Inter-Faith February Call Cyber Trafficking , Teens, and Online Saftey

This computer. Okay, so good evening, everyone, and thank you for being here. I wanted to acknowledge diversity in the room because we want to celebrate, like, all faith traditions and different backgrounds and different lived experiences. So when we come to these calls, it's really important that everybody, you know, has a seat at the table because that's exactly why we've created this conversation. Tonight we're going to be talking about cyber trafficking and teen safety and. And the role that faith communities play in the prevention and, like, protection and response. So this presentation isn't meant to scare anyone. It's just meant to clarify, to equip and to invite, like, responsibility and conversation. So we know that human trafficking today does not usually begin in dark alleys or by kidnapping. It begins in digital spaces, private messages and moments of vulnerability. And because faith communities are built on trust, we both have the opportunity and an obligation to respond wisely. So I'm going to go to next screen. Oh, hang on just a second. There we go. All right, so this is an overview of tonight's flow. So what we're going to do is first we'll talk about, like, why the issue is right now, especially as it relates to online and like young people. Then we're going to kind of address the online sex tortion and teen suicide, including some real cases out of Pennsylvania. We're going to handle this with care and respect to the families because these are real children and real headlines. We'll spend some time, like, understanding how traffickers like, groom and control and why shame and silence, particularly with boys, can become like, a lethal situation. We also want to talk honestly about faith communities. We're not accusing anything, but just to acknowledge just the reality that we're not immune to ourselves and that we must. That trust is such a. It's got to be paired with accountability. You'll heal for you. You'll hear from our local Jacksonville representative, Ms. Ruby Peters, tonight. She's an expert, and she's going to give us some practical steps for parents and caregivers and faith leaders can take. We'll leave space for questions and discussion, and we'll also close with prayer. And I'll be leading prayer as a Christian, but I want to say clearly that that will be offered with deep respect with every faith represented. And my hope is that everyone leaves tonight informed and just, grounded and empowered and not overwhelmed. That's the goal. Okay, so why we talk about this pacific cases, we need to understand kind of like why the issue is so urgent right now, and that's that human trafficking has changed the primary recruitment tool today is no longer like, a physical proximity. It's becoming digital access. And it's for the young people are being targeted, like, on the platforms they use every day. So it could be, you know, social media, it could be gaming systems, it could be, like, private messaging apps. These are spaces that kind of feel normal and familiar and safe to them. So what's especially concerning is how fast, like, exploitation is on the rise and it's escalating. So we're no longer talking about, like, these long timelines. In many cases, like, the coercion moves from first contact to crisis in a matter of hours. So it's also important to say it clearly that most teens are targeted, are not, like, reckless. They're just kind of emotionally vulnerable. They're lonely, they could be curious, stressed. You know, maybe they're isolated or simply just kind of wanting to have some type of belonging. So as faith communities, how we matter here is because we are a place of trust, and trust is a gift. So when it's isn't paired with awareness, it can be used as exploitation. So this is why prevention can't wait. It's something that we. It can't be passive. So this was the. So before I share the specific story, it's important to understand the broader context. So there were some federal investigations that confirmed that there's been at least 20 minors that have died by suicide after being targeted in an online sextortion scheme since 2021. So it's like 20 too many. These are the only cases. Like, these aren't the only cases that are beneficially connected. There's many more suspected, but they're just not, like, confirmed right now. Most of these cases begin on platforms teens are using every day, especially Instagram. And the initial interaction often kind of just looks harmless. It's. But once a predator kind of has some leverage, that means they may have shared some pictures or some intimate information or something like that. Um, it becomes. It can escalate pretty quickly. So predators kind of rely on, like, three things. Um, and Ruby, if I'm missing anything, please just chime in. Um, but shame, like, fear of exposure and the belief that the teen is completely alone. So many of these perpetrators, like, operate overseas, which kind of adds, like, this other layer of complexity and delay when it helps. When we're trying to get help urgently. I just want to be very clear, like, this isn't, like, about bad judgment or reckless behavior. It's about adults intentionally manipulating children. Like, they're doing this very intentionally, and they're Exploiting developmentally vulnerable and weaponizing shame faster than we can reach them. Would you agree there, Miss Ruby?

Oh, absolutely. Ditto everything you said.

Okay. All right. So this was. This is the case that just wrecked me. I kind of had texted it to Ruby when I first read about it. So I just kind of want to pause here because this slide is deeply important because we're not talking about a statistic like, this is an actual human life. So Bryce was in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. He's a 15 year old boy. He died by suicide on November 6, 2025, after being targeted. Oh. In an online sex torsion scheme. Law enforcement found that the first message came in around 4:37pm and he died at 7:10pm so that was just about two and a half to three hours later. So the investigators at the local county sheriff's office and the FBI field officer continued to investigate him because the potential perpetrator was contacting them digitally from a different location. So it wasn't someone that was in the United States. So we know from this, the forensic review that they did on his phone, that the contact began with what appeared to be like a peer. So it was someone that he assumed was his age, like, was someone that has his equal, they're pretending. And the conversation continued until shortly before his death. So this is a form of sextortion. It's a form of online exploitation where someone manipulates a young person into sending sensitive information or images, then using these threats or coercion to escalate the situation. This was not curiosity, this was coercion. And we need to understand something very important here, that shame was the weapon in this. In this instance, adults who prey on children online often count on shame and fear of exposure to isolate their victims emotionally. And tragically, that isolation can lead a child to believe that there's no safe way out. And so Bryce's life mattered. And we honor him and every young person that's at risk by naming this clearly and compassionately. So when we talk about online sextortion and suicide, like, boys are disproportionately affected compared to girls, and yet they're less likely to tell anyone what's happening. From a young age, you know, many boys kind of receive a message like, you know, hey, you need to handle this yourself, or, you know, like, let's be strong like you, you know, you don't talk about this like you'll be judged or you'll be punished. You know, and traffickers, like, they're smart, like, they know this, they don't Always just exploit on technology. They exploit social conditioning. They know that shame will silence boys faster than fear itself. So for many boys, the greater terror isn't the threat itself. It's the fear of being exposed or embarrassed or seen as weak by their parents or their peers or even their faith leaders. So once silence sets in and the control escalates, this is why the prevention must include explicit permission for boys to speak. So they need to make sure that they have a voice. Because without the fear of punishment, ridicule or spiritual shame, connection interrupts control. But shame, if it's going to be left unchecked, that's when things can become deadly because they feel like they don't have a, a voice. So these are four other boys. So that just. The reason why I put these in is because this is clearly not a pattern or this is clearly a pattern. It's not an isolated tragedy. Um, and what's, and what's overwhelming is that in 2022, like Walker Montgomery, he's the 16 year old high school football player, so he's up there in the top right. He was contacted on Instagram by someone posing as a girl. The person was later confirmed and identified as that Nigerian sex torsion scammer. After threats of exposure, Walker, he died by suicide. That same year, Jordan Dey, a 17 year old from Michigan was targeted in almost the identical way in the case. There was another Nigerian brothers that were later extra, like extradited, meaning that they came to the United States and they were actually sentenced to 17 years in prison for running the sex tortion ring connected to his death. There was Waylon Schaefer, he's 16 years old and he's from Montana. He was threatened by scammers attempting to extort him over private images. The pressure escalated very quickly and he died by suicide. And the last child was Ryan last. He's at the age of 17. He was targeted through an extortion scam that involved overseas scammers. It was a 25 year old man in California acting as a money mule for an Ivory coast based operation. He was sent, he was captured, he was indicted and he was serving 18 months for his role in facilitating the crime connected to Ryan's death. I want you guys to notice something that these cases have in common. These are all different states, these are all different families and their different lives. Like there was Instagram contact, there was a fake peer or a romantic interest that was involved. There was rapid escalation, threats of exposure, crushing shame and silence. So again, it's not random. This is very organized, it's repeatable and it's very intentional. And every one of these young men's lives, they mattered. And so now that we've seen this pattern, let's kind of just like dive in and talk about how this actually works, like step by step so we can interrupt it earlier. So this slide, it says you've seen like we've seen the tragedies and we're following the pattern. What's more important to understand how cyber trafficking actually works? The process usually unfolds in three stages. There's the first stage, which is like what they call the grooming stage. It kind of looks harmless at first. You know, it's friendly messages, it's compliments, you know, some shared interests. The traffic killer kind of like tries to build trust pretty quickly and like, well, not, I mean it's kind of slowly, like slow intentional building. But since it's online, it's, it's quicker than if we were just meeting in person. The second stage is control, which once trust is established, then the tone kind of shifts a little bit and requests are starting to be made. So boundaries are crossed and images can be obtained at this point. And then threats often follow after those images are received. So it could be, the threats can be like exposure to friends, to family, like to schools, even faith communities. And then like the third stage would be silence. This is where the shame becomes the most powerful weapon. The victim begins to believe that they are trapped and that asking for help is going to make things even worse. And when they, they just think that they're the ones to be blamed and they're going to just be punished. So I just kind of want to emphasize like this point kind of clearly is that control is psychological long before it's ever like actually physical. So understanding the sequence allows us to interrupt it earlier before silence can take hold. Ruby, do you have anything to add here?

No, this is just, this is why the, the reason that our state attorney here in Jacksonville started a cyber crime task force because it's the Nigerian Yahoo boys, our one gang that made it their business to, to extort money out of young men. Their whole targets are 10 to 20 year old men. So we're looking at adolescents and teens. We know that, you know, a 17 year old guy thinks of sex a million times in an hour. It's, it's a hormonal growing thing that is, you know, we're all here because of it, it's God given. But during, especially those times, it's an, an impulse that seems to be Hard for some people to. To ignore. So it. And yes, you're right about all of these young men who are committing suicide because they feel trapped and, and they don't want to let people down. It is. It is a real tragedy. And some people, no. Don't see how that's related to human trafficking. But sometimes, sometimes those, Those Nigerian guys are in a gang. But there's also cyber crimes that are happening because of these compounds that are in Asian countries. And those are the people who are also trying to trick us and scam people out of money. Whether that's the toll that you didn't pay or the invoice is attached from PayPal that you don't belong to. It's. It's a whole. Even the national center for Missing and Exploited Children are looking at online enticement, which is a crime of its own. But those. That online enticement is the beginning of the lure, followed by the gaining of the trust, followed by the payback. So there's always this system that they use, and the reason it's related to human trafficking is that some of those guys being recruited in Asian countries to work what they think is going to be a legitimate job are then put in these compounds behind barred windows and Gl. Broken glass on the walls. So they literally are captive and they're given scripts, they're taught to scam people. And they are. They are rewarded based on how successful they are in gaining. Maybe their quota is just $300 a day, but it's. They'll send out, the estimate is three to five hundred contacts per day. So that's gaming, that's social media. And, and they're. That's their job. And they're being forced to do that job. And then there's repercussions for them. Maybe withholding food or whatever it is so that. So that the victim becomes the victimizer.

Yeah.

And that's. It's a. It's evil.

Thank you for sharing. So we're just kind of talking about the deception and control traffickers use. And so Ruby did a great job at that. It's just kind of like once you name them, you kind of interrupt them. So kind of one of the first tools that they do is kind of love bombing they can do where it kind of looks like excessive attention or like praise or affirmation, because they're looking on vulnerabilities and affections, emotional holes that they can poke into. So for a teen who kind of feels. Maybe they feel unseen, you know, maybe they feel insecure, they can feel incredibly powerful when someone comes in and starts really affirming them. Then comes, like, this withdrawal. Suddenly, like, the tone changes, like, the response, they start slowing down. The affections kind of pulled back a little bit. And this creates this anxiety and this emotional dependence from the trafficker to the person that they're their victim. So then they'll go into isolation, where the traffickers intentionally drive a wedge between the teen and, like, safe adults by saying things like, you know, they're just not going to understand, like, you don't want to get in trouble. You know, this is just between us. It's like our secret. And finally, again, we're going to keep talking about shame and fear because this is. This is what they live on and what they feed on. These traffickers, they're fully. It's, you know, fear and shame are fully activated as threats of exposure and humiliation and harm to reputation. And so these aren't just random behaviors. They're calculated, and they're very repeatable tactics. That's why they're successful. They are designed to control and to silence their victims. So when we understand these patterns, we got to kind of stop asking, like, why didn't they just tell someone? And we need to start asking, like, how can we disrupt this earlier? So this is kind of another question. It's like, why? I just feel like it's one of the really important slides. It's like people hear these stories, and a common question that people ask is, like, why don't someone just, like, say, yeah, why didn't they leave? You know, like, why is this. Like, this is such a misunderstanding of what happens psychologically? Because this is psychological. It's. Victims are staying because they are afraid, not because they're agreeing with what's happening to them. There's a fear of exposure can be worse than another consequence in their mind. So many teens believe that telling a parent or a pastor or a teacher will only make things worse. They like, they believe that they're going to be punished, shamed, or they're going to be blamed. And so these trauma bonds are formed very quickly and even in harmful situations. And the brain can attach to a person and it alternate it, like, alters their chemical makeup sometimes, depending on how long it's gone on. And it's between, like, the threat and relief. Like, it's just like this. They don't. They can't delineate the two. You know, children's brains aren't developed fully at adolescents ages. So over time, the victim's going to start to lose Trust not just in others, but they're going to lose trust in themselves to make wise decisions. So they begin to believe like there's just no safe way out. And I want to say this very clearly and with a lot of compassion. Stuff like staying is not consent. So if they're staying, it doesn't mean that they're giving consent to what's happening to them. It's often the result of a manipulation and fear and isolation and those words we've been saying all night long. So like understanding, like the understanding this question and understanding this answer is what is how we're going to lead with compassion instead of judgment. And that's, and that's really big, especially for faith communities that we need to be people of compassion and not people of judgment. So this slide requires some honesty and like some courage because you know, faith communities, we build them on trust, right? And that trust is very sacred. And when trust is not paired with accountability and awareness, it can be exploited. So like grooming and exploitation can occur in faith spaces also just like they can anywhere else. Like through youth programs, online ministries, interactions like some counseling relationships or mentorship dynamics. You know, in some cases spiritual language can be misused. Like don't bring shame. Like you know, you need to respect your authority. You need to know respect. Like handle this quietly when this happens. Like victims are also silenced and harm can continue. So I want to say this clearly, like acknowledging that this is just a reality. It's not anti faith, it's just the, it's just we're going to be acting in faithfulness. Like faith should always be a place of refuge and never a place where harm hides. And so this is, I kind of wanted to bring this in. It's just like I want to approach this slide with very much like with a lot of claire care and clarity because these were, we're not like we're naming this not to attack faith, but they are shared because faith can be misused too. You know, these people were pretending like otherwise to put, you know, people at risk. The first case involved this Kingdom of God global church, formerly known as the Joshua Media Ministries. And so this was done in August of 25. So I kind of wanted to bring in just some recent things in the news that's happened. So federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging David Tyler, he was a self proclaimed apostle, and Michelle Brannon, the church's executive director with conspiracy to commit forced labor and money laundering. So according to the indictment there were operation generated about $50 million in over more than a decade beginning around 2014. So these individuals were referred as armor bearers. Were, you know. Yeah, they were. Yeah. This is crazy. So when I read this, I was like, I have to put this in here because we have to be aware of all across the board. You know, they were recruited and they people were first forced to work unpaid, around the clock shifts in a call center operating in Michigan and Florida and Texas and Missouri. So these victims were reportedly told that they were raising funds for charitable causes, but including, like, clean water initiatives and even support for trafficking victims. While prosecutors alleged the money instead went to lavish lifestyles, including luxury vehicles and recreational assets. For those leaders, what's especially important for us to understand here is the control tactics that were described in the federal filings. So according to the prosecutors, the victims were cut off contact with their families. Anyone who questioned leadership was prohibited from working elsewhere or leaving without permission. They were required to sleep in the call center facility for the ministry housing. So this is trafficking. Okay, like to a t. So they're punished for failing to meet an unattainable donation quota through food restrictions, sleep deprivation, public humiliation, and psychological abuse. So these federal prosecutors alleged that the spiritual language was used to enforce obedience, including claims that disobedient meant that they were defying God. The second case here is a case from La Luz de la Mondo. It was an international mega church with a significant presence in both Mexico and the United States states. Its leader, I'm not sure how to say his name, but we'll just call him. Mr. Garcia, was arrested on June of 2019 in Los Angeles international Airport on child sexual exploitation charges. So in 2022, Garcia, he pled guilty in California to multiple accounts of sexual abuse involving a minor who is currently serving 17 years in the prison system. So more recently in the news, the federal grand jury indicted Garcia on additional felony charges for because they found out that he was producing and possessing of child sexual abuse material. Even so, according to the federal indictment, the victim was 16 years old, and the material was found on a device that was seized at the time of his arrest. So I just kind of want us to notice that these two cases have in common. In both, we see a leader that's claiming elevated spiritual authority. Followers taught by obedience over discernment and isolation from outside accountability. Abuse can be hidden in religious language and silence and force through fear and shame. These cases kind of remind us of difficult but necessary truth, that spiritual authority does not equal moral immunity. And so if we are still fallen people, we are. We're not perfect people. But trafficking and abuse. Like, they don't always look like chains and cages. So sometimes it's going to look like obedience, it's going to look like silence. It's going to look like unquestioning, you know, like devotion and naming. This doesn't mean make our faith weak. It just, it strengthens it. Because faith communities, you know, we value truth and transparency and accountability and safe places for people and especially the vulnerable. Like that's we're supposed to be houses of. And so I know, like at our church, and I'm sure at your church, Ruby, we do extensive background checks with people that are going to be serving in our church, especially if it's going to be with minors, you know, like, and you have to set through a lot of different trainings, and that's important. You can't. You can't just assume just because someone's been coming to church a long time that they're a good person. Because the traffickers, they look like good people and they act like good people and they're master manipulators. So this is kind of like we're bringing it back home. So everything that we've discussed, you know, Jacksonville is, you know, it's this large connected city. You know, we have many hub cities. I love that about. It's like we made up all these little small towns is what I always call it. You know, we bring both the opportunity and the. For the vulnerable. Here we have law enforcement advocacy organizations have seen like an increase in online exploitation cases, particularly involving young people. So what's important to understand is that many of us, that these cases don't begin with physical contact. You know, this is something that's been online, on phones, on gaming platforms, private messages. You know, the means for prevention can't sit with one group alone. Like, it requires, you know, parents who feel equipped to have honest conversations with their kids. We need to have faith leaders who understand, like groomings and dynamics. It's important for us to understand that educators and nonprofits who know how to respond whenever there is a situation that arises, and then law enforcement who can act quickly when the concern does arise and something is reported. And so that's why, like, as an interfaith and a community collaboration is like so important. You know, when we work in silos, trafficking is. Traffickers are going to win. But when we work together, children can be protected. And like, this isn't an abstract issue. This is our city. And awareness is where we're going to truly save lives. So with that, I'm going to bring it over to Ms. Ruby Peters. Is there anything more you want to add? You like that? I got you and Kristen on there.

Well, thank you darling. You did a great job. The in education is the key to all of this. To educate as many people as we can. You may have heard of the 764 network and those people are using sextortion not for financial gain, but for content. And so a. They're called nihilistic violent extremist groups, MVEs. And what they want is they're targeting young ladies and they're targeting them for they, they are asking them to hurt themselves and they'll be videoing all of that. They're asking them to do heinous things with their pets. They're even asking them to sexually assault their siblings in some cases. So these people want to share that film of that worst of the worst action that they have forced some child to do with other extremist networks. And so then once again they're, if, if they're forcing the victim to hurt somebody else, they're turning the victim into the victimizer. And it's. I had to look up the word nihilistic because I went, you know, we had high school vocabulary and I thought I knew what it meant, but I thought what it really means, the absence of religion, the absence of morals and the lack of value for human life. So it's totally against what most faiths are absolutely. For we do value we in the Catholic faith. The number one tenant for Catholic social teaching is the dignity of all human beings. So these people are just the absolute opposite of that. And it really brought home, you know, you think of the word evil, but these people are, I think so depraved. They are forcing evil acts on children who, who don't have the world experience to be equipped to say to counter. Counteract that. But it's that same grooming. It starts with the lure, the, the trust and then the payback. So you know our. I know a 17 year old who was sent a. An inappropriate picture on Snapchat and asked to send one back. And it's that hormonal heat of the moment. This is only going to be seen by me. No one else will see it. You're just sharing with me, which is not the case, that that can be screenshot and shared worldwide in a heartbeat. And we all know that. And that's what my message is to kids. If someone tells you it's only coming to me and you're on a device, don't believe that because it can Be worldwide in a heartbeat. So help us spread the word.

Yes, for sure. So we're going to kind of talk about. So this slide's about empowerment and not pressure. So when parents hear stories like the ones that we've shared tonight, it may feel. You can feel kind of like a lot of fear or even some guilt, but we want to release something right now, and that's just. And it's not about perfection. It's just about presence, like, really being present. You know, the most protective factor for a child is not technology settings alone. So you can't just go in and, you know, parental settings is, you know, it's great. You need to have that, but it's a relationship. You know, children need to know before anything ever happens that they can come to you without fear of punishment or anger or shame, that that honesty is going to be met with protection and not consequences. So that means just having conversations very early on when they're young, like a young age. You know, not just once, but very often. You know, the online spaces, like, they're in, you know, asking curious questions like, you know, who did you talk to online? You know, what apps do you and your friends use? Has anything ever, you know, made you feel uncomfortable? It also means you need to set some boundaries around your devices, you know, but doing so transparently, like, not secretly monitoring, you know, but explaining, like, my job is to protect you. It's not to spy on you. And perhaps, like, the most important thing is we must normalize the speed that kids need to hear. You know, if something feels off, you know, tell me immediately. You know, we'll handle it together. You know, protection, you know, starts with. Doesn't just start with the restriction. It starts with the relationship. And so this slides about the. Is about responsibility. It's not about blame. It's about, like, faith communities. You know, we are so uniquely positioned to protect because we, you know, we're built on trust. And when trust is paired with wisdom, it becomes a powerful safeguard. Like, this begins with teaching, you know, dignity and consent and healthy boundaries as part of our faith formation. This is not just in crisis moments, you know, this is before the crisis happens. Happens, you know, but in just everyday discipleship and community life. It also means training leaders to, you know, recognize grooming behaviors. You know, grooming is rarely dramatic. It's often relational. It's gradual and often misunderstood. So awareness changes those outcomes, you know, because we can clearly report pathways that matter. You know, people need to know, like, who do I talk to? Like, what happens next? Like, will I Believe? Will I be believed? If you are to report something, you know, then you need to understand the process of that before something happens. So when someone comes forward, the response, and I'm going to say this very clearly, the response must be to prioritize the care of the survivor, okay? Not the reputation or of the institution and stuff. So if something has happened in our faith communities and stuff, it's not about, you know, the face of who we're representing as a church or a faith community. It's about who has been exploited or who has been possibly harmed here. So because silence, that just protects the systems, you know, it doesn't protect the people. So, so finally, like, as faith communities, we need to know that we don't need to handle this alone. You know, we need to partner with local coalitions like the one that we have. You know, you can join the Northeast Human Trafficking Coalition. There's a ways to become an ambassador. We have ambassador trainings that they do. And then it lets you come into the meetings to see all the organizations that are involved. You know, you can be involved with the nonprofits. We have great nonprofits here that offer just tons of resources and education. Ruby and everybody, we come to schools, we come to, you know, invite us. It's free resources. We can come and give education tailored to your. To what your needs are. You just let us know. You can reach out to us on social media. We have a Facebook and an Instagram. You know, also, like with law enforcement, you know, everyone, it strengthens when we're all working together, we can only be strengthened. So when faith communities, you know, we choose transparency and accountability and we collaborate, then that becomes a place where we are what it's always meant to be. It's places of refuge, and that's what we're supposed to do. So if you do see something and suspect exploitation, you know, if a child comes to you or if a teen comes to you and you expect something, like, the most important step is believe them. Like, don't dismiss them, believe them, okay? Because, I mean, you know, it may not. It may not be something, but it possibly will be something. So you need to just. Just believe them. You know, stay calm. Like, don't feel panicked, you know, inside, you know, talk, like, be calm and just communicate safety, you know, don't shame them, don't do an interrogation, you know, and please hear this very clearly. You don't have to investigate this on your own. Like, don't. You don't have to can. You don't need to confront the person that's suspected as the trafficker or the person that's like, it was the victimizer because that can escalate some danger and can compromise some evidence in the case. So what we need you to do is just preserve, you know, you can like preserve messages if there's username, images, whatever, you know, if there was payment requests, whatever it may be, you know, just reach out immediately and in times of emotional crisis, you know, make sure that you're calling the suicide and prevention hotline. Oh, and I forgot to add the Florida safe number on there. So it's, yeah, I, I, yes, there you go. It's 1-88- It's 1-855-FLA. Safe. Correct, correct. Yeah. So, so you don't have to know everything. You just need to know who to call and, you know, acting quickly. It can save a life. So do we have any questions, Rachel, on anything? Because I want to lose the space for that.

Yeah, I was just curious, why do so, like, how the victims are killing themselves? Like, what is the goal of these traffickers to do that? I don't understand that at all.

Well, in the nihilistic, violent, extremist mindset, they, they're about creating chaos, they're about disrupting peace. They, they're, they're just evil. And so no, they're not going to benefit from this person other than sick, a sick jolly that they get from seeing someone else. They may or may not see it because some, sometimes it is on video, but oftentimes that person has, you know, shut off his computer. And I've told kids a million times, just shut that computer down, turn that off, take that device someplace else. Because they're the, the perpetrators are counting on you staying, staying online, staying with them, listening to them. And so no, their, their goal is an evil, sick reward that they feel by harming someone else. Don't ask me to explain it because I'm not a psychologist, but it's, it's perversion.

It's just interesting since it's not like they're not getting money. No, that's why, you know, that's usually the incentive with stuff.

Well, they're trying to get some money.

They, yeah, they are trying to get money in the case of the night, especially those Nigerians. Why they're all in Nigeria, I don't know, but I'm sure it's not limited to Nigeria, but it's the, it's the, like the score, it's, oh, good. I got one person to harm themselves today. I got one person to, they're they're keeping score. It's crazy.

It is. So I want to re anchor this before we close. And so what we talked tonight was pretty heavy, but I just want you to know that it's not hopeless. This is very much preventable. And awareness saves lives as, you know, community. We can protect children when families talk openly and when faith communities are informed and when people know how to respond when harm can be interrupted earlier. And they can also silence traffickers. So this conversation just stops them us being able to come together. So we may not be able to do everything, but every conversation and every intention and every moment of courage, it really matters. So I really like that we might be able to do everything, but all of us, like, we can do something.

We can do something. And the national center for Michigan Exploited Children has great information on their website about how to talk to kids about sextortion, the fight, the new drug has great information on their website about talking to kids about, about pornography and how to, you know, good pictures, bad pictures, how to avoid becoming, letting that control your life. There's, there's so many organizations that are realizing that what we need to do is equip adults to talk to children. So they need to start early. And, and it starts with what is consent? Here, look at this new book order today.

Awesome.

Consent. Consent for Kids. It talks about the ability to change your mind. And because you consented to something and then someone turns that around on you, doesn't mean you're. You agreed to do something bad. It's, it's very, it's very good explanation for, for little kids. And I have a bunch of grandkids, so I'm going to read it with them.

But, yes, you're the cool grandma.

It's a matter of. Yeah. Who talks to teenagers about pornography? Yeah, I know.

I had a whole intro. I need to do it, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna save it for another day. I'll save it for.

We won't go there.

But so as we. Yeah, as we close, I just kind of want to invite us in this moment of prayer. It's like I, you know, as I said before, you know, like, I offer this as a Christian with deep respect for every faith and tradition represented. If prayer isn't part of your practice, you're just welcome to simply, just be set in silence and just meditate or simply just hold, you know, intention and space with us. You know, these are shared hopes for our community that are listed here on this slide. So just. Lord, we just lift up every child and Every teen, Father God. And we ask protection over their minds, Lord, over their hearts and over their online spaces. We ask that you give them courage to speak and to safe adults. Give them the courage to just.

To.

For the adults just to be able to be listens. Lord God, I pray that you just open our ears and open our hearts to you, Lord. We pray for survivors that they would. That they would be taken and they wouldn't. This wouldn't define them, Father. That they would bring healing, Lord, that they would bring dignity, Lord, restoration and hope. We're praying for families, Lord. We're praying for wisdom to have these hard conversations. It doesn't feel good to have these conversations. And we hate that we have to have them, Lord, but we really do have to have them. So, Lord, we just ask that you just be in those and you just guide those and just bring trust and safety, Lord. We pray for our local law enforcement, Father. We pray that for our first responders to give them discernment and you give them strength and you give them protection as they're out there in the streets, Lord. Give them endurance as they confront darkness. Pretty. Literally pretty face to face, Father. And we just pray for our nonprofits, we pray for our advocates, our educators. You know, this can be draining sometimes, Father. So we're just asking for some renewed strength, Lord, just to provide the resources they need to keep continuing doing the care that they need. That we would be all united with the efforts and that for the good to serve your. Your community, Lord, and your in your city. So we pray for our faith communities that we would be a place of refuge, Father. That we would. We would expose things that are hiding in those dark places. That we'd have compassion, that we would overcome silences and injustices and that we would be pursued with wisdom and love, Lord. We ask for the courage to act, Lord, though we ask for the compassion just to be able to listen. And then we ask that just love guides us in everything that we do. In your son's name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you.

You're welcome, guys. All right, well, I appreciate your all's attendance tonight. And hopefully we can grow this community. And this will be on the playback. So everyone that you know, we meet on the third Thursday of every month at 6pm East Eastern Standard Time. And then we have different subjects. And if there's any subject you would like to hear, just, you know, let us know. And we would love to put a presentation together.

Thank you, Melissa.

All right. Thank you, guys. Have a good night. You too.