Harmony Dust: Sharing the Jesus Loves You Message
Craig Gross writes a chapter in the book, Jesus Love You, titled Jesus Loves Porn Stars. In this chapter he says, “Jesus loved and spent time with people who appeared to be far from belief. In reality, many in the adult industry are hurting and ready to make a change. Some just don’t know how to make a connection. We can only tell them how if we are close to them. It is in this proxmity that we realize many are closer to walking with Jeesus than they appear.” Harmony Dust, founder of Treasures, is living and serving in close proxmity through her strip club outreach. I’m thrilled to share her story.
NW: What is Treasures?
HD: Treasures is an outreach to women in the sex industry. While we do sometimes reach women who are employed in the porn industry, escort services, or prostitution, our outreach really focuses on women working in strip clubs. Treasures is always about meeting women where they are. Some may not be ready to leave the industry, but need someone to talk to. So we provide them with support, care packages, devotionals, prayer, whatever it is they need.
NW: What do you do specifically in your outreach?
HD: We actually go into strip clubs and bring gift bags to the girls who are dancing there. The gift bags contain things that all girls love, like cosmetics and jewelry. Each gift bag also includes a card that says, “You are loved. Visit our website for another free gift.” When a girl goes to our website and enters her information, she receives a care package with a Bible, a copy of my testimony, and another card. If we have her email address we’ll send her e-devotionals. Our care packages and our website are all about planting seeds of relationship, so even if a girl doesn’t want to meet with us, we’ll continue to send her handwritten cards or little gifts in the mail so that she knows that we’re here and that we’re thinking of her. We know that women in the industry have a hard time trusting in relationships, so we feel like the regular contact through cards in the mail or emails and e-devotionals helps to build trust and build a connection so that if a girl decides that she ever wants to leave the industry she’ll come to us.
NW: Why did you start Treasures?
HD: I was a stripper for many years. Like many girls in the industry I was in an abusive relationship, I had been sexually abused and raped, and I had no self-worth. I had all kinds of drama in my life — the Jerry Springer kind of stuff. Then, one day, I met a girl in a ballet class I was taking. She showed an interest in me, and we developed a friendship. In that friendship, she loved me and communicated value to me. Eventually, I ended up sharing with her what was going on in my life. She loved me anyway and invited me to her church, but she never pushed. Eventually, I did visit her church and immediately felt like I was at home, and I never left. My relationship with her has been a model for Treasures.
NW: How exactly did Treasures start?
HD: I had gone to pick up my husband from the airport and got there early. I ended up waiting in my car parked across the street from the club I used to dance at. I was heartbroken thinking about the girls who were inside, and I started praying for them. I had a stack of postcards in the car from a women’s conference, and I went across the street to the club parking lot and left cards on the girls’ windshields. After that, I started thinking about going inside the club to reach these girls.
NW: When you decided that you wanted to start Treasures, what did your church support look like?
HD: I took the idea to an associate pastor at our church, and he was gung ho about it. In fact, he was relentless. I knew this was what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t sure when or how long it would take. He encouraged me and helped recruit volunteers, and we were able to get Treasures up and running within a few months. He’s still encouraging me now.
NW: What type of impact has Treasures had?
HD: It’s had a lot of impact, but my favorite thing is to see women not only leave the industry but get the big picture. That is, to share what their story is and to serve others. It’s a picture of God’s redemption.
NW: What misconceptions do you think the church has about women who are working in the industry?
HD: A common misconception is that the women who work in the clubs want to do it, that they don’t need or want help, that they’re doing it for the money, not out of a severe hurt or brokenness, and that it’s their decision. People really believe these perceptions because within the industry, if the women really want to sell, they have to act like they want to do it. Another reason that I think that people are afraid to go there and reach out to these women is because the problems of the sex industry are in their households. There are so many husbands, even in the church, who frequent these clubs or have a relationship with pornography, and that creates a lot of insecurity in wives. So they don’t want anything to do with it.
NW: What advice do you have for a church that wants to start a similar outreach?
HD: You don’t have to have my background to be successful reaching out to these women. Any church can do it, provided that they’re properly trained. If you go to the Treasures website under “events,” you can find trainings that we do to equip these types of outreach leaders. If you’re considering this type of outreach, make sure you can sustain it. This is long-suffering. This is a seed-sowing outreach, not a harvesting outreach. It takes a lot of patience, and you’ll put in a lot of hard work with seemingly little result. Because these women are so broken, it takes a long time for relationship to develop. You have to be willing to see it through. I’ve been working with a woman for six years now who is still in the business. She’s not ready to leave, but she’s now more open to church and prayer and reading her Bible. Even though it’s six years, and even though she’s still working at the club, I still have to love her where she’s at and pray that some of what we talk about takes root.
This is an awesome ministry!!! Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I was working with prostitutes in Tel Aviv for some time, and I can totally understand how important this ministry is!!! :)
Great post! Thanks so much for sharing this amazing story with us.
Keep it up Harmony! This is so inspiring!