5 Questions with Gary Haugen.

Welcome to 5 Questions With.....

Today's guest is Gary Haugen. Gary serves as President and CEO of International Justice Mission (IJM), an international human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression worldwide. Before founding International Justice Mission in 1997, Haugen served as a senior trial attorney with the Police Misconduct Task Force of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1994, Haugen was detailed from the U.S. Department of Justice to the United Nations’ Center for Human Rights, where he served as officer-in-charge of the U.N.’s genocide investigation in Rwanda. Haugen is the 2007 recipient of Prison Fellowship’s annual William Wilberforce Award, recognizing an individual who has made a difference in the face of formidable societal problems and injustices. Haugen and the work of IJM have been featured on The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC, FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, National Public Radio, Forbes magazine, The Washington Post and The New York Times, among many other outlets.

And now let's get to the interview:

Hi Gary,

Question 1: What one word would describe your current relationship with God?

Peace

Question 2: What led you to found the International Justice Mission (IJM)?

I wanted to empower fellow Christians to love their neighbors (in very practical ways) who are suffering under violent abuse and oppression. I sensed they wanted to help – but didn’t know it was possible – or how to do it.

Question 3: Why should Christians get involved in helping IJM?

Because there is indescribable joy in being used of God to bring real, life-transforming rescue to those who are in desperate need of justice. Who doesn’t want to experience God’s heroic love poured out through them?

Question 4: International Justice Mission starts every day in prayer. How important is prayer to the work of IJM?

How important is it to the lamp that it stays plugged into its power source? Not much good for very long without it. Not even much of a lamp actually. The work of Justice is God’s work. I couldn’t imagine doing it without talking to Him about it.

Question 5: What can we do? Not everyone can go overseas so how can the "average believer" help those caught in slavery, sexual exploitation, etc?

Pray for those who are being abused – pray for them the way you would if they were one of your own family. Which means getting to know them as family (and IJM can help you do that). Next, send someone who can go overseas and bring help – and then pray for those rescuers as if they were in your own family. IJM can help with that, too. Finally, invite those in your family (and those who are like family) to join you in the fight. Do those three things and God will do very large things – larger than you could have thought or imagined.

Thank you Gary.

There you have it. I would encourage you to check out the IJM Website and to get involved today!

To see past 5 Question guests, check out the rotating interview links on the sidebar.

Just Courage/IJM

"There must be more to the Christian life than this--more than church each Sunday and waving to my neighbors and giving some clothes to Goodwill when I go through my closet each spring."

With this premise, Just Courage takes you on a challenging and engaging journey of adventure. I came across this little book while reading Anne Jackson's blog last year. When I ordered the book, I was not prepared to be challenged to do something more in the area of justice. Reading the stories set forth by author Gary Haugen I became more aware of sex trafficking, modern day slavery and a host of other issues. As a Christian, I felt like I could not ignore the issue now that I was aware of the extent of injustice. Gary kept me on the edge of my seat with story after story from the front line battlefield!

This led me to research Gary's organization, The International Justice Mission.

The International Justice Mission (IJM) is a human rights agency that seeks to secure justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. The IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems. With offices in the US, Canada, the UK and Germany, there is an office close to where you live.

The book was an incredible eye opener to an issue I had not been fully aware of. Gary lists further resources at the back of the book. One of those was the IJM website. You need to check that out. If all you do is sign up for the prayer bulletin and PRAY, you will be helping out in a tremendous way. However, there are a host of ways to get involved.

Sex trafficking is real! Modern day slavery still happens. Please, order this book. Visit the website and let the Lord stir your heart with compassion.