by Dwain Hebda

Somewhere in Central Arkansas this month, Casey Thurow is in a strip club. But she’s not there for kicks, and she’s not one of the dancers moving listlessly to the throbbing music as strangers watch, blankly, and shuffle their cash. 

In many respects, Thurow is the opposite of who you’d expect to find in one of these darkened dens. But then again, maybe she isn’t. True, you wouldn’t anticipate a driven, stay-at-home mother of four small children who holds a medical degree in a strip club, but then many of the women in the club have children and some have attended college, too. And it’s a fair bet none of them grew up dreaming they’d one day do this kind of work, either.

Fact is, Thurow doesn’t see a whole lot of difference between herself and the strippers, except by God’s saving grace. The main thing, she says, is she chooses to be here and many of the women on stage don’t have that option, having been forced into the sex trade (legal or otherwise) via human trafficking. 

And that harsh reality is what brings Thurow and her peers out from the warmth of home and family to minister and share a message of hope for any woman who needs it. 

“A friend had done a lot of groundwork earning trust in some local strip clubs for us to be able to go in and love on the women who work there,” she said. “We’re able to do that once a month. It’s our goal to let them know that they are seen and loved; that God loves them and sees them and that they matter.”

Despite the unpleasant environment and rough crowd, Thurow insists she’s never felt threatened doing her work. And even if she did, something inside of her says to deny this unique ministry is to deny what God’s leading her to do. 

“(This ministry) is difficult, but I think when God calls you to something, he equips you, so I feel blessed to be able to go in and get to know these women,” she said. “I hope I can be a part of blessing their lives. I know they bless mine. There’s not a time I go in there and talk with them that I don’t leave thinking about a conversation and learning from what was said.”

Thurow’s feet were set on this path by mission trips she’s taken to Stuttgart, Germany, twice in as many years. There, she experienced Kainos, a worldwide nonprofit ministry founded in Stuttgart to work against human trafficking and sexual exploitation in prostitution. Thurow’s first trip was through New Life Church of Conway and last year, she led a team from her own church, Fellowship Bible Church in Conway. With each visit, her desire to effect change crystallized into tangible action.

“We took part in awareness and prevention activities,” she said. “When we went last year, there was a Christmas market going on in Stuttgart and we were able to pack cookies and help the ministry sell the cookies to raise money for the organization. We talked to the local people about what Kainos does and about trafficking.” 

Prostitution’s legalized status has had a dulling effect on many German residents, Thurow said, to the point many don’t understand the scope of the industry in their own community.

“A lot of people in Stuttgart don’t realize what goes on in the brothels and just how many brothels there are. They’re hidden in plain sight,” she said. “You don’t see prostitution out in the street in Stuttgart the way you do in some other parts of Germany. They’re tucked away. Stuttgart is considered within the Bible belt of Germany, a nice place to live and a family-friendly area. It’s shocking that we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of brothels.”

Residents are also ignorant of the sad realities of the women who work there, especially the many working against their will. Experts say 75 percent of trafficked persons worldwide are women and girls, and more than half of total victims are sexually exploited. Even individuals invested in the issue such as Thurow are staggered by the scope of the problem. 

“Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry,” she said. “In Germany, the government is making billions of euros annually off sexual sales in brothels. We’re not talking about a third-world country. We’re talking about Germany, the country with the best economy in Europe.”

The more Thurow learned and served on her mission trips, the more committed she became to making a difference at home. After all, when human rights groups place the global number of trafficked individuals at around 25 million, the space between Stuttgart, Germany, and say, Stuttgart, Ark., becomes very short, indeed. 

So that’s why she’s out here, month in and month out, providing a friendly face and a caring smile to any woman who needs it. Thurow plans to return to Germany on another mission, but for now her mission is here on cold gravel parking lots and the smoky enclaves in her own backyard.

 “Each girl that I come in contact with I think, this is somebody’s daughter, somebody’s child,” Thurow said. “For that to be my child, and but for the grace of God it could be me, it does make you think about the importance of an intact family, the health of your home life, faith in Christ. It makes you really consider what we can teach our children about seeing and loving those who are on the fringe, maybe even those hard to love.”

To learn more about Kainos worldwide ministry, please visit kainos-ev.com.