Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: Many of us have heard about human trafficking: the act of recruiting and transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploiting them for profit. But many of us, probably most of us, have never come up close and personal to the situation.

But it's very real. In fact, it's more real than any of us would ever realize. So, I'm coming to realize. And so today on Viewpoint, we're actually going to be talking about it. In fact, we're not going to talk about it in the abstract. We're going to talk about it up front and personal with Ted Greenfield, who actually flies to rescue those being trafficked.

We had to get him down from up in the air today in order to be able to talk about this. Get him out of his plane, get him down to terra firma so we're going to be able to talk about this subject from the inside out. So, I'm glad that you've joined us, friends. It's a conversation with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms.

Actually, human trafficking has been called stealing freedom. Stealing freedom. So today, you might say we're going to call the program Stealing Freedom: The Horror and Hope of Human Trafficking. Yes, there's horror, but there's hope because of guys like Ted Greenfield, our special guest today. Hope for those who are trafficked.

Women and children continue to make up the majority of victims worldwide. 38% of all victims of human trafficking detected globally between 2020 and 2023 were children, with girls accounting for 22% and boys for 16% of all detected victims. That marks a 31% increase in child detections, with a sharper 38% increase among girls.

At least 162 different nationalities were detected in 128 countries, with 31% of all cross-border flows involving African victims, making Africa the region with the most internationally trafficked victims. Trafficking victims from East Asia have been detected in more than 64 countries, making them the most graphically or geographically dispersed group around the world.

Countries in Africa and in Asia generally intercept more cases of trafficking for forced labor, while sexual exploitation is somewhat more frequent found in Europe and, guess where? The United States of America and South America. Around 74% of traffickers operated within organized crime groups, especially in business and government type structures.

In 2024, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received approximately 2,000 reports of potential human trafficking cases. And in the U.S., estimates suggest that about 24,000 individuals were victims of trafficking nationwide, with approximately 75% being women and minors.

So today on Viewpoint, that gives you a thumbnail sketch of the bigger picture concerning this matter of human trafficking, with forced labor now rising globally to 42% of the cases and has now exceeded even sexual trafficking.

So, that leads us to launch into the deep with our special guest here today. It was a presentation on human trafficking made during a Bible study that changed the trajectory of Ted Greenfield's life. When he learned that children and women were being bought and sold in the U.S., he felt impressed by God to do something.

His nonprofit rescue organization, Invisible Angels, got off the ground, literally, because he flies airplanes to deliver and rescue the seemingly unrescuable. So today on Viewpoint, he's going to pull back the curtain on the dark underbelly of human trafficking in the United States. We had to get him out of his plane to talk straight with us from the ground. Ted Greenfield joining us. It's good to have you, brother.

Ted Greenfield: Hey, Chuck. How are you? Thanks for having me.

Chuck Crismier: Well, it's fascinating. You're down there in Florida right now. Is that right?

Ted Greenfield: That's right. Cold Florida this week, unfortunately.

Chuck Crismier: Really? I'll bet it's not as cold as here in Virginia where we've been down to the teens this morning and up to the high 30s today.

Ted Greenfield: Well, it's not that bad. But for us, it's cold down here. But it's all relative.

Chuck Crismier: Yeah, well, I lived down there for a year in Lakeland. I understand what you're talking about. And look, this matter of trafficking is something that seems foreign to, I think, most of us. So, help us from the inside out just very quickly in a thumbnail sketch to comprehend it from your viewpoint. Just simply.

Ted Greenfield: Simply, human trafficking is horrible overseas and in other countries. I had no idea it was even happening in the United States. And when I did go to that Bible study back in 2018, a woman from a group called Marinatha for Freedom came in and gave her presentation on the human trafficking situation in Baltimore and D.C.

Chuck, the first thing that went through my mind as I'm listening to her for about five, six minutes, I just thought to myself, "This can't be happening here. She's making this up." I have a crazy brain and the first thought that went through my mind was, "We have Home Depot here. How could this be happening?"

And I thought, just because I've lived overseas, I've lived in West Africa, I've lived in the Dominican Republic, I've lived in Europe, I've lived in Western Asia. I know human trafficking is going-on. But when I heard at the levels that it was going-on just in Baltimore and Washington D.C., after about 10 minutes of this presentation, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, she's telling the truth. This is really happening."

And God put this in my heart like a wet bag of cement and it just started to harden.

Chuck Crismier: You're not saying you had a hard heart then?

Ted Greenfield: No, but years ago, last century, I spent 10 years as a special education teacher. I've always had a heart for that. I taught special ed for 10 years. I ended up going into multimedia production and instructional design. But I've always had a heart for those left behind.

I wasn't searching for this in my life at all. This landed on me and God really just placed it right in front of me. It was really one of these Isaiah moments where it was like, "Yeah, I'll go. I'll go."

Chuck Crismier: Mary there in the Bible wasn't exactly waiting for the message of the Holy Spirit that she was going to bear the Christ child either. It kind of shook up her life.

Ted Greenfield: Right. And this was one of those instances. So after that Bible study, this was almost like this was just going through my mind like a huge obsession and I couldn't understand it. I was driving home that night and a friend of mine just happened to call and she started to talk about something.

I said, "Hey, hold on for a second. Have you ever heard that human trafficking is a problem in the United States?" And she said, "Oh my gosh, I just finished this book, Undaunted by Christine Caine. I'm going to send it to you. You've got to read it."

Chuck Crismier: All right. Well, we're going to have to pick up on that right after the break, Ted. And what a story we have to relate to our listeners here today. Are we- do we have you still on the ground or are you up in the air now?

Ted Greenfield: I'm on the ground. I'm all here.

Chuck Crismier: Today we're talking about the plague of human trafficking. We're focusing not so much around the world but actually what's happening right here in the United States of America. And what's happening in response to it to deliver from the bondage of human trafficking those that are trafficked.

And there are special groups of Christian people whose hearts God has melted to a kind of caring and softness to reach out in boldness to rescue these people. And they can be boys, they can be girls, they can be people that are older, especially women.

And so today our special guest, Ted Greenfield, you hear me keep talking about him being up in the air, but that's the nature of his ministry. And he's going to tell us more about that because he formed an organization that actually is dedicated to rescuing those who are plagued from stealing freedom. That's right. And is it a dangerous job? We're going to find out.

And it has to do with angels. He calls it Invisible Angels because he has to travel almost invisibly in order to accomplish his job from the plane. And so you were telling us about a woman that came to you, I believe it was, and was reinforcing this whole issue that had been planted in your mind and heart. Where did that go?

Ted Greenfield: My friend Kelly had sent me this book right away called Undaunted by Christine Caine. I only made it through the first 100 pages. It was about these horrors of human trafficking, mostly in Eastern Europe. I put the book down and I couldn't really read any further. But this really started to sink in.

As the next few weeks went by, I just started digging around online and looking through human trafficking rescue organizations, safe houses, and just getting familiar and learning what's out there. I stumbled across a sermon by a guy by the name of Lee Dominique who runs an organization called Trafficking Hope in Birmingham, Alabama.

His YouTube presentation just gripped me. It was just his story, his testimony, how he got into this space. I called them the next day. After I heard this sermon, I think it was a Sunday, I said, "I've got to talk to this guy."

So I called over there the next day and I talked to the director. I had an idea at the time and I said, "Hey, I'm some crazy Christian guy, my name is Ted. I'm a bit of a dreamer. I'm all about big vision. God really planted this seed in my heart. I'm really trying to digest it, figure out what to do with it." But I got a question. "Do you guys ever need private aircraft to transport survivors from the point of rescue or to medical help or to get them to safe houses or just to transport them out of danger?"

I thought she had dropped the phone. She said, "Ted, you have no idea what an answer to prayer that is. We were in fact just talking about that this morning, that we need somebody with a private aircraft to handle this case that they were working."

Chuck Crismier: All right. So how do you end up with a private aircraft? I thought you were into dealing with children who had limitations in their lives.

Ted Greenfield: I was a special education teacher back from the '80s to the mid '90s, really the late '90s. And then I went into multimedia production and this thing called the internet. Remember that thing back then?

Chuck Crismier: Oh, yeah.

Ted Greenfield: I got involved in an internet startup and then we started our own multimedia production firm. That carried into a position at Voice of America developing an e-learning English language platform, which ended up turning into multiple production opportunities working for the government.

Then I transferred over to the FAA in the 2015, 2016 timeframe. I was a manager of a group called Safety Promotion there and I was a multimedia producer at the FAA.

Chuck Crismier: Federal Aviation Administration?

Ted Greenfield: Right, Federal Aviation Administration. And I was creating training content for pilots and air traffic controllers and other safety professionals.

Chuck Crismier: Is that what connected you to Lockheed?

Ted Greenfield: Yes, I actually came from Lockheed. Which is an amazing restorative story in the book that I wrote. But what happened there is at the time I became a pilot and I really felt God leading me into this because He told me the next season of your life is going to be in aviation ministry.

And that's all He said. This was back in 2016 and I was actually doing my solo for my private pilot's license. He came into that plane and He just said the next season of your life is going to be in aviation ministry. You're going to be flying around and helping people.

From then on, it was this progressive revelation. God just laid out one more breadcrumb after another. I just kept on following the breadcrumbs. After I got my private pilot's license, I just knew that something was going to develop in my life around aviation ministry.

Chuck Crismier: Well, you didn't let any grass grow under your feet as God gave you a certain amount of revelation as to what He wanted you to do, not ultimately but at that time. And so you called them breadcrumbs, but you might call it the incremental preparation by God to do what ultimately He had for you to do. And I find that's exactly how God works an awful lot of the time.

Ted Greenfield: Absolutely, because I had no idea what it would look like. I had no idea what it would be. If you would have told me 15 years ago that I'd be running what's called now, we're a Part 135 direct air carrier, and we're facilitating human trafficking rescue across the country and now we just did our first international rescue, I wouldn't have believed you.

Chuck Crismier: Well, I wouldn't have believed that I would have just completed over 30 years on the air either.

Ted Greenfield: Yeah, isn't that something? All we have to do is be faithful and follow. And then when it doesn't make any sense, that's when we know it's God. Because what happened next was really a mind-blower.

So I called over there to the director and I said, "Would you ever need private aircraft to help in rescue and recovery?" She said, "Oh my gosh, we're just talking about this this morning. This would be such an answer to prayer." That turned into a 45-minute prophetic prayer call with the director of Trafficking Hope at the time, where she prophesied over me that I would be running an organization rescuing hundreds, if not thousands, of human trafficking survivors and I would have a fleet of aircraft.

Chuck Crismier: Wow. So where did the name Invisible Angels come from? Did that just come out of the air?

Ted Greenfield: No. This was about nine months later after this phone call. I'm in the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters in D.C. I'm in a big safety meeting, there's 40, 50 people in the room, we're discussing new safety initiatives.

And then I hear God tell me "Invisible Angels." That's all I heard. I'm sitting in the room and I just kind of perked up and I'm just quietly saying to God, "You want me to buy that domain name invisibleangels.org?" And right away, I knew He wanted me to buy invisibleangels.org.

Chuck Crismier: Isn't that exciting to have something so particular dropped in your mind even at an unsuspecting moment?

Ted Greenfield: Yes. And so what- it gets bigger. So I said, "Well Lord, that domain name is going to be $3,500." I'm a multimedia producer, an internet developer, a web developer. Lord, I know it's going to be $3,500. And then He just said, "I need you to buy that domain name right now."

I shut my laptop and snuck out of the back of the big meeting and I walked down the hall to my office. I'm just saying the whole walk down, "Lord, that's going to be $3,500. I don't have $3,500." And I just hear Him say, "Keep on going."

I get back to my office, log into my register.com account, and I enter in invisibleangels.org and it pops up available, $35.

Chuck Crismier: I was going to say, I was going to think maybe $35. My goodness.

Ted Greenfield: Yeah. And well- and then the moment I hit purchase on that, God told me two things. He told me to write a budget for this organization and speak life into it as if it is up and running.

And I had- I just had a domain name. I didn't even build the website. That's all I did is I wrote a budget for this organization that I really didn't know what it was yet. And then I'm just telling everybody and their brother about it. Every Bible study I was in.

And then that lasted for about nine months where I'm just speaking life into this organization that doesn't exist. Nine months later, I'm in a Bible study, an online Bible study, and I'm telling everybody in the online Bible study about the organization that doesn't exist that God gave me the vision for.

This retired airline pilot perks up in the Bible study, and he's now a good friend and a donor and a partner with Invisible Angels. And he said, "The perfect plane for you is the Cessna Centurion P210. It's a six-passenger aircraft, it's pressurized, it's turbocharged, it's got a low fuel cost. They're under a million dollars, they're about $250,000 to $500,000. They are the perfect plane for your mission."

I get online at trade-a-plane.com later on that night and sure enough, he was right on and that is the perfect plane for this mission. Well, then nine months later- and everything happened in these nine-month periods of revelation.

Chuck Crismier: Yeah, because I'm sure you didn't have $250,000 or $500,000 sitting around to dump on this airplane.

Ted Greenfield: No. And so I catch this sermon nine months later and I'm just speaking life into the organization now for 18 months. It's a long time, but I still feel this fire that I've got to do this. I catch this sermon by Steven Furtick called When God Gives You the Green Light.

And this something about this sermon, I just felt, "Lord, I have the green light." But I felt I was at a traffic stop standing in the intersection with no car and I got the green light. But I felt that's exactly how I felt. So after the sermon, I was just like, "Lord, I know You're giving me the green light, I know."

I'm walking around my apartment in D.C. and I'm just looking under the pillows. I'm just like, "I know something's going to happen." And later on that afternoon, I get on trade-a-plane.com to look at airplanes. And the first airplane that popped up was a Cessna Centurion, just like that guy Bob said nine months earlier. And all the ad said was, "I want to donate this airplane to a nonprofit."

Chuck Crismier: You've got to be kidding me. Oh, my goodness.

The name of the book is God is in This Fight. God is in This Fight: How God Made a Way to Rescue Human Trafficking survivors. And we're going to get into, in the second half of the program, exactly what Ted has been doing out there, the practical, in the air, not on the ground but in the air, and then on the ground aspects of this.

You can see how God provided a $250,000 or $500,000 aircraft to him for free, friends. Now, when you get that kind of a donation, that is an unbelievable confirmation to an organization and a vision that doesn't even exist at the time. Wow. I've got to tell you, Ted, it's pretty exciting.

Ted Greenfield: Yeah, it is amazing. And that's just the beginning of the miracles and the beginning of the story, both good and bad, because it does take a serious left turn after our first five or six rescue flights that we did.

Chuck Crismier: Why is that?

Ted Greenfield: Well, so what happened was, we got the plane in 2021, we started operations in 2021. And remember now, I work at the Federal Aviation Administration. And we're, during all these times of progressive revelation where nothing's going-on, I'm calling out to every rescue place and every safe house that I can find just to meet people and tell them about the vision God's given me. So by the time we got the airplane, we already started getting calls.

Chuck Crismier: In other words, the need was great.

Ted Greenfield: The need was great. So we did, I think we did like five or six flights right off the bat. And they were horrific cases as they all are, because the transportation is the missing piece. Because when survivors are rescued, they have to get far away, usually 800 to 1,000 miles minimum away from their immediate environment, number one, for safety and security, and number two, so they can begin their healing process, their healing journey. And this is Auschwitz-level trauma.

Today we're dealing with a very painful subject called human trafficking. It's occurring all over the world. About half of it is related to the labor market, providing free work, free labor for those who grab a hold of somebody else's freedom. The majority of it then after that is sexually related.

But who knows what all the reasons are. But the fact is it's happening and it's a very serious problem. I'm told that it's over a billion-dollar-a-year business, maybe a lot more than that. And our special guest today, Ted Greenfield, who God gave a very fascinating vision to actually start an organization called Invisible Angels.

So suppose, Ted, that somebody wanted to assist you in this endeavor. How would they do that?

Ted Greenfield: The best way to partner, the best way to help us is to partner with us. And I always say to partner with us between $10 and $25 a month. Because people say, "Well, that doesn't really sound like a lot." Well, it is a lot when 1,000 people do it and when 1,500 people do it. Because we do operate a private aircraft and there are a lot of expenses.

So that is the best way to help us. And then number two is awareness. We are developing an awareness package like a presentation that you could present at your Bible study. Because that's the one thing and that's how I got involved in it and how God tapped me on the shoulder is awareness. Because still today, many people don't know this is happening.

And we- our youngest rescue was an 8-year-old child and our oldest rescue was a 51-year-old adult. And the other shocking statistic is that over 75% of trafficking survivors are trafficked by family members.

Chuck Crismier: Now, that is very troubling, isn't it?

Ted Greenfield: Yes. Every single trafficking survivor we've transported has known their trafficker. So it's either been a boyfriend or a friend or an uncle or a family member and several cases have been parents where they've just outright sold their child.

Chuck Crismier: You know, there's a very famous trafficking story in the Scriptures. In fact, it involves the 10 brothers of one of the children of Israel. And those 10 brothers did not like their brother Joseph. And so they decided to grab him and they dump him in a pit. Ultimately, they sold him to the Midianites who took them down to Egypt. And that was the first real trafficking story in the Bible.

Ted Greenfield: Right. And it's horrific. And at the level that it's happening, it's shocking. And again, like what I said before, it's Auschwitz-level horror and Auschwitz-level trauma.

Chuck Crismier: What does that mean to you? Translate that.

Ted Greenfield: Well, it's very hard to put the pieces back together again.

Chuck Crismier: For the people that are trafficked?

Ted Greenfield: Yes, for the survivors. You're talking about a young let's say a 14 to 23-year-old girl who has been raped about 15 times a day for about six to seven years. And sold to one gang member to another to another to another.

And this is happening here. We're talking about American children, American young adults, and American adults. We have had one foreign-born national in our rescue that we've given transport to, but every single person has been an American young child or a middle-aged adult.

And we've had horrendous stories where the trafficking survivors are sold at truck stops. One horrific story, and I don't mean to get graphic, but people have to hear this because they have to hear how serious it is, is that a young girl tried to run from a trafficker who was selling her out of a mobile home at a truck stop.

And that's all this person was doing was taking the child to various truck stops across and selling the child. And the child tried to run and the guy hammered nails into her feet so she wouldn't run. And this was a presentation that was given by law enforcement at a conference, actually the End It conference in Montgomery, Alabama.

That isn't the end of it. There are just horrific, horrific stories that are happening. And again, like what I said before, I had no idea this was even happening in the United States. I knew it was happening in other countries. So here I am when God presented this to me, I said, "Yeah, I'll go. This is ridiculous."

And the one awesome feature that I've found being in this space is every single person in this space from all the safe homes that I deal with, to all the rescue agencies that I deal with, and all the law enforcement, and even FBI and federal law enforcement, every single person that we've dealt with has been an on-fire born-again believer who God has plucked out of their life and put in this long chain of people who are helping these people and helping these survivors.

Chuck Crismier: Okay. Now, I want to build on that. So you rescue a person, or you together with the others on the ground that are coordinating this, and you get the person to the destination 800, 1,000 miles away. Now what?

Ted Greenfield: Then we're done. We usually deliver them to safe houses across the country. And then our job's over because the transportation was the missing link. How do we get this person who has no money, no ID, no family, no resources, who is shell-shocked, who really can't navigate her way through a restaurant, nonetheless an airport? And how do we get them privately, conveniently, quietly, and comfortably and safely to a safe house that's across the country?

Chuck Crismier: But what happens in the safe house? I mean, is there a spiritual connection ultimately, or this is just doing good for those who are disenfranchised and so on?

Ted Greenfield: The safe houses are all run- so I work a lot with a safe house in Florida called Selah Freedom, Created Women of Tampa is another safe house. There's Camille's Place, there is a rescue organization called Free Indeed. And then there's Life Recaptured and we work with Tim Tebow's group, Her Song, and they're in Chattanooga and Jacksonville.

And in the safe houses there, they are the people that really do the wonder of putting these survivors back together again. The survivor safe home programs are usually about two years, sometimes a little longer. And it's full residential housing. And in the safe houses, they have 24/7 medical care, they have psychological staff, they have psychological care, they have counseling. And every single one of them, they're all on-fire born-again believers. God is in this fight at every single stage that you could possibly think of.

Chuck Crismier: All right. So that's why it's the title of your book, God is in This Fight: How God Made a Way to Rescue Human Trafficking survivors.

Ted Greenfield: That's right. And how that came to be is I woke up one morning and the picture of the book exactly how it sits without my picture on it and just with the font and everything, God is in this fight, was in my brain loud and clear. I woke up with this image in my brain and God said, "Write this."

And it took me a year and a half because I was writing it while it was happening. And there were a lot of left turns like I was saying before. So we got off to a great start, we did four or five or six rescue flights. And then we worked with Homeland Security on one flight where we rescued an 8-year-old boy from- who was placed into a child pornography ring by one of the parents.

So we got a call from Homeland Security, "Hey, could you pick up the other parent, meet our agent who has the boy?" And we reunited, and we had everything wrapped up by lunch the next day. It was a very quick and very- it was a great flight and a great case that we worked on.

So I came into work a few days later at the FAA and I was telling some people about it. They said, "Wow, we've got to do a story on Invisible Angels." So they do an internal FAA story, one of these "look at what our employees are doing." And that goes out to about 50,000 FAA employees worldwide.

Oh, boy. A couple days later, I get a call from the Washington D.C. Flight Standards District Office. And you never want to get a call from these people. And I'm looking at the phone and I'm like, "Okay, I'm an optimistic guy, maybe they're calling to congratulate me or something."

And I pick up the phone and they were like, "Mr. Greenfield, we saw the story. How are you doing these flights?" First question they asked. And they said, "Under what Federal Aviation regulations are you following?" And I said, "We're doing it under Part 91 charitable flights."

They said, "No, you're actually operating an illegal airline and we're opening a compliance action against you," which are like federal charges. And I was looking at $1.4 million in fines. They could take away my pilot's license, they could take away the plane. I'm in a lot of trouble, serious trouble for operating an illegal airline.

And the phone call was about 10 minutes. I got off the phone and I sat down in my office and I just said, "God, I did exactly what You wanted me to do. What's going-on?" And God just said, "Don't worry, tell My story." And I had the Philippians 4:7 peace come over me and I'm like, "Okay."

All right. So I had to get a lawyer. There were a million miracles in that process. And then I get to the hearing. So of course, we have online hearings in federal charges, it's really serious, there's a letter of investigation that I have to prepare for this and it took a long time to prepare. Plus, where do I work? I work at the FAA. So it's really embarrassing. It's really embarrassing.

So I get- I get on the hearing and the first question they ask me, and there's about five or six safety inspectors on the zoom call rather, and the first question they ask me is, "Oh, Mr. Greenfield, tell us how Invisible Angels started."

And I leaned into the camera and I said, "Do you guys believe in Jesus?" And they all stared at me. And I just launched into the testimony of how God started this organization, from the donated plane, from the Bible study, to all the little miracles. I told them about every single flight that we had done and every single individual on that plane and what they were rescued from.

And how important that flight was. And it took about maybe 45 minutes to maybe close to an hour.

Chuck Crismier: In other words, they gave you an interview.

Ted Greenfield: They said, "Well, this is really an amazing story. We're going to get back to you with our findings," because they have to do their part, and I understand that. I work there, so I knew exactly what they had to do. And my lawyer said, "Oh, you- you might be in a lot of trouble." And I really was facing a lot of trouble. But God just said, "Don't worry, tell My story. Tell My story."

So three weeks later, they send me an email and they said we have a new hearing date. And my lawyer said, "Oh my gosh, three weeks, that's bad news. That's an early jury return," because it usually takes about nine months for that to happen. And I'm serious.

So we get on the new zoom call and the first thing they said was, "Mr. Greenfield, we truly believe that this was an oversight on your part. We're dropping all the charges against you. To continue, you need to be a Part 135 air carrier, though."

And I said, "Well, that takes about a half a million dollars and about four years and you need a team of lawyers to do that." And they said, "Well, this- we- we can help you with not helping you." But anyway, so they- they paved the way and we still had to do all the work just like we were any other air carrier. But we were able to get all the paperwork and the legal stuff all done within 18 months and we became the first air carrier that provides rescue transportation to human trafficking survivors in the United States as a Part 135.

Chuck Crismier: So how many airplanes are involved in this?

Ted Greenfield: So right now we have one aircraft. It's the six-passenger Cessna Centurion pressurized, a P210. And then we operate throughout Florida and Georgia and through Texas.

And also the biggest problem why we needed a private aircraft is that number one, the survivors need private transportation. Но number two, they don't have any ID and they don't have any money. So they can't get through airport security.

Chuck Crismier: Well, the ID problem is something that came across my mind because now you've got somebody under your dominion and control, so now you could be accused of being a trafficker.

Ted Greenfield: That's exactly right and that's why the FAA- that was the primary reason why the FAA wanted us to become a Part 135 air carrier. So we were flying these flights ourselves and then recently, just like within the last two months, we had an amazing breakthrough with the Department of Transportation and airports and so forth.

Now we can get survivors through airport security without any ID if they're accompanied by one of our advocates and accompanied by another advocate.

Chuck Crismier: Wow. That's amazing.

Ted Greenfield: That is amazing. So we transported 13 people last year, we're scheduled to- we've transported seven already this month and we're scheduled for another three or four. So we'll probably do 10 or 11 this month. And we did bring our first survivor back from internationally. We repatriated our first American survivor. So this really was able to expand our reach.

And what's great is because with advocates and help, we have them escorted right onto the seat and we also fly them first class and business class because number one, they are valuable in God's eyes. Proverbs 13:23, for the poor is standing on fallow ground, but injustice wipes it away. That proverb really spoke to me because God was saying you have to do this to show them how valuable they are in My eyes.

So we started flying several survivors in the last half of November, December. Number one, they're safer in business and first class. Number two, they can eat. That is the one thing because the survivors don't have any money to buy food. And we had a case last week actually where we were DoorDashing from a very far distance. We were DoorDashing food to a survivor while they were waiting for a flight.

And then once they can get in first class and business class, then they can eat all they want. But also they're safer there and then we can have somebody escorts them through security. We got cooperation from DOT with this and the air marshal services.

Chuck Crismier: Well, there's a lot involved there, a lot of details.

Ted Greenfield: A lot. And it's just- I think last week was our busiest week. We transported four survivors and it was a busy week on the phone creating all the logistics. Но everyone got to where they were supposed to get safely and the one text that just really hit my heart was that a woman we flew in business class said she was in tears the entire way because no one had ever treated her like this.

And that's exactly what God told us to do, show these people and show the survivors how valuable they are to God and how important they are to God. And that's really hitting home and that's just literally in the last six to eight weeks. And every day I see a miracle from Jesus. I mean every single day.

Chuck Crismier: And that's your story, that God is in this fight and you've seen that happen over and over and over again.

Ted Greenfield: And Chuck, I'll tell you, during this whole time, during the time where we became a Part 135 air carrier, I ended up in a chemo ward. My health has always been perfect and all of a sudden, I start this ministry and my blood work goes south and they're doing bone marrow biopsies.

And I end up in a chemo ward and I lost my pilot medical and God said, "Don't worry, keep on going. Just tell My story." And I'm telling this story to every cancer doctor I'm seeing and every nurse in the operating room and then the chemo ward where I was in for a month.

I just thought it was all- and God led me through all this and I thought, "Oh Lord, I can't fly anymore. I legally can't fly because I lost my medical. They don't know what's the matter with me. They can't find out what's the matter with me." I have no idea and God's like, "Just keep on going, tell My story, tell My story."

And then boom, one day they said, "Oh, we tried this medication because the chemo didn't work and this and the other medications didn't work." And they try this medication and boom, everything returns back to normal, I get my pilot medical back, my health boom, it's restored, and I'm back in business and I'm flying again.

Chuck Crismier: That's terrific. Now, are you still working with the FAA?

Ted Greenfield: No, I retired last February. So it's coming up on a year of- I don't even like that word retirement, but I took my retirement package from the FAA, which is thank you very much for 18 years in the government. And I loved working there. It was- still is a wonderful place to work if you love aviation and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Chuck Crismier: Well, they gave you a womb from which to develop what you are doing now. And that's how God works. He works gradually, you seize the moment when He first inspires you, you do what He shows you, then when you're doing that, He shows you the next step. You're doing that, then He shows you the next step and that's how it worked. And I understand that very, very well, believe it or not, that's my personal story as well.

So, you're flying out there and are these dangerous missions or how does that work?

Ted Greenfield: Not really. There was one dangerous mission that we had, but mostly once the survivors are on the other side of that fence, once law enforcement has plucked them out or they've escaped and they've gotten away from their traffickers, it's not like what you see in the movies.

Chuck Crismier: So you're not snatching them from a trafficker?

Ted Greenfield: No. We're working with law enforcement. So once we- or the safe houses. So once we come into contact with them, that's all been done. And we did work one case with Miami State Attorney's Office and that was an emergency case where this is where we needed our own private airplane and a woman had testified against her trafficker.

And the trafficker was sentenced to 40 or 50 years in jail, but then he got out on a technicality. And he got out like a matter of months after she testified. And the rescue organization that I work with gave me a call and they said we have to get down to Miami now.

Law enforcement told the whole story, boom we hopped in and we're a 45-minute flight from Miami. And law enforcement met us there, I stayed at the regional airport where we were, law enforcement took the person from the rescue organization, got the survivor who is hiding out in a safe location, undisclosed location.

And they escorted her, put her on the plane and they stayed there and they watched us take off. And then our aircraft is blocked, so you can't track our aircraft at all. Even the controllers, we have to enter a special code in for the controllers to be able to track us. So that was one little boost of working at the FAA that I was like, "Oh, we can- yeah, we'll- we need that."

So and law enforcement was just wonderful and we weren't really in any danger. We were just- they put her in the plane and we were at our safe house within the hour and then she moved to another place.

Chuck Crismier: Well, it's very fulfilling, Ted. I'm thrilled to hear your thrilling story and it's obvious that you're excited about what God has been doing. It hasn't been easy, but God has been in it. No question about it. God is in This Fight, that's a good title for your book. And you founded invisibleangels.org. That's your website, invisibleangels.org.

So again, if people wanted to find out more about what you're doing or get the details, they would go to that website. Is that right?

Ted Greenfield: Yeah, go to the website and then the best way to help us really is partnering with us between $10 and $25 a month because again, when 20 people do it, it's not much, but when 1,000 or 2,000 people do it, it's exactly what we need. And that monthly partnership, we are run on donations and I don't take a salary from Invisible Angels.

And as we build our organization, we're eventually looking at hiring some staff within the next year. But I personally want to keep it that way. Now as we build, we're going to build more aircraft and things, and also we offer charter flights as well. We're a Part 135 carrier, so we do offer charter flights.

But I think it would be really cool to give my salary back to Invisible Angels. Well, we started Save America Ministries 32 years ago and I never received a salary. I just think that's cool, you know. I really do. You can give your time, talent, and treasure, but your time and your talent is just as valuable if not more than your treasure.

Chuck Crismier: There you go. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Ted. You're a very inspiring person. I'm seeing your happy face on the front of your book, also the controls of your airplane there. I'm glad that you're the one that's flying and not me. Но the logistics of all of this are crucial. As you say, you have to be in and out of these rescues within about 10 minutes. You can't appear to be rushed or concerned. You need to be quick, focused, and invisible.

Wow. Invisible Angels. Well, it's not visiting angels, it's Invisible Angels. invisibleangels.org. Friends, thank you so much for joining us here on Viewpoint today. Get a copy of Ted's book. $17 will put it in your hands. It's on our website, saveus.org. It's about how he responds to people that are stealing freedom.

It's the horror and hope of human trafficking. The hope is what Ted and those around him are doing. Again, this is a message not just of horror, but of hope. And that's what the Kingdom of God is about. Get a copy of the book, $17 will put it in your hands on the website saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA. Write to us at Save America Ministries and seriously consider becoming a partner with us because we're helping to facilitate the broader breadth of the Kingdom of God to accomplish His purposes in the earth. Ted is one part of that greater puzzle, shall we say.

God bless you, Ted, and keep you safe in Jesus' name.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.