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What about Rape? (Instagram Link)
Read “What about Rape?” by JFA trainer Rebekah Dyer at Human Defense Initiative.
Bridging the Divide
Impact Report
November 2020
In this Impact Report, we’ll describe how throughout the tumult of 2020, God helped us bridge both ideological and physical divides to continue to connect people to the truth that only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides. You’ll also see how God turned the frustration of lockdowns into good fruit, including a new online training program you can help us promote starting now! We give thanks to God for you and your partnership in the work of bridging the divide.
- Steve Wagner, Executive Director
University of New Mexico, Feb. 2020
As we look back at a year filled with discord, debate, drama, disease, and death, it’s easy to get discouraged.
University of Texas at San Antonio, Feb. 2020
Our culture seems to be completely overcome by division, and as if the usual ideological division was not enough, now various versions of lockdowns have made physical division a reality as well.
Early this year, as in past years, our team at Justice For All (JFA) set ourselves to live out our habit of stepping across the ideological divide. We go to people who disagree with us. We train pro-life advocates to come with us. One passion motivates us: kindling affection for the forgotten, beginning with women in distress, the smallest humans on earth, and those who differ from us in appearance or beliefs. What happens to this work, though, when a physical divide confronts it?
Susanna Dirks with a University of Texas at Dallas student in March 2020
During this time of Thanksgiving, will you mark with us the ways God has continued to work through the JFA team to help us bridge both ideological and physical divides, connecting people to the truth only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides?
In February and March, JFA teams trained volunteers in New Mexico and Texas, engaging five campuses in discussion about abortion (pictured).
Interactive Online Workshops, May-Nov. 2020
When COVID-19 hit, we refashioned our in-person training into an interactive online workshop series, complete with step-by-step instructions to help participants create conversations on abortion in everyday life. (See JFA’s June 2020 letter for one story from a participant.) Over the next six months, we produced 105 hours of training for over 130 people in 27 states, including many states we have not been able to visit very often (or ever!). Participants from Canada and France also joined us!
In addition, during the months we were unable to conduct outreach in person, our staff explored a new outreach venue: social media. We had little hope it would come to much, but we were determined to try. Our team was pleasantly surprised that there are plenty of opportunities for engaging strangers and friends online. (Kaitlyn reflected on one special conversation in our July 2020 letter.)
JFA presented workshops in person in seven states this fall (CA, CO, KS, OH, OK, NE, and MI). Then, replete with masks, our team was especially thankful to be able to spend two days interacting with students at the University of Oklahoma.
Kaitlyn teaches equal rights during an online JFA workshop in Nov. 2020.
While we’re excited about each of these 2020 efforts, we’re not satisfied. We know that every Christian needs training, and with no increased cost, our video conferencing software can handle about ten times the number of people who on average participated in each of our workshops this year.
That’s why we’ve set a goal of registering 800 people for our interactive online workshops taking place from January to March 2021. While we will also plan in-person events, these online events cannot be shut down by COVID-19 restrictions, so they are the most sensible place to put our most robust efforts.
Rebekah Dyer (right) with a University of Oklahoma student in Nov. 2020
We need your help to bring this training to so many people. Do you want to take a next step to “bridge the divide” and help us create thousands of conversations in 2021?
Go to www.jfaweb.org/love3 to learn more about JFA’s online workshops beginning January 18. Register to attend, and invite friends to join you. Thank you for partnering with us in spreading the word about these workshops, and in giving to JFA. Your gifts help provide this free training for others.
University of Oklahoma, Nov. 2020
Staff members pictured: Rebekah Dyer, Jon Wagner, and Mary St. Hilaire
Banner Image by Andre A. Xavier on Unsplash
You can also give a gift at JFA’s Donate page to provide training for others.
* Previously titled “7 Conversations in 7 Hours,” Love3 refers to conducting abortion conversations in a way that actively loves the woman, the child, and the person with whom we’re speaking.
JFA Internships (Instagram Link)
Are you interested in an internship with Justice For All? Click the link below for more information!
http://www.jfaweb.org/internships
Featured Resource - Car vs. Polaroid Distinction (Instagram Link)
A polaroid picture of members of the JFA Team, taken a few years ago.
Richard Stith has made a distinction between construction of a car and development of a Polaroid photo that can help you understand and illustrate for friends how the unborn child is a human organism from the time of fertilization. You can read his entry-level treatment of this topic, “Arguing with Pro-Choicers” (First Things, Nov. 4, 2006), and his scholarly article, “Construction vs. Development: Polarizing Models of Human Gestation” (Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2014), through the link below.
JFA’s Executive Director, Steve Wagner, used this polaroid analogy in 2016, with two gate agents at the airport, when a snowstorm was set to hit Washington D.C. He shared the memorable story in “You Aren’t Going Anywhere.”
Coming Up! - "7 Conversations" One-Day and One-Week Intensives
“7 Conversations in 7 Hours”
Complete the Training in One Week or One Day
October 24 (Saturday): One Day Intensive - 3:00 PM - 10:30 PM Central (with a break for dinner from 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM Central) - Color Promotional Flyer (Central Time) - Color Promotional Flyer (Pacific Time)
November 14 (Saturday): One Day Intensive - 1:00 PM - 8:30 PM Central (with a break for dinner from 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM Central)
November 9-14 (Monday-Saturday): One Week Intensive - M, T, W, Th, F @ 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Central; Sat @ 6:30-8:30 PM Central
"7 Conversations" One-Day and One-Week Intensives Just Added to Calendar (Instagram Link)
VIDEO: "Every Person Has a Story" - JFA Outreach Reflection
"Have you ever had the chance to talk to somebody who's been through this experience before?"
"No - I'm the only guy that I know who's ever gotten a girl pregnant and she's had an abortion."
It was a conversation that JFA trainer Rebecca Haschke nearly gave up having altogether. After JFA's 2017 outreach event at Colorado State University, Rebecca shared how this conversation ended up teaching her an important "lesson in love."
Note: Special thanks to Genesis Media Solutions for producing this video.
What _s M_ss_ng?
Catch JFA on Facebook Live Tomorrow!
Event Info
What: Love 3: A New Roadmap for Conversations about Abortion (Webinar with Q&A)
When: May 7 (Thursday) - 10:00 - 11:30 AM (Central Time)
Where: Live on JFA’s Facebook Page
Presenters: Tammy Cook, Jeremy Gorr, Susanna Dirks, Steve Wagner
To attend one of our upcoming webinar events, go to the JFA Calendar Page to get more information and register. We are also regularly adding new online events to the calendar. Watch for those, or contact us if you’d like to book a webinar event.
Recent and Upcoming Events
Recent Events - Parital List
February 8-12: Seminar and Outreach Events in Denton, Texas (University of North Texas)
February 17-19: Seminar and Outreach Events in Albuquerque, NM (University of New Mexico)
February 23-27: Seminar and Outreach Events in San Antonio, Texas (Trinity University and UT San Antonio)
March 7-11: Seminar and Outreach Events in Dallas, Texas (UT Dallas)
March 11: Presentation at Retreat for Council of Catholic Women - Kaitlyn Donihue
Because JFA has canceled all in-person events for the time being, we are offering JFA webinar events in various formats! Click here to register for an upcoming online event, or book a JFA webinar.
April 25: “Taking Abortion from Debate to Dialogue” Online Workshop
April 30: “Love 3: A New Roadmap for Conversations about Abortion” Webinar, 6:00-7:30 p.m. (Central Time) - Live on JFA’s Facebook Page
May 7: “Love 3: A New Roadmap for Conversations about Abortion” Webinar, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 p.m. (Central Time) - Live on JFA’s Facebook Page
To attend one of our upcoming webinar events, go to the JFA Calendar Page to get more information and register. We are also regularly adding new online events to the calendar, so watch for those.
Stories of Conversations (Instagram Link)
Why Men Can and Should Talk about Abortion (Instagram Link)
JFA Intern Rebekah Dyer recently posted “A Woman’s Response to ‘Men Can’t Talk about Abortion’” at the Merely Human Ministries Blog. Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments or on Instagram.
Feminism and Coffee (Instagram Link)
A quote on our Instagram page paired with two cups of coffee: “Now let’s turn to feminism. If I claim that I deserve equal rights as a woman because I am equally human to men, but then I turn around and say that I also deserve the right to end the life of someone else who is equally human to me through abortion, then I would be betraying the foundation of my feminist beliefs. So it actually makes more sense to be a pro-life feminist than it does to be a pro-choice one!” -Grace Fontenot
See the story behind this quote at “A Living Room Conversation” by former JFA staff member Grace Fontenot Read it and share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Instagram page.
Abortion: Two Women Present Their Views
Watch these contrasting closing statements in a recent debate in Mexico, first from Mara Clarke (1:55:00) followed by Stephanie Gray (1:55:38). What do you think of the statements? With which one do you identify more?
Pray for Conversations at Upcoming JFA Events
Rebekah Dyer, the newest staff member on the JFA Team, interacts with a University of Oklahoma student at the JFA Free Speech Board in early November. You can read one of her favorite conversation stories from this year here in JFA’s recent Impact Report.
Please pray for JFA as our team members prepare for upcoming events in Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas in the coming weeks. Pray for each person we will train and each person with whom we will converse at outreach, that God will help each to actively love every human being involved in unintended pregnancy.
Jan. 26 (Albion, MI): Interactive Workshop — First Baptist Church
Feb. 8 (Decatur, TX): Interactive Seminar — Father’s House Church
Feb. 9 (Denton, TX): Interactive Seminar — Redeemer Denton Church
Feb. 10-13 (Denton, TX): Staff Training Day and Outreach Events in North Texas
Feb. 17 (Albuquerque, NM): Interactive Workshop — University of New Mexico (UNM)
Feb. 23 (San Antonio, TX): Interactive Seminar — Trinity University (Private Event)
Feb. 24-25 (San Antonio, TX): University Outreach — Trinity University
Feb. 26-27 (San Antonio, TX): University Outreach — University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
Mar. 3 (Wichita, KS): Presentation — St. Patrick Catholic Church
Mar. 7 (Richardson, TX): Interactive Seminar — University of Texas at Dallas
Mar. 8 (Denton, TX): Interactive Seminar — Location TBD