Two former sex workers will attend the largest adult entertainment convention in the country on Wednesday not as showgirls, but as unconventional Christian preachers.
Heather Veitch, the founder of J.C.’s (Jesus Christ’s) Girls, and Annie Lobert, the founder of Hookers for Jesus, will work the floors at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas this week handing out cards and testifying about Jesus Christ to whoever will listen.
The Expo takes place every year in January and expects to draw 40,000 people this year. It also includes the adult movie version of the Oscars, the AVN Awards.
“To me, I am used to the attention because I come from that industry,” explained Veitch, who said she still gets offered by male porn stars to make films at events like the Expo, according to The Los Angeles Times. “But I am the untouchable one there. I look like those girls, but they can’t see me naked.”
She added, “Now I am using my body to advertise for God. So to me it is not bad,” said the tan, platinum-blond Veitch who still much resembles the girls she’s trying to reach for Christ. She said her and Lobert’s looks allows girls in the industry to identify with them.
Both girls had work in the sex industry for many years – Veitch as a stripper and Lobert as a call girl – before finding Jesus.
Veitch’s ministry, J.C.’s Girls, does outreaches every week to local strip clubs where she and other female members of her church would go to a topless bar at night and buy lap dances. Once the women get into the private room, they would talk to the dancers about Jesus, give them a contact card, and invite them to church. Veitch said the bars have allowed the ministry to come and buy time with the dancers.
Many of the strippers have been touched to hear that Jesus loves them despite their lifestyle. Some have asked to be prayed for instantly while others have left the sex industry or abandoned the idea of getting an abortion.
Lobert, meanwhile, reaches out to call girls at casinos similar to her former job. She said she sits at bars and talks to girls about her personal story and invites them to church.
Explaining her ministry, Hookers for Jesus, Lobert said, “I picked that name because it is catchy. Most Christians might think I am selling my body. But I say that because I am trying to hook people on Jesus. I hook them for Jesus.”
Emerging church leader and XXXChurch.com ministry founder Pastor Craig Gross will also attend the AVN Adult Expo this week to evangelize those in the porn industry. He will be joined by Veitch and Lobert this year. XXXChurch.com is an online ministry created to get Christians to talk about their X-rated addictions and help them overcome it. The ministry celebrates its sixth year on Jan. 9.
Veitch is relatively well-known and has appeared on shows ranging from “Geraldo” to “The 700 Club” to testify about her conversion and the ministry. She also has a new documentary called “Pussycat Preacher.” Lobert has a lower media profile but appeared with Veitch in a series of popular YouTube videos called “Saving Sex City.”
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LIVE IN THE NIGHT
Live in the night,
keeps injury and sorrow.
Million people sink in it.
Buried deeper and deepest again
that they are not able to raise themselves.
Powerless and submit
sink in indignity and evil.
Powerless and submit
seeing themselves undermined
by many kind of gambles
decayed by prostitution,
and tortured by drugs.
Powerless and submit
turn into killer machines of their fellow.
Million people are caught in the night
Million people groan in the dark
Million people put hope in us
to raise them from the ocean of the night
which is too grip with fear.
But who are we, God
that we can have power?
God has changed
the night of dirtiness
to the night of holiness
the night of evil
to the night of righteousness
the night of turbulence
to the night of peace
the night of hell
to the night of the eternal life in heaven
through the birth of Jesus Christ,
His son.
He was not born in the stabled
with all of its dirt.
But in our hearts
which are poor and simple
with all of our insult and struggle.
The hearts which are open and welcome
not as the owner of the inns
which were close the door for
the birth of Jesus Christ, our God.
Actually, it has been a long time that
Jesus has born and stayed in our hearts
sound asleep in regretful manger
and man’s repentance
covered with our inner selves and souls
welcome morning with hope.
But we often forget Him,
consider Jesus is still a baby
who can only please our hearts.
Actually,
the Baby has grown up,
tortured for His love for human being
And we crossed Him
in the Golgota of our hearts.
Jesus had died and raised again
And now He is dwell in our heart
to work in us.
Through our hearts and thoughts
Through our feet and hands
Through our mouths, eyes and ears
Through all of our bodies.
Jesus wants to do and to work
to declare His love
to all people.
How about us?
(Happy are those
who make realization
of the birth of Christ by love to another
even though they have to suffer.)
***
By: Syarif Oppusunggu (from: Indonesia)
i agree prespilot68. well said. well written.
THIS IS TRULY A BLESSING!!!! It take real women of God to go in such an atmosphere and do what the good Lord has called them to do. I commend them and I wish I was participating. Just to be another witness. THE LORD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!!! And I know he going to do some work in that place!! He is going to show up and say well done to these two sisters and blessings are going to begin to flow all across that expo!!! I am praying for them, as we all should be!!! Blessings to All!!!!
God bless these sisters in Christ! GOD is doing a NEW Thing, HE is going where the "church" will not go!!
Who do you think Jesus hung around with while HE was on earth, noone is beyond the LORD! THank you Jesus for going where people really need You!!!
Isn't it wonderful that JESUS isn't afraid of HIS reputation! HE is GOD and HE loves us and HE is not afraid to go and get HIS children, no matter where they are! As the LORD leads and convicts, changes occur; but who is anyone here to judge HOW the LORD will work or where!
It may not be what you are called to; but this is definitely JESUS working!!!
Glory to You LORD!!! JESUS meets us where we ARE and we have to come to Him that way, HE cannot take us any other way, it's not like we can clean ourselves up and get all dignified!!
We all fall short of HIS glory and yet HE loves us and He redeems us!!!
Thank you Jesus Christ!
I commend them for going in and working to spread the gospel but what kind of message are they giving? I'm sure that they would be just as effective if they dressed casually and appropriately. Just passing out fliers and speaking to people would make the point. And besides, no one should be a stumbling block for another person to sin. So my advice would be, keep it up but keep it appropriate.
As a former stripper who was saved from the sex industry by the Lord Jesus Christ, I applaud the work of Heather, Annie and the growing number of ministries like theirs. Yes, there is always room for improvement, but remember, we are broken vessels and God uses us even with our imperfections. It is hard for me to criticise them too harshly becasue I for one have never gone into a porn convention or a strip club to try to help these people. But I can tell you that this is not an easy population to get to. They are in complete darkness and the evil one has them in his clutches. They are wounded, confused, and deceived. Go to my website with my testimony at www.savedfromstripclubs.org or check out the book I wrote with my husband at www.aboyfromcapecod.com to learn about how I with my husband managed to escape this dark and dangerous world. I don't know about Craig Gross's ministry as he is a former porn addict and he is walking a thin line there between helping people and feeding his addiction. Should an alcoholic drink in bars while sharing the gospel with other drinkers? Should any man, for that matter, attend a porn convention, for any reason? Again, Paul's admonition against such activities.
God bless these girls for having the courage to unashamedly tell the world just what kind of life they've been saved from.What better witness can any of us present to the world than such a drasticly changed life.And if anyone is tempted to look down on these women because of their past just remember the kind of people Jesus was seen with during His time on earth.I pray that they experience a succesful harvest in their mission to such a display of sin and depravity.
revrick56 - I am not at all discouraging these women from sharing the gospel with these folks, all I am saying is that we do not need to dress in a way that is demeaning or sexually suggestive nor do we need to literally go into a place filled with perversion to preach to these people. If people at the AVN's are going to be "offended" that these women aren't dressed a certain way, then most certainly they will be offended by the gospel. BTW - it is both Christian MEN & WOMEN going into this convention. The last part of the article sites XXXChurch.com will also be at the convention. These will be two men who will be among all these female porn stars, porn videos playing, strippers, sex toys, S&M paraphenalia, Gay Videos, etct etc - So what part of Paul's verse "A HINT" don;t you seem to get sir!
prespilot68, I'm sorry you don't get it. That same apostle you quote says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)".
I could not go and do what they are going to do, since I am a married man, and it would be difficult to avoid the appearance of evil. But they are going into a place where their testimony will have power as they are reaching those who are suffering under the same condemnation they once experienced. They are not coming as outsiders looking for sexual gratification, but as those who have experienced redemption. Those women don't need to be attacked, but supported as they perform a true ministry to people Jesus loves that are not being reached by "conventional methods."
Those 40000 people coming to attend the convention may never step into a church or watch
a Christian program in T.V. When those two girls tell them about Jesus Christ and His transforming power, miracles can happen. We need to pray to God for them so that they can
be an effective tools under the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul says don't have even a HINT of sexual immorality within our lives and that we should not do things that might cause our brothers and sisters to stumble into sin. Therefore I think it is difficult to justify having these folks expose themselves and other Christians to half naked porn stars at the AVN Convention. Could we at least stand outside the convention center and preach the gospel rather than expose ourselves to sin and material that might cause someone to sin in their heart. This is like a bunch of guys going into a strip club or a brothel to reach the lost. Not a good idea. Another bothering statement here she is still trying to look like a porn star or hooker? Does Paul not say wemen are to be modest in how they dress so as to not bring dishonor to the Lord? In Corinth Paul was coming against women who had been temple prostitutes and had cut off there hair. Paul specifically addresses this issue by informing the women of the Corinth congregation to NOT look like that of temple prostitutes.
What a wonderful ministry God has given these women. We need to be praying for them. By the way, I love the name, Hookers for Jesus.
That is amazing.