So…as I was riding on Spring St in downtown Atlanta, I noticed that there were church vans and kids everywhere. I couldn’t help but pay attention to the congestion for I was already running late for work. Well, apparently thousands of kids were in Atlanta for a Christian conference.

Per CNN…recently over 40,000 kids gathered together in Atlanta to raise awareness about human sex trafficking. As part of the 4-day Passion 2012 Conference, a candlelight ceremony engaged the 18 to 25 year olds in song and chants. The conference, sponsored by the Passion City Church, ended the event with all the kids donating $2.6 million to go towards eliminating human trafficking.

 

One of the participants shared her heartfelt story of her own personal experience. Below is her story:

 

Melissa was raised in the Atlanta area, but had a bad life at home and says she moved out when she was 18. She and another friend found an apartment that became unaffordable when they both lost their jobs. They were approached by a man who offered quick cash if they would go out with men. $300, no sex, he promised. It was a lie.

He plied the teenagers with drugs and kept them trapped in a town home. They had no car, no way of getting away. They were high all the time so Melissa’s family disowned their druggie daughter. Melissa was beaten. After a year in hell, Melissa asked a random man she met to take her to a hospital. She thought she was going to die.

The hospital released her and told her to go home. At 3 a.m., Melissa called her mom for the first time in many months. Thinking her mom wouldn’t come, she also called the man who ruled her life. Her mom showed up first. Eventually she ended up the first woman in Wellspring Living, a program for former sex slaves.

Today, Melissa is a stay-at-home married mom with a 2-year-old child. She stays active with Wellspring, which she says saved her life physically and emotionally.

She came to Passion to tell young people her story and thank them for supporting Wellspring, the group that helped her rebuild her life.  She was overwhelmed by the tens of thousands shows of support.

 

Check out the video coverage of the event: