Justice For All
A Conversation, a Seed Planted, and a Life Saved
A Conversation, a Seed Planted, and a Life Saved
Kaitlyn Donihue
Bridge to Healing
Bridge to Healing
Kristine Hunerwadel
"Cast Down Your Cares"
"Cast Down Your Cares"
Steve Wagner
They Stop and Think (Then We Pray)
They Stop and Think (Then We Pray)
Tammy Cook
Thank You Event in Wichita!

Tammy Cook and the JFA Team thanked supporters of Tammy’s 28-year career with JFA!

Thank You Event in Wichita!

Steve Wagner

Notes for "7 Conversations in 7 Hours - Session 1"

Comment Or Ask Questions on Session 1

Respond to Session 1 and Sign Up for JFA Updates via Email and/or Paper Mail using the JFA Updates page. Or, feel free to share a comment on this post below.

 

Next Step: Conversation Starter to Put Session 1 into Practice

Option 1: Talk to Someone You Know Well via Phone or Video Chat or in Person*:

Consider three people you know who are either pro-choice or whose views on abortion you don’t know. Choose the person on the list who you believe will be the most approachable or easiest for you to talk to about abortion. Your goal is to start the conversation with that person in a natural, non-awkward way. We suggest using a direct approach which is up front about how you are purposefully trying to learn something, and you need the person’s help:

“I’m troubled by the fact that good conversations about abortion are rare. It seems to only be hurtful to people. I’ve been working recently on learning to discuss abortion productively. Would you be willing to sit and chat with me for 15 minutes or more and help me out? My commitment to you would be that I will ask questions with an open heart, listen to understand, and find common ground when possible.”

Please adjust the wording to fit your personality! Once you’ve had a conversation with the person who’s most approachable for you, challenge yourself by engaging one of the others on your list.

Another alternative is to tell the person you’re doing an assignment for a class you’re taking:

“I’m taking a class aimed at helping people create better conversations about difficult topics. The topics we’re focusing on are unintended pregnancy and abortion. I’m wondering if you would be willing to have a 15-minute conversation with me to help me out. The assignment for this week is to ask someone what they think about these topics and to listen, ask clarification questions, and find common ground without challenging anything that’s shared for the whole 15-minute conversation. Would you be willing to help me out?”

*During COVID-19, we suggest being very careful to respect personal boundaries and social distancing expectations. We are thinking here of conversations with neighbors over the backyard fence in which you can respect social distancing expectations but also be close enough that you don’t have to yell to be heard:)

Option 2: Talk to Someone You Care About with Whom Past Abortion Conversations Have Gone Badly

Introduce the conversation by saying,

“I wanted to contact you and say something about how I’ve treated you in past conversations about abortion. In short, I am sorry for the way I’ve treated you. I think I communicated that I don’t care about you or your opinions through the way I responded to you in those conversations. Would you forgive me? [Wait for a response.] I am wondering if you would allow me to try again. I just took a class in three skills I am trying to learn to put into practice: listening to understand, asking questions with an open heart, and finding common ground when possible. Would you be willing to talk to me for 15 minutes about abortion? I promise to do my best to use these skills to show you the respect you deserve.”

Option 3: Talk to a Stranger

The difficult thing about this suggestion during COVID-19 is that many of the usual places we might have suggested to find people to talk to (college campuses, parks, etc) are closed, and indeed, in downtown walking areas and other locations that may still be open, many people are very skittish about getting in conversations with strangers for fear of contracting COVID-19. We’ve included this idea here only to encourage you to think creatively about whether God has put people in your path with whom you could speak without making them feel uncomfortable.

For example, you may participate in a Facebook group devoted to some other topic or shared interest. You might direct message someone (if it doesn’t break community rules for that group) to ask them to take an informal survey you’re conducting. This appeal might be even more persuasive if you commit to ask 10 people to take the survey. Then you might even report back on the results of the survey to the people who took it!

If you take this approach, you might use the JFA “Invitation to Dialogue” Survey which draws questions from the JFA “Invitation to Dialogue” Brochure. 

Or, you might combine this approach with Option 1 above and just suggest to the person via direct message that you’re starting conversations about abortion.

Option 4: Share Steve Wagner’s Book with a Friend

Steve Wagner published Common Ground Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion in 2008 expressly for the purpose of helping people create conversations. It’s a letter to pro-life and pro-choice people written in language both groups will understand and appreciate. The goal is to start the conversation with some aspect of the discussion on which we are all likely to agree so that we can then proceed to discussing our disagreements more productively. Each chapter is short and many of the chapters model this process of moving from agreement to disagreement. This makes the book a good tool for starting a conversation. What’s more, the book is available for free at Steve’s book web page.

Tell Us How Your Conversation Went

Don’t forget to use the "Share Your JFA Story" form to let us know how it goes.

 

Read More About Session 1 (“Three Essential Skills”)

Note: This post was originally written on 5/26/2020 for our first “7 Conversations in 7 Hours” series. It was updated on 6/18/2020 and 7/29/2020.

Links: See the JFA Calendar to view a series currently in progress or coming up soon. // Register here. // Share the details or invite a friend.

7 Conversations in 7 Hours

Dear Friend of JFA,

We pray that God is keeping you in his peace even as COVID-19 has caused so many changes for all of us. The Justice For All (JFA) team conducted outreach at UNT, UNM, Trinity University, UTSA, and UTD before we saw our outreach venues for the rest of our spring schedule shut down almost all at once. (See pictures of these five outreach events at the JFA Calendar page, on Facebook, or on Instagram.)

Convinced that abortion continues to be a great risk to unborn children and their mothers especially with the economic uncertainty of these times, each member of our team immediately changed gears. Together online, we have been meeting regularly to seek out conversations in places most of us thought held little promise for deep conversation (e.g. Instagram).

What about our training program, though? Even before the coronavirus outbreak, I have been troubled that so many people throughout the USA and around the world have no access to mentoring from JFA’s expert dialogue artists. Now, spurred on by the isolation of this season, we’ve developed a version of our training that anyone can access from anywhere.

I’m excited to announce “7 Conversations in 7 Hours,” a new series of seven online interactive workshops from JFA. Each hour-long session will help you to have a productive conversation on one topic related to abortion. After a short lecture, you will role-play a conversation in a safe environment and interact with JFA trainers through Q&A. Then you will receive a conversation starter you can use to immediately put into practice what you’ve learned.

We’re offering a variety of options so you can learn from JFA's dialogue artists right from your home at a time that works for you!

- Steve Wagner, Executive Director

 

Thank You to Our Supporters

Thank you for standing with us during this unique time of COVID-19. Because of your faithful giving, we have been able to focus on developing online training events and ways to conduct conversations on social media. This work will continue to pay dividends even after we’re able to conduct face-to-face events again, helping us reach more people in more places. Thank you!

 

You Can Help JFA Through Word of Mouth

Introduce one friend to JFA by asking him or her to register for “7 Conversations in 7 Hours” with you. You can help us train many we would not otherwise.

You Can Help JFA Through Financial Gifts

One JFA supporter is thinking of giving her stimulus money to JFA since she doesn’t need it. Are you in a similar situation? Thank you for considering helping JFA change hearts amidst COVID-19.

Read Recent Conversation Stories and Reflections

See our blog for recent reflections and stories from Rebekah Dyer (“Aubree Changes Her Mind”), Jeremy Gorr (“Spending Spring Break with JFA”), Tammy Cook (“My Aha Moment!”), Kaitlyn Donihue (“Outreach Over Instagram?”), and Mary St. Hilaire (“A New View of Abortion…and Pro-Life Advocates”).

Equal Rights (Instagram Links)

Rebecca Hotovy talks about the basis for equal rights with a pro-choice student at CSU. They discuss the logical consequences of two popular views. (Part 1 o...
Watch Rebecca Hotovy (Haschke) talk with a student at Colorado State University about the foundation for our equal rights. --- Read Outreach Stories: www.jfa...

An Update from JFA's Executive Director

Dear Friend of JFA,

I was amazed. During a webinar that Paul Kulas, JFA’s Director of Operations, had planned for a family of supporters in mid-April, he led us through interactive teaching related to the topics of poverty and rape. To finish the webinar, JFA intern Mary St. Hilaire shared a story of a recent campus conversation with “Liz.” The two topics Liz had been most concerned about were also poverty and rape. The story fit perfectly with what Paul had selected even though we hadn’t planned it that way. Read Mary’s story, ”A New View of Abortion…and Pro-Life Advocates,” below.

During COVID-19, our team has been hard at work creating conversations using social media and other means. In just a few weeks, we’ve discovered and tested some methods we think anyone can use to create a conversation. We’ll report soon on our blog and in a future letter.

Our team has also conducted a three-hour online workshop, and we were excited to find a way to include interactive activities using Zoom breakout rooms. We have similar online events scheduled each week in the near future, including a series of shorter sessions for those who can’t attend longer sessions. To participate, keep an eye on the social media channels below.

Our team was encouraged this past week by Henri Nouwen’s essay, “From Solitude to Community to Ministry.” You can find it online at Christianity Today and in Nouwen’s short book, A Spirituality of Living. In the solitude you may be experiencing during COVID-19, we hope that you can pause and know more clearly how Christ has called you “Beloved.” We pray you might then find unique ways to share that same love with others in this challenging time. (See I John 4:7-14.) We continue to pray for you, beloved friends. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer and financial gifts, as God gives you ability.

Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Please Pray for these Advocates and the Conversations They Created and Will Create.

UT Dallas Outreach Team (March 9-11, 2020) Missing: Kaitlyn Donihue (on plane back to MI for speaking event) and Paul Kulas (taking picture)

COVID-19 Update from JFA

Dear Friend of JFA,

We thank God for you and are praying for you through this challenging time. Here’s an update on what’s happening with JFA in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Spring Outreach Events

Mariana interacts with a student at JFA’s first-ever day of outreach at UT Dallas in early March 2020. See more pictures from this and four other recent events at our Calendar page.

Mariana interacts with a student at JFA’s first-ever day of outreach at UT Dallas in early March 2020. See more pictures from this and four other recent events at our Calendar page.

““I think that every pro lifer (and anyone who is interested or on the edge about the topic of abortion) should attend a JFA seminar. They are excellent at preparing anyone for intentional conversations.”
”
— Mariana, JFA Mission Trip, March 2020

We’re thanking God for the five outreach events we were able to complete in the past two months before the COVID-19 outbreak hit the US. Six mission trip participants joined our entire team as we ministered for three days at University of Texas at Dallas, and smaller teams ministered at University of North Texas, University of New Mexico, Trinity University, and University of Texas at San Antonio! See our Calendar page and social media channels for pictures.

What Outreach Is JFA Doing During the COVID-19 Outbreak?

We’re just as passionate as ever about creating productive conversations about unintended pregnancy and abortion. COVID-19 has forced us to postpone five upcoming planned outreach trips to Denver (CO), Durango (CO), Lawrence (KS), Wichita (KS), and San Diego (CA).

We’re saddened by this turn of events, but we also see this as a unique opportunity to work on an outreach project we’ve had in mind for years but to which we have not been able to give sustained attention. I’m referring to the challenge we give to audiences in virtually every presentation: “You can take what you’ve learned from us and create a conversation about abortion with someone you know.” So, every member of our training team is tackling this project while we’re forced by COVID-19 to limit our contact with people in person. We’re using social media, email, apps on our smart phones, and good old-fashioned telephone calls to engage as many people as we can in conversations one to one. Pray that we’ll learn valuable insights we can share with the people we train throughout the rest of the year. We’ll say more about this in future updates, but for now, feel free to join us by praying for one person you think may disagree with you about abortion. If you then start a conversation, let us know how it goes!

Will JFA Be Holding Any Training Events During COVID-19? Yes!

In addition, we’re experimenting with training formats which until now we haven’t needed to master: video conferencing and webinars. Susanna Dirks and I presented a webinar on March 21, and about 15 people attended. We were pleased that the participants found the event helpful. We plan to schedule more of these and will post the details at JFA’s Calendar page so you can participate. For those of you who have been waiting for JFA to come to your town for awhile, let’s talk about planning a webinar that would work for your schedule and ours! We’re excited to be able to help more people connect in this time when many are feeling extremely isolated and alone.

JFA Is Still Receiving Gifts By Mail and Online!

A JFA supporter recently asked, essentially, "Should I send my support check to a different address because of COVID-19?" We appreciated her concern for us and for making sure her gift made it to JFA, and we assured her she can definitely send her gift to the JFA office (113 N. Martinson St., Wichita, KS, 67203) with confidence that it will be received and processed. We so appreciate each of you who is continuing to give or making a new gift to JFA as you are able. (You can also give a gift online.) We understand this is a difficult time for many, and we are trusting God to sustain you and to sustain JFA.

A Word of Encouragement

Our team is focusing on trusting God through this time, and we are praying for you. We are praying for a strong immunity from this virus and that the virus would not affect your health. We are also praying for your work and your family and for a renewed sense of the peace that comes from the confidence that God is with you in Christ. This is our prayer for you, that in this time you will experience in a vivid way God’s presence with you. Thank you for praying for us as we continue our work training Christians to change hearts and save lives.

Warmly,

Steve Wagner

Executive Director

No Uterus No Opinion at U of A

The woman’s sign said something like “No Uterus, No Opinion.” Executive Director Steve Wagner sat down to dialogue.

I was at the University of Arizona in November 2019, and one of the women with whom we spoke on the first day of the outreach returned on the second day…to protest. She sat down right in front of our “Should Abortion Be Made Illegal?” poll table with her own sign that said something like: “If you don’t have a uterus, you don’t have an opinion.”

I could have taken an approach of getting defensive. Or I could have dismissed her opinion by ignoring her. I could have also just given up and decided my opinion wasn't worth sharing.

Jon Wagner offered a different approach in his recent letter, “A Gracious and Courageous Response”. It’s a roadmap for responding to “You’re a man” comments, including specific examples of ways to listen, ask questions, and find common ground in order to make these conversations productive.

In my conversation with the protester in Arizona, it was a good thing I took the approach of listening and asking questions that Jon lays out in his letter. As it turned out, she did not think men shouldn’t have any opinion about abortion, and she did not think men should keep quiet about it. She meant instead, “Men shouldn’t make laws on abortion since they affect women.” This may seem like a subtle difference, but noting it helped me move the conversation in a productive direction. I’m confident Jon’s letter can help you do the same. Share it!

What Does a Virtuous Mother Do?

When I read my friend Stephanie Gray’s blog post, “The Greatest Love” (Nov. 18, 2019), I was struck by her behind-the-scenes look at preparing to participate in the La Ciudad de las Ideas debate which took place in Mexico in early November, reaching tens of thousands. I wanted to share the story with you.

First, I suggest watching the final few minutes of the debate (inset below). Then, read Stephanie’s post which begins below.

As you watch the debate segment and read Stephanie’s post, I encourage you to set aside for a moment the question, “How should we argue against legal abortion?” Although Stephanie is talking about a woman’s body and speaking in the context of a debate about legality, she’s not directly addressing the topic of bodily rights, per se, and her comments go deeper than legality. (For help with arguments about bodily rights and legality, see our “It’s Her Body” Series.)

Note how Stephanie’s comment in the debate appears when juxtaposed against the comments of the pro-choice panelist who speaks just prior. Stephanie cuts through the rhetoric of choice to focus the audience on the question, “What does a virtuous mother do when confronting an unintended pregnancy?” Sadly, that question is often lost or ignored. Stephanie helps recalibrate us, and her perspective might even transform the conversation. It’s worth sharing.

Without further comment from me, then, please click the video below to watch the final few minutes of the debate. (The video should begin playing at 1:55:00. If it doesn’t, move the slider to find that spot in the video or click here.)

Now that you’ve watched the video segment, read Stephanie’s post:

What would you do if, while waiting for a subway train to arrive, you noticed a seizuring man fall onto the tracks? To Wesley Autrey the answer was clear: Jump onto the tracks and help him.

And on January 2, 2007, that’s what he did. Except Autrey wasn’t just helping a man in need. He was putting himself in danger. Because as the fallen man convulsed on the tracks, the lights of an oncoming train flashed before them.

Autrey couldn’t get the man off the tracks in time. But rather than abandon him, Autrey laid on top of him, protecting the young man’s flailing body with his lanky frame. And then train cars came.…

(Keep reading the remainder of Stephanie’s blog post at the Love Unleashes Life Blog.)

More from Stephanie Gray at Love Unleashes Life

For more from Stephanie about the debate, we suggest seeing her six-minute debate highlights video and an 11-minute interview she did after the debate which gave her a chance to reflect on the debate and clarify some ideas she wasn’t able to clarify in the debate due to the format.

Thanking God for You, Grace!

Grace (center) with JFA trainer Kaitlyn Donihue (left) and veteran JFA trainer Rebecca Hotovy. (Rebecca is now working part-time behind the scenes at JFA.)

We count it a privilege to employ some of the most gifted people in the country. We also count it a privilege to serve the one true God, who is the giver of those gifts and who sustains each of our staff members in the midst of very demanding work fraught with painful realities. When God decides to guide one of our dear trainers away from our work, we are mindful of the great gift each person is who works even a day (let alone years) with us to save women and children from abortion.

Grace interacts with a student at Colorado State University in April 2018.

Recently JFA trainer Grace Fontenot sent a group of JFA supporters a letter about a transition she’s decided to make away from her work as a full-time trainer with JFA. Her letter includes highlights of her work, but I’d like to share a few additional reflections.

Grace has been a rock in our Wichita office, leading training events locally and traveling to California and Georgia and many of the states in between. In the three and a half years she’s worked full-time with JFA, I estimate she’s personally mentored over 100 pro-life volunteers through both “Seat Work” and “Feet Work” phases of our training program, given presentations to more than 1200, and personally created conversations with over 700 college students. I estimate Grace has spent over 500 hours in planes, airports, and in automobiles to show up to train pro-life Christians. She’s weathered days of outreach outdoors in 100+ degree heat and also in rain and snow. Yes, that’s right. That gumbo-cookin’, bright-smilin’ Cajun gal from Louisiana has created conversations with pro-choice advocates in the snow. As you can imagine, we are very sad to see Grace move on from her full-time work with JFA.

Grace excelled at the art of public speaking and mastered JFA content. She is a thoughtful, enthusiastic mentor of our students. She’s willing to try new things and embrace new ideas. She has a passion for women and for unborn children. She is serious about her faith, serious about doing quality work, and she’s humble when she realizes she’s made a mistake. She enjoys good ideas, good coffee, and good jokes. Grace laughs often, and she laughs heartily. We will miss Grace’s presence in our meetings and on our team.

We look forward to seeing what God will do in Grace’s life in the coming year, we pray for her ongoing discernment process for her professional life, and we look forward to seeing her join us for JFA events again as God allows it.

We thank God for Grace, and we thank Grace also for every early morning, late night, and difficult conversation she beautifully navigated with God’s help during her time with JFA. Thank you, Grace.

We also thank you for supporting Grace’s work by giving of your finances, by reading her updates, and by sharing encouraging words with her. JFA’s trainers, including Paul, Jon, Tammy, Jeremy, Susanna, Kaitlyn, and myself, will continue in 2020 to train Christians to actively love women in distress, unborn children, and those who disagree with us. We’ll continue to train Christians to create conversations that have the power to change hearts and save lives. We pray that as you reflect with Grace on the good work she’s done, that you’ll consider continuing to support the work God is doing through JFA. Thank you.

We Thank God for You

I sent a message to our email list in 2017 that is just as relevant today as it was then. It’s a quick read, so I decided to feature it in this Impact Report along with numbers illustrating JFA’s impact in 2019. The letter puts our impact in its proper context, as God was pleased to accomplish these things through us —through you working together with the JFA team in a multitude of ways. Has this letter sparked a desire to help JFA in one of the ways listed? You can give a year-end gift using the enclosed giving form or using our Donate page. You can share other ways you plan to help JFA in 2020 using our Contact page. — Steve Wagner, Executive Director

We at JFA have a thought we want to share with you. It’s about your answer to the following questions:

Did you pray for one of our events this year?

Did you pray regularly for us?

Did you lead your church in praying?

Your support in all of the forms described in this post helps our team of dialogue artists and volunteers create conversations during outreach events like this one at Benedictine College (and afterward). Conversations have the power to change lives one person at a time. For stories of changed lives, see recent reflections from Kaitlyn, Jeremy, and Rebekah.

Did you host a JFA staff member or volunteer in your home during an outreach trip?

Did you provide a meal for us?

Did you give to our Intern Scholarship Fund or Staff Support Fund?

Did you give a monthly automatic gift to our Training Program Fund (General Fund) or to support the
work of one of our missionaries?

Did you set up a speaking event for one of our staff in your community?

Did you make an appeal to a pastor to consider partnering with JFA?

Did you call or email a JFA staff member to encourage him or her?

Did you volunteer at a JFA event and create conversations with pro-choice advocates?

Did you use JFA’s monthly Resource Bulletin or other materials to create conversations with people in your everyday life?

Did you speak up when someone in your everyday life brought up the topic of pregnancy, unborn children, women in distress, or abortion?

Often we worry that you, our friends, feel like you are not truly contributing to our work unless you give money. We worry that you may put any giving that is not financial in a sort of “second-class” category. Giving financially is certainly one important way to partner with JFA, but all of the activities we’ve listed above are essential, and we do mean essential, to our work of training Christians to create transformative conversations that can help save the smallest humans on earth (and their parents) from abortion.

Surely we cannot do our work without financial support, but we trust God will provide the support we need. Just as surely, though, we simply cannot do our work without these other gifts you have given this year. Without host homes, our team wouldn’t be able to create conversations on campuses across the country. Similar things could be said about every item listed in this letter. And we trust God to provide these needs, and he has provided for us mightily through you.

Consider this: none of our conversations will have any impact on anyone without God moving in each person’s heart before, during, and after our interactions. When you pray along with us, you place your trust in God as the one who brings about change.

Our team wanted to take this moment to say thank you for partnering with us so faithfully through these very real gifts we’ve listed earlier in this letter. The stories we’ve shared this year are very truly your stories. The impact numbers we share below very truly represent your impact.

Thank you for your many sacrifices in so many different forms this year. We consider you to be such an important, “first-class” member of the JFA team. We thank God for you.

numbers-2019.png

The Disappearing NFL

Imagine it is Sunday, and because you love football so much, you sit down to watch the NFL for eight hours straight. It’s going to be great!

This artful flick from Kelce to McCoy in the September 29 Chiefs-Lions game would never have happened. Read the rest of letter to see what I mean, then go see the flick for yourself in the game’s highlights.

It’s a unique day because all of the NFL’s 32 teams are playing. 16 games packed into eight hours. The first game up is the Chiefs versus the Lions. The kickoff happens, and the ball is down. Patrick Mahomes* receives the hike and, at the 12-second mark, he disappears. He disappears. Just like that, the ball falls to the ground. Chaos ensues on the field. A bit unsure of how to proceed, the referees call for a replacement. More than a bit bewildered, Coach Andy Reid puts his second-string in. Play begins. Another 12 seconds and Travis Kelce disappears. Every fan’s face is riddled with shock. Reid puts in his second-string tight end. Play begins again. And your eyes are glued to the screen as every 12 seconds from that point on, one of the players disappears. The Lions might have been a little pleased when the Chiefs starting losing players, but then it is their turn, as they see quarterback Matthew Stafford disappear. Then another player. Then another.

Your hand sits motionless with a chip halfway submerged in guacamole. As you flip between the various games, you can’t believe your eyes. None of the NFL teams can hold on to their starting players. Every game features the same disturbing rhythm: every 12 seconds, another player disappears.

Commentators start discussing if there should be a rules change to accommodate this astonishing phenomenon of “the disappearing player.” Twitter is on fire with comments and rage. One post guesses that it’s a publicity stunt by the NFL to boost ratings. Another muses that this is a promotion for the latest Avengers movie, calling to mind the “snap” from Infinity War, in which people mysteriously disappear. Still others liken this to Bilbo’s “little joke” in the opening scenes of The Fellowship of the Ring. Everyone agrees on one thing, though: It’s the biggest news of the year.

You scan the channels and see each coach running through an entire roster of 53 players. The first string is gone. The second string is gone. Kickers are playing quarterback. Some coaches are drafting the waterboy and the mascot on the spot just so they can field a team at all. Is this a circus or an organized sport?

By about six hours into your marathon football day, you’ve watched the entire NFL disappear. About 1700 players no longer playing. Gone without a trace. Imagine how that would feel. The loss. The tragedy.

This scenario is just an imagined scene, and admittedly, it’s very far-fetched. In an eight-hour day in the real world in America, though, once every 12 seconds a woman will decide to end her unintended pregnancy by abortion.** So our imagined NFL scenario is actually a very good picture of abortion in America. Not just today—every day. Let the sixth hour finish and the seventh, and the eighth, with even the NFL’s drafted waterboys and mascots all disappearing every 12 seconds, and you have a good picture of abortion over just one day in America. About 2300 women confronting an unintended pregnancy today will end it by abortion, and about 2300 unborn children will disappear. About one every 12 seconds in an eight-hour day.

For many of the 2300 women who sought those abortions, though, that memory will never disappear.

Our JFA team was in Pittsburg, Kansas recently, and we had the privilege of speaking to 212 middle school students, high school students, and faculty throughout the day at St. Mary’s Colgan (see photos below). JFA’s Director of Operations, Paul Kulas, and I were musing over breakfast about how we might make the reality of abortion more relevant to the students. That’s when we concocted our little imaginary tale about the NFL.

Does abortion create the same chaos that the disappearing NFL would create? Should it cause all of us the same urgency we’d have if we were watching the NFL disappear? We think so. That’s what motivates our team and our volunteers to keep “taking the field” to train Christians to create conversations that change hearts and save lives.

Thanks for standing with us. You’re not just fans in the stands. You’re on the field with us, essential to making our work happen. Let’s pray that God uses our efforts to create a great win for women and unborn children this year.

(Pittsburg, KS: Sept. 30) Having just finished the “Disappearing NFL” story, Steve Wagner gets ready to hand the mic to Tammy Cook to lead a discussion of three different kinds of abortion conversations: good, bad, and ugly.

Paul Kulas, playing the part of a pro-choice person, reacts strongly to Grace Fontenot, playing the part of a pro-life advocate. Grace was talking over him, assuming the worst, and calling him names like “Nazi.” As you can guess, this was our dramatic presentation of an “ugly” conversation.

* Yes, I am aware that Patrick Mahomes did recently really “disappear” from the field due to an injury. Our resident Chiefs fan, Tammy Cook, is counting this a great tragedy, while our resident Packers fans, Paul Kulas and Jeremy Gorr, appreciated the reprieve in the recent game on October 27!

** See www.jfaweb.org/facts and www.jfaweb.org/more-facts. Approximately 2.8 million women in America experience unintended pregnancy each year (2011), and approximately 862,000 choose abortion (2017).

Pray for Recent and Upcoming JFA Events

Our JFA team recently spoke to 212 middle school and high school students throughout a day at St. Mary’s Colgan in Pittsburg, Kansas. A recent reflection from JFA’s Director, “The Disappearing NFL,” explains one way we sought to help these students understand the reality of abortion.

Please pray for the health of our trainers in this season of travel. Pray for each person we train and each person with whom we converse at outreach, that God will help each to actively love every human being involved in unintended pregnancy.

  • Michigan: Interactive Workshops in Four Michigan Cities (10/1, 10/24, 10/27, 10/30)

  • Kansas: Equipping Events in Pittsburg & Outreach at Pittsburg State University (9/29-10/2)

  • Texas: Interactive Workshop at University of Texas at San Antonio (10/5)

  • Louisiana: Presentation for Friends of a Supporter (10/9)

  • Colorado: Four Interactive Seminars in Four Days in Three Cities (10/10-10/13)

  • Virginia: Outreach at George Mason University (10/21)

  • Oklahoma: Two Interactive Seminars & Outreach at University of Oklahoma (10/31-11/5)

  • Kansas: Workshop for Kansans for Life Conference (11/9)

  • Arizona: Interactive Seminar & Outreach at University of Arizona (11/17-11/19)

Five Days in Northeast Kansas

Impact Report, September 2019

Our team gathered from all over the country a few weeks ago (September 8-12) to train students from Benedictine College in northeast Kansas and to conduct outreach with those students both at Benedictine and at the University of Kansas (KU). This Impact Report gives you a glimpse of what our team accomplished during those five days. Please join us in praying for the students you see pictured here.

Sunday (Benedictine College): Kaitlyn Donihue speaks to 28 students (not all pictured) who attended the Sunday seminar. Ten returned on Monday night for advanced dialogue training.

Monday (Benedictine College): 28 additional students attended an evening workshop.

Tuesday (Benedictine College): From left to right, Tammy (light blue shirt), Grace (red hat), Kaitlyn (blue hat), Jeremy (blue shirt), and Jon (shorts) engage students in conversation.

Wednesday (KU): Eric (right), president of the Wichita chapter of Life Runners, talks with a KU student.

Thursday (KU): Tammy Cook (right) interacts with a passerby at KU.

Sunday (Benedictine College): Jeremy Gorr steps into the “blue box” as he helps students think through “who would be in and who would be out” if various explanations of equal rights were true.

Monday (Benedictine College): In our conversations during outreach at Benedictine, we encouraged students to join us for a workshop that evening at Benedictine and outreach later in the week at KU.

Wednesday (KU): Catherine (left) was one of nine Benedictine College students who participated in the outreach at KU.

Thursday (KU): Paul Kulas (center) and volunteer Rebekah (second from right) interact with students near the poll table at KU.

Thursday (KU): JFA staff members and volunteers paused for a quick photo at the end of our second outreach day at KU. Among them are three Benedictine students who traveled more than an hour each way to spend about an hour at KU with our team.

$5 Stethoscopes for "The Baby's Heart Beats Like Mine"

We just updated JFA’s elementary lesson plan, ”The Baby’s Heart Beats Like Mine” with a stethoscope model on which we have gotten good reviews from kids who have tested it for use with the lesson plan: