Created for Connection: Reflections from Demand Freedom

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Demand Freedom Conference, hosted by the NH Traffick Free Coalition, and I’m still processing everything I experienced. It was inspiring. The room was full of people and organizations, survivors... advocates, ministries, and community leaders... all standing together for one purpose: to end human trafficking and restore dignity to those who’ve been exploited.

I walked away encouraged, challenged, and deeply moved.

One of the keynote speakers was Gene McConnell, founder of Authentic Relationships International. His message centered on how we were created for relationship, how healing doesn’t happen in isolation, but through connection. That truth hit home for me, because I’ve lived it.

Understanding Demand

Before I share more, I want to touch on something that the conference emphasized: the importance of addressing demand.

When we talk about human trafficking, our attention often focuses on the victims, but the other side of the story, the part that fuels it all, is demand. Demand is what drives exploitation. It’s the buyers who purchase sex or explicit content. It’s the traffickers who profit from another person’s pain. It’s the culture that normalizes objectification and teaches us to see people as products and sex as a commodity.

Without demand, trafficking cannot survive.

That’s why this movement is not just about rescuing survivors... it’s about changing hearts and minds. It’s about calling our culture, and especially men, to remember who they were created to be.

What I Took Away

As I listened to Gene McConnell speak about authentic relationships, I was reminded of something deeply personal. I know what it’s like to feel unseen, unloved, and unprotected. Growing up in environments marked by abuse, neglect, and abandonment, I learned to survive by expecting no one to help me. Those experiences shaped how I saw myself; for a long time, I believed I was unworthy of love or safety.

But then people showed up. People who didn’t try to fix me, but who loved me with patience and truth. They stayed long enough for me to start believing I was worth staying for. Through that love and through the love of Jesus, shame began to lose its power.

Hearing Gene speak reminded me of something simple but profound; healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when someone chooses to love you, walk beside you, and remind you who you really are.

The Cry for Love

During the conference, we also heard from several incredible organizations: All Girls Allowed, Beauty From Ashes, and Thrive New England, each fighting to decrease demand, support survivors, and hold traffickers accountable.

One of the most powerful moments came during a preview of an upcoming Exodus Cry film. A young woman shared her story of being exploited in the sex industry as a teenager. Underneath all the pain and performance, her heart cry was simple: she just wanted to be loved.

And that’s the human condition, isn’t it? We all long to be loved, seen, and valued. When that longing goes unmet, shame fills the gap and shame drives so many destructive choices. But love... real, consistent, Christ-centered love, breaks that cycle. Jesus removes shame. He restores identity. He calls each of us beloved.

A Shift in Responsibility

One of the messages that really resonated with me was how the Abolitionist Model is changing the narrative. For too long, society punished the exploited and ignored the exploiters. The Abolitionist Model changes that by focusing accountability where it belongs, on the buyers and traffickers, while supporting the exit and healing of survivors.

But laws alone won’t change hearts (although we need laws, too!). That’s where faith, compassion, and accountability intersect. We need a culture that STOPS objectifying people, that teaches self-control, and that restores dignity to both survivors and those who’ve lost their way.

Restoration Happens in Relationship

That’s why Restorative Hope Ministries exists. Our mission is to walk with survivors as they rebuild their lives, not just through services or employment, but through relationships that model stability, safety, and love.

Through mentorship, job training, and community support, we help survivors rediscover who they are in Christ... whole, capable, and deeply loved. When people experience love without condition, their identity begins to heal.

And that’s where lasting freedom comes from, not just escape, but restoration.

This weekend reminded me why we do what we do. Every person, whether a survivor, a buyer, or a bystander, was created for connection and capable of redemption. Shame doesn’t have to define anyone’s story. Love can.

We can end demand. We can restore dignity. And we can do it one relationship at a time.

If your heart is stirred to make a difference... to mentor, to pray, or to walk alongside someone on their journey... we’d love for you to connect with us at www.restorativehopeministries.org/contact.

Because none of us heal alone.

With Hope,

Melissa Mills

Survivor Leader