January 12, 2009
'Life' movement evolves
by Tom Krattenmaker
USA Today
Now that he knows the name of a young enslaved prostitute in Indonesia -- it's Eka, pronounced "Ecka" -- Mike Mercer is all in. The human-trafficking resister from Oregon is committed not just to the reclamation of Eka's freedom and her pre-slavery lot in life, but also to her enjoying life prospects far brighter than if she had never been trafficked and had never crossed his path.
"As a Christian, I can't be satisfied knowing there are people living in such a condition," says Mercer, 37, a onetime youth pastor at an evangelical church near Portland and the founder and director of a fledgling non-profit called Compassion First. "As a Christian, I'm a steward of the image of God. And every person on the face of the earth bears that image. I became responsible for Eka the day I met her."
Mercer, as he befriends sex slaves such as Eka and works to establish a rehabilitation and education network for them, is showing what evangelical Christianity increasingly looks like in the new century, and in the new paradigm.
If you're a Southeast Asian brothel keeper or an American retailer benefiting from slave labor -- and, yes, slavery flourishes today in both forms -- this face of Christianity is most inconvenient. These are the people who refuse to look away and keep their mouths shut.
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