes think gosh I can’t do much you

know it’s so small but all the little

things matter nothing’s too small

absolutely and and you know I think that

everybody doing their part is how you

accomplish impacting and changing this

entire environment and it all matters I

don’t want anybody to minimize what what

they do everything just do something

everything matters and you know Lisa you

mentioned the work that you’re doing I

know that there are people who are

watching that are certainly familiar

with that environment if they know

someone who needs help if they want

something that they can specifically

reach out and and be a part of what

you’re doing where do they need to go

Lisa mel.org is my website but nsag

girls.org is the one for the girls that

are for no strings attached yeah for No

Strings Attached yes well I want to

thank you both for being here here today

kenel and I’ll be right back after

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partner Kendall and I want to thank you

for joining us for today’s program we

want you to know that organizations like

sjrc and Lisa Michelle no strings

attached they all need individuals like

you to give them the opportunity to do

the Fantastic work that God has called

them to God bless you and thank you for

making a difference