Changing Hearts Is Still Job One

As I write this, the Supreme Court is expected to issue an emergency ruling soon on the Texas law (SB8) that has successfully curtailed many abortions in the state. It will also hear oral arguments on December 1 on the Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks (Dobbs). There is some reason for optimism, especially on Dobbs, but the view we’ve gotten from the field is that our most important challenge remains a constant: many people, inside communities of Christians and outside, simply don’t have a strong love for unborn children and their mothers. It’s that love that drives the JFA team to work to protect both from abortion.

So changing hearts remains Job One. In this Impact Report, we share reflections from participants who found that love and the tools to express it through our training program. We also share pictures of conversations created at recent outreach events. To read some of the amazing stories of changed hearts from the past few months, click the links towards the end of this post.

I am coming to realize just how important it is to reach out to people who are thinking of having an abortion. I used to think that I could not make much of a difference, so why even try? But I have come to realize that saving even one life is worth going out and talking to these women, even though it is outside of my comfort zone. – Abby

God’s really been teaching me how to love correctly lately. I get very passionate about abortion, so something God’s been teaching me today is how to take that passion he’s given me and give it back to him so he can use it through me. I’ve been doing it without a lot of love and I’ve felt convicted of that. – Lydia

You have met a concern I didn’t know how to express: it bothered me when Christians just made intellectual arguments and neglected the life of the mother and all the other difficult aspects of this situation. I have never had a framework or seen an example of this being done in love before. I feel like I have the resources now to take a stand against something that is wrong while demonstrating love and showing care. I LOVE the scripts and additional resources. You made this hands on and practical/tangible. I was so thankful for this training! I feel equipped and encouraged and even excited! – Allison

Thank you for making my voice usable. – Rachel

This opened my eyes to the abortion dialogue. It was always a topic of conversation [to which] I would just say “Amen, that’s wrong.” Now I have the tools to actually do something. Your emphasis [on] the “relational” helps me shift this from a debate to an opportunity to love and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. – Eli

Very well articulated. I have been through [similar] seminars, and this did a great job at solidifying this topic into my brain and rekindling the fire in my heart towards this subject. – Garrett

This was super helpful, and not just philosophically, but ... practically. This has been such a great reminder that it’s not only about the unborn, but also about the person standing in front of us, and that we’re called as Christians to love both. – Annie

I used to look at the topic of abortion as a big rock that I could not move. Now I learned that I can now slowly chip away at it. – Mariah

I found him gazing into the sky

Years ago, prominent Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland was in Wichita to speak at a conference and we invited him to come to our office to engage our trainers in Q&A. A few minutes before the Q&A was to begin, J.P. wasn’t in the room with our staff. I wandered outside and found him gazing into the sky. He explained that he had to purposefully take time to give thanks.

At the start of every working day, our team pauses to pray. A common refrain among our prayers is “thank you for all of JFA’s supporters.” Like our friend J.P., we feel we must purposefully give thanks. I’d like to pause now and say these same words now in your presence: We thank God for you. We thank God for your partnership in helping at our office, in volunteering with us at outreach events, in providing space in your home for JFA activities, in providing better-than-restaurant meals and better-than-hotel accommodations for our teams on the road, and in praying persistently that God would use JFA’s efforts to finally make abortion unthinkable. You have provided funding during the pandemic and the 2020 year-end so generously and sacrificially! We are struck with awe by God’s faithfulness through you: We thank God for you.

Since that day looking up at the sky, J.P. has very publicly and very candidly revealed a bit more of why he must give thanks: he has struggled for a long time with debilitating anxiety and depression. Whether we struggle in the same way or not, would you join me in thanking God for his work through JFA? And please allow me to also say those same words to you: thank you.

The following updates from JFA trainers shows some of what God has been doing through you and JFA:

• Jon Wagner: “Out of My Comfort Zone” (March 2021)

• Jeremy Gorr: “My Eyes Have Been Opened Even More” (March 2021)

• Jeremy Gorr: “This Outreach Had a Pretty Dramatic Impact on My Life” (April 2021)

• Rebekah Dyer: “A Conversation at the Airport” (Feb. 2021)

• Rebekah Dyer: “Speaking in Nebraska” (March 2021)

• Kaitlyn Donihue: “Sharing a Message of Hope after Abortion” (February 2021)

• Kaitlyn Donihue: “Afraid to Start a Conversation?” (March 2021)

To learn more about J.P.’s book on anxiety, click here: Finding Quiet.

Please enjoy and give thanks with us!

CSU-TV Channel 11 Covers the New JFA Exhibit Project

When JFA debuted its new Art of Life Exhibit at CSU a few months ago, the student television station did a short piece on the exhibit, protesters of JFA (were they protesting the exhibit?), and some of the other responses of students.  You can hear an introduction to the exhibit by JFA's Rebecca Haschke at 1:12.

See our "Exhibits" page to learn more about all of JFA's exhibits, including "Art of Life" and "Stop and Think," created in 2016.

UCLA's Fem Newsmagazine Comments on JFA@UCLA

JFA partnered with Live Action UCLA to bring The Art of Life and Stop and Think, two new exhibits by Justice For All, to UCLA in May.  (See an introduction to the two exhibits here.)  During the day we displayed The Art of Life, I was engaged in a conversation with two gentlemen at the exhibit when Jacqueline Pei, a reporter with Fem, a Feminist Newsmagazine at UCLA, asked if she could record our conversation for a story she was writing for Fem News.  I was hesitant, but agreed, and we had a good discussion.  Another woman joined at one point as well.

Ms. Pei published her report at Fem a few days later.  I was happy to see that although she was confident in a different perspective than mine, she appears to have given my thoughts and ideas an accurate rendering and a fair hearing.  Thanks, Jackie.  I hope we can continue the discussion at some point.

Tom Venzor continues his review of JFA's workshop

You can read Tom Venzor's recent review in the Southern Nebraska Register, entitled "(More) Lessons learned from abortion dialogue workshop."  (The first part of the review is available here.)

Recent Workshop Participant Reviews JFA

Tom Venzor reviewed a recent JFA workshop in the Southern Nebraska Register of the Diocese of Lincoln.