Hi everyone,

As promised….the videos from Jam Session ’11 are now up! Check out our amazing artists The Royals and Can You Hear Us perform some of their touching songs from the night. Click on our media tab to view some videos, and for a collection of all of our videos you can visit our YouTube channel!

God bless!

Hey everyone,

So it’s been a couple months now of planning to host an event for the benefit of Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC) – access their site here:  www.bombayteenchallenge.org  and already God has been doing some amazing things!

First and foremost, the leadership of those involved has been exemplary to say the least!  From to making videos, brainstorming ideas, being on ‘draining’ conference calls haha, and contacting people for their support – this has been a very big eye opening experience.  As you may know, our ministry’s mission is to develop youth into a community for Christ – and even right now, I can just see leaders within our community coming together to put this fundraiser together to provide for the Education Fund of women and children who have had their lives stripped from them by forcing them into sex slavery on the streets of the Red Light District in Mumbai, India.

Together, we can help BTC nurture, rehabilitate and restore the lives of these women and children through the amazing power of the Gospel! 

Stay tuned for more updates, but for more information on our upcoming fundraising event, please check out:  www.roc322.org/btc

Thank you for all of you who have already contributed – your donations are greatly appreciated!  With your help, we have already reached a little over $2,000, but we still have quite a ways to go…

We hope that you will STAND up against this injustice TODAY and help us reach our goal to raise $5,000 for BTC’s Education Fund.

So far we’ve raised…

God bless!!

A Public Service Announcement from George W. Bush (parody) encouraging you to participate in our $2/day Campaign March 19th! We heard great stories from everyone last month and here is your chance to live your whole day off of $2 to experience what millions go through every day. Help build awareness to the problem of human trafficking and join the fight! For more details, email us at info@roc322.org

There is just one more day till the $2/Day Campaign! Join us in our fight against human trafficking by giving up some of the luxuries you have and experience life as over 2 billion people around the world do. Many people live off of $2/day and are exposed to the horrible sin of human trafficking. Our goal is to raise awareness on this problem, and also raise funds for Bombay Teen Challenge who actively saves people from this crime. Nothing is impossible with our God, so let’s come together, lend your support, and join the $2/day Campaign!

Hey Everyone!

At the beginning of August, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip to Mumbai, India to help out an organization called Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC) with several others from Philly, New York (chicken & rice, holla!!) and New Jersey.  BTC began as a ministry devoted to reaching out to the poorest of the poor and has evolved to rescue and care for sex slaves in the brothels of Mumbai, the children of sex slaves, juveniles roaming the streets, addicts and runaways.  I must say, we went with a mindset ready to bless all those we came in contact with on this trip, but moreover than we could EVER have imagined, we in turn have been the ones blessed.

We had opportunities to talk and work with the children at BTC, some HIV+, many not knowing who their father is, some not aware of their true age, others just thankful to not be on the streets anymore.  My first reaction when I saw these kids was just an amazement at how happy they all were!  It was a happiness I couldn’t understand; their smiles so large and sweet they became contagious… seconds after seeing all of them, we too were smiling!!  I quickly realized that their happiness boiled from within because they were so greatful to have an opportunity to be where they are at right now, and not out on the streets, unaware of their surroundings, or when they’d get to eat their next meal.

We heard testimonies from women who were once taken, or left, from their homes, promised a life of opportunity and hope, yet stripped of all dignity and forced into sexual slavery in Mumbai, India.  By being forced into this “lifestyle” many became scared and had no place to turn for help.  Not knowing who to trust anymore and not wanting to bring shame to their families or themselves, they remained shackeled to their new lives in the Red Light District.  Broken mentally, emotionally, and physically, many of these woman racked up debts that they were unable to pay off.  Many had children born to them by some guy who felt the need for a 5 minute sexual adrenaline rush… never to be seen or heard from ever again, yet these woman were faced with the choice of raising their children on their own, within the Red Light District.

Testimonies from the men began with running away from home hoping to find a better life in the streets, little did any of them realize the hardships they would face, or the atrocities of the life they had chosen at the time.  Consequently, many fell victim to the streets and became heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol.  Begging on the streets throughout the day provided enough money for the drugs and alcohol that they craved, causing many to not even be able to eat or afford proper food.  Living in homes made of cardboard boxes, or tarp hanging over their heads, nearby the railway stations or transit centers, their lives were lost to wandering the streets, and with no education they were unable to obtain jobs to take them out of this poverty and wretched situation.

Yet… God is a JUST God.  God is SO much more of a Father to His children than anyone could ever be, is SO much greater than that guy who walked into the Red Light District as a client, and is SO much greater than any addiction that anyone on these streets had ever had to face.  After talking to many of the men, women, and children at BTC, it is SO clear to see the hope that God had restored in their lives.  The very fact they each of them can truly and genuinely confess that Jesus is their Lord, and He alone has brought them out of their past to take them out of such miseries to provide an open path of redemption and hope, is just AMAZING.

Only God can cause such a transformation in their lives.  How can I possibly say that it’s only God?  Because people always change.  People will always say something great to you in hopes to change you or make you feel better and to help you forget about your past, but there is only ONE person who can allow you to truly forget about your past by knowing that your sins have truly been forgiven… and that is Jesus Christ.  Jesus BECAME sin, and SURRENDERED that sin upon the cross to His FATHER, and according to one of His last sentences on that cross, “It is finished.” – meaning, sin is over, it’s done, it has NO bearing or hold over our lives, and we need to indulge in that fact and move forward in His unconditional Love and Grace.

Jeremiah 33:10-11- ”This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD…’ ”

This verse came to life when I went to Mumbai, society might say that there is no hope or possibility for salvation within those streets of the Red Light District, but I say to you that is completely FALSE.  There IS hope, and there is SO much opportunity to bring that hope of Christ to people there, so that they may know that they no longer have to live in that lifestyle, but they can trust God to take them out of it.

It’s the least we can do with all that God has blessed us with, isn’t it up to us to go out and break the injustice and stop sexual slavery?  to stop the drug and alochol addictions?  to provide for and take care of the many hungry and homeless?

In all honesty, it’s not good to be back… I wish I was there helping in whatever way I can, but it’s up to us to be faithful in what God has already given us, and I truly believe if we align ourselves to Christ and work as a community for Him, He will take us to where He wants us to be, whether to minister on those streets, or not.  God bless!

In His Grace,

Steve