Shawn Carney, Campaign Director, 40 Days for Life
Local media outlets have been all over 40 Days for Life campaigns since we kicked off in 247 cities just last Wednesday …
… and we’ve seen great — and positive — coverage of YOUR campaigns! Here are just a few examples:
Lansing, Michigan
Chris Veneklase of the 40 Days for Life team in Lansing had an opportunity to talk about the campaign on Tony Conley’s morning program on WILS-AM. It’s a secular station that also features nationally syndicated hosts such as Laura Ingraham.
Things got very personal — and quite moving — when it came to a discussion of the overwhelming number of abortions that are recommended when doctors discover that a child in the womb has Down syndrome.
Tony Conley said he tried to get a representative of Planned Parenthood to come on the program. But no one was interested. To hear a short clip from the interview (it’s powerful!), please go to: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1645
Modesto, California
This marks the first 40 Days for Life campaign in Modesto, and the local team was featured in a story in the local newspaper, the Modesto Bee.
It’s not a political or noisy protest, said local coordinator Mark Jeffords. “It’s a Christian prayer vigil, definitely not a protest,” he said. “We’re trying to raise public awareness. There won’t be any shouting.”
Mark emphasized that the campaign is “also are trying to reach out to the women. We want to tell them about the Modesto Pregnancy Center. They also have services for women. I hope the women realize there’s a person in their bodies who is coming into the world and also understand that they’re not alone.”
For a link to the full story in the Modesto Bee, please go to: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1645
Lafayette, Indiana
The first-time 40 Days for Life campaign in Lafayette got the attention of the Journal and Courier locally.
In this case, a Planned Parenthood representative DID speak to the reporter, rattling off the standard line about vigil participants “harassing patients.”
The newspaper also included a picture, which proved to be worth more than a thousand Planned Parenthood talking points. The picture shows two women quietly praying on the sidewalk — no “harassment” whatsoever!
“We’re simply there praying,” said Lafayette campaign coordinator Judy Watson. “How could anybody not want that?”
For a link to the Lafayette Journal and Courier story — and the picture — please go to: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1645
Tallahassee, Florida
As part of their community outreach, the 40 Days for Life team in Tallahassee participated in a memorial service for aborted babies at a local cemetery — and WCTV, the local CBS affiliate, reported on the event.
The station interviewed local coordinator Chris Moleski for the report. She said that 40 Days for Life “is a campaign that has been developed to give people an opportunity to bring about an end to abortion through prayer, fasting and community outreach.”
For a link to the WCTV story — including the video of the news report — please go to: http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1645
DEVOTIONAL
Today’s devotion is from Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action
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Intention: We pray for a renewal of our zeal to offer generous help to the unborn and their families.
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Scripture: If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When He punishes, how shall I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb? — Job 31:13-15.
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Reflection: The ground is level as we stand before God. Job lived with an awe provoking sense of God’s expectation of him, particularly regarding his obligation to care for the weak and needy. He knew that in God’s economy everyone stands on level ground when it comes to our status as God’s creatures. Because of that central truth, we must take care of each other.
Job also knew that he didn’t deserve any of the good things God gave to him. Instead, those blessings came to Job from God’s benevolent heart. As an extension of that knowledge, Job instinctively linked his obligation to be generous to others to God’s kindness toward him.
As in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-35), Job knew that it is an egregious sin to deny to others what we enjoy ourselves. He actually calls down on his own head severe condemnation and even punishment should he fail to share with others out of his own abundance (see verses 16-23).
Proverbs 3:27 reads, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.” Some things are so obvious that we don’t even need to pray except to ask of God forgiveness and the power to do what to obviously needs doing.
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Prayer: God, forgive us when we try to explain away the obligation we have to help others who need help. Enable us to not devalue them because they are in the circumstance that they are in, but to see them for what they are, those, who like us, were formed by your hand in their mother’s womb. Amen.
