The new dollar coin bearing the likeness of the Native American heroine Sacagawea gained new meaning to many exotic dancers on New Orleans’ notorious Bourbon Street June 8-9. It became a symbol of both God’s unconditional love and the concern of Christian women willing to step out of their comfort zones to bring them small no-strings-attached gifts as a way of demonstrating that love.
About two dozen people participating in Southern Baptists’ Crossover New Orleans evangelistic emphasis visited many of the strip clubs as a way of letting the women know they care about them and want to help.
“Basically you use the woman on the coin as a symbol that God created women with the special gifts and abilities,” said Jean White, a Christian social ministries evangelism associate for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “Women are created in the image of God and God loves them very much.
The circle of the coin, she said, is a symbol that “God’s love is unending, and there is nothing they can do that’s bad enough to keep God from loving them,” she added. And the color is a reminder that “they are more precious to God than gold.”
Ginger Smith, a NAMB missionary who works with the Brantley Baptist Center in New Orleans, said at first she thought the coin concept was “the corniest thing I’ve ever seen,” but was surprised to see how women responded.
“We walked straight into Satan’s territory, and it was just total peace,” she said.
“So many of them say, I’ll never spend this coin,” White added. “It means so much to them for someone to tell them God loves them. They don’t ever hear that.”
White said they would then give the women an evangelistic tract and let them know they would be welcome to contact the number on the back to talk.
The dancers also received a gift bag with some makeup samples donated by a cosmetics company, some candy and a few other small items. A total of about 300 bags were distributed, most to the dancers and a few to other women they meet on the street.
Lura Sheppard of Dahlonega, Ga., another of the volunteers who also coordinates NAMB’s Alternatives for Life Ministry, said she was struck by how many of the women professed to be Christians. Others, she said, have been hardened to Christianity for various reasons.
White said she hopes the effort will result in a long-term ministry to the dancers, because often it is only with repeated contacts that relationships are formed. (BP)
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