The Freedom Challenge Sisterhood
Hi! I am Karis Williams and I am excited and honored to be joining the Freedom Challenge Team as the Communications Project Manager.
The Back Story
From a really young age (15 to be exact) God gave me a burden to use my skills, talents, and life to combat the common injustices women around the world face: abuse, exploitation and assault which often lead to and promote labor and sex trafficking.
I have had the opportunity for the last 10 years to be an advocate, to lead sexual assault investigations, to conduct research on human trafficking globally, to interview and mentor survivors, to conduct awareness presentations and to assist in the creation of curriculums.
It has been a pleasure to be able to do all this, but each step has taken a great amount of faith, patience and obedience. Many times I wondered if I was going in the right direction or how all those life experiences added up or what they would lead to. The journey was not always clear, even when God told me to do the Freedom Challenge Estes Park in 2017, I didn’t think it would ever lead to where I am now. Estes Park was truly a milestone in my faith. During that time God worked out in me a new understanding of humility (you can read my blog about my experiences here) and further confirmed to me to continue combatting the darkness that is human trafficking.
Since then I’ve been praying that I will be able to combat human trafficking with like-minded people. If you have ever delved into the world of human trafficking you know it can get dark and grimy. Prayer, fellowship and the reminder that God’s heart is for freedom, justice, mercy and grace are what is needed to keep you going.
I have found these like-minded people in the sisterhood of the Freedom Challenge. I am so honored to be able to continue fighting for justice, bringing awareness and raising my voice arm to arm with women, sisters, wives and mothers fighting for justice.
What comes next
Joining the Freedom Challenge staff has meant a lot of changes for me in 2019. I will be moving from Florida to Georgia and, although that entails so much, I am excited to be coming on board at this time.
This year I see amazing things coming up for Freedom Challenge: two climbs in new territory (Washington and Oregon), a whole new type of challenge as we undertake a cycling challenge in California; and online Freedom Challenge Circles to increase awareness and to strengthen our community of advocates and climbers. My hope is to see Freedom Challenge reach new heights this year, to encourage more women to raise their voice, to climb with us and join this sisterhood.
This week is our Super Bowl Prayer Challenge, where we are partnering with different organizations and people to fight trafficking the best way we can… through prayer! This event unites organizations, churches, athletes, families all as prayer warriors for one of the world’s greatest injustices in a city (Atlanta) that has been a pioneer in fighting injustice in the US. Maybe it’s because I served in the military, but I see this weekend as our battle ground, we are coming together as warriors going to war. This event is no small thing and it’s also just the beginning.
Whether or not you will be able to join us this upcoming weekend in Atlanta, we do hope you join us for prayer and maybe even one of our climbs or mission trips coming up. Together we will end trafficking!