A New Message at the Strip Club-Church Showdown

"I can't make out what you're saying to me. Please have someone call me so I'll know what you're saying."

Sitting in her car, Anny Donewald prayed these instructions to God last month.

Founder of Eve's Angels, Donewald ministers to women in the adult entertainment industry in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She'd been mulling over the news that dancers from a strip club in Warsaw, Ohio, were picketing the local nondenominational church that for years had picketed them.

When Donewald's phone rang moments later, it was her friend Sheri Brown, who co-leads JC's Girls, a ministry to women in San Diego. She'd called to talk about the news. Donewald says she knew immediately that "God was telling me to go to Ohio."

As quick as you can say holy irony, both were bound for Warsaw. There the two women would do what they did every week: get a table at a strip club, spend time with the dancers, bring them pizza, offer them gift bags—and tell them, "God loves you, and we love you."

For Brown and Donewald, pizza and goodies are about more than pizza and goodies. "It's all about relationship," says Donewald. She tells the women, "Anytime you want to hang out or need something, call me." The beautiful thing is, they do.

What made this outing different, of course, were all the church folks in the parking lot waving placards.

What Donewald and Brown would share that Saturday night, first with dancers in the club and then with church members outside, was, "What you've been hearing isn't quite right."

Donewald had stripped for six years in various cities, earning as much as six figures. During that time the Bible had been wielded as a weapon against her, along with dire warnings of damnation, as well-meaning Christians had begged her to stop.

Many women in the sex industry, many of who have already been abused physically and emotionally, experience a type of spiritual abuse from Christians. This is why ministries like JC's Girls and Eve's Angels are spreading a new message. Donewald summarizes: "He isn't saying you're a whore. He isn't saying you're a home wrecker. He's not saying you're forgotten. He's not saying you're dirt."

Donewald came to Christ after her second child was born. With the random words "Matthew Four Sixteen" scrolling through her head—which was more than a little irritating—she asked her sister, "Who the h--- is Matthew?"

Her sister ventured, "It sounds like a Bible verse."

Donewald's sister opened a Bible and read these words to Anny: "The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." From that point, Donewald says, she knew she had heard from God. She spent the next three weeks reading the New Testament. She acknowledges, "I was radically converted."

In The Fox Hole

When they arrived in Warsaw, Donewald and Brown spent several hours hanging out with the dancers at the Fox Hole. The reason they gave the dancers for being there? "We just came to give the message that God loves you."

What you've been hearing isn't quite right.

Afterward the two women introduced themselves to the church members who'd gathered to protest. Recognizing that the church had indeed been called by God to engage with the folks at the Fox Hole, Brown and Donewald pled, "We just came to tell you this is not God's heart for you. The way you're going about it is putting them on the defensive."

What you've been hearing isn't quite right.

Pastor Bill Dunfee invited the two women to speak in church the following morning. When he introduced them in worship, he confessed "I don't know the best way of doing this type of ministry. I do not know the best way to minister to strippers."

Through their respective ministries, Brown and Donewald have found that unconditional love is what changes lives. That's the secret to reaching women in the sex industry. The evening they spent at the Fox Hole, three women rededicated their lives to Christ, and two came to know Christ. Recognizing the need for more comprehensive supports, Donewald dreams of establishing a housing and rehab center for women leaving the industry.

After Sherri and Anny preached, members of New Beginnings Ministries had already begun to minister differently. Members had given the dancers backpacks full of clothes for their children and offered to help meet other needs as well. It was, indeed, a new beginning.

The end, of course, has yet to be seen. Dunfee met with the Fox Hole owner to attempt a truce, but both the strippers and church members reportedly have continued their respective protests. However, the women at the club have stayed in touch with Anny and hope to see her again.

"I love the [broader] church," Donewald exclaims, "but I'm frustrated with her! The church has missed it, and we owe the world an apology for not representing Jesus the way he wants to be represented."

We are, after all, representing the guy who was scorned for eating and drinking with sinners.

I can't help suspecting that when more of us are eating pizza, sharing our stories, exchanging phone numbers, and learning the names of each other's children, we will be on the right track.