Pastor Chris Harrison’s primary occupation is pastor of the First Methodist Church in Athens.

But his passion is to educate others and carry on the fight against human trafficking.

He brought his sobering message to the Mineola Rotary and Kiwanis Club meetings last week.

While he admitted the his program would not be upbeat, he explained there is a great need for hope.

“I hate this topic,” he admitted. “We can’t not do something about it.”

He recounted a story of confronting possible human trafficking at a Houston area restaurant.

A young girl was with an older man, and she continually looked down, not making eye contact.

Deciding that there was possibly a problem, he and his cohorts tried to get her attention with a note that if she was in trouble, she should go to the restroom.

The man eventually caught on and left with the girl.

At that point they did something they shouldn’t have – followed them.

They ended up at a home, and two more men were waiting at the front door.

Houston, where Harrison previously served in ministry, is the number one hub for trafficking in the U.S., which makes it one of the top hubs in the world. Dallas and Austin are also ranked as top cities for trafficking.

“This is purely evil in our world,” Harrison said. “We can do something about this,”

This area’s proximity to Interstate 20 makes it a local problem, Harrison explained.

Trafficked persons are moved along major transportation corridors.

It is a supply-and-demand issue, he explained, noting that Houston had just recently hosted the national championship football game, something sure to draw attention.

Among the stark statistics Harrison used, the average age for girls to be trafficked is 12-14, one in six runaways are trafficked within 48 hours, 88% of girls who have been trafficked had come through the foster care system, and the average life span for a trafficked person is seven years.

And once trafficked persons are no longer desirable, they can end up on the black market for donated organs.

Harrison noted that human trafficking has surpassed the sale of weapons to become the second ranked crime internationally, behind only the illegal drug trade.

He blamed that in part on how the culture has become hyper-sexualized.

What to do about it?

Harrison listed four items:

Get closer to it, change the narrative, change the environment, and learn how to be uncomfortable and inconvenienced.