Six Eight Summit

The Six Eight Summit starts today! Doors open at 8am & we kick things off at 8:30!

Cyntoia Brown-Long is an author, speaker, and advocate for criminal justice reform and victims of trafficking.

Cyntoia had a difficult start in life. She was born to an alcoholic, teenage mother who was a victim of s*x trafficking. Cyntoia experienced a sense of isolation, low self-esteem, and alienation that drove her straight into the hands of a predator. Cyntoia was trafficked during her early teenage years and, at the age of 16, was arrested for killing a man who solicited her for s*x. She was tried as an adult and was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for 51 years. Her trafficker was never arrested. In prison, Cyntoia’s life took a dramatic turn when the prison education principal took her under her wing and introduced her to a spiritual path. She encouraged her to build a positive life in prison and to resist the negative influences that lead to despair.

Cyntoia’s journey was a roller coaster ride that included a documentary about her life, a profound encounter with God, an unlikely romance, and, eventually, a commuted sentence by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. She received unprecedented national and international support from social media advocates, pastors, and celebrities and was released from prison in Nashville, TN, on August 7, 2019.

Her memoir, Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System (Atria Books), written while in prison, documents her early years and the 15 years she was incarcerated and takes readers on a coming-of-age spiritual journey. Set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars and the injustice of sentencing s*x-trafficked juveniles as adults, Cyntoia struggled to overcome a legacy of birth-family addiction and a lifetime of being ostracized and abandoned by society. Of her time in prison, Cyntoia says, “I was just a teenager when I was sent to live behind a razor-wire fence. My entire coming of age was within the walls of the Tennessee Prison for Women.” She is a 2020 Nominee for the NCAAP Literary Image Award and has been featured as a guest columnist for the Washington Post.

A humble servant of Jesus Christ, Jaime Long, professionally known as J. Long, is a musician, producer, and business owner based out of Nashville, Tennessee. After experiencing much success in the music industry as a solo artist, where one of his singles reached #4 on the Billboard Top 40, he became a member of Pretty Ricky, an R&B group that consistently found themselves on the Billboard Top 40 as well. In 2012, Long felt the Lord call him out of the secular music industry to pursue a deepening relationship with Him. Upon returning to music, Long released his debut Christian album called R & B (Redeemed and Blessed) which featured the single, “Jesus I Need You”.

In 2017, after a prompting from the Lord, Long was obedient to the Lords directions and wrote a letter to the then incarcerated, Cyntoia Brown. In 2019, Brown was released from her prison sentence, and Long and Brown married, fulfilling everything the Lord had told Long just two years prior.

Today, Long and his wife, Cyntoia, are passionate about advancing the kingdom of God through a voice of hope, reform, and advocacy. Together they run the JFAM Foundation: the Foundation for Justice, Freedom, And Mercy where they partner with affected individuals and involved organizations to provide support and other resources to individuals affected by neglect, abuse, abandonment, and/or discrimination.

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