Hookers for Jesus: Ex sex-workers save souls
By Philip Sherwell in Las Vegas
26 January 2008
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| Former sex industry workers Annie Lobert (r) of Hookers for Jesus and Heather Veitch (l) from JC's Girls |
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Las Vegas used to be a lucrative haunt for Annie Lobért, a $500-a-day escort girl, and Heather Veitch, a highly-remunerated stripper.
• In pictures: Hookers for Jesus
Now the vivacious double act patrol the city's neon-lit streets with a dramatically different mission - to save souls rather than sell their bodies.
With their peroxide blond hair, contour-hugging outfits, and surgically-enhanced chests, they do not look so different from their former incarnations in the city's notorious sex industry.
But the strategically-located message adorning their tight black T-shirts gives away their new mission - as born-again Christians.
Embossed in gaudy pink, the word "Hookers" appears above the Christian symbol of the fish across Ms Lobért's chest, while Ms Veitch's shirt bears the legend "Holy Hotties".
Through their two groups, "Hookers for Jesus" and "JC's Girls", they perform what is arguably America's most unusual Christian outreach operation, aimed at their former colleagues.
"The girls can relate to who we are and how we look in a way that they can't with some of the typical Christians who come here," said Ms Lobért, 40. "We don't preach to them and we're not judgmental. We tell them that God loves them, even if they are hookers or strippers or porn stars. We offer help and advice - we do whatever we can for them."
The Sunday Telegraph accompanied the women - who have become internet sensations with a YouTube video series, "Saving Sex City", and popular MySpace pages and blogs - as they spread their message at events like Las Vegas's Adult Entertainment Expo.
The annual international gathering of the porn industry might sound like enemy territory, but Ms Lobért and Ms Veitch were among old friends as they caught up on gossip, exchanged beauty tips and handed out cards, apparently inured to the risque material dominating huge flat-screen televisions in the convention hall.
"We love what they do," said Mary Carey, a self-styled "adult megastar" who has prayed with Ms Veitch.
"They are there when the girls need them. I don't consider myself a sinner, I'm not harming anyone and porn is really just free speech. But it's good that Annie and Heather are doing their thing."
The bustling three-day Expo, which attracted about 40,000 visitors, is a clear illustration of how the adult entertainment world has left behind its red-light roots of tacky cinemas and trashy magazines and burgeoned into a multibillion-dollar hi-tech multi-media business.
But the usual milieu for the women is the city's luxury hotel-casinos, where they talk with "freelance" prostitutes, and strip clubs, where they buy lap dances in private rooms so they can chat to performers.
Ms Lobért, who is funded by donations to her internet site, and Ms Veitch, who is backed financially by her church, now plan to expand their work by setting up temporary accommodation for sex trade workers who want to quit. They are also developing links with the city police force to help women in trouble with the law.
Among Ms Lobért's recent converts is Stephanie, 26, who declined to give her last name.
"I had been a prostitute for six years and I was desperate to get out for my baby daughter, but I just didn't know how to do it," she said. "I was looking for information on the internet and I came across Annie and Hookers for Jesus.
"She was wonderful. She advised me on applying for jobs, let me use her computer and helped me out with rent money so I didn't have to go back to the Strip."
Stephanie is a testament to the success of the unusual approach of Hookers for Jesus: she now works as a front-desk receptionist at a Vegas hotel and attends Ms Lobért's 2,500-congregation non-denominational church.
Ms Lobért dragged herself out of her own "dark places" after hitting rock bottom - she was regularly beaten up by her pimp boyfriend and later became addicted to drugs.
"I came to Vegas as a young woman from Minnesota who fell in love with the glamour and excitement but it culminated in an overdose," she said. "My life flashed out before my eyes and I realised then that Jesus had saved my life for a purpose."
They have heard all the jokes about "porn-again Christians" but say they are happy to use their physical assets to spread the word.
"A lot of guys pose for photos with us and when they go home and look up what's on our T-shirts, they learn what we're about. We call it booby-trapping," explained Ms Lobért cheerfully.
But their unapologetically brash looks and refusal to condemn the lifestyles they have left behind have also earned them opprobrium from some corners of the born-again world.
"Some Christians think we are just cheap harlots and tell us so, but to be honest we really don't care," said Ms Lobért.
Her friend Ms Veitch added: "People used to go to Africa to be missionaries. Well, we're missionaries to the sex industry. That's our calling."
Disclaimer: There were a few misquotes and inaccuracies presented in this article. The MINIMUM payment that Annie received in exchange for her services was $500 per HOUR. As founder of JCs Girls, Heather has indeed purchased time from women in the strip clubs. However, in lieu of receiving lap dances, Heather spent this time talking with and praying for the women. No lap dances were received or requested in exchange for money. While we are not currently working on expanding our ministry to include proprietary temporary housing, we are developing similar business plans for the future, contingent on funding. And finally, while Annie did not make the comment pertaining to "booby-trapping," the final two statements attributed to Annie and Heather stand.