VISION FOR THE FLASHLIGHT PROJECT'S WORK IN DALLAS' EROTIC MASSAGE PARLORS
Bring Christ's love and respect to the parlors'
owners, managers, and younger women.
Help them break free of destructive mindsets that lead to low
self-esteem, addictions, alcoholism, loneliness, and anger issues.
Revolutionary Love
This is The Flashlight Project's orientation program. Volunteers
learn how to do
outreach to the parlors' owners and managers.
Prayer Walks
Volunteers go to a location near a
parlor, where they
pray for peace and
the healing power of Christ to enter the
minds of all of the
women inside
the parlor.
Outreach Team
3-member teams visit parlors and deliver gifts, affirmations, and Bible verses. They form
relationships with the
parlors' owners and
managers. They are crucial to The Flashlight Project's goal: to instill positivity in all women
in the parlors.
Parlor Programs
To give women the
peace and new life
that come from a
positive mindset,
our parlor programs
include the following:
Founder's letter of testimony, translated
into multiple languages
Affirmations in
multiple languages
(Biblical and secular)
Relationships with
and service to the
parlors' owners
Materials in multiple
languages and
programs designed by social workers and psychologists
to heal women of addictions, alcoholism, anger issues, loneliness, and low self-esteem
Why The Flashlight Project Focuses on Bringing Positivity to Each Woman in the Parlors
After The Flashlight Project's founder left domestic violence, she learned in counseling that there are essentially two types of people: those who are emotionally unhealthy and those who are emotionally healthy. There is a firm line between the two. While your personal history and situation certainly factor into which one you are, the thoughts that go through your mind play a large role as well. Here is another way to look at it:
Emotionally Unhealthy
Emotionally unhealthy people are not at peace with themselves or with others. This can manifest itself in different ways:
Low self-esteem
Domineering behavior
Alcoholism
Addictions
Anger issues
Aggression
Passiveness
Narcissism
Manipulation
The reasons a person is emotionally unhealthy can be very complex and are different for everyone. However, as The Flashlight Project's founder has learned, anyone can cross the line to "emotionally healthy" and choose to take positive messages into their mind. Over time, this radically changes that person's life.
Emotionally Healthy
Emotionally healthy people are not perfect because no one is. However, they are at peace with themselves and with others. They look in the mirror and like who they see. An assertive woman who is at peace with herself will have positive thoughts flowing through her mind. This changes how she sees herself and other people.
As The Flashlight Project's founder has learned from personal experience, a positive mind is truly liberating.
The Owners and Managers of Dallas' Erotic Massage Parlors
The parlors are very different from other commercial sex businesses in the Dallas area. While it is relatively easy to walk into a strip club and sit down with a woman, that is not the case with a parlor. The vast majority of the time, our outreach team talks only with the parlor's manager or the owner. Rather than see this as a barrier, The Flashlight Project sees it as an enormous opportunity: with enough time and perseverance, we can dramatically change how the women see themselves and each other. It starts first with the parlors' owners.
To effect change in the parlors, we must first see the owners differently:
Mistake #1: Believing that all owners are exactly the same
They do share some commonalities, of course. However, their paths to owning a commercial sex business will vary. What exactly happens in each parlor and how it's structured could vary also. Their personal histories and their treatment of the managers and younger women will be different, too. While all owners will have similarities, they are, in the end, very complex people.
Mistake #2: Believing that no owners will ever be interested in our message
Without a doubt, we will encounter owners who have no interest in our message of positivity. When that happens, we will walk away from that parlor and move on to the next one.
The Flashlight Project's founder believes, though, that we will find those who are interested. Consider what they are surrounded by: crime, negativity, drugs, alcoholism, greed, cynicism, violence, and other problems that no doubt wear on them each day. While some of these problems may very well be of their own making, all of this creates a negative mindset that in the end is very tiring to live with.
What we are offering is a different way to think, one that will lighten their minds and change how they see themselves and other people. It can even change how they treat the people in their parlor.
Mistake #3: Having no compassion for the owner
It is understandable why we would not have empathy for the owner. It can be hard to feel anything positive for someone who exploits women.
We should remember, though, Jesus' example. He often went to the homes of tax collectors, the very people who were most despised in Jewish society because of their corruption. Jesus teaches us that even though we disagree with what the parlors' owners are doing, we are still to reach out to them and show them unconditional love.
Goals:
Bring positivity to the parlor's owner.
Present her with a different way to think.
Show her the unconditional acceptance of Christ.
Change how she sees herself.
Result:
Her mind lightens.
She sees herself differently.
She sees others differently.
She treats the women in her parlor differently.
Additional Goals:
Have our affirmations and Bible verses flow into the parlors.
Implement programs to counter the issues emotionally unhealthy people struggle with.
Help all women in the parlors lead emotionally healthy lives.
Just because it has never been done before
does not mean it cannot be done.
The Flashlight Project is breaking new ground and
doing what no other nonprofit has even attempted.
Join us!
