<\/p>\n
A Christian leader on a mission to stop sex trafficking has embarked on a fascinating journey to redeem a former strip club, purchasing the establishment and turning it into a center to transform women\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
Anti-trafficking leader Caleb Altmeyer, founder of\u00a0Helping Captives, recently told \u201cThe Bible Bros Podcast With Billy Hallowell and Dalton Harper\u201d how he and his team made the stunning decision to purchase the former club and transform it into a center aimed at rescuing and restoring victims.<\/p>\n
Altmeyer said the quest to purchase the center began after he fully realized the depth of the human trafficking crisis. At first, his ministry had begun exploring how to help women and was quickly overwhelmed by what they encountered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought that we were going to help three to five women,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we had 21 women go through our house [in] nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n
That rapid influx exposed a sobering reality: trafficking isn\u2019t a distant or minimal problem; it\u2019s happening in communities across America, often hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n
So, what started as a smaller outreach quickly became the central focus of Altmeyer\u2019s ministry. As the need expanded, so did the vision \u2014 and his team decided to solely focus on anti-trafficking efforts.<\/p>\n
They then began praying about creating a \u201cFreedom Center,\u201d a place where women could receive immediate care, detox, counseling, and long-term support. That dream soon became a reality when an unexpected opportunity emerged: a local strip club shut down.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Altmeyer said an idea took hold, and the Lord stepped in.<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018You know what, God? Maybe you\u2019re crazy enough that you would [take] a strip club that was known for objectifying women and turn it into a center that would be known nationally for helping women come out of trafficking,’\u201d Altmeyer recalled thinking.<\/p>\n The anti-trafficking leader started taking steps to secure the building, but the road wasn\u2019t easy. At one point, the ministry was offered an opportunity to potentially participate in a $1 million grant to help acquire the property. But there was a catch: the funding, if it was secured, required the facility be employed for \u201csecular use only.\u201d<\/p>\n Altmeyer said that the condition forced him and his team to totally rethink accepting the money, as it would have required them to abandon their faith-based model \u2014 one they know is essential and effective.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love Jesus\u2026 we can\u2019t do it,\u201d he said. \u201cOr I could take Jesus out of our ministry\u2026 which we\u2019re not okay with doing because that\u2019s the only thing that truly heals people coming out of this horrendous situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Walking away from that kind of money wasn\u2019t easy, but Altmeyer and his team did just that, trusting the Lord along the way. Over time, that trust was honored incredibly.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the grace of God, we just got the funding that came in last week\u2026 and just paid the building off yesterday,\u201d he told \u201cThe Bible Bros.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, the property is fully owned, free of restrictions, and on its way to becoming the Freedom Center that Altmeyer and his team had long wanted. The team still needs to raise $1.6 million for remodeling and preparation as the journey continues.<\/p>\n The urgency behind the project is hard to ignore, as trafficking is a massive problem that isn\u2019t getting any better.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world\u2026 It\u2019s past drug sales now,\u201d Altmeyer said. \u201cWhat we can say is it\u2019s happening everywhere, and it\u2019s happening all the time, and it\u2019s probably happening in a city near you.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the darkness, Altmeyer and his team are seeing lives transformed. Some of the women now serving in his organization are survivors themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they\u2019re free,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they know how to fight this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a powerful reminder that even in the most unlikely places, transformation is possible, and that light always breaks through the darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Christian leader on a mission to stop sex trafficking has embarked on a fascinating journey to redeem a former strip club, purchasing the establishment and turning it into a center to transform women\u2019s lives. Anti-trafficking leader Caleb Altmeyer, founder of\u00a0Helping Captives, recently told \u201cThe Bible Bros Podcast With Billy Hallowell and Dalton Harper\u201d how<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5741,7914,5232,182,6775,660,7651,5637],"class_list":{"0":"post-28375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-club","9":"tag-darkness","10":"tag-deliverance","11":"tag-god","12":"tag-redeemed","13":"tag-story","14":"tag-strip","15":"tag-wild"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}