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With two young daughters of his own, the thought of losing them to the insidious crime of human trafficking was unbearable to Joshua Sun. He was already contributing to multiple anti-trafficking organizations when he walked into an event last year where representatives from Love Justice International shared about their work.
“I had never heard of an organization that stops it before it happens,” he said.
Sun is a real estate investor and capital raiser in Los Angeles, California, working with a team of three to connect investors with good real estate opportunities. For every deal closed, they donate $396 to LJI, helping intercept three people before trafficking occurs. With 8–10 deals per month, that amounts to 24–30 people intercepted each month.
Sun also loves God deeply, and this love overflows into every area of his life. “By the grace of God,” he often repeats—and how true, that God’s grace would flow in and through such a willing heart. Sun is an example of a life marked by God’s grace, creating a ripple of impact for God’s kingdom.
Faith as a foundation for it all
Sun gave his life to Christ in 2009 at the age of 30. As he started reading the Bible, it began to change him. Seeing how God blessed Abraham in order to be a blessing to others, and how Jesus ministered to widows and orphans, Sun sought to imitate Christ by serving and blessing others.
Then, a few years ago, Sun heard a sermon from David Platt talking about the unreached people of the world—those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, never even had the chance to decide for themselves if they would follow Him or not. Platt pointed out that according to his research, only 1% or less of church funds given to missions actually go to unreached people groups—meaning that those most in need receive the fewest resources, and an estimated 3 billion people remain without the gospel.
“That one sermon changed my whole perspective,” Sun said.
Using several verses as an impetus, including Revelation 7—where people from every nation, tribe, and tongue stand around God’s throne glorifying Him—Platt emphasizes that the Great Commission should be a high priority for churches.
“I think it’s really a question of priority,” said Sun. “Of course, work is important, family is important, all of that. But are we really prioritizing [the Great Commission] as the main purpose of our lives, as our North Star of our lives?”
LJI Spiritual Director Nikki Still wrote something similar in a recent prayer update to staff:
“Will this matter in eternity? … It requires intention and daily realignment to ensure our lives are orientated to the true north of living for eternity.”
There is a sense in both statements that the Christian life has already been given purpose and direction—to prioritize God’s purposes and orient our lives around that. To “seek first the kingdom of God,” as Matthew 6:33 says.
Living for God’s purposes
This mindset guides Sun in many areas of his life. Aside from giving to multiple anti-trafficking organizations, Sun also contributes to efforts focused on evangelism to unreached peoples, clean water, orphans, and the persecuted church.
His church supports three orphanages in Ensenada, Mexico, and he personally travels to visit the orphanages about once a month. He’s helped replace old mattresses and taken the kids on outings—most recently to a trampoline park. In the next few weeks, he plans to help them repaint.
As a capital raiser, the primary thing he uses his business to raise capital for is to help homeowners who are in foreclosure save their homes, partnering with impact-driven investors.
Recently, two women approached him to raise capital to purchase multi-family homes for domestic abuse survivors—he’s working on that as well.
“We’ve tried to tie our business to impact,” he said. “God blessed us with the opportunity to help.”
Hope in suffering
There is another very real reason that Sun is motivated to evangelize to others. He has asthma, and sometimes the attacks are so intense that he cannot breathe at all. In those moments of pain, the awareness of life’s brevity is most tangible.
It runs in the family—both his grandparents died from asthma or lung cancer, and he saw them on ventilators as the illnesses progressed. Sun knows his asthma attacks may very well worsen as he ages.
“Once you're in that moment, when you're just experiencing suffering and pain, it just super clarifies everything—like all this stuff, like, you know, what I'm fighting about with my wife doesn't matter, my social media doesn't matter—it's just about the Lord,” he said.
Sun says his faith in God gives him hope to get through the pain. When the resurrection happens, he will have a new body, and suffering will come to an end. (Pictured below: Joshua Sun with his wife and daughters.)
“But how do people deal with suffering without knowing God? That’s what motivates me,” he said.
Sun passes out gospel tracts when he gets the opportunity, sharing about his faith with people he meets.
“It’s always uncomfortable. It’s always like, dang it, I don’t wanna do this. But then I just try to remember: this person is either suffering now or may go through suffering at some point, right? That’s all of us, all life. And that’s more important than whatever the reaction is and how my feelings might get hurt,” Sun said. “I don’t think I have the gift of evangelism, but I think God’s just giving me that heart at least, so I try.”
Sun also uses his social media accounts to raise awareness about all the needs and opportunities to help others he comes across. He hopes that this platform can continue to grow and inspire others to join in prioritizing making an impact by caring for the vulnerable and unreached.
“Most people, even non-Christians, have an innate compassion for people in need. We might hear stories and feel bad for someone, but then life gets busy. We don’t hear about it or think about it constantly, and we forget. But when there’s awareness, I think that innate compassion kicks in,” he said.
His Instagram is @joshuasun26 if you want to give him a follow!
The point of it all
If all of this sounds like a load of work and sacrifice, take a breath because it’s much simpler and sweeter than that.
Sun points to John Piper and C. S. Lewis’s theology about desire—that the problem is not that people desire too much and must sacrifice and suppress their wants for God, but rather that people desire too little. People pursue smaller earthly pleasures, unaware of the infinite joy God offers.
“The greatest, most lasting joy is actually God’s presence and doing God’s work,” Sun said. “I would try to help people reframe their idea of what true joy and goodness and pleasure and purpose means in life, that is, to know God first and foremost—it has to come from a relationship with God.”
A life of service—and the impact it has—is both an act of obedience and a natural overflow of God’s abundant goodness.
For Sun, this obedience and overflow have resulted in more than 100 people intercepted, according to our newest cost per intercept.
How many people will each of those hundred go on to impact? Living for God’s purposes has a ripple effect. God will take your simple acts of obedience and love and multiply them for good.
“Whatever you write,” Sun said about this article, “please just give God all the glory because it’s not me.”
We are so thankful for partners like Sun who have opened their hearts to become vessels for the Lord’s work. Many have already been blessed through the overflow of his relationship with God, and surely many more will be blessed in the days and years to come.
Start your own ripple of impact
At our newest cost per intercept, $112 protects one person’s freedom. Each intercept helps stop trafficking before exploitation begins and disrupts the broader trafficking network in that area. Our teams work with local law enforcement to pursue justice, and a single conviction sentence for a trafficker can eliminate the threat of slavery for hundreds of future victims. Our teams also share the gospel with the people they intercept, offering hope deeper than any physical aid we can provide.
Are you ready to make a lasting difference in the fight against human trafficking? Join us by giving at the button below.
*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing.
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