Tuesday, March 8, 2011

WINNING! "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." Psalms 118:17.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH- We no sooner returned home from the abortion mill where the weather was bone chilling raw, when we had to prepare for this afternoon’s speaking engagement at an area youth conference. We were still praising the Lord for today’s inspiring turnout of pastors and their churches that drove over 2 ½ hours to stand with our ministry. Church Without Walls and Pastor Todd Griener led the charge. Pastor Gavin led the worship on the sidewalks. It was awesome. Three precious babies were spared from abortion throughout the peaceful vigil. Pastor Chris prayed them up behind the building.
      Later, we arrived at our speaking engagement and the parking lot was full. We unpacked our equipment, and aides for the conference quickly helped us set up in an oversized room. We even had "baby wranglers" for our second youngest who begged to accompany us to today's event. I have to admit, we were fighting fatigue from this morning’s vigil where battling the cold, damp weather really drained us in addition to coming home to our normal large family chores: cleaning, laundry, groceries; our ministry doesn't stay at the abortion mill...it follows us home :) 
        Anyways, we looked so forward to speaking to today’s youth and sharing our not so average pro-life ministry. We were graciously introduced by a selected youth leader. Around the stage we posted several of our picture boards full of the fruits of our labors and had a projector and screen ready to go to add to our seminar. When I looked out into the crowd I was flabbergasted. We had an overflow of attendees and ran out of chairs; many adults were sitting on the floors surrounding the aisles of chairs. Beautiful! We thanked them for coming to today's event and we asked how many were familiar with the Hope abortion mill. A few hands went up. We then asked how many have actually stood and prayed outside this abortion facility with us. More hands went up. AMAZING! We recognized a few.
        We then gave a history of the abortion mill and our 18 ½ years of daily ministry. We spoke on the atrocities of abortion inside and outside of this mill and on the breaking news stories due to our daily witnessing and expose articles. Many raised their hands with questions: “What got you started?” “How do you do it?” We spoke on the rescuing and saving lives aspect, the death toll numbers at an all time low, and the saves and adoptions of babies since we began 18 ½ years ago. We told of how abortion-minded women are not walking into pregnancy centers, “They are walking into abortion clinics. That is what makes our pregnancy support and adoption ministry so different. We are a ‘Window to the Womb’ where babies are scheduled to die that day; the last lines of defense for the mother and her innocent baby. We do whatever it takes to save a baby and support a mother.”
        We shared how humorous it was and a little scary when we made sure a pregnant mother from East St. Louis had a ride to her doctor appointments in our Special Forces van. (Laughter from the audience.) “Whatever it takes to save that baby you do, just like the firefighter or the police in a burning house fire. You rescue that child. Anyone can say they are pro-life, but doing pro-life saves babies. You have to win them by love; not by screaming Jesus at clients seeking abortions, but being Jesus to them in their time of need. Miss Norma McCorvey, the infamous Roe of the Roe v Wade decision which made abortion legal, was converted from running an abortion mill into running into the arms of Jesus by love, not screaming. She is pro-life and a Christian.” (Applause.)
        We took more questions and Daniel spoke briefly to the young men in the audience. Our pregnant volunteer arrived and we took her behind the secluded area and performed a LIVE ultrasound for the audience to see. They were so surprised to visualize a baby in utero, waving and auditioning for the audience. This little girl was “ham-ing” it up to their delight. “Ooohs,” and, “Ahhs,” could be heard. We thanked our volunteer and ended our program with a poignant and brief personal testimony. It brought tears to many eyes, but we felt God was telling us to share a little bit to encourage the youth and their leaders. “We can defy the odds and be overcomers no matter the circumstances.” (Applause.)
        Many in attendance came up to us and expressed various comments. One man kept shaking our hands and with tears welled up said, “I didn’t realize how special your ministry is and all you do.” One man came up wanting to support our ministry and gave us a generous donation, “We are amazed at all the time you put into your ministry.” One woman came up and told Angela how touching her testimony was to her and began crying and gave Angela a hug. “Thank you for all you do. I didn’t know how much love and kindness you dedicate to the unborn.” Some of the youth came up and told us, “That was the best seminar at this event.” WOW! Praise The Lord!
      Our little one was dancing the night away with the sweet girls who cared for her during our speech to the loud Christian rock band next to our room. “Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes, yes Lord…” It was a great night for Life. We thanked our host for the wonderful opportunity to share our lifelong ministry.