E31: What's S*x Got To Do With It?

"Your child isn't looking for porn, porn is looking for your child." Michele Okimura, Explicit Movement, talks plainly about s*x, p*rn, & more shocking stuff related to s*x. Why does sex matter to God? What is sacred (vs. secular) sex? And other questions even parents may not know the answers to. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Sex Matters

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Aloha and welcome. I am so humbled to walk into a heavy duty topic, what sex got to do with it. With me today is a woman who stands on the front lines of some very dark lines. You and I both know that there is so much sexual material out there, dark web, dark sexual material, etc. And it doesn't just have to happen out there on the front lines of human trafficking, which we'll talk about today. It can happen in the abuse that's happening in your life, in your home, right in your own heart. And so today I want to thank you, Pastor Michelle Okimura. She's part of something called the Explicit Movement. And believe me, it's not explicit sexual uh material or content. This is facing the darkness with the light. So welcome to Explicit Movement. Thank you, Pastor Michelle. Thank you so much, Don. I love being here. Now, first things first, why is sex so important?

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Well, God created it and He designed it. And so there is a beautiful, godly design that brings him glory. And so that's why we want to talk about it in a good way.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

I always think about that personally because there is a sanctified sex. We see a lot of secular sex going on out there. I mean, I'm shocked at what is being shown on Cartoon Network. We have other things like Disney has some very questionable messages that's coming through, like in Wicked and in the Stars of Wicked and Holly Weird has been weird for some time. I don't even need to go through the hit list or the rap sheet of what the world and Satan has done with sex. But unless you and I, as the ambassadors of Christ, as Jesus, who is the Word of God, the Bible, ambassadors of the Bible, unless we also start putting out messages, not just for our teenagers or our youth and young adults and their parents, but also for children. Recently, and this is a quick snippet, I was sitting with a junior high person and a ninth grader, right? These is the nephew and niece of mine, and they both told me, yeah, Auntie Dawn, we um got off of Disney Plus. And recently we asked dad to bring back Disney Plus, you know, finances in a Hawaii household, so they had to stop one cable network. But they got it back and they said, Auntie Dawn, there's so much um, there's so much same-sex material that's coming through. This is from a seventh grader and a ninth grader here in Hawaii. Very Akamai, very smart, very much makaala. Their eyes are open. They know. Now, Pastor Michelle, sex is important because God created sex. And the whole purpose of sex, and I want you to answer what is the purpose of sex, but in my reading is to bring an absolute union between a man and a woman in a covenant relationship, which many people call marriage, right? Which we know as marriage in the Christian kingdom. What is the purpose of sex?

God’s Design For Covenant Sex

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yes, and that you said it so beautifully, you know, bringing the intimacy and marriage, procreation, having children, yes, is part of it. Um, but as as you know, throughout the history, even in the old testament days, the um Baal worship and all of these false gods, Molek, the yes, they were all about distorted sex.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Very you use a nice word distorted, I would say depraved. I would say diabolical, which is Diablo, the devil. It is nasty and it is painful and hurtful. And so a mutual friend of ours is Pastor Dave Wilweber. Yes, and he works with Onipaa, as you know, and you guys partner a lot with your organization with Explicit Movement and Onipa, because he said there is an Aloha sex. And I was really interested to hear that because I've heard a lot of stuff about sex. I mean, I'm a kitty of the 70s, a lady of the 80s. We did all that rap music, which was really not positive music messages about women and about body parts. But here's what he said: Aloha sex is when a man and a woman in a covenant relationship are facing one another and sharing an intimacy, body, soul, spirit, and mind. Body, soul, spirit, and mind. And they are interacting together. As you said, part of that is for the beauty of intimacy, and another part of it is for pro procreation, having kids. But what the devil often does, as he did in the Old Testament, is he's a snake that slithers up onto the pole that was supposed to bring God glory. Sex is to bring God glory and us goodness, and he steals the glory and he absolutely corrupts the goodness. So, explicit movement, what's your mission, Pastor Michelle?

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Well, we want to see young people walk in sexual integrity and leading others to do the same. And you know, we know that parents and leaders, it can be awkward to talk about sex and sexuality topics, right? It's challenged. It is the talk because we don't sometimes our own parents never knew how to talk. So, what we do is we provide faith-based relevant resources so you can have those conversations with confidence.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Because we know if you are empowered, you can help guide and direct young people to avoid damaging experiences. So good, right? Damaging experiences. And instead help them to know how to have thriving, healthy relationships in God's timing and in his design.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

I love that. In his timing and in his design, like we said about aloha sex, it's face-to-face, it's intimacy between a man and a woman. And timing and design.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

That's right. And even in the body of Christ, sometimes we have have that awkward feeling, so we don't talk about it. But the world, as you know, is shouting about it. And oftentimes, uh, what we've found is in the past history, you know, a lot of times that the young people get the message from the church, right? Yes, don't do it till you marry, don't do it. So these rules, but they don't necessarily talk about the beauty and the glory and the the pleasure of it in the context of marriage. And so we also want to bring up the positive as well as the guidelines, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:17

I love that. And I've heard one illustration, which was you know, sex is like a fire. And if you think about where does a fire belong in a house, most often you're gonna find that maybe not in Hawaii, but in a fireplace, right? More so on on the continent, you see that, or in cold countries. But if you burn that fire outside of a fireplace, it's gonna burn the whole house down. So, talking about, as you said, timing and the design of God's created, and I'm gonna call this sanctified sex. Because I'll be really honest, and I'm blunt, I'm often very transparent up front. I did not wait. I grew up in the church, I got saved when I was 13, and I was told what you just said, Pastor Michelle. Um, don't do it until you get married, right? And then that just was really, it didn't happen for me. So I have to think now, I released the fire outside of the fireplace, and there was a lot of damage, as you just said, right? So back to your what you were saying is you offer equipping and empowering resources for parents, aunties, grandmas, grandpas, teachers, coaches to talk to kids about sanctified godly sex. Is that fair to say? Yes, yes. Before the damage happens, and even if the damage has happened, right? Like for Donald Bryan.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Healing and restoration in God. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

I love that you say that there is healing and there is restoration. You know, I was looking on your website, and can you say the website for us? Yes, www.explicitmovement.org. And please spell that out correctly, otherwise, you might land yourself on a really questionable website. It's dot org. Okay, not dot com. Not dot com. No explicit.com because you will end up on a possibly pornographic website. So let me be clear for you nice Christians out there who never ever dabbled in the dark zone. Uh, and I'm just saying that hypothetically, right? But you have to put dot or g and it's spelled out correctly. E X P L explicit E-X-P-L-I-C-I-T movement dot or g. We'll have it up on the screen for you. But what I enjoyed about your great website is you've got it's chalk full, overflowing, pressed down, shaking together, overflowing with good resources. Like you have blogs written on there about overcoming pornography addiction. You've got stuff on there about body safety for parents, and it says talking to kids about body safety. You also have the books, which we're gonna talk about in a hot minute. And you also do other things like hosting um conferences, but you even if other people are hosting and they want to have you folks come and guest speak, you do that as well. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Yes, we can we tailor it to whatever you need, and so even if you're a church, you want us to come to speak to the your your parents or your youth group, or uh we're here to serve really the body of Christ in whatever way.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

I love that. Now, Pastor Michelle, what inspired you to start explicit movement?

Explicit Movement Mission And Resources

SPEAKER_02 9:14

It was a journey of God leading me. I mean, I'm a Japanese woman and I don't necessarily ever had this vision that I would be doing this, but it was a God thing. I I took over. Well, just I will just short highlights is that I was um working as a pastor and I took over the youth pastor in the past. 17 years camp. Right. And the first thing I wanted to do was have a uh a summer camp focus on purity because previous leadership never talked about these things. Right. So I did, and then on the last day of the camp, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, Michelle, get ready for something much bigger in the future. And I had no idea what that meant. Well, fast forward two years later, I'm in a Transformer World meeting with several pastors, and somehow I got they asked me to share about my camps, and I did, and then they said, Can you do an island-wide conference? Because we all don't know how to talk about sex, we don't, and um neither do our parents. So I that sounds like Papa Couch and then and Transformer World Hawaii. So me who did not know how to do a big event, uh, just by faith, ask God for help. Yes, we had our first event in 2014. 600 high schoolers from all around the island came. 600 plus 600 plus from all denominations.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

I bet some youth leaders, I bet you a bunch of adults snuck in.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Actually, we had a parent track. Okay. So three 300 parents came and for their parent track, and it was, I mean, it was great. Thank you, Lord, for being my face. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

And then after that huge your first conference. Your first conference out the blocks, and you didn't know what you were doing, I bet. I didn't know what I was doing.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

And then after that, um, I thought to myself, I'll do this every few years because I had no vision beyond that, you know. And then I was inundated with a lot of calls, and then, you know, you have to do a junior high because in some some communities, junior high or even fourth and fifth graders are sexually active. And so we did, you know, the following year we did four island wide conferences. No way. Everyone thought I was crazy, but the Lord directed, and what happened was the body of Christ started coming together, and like about 10, you know, youth pastors said, How about you be the mom leader over us? We'll help you plan and implement the youth conferences. About eight young adult pastors from different churches, denominations said, What? You be the mom leader over us. Well, we have a passion for the young adults. So, you know, and so we did four the next year. Holy smack! Nine months after the first meeting for the first conference, I got calls from Singapore, Philippines, and Canada saying we heard about this conference.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

From other countries. You just did island wide, and that in itself was a massive Yeah. Talk about Fast and Furious. You just went like full Jesus mode. No intention to grow this. Yeah, you said you started off with your own youth at your own church, light spring, doing a purity session during the youth weekend or the youth camp, right? You started off with purity, which you and I now you know, right? This isn't even what happens anymore. No one's talking about celibacy or purity. Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

And so when when we got the invitations, it's like nine months after the first event, it went global without me not even trying to grow it.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

So it was a God accelerated it.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

And then the following year, um after 2016, we went, a team of us went to Singapore and Philippines and we did conferences there. So God just took us on this journey.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

I am getting covered like head to toe in God bumps. You know, I don't call this chicken skin because I ain't created in the image of a chicken, and it's not goose pimples because I am created the image of the most high God. These are God bumps. You went global, not even one year out. And not even trying to be global. Exactly. It wasn't like you were trying to become an influencer and you paid all these things for social media and to right, you just God made you an influencer. And I love, and if I can highlight just part of it, zoom into part of her what she just shared, her testimony. God warned you and said, get ready for gonna do something.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Wow, and I had no idea what that Michelle. So it was an assignment that I God had to take me on a journey to feel worthy of it because I I I the first year I thought, I don't know anything about global Lord, you picked the wrong person. So, you know, it was an inward journey of feeling super inadequate and unqualified.

How A Local Conference Went Global

SPEAKER_03 13:43

And if I may, Pastor Michelle, a sister-to-sister, and I know we're on a podcast, I watched you walk through some of that because I too am part of TOW Hawaii. You and I recently traveled to Maui to go to King's Cathedral and present the brave and beautiful and now the bold and I'm brave and bold books. But I've watched you walk through that and I've seen you in moments where you are gutted. And I just heard a sermon this morning and it says, There are times when God, when He is working with you, it feels like literally He's breaking you. Literally, you and I saw what I in my eyes, I thought it looked like you were breaking, but you were being broken unto glory. And and God only goes from glory to glory. So thank you for listening to the Lord, Pastor Michelle. Because I'll be honest, I don't have children, I never married, I never had kids, but I do have nephews and nieces. I work in a lot of schools, hundreds of schools, and the topic of relationships is the number one question I get across the board. Yes. So how do we again you have a website that's empowering and equipping people, and that's explicit with an E X P-L-I-C-I-T movement.org. Now, what are some of the compelling statistics about teens and sex? And thank you for traveling to Singapore, which is also a highly Muslim country. You went to the Philippines, which is a highly Catholic country. Every country, every religion, every person needs to know about explicit movement, I honestly believe. But what are some of the compelling statistics about teens and sex?

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Well, just overall in Hawaii and in our nation, they in the different researches have different statistics, but I would say they say between 40 to 45 percent of uh teens, 15 and older, are active or have had sex.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Almost have.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

And um yeah, and there's sexual abuse issues too, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Smaller ages.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

But it really depends on the also, I I believe on the community that you're looking at. Yeah. Because as we know, even some communities here on Oahu, some communities there on the neighbor islands, you know, you have fourth and fifth graders, right, that are engaging in that because uh of their environment or pressure, just to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Well, and the messages from the media, right? And they're listening to a lot of artists. I won't name any because I don't want to get them in trouble. Because local artists even singing your body would look good on me, right? And when you have small kids, like I hear my six, seven-year-old uh family members singing that, and I think, wait a minute, why are you singing your body would look good on me? Or if I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? I mean, singing it full bore, full belt, and this boy loves Jesus, but these are the mixed messages that are coming through to our children.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

And the average age is roughly nine years old for exposure to pornography. So you have children traumatized by pornography, but they're seeing what that is. And you know, children, they're curious, and so then that kind of starts him on that whole dark road of pornography addiction.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

And as you said, it's curiosity that doesn't just lead to more eyes, but it leads to touching and it leads to touching not just themselves, but touching others. At nine years old is the average age of first exposure to pornography. I was just speaking to a sister at a Bible study, and she said she was traveling as a hula dancer, sixth grader. She went to the country of Japan, and pornography is regular TV in that country. Yeah. They were in their hotel room, all the girls, you know, the hula dancers, and they were flipping stations to find something to watch, cartoons, whatever it was, and they saw hardcore porn, not like light rated R or rated PG 13, a fool. And so one of the things that I remember Pastor Dave said is, you know, he first found pornography at a certain age, but really what it is is because Satan is the author of destruction, it the pornography found him. And we now know all of these missiles or these bombs, these weapons of warfare are being sent out against our children. So, how do we equip our kids when they're facing, like you said, this statistic of nine years old is the average age of first exposure to pornography? How do we prepare our children for that?

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Yeah, that's why we want to provide those resources for parents and youth leaders, children's ministers, you know, just people in the community to help. So, yeah, there's there's many different resources, books, is we want to equip people, you know, and because parents especially are very powerful, you know, in the lives of their kids, right? And so we want to especially parents are the number one influencers. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Whether you really feel it or know it or not, the parent is the number one influencer in a child's life.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Right. And we want to we want to see parents healed too. Because I remember going to um having a a junior high conference for kids, and we had a parent track, and literally uh one of the pastors was leading the parent track, and he asked, Everyone, close your eyes, raise your hand as a parent if you are currently struggling with pornography. Half the half of the parents raise their hand. So you see there is also that healing and uh freedom that the parents need as well, as well as maybe parents who've had sex abuse in their history that's unhealed. You know, we want to see parents healed so that they're they feel that confidence even to talk about sex and sexuality because that can be a hindrance if they have unhealed pain to even want to talk about it with their kids.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

And it's it can be a very convoluted, complex, complicated topic. Yeah. So thank you for acknowledging that, Pastor Michelle. And and just as you said, I was once part of a um a youth and young adults conference. It was called Sons of Thunder. I always have to say that very specifically, not um something else, because that's a strip show. So Sons of Thunder, and not the men from down under and etc. But we it was targeting about 12 to 16, 18-year-olds, right? We wanted to go after young men and teach them about godly things and a godly lifestyle. Do you know how many dads crash the party? And it says this is for youth-only youth event. And it was myself and two other um celebrity males here in the state of Hawaii who are Christians, and we were hosting it. And then we also saw mom say, No, we need to stay with our son. Now, on one side, I get that because you have a 12-year-old and you might be wondering what messages we're saying to them. But on the other hand, you and I both know Pastor Michelle, your young 12-year-old 12-year-old or sixth, seventh grader boy does not want to talk in front of his mom about certain topics. Yes, you are absolutely the number one influencer. We want to empower parents completely. However, there's a time when you have to release that young man into a trusted counselor or other adult to talk to them man to man about sex. Yes. Is that fair to say? So thank you for empowering and equipping. One of the things you do is you made this available, the books. Talk to us about brave and beautiful or br brave and bold.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

And brave together now. It's a co-ed version. So back in 2019, the Lord said, I want you to add anti-sex trafficking to the many lists of topics you talk about. So we had a conference of free one, and 500 people came. It was mainly uh awareness and prevention. And I would say 99% of all the pastors that were there. I cold called like over 100 pastors on the island. You need to come here. Most of the 99% said, Oh, it's not happening to our local kids. It was it's just the foreign girls.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

You're joking right now. Please tell me your line.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

In 2009, 2019.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

It's not happening in the state of Hawaii.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Back then, that's what and so I was really grateful that we were able to bring awareness to the body of Christ through that. So now we know it's happening in our own neighborhoods. It could be your daughter, your granddaughter, your niece, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:41

And I don't care if you live Milanny or um Mayor Rights or up on Mariner's Ridge, it is happening.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

It is happening. So at so the following month after the conference, um, I I was in the shower minding my own business, and the Holy Spirit gave me this vision and floated in front of me. It was a publication. It said the the t title was blurry. The subtitle said protect yourself against sex trafficking. And I saw what it's supposed to look like. It had magazine style. And so I had a conversation. I said, God, what is it you're showing me? And he said, he spoke back. He said, This is a publication, especially for teen girls, to empower them and protect themselves from sex trafficking. My response was, that is a great idea, God. You're so smart. I don't know if there's anything like it. And then he said, I want you to do a secular version and a Christian version. And he said, if you do it with excellence, it's going to go global. And I thought, well, I don't know about the global part, God, but I knew it was an assignment. So we worked on it for two years. The miracle of it is the year before it was published in 2022, so it's now 2021. I'm not telling anyone about it. We're still working on it. I get in a sp in a span of nine months, I get calls, WhatsApp, texts, and uh emails from leaders in 20 nations. Around the world. Other 20 nations. Again, I'm not trying to grow this thing. We didn't even finish the thing. I watched you struggling. I heard you per requests. And then they say, We heard about this publication. Can we have it for our nation? I go, how did you hear about it? And then it was through the grapevine, I guess. And then they said, uh, but I said it's not done yet. They said, that's okay. We we know we want it. How do you know you want it? You know, but one of them was so funny. We uh funny story. Uh was a Friday, I remember, and I got a WhatsApp from a royal lord in the House of Lords in the UK Parliament.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

United Kingdom, which is Britain.

Teen Stats And Porn Exposure Age

SPEAKER_02 23:29

And he said, We want this for UK. And I said, Wow, you know, and then I was like, Oh my gosh, you know, it's not done yet, you know, all of that. He goes, That's okay. I want to zoom with you. The same day I get a call from Duke Iona and said, Michelle, I heard about this come this uh publication. How can I help? You know, and all that. And my husband goes, Well, Michelle, and one day you get a call from a Duke and a Lord. I mean, this is what's gone. And so we ended up, so we did Brave. That Pastor Rob husband of yours.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Duke Iona and a Lord, but a Duke and a Lord. I know.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

You know it's gone. So we did brave and beautiful for teen girls, we did brave and bold for teen boys.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

This is, and it's cool, very um, this would grab the guys because you have the color, you got the local kind tattoo pigment, right? The Polynesian discover purposes.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

95% of the authors are from Hawaii, so you're gonna culturally connect. Now, this is just the first, every every set has four volumes to it. But then this is we just came out this one with the co-ed version, Brave Together. So for public schools, schools, Christian schools, co-ed situations, youth groups, you know. We so we're um, yes, please visit um our website on that, braveseries.com.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

And this helps to support a lot of what you're doing because you also go on mission trips into the Philippines. You work with is it Maiden Hope?

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Yeah, we we love Maiden Hope and we try to partner with different organizations, you know.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Which is also anti-sex trafficking. And so again, Pastor Michelle, please excuse my interruption, but it's to say that you're at the front lines of the very dark lines of depravity. I mean, it's prevention. It's prevention.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

You know, and and I would say that 75% of the content in each of these series is on knowing your conf knowing your value, growing in confidence, emotional health, vision and dreams for your life. Be and then the last 25%, volume four, covers sex abuse, sex trafficking, and pornography in a very age-appropriate way because it's a holistic approach. Because we know if children, youth are confident, they have goals in their lives, they have emotionally healthy, you know, growth, yes, they are far less vulnerable to be trafficked. So it's a holistic approach.

SPEAKER_03 25:47

I love that holistic approach. It's a very healthy and healing approach. It's a whole, because God is a whole, right? He is integrity, which is based on the word root word of integrity is integer. He is one, right? Our God is one. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they are one triune God. But two things, I heard a statistic recently, very quickly. Number one, when you have predators or stalkers, they're looking for children who don't have a strong identity or a strong father figure. And so if you don't have a strong identity, you're more prone to being vulnerable to outside influence and then outside attack. How here's a second statistic, and it's actually a story that supports what you're saying, Pastor Michelle, about um creating strong kids from the inside out. And that's a dear friend of mine, Scarlett Lewis. She's a mother who unfortunately her son died at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She pivoted what was meant for evil, turned it to good, because she, like you, started a nonprofit organization that was local and quickly went global. It's called Choose Love. And when she sat before um Congress and was testifying about school shootings and mass shooting events, etc., they kept asking her, What can we do to prevent, right? You were talking about prevention. And she said, look, we could possibly arm the teachers like they do in the country of Israel. We could wand the kids and search their backpacks before they walk into the school. We could even have, you know, walking through TSA at the airport, but do it in schools. But the number one thing that we could do is to equip each child from the inside out. And that really internal prevention is better than outside security because the child would know when to say yes and when to say no.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yes, absolutely. And it comes with teacher guides, leader guides. Wow. This is a curriculum that for schools, youth groups, but also as a family. You could just get them as a gift for your youth. It's middle school and high school kids targeted. However, we have adults of all ages going through this as leadership development too. I bet the adults are. Because the adults need these confidence and all that too. We do. So it's a transformational journey for all of them.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Well, I bet you fifth and sixth graders are looking at that too. And that's considered most fifth graders are elementary, but they're so advanced, like you're saying. Unfortunately, even in Hawaii, third, fourth, and fifth graders choosing to initiate uh sexual relationships. So equip them with the truth and the goodness, not just them watching on their screens, on their social media, on TikTok, God forbid, but they get to see a counter message that is the good message of wholly sanctified sex while we wait. Um, thank you for saying that. Another issue you touched on, and I'm gonna focus on really quickly, is we as adults also have a lot of trauma. Yes. Some of it was sexual abuse as a child, unfortunately. Um I think the statistics are it's one in four girls or women, and one in five boys has been sexually molested or assaulted as a child. So that would be between before the age of 17, 18. Um, but when we have those children grow into adults, they still bear some of that um some of the sexual damage, as you said, damage. Can you speak to that? Because that's why, because you've mentioned it a few times. Thank you so much, Michelle, that we are reading the books and we are coming and crashing on those conferences. But can you speak to that? That that is a legitimate need and one that gets covered because healing is not just for one person, it's for everybody in the house.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yes, absolutely, all ages. We even myself is I'm 64 now, gonna be 64 this year. It's like I need continued healing for different things in my life, and so trauma, healing. I just want to encourage parents, leaders, all the adults to pursue your healing because your breakthrough is your family's breakthrough. Your your breakthrough is your community's breakthrough, right? And it takes that courage. And and each one of you are brave and bold and beautiful. Each one of you are, and so I really want to challenge and encourage all of you to really value that healing journey with God. Because God is so passionate about making us whole. Now, I just want to say one thing. It's all of these things that we cover in explicit movement, sexual brokenness, all of these things is so that you can be free and no hindrances to step into the fullness of who God created you to be and fulfill your purpose and calling. Wow. It's the it's it's not an end and of itself, it's a means to that end.

Brave Series And Trafficking Prevention

SPEAKER_03 30:29

I love that. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Yes. And that you're doing all of this, brave and bold, brave and beautiful, and brave together. Together, I gotta bring this one forefront because we've been featuring the other two for a little bit, but brave together, all of this is to land us in freedom. Yes because, and as you said so well, freedom isn't just for one person. When you get set free, as you know, I went through sexual molestation as a child, and and that's unfortunately it's not just a me story. There's too many children who have gone through that. And we need to come out of that bondage or out of that prison cell. Shame, the shame and the what did I do to deserve that? Or and then it does show up in my relationships where I was making consistent choices towards narcissistic abusers. Bottom line, I won't go through all of that, but then to say, no, stop, as for me and my house, this body, we will serve the Lord and I will make different choices. I don't have to have a spiritual softness towards user-abuser people. I'm gonna say yes to wholeness and to healing and to freedom. So thank you for saying that, Pastor Michelle. It makes me think about that story in the Bible where remember that two of the apostles were in prison and they were singing worship unto the Lord, and then the angel breaks them out, prison break, and the prison warden goes to fall on his sword because he lived in the Pax Romana time, right? The Romans would do this as kind of like the Japanese, right? Seppuku, Harakiri. They killed themselves because they didn't have honor. And so he goes to fall on his sword, and boom, they stop him and go, Hold up, we're all still here. We didn't break out of the prison, we stayed. And he started asking them about Jesus. Not only did the prison warden get saved, but his whole house, he ran home, got his family. They all come down and they all got saved and met Jesus Christ that night. Freedom wasn't just for the prison warden, it was for his whole family. So, family, I come into complete unity and confirmation, affirmation with what Pastor Michelle just said, which was a huge promise that God promises you when you are set free, it sets your whole family free. There is freedom available for everybody, and it really is free. It was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, but it is free for you and me. Thank you for saying that, Pastor Michelle. Yes, I believe it. And it's a continuing process, as you said. You're 64, I'm 55. We're still being washed and freed. It's a journey of transformation, right? We keep learning transformation, metamorphosis, becoming like the butterflies. Well, we're we're quickly coming into a conclusion. We talked about the books. We have Brave and Beautiful, we have Brave and Bold, and now Brave Together, but you also have a four-book set. It's available on their website, which is explicit movement.org. Do you um what's your contact? How can do you have IG or Facebook or social media? Are there other ways other than the website, or should we just focus on the website for you?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

You can check out the Instagram, Explicit Movement. Um, and you can just access that. You can also email me, you know, Michelle M-I-C-H-E-L-E. One L at explicitmovement.org. Okay. You know, I'll be glad to see how I can support and serve all of you best we we can.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

But you're global now. You even work with a Hollywood wood person, a fashion designer. I remember at a recent prayer breakfast, you were there. My bestie. I'm like, holy moly, they make crowns for women. They work, they do short films. I mean, Pastor Michelle, God has used you because your humility and a humble yes has led to a great influencer across the nations. So thank you for doing what you do. It inspires the rest of us as humble local people, like, oh brah, check out Michelle.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Oh, no, you know what it is? It's painful surrender at times, right? And obedience to them what God is asking us to do. And and sometimes it's hard, right? When God asks you to do so, you feel unqualified. And oh my goodness. Very hard. But it's amazing. It's an adventure with God. Wow. Right? And so God is inviting us in this each one of us has an adventure with God, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:45

Because I look at your stats, and Pastor Michelle, you you were before this, of course, she's you know, the global pastor, or she calls it the director of releasing generations at explicit movement. I love that. Director of releasing generations, setting them free. But before that, you were associate pastor with your husband at Life Spring Church. I actually attended their church when I first came to college at UH Manoa. And then before that, you were 17 years as an elementary school teacher, and now you're an international influencer for Jesus. Going into the darkest pits and shining the greatest light. Thank you for doing that. What I also love about Pastor Michelle before we pivot to the last question is that you operate in the prophetic realm. You, like you just shared, God interrupted you in the shower, gave you this vision of the magazines. I don't think you ever did a magazine. You weren't ever a magazine publisher, editor, and then this humble local girl, school teacher, goes and honors the Lord. And now we have a whole set that's available because, and it's not about selling magazines, it's about setting people free. You think about the number of explicit magazines that are out there working for the dark side for the devil, and there are, I mean, it's a multi-trillion dollar business, it's a multi-billion dollar industry on the internet selling souls and selling flesh. I'm sorry, John.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

I want to say that this wasn't even my idea. No, it was God. He showed. So this is a really God's project. He's the author, finisher, and perfecter. Which is which is God's heart.

Healing Journey Aloha Hero Closing

SPEAKER_03 36:27

If he's doing that through you, he can do that through anybody, Michelle, because you really are a humble local girl. Thank you for inspiring us. And I love that you hit on the painful surrender, because it is painful when we surrender. But as servants, we become superstars because we learn to lay flat and just listen and go as he goes. Last question: What is aloha to you? It could be a memory growing up in Hawaii. Did you grow up here, Pastor Michelle? I did. So you grew up here. It could be a memory of back in the days. Maybe it's a story, a favorite family story, or a smell or a flavor. I don't know what it could be, but what is aloha to you?

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Yeah, there's so much facets to aloha, but I want to just focus today on expressing gratitude.

unknown 37:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Um, yesterday I had a pivotal moment where I was able to have lunch with the my speech teacher I had in 12th grade.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

And 40 40 Kalani.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yes, Mrs.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Layla Naka. And she inspired me to have my first dream. You know, coming from a real brokenness background. I want to be a teacher like Mrs. Naka. That was my first dream, and I never saw her since 46 years ago. And I I was able to thank her for changing the trajectory of my life because that's when I went into teaching and then went into, you know, all this. I can trace it back to Mrs. Naka. So I was able to thank her. Yesterday, I took her out to lunch years. And yes, and I was able to thank her while she's still alive to say thank you for changing my life.

SPEAKER_03 37:59

Mrs. Layla Naka, and that kind of leads us into the last last question. Who is your aloha hero? Somebody who lives true, pure aloha with that past or present. But that may I just say before you answer that, thank you, Mrs. Layla Naka. And you know, I think we back in the days, and still today I work with educators at Choose Aloha program. We get choke teachers. I'm sorry, we have many educators. We have choke teachers who are inspirations. In fact, when we speak to a lot of these educators, most of them were inspired. Like yourself, you became a teacher thanks to Mrs. Layla Naka. We remember a teacher who changed our lives, and we wanted to turn around and bless it forward. So thank you to all the educators out there. I know it's a really hard job. Plus, you guys get paid billions of dollars. It's the one of the highest paying professions in the no, it's not. We need to reverse like professional athlete uh salaries with the teacher salaries. I really think so. But anyway, they they don't make much money and yet they do a lot of really hardcore soul and spirit work influencing our children, many of them for greater good, like yourself. So thank you, Mrs. Layla Naka. And I love that you said that attitude of gratitude to go back and thank her. Thank you for doing that. Who is your Aloha hero? Francis Oda.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Uh founder of Group 70. He when when I first started Explicit Movement, he goes, Michelle, I don't think you you know what you're doing. I go, Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing. He goes, I'll meet with you twice a month and I'll and I'll mentor you. So he has for the past 11 years. And there was one moment, I'll just end with this is that um he was like a father figure to me because I never had that loving father, honestly. And so he said at one point, Michelle, it's an honor to love you. And I'll never forget that moment because it just brought so much healing to my heart who never had a dad who felt I felt loved me. And it it just gave me that strength to keep going. And so he was he's truly a hero of mine about aloha.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

Francis Oda, founder of Group 70, he inspired um Transform Our World, Hawaii, which you and I are part of. It's an ohana of of Christian influencers, pastors, leaders. He also helped to inspire Hawaii Family Forum, Hawaii Family Advocates. I mean, this man is a living legacy at this moment. He is struggling with extreme uh cancer, I believe. He and his wife overcoming uh we're right now filming in the beginning of the year, and we're not sure that he's gonna draw another breath another day. But we are so thankful state for your Aloha hero. And I'm so grateful in your story that he told you because it's so true. It is an honor to love you, Michelle. Thank you for loving so many others because you are so worthy. Thank you, friend. Thank you, Don. I'm so proud to call her my sister and my friend. It's Pastor Michelle Okimura from the explicit movement.org. You can even email her. She invited you to if you need to reach out and contact to get resources or conferences or just questions. It's Michelle with one L, Michelle at explicitmovement.org, right? Yes. And so thank you again for joining us today. What sex got to do with it? Well, pretty much everything right now. So look it up on explicit movement.org and thank you again for joining us, Ohana. Aloha.