Tag: WQME

Stripped Free :: Rescued | Redeemed | Restored

Written by tmadmin on 8 April 2014. Posted in Blog. 6 Comments on Stripped Free :: Rescued | Redeemed | Restored

Tabor Ministries is thrilled to announce a new facet of our Finally Free Women’s Ministry. Stripped Free is a ministry to women who dance in strip clubs in the city of Indianapolis. Our team works to develop relationships with the dancers in order to show them they are loved and they matter to God and us. As followers of Christ, we ourselves have been rescued, redeemed and restored by Him and we know He desires the same for the dancers in these clubs. We are just the mouthpieces to share His love and message.

We would love to connect with you on Twitter – @StrippedFree & Facebook! You can like our Facebook page by clicking HERE.

We want to take this opportunity to thank a few people and organizations that have been inspirations to us on this new journey. They have helped to pave the way and have been doing this type of ministry for many years and we are humbled that God has allowed our paths to cross with such extraordinary women. We specifically want to thank Jeanie Turner of One Way Out Ministries in Ft. Myers, Florida, Kimberly Majeski of Stripped Love in Anderson, Indiana and Sarah Tabb of Unconditional Ministries in Indianapolis, Indiana. We have learned so much from these women and their amazing teams. They have taken the time to pour into us and we are eternally grateful. God is using each of them to impact and transform the women of their cities. We look forward to working with them to build the Kingdom!

We also want to thank our team of beautiful Freedom Fighters! The women we are ministering to aren’t strong enough (spiritually speaking) to fight for themselves, so we are called to fight for them. These are the ladies who are doing spiritual battle in many different ways for Stripped Free. Stefanie Jeffers has to be thanked first. Without God’s work in her life, there would be no Stripped Free. Stefanie is a part of our Finally Free Women’s Ministry and this new facet was birthed out of her own personal story of being an ex-dancer and God’s transforming power of redemption in her life. Thank you also to Misty Javorka, Alex Rufatto-Perry, Elizabeth Sliwa, Jamie Kendall, Johnette Cruz, Kristin Katsis and Cheri Bate. These ladies are all filling different and unique roles and we are SO grateful!

How can you get involved? We’re so glad you asked! There are three ways to get involved:

Pray, Pray, Pray – Please lift up the women in the clubs. Pray that many would come to know Christ and His saving power and that they would realize there IS hope for a different life in Him! Also pray for our team. We need wisdom and protection both physically and spiritually. Pray that we would love these women well, like Jesus loves them.
Invest – There are many different ways to invest with both your time and your resources. We need volunteers. We are putting a prayer team together. A prayer covering is perhaps our most important need. Prayer warriors are a must! We are hoping to have a group who can be praying while we are actually in the clubs. We also need volunteers to supply and assemble gift bags of goodies for the girls. You can also invest financially by making a check out to Tabor Ministries and writing Stripped Free on the memo line and mailing it to the address below or by going to either of our websites www.taborministries.org or www.finallyfreeconference.org and donating to the TM Kingdom Fund and specifying Stripped Free in the Special Instructions/Message area of the payment page. Tabor Ministries is a 501(c)(3) and all gifts are tax deductible.
Share – Please share this ministry with others. Share our blogs with your friends and your churches and help us spread the word. God is already doing some powerful things and we can’t wait to see what He has in store. This is just the beginning!

We hope you will connect with us on Twitter – @StrippedFree & Facebook! You can like our Facebook page by clicking HERE.

Tabor Ministries, Inc.
11057 Allisonville Road, #303
Fishers, IN 46038
www.TaborMinistries.org
www.FinallyFreeConference.org

Waiting……UGH!

Written by tmadmin on 2 April 2014. Posted in Blog.

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Twitter: @KimTabor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KimandBrianTabor

In a previous blog I mentioned that I would be talking more about what I have been learning through my “stay by the stuff” desert time. (See my Stay By The Stuff Blog) One of the words I immediately received from God was about the importance of waiting on Him. I know using phrases like, “I received a word from the Lord,” can be controversial. I didn’t hear an audible voice, but it became clear through Scripture and during my prayer time that was the message God had for me at the moment.

I’m just going to be really honest here. Waiting stinks! I don’t like it. Never have and probably never will. The beautiful thing is that God already knows my true feelings about waiting and He’s ok with it. He’s not going to spare me from seasons of waiting. He knows how important those seasons are for building character. Let’s face it, would any of us take the time to REALLY press into Him and have gut-level conversations if life was always going along smoothly and if we got whatever we wanted exactly WHEN we wanted it? I think the honest answer would have to be “no.” The desert times that are full of questions are when God does His most powerful work in us. That’s just a fact.

One of the promises of God I’m still clinging to is Isaiah 64:4. “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” I also love Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” My heart-felt prayer has been that God would act and, yes, even fight on my behalf while I wait on Him. I don’t want to get ahead of Him and try to manipulate circumstances. I’ve done that too many times and just made a mess of things. God doesn’t need my “help” in this regard. There’s a reason, perhaps multiple reasons He wants me to wait. So you know what? I’m going to do just that….wait.

Is God bringing you through a time of waiting right now? Maybe it’s related to a job, finances, health or even a relationship. Whatever it is, if He’s telling you to wait, then wait. You don’t know better than Him. You may be tempted to think you do, but take it from me, you don’t. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.

Start praying those two scripture verses. Don’t just read them. Pray them. Tell God you are counting on Him to fight for you and to act on your behalf and see what happens in the process. And most importantly, DON’T move until He tells you to move!

If you are in a time of waiting I would love to pray with you. Please share in general what you are waiting for and I will join you in lifting that to the Father. It would be a privilege!

God Redeems EVERY Part – Stefanie’s Story

Written by tmadmin on 17 March 2014. Posted in Freedom Stories. 8 Comments on God Redeems EVERY Part – Stefanie’s Story

“Well, you all know I used to be a stripper,” declared the woman sitting next to me at a Bible study I had been invited to lead that evening. She then followed this shocking statement by quoting verses from the Book of Zephaniah. She spoke with clarity and passion and her obvious love of Jesus was contagious. Let me be very candid. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around all of this. I had never met a stripper, not even an ex-stripper. Throw verses from Zephaniah on top of the situation and it was almost more than this little naive mind could take. “Who IS this woman,” I thought to myself. “I’ve got to meet her and hear more of her story.” That is how I met Stefanie.

I describe Stef as someone who “oozes Jesus.” She is radical in her love of God and love of people. She’s very honest about where she’s been, how she got there and the One who saved and transformed her. I’m privileged to go into local strip clubs with her through a new ministry to strippers in Indianapolis. (More about that in my next blog.) She is the epitome of a living, breathing message of hope for the dancers we meet. John Wesley says, “Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.” Stef is on fire for Jesus and I get to watch her burn inside those clubs and IT IS POWERFUL. This is her story:

Three years. That is how long it took for me to lose almost everything. And it took almost losing it all for me to turn back to Jesus.

The day I walked out of my job as a paralegal I went to a gravesite to mourn the loss of a child I carried for 4 months but would never have. It was the day my child should have been born. I grieved not only for the baby I would never see, but for a life that looked nothing like I dreamed it would. I was a divorced, single mother of a beautiful daughter. Dead was the dream that marriage would last forever. The new man in my life, the father of the child I lost, was abusive and gone. Dead was the plan that I could create a new family for myself and my daughter. So on that day, in the pouring rain, I cried out in agony for so many things and I never once called upon the name of the Lord. Instead, I listened to the whisper of the enemy and walked right into darkness.

At the age of thirty, I walked into a strip club for the first time. It seems like that should be the day when I came to the end of myself, but it was just the beginning. For three years I sold little pieces of myself and my soul a dollar at a time. Each time I kneeled to pick up money that was thrown at me, I threw away another piece of me. My name would ring out many times as the DJ would call me to the stage, but I didn’t even know who I was anymore. The only thing I knew was the more money I made the more worthless I became. I was bitten, grabbed, pinched, groped, degraded, and humiliated and this was a world I walked into willingly. My surroundings had been dark for so long that my eyes became accustomed to it and I didn’t even realize how lost I was. What I knew, though, was when I looked in the mirror I didn’t recognize myself at all. The empty shell of a woman looked nothing like the child who once loved Jesus with her whole heart.

It became impossible to separate the darkness of my life from the light of the life I had with my daughter. I tried, but as much as I loved her, I didn’t create a home for her that she deserved, so I lost her. The day she left to go live with her dad and stepmom almost killed me. If it hadn’t been for the daily phone calls, the weekly visits, and the weekend visitation I would have just let go and ended it. My life was filled with a crushing despair that I numbed with drugs. I lost my daughter, my home, and most of my possessions. I lost friends. I disappointed my family. This is how far I had to fall to land on my knees and cry out to Jesus to save me. I walked out of the club and left all of my costumes and shoes behind. I have often wondered how long little pieces of me were walking around the bar on the backs of other broken women. I walked out, turned back to God, and swore I would never return.

It has been ten years since I left the clubs for what I thought was the last time. It has been an amazing journey. One step at a time, God has restored my life in ways I could never have imagined. I am now married, have a new daughter, and the daughter I lost has been back home for six years. God’s mercy is not just for me. I will never pretend that I deserve any of the grace He has shown me. Without Him I am nothing. But it was never too late for me to discover His life-changing love, and I have a burning desire to share that with other hurting women. I have been rescued, redeemed, and restored and THAT is why I have returned to strip clubs. The love and hope that I know is for everyone who reaches out to accept it. Someone, though, has to be the one to share Light in dark places, so I go to familiar places I never dreamed I would return to and share Jesus and His love with other women just like me.

Stepping out in faith, saying yes to God’s call on my life, and following Him back into the clubs has been a blessing I could never have anticipated. To be able to speak the name of Jesus in a place where I once thought I could hide from Him is amazing. The first club I stepped into many years after leaving the strip world was the same club where I used to dance. I remember getting ready at home that night and how different it was from years ago when I would be getting ready in the club’s dressing room. I put on my jeans, t-shirt and flip-flops. I walked in there as a woman changed by the power of God. He has redeemed everything. What used to be a private dance area for me has become a place where I have been given the chance to share the Gospel with a sweet dancer who needs to know she is loved right where she is. I have even recently been given money within those walls, not for dancing, but for ministry. Yes, He redeems every part and I am so overwhelmed and grateful.

When I look in the mirror now all these years later, I see someone who is loved by God. I see someone who finally accepts His love, full to overflowing, and I share it with others…one step at a time, one club at a time, one woman at a time…in the name of Jesus and for His glory.

You’re Doing WHAT???

Written by tmadmin on 11 March 2014. Posted in Blog. 19 Comments on You’re Doing WHAT???

So…..I’ve been going into strip clubs lately. There. I’ve said it. Now pick your jaw up off the floor. I know that confession shocks many of you. I recently shared that juicy tidbit of information with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while and to say they were shocked would be an understatement. Why in the world would I, the next best thing to Sandra Dee (ok, so I grew up on the movie Grease), go into a strip club? The answer is simple. There are women in those clubs who are broken and devastated (whether they know it or not) and they need to be told that someone loves and cares about them. There is One who will never leave them and whose love will never change. They need to be introduced to the Great Lover of their souls, Jesus.

The truth is, I go into the clubs for the same reason I go into churches all over the country with our Finally Free Women’s Conferences. There are women sitting in every church in America who are just as broken and devastated as any woman dancing in a club. How can I say that? Because women are women no matter where you find them. We all have insecurities. We’re all afraid we will never measure up. (I have no idea who is holding the measuring stick.) We’re all secretly hoping that somehow someone will find us worth loving and tell us we matter.

This point was made very clear to me just a few weeks ago. My friend, Stefanie, and I were in one of the clubs handing out small gifts to the dancers, which is something we do each time. Inevitably one of the dancers will ask why we are giving them gifts and being so nice? That’s when we have the great privilege of mentioning the name of Jesus inside the walls of those clubs and literally being His Hands and Feet.

On this particular night we were about to leave the club when we noticed a new dancer had just arrived going straight to the stage. We wanted to make sure she received a gift as well, so we walked up to her and held out the gift bag. She stopped and came over to us and asked, “What is this for?” Stefanie spoke right up and said, “We are loved and we want you to know that you are loved too. God loves you and you matter.” I’ll never forget the look in the dancer’s eyes as they began to well with tears. I’ll never forget it because it’s very familiar. I’ve seen it time and again in the eyes of women at our conferences when they hear those same powerful words. God loves you and you matter. I saw that same look as I stared into my own eyes in the mirror many years ago having heard that life-changing truth for the first time. It’s a sacred moment when the words go beyond the ears and enter the mind and begin to sprout in the heart. The moment the tiny fragile seed of belief is planted in a heart with the simple question we secretly ask ourselves, What if? You can see the dancers as the wheels begin to turn in their own minds. “What if these “church ladies” are right? Oh please, let them be right!”

We’ve been developing some amazing relationships inside those walls and each time we enter the clubs we get to throw a splash of water on the tiny seeds that God has already planted in some of the girl’s hearts. It’s truly amazing.

So that’s one of the things I’ve been up to recently. You will be hearing more about this in future blogs as well. I can’t wait to see what God has in store!

Can we make a deal? I’ll pray for you and you pray for me. Please pray for our outreach team that goes into the clubs. Pray for protection and that we would fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel by showing these women God’s unconditional love. And I’ll pray for you as God continues to reveal Himself and as He shows you where you can most effectively use the gifts He’s entrusted to you. It might be in a place where you least expect it!

Stay By The Stuff

Written by tmadmin on 4 March 2014. Posted in Blog.

My computer was freaking out today, so I did what many do. Actually, the only thing I know to do since I am certainly no tech wiz. I restarted it. After the screen went black for a moment, I heard the start-up music and within a few minutes my computer came back to life and began working as good as new! Phew!!

Have you ever needed a restart? Ever needed to hit the reset button on yourself? I’ve just experienced this in my own life over the past 2 months. 2013 was a stellar year in so many ways, but as the year was coming to a close I found myself overwhelmed. To put it mildly, I was dazed and confused. I had somehow lost my focus and my world and life seemed very blurry. There were circumstances that were approaching that I didn’t know how to handle. Problems were arising with no answers. I kept repeating this phrase in my mind, “I don’t see any way for this to work out.” For me, that particular phrase always leads to the same place….panic and worry. Many of you know my story and the stones I carried for so long, my old buddies, Fear and Anxiety. Well, my old unwanted “companions” were back. It took me a while to realize it, but it was true, so I decided it was time to hit the reset button.

That’s how I began 2014. I decided to reset. I heard a pastor preach a sermon a few years ago about what to do when you’re exhausted, overwhelmed and fearful. He said, “What do you do? You stay by the stuff!” What did he mean by that? Pressing in to the One who should always have my gaze and digging into the Word. So that is exactly what I did. I did a version of a Daniel fast, prayed and spent more time in the Word. I stepped up my intensity level with these things. Now please hear me. I’m not saying any of this to make myself sound like a spiritual superwoman. I’m most definitely not! Desperate times call for desperate measures and “desperate” was my middle name.

I mention this because I wonder if there is anyone else out there that needs a restart? Have you lost focus? Are you feeling overwhelmed with life and all the demands that come with it? Maybe even full of worry about how it’s all going to work out? Let me encourage you to press in to your Heavenly Father and to dig into His Scripture. If you’re already doing that, let me encourage you to step up your intensity level by even including some form of a fast.

I went into that desert time with a lot of questions. Do I have all of the answers now? No. But peace has returned and I’m learning how to trust at a deeper level. And my Father has indeed been wooing and teaching me along the way. I’ll be sharing some of the things I’ve been learning and some of the things I’ve been questioning in future blogs, so stay tuned. But for now, stay by the stuff. It’s the only way to come back to life.

Let’s Connect On Twitter: @KimTabor