In April, The Daily Jot wrote a series of articles about the devastating impact of human trafficking from the lens of our Ghana ministry in the rural areas where Islam practices its long-established trade of stealing land and people for profit. Ours was the case of a young lady being lured into sex slavery and child labor in Dubai. Persistent investigation uncovered the operation of a syndicate, a member of which approached our young girl to lure her into modern-day slavery. Pastor William Agbeti and his team thwarted the attempt and assisted in relocating her to a safe place to pursue vocational training. Who would have known these stories would have an impact half way around the world in Missouri?
Meanwhile, back in Missouri, Don Grove, a Sunday School teacher at Waypoint Ministries Church, was teaching about human trafficking, using some of the material from The Daily Jot. It so touched the heart of 13 year old Bronc Hibdon that he decided to do a fundraiser to help prevent human trafficking. Now Bronc is an amazing young man. He reminds me a bit of myself when I was his age. He is a true cowboy, helping his parents on their mule and horse farm. He rides, ropes, and rodeos, and he follows the cowboy code—which is a version of the Golden Rule. Bronc is also homeschooled and his parents require that he does a community service project each month. Before he heard about human trafficking, he was going to raise money for St Jude’s Childrens Hospital. But Mr. Grove’s lesson steered Bronc to Ghana.
Bronc wrote to me, “Last month I had a Cowboy Challenge, which is an obstacle course for people riding horses. First, I was going to donate the money to St Jude’s then my Sunday School teacher talked about human trafficking…Then I decided to switch the cause for my event to help stop human trafficking. I had to do a lot of things to get it done. I had to build the obstacles, make fliers, paint a big sign, make a Facebook event, get donations and had a quilt raffle (a friend of mine made and donated the quilt). I was the judge for the event. I finished up by writing “thank you” notes to the donors.” Bronc is not only a cowboy, he’s a great promoter—He was in the newspapers and had quite a list of local sponsors.
Bronc’s event raised $637 to “combat human trafficking.” His mother Ruby wrote this along with the check which will be passed along to Pastor Agbeti in Ghana, “I pray God’s blessings over this money to aid in the work Pastor Agbeti and The Daily Jot are doing. May God Bless You!” This is the work of an extraordinary young man who has extraordinary parents. It is the story of how one person can stir the hearts of others and lead with love rather than hate. Bronc set a great example for others to follow AND shows how a Sunday School teacher used The Daily Jot to inspire and encourage. As in Acts 20:35 when Paul said, “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” God bless Bronc!
