The sky was getting darker, signaling for the pending downpour, and yet the band continued to play their next song for an evangelistic outreach in an open space of a local high school in Cagayan de Oro City. The amateur lead guitarist started strumming his guitar for their next song. “You’re the God of this city, You’re the King of this people, You’re the Lord of this nation, You are…,” the vocalist started to sing. God’s presence was in the place and noticeably, the sky grew clearer.
***
The song is titled God of this City. It is familiar. Googling it on the net I found out that it was originally composed by a band from Northern Ireland called Blue Tree. And was made popular by Chris Tomlin at Passion.
What I didn't know was how the song came into being. The song was composed when the band performed in The Climax Bar, a strip club in a country noted for its sex industry, Thailand. A report reveals that 90-95 percent of the income of Thailand comes from their sex industry. It is also an international hot spot for sex change surgery with thousands of operations taking place annually.
“…at one point I just started singing out. I started singing "Greater Things", something along those lines, almost prophesying over the city… we walked out of that Climax Bar with pretty much a nailed song, as strange as that sounds. Then we were on the way home,” Aaron Boyd, vocalist of the band, said.
Eventually, after the band has come face to face with the reality of child sexual exploitation, StandOut International was created.
StandOut International wants to show that God’s love and power is real even in the most sinful situation.
There is an estimated two million children around the world who are involved in sex tourism. Leading hotspots of child sexual exploitation include Cambodia, India, Brazil, Mexico, and Thailand.
In the latter, child sex tourism is a serious problem. There is an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 child prostitutes in Thailand. Children comprise 40% of Thai prostitutes.
Poverty is a primary reason why children engage in prostitution. Many Thai girls are also forced into prostitution to be able to support their family, which is, according to traditional Thai custom, the first duty of a Thai girl.
Most of the members of the Bluetree were responsible for setting up StandOut International. The organization is working with international charities and churches to help fight child sexual exploitation.
There are individuals who also help StandOut International in their cause.
For one, Ian Wright, will join the New York Marathon on November 7, 2010 to raise £15,000.
“I can’t bear the thought of children being abused. It makes me angry enough to want to do something about it. I’m no natural marathon runner; which is why I’m running with the caption Run Fat Boy Run! I want to do something which is really hard for me to help these kids, and shake me out of my comfortable life and help me begin to imagine what their lives must be like,” Ian Wright said.
Ian Wright is just one of the many people who are taking part of this noble cause of fighting the injustice of child sex exploitation.
There were those who held a kids’ fashion show at their church in Northern Ireland to raise money, joined a had a 24-hour dance-a-thon, sponsored a walk, did a parachute jump, and conducted a raffle promise auction. These were all for raising money to help the organization.
StandOut International is basically parallel to what the name Bluetree stands for, that is standing out.
Aaron Boyd explained to Mike Rimmer, a radio presenter and a journalist, during an interview:
‘The whole concept of that is that, if you're walking through a forest, everything you look around at is pretty much going to be green; green trees, brown branches, brown bark: you know, that kind of thing? But if you saw this tree that was bright blue and everything about it - leaves, branches, bark - was blue, it would stand out and you would stand and look at it and take notice of it. As Christians, Jesus Christ has called us to be salt, be light, in this world and really make a difference…"
Sources: www.crossrhytms.co.uk www.standoutintenational.co.uk
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