The STOPLight

Pastor speaks in schools

Four years ago, Bruce Kuenzel, a pastor in Granite Falls, Minnesota, began speaking in the local junior high school about prostitution. So why does he do it?

In 1992, Erica Grothe,* a 14-year-old child in his congregation was murdered after she ran away to Minneapolis. Officiating hers was the most difficult funeral he has ever done. Afterwards, he prayed that God would give him some way to work at keeping this from ever happening again. Within a month, he got a call asking him to serve on the advisory board for Adults Saving Kids. Al Erickson, founder and director of Adults Saving Kids, told him of the urgent need to speak about prostitution and sexual exploitation in the schools, which "seemed right up my alley. In a very real sense, I'm trying to live out the prayer I made to God," Bruce says.

His first major concern was how to keep his information at a kid's level and how to keep their attention -- how to make the topic real for them. His initial calls to two health teachers at the junior high opened the doors. Both agreed to let him speak to eighth graders as part of their personal and family life series. Bruce has one 45-50 minute class period to speak about prostitution. His session comes right after the topic of personal body safety -- how to keep yourself safe from date rape, etc. -- and "takes the issue one step further." He emphasizes that running away can be very damaging -- or even fatal, as it was for Erica.

When asked about his presentation, Bruce described his approach to informing while keeping kids' attention. "First I tell them a little about Erica and her death -- and that I don't want what happened to her to happen to them.

"I discuss why someone might get involved in the first place by showing a short video on a young woman from a small town in Minnesota who got into prostitution. She talks about growing up poor, about kids laughing at her, looking down at her, about all kinds of abuse and assault she lived with while growing up. Her story hits home because kids connect with that and because she is from a small town like theirs. They hear what she went through, why she ran away, and how she wound up on the streets. It helps kids realize that prostitution is not something a person chooses.

"Then I talk about what it's really like to be in prostitution. I use a WHISPER brochure, Tricks Aren't for Kids, which has a lot of facts and figures. I also read Help Wanted, a prostitute's job description written by a survivor of juvenile prostitution. I tell kids it's ugly and gross, but that they need to know the truth.

"This leads to talking about pimps -- how they work, how to recognize the lines they use, and some of their recruitment method ~ If a kid gets tricked into prostitution, it doesn't lead to where pimps promise it will. You don't get rich or famous or glamorous. And if you don't get out, it could be fatal.

"I wrap up by saying 'if you or anyone you know is in a terrible situation at home, the solution is not to run, but to tell."

In order to keep his presentation moving, Bruce shifts topics or focus every five to seven minutes. Using visual aids like the video and brochure helps keep the kids' interest. He also uses some WHISPER posters which show girls on the street who are telling kids to beware. Information written or produced by people who've been there has more credibility with the kids, Bruce feels.

Sometime during the class, he tells the kids that even though girls are shown on the posters and in the video, boys also are recruited into prostitution; that one third of kids in prostitution are boys. He very explicitly and forthrightly asks boys not to become customers of the sex industry.

At the end of his presentation, Bruce opens the floor for questions. Common things the kids ask are why people do it and why they don't just leave. This gives him another opportunity to talk about how people are tricked or coerced into it and the dangers they face if they try to leave.

Bruce's suggestion for those interested in speaking in schools is to let teachers and the principal know exactly what you are going to say to the kids and get their approval up front. If the topic is presented to administrators as a personal safety issue, they can understand it better.

Besides his work in the junior high, Bruce has spoken to several hundred kids at a national youth conference in Georgia. For that presentation, he wrote and asked if they would be interested in a workshop on the topic. Since then, his speaking opportunities have come by word of mouth. He has addressed adult groups like health care professionals, women's groups and pastors, usually at their request.

When he began speaking to adults, Bruce's concern was that he'd get a negative response or resistance once people heard the word prostitution. So far, he hasn't had to deal with any negative reactions. On the contrary, the most common question he is asked by adult audiences is "What can we do in our community so this doesn't happen, or so we can reduce the likelihood of it happening."

Bruce's response: "If it's true that the vast majority of kids on the street have been abused in some way, then we need to do whatever we can to put an end to sexual abuse in our communities. This is a very real issue. Prostitution in Minneapolis is distant and easy to ignore. Sexual abuse is very close to home; its incidence is as high in small towns as anywhere else."

The second point Bruce makes when speaking to adults is that "we need to provide a safe place for kids." He suggests one way to prevent running away is to have several homes in town where kids could stay for 24 to 48 hours until a crisis passes, emotions have calmed down, and something has been worked out. The adults living in the home could be trained to handle situations where kids find it intolerable or too painful to remain in their own homes.

Since he began speaking about prostitution, Bruce says he has become "much more aware of and sympathetic towards those teenagers who are really on the edge; the ones who are in and out of school, in and out of court, in and out of their homes. I have more empathy and some real apprehension about what may happen to them. I can't look past these kids as much as I used to."

In summing up, Bruce says, "It has become more and more clear to me that the most important thing we can do is to love our kids. This is the most powerful tool for prevention. We would see a lot of pain diminish almost immediately."

Written from a taped interview with Bruce Kuenzel, pastor at Granite Falls Lutheran Church

*Missing Children Minnesota has published a book about Erica Grothe called Erica's Choices. It helps kids see the situations that Erica faced and the choices she had to make. Call (612) 521-ll88 for information on the book.

**See page six for an article about recruitment methods used by pimps.