The Garden of Hope is a community that protects vulnerable and at-risk children and women from abuse and explotation in Southeast Asia and equips and enables them to develop maturity and responsibility, bearing fruit for the glory of God.
Our team consists of passionate and dedicated national staff and international volunteers.
Our Founders
Mark Crawford, Co-Founder and Executive Director
Mark has traveled throughout Southeast Asia studying and advising other ministries to women and children in prostitution. He also teaches and writes internationally on issues of trafficking and prostitution, including as an adjunct instructor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Mark holds a Masters in Intercultural Studies from the Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies and a B.A. in International Management from Claremont McKenna College. While at Fuller his studies focused on leadership and organizational development and holistic ministry to women in prostitution, including spiritual, psychological and economic development. His Fuller works included “A Theology of Mission to Women and Men in Prostitution in the South-East Asian Context.”
Mark’s career began in hotel management, serving as an award-winning training manager for the Ritz-Carlton Hotels. He served as pastor for five years of North University Park Church in inner-city Los Angeles where he provided mentoring, leadership development and counseling to a young, ethnically diverse congregation. He has lived in Thailand since 2001.
Christa Foster Crawford, Co-Founder
Christa has worked in Thailand since 2001 addressing issues of trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls in the Mekong Sub-Region at both the grassroots and policy levels. In 2003, she co-founded The Garden of Hope, a ministry that reaches out holistically to victims of trafficking, people in prostitution and children-at-risk in Thailand and Burma.
In addition to directing vocational training and business development for The Garden of Hope, Christa speaks and teaches internationally on issues of trafficking and prostitution, including as an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and for Food for the Hungry’s GoED Program in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She has published several articles and book chapters on the subject, as well as written a book on combating human trafficking for the United Nations.
Christa is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Claremont McKenna College. She is currently working on an M.A. in Holistic Child Development from the Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary.
Our Affiliations
