In the past year students at one of the largest campuses in the U.S. have learned about the link between the global problem of modern slavery and the sin in their own hearts. And students on a number of other campuses have mobilized to fight against human trafficking, which is enslaving millions.
Ohio State University’s Price of Life campaign
On Monday evening, April 19, 2010, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 600 gathered in the Ohio Union Performance Hall on the Ohio State University (OSU) campus in Columbus. This Town Hall meeting focusing was part of InterVarsity’s Price of Life Invitational, a week-long event aimed at raising awareness of modern slavery, human trafficking, and God’s passion for justice.
The keynote speakers were U.S. Congressman Pat Tiberi ® and U.S. Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy (D). Panelists were Judge Paul Herbert, State Senator Teresa Fedor (D), International Justice Ministry Vice President Holly Burkholder, Special Assistant to the Attorney General Todd Diffendorfer, and author and trafficking survivor Theresa Flores. Pastor Rich Nathan, who was active in InterVarsity as a student at Case Western University, and who became an attorney and professor of business law at OSU before becoming the first pastor of Vineyard Columbus church, served as moderator.
Attendees learned that human trafficking was widespread in Ohio in part because of weak state laws to fight it.
Week-long Outreach
Throughout the week, staff and students from InterVarsity and a number of other Christian ministries worked together through a total of 14 events, sharing with students and others information about the injustices of modern slavery as well as the slavery to sin that is experienced on an individual level until we let Christ and his Kingdom reign in our hearts. At the end of the week, more than 300 students had committed their lives to follow Christ.
At the end of the year, there were additional successes to note. Legislation making human trafficking a felony in Ohio received final legislative approval on December 8th and was signed into law by Gov. Ted Strickland on December 23rd.
“Through the Price of Life Invitational, the thousands of students and staff involved in this unique anti-trafficking awareness campaign helped give concerned lawmakers the grass-roots energy and support they needed to pass legislation that will help move Ohio from the state with the weakest anti-trafficking laws in the nation to the state with some of the strongest laws,” said York Moore, an InterVarsity staff evangelist and the director of the Price of Life Invitational.
The Price of Life summary video and other videos from the Price of Life Invitational can be seen here.
More Students Work to Free Captives
InterVarsity students on other campuses have also taken up the fight against modern slavery. One year ago, at InterVarsity’s Urbana 09 Student Missions Conference in St. Louis, World Vision announced the beginning of the Human Wrongs campaign to fight human trafficking. This World Vision video highlights activities by InterVarsity staff and students at the University of Delaware and the University of Illinois.
Jesus came to set the captives free, not only from the personal sin that enslaves each one of us, but from the evil practices in the world that keep people from living the lives God created for them to live. InterVarsity students are working to share the message of freedom on campuses across the U.S.
