Iona Rudisill and Ben Abell

[00:04] IONA RUDISILL: Hi, my name is Iona Rudisill My age is 50. We are recording today from Baltimore, Maryland, and my conversation partner is Ben Able, a colleague and a friend.

[00:18] BEN ABELL: My name is Ben Abell and I'm 61. Today's date is Wednesday, May 19, 2021. And we are recording from Baltimore, Maryland. And my conversation partner is Iona Rudisill and she is a colleague and a dear friend.

[00:38] IONA RUDISILL: So as we get started, Ben, with this conversation, one of the things that just jumped out to me is having a privilege and an honor to be able to talk about our mental freedom initiative and the fact about how it actually started. And so it's like, you know, what was the reason that God actually placed this burden in the hearts and minds of people so that this could start? And one of the things that I think about is, well, because what is the reason that human trafficking even existed?

[01:18] BEN ABELL: Yeah, I love that question. And I think we have to actually go all the way back to the beginning of creation. We need to go back all the way in the beginning of the Bible. And look at creation in Genesis 1:1. You know, it says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And he said everything he created was good. And it was his crown jewel was us as human beings. And so I love just thinking about that and reading that. It says, so God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God. He created them, male and female. He created them. Then God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.

[02:10] IONA RUDISILL: There was perfection.

[02:12] BEN ABELL: There was perfection. That's exactly right. So at creation, nothing was missing and nothing was broken. What the Hebrews call shalom. And so that was what it was at the beginning. And there was no human trafficking at creation. And God created the man and the woman to tend to and really to preside over his creation from the beginning, forever and ever. And we're going to be doing that again in partnership with him in the future. But the man and the woman thought that they could rule and reign better than he could. And so they walked away and they turned away and they strayed away from the original path. And right away, we see in that story, the first human beings, the first generation. We see exploitation. We see sin, which means to stray away, and we see oppression, and we see murder. And Cain killed Abell So the mandate to rule and to reign never went away to have dominion. And the one that brought sin in Satan was never given dominion.

[03:28] IONA RUDISILL: Yeah.

[03:29] BEN ABELL: So there's no neutral territory. And so that's a part of how human trafficking got started. Because of sin.

[03:40] IONA RUDISILL: And I'm so glad you said that because what's so powerful about that is that when we talk about in the very beginning where there was actually complete perfection, where there was man and female, you know, just being able to engage with one another and having that understanding that you were given dominion, we're given dominion, we're given power, we're given understanding. But our dominion, our power, our understanding, being able to be fruitful and multiplying has to always be in partnership with God, that we're supposed to do this with God. And so when we took the step out and we started thinking when men and you know, the man and the woman bit that piece of fruit because they had a false ideology that was presented to them and they believed that false ideology opposed to actually believing what God had said to them.

[04:34] BEN ABELL: Exactly, exactly.

[04:36] IONA RUDISILL: So it's like the whole thing is if that had not happened, we would not have had human trafficking.

[04:43] BEN ABELL: That's right.

[04:44] IONA RUDISILL: We would not have had this crime and we would not have to be able to have this response. Yet we know that this did happen. So we know that there was a response. And you know, having to do that response, there's. It's so interesting because, you know, there's many faith based organizations, there's many organizations, community organizations, there's many governmental organizations that have a response to trafficking. So it's like God, why would you want us to have another response? What is the purpose of having another response? And I think when you talk about the development of Araminta, you get to why was there to be a response? Another response, Right?

[05:33] BEN ABELL: Yeah. And really what it's about is getting back to the invitation to partner with God with the Lord and hear and see his voice in order to rule and reign according to his plans and his purposes. So it's all about posture and what we like to refer that, refer to that as is present space, living and presence based discernment. How do you hear the mind of the Lord to birth something like Araminta in accordance to his plans and his way and his will. And there's this wonderful statement that kind of defines presence based leadership or discernment. And it says this, guiding others by practicing sensitivity and submission to the presence and direction of Jesus, moment by moment, abiding in the strength, peace, wisdom, life and love of his person, surrendering all discernment conversations, attitudes, plans, actions, reputation and authority to his authority. And Purpose. So that's just a powerful statement that as we were being invited to Birth Erumenta with a group of people, this is the posture that we took to say, hey, we don't really know how to do this. But in connection with the Father and his voice, we knew he would show us and what the response ought to be.

[07:19] IONA RUDISILL: And that's. You said something so interesting too, because as being a founder and you're talking about the we, this is not something that is just one person. This is a collective group of people that heard a calling and a yearning from God, basically saying this is a social injustice that is happening within the world today. And how are we going to take our time to really hear what is going to be the response from God and how that's going to take place?

[07:51] BEN ABELL: Yeah. So I know you and I came to know each other soon into this process and you started to hear about the group, you started to hear some things that were going on in the group. So share a little bit about that.

[08:03] IONA RUDISILL: You know, my desire was I've been working in the field of trafficking for now since 2020, so that would be since 2000, 2002, so we're talking about 18 years. And in those times I've seen a lot of different things and I've been able to work with some great partners internationally as well as domestically. And one of the things that I always had a yearning for was to be able to work and have a response, a spiritual response, to work with an organization, being a volunteer and find out what is that spiritual response. So I was looking and it just so happened that in one of our task force meetings for the state, you know, I met one of the founders and we just started having a great conversation, Lisa Carrasco. And I told her that I had a desire to be a part of an organization that was faith based and had a spiritual response. And she introduces me to Alicia McDowell who basically, you know, she said, introduced her to this. So that was even a wonderful thing.

[09:22] BEN ABELL: I love how God does that. So what he does is he calls catalytic leaders like Alicia to hear his voice puts a burden on their heart to join him and to bring his purposes to pass and what he wants done and bringing mindsets together. So she didn't want to do that alone, like you said, she wanted to do it with a group of people. And so she began to just pray and ask the Lord who might be being called to birth a response to what we were seeing in Baltimore. And it's really challenging in Baltimore that it's literally all over the area.

[10:01] IONA RUDISILL: So, yeah, and there's so many different faith based organizations out there and we could be, we could be involved with different ones. Yet in speaking with Alicia, I heard her heart and I heard her spirit and I knew that I could be a part of what God was actually speaking through her.

[10:22] BEN ABELL: And it was such a privilege for me personally because I had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua with her and another group of people from one of our church partners. And on the ride home, she. We were sitting next to each other on the plane and she started to share that heart. She started to share her burden. And it was interesting because in around 2010, before that, we had also been a part of a presence based discernment process to birth and launch another nonprofit to respond to the HIV AIDS crisis. And so we had a group of people again that we brought together and I was just sharing that with her and she said, gosh, would it be possible for you to maybe do that with some folks that we might gather around human trafficking? It was an honor. I said, yeah, we can help to facilitate that and would love to be a part of that. And so certainly to partner with the church and agencies to eradicate the sinful, horrible injustice in our society is a part of why we birthed it. And it just was such a great way that that relationship with Alicia was born there.

[11:41] IONA RUDISILL: And that is also so interesting. I know I keep saying so interesting, but it is so interesting because here you have two people who, who you might have some type of relationship. You're on a plane ride, you're going to do, you know, a missions trip, and yet God orchestrated a conversation for you to have that actually was a part of the burden that was placed in her heart and even a part of a burden that was placed in your heart. And so it's so interesting how God just really works things out in his timing and in his season. And, you know, I think about going all the way back to the beginning again, where there was complete perfection.

[12:26] BEN ABELL: Yeah.

[12:27] IONA RUDISILL: And yet, because we chose to listen, and I say we because we're all mankind, mankind chose to listen to another voice other than the voice that created them. Then it showed up where it resulted in not just sin entering into the world, but brokenness entering into the world. And with that brokenness, God wanted to use willing vessels. And Alicia was that willing vessel to hear the call. Because people can hear a call and not respond to it. She heard, she responded. She went after it with diligence. And through divine wisdom, God actually orchestrated her steps.

[13:13] BEN ABELL: So in October 2010, Alicia had gathered a group of people together and began to meet. And we began to meet under this presence based discernment leadership posture that we just touched upon a few moments ago. And we'd have hours together and we would pray and we'd say, lord, we don't know exactly how to do this. Would you show us how to do this? We would also have what we call immersion days where we would, as a group go away for an entire day to someone's home and go even deeper. And so we had a couple of those. And over time what we discovered is that out of this presence based discernment and us being connected together in oneness, the beauty of it, there were multiple churches that were involved in it. And so you had lots of different perspectives, but all surrendered to the spirit of the Lord to birth whatever it was that he wanted to birth. Our hands were open, we were surrendered. We didn't know what exactly he wanted. And so over time, as we met for probably over a year, year and a half, this Araminta Freedom initiative was birthed and came forward.

[14:32] IONA RUDISILL: Yeah, and that goes to, you know, talk about presence based discernment, presence based living. We can discern and hear the voice of the Lord individually, but how powerful is it together when we're all together? You got a group of people with the same mindset and a focus, hearing from the same person, being directed by God, saying, this is the direction I want you to go into, yet I'm not going to rush this direction. I want you to take the time and through your patience and through your coming together and the relationships that you guys built around one another, you know, this organization was able to be birthed.

[15:20] BEN ABELL: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, some of the people on the list, maybe you could just share who were part of the, who was part of the founders and, you.

[15:29] IONA RUDISILL: Know, so, you know, when I was, when I was invited in by Alicia towards the just the beginning of you being able to launch it, you know, I saw that there was Bob Bingham, there was also Lisa Carrasco, who I had mentioned earlier, Mark Stevenson, yourself, Jeff Mount, Ron Casey and Kristen Hannigan. And one of the things that's so wonderful about this collective group is that all of you were coming with different gifts, with different perspectives. You had visionaries and strategists and networkers and intercessors and those who were about relationship and restoration and, you know, just being able to sit at a table together and come up with different things. And I'm sure it wasn't always that easy yeah, but that's what happens in relationships. And it's okay for things not to be so easy. It's just for that commitment to be there.

[16:37] BEN ABELL: That's right.

[16:38] IONA RUDISILL: And that's what you all had. You had a commitment to stay the course on what God wanted to birth through you.

[16:45] BEN ABELL: And I loved that. There were pastors. Alicia was a pharmaceutical representative at the time. Right. And we had somebody who was in law enforcement. We had someone who was a scientist at Hopkins. And so there was just this beautiful group of different gifts and talents, as you said. And so what ended up being birthed and what came out of it was again, Araminta Freedom Initiative. And I'd love for you in a moment to share kind of how that name came about. But what we heard that needed to be birthed as a response is that the mission was to awaken, equip and mobilize the church and community in Maryland to end child sex trafficking through education, prevention strategies, and restorative survivor services. So that was the mission. Like, that was the assignment that this particular organization took on.

[17:48] IONA RUDISILL: And while that was not the original, the initial wording of the mission that you guys received, it's just transcended over time.

[17:56] BEN ABELL: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then our vision, I mean, I just, I love this vision. Every child free from human trafficking. We believe that if our entire community stands together in unity, there's that coming together collectively in oneness and unity. There will come a day when traffickers realize they can no longer do business in Maryland because the people will just not allow it.

[18:24] IONA RUDISILL: Yeah. And you know, that comes from God, because until every child is free.

[18:30] BEN ABELL: Yes.

[18:31] IONA RUDISILL: From this place, this place of bondage, this type of victimization, this type of hurt, pain and brokenness that is outside of perfection, that is dominating and controlling, which is outside of what we were supposed to be doing.

[18:49] BEN ABELL: Right.

[18:49] IONA RUDISILL: Ruling and reigning in the authority back to the very beginning all over again. So, you know, that's a God vision. So you guys allowed yourself to get that, to receive it. And then you were so bold enough to not even change it and say, this is what we're going to go on and this is how we're going to continue to make a stand.

[19:11] BEN ABELL: And then the values that really the Lord gave to us underneath the mission and vision was restored restoration and justice for all. Survivor centered. So this was really all about the survivors.

[19:25] IONA RUDISILL: Yes.

[19:26] BEN ABELL: This wasn't about the church, it wasn't about the agencies. It was about the person being restored humanity. Humanity.

[19:34] IONA RUDISILL: It's about that individual.

[19:36] BEN ABELL: Yes. They're reclaiming Their identity, who they are leading and serving from the presence, which we've talked a lot about, that was a huge value. Transparent, accountability and teachable and a heart posture and then professional standards of excellence. And it's interesting now to look back around 11 years later and see now you're one of the teammates. There's been a number of other teammates that have been a part of it. These values still are a part of what Araminta is.

[20:16] IONA RUDISILL: That is. So it can almost just give you a sense where you just want to take a step back because you hear what God deposited through you guys, through all of the eight founders, and how you took the time to hear from God, not, you know, we're going to set a time a week, or we're going to set a time a month. No, we're going to set a time in indefinite time of how God is going to lead us and what he's going to say to us, of how the response he's requiring of us. And so we talked about in the beginning human trafficking, which is, you know, not just sex trafficking, which is the piece that Araminta, that God gave to Araminta to actually answer and respond to. So it was specific to what's happening in this particular area. And this aligns so much with even the transatlantic slave trade. The timing of the fact that there was a time frame where there were a group of people who exercised a domination and control to target one set of people and look at that and say, we're going to enslave these people. We're going to use them to work for us. We're going to use them for our benefit so that we can become more profitable in our stance. And then we're going to throw God into it and say, God said that there should be a dividing line where if we go all the way back to the beginning, again, there was no division, there was perfection, and there was unity. And so the fact that you sat with that, and I know, you know, talking to Alicia, there were times when she shared with me that there were times when you guys, she wanted to have a name, but you guys took the time to hear the name and it just unfolded. And she's the best one to explain how it unfolded. And you guys got Araminta, who happens to be the birth name of Harriet Tubman, who actually was enslaved on the eastern shores of Maryland. And we are in the state of Maryland, and we're responding to that. And so here we are, you guys are able to have that response and the name of Araminta the context of what it means is defender. So you are being a defender of self justice. Here is an agency that is taking a stand of being a defender of self justice and allowing reconciliation and restoration to come forth under the presence, not just anybody's presence, but the presence of Jesus Christ and being able to walk in that and making everything the survivor centered in the very that that individual, that life that was created, that created life. So that is, that's. That gives me chills.

[23:41] BEN ABELL: I was just going to say, just to think back over those years, that it is so powerful that the Lord chose to birth that. And so it was around January 2012, wasn't it, when we launched it and birthed it. And really the response, as we said, is kind of full circle, coming back to God's heart from creation and what he intended from the beginning. And I know you were at that first. I remember it. I can see it in my mind's eye. You, Iona, were at that church, Kingdom Worship Center, Love, Bishop Dennis and his dad, great partners, and they were willing to launch it, to launch it out of their church. And so share a little bit about that night and what you were feeling. And since.

[24:30] IONA RUDISILL: That night was an answer to my prayers because as I mentioned earlier, it was the conversation that I had with Lisa Carusco, who introduced me to Alicia McDowell, who shared her heart and the vision that God had given to her and the burden. Because I had been waiting for a spiritual response and not saying that there weren't other spiritual responses. I just knew that the Lord was drawing me to a specific response. And this was the response because Araminta was also about community, was about relationship. And that's what's so important, was about eradicating darkness, eradicating that horror that women and men face, boys and girls face, who are subjected to this type of victim organization. And although the response that was given to Araminta at that time was for women, that was fine, because it was the response of answering the call to that brokenness that had taken place and trying to bring them back to that creative restoration of when God said in the beginning, I created you to have dominion, to be fruitful and to multiply, and to stand in this dominion and this authority with me, not to stand in this authority with what I think of myself or what other people have said, but to stand in that. And some. Another colleague and friend of ours actually had stated that there was a research study where everyone was born a genius and this was coming out of science. And when you think about, well, God created everybody in perfection. So that means we were all created from his master plan to be genius. So to be able to sit in that, to sit in the church, to hear the visionary speak, Alicia McDowell, to see all of you coming together and talking about how all of your gifts were coming in, it was an answer to pray.

[27:11] BEN ABELL: It was a beautiful night, wasn't it?

[27:12] IONA RUDISILL: It was an answer to prayer.

[27:13] BEN ABELL: It was amazing. So let's talk a little bit together about maybe some of the fruit and some of the testimonies from the response since that time in 2010. And I'd love to just offer and share that. John 10:10 is such a powerful verse that really you can share the whole gospel, you can share the whole story of Genesis to Revelation in this one verse, because it says in John 10:10a, it says, the thief has come to kill, steal and destroy people's identities and purpose for them to rule and reign according to God's plan. So we have an enemy that's coming in, trying to steal, kill, destroy, take us back to the place where we were in sin. But then what I love about the second half of that verse 10:10b is, but Jesus says, I have come to give them. Give us every person, every human being, everyone. Not just some, everyone who's an image bearer of God. He's come to give them life and life to the full, abundant life. That's what he says, that's what he promises. And so there has been quite a bit of fruit since then. And since that time we were together, three things kind of stand out in particular, I think that it would be great to talk about first, as we said it a little bit. But reclaiming the young girls and some boys is their creational intent. You know, Ephesians 2:10 says, for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do so before we're born. He already knows. He already knows, right? He's already seen what we're to be doing and how to rule and terrain in the way he wanted us to.

[29:18] IONA RUDISILL: Yes.

[29:18] BEN ABELL: Well, as you are then, in a place where you're being trafficked, all of that is being destroyed. It's being drawn out of you. It's sucked away. So when we're. One of the fruit is being with the young girls, the survivors, as you all have set up the programs for that, the whole idea is to give them their creational intent back. So maybe do you have a survivor story that maybe you could share?

[29:51] IONA RUDISILL: So we have some things and Just before I go into that, another thing that you touched upon reminded me about that night, too.

[30:00] BEN ABELL: Yeah.

[30:01] IONA RUDISILL: That night of the launch is that there was unity.

[30:05] BEN ABELL: Yeah.

[30:07] IONA RUDISILL: There was people who were looking at things and it was just seeing from, you know, not just. This is my own ideology. This is not my. No, we're coming together. Regardless of perspectives and perceptions, there was. There was a gathering of men and women, those who were believers of Christ, those who were not believers of Christ, those who were white, black, indigenous, Hispanic, Asian. There was a multiplicity of variety there. And we were all there to say, we want to go bring survivors to a place of their creative identity. We want to help get them back to the original place of their creative identity. So it is so great to hear, you know, as I started as a volunteer and just began to unfold and now as a staff member, it's great to hear the different stories that come out where there are survivors who didn't even recognize themselves as being survivors, didn't recognize themselves as being victims, didn't recognize themselves as being individuals who were part of a place of brokenness because they didn't understand that it didn't then didn't realize it, didn't know that they were trafficked and then too didn't know whether or not they could trust individuals, whether they could trust males again, whether they could trust people from a certain race again, whether they could trust a governmental strategy or a governmental entity or a police officer again. They didn't know that yet because of the community and the relationship that they were being shown and seen through Araminta from the very beginning, from the staff members and the volunteers that were coming forth, they were saying to different people, now I have a sense of community. Now I know my value. Now I understand my worth. Now I can walk in a newness that I didn't even think that I would have an opportunity to do. So now that I can see that I'm more than enough just myself.

[32:55] BEN ABELL: Been a number of survivors that have experienced what you just described.

[33:00] IONA RUDISILL: Yes.

[33:01] BEN ABELL: So that is why was birth.

[33:05] IONA RUDISILL: Exactly. That's one of our fruits.

[33:07] BEN ABELL: Another powerful fruit. Such a powerful. Another. Another fruit is. Is the church itself. The church is pretty splintered. It's pretty divided in most cases. And one of the original visions was the response of the church and again, being birthed by five different churches. The goal was to unify and bring oneness to the church, to humbly serve and engage with the survivors. And so, Interestingly enough, over 165 different churches have been a part of Araminta. In the last 11 years. And it's unified the church around a particular issue that needed to be eradicated. So praise God, that that's, that's a part of what's happened.

[33:59] IONA RUDISILL: Yeah.

[34:00] BEN ABELL: And then maybe you could just share the last one of the last, the last fruit is talk about a little bit about the other partners. Because again, this isn't just about the church. It's a holistic approach, right?

[34:14] IONA RUDISILL: It is, it is a holistic approach. And I just. Which goes back to the very beginning when you talk about how God chose Alicia McDowell as a catalytic leader, placed inside of her a burden and a vision, allowed her to connect with certain people so that the eight of you representing New Beginnings would be able to come together, hear what the Lord was going to say as you're posturing and understanding that this is beyond the four walls of a church. This is us walking out and being the disciples that God has created us to be of being the believers that God has created us to be of being the men and the women of authority and understanding and gentleness and kindness and you know, love that we were created to be and to be able to not just come and sit in at a table where only faith based people were at, but you're at a table where there is significant leadership that is happening, where there's significant conversations that are happening about a subject. And like I said, I met Lisa carusco and Alicia McDowell at the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force meeting for the entire state, where we have our law enforcement partners there as well, where we have our community partners, our governmental partners, our educational partners. So everyone's there. And it's not just. Araminta is not just the only faith based organization there. There are other faith, faith based organizations there as well. So we're all coming together and we're able to speak into with we're able to speak into a situation and an issue and a crime and a place of darkness and all respect and understand each and every person's peace and have value to it and worth to it. So that the position that we take and how we posture is never going to be self blaming or making a survivor feel just because we're a faith based organization that you have to be a part of the faith. No, you are a human being, you are an individual. You are a person who basically has a creative identity that we're helping you get back to do. And we can't do it by ourselves. We can't do it with just the churches. You can't do it with just one church and you can't do it with just one agency. It has to be a collectivity of agency. It's a collaboration. It's a multidisciplinary team that works together. And Araminta has a strong voice and has had one for years at that table of significance.

[37:31] BEN ABELL: Well, this has been an honor to be able to sit across the table and reflect back to the birthing.

[37:42] IONA RUDISILL: It just allows having this conversation allows us to even have me personally just to have another understanding of to the reasoning and the timing and the purposes that God has planned for me to be set here. And the fact that he always answers, even when we don't know what it's going to look like, even when we don't know how it's going to look, he always provides the answer. So it has been an honor to speak with you about this as well as being one of the founders and you know, being with Alicia from the very beginning. And I just hope that as we continue that people can see what Araminta, the reason it was birthed and how we actually need to continue on with this and what's going to happen in the future.

[38:46] BEN ABELL: Bless you, Ayana.

[38:47] IONA RUDISILL: Bless you too.