Portland Escorts: A Christian initiative at a Gresham apartment complex bears fruit
by escortingportlandSo far, as part of their grass-roots project, roughly a dozen young Christian men and women have made Barberry Village their home. Their goal: Create a sense of community in a chaotic neighborhood overrun with drugs, prostitution and gangs.
Their work mirrors, in some ways, the “new monasticism” movement, in which Christians move into urban or rural areas to work with the poor.
It’s not an easy way to live. Neighbors at Barberry Village have been suspicious. Safety is a concern. And some of these urban missionaries have burned out on a project that can be a 24-hour-a-day burden.
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Lawlessness is fueled by a MAX line that barrels through on East Burnside, just a half-block from the apartment complex. Drug dealers and prostitutes often slip in and out of the neighborhood on the MAX, said Gresham police Sgt. Marvin Madtson, who runs a group of officers assigned to troubled neighborhoods.