(Image courtesy of Family Christian Stores)
Dominican Republic (MNN) — Did you know that one of your favorite bookstores actively supports Christian mission?
For years, and under an array of names, Family Christian Stores have blessed families in the United States with easy access to Christian resources.
But Family Christian Stores didn’t want to stop at equipping consumers for Christ. For the past 11 years they have focused their attention on James 1:27 which says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (NIV).
Last year, Family Christian Stores became a non-profit business to ensure all of its earnings go to Christian charities. The trajectory of the company has long been to serve those in need around the world.
Steve Biondo of Family Christian says while studying James 1:27, they had to ask themselves, “In the orphan world, who are those that are most traumatized? Where is the most distress?”
It wasn’t too hard to find the answer. “There’s this massive evil across the globe. It’s concentrated in certain parts of the world, but there’s this massive evil: and it’s estimated that 27 million children and sometimes adults are held captive against their will.”
What is this massive evil? Human Trafficking.
“They’re tortured, and often times their very life is taken from them through horrific acts of violence. And so we began to fix in our minds that this is a place that we’ve got to go. We’ve got to go and work here, we’ve got to stand up against this kind of injustice. We’ve got to go ahead and break the cycle,” Biondo says.
With this issue on their heart, Family Christian decided to partner with Destiny Rescue.
“Destiny Rescue is really a powerful organization that started in Australia,” Biondo says. It is “internationally recognized, faith-based, Christian-based, not-for-profit that is 100% dedicated to rescuing children from the human trafficking and sexual exploitation trade.”
With this frontline partnership, Family Christian hopes not only to address the exploitation of these human beings, but also to share the love of Christ with them.
“What we want to do is work alongside [Destiny Rescue] in a more deliberate way, in a very profound and strategic way.”
Stay tuned to our Web site over the next month to see what this initiative is going to look like and how you can help.
Pray for God to prepare and burden the hearts of those who are able to help. Ask Him to protect the hearts of children caught in human trafficking.
As Biondo puts it, “We need to push back darkness. We need to take action as individuals through our donations or through going into these places, short-term trips, or sponsoring rescues, sponsoring girls who have been trafficked.”
