Joel Osteen, senior pastor of the 40,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, announced Thursday his and the congregation’s support for H.R. 2805, the “End Sex Trafficking Act of 2013.” “The suffering associated with human trafficking resonates strongly within the Christian community, and we know of many churches, like our own, whose compassion for its victims has moved them to act,” said Joel and Victoria Osteen in a statement to The Christian Post on Thursday. Introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), the bill, which is supported by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, is intended to help eliminate human trafficking rings by “targeting the criminals who purchase sexual acts from these organizations and ensuring that they are prosecuted as human traffickers.” Osteen’s announcement comes just days after the FBI’s Operation Cross Country VII led to the arrest of 152 sex traffickers and recovery of 106 children during a 72-hour raid conducted July 26-28 in 76 cities throughout the United States. Working with local, state and federal law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the 47 FBI divisions involved in the operation led to the arrest of pimps who face state and federal charges. Eighteen of those arrests were made in Detroit, Mich., followed by 17 in San Francisco, Calif., 13 in Oklahoma City, Okla., and 10 arrests were made in both Jacksonville, Miss. and Atlanta, Ga
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