Partnerships are Key to the Florida Baptist
Children’s Homes’ Sanctity of Human Life Ministy
~ A crisis pregnancy is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus. ~
January 7, 2010
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| Mary Lou Hendry (left) and Jennifer Boll, community ministries social worker for the Children’s Homes’ Lakeland campus celebrate the news of a recently finalized adoption of a child that had originally been scheduled to be aborted by its birth mother. |
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| The resource packet called The Invitation Stands, is designed to help churches minister to women who have had abortions, as well as to help prevent abortions. The materials can be accessed online at www.NAMBforlife.net. |
LAKELAND, Fla. – Mary Lou Hendry is on the telephone receiving news about someone’s early Christmas present. That Christmas present is the finalization of an adoption on December 18 of a little girl that may have been aborted had it not been for the Sanctity of Human Life ministry partnership between the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes and Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) across the state.
“We witness a lot of heartache in this ministry, but we also get to witness a lot of joy and celebrations,” said Hendry as she hangs up the phone with a broad smile on her face.
Hendry, the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes’ Sanctity of Human Life director credits the work of the Holy Spirit in the young woman who placed her child in an adoption rather than go through with her planned abortion.
Hendry, who worked for nine years as the director of the Life Choice Care Center of Inverness said that young women experiencing a crisis pregnancy will often make a life-affirming decision for their unborn child once they become filled with the love and hope of Jesus Christ. Those life-affirming decisions include deciding to parent the child or to place the child in an adoptive family.
“We have to realize that a crisis pregnancy is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with a young woman who may feel that she has no alternative and no hope.”
“My prayer is for each young woman facing a crisis pregnancy to step into a Christ-centered PRC to hear about the author of all hope, and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Florida is the third largest abortion provider in the nation. There are nearly 90,000 abortions performed in Florida every year. More than 40,000 of those abortions occur in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.
The Florida Baptist Children’s Homes is working in partnership with PRCs, the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and local churches to help further advance the Sanctity of Human Life ministry.
One of these partnership initiatives is called The Invitation Stands, which is a two-year Sanctity of Human Life project to connect the church with women and families faced with a crisis pregnancy.
The project also includes a resource packet designed to help churches minister to the many women in churches and communities who have had abortions, as well as to help prevent abortions.
The resource packet comes with a DVD and includes a musical recording, sample bulletin inserts, a sample sermon, and a list of evangelism strategies to minister to women and families experiencing a crisis (unplanned) pregnancy. To learn more or to download information from the packet go to www.nambforlife.net.
In addition Hendry and Sandy Epperson, director of First Life Center for Pregnancy in Orlando recently conducted a training seminar for NAMB state pregnancy center trainers on a program called Focus on the Heart, which is designed to equip PRC staff and volunteers on the most appropriate methods for presenting the Gospel to women experiencing a crisis pregnancy.
“A crisis pregnancy presents an occasion for practically demonstrating the love of Jesus and leading the birth mother to Christ. As we make her needs our needs, the shared needs become a bridge to communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ,” Hendry said.
For more information on the Children’s Homes’ Sanctity of Human Life program contact Mary Lou Hendry at MaryLou.Hendry@FBCHomes.org or 863-687-8811.
