ATLANTA (ABP) — Every night in Atlanta, young women are paid to look sexy in a profession that leads to a damaging loss of self-worth. And Lia Scholl wants to change that by being their friend.
The founder and director of Star Light Ministries, Scholl visits women working as exotic dancers in order to give them gifts and show that someone cares about their lives.
Scholl also teaches volunteers from Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland how to be chaplains to exotic dancers. Trainees visit the clubs at least once a month.
Basically, Scholl said, her chaplains work the same way a chaplain at a university or hospital would. Bearing scarves, nail polish and makeup, the Star Light chaplains offer friendship to the dancers, who range in age from 18 to 24 years old.
Usually, about five team members visit the young women regularly. Their goal is to affirm the dancers in their value as human beings and to provide “life-skill” classes like self-defense and yoga, Scholl said. The male chaplains on each team serve by providing transportation and praying for friends or wives who visit the clubs.
“It's a hard life making a living as an exotic dancer because you lose that sense that you have any value,” Scholl said. “You lose it because you are up on a stage where people only judge you because of how you look. You lose it because you are given money according to how you look and how much of a fake persona you can put on.”
Many young dancers have experienced addiction, abuse, poverty and a lack of education, she said.
“They are energetic and bright young women, and they are left out there to be used by a system,” Scholl said.
Team members do not encourage dancers to quit their jobs, Scholl said. Rather, they seek to build relationships with the women so that if they do decide to quit dancing, team members can be a resource in the transition.
LeAnn Gunter, associate pastor of Peachtree Baptist Church in Atlanta, participates on a chaplain team in Atlanta.
“Part of my calling has always been to reach out to women,” Gunter said. “I think that this particular ministry, although it looks different than a lot of the other women's ministries that I've done, enriches my ministry. Any time we do things that are social-justice related, it makes the gospel all the more imperative for me in my calling, and it certainly widens my view of God's kingdom.”
Cindy and Ryan Clark, members of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta, joined the Atlanta team a year ago.
“I take the words of Jesus Christ seriously, specifically in reference to ‘the least of these,'” Ryan said. “For me it was a way to take a risk in putting into action what I believe — and that is that God is the creator, and every human is valuable.”
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