Founded in 2012 as a prayer gathering focused on ending sex trafficking, Elijah Rising quickly saw the need to raise the awareness of local citizens. Accordingly, Elijah Rising began hosting Awareness Van Tours to inform the public of the realities of modern-day slavery and its presence throughout Houston and the surrounding areas.

Its mission expanded in 2013, when Elijah Rising negotiated the closure of a brothel and converted it into our headquarters. Then, in 2014, Elijah Rising launched the Museum of Modern-Day Slavery, one of the nation’s few museums dedicated to exposing the brutal realities of sex trafficking and exploitation. While the physical museum is closed for content revitalization, its message has become globally accessible as it launched digitally in 2022.

Though Elijah Rising has potential global impact digitally and holds the ultimate goal of making our program replicable, our efforts are focused primarily on ending Houston-area trafficking. Another way this is accomplished is by reaching more than *2,400 individuals who are sex trafficked, as well as buyers, and traffickers each year through direct interventions in illicit massage parlors, on streets where trafficking and prostitution is commonplace, in hotels, strip clubs, and brothels.

As women increasingly exit the oppressive sex industry, our mission has expanded to include long-term, trauma and Survivor informed, residential care in the Elijah Rising Restorative Care Program, which includes our Safe Home and Education Center for Survivors. 

What began as a prayer meeting has expanded into a 501c3 organization, that God has used to birth other anti-trafficking organizations and initiatives. In a decade, Elijah Rising has conducted close to 94,000 minutes of prayer meetings. More than *22,000 citizens have engaged in awareness initiatives, *8 million via online methods, and *470 million people were reached through global press coverage of our successful initiative to prevent the first robot brothel in the U.S. from opening in Houston. Through interventions, Elijah Rising has had more than *15,000 interactions with those who are being sex trafficked. Finally, since our Restorative Care Program’s launch in 2018, we have housed 50 Survivors and 12 of their children, provided 582 hours of clinical therapy and more than 2000 hours of Biblical discipleship. In 2022 alone we provided 336 hours of addiction recovery support with Residents achieving 3,778 cumulative days of sobriety. 

But we do not rest on these numbers and positive results. Our four-pronged mission has been honed and is regularly assessed through prayer, seeking continuing education in our field, collaboration, implementing identified best practices, and tracking progress by keeping consistent metrics. 

*Some intervention and awareness numbers are repeat interactions.