{"id":592599,"date":"2021-07-15T17:21:07","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T21:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=592599"},"modified":"2021-07-15T17:21:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T21:21:11","slug":"were-willing-to-lay-our-lives-down-inside-the-effort-to-save-babies-at-planned-parenthoods-front-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/were-willing-to-lay-our-lives-down-inside-the-effort-to-save-babies-at-planned-parenthoods-front-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re Willing To Lay Our Lives Down\u2019: Inside The Effort To Save Babies At Planned Parenthood\u2019s Front Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwere-willing-to-lay-our-lives-down-inside-the-effort-to-save-babies-at-planned-parenthoods-front-doors%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=592599&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1146785359.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><i><span>\u201cYou\u2019re free now.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span>Scott Hord \u2014 a pastor from Smyrna, Tennessee \u2014 said these words to a young African-American woman in front of Planned Parenthood Nashville after he and four others circled around her in prayer. She entered the abortion clinic\u2019s parking lot with the burdens of a relationship full of abuse; after speaking to the Christians and changing her mind, she departed for a nearby pregnancy center \u2014 but not before she received hugs, encouragement, and contact information so that they could meet any needs she might have in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord is among a handful of Christians across the United States who minister in front of abortion facilities. Enduring physical, emotional, and spiritual assault, these believers say they desire that no mother enters the doors of an abortion clinic without knowing three realities: that she is already a mother, that there is help available to her, and that Jesus Christ died for them and loves them. Many sidewalk ministers pass on more comfortable or more lucrative opportunities in response to a burden from God to intercede on behalf of the lives of their preborn neighbors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the most literal sense, they take to heart the command of Proverbs 24:11: \u201cRescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here are their stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>John Barros \u2014 Orlando, Florida<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>John Barros, who lives in Sanford, Florida, is sixty-seven years old. He has been representing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ligonier.org\/\"><span>St. Andrew\u2019s Chapel<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 the church of the late Presbyterian minister R.C. Sproul \u2014 for the past eighteen years at a local abortion clinic. After asking God to take care of his family, Barros began ministering on a full-time basis eleven years ago. Today, he forgoes retirement to continue his work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barros has seen over 3,000 lives saved \u2014 and refuses to take credit for a single one. Indeed, his favorite part about his ministry is \u201cfeeling Jesus smile.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe bring the gospel to the place,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe bring Jesus to that place, and we explain to the ladies that are coming there that God has sent us. We are His emissaries, we are His ambassadors, and He has sent us to pull them away from the edge of a cliff from where there\u2019s no return.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barros and his team offer the women practical assistance: \u201cI have a lady\u2019s doctor\u2019s office \u2014 a medical clinic called \u2018Choices\u2019 that I\u2019ll offer them a card for. Over there they can get free medical help, free financial help. They can get a free ultrasound, and then whatever they cannot help them with \u2014 in regards to the rest of their family or whatever their situation is \u2014 my church will help them with all of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barros stays in touch with many of the families he encounters. Formerly abortion-minded mothers occasionally bring their newborns back to the clinic and thank John for his work. However, Barros has also maintained contact with the babies saved early in his ministry \u2014 one of whom is now a junior in high school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHe dunked a basketball for the first time,\u201d Barros said of their most recent visit. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a big deal for me, you know, to see a kid, and the parent was gonna abort him. Now, that kid has been the number one love of his mother\u2019s life. And now seeing him dunk a basketball for the first time is pretty amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two decades ago, however, Barros was hesitant to become involved with sidewalk ministry.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI had a pastor ask me if I wanted to go to an abortion clinic one time, and I said no. Why would I want to go there? And then he bribed me. He said \u2018I\u2019ll buy you a cigar if you go with me.\u2019 And I went. And I hated it. Hated it totally. But I kept going \u2014 something was pulling me there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After two bouts with cancer and two brain aneurysms, Barros eventually made his way back to the abortion clinic. On his first day ministering alone, he talked with one mother for over an hour \u2014 a conversation that resulted in the mother deciding to keep her baby.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The most challenging aspect of Barros\u2019 ministry is \u201cgetting God\u2019s Word into their hearts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe Bible tells us in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation,\u201d Barros explained. \u201cI don\u2019t go down there with signs. I ask people not to bring signs, because our goal is to get conversations. I feel that, at least in our clinic, that hinders that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo we try to get conversations with everybody\u2026 And then at certain times, I will preach a sermon every day, about three times a day, and they can hear every word through the windows. And that\u2019s when God works. It\u2019s the most amazing thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barros has also faced his fair share of physical opposition.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2018ve had guns pulled on me, I\u2019ve been hit a bit, spit on, had urine thrown on me, I\u2019ve had every kind of thing you can imagine,\u201d said Barros. \u201cBut, again, like I said, it pales in comparison to watching God give sight to the blind, literally raise the dead. I mean, there\u2019s nothing that can compare to it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Indeed, Barros explained that he does not make much of the opposition he faces: \u201cJesus told us it would be this way. He said in this world, you\u2019re gonna have tribulation if we stand for Him and pick up our cross\u2026 I just want to lift up Jesus and the things that He does there. It\u2019s so beautiful, it\u2019s so amazing.\u201d<\/span><span><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As far as misconceptions about his work: \u201cThey think that the people that come out on the sidewalks actually hate the people that are going in to have the abortion, or hate the workers that are there, or are there with a vengeful type of attitude.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI preach every day, \u2018Ladies, we\u2019re the only ones who really love you.\u2019 So we come down here, we\u2019re willing to lay our lives down for you if necessary, because we want to help you and we want to keep you from the judgment that goes along with this,\u201d Barros described. \u201c2 Timothy 2 tells us to correct those that are in opposition, and perhaps God would grant them repentance and open their eyes, that they might see the snare of the devil, having been taken by him to do his will\u2026 That\u2019s what we\u2019re there for. We\u2019re not there to call them names and do all these horrible things. We\u2019re there to serve them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Barros sees the future of the anti-abortion movement going political \u201cstrong and hard, because nothing is changing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI believe that we need to outlaw abortion in our land. We need to do it state by state until it\u2019s done federally, but it needs to be outlawed. These are people. These are people we\u2019re killing. Now all these incremental bills \u2014 these are just saying who you can kill and can\u2019t kill. I mean, it\u2019s the most bizarre thing I\u2019ve ever seen. If these are people \u2014 and they are \u2014 they have the right to life, just like we do. And we need to somehow just keep praying for God to change the hearts of the people in our country and outlaw this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the meantime, Barros expressed a desire for every Christian to stand against abortion.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest fight there is, and it has been \u2014 let\u2019s face it \u2014 this has been going on since Genesis,\u201d he said. \u201cBut every Christian should be involved at some point. They don\u2019t all need to stand in front of a sidewalk like I do, but they need to fight it on some level, either helping politically to fight it, to raise awareness in our culture, working at a pregnancy center \u2014 any number of things. Be a welcome place for girls who get pregnant, places where they can find help in people\u2019s churches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBut there\u2019s a ton of things that people can do. And everybody needs to be in that fight somewhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Seth Drayer \u2014 Columbus, Ohio<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Seth Drayer is the Vice President of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.createdequal.org\/\"><span>Created Equal<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 a Christian pro-life apologetics group that seeks to change Americans\u2019 minds about abortion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Drayer pointed out that \u201csidewalk counseling is an eleventh-hour ministry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCreated Equal\u2019s primary effort is changing minds on abortion <\/span><i><span>before<\/span><\/i><span> people plan to kill their children,\u201d he explained. \u201cHowever, when it comes to people with scheduled abortions today, there is no time for that. We must run to the front line, where babies are dying now, and offer support and share truth with parents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSidewalk counselors do not need to choose between babies and parents. We love all involved by offering real help and resources to parents and eliminating perceived needs for abortion, while also defending the humanity of the babies who might die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When Drayer joined Created Equal\u2019s full-time staff, he was called on to begin serving as a sidewalk counselor.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOn my first day sidewalk counseling, I met a young man who, after going into the abortion facility with his girlfriend, told me, \u2018I love what you guys are doing. I want to keep [the baby].\u2019 But his girlfriend was committed to having an abortion.<\/span><span> I encouraged him to bring his girlfriend out of the facility and go with her to a pregnancy resource center, where they could have all of the options laid before them. He started to text his girlfriend inside, sharing with her information we had given him. And, about half an hour later, he was able to get her to come out. He told me, \u2018She couldn\u2019t go through with it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Drayer explained that his work is often joyous: \u201cSidewalk counseling can provide the best of days within the pro-life movement. When a baby is saved \u2014 when parents choose to value their children over themselves \u2014 the celebrations are rich.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Often, though, it is full of mourning and loss: \u201cWhen you watch other parents who do not change their minds, when you know a baby is being dismembered not far from where you stand, when you see the heaviness on the parents\u2019 faces as they leave, the pain is very real.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHowever,\u201d said Drayer, \u201cour service is not based on whether we have good or bad days. We serve because God calls us to do so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Drayer likewise explained that people mischaracterize sidewalk ministers as hateful: \u201cAnyone who spends time on the ground outside abortion facilities knows this is false. The people who sacrifice their time to do this hard work do so because they love the babies and their parents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond interceding for babies\u2019 lives, Drayer often witnesses parents surrender themselves to Christ. \u201cThe people who come to abortion facilities are not having the best day of their lives. Something has pushed them to this point. And it is our privilege to share the beautiful truth of the gospel with these people while we are seeking to rescue babies. We have seen God use our team not only to save babies but also to bring people to the foot of the cross.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Drayer believes that apologetics and \u201ccommunicating truth in our cultural context\u201d is paramount to ending abortion in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe are becoming better every day at communicating truth in our cultural context. That is a key to the overall project of changing the way everyone views preborn people,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo long as they are seen as inconvenient blobs of tissue, many will continue to turn a blind eye as they are killed. But as we restore the dignity stolen from babies and draw out the meaning of what abortion is, we not only help parents see they do not need abortion but also move the cultural needle \u2014 changing our nation from one hostile to vulnerable preborn people to one that protects and defends them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Virgil Walker \u2014 Omaha, Nebraska<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>For the past six years, Virgil Walker served as a discipleship pastor at Westside Church in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as a host of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/justthinking.me\/podcast-home\/\"><span>Just Thinking Podcast<\/span><\/a><span>. With the blessing of his church family, he routinely engaged in sidewalk counseling at a local abortion clinic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As Walker explains, his ministry entailed bringing the gospel into conflict with the cultural narrative that says \u201ca baby is a clump of cells and can be disregarded as such,\u201d providing women with \u201cthe choice that preserves the life of their child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis is the place where a life-ending decision can be stopped. This is the place where sin can be cleansed and forgiveness can be experienced. This is the place where the message of the gospel and the light of God\u2019s love can be experienced by those willing to repent and change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Walker \u2014 who recently moved to Georgia in order to serve as Executive Director of Operations at G3 Ministries \u2014 explained that he started sidewalk ministry after watching a video of Tony Miano, a friend of his and a fellow sidewalk counselor: \u201cMy immediate thought was, \u2018I need to be doing something like that.\u2019 After praying and going on a number of site visits in my area, I determined the right time and place to make myself available.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Walker, the most difficult aspect of sidewalk ministry is \u201ceverything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe darkest place in any city,\u201d he explained, \u201cis the place where the murder of innocent babies happens. Every time I went to the clinic, I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I understood the nature of the spiritual warfare that was taking place. Addressing the people is the easy part. Watching a person enter a clinic with the knowledge that they are undergoing a procedure that will end the life of a child is the most difficult thing anyone experiences at the abortion mill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Walker\u2019s work was not without other challenges.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAt the clinic, you experience all kinds of stories. The angry boyfriend who doesn\u2019t want you to say anything to his girlfriend that he brought to the clinic to have an abortion. You experience the proud mom who has been to the clinic on numerous occasions who feels justified in her anger toward you, even as you offer help. While violence isn\u2019t experienced as often as you would think, the threat of violence is always present.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Above all else: \u201cI\u2019m most impacted by those who call themselves Christians \u2014 or who have a bumper sticker with the name of their church on the back \u2014 who are at the abortion clinic for a procedure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Walker said that most people mistake him and his team for protestors. \u201cWe aren\u2019t. We are people who love God, love life, and our neighbors as ourselves \u2014 even our preborn neighbors. We want to see the gospel have impact on the lives of the mother and the child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Ashley Hoover \u2014 New York City, New York<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Ashley Hoover is a full-time sidewalk counselor in New York City. Sponsored by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lovelife.org\/\"><span>Love Life<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 a ministry seeking to end to abortion and the orphan crisis. Hoover ministers with her sister, Anastasia, at abortion clinics in Manhattan and The Bronx.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hoover\u2019s first experience as a sidewalk counselor \u201cwas as a teenager, when a family friend invited me and my sister to a large abortion clinic in the south Bronx to see with our own eyes the number of people scheduling to have their preborn babies killed in our own backyard.\u201d She did not commit to sidewalk counseling on a consistent basis until Love Life launched in New York City <\/span><span>\u2014 <\/span><span>shortly after the Cuomo administration signed the Reproductive Health Act, which legalized on-demand abortion through the moment of birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSince then,\u201d said Hoover, \u201cI have had the joy of seeing numerous babies saved from death, and have been able to walk alongside some of the mothers throughout their pregnancies and beyond.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hoover also clarified that she is not a protester: \u201cThough protesting certainly has its proper place, we do not go to abortion clinics to talk to the public at large. Rather, we talk to and plead with specific couples who are entering the clinic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hoover\u2019s ministry contains two elements: showing each couple \u201cthe horrifying and morally detestable reality of abortion\u201d and pointing each couple \u201cto the help and the hope that exist\u201d \u2014 both in the supplies, mentorship, and housing assistance that Love Life offers, and in \u201cthe ultimate, eternal hope that exists in the gospel of Jesus Christ, whereby each person can be totally and irrevocably forgiven of their sins if they repent and put their trust in Jesus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Hoover, every American can stand up for babies by promoting a culture of life in their various spheres of influence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cFirst, vocalize your opposition to abortion,\u201d she explained. \u201cIn your friendships and in your interpersonal relationships, do not be silent or indifferent on the topic. Be happy to be known for your opposition to abortion.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAlso, do not say that you are \u2018personally pro-life, but willing to tolerate all opinions.\u2019 You wouldn\u2019t say that you are \u2018personally anti-slavery, but tolerant of all views\u2019 or \u2018personally against human trafficking, but unwilling to enforce my views on others.\u2019 So why would you exhibit the same attitude toward abortion, which is the intentional killing of innocent humans, and which is just as morally heinous?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSecond,\u201d continued Hoover, \u201cuse your time and resources to prevent the murder of the preborn. Come out to abortion clinics and sidewalk counsel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Also: \u201cCreate an anti-abortion culture in your own home and family life. Do not participate in the culture of death in any way, whether by killing your own preborn child or by engaging in activities which facilitate and enable the killing of the preborn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the civic sphere: \u201cCall on your government officials to pass laws criminalizing abortion, and vote as if abortion is the most important issue of our time <\/span><span>\u2014<\/span><span> because it is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Jon Speed \u2014 Fort Worth, Texas<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Jon Speed is a missions and evangelism pastor at First Baptist Church of Briar in Azle, Texas, as well as the Texas representative for the ministry <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/endabortionnow.com\/\"><span>End Abortion Now<\/span><\/a><span>. Two years ago, Speed made national news for shuttering his New York bookstore in protest of the Reproductive Health Act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Speed <\/span><span>began sidewalk ministry in 2011 after spending a morning ministering alongside a retired gentleman at an abortion facility in Fort Worth. The man told him to \u201cpray about what God would have you to do, and then do what He tells you.\u201d Speed was convicted to preach for the last ten minutes of their time outside of the clinic, since Romans 10:17 says that \u201cfaith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe conversations we have flow directly out of the preaching of the gospel that we do at the clinic,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not just counseling, but offering the real hope of the gospel along with real help to abortive families who need it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Speed also says that \u201cthe most challenging aspect of this is facing the reality of the slaughter that is happening there and then keeping an even emotional keel.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSometimes, that means walking away for a few minutes and praying. Sometimes, that means taking a week off. The gruesome nature of the murders they are committing there is disturbing. The callousness of the abortive parents can be hard to deal with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In terms of physical threats: \u201cI have had guns pulled on me twice, abortionists who have swerved their cars at me or my wife, been spit on, watched as a passerby ran his car off the road onto the easement as he tried to threaten a family with small children holding signs, and just this past Saturday a contractor who was working at the clinic threatened to follow me home and kill me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nevertheless, the worst opposition that Speed experiences \u201cis not from pro-choicers,\u201d but from professing Christians who say that he and his team are \u201cdoing it wrong\u201d by \u201cmaking the gospel of Jesus Christ the primary issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>To Speed, however, the most rewarding aspect of his ministry is seeing women and men decide to keep their babies: \u201cSitting down with them, talking to them about the gospel and the real human life inside of the womb <\/span><span>\u2014<\/span><span> lives are changed.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2020, God saved \u201croughly one dozen\u201d babies <\/span><span>\u2014 <\/span><span>as well as a medical assistant that quit her job at the abortion clinic, who Speed\u2019s church supplied with a month and a half\u2019s salary and back-to-school supplies for her children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Speed \u2014 who co-produced the documentaries \u201cBabies Are Murdered Here\u201d and \u201cBabies Are Still Murdered Here\u201d \u2014 stated that the anti-abortion movement must use \u201csocial media and film to influence public opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cClinic ministry will always exist as long as abortion is legal,\u201d said Speed, \u201cbut we need to find ways to change the culture and groundbreaking film is the way to do that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The average American, according to Speed, can stand up for preborn babies \u201cby caring enough to do something.\u201d First and foremost, Americans \u201c<\/span><span>have to get beyond the pro-life strategy of changing Washington and start changing our state and local governments by introducing bills which abolish rather than regulate abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMost pro-life law merely regulates how abortions may be done in pro-life states. It\u2019s time we demand that our elected officials abolish abortion immediately by writing and supporting legislation which criminalizes abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Speed explained that \u201ctaking a principled stand\u201d can impact the entire world: \u201cWhen I closed my bookstore for a day in 2019 to protest New York\u2019s Reproductive Health Act, I had no idea that what we did would resonate worldwide, but we heard from people in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and many other nations. We all have influence in our neighborhoods, businesses, churches, and schools.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Scott Hord \u2014 Nashville, Tennessee<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord has been sidewalk counseling for the past six years through Scott Hord Ministries and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.operationsavinglife.org\/\"><span>Operation Saving Life<\/span><\/a><span>. Last year, he stepped down from vocational ministry at Christ Life Community in Smyrna, Tennessee, to become a \u201cfull-time missionary for the preborn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>God placed a burden on Hord\u2019s heart to \u201cengage abortion.\u201d As Hord explained, \u201cI wasn\u2019t really sure how to do that, or even what that looked like, and I didn\u2019t even know where abortions were happening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When he first visited an abortion clinic in Nashville \u2014 which has since closed its doors \u2014 he intended only to observe and pray. He was soon forced out of his car \u201cto help a young lady that was in a potentially dangerous situation,\u201d which officially began his journey of engaging abortion: \u201cSo I found out the \u2018kill days\u2019; the location I was going to killed on Tuesdays and Fridays. And so I began to go back on the kill days for four hours each day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI went with humility, love, and truth,\u201d explained Hord. \u201cI didn\u2019t compromise any of them just to see if I could have an impact.\u201d <\/span><span>At Planned Parenthood Nashville \u2014 where he has ministered for the past three years \u2014 Hord is confronted with several challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOne is the coldness of our society. Another way of saying it might be hard hearts. Another challenging aspect would be the ignorance of the child in the womb, ignorance of abortion, ignorance of the pain associated with abortion, ignorance of the historic foundation of abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord said he is consistently surprised that African-Americans \u2014 who represent the majority of those killed at Planned Parenthood Nashville \u2014 do not know the history of the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI\u2019ve talked to hundreds of African-Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe two have heard the name Margaret Sanger,\u201d the infamous eugenicist and racist founder of Planned Parenthood. \u201cThey don\u2019t know that Planned Parenthood gave out a Margaret Sanger Award, that they have disavowed from her name two years ago in New York City for Margaret Sanger Plaza, they don\u2019t know the history of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another challenge to Hord is \u201cChristian involvement in abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s people proclaiming \u2018Jesus is Lord\u2019 with their lips but going in and doing something that doesn\u2019t align with what it is to be a Christian,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have people going in and saying \u2018Jesus will forgive me\u2019 \u2014 as you walk in the door to kill your child \u2014 it\u2019s really disheartening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord \u2014 a white man \u2014 must frequently confront the misconception \u201cpumped into our society right now through media that white people are racist, and that we hate black people, we hate people with brown skin, that we\u2019re incapable of doing good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSo, I get asked all the time: What are you doing? And when we talk about what we do for the women, it really surprises people that we actually do good. Some people can\u2019t receive it; they\u2019re like, \u2018no, you\u2019re lying.\u2019 And then I show them pictures, and they say that those are fake pictures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord also faces the misconception that he is merely trying to shame and condemn people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe\u2019re not,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe do come with truth, we do come with conviction, but a lot of love. And the things that we do and how far we go with these people is just amazing. And some of them we\u2019ve been walking with for four or five years. We got them out of terrible environments, and they\u2019re doing great. It\u2019s white people, it\u2019s black people, it\u2019s brown people, it\u2019s all kinds of people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord said that the 300 babies saved through his ministry are cause for celebration. Even more so, \u201cany time we encounter people with the gospel, and we see people come to know hope or come to faith \u2014 that makes my day just as much as a child being rescued.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord added that \u201cmore and more women are coming down who have aborted in the past and have suppressed the pain of abortion, but now they\u2019re lifted their hands off that suppression, and they are going to get healing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For instance, a post-abortive woman who once ran toward Hord in a church asking \u201cIs there mercy for me?\u201d recently experienced her fifth rescue at Planned Parenthood Nashville. \u201cSo that\u2019s just an amazing story \u2014 not only on the front of a child being rescued, but the redemption of a woman that aborted many years ago being relieved of that pain and even taking it into a place of redemption.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Abortion ministry routinely feeds into Hord\u2019s own faith.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen you look at Philippians 2, Paul asks if you have been encouraged by Christ, if you have felt the love of the Father\u2026 When I read that in Philippians 2, I\u2019m like, that\u2019s what it means to be on the sidewalk, because that\u2019s where you see the best of Jesus, the best of the Father, the best of the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBeing a pastor, being one that loves the Word, that talks about the immeasurable power, authority, and the greatness of God \u2014 it\u2019s one thing to say it, but it\u2019s another to see it,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hord\u2019s exhortation to Christians: \u201cGo. Go. Go to the front line. The front line has to be defined as where the children are dying\u2026 And where the children are dying, Christians have to go. Do not leave these places unattended. Even if one person goes, even if they don\u2019t say anything, even if they just take a stand through prayer \u2014 it lets everybody know in that culture that drives by that there\u2019s something going on there, there\u2019s something not right there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAnd the message has to consistently be that what\u2019s happening here is wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cYou\u2019re free now.\u201dScott Hord \u2014 a pastor from Smyrna, Tennessee \u2014 said these words to a young African-American woman in front of Planned Parenthood Nashville after he and four others &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}