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)
Kaitlyn Donihue
Connecting the Dots
Connecting the Dots
Justice For All
Team Be Nimble

In this Impact Report, we feature highlights from Justice For All (JFA) events that took place from March to September. Each highlighted event illustrates the way smaller training teams can help us make a bigger impact. We’ve found that empowering our trainers to do events on their own helps our team to be nimble and ready to meet the great need all over the country for good dialogue training—training that includes outreach whenever possible.

Team Be Nimble
Tammy Cook
Passing the Baton

Tammy Cook reflects on 28 years with JFA.

Passing the Baton

recent updates

Joseph Changes His Mind

Impact Report, January 2025

By Andrea Thenhaus

Over the past few months I’ve reminded you that just getting people to “stop and think” is a big part of what’s needed in order to initiate cultural change. (See this Oct. 2024 post and this Nov. 2024 post.) The moments people spend with our trainers and volunteers during campus outreach can be transformative. In this Impact Report, JFA trainer Andrea Thenhaus gives an example from a recent outreach event in California. (This post updates the original post from Nov. 20, 2024) Many of you responded to our appeals for year-end funding during the past two months. Thank you! It’s a privilege to partner with you to train followers of Christ to change hearts and minds on abortion. - Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Our team had the opportunity to engage with students on the issue of abortion at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and MiraCosta College in California in October 2024. At CSUSM, we were getting ready to take down for the day when two international students walked up to our poll table, and I engaged them in conversation. I will refer to the student who did most of the talking as “Joseph”.

Andrea: Do you think abortion should be legal for all nine months of pregnancy or only for a certain window of time?

Joseph: Oh, I don’t think it should be legal for all nine months.

Andrea: Ok. I have our brochure here with images of the unborn at different stages of development (shown right). Where would you draw the line?

Joseph: I think abortion should be legal until the first trimester.

Andrea (center in hat) interacts with a student at the JFA outreach event at CSUSM in October 2024.

Above, Jon, Alora, and Andrea interact with students at JFA’s MiraCosta Outreach in October.

After talking through the legality and the circumstances under which these students thought abortion should be legal, I asked them when they thought life begins biologically speaking.

Joseph: I am not sure. I am not a physician so it’s hard to say.

Andrea: No problem. Obviously I’m not a doctor either, but do you mind if I share with you my understanding of the basic biology?

Joseph: Yes, totally.

Andrea shared pages 4-5 of our brochure with Joseph. Get your own copy at jfaweb.org/brochure.

Andrea: If the unborn is growing, would you agree it is alive?

Joseph: Yes, I would agree with that.

Andrea: If the unborn has human parents, would you agree it is human?

Joseph: Yes.

Andrea: Right. Living things reproduce after their own kind. Dogs produce dogs and cats produce cats, so it would make sense to say that humans produce human offspring. At conception, the unborn has a complete set of DNA. It just needs time to grow and develop. Are you familiar with Polaroid cameras?

Joseph: Yes.

Andrea: The development of the unborn is similar to a polaroid photo. After I take a picture, it takes time for the film to develop. However, as soon as I take a picture, that image has been captured. I just need to wait for it to develop in order to see it. From conception the unborn is a whole, living human organism. The unborn just needs time to grow and develop [for you to be able to see it]. Does that make sense? What are your thoughts on that?

Joseph: Wow. Honestly that makes so much sense, and this is making me change my mind on abortion.

Our conversation continued, and we talked about the realities of abortion. The students agreed that the process of abortion is horrible.

Outreach at Wayne State College, September 2024

Before Joseph and his friend left, I thanked them for taking the time to have a conversation. They thanked me and expressed again how our conversation had changed their minds. They now understand that the unborn is a living human being and that abortion is taking a life.

It was amazing to see God at work in these students’ lives. Students often do not think the unborn is a human being. Once they understand what science teaches about the beginning of human life, some students are more likely to realize the tragedy of abortion. I am thankful that Joseph and his friend were willing to have a conversation and that they were open to the truth.

“The development of the unborn is similar to a Polaroid photo...As soon as I take a picture, that image has been captured…
From conception the unborn is a whole, living human organism. The unborn just needs time to grow and develop [for you to be able to see it].”

New Team Members and New Cities

(1) Kristine (right) talks to a student at Cal State San Marcos at JFA's outreach event in Oct. 2023

(2) Alora (center) interacts with a student at Wayne State College earlier this week (during the first week of her internship!).

Rejoice with us!

Kristine Hunerwadel (1) just joined our team as a trainer working from Denver, Colorado. Alora Tunstill (2) just began a fall internship, based in Northwest Arkansas. JFA trainer Kristina Massa (3) recently relocated to Kansas City. Kristine, Alora, and Kristina will help greatly expand JFA’s training efforts in these areas. Denver and Kansas City are established metro areas, and Northwest Arkansas is the 13th most rapidly growing metro area in the country.

(3) Kristina (center) at University of Nebraska at Kearney in May 2024.

We’re excited about these new team members and new cities, but we’re also excited about the ongoing local efforts of our trainers in other regions (see Metro Area list below). Look for us to do more in all of these areas in the coming year. Look for us also to continue our work in regions where we have dedicated volunteers and church connections even if we don’t have full-time trainers based there...yet (Arizona, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and others).

Our team is working across the country to train Christians through workshops and outreach events to change hearts and minds. Please pray that God will use these efforts to save unborn children and their parents from abortion. Would you give a special gift this month or commit to become a monthly partner to support the excellent work of these trainers?

  Steve Wagner, Executive Director

10 Metro Areas Where JFA Trainers Live

3,200,000 CA San Diego Rebekah

3,000,000 CO Denver Kristine

2,400,000 TX Austin Jeremy

8,100,000 TX Dallas Jon

590,000 AR Fayetteville Andrea, Alora

653,000 KS Wichita Paul, Tammy, Susanna

2,200,000 MO Kansas City Kristina

344,000 NE Lincoln Mary, Rebecca

2,100,000 OH Cleveland Kaitlyn

6,300,000 DC Washington Steve

(Population Numbers Refer to Metropolitan Statistical Area, per Wikipedia)

Upcoming Outreach Events

8/26-28 Wayne State College (Wayne, NE)

9/9-10 Colorado State Univ. (Fort Collins)

9/11 Univ. of Northern Colorado (Greeley)

9/30-10/1 Minnesota TBD

10/8-9 Mira Costa College (Oceanside, CA)

10/28-29 Univ. of Central Oklahoma (Edmond)

11/18-20 UTSA (San Antonio)

11/18-20 Johnson County CC (Kansas City Area)

See JFA’s Newly Redesigned Calendar Page for More Events, All Event Details, and to Register.

One Person at a Time

In this Impact Report, we share the names and pictures of some of the people with whom our team interacted in 2022. Please join us in praying that God will take the seeds we planted and change the world, one person at a time. Pray each person would love and protect the children in their care. Pray for healing from past hurts, and pray each heart would become open to God.

Would you join us in committing to pray for each of these people in the coming months?

You can use the images below (7 total) to pray through the list from your phone or other device with us this year?

To view more pictures and read recent stories of conversations, see other recent posts on the JFA blog.

There’s still time to give a year-end gift to help Justice For All train many Christians to reach one person at a time in 2023. Thank you for supporting our team and for praying along with us.

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:

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

Please enjoy and give thanks with us!

Freedom House Ambulance Service and Justice For All

Dear Friend of Justice For All,

Up until 1967, there were no paramedics as we know them today. In Pittsburgh, for example, people needing emergency medical care were transported to the hospital by police...or by the morgue!

Enter the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Trained by Peter Safar, the doctor who helped create cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and encouraged laypeople to use it to save lives, these pioneering paramedics in Pittsburgh brought emergency medical care to people on the street and also during transport to the hospital.

Freedom House paramedics with ambulance (Image: Univ. of Pittsburgh)

I learned about Freedom House from a recent episode of the 99 Percent Invisible podcast. It struck me that the work of Justice For All (JFA) is very similar to the work of Freedom House in at least three ways:

1. Seat Work and Feet Work: When Dr. Safar and his team trained Freedom House workers to provide medical care, they did give them some education with books in a classroom setting, but they didn’t stop there. These medical mentors also went out in the field with the Freedom House workers, supporting them while they showed they could indeed provide first-class medical care in real emergencies. As you would expect, the medical mentors wouldn’t consider these workers to be “trained” until they had shown skill in the activity of providing medical care. Lives depended on this second step in training. In the same way, we don’t consider a participant in a JFA event to be “trained” until he or she engages in a real conversation using what we’ve taught. This is why we encourage participation in “Feet Work” outreach events, why we provide conversation starters for everyday life, and why our mentors stand at the ready to help.

“... In the same way, we don’t consider a participant in a JFA event to be “trained” until he or she engages in a real conversation using what we’ve taught.”

2. We Train Non-Experts to Change the World Because They Can: Most of the Freedom House paramedics were poor, black men from the Hill District. In late 1960’s Pittsburgh, many would have thought it impossible that these men could do anything worthwhile, let alone excel in the field of medicine. Still, Dr. Safar and others believed in their potential and trusted them, and they saved two hundred lives in their first year of operation! In the same way, we at JFA focus on training people from every walk of life, many of whom have no expertise in philosophy or science. Some have never talked to anyone who disagrees with them about serious worldview topics. It might seem odd that we trust these non-experts when lives hang in the balance, but now we can depend on thousands we have trained to graciously change hearts about abortion.

3. Even the Highest Quality Training Can Crumble If Not Protected: The Freedom House paramedics were mistreated by a mayor determined to shut them down. Sadly, even after concerted efforts of whites advocating for the incredibly skilled black men of Freedom House, the mayor succeeded in effectively draining the Freedom House of funding and re-inventing it with white workers. In a similar way, JFA’s training program can falter without needed funds and without God’s help through your prayers. Sometimes I feel like Dr. Safar and his fellow medical mentors. The JFA trainers in whom you and I have invested and the people we’ve trained together over the years—all of these are incredibly skilled. I long to see them more fully realize their potential to reach more people. Pray for opportunities for us to partner with more groups to train more advocates. Consider donating to JFA to keep our training program strong. To be sure, we don’t face the same racism the Freedom House faced, but we do face today’s culture of “tolerance” in which our peaceful work can be branded in false ways by those who see it as harmful, which would make our work difficult or impossible. Pray with us for protection from these outside forces.

Thank you for partnering with us to teach all people that, with God’s help, they are worthy of being entrusted with such important work. It’s a joy to watch such unlikely life-savers change the world.

Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Register Now for Training from Anywhere

“7 Conversations in 7 Hours” - 2 New Options

Nov. 9-14 (M-Sat.): One-Week Intensive

Nov. 14 (Sat.): One-Day Intensive

Other Offerings & Opportunities

Encouragement for Conversations: See Calendar.

Teach Kids: See www.jfaweb.org/kids.

Recent Instagram Posts

 

A Breakthrough at the Water Pump

Dear Friend of JFA,

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Recently my family invited me to watch a more recent version of a movie I saw in grade school (The Miracle Worker, Disney, 2000). The movie tells the story of Helen Keller, a blind and deaf seven-year-old, and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. In contrast to many in Helen’s life who saw her as a hopeless cause, Anne tenaciously labored to draw out Helen’s incredible intelligence and potential.

Imagine the challenge of teaching language to someone who is blind and deaf! Anne felt at many points like she was getting nowhere. Over and over she would spell with sign language into the palm of Helen’s hand, and over and over it seemed that even though Helen imitated beautifully, she did not comprehend the meaning of the hand signs. Then one day Anne and Helen experienced a breakthrough at the water pump. In The Story of My Life, Helen described it:

Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

We create conversations about abortion, longing for every person to experience this same moment of comprehension. While many have dismissed pro-choice advocates both within and outside our church communities as a hopeless cause, we train pro-life advocates to labor with each person, not discouraged when one approach doesn’t work. Some have called Helen’s experience a miracle. That’s apt. In the same way, while we labor with the best dialogue tools we have, we also rely on God to work a miracle in each person’s worldview. Thank you for partnering with us to help the blind and the teacher of the blind alike, that many may “come to see” the inherent value of every human being.

- Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Free Online Learning from Anywhere!

“7 Conversations in 7 Hours” Options

9/22-11/3: Tuesdays, 10-11 AM Central
9/22-11/3: Tuesdays, 7-8 PM Central
9/24-11/5: Thursdays, 10-11 AM Central
9/24-11/5: Thursdays, 8-9 PM Central

More Options: www.jfaweb.org/calendar
Share with Friends: www.jfaweb.org/7
Register Now: www.jfaweb.org/register


Change Hearts and Save Lives!

Encouragement for Conversations

Join JFA dialogue mentors for an informal, no-pressure time of discussion and prayer, all dedicated to finding new ways to engage people in conversations in everyday life. See the JFA Calendar for new dates and times.

Lesson Plan for Kindergarten to Grade 4

Download “The Baby’s Heart Beats Like Mine” at www.jfaweb.org/kids for free!

An Update from The Executive Director

Dear Friend of JFA,

JFA volunteers often say that gathering the courage to show up to a JFA outreach event is the hardest part of their JFA training experience. For those who are willing, though, starting that first conversation can be the most important step in learning to dialogue. God seems to enjoy using that willing step of a fearful participant to create beautiful things from their conversations. After COVID-19 changed our outreach plans for the spring, JFA’s trainers were put back in the shoes of new volunteers as they focused on a new, intimidating form of outreach: creating conversations via social media.

Having little social media experience, JFA trainer Kaitlyn Donihue was not looking forward to online dialogue. Indeed, many on our team were disappointed with the prospect of exchanging productive in-person conversations for social media “equivalents” we predicted would be inferior in just about every way. Kaitlyn was willing, though, and like each of our new outreach volunteers, she initiated one conversation at a time and trusted God for the rest.

Recently Kaitlyn shared a story from a social media conversation that amazed our whole team. (Click here to read her story, “Nail Party Evangelism.”) Despite Kaitlyn’s fear and discomfort, God used Kaitlyn’s openness to create something surprising and beautiful. Are you willing to take the same step in hope of experiencing God’s work through you? See below to register for online workshops and our brand new “Encouragement for Conversations” program!

- Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Online Learning Opportunities


“7 Conversations in 7 Hours”

7/20-8/31: Mondays, 8-9 PM Central
7/22-9/2: Wednesdays, 10-11 AM Central
Makeups to be scheduled soon!

“Encouragement for Conversations”

Thursdays at 3 PM Central

“Having been in the pro-life movement since 1980, this training is nothing like I’ve ever experienced. At our local [pregnancy] center, we are making it essential for our Client Advocates (in addition to their regular training).”
— Mike Brady, Reflecting on JFA’s “7 Conversations in 7 Hours” Online Workshop Series

After a Recent Workshop at UNK

Comments after a Recent Workshop at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK):

"I feel like I could apply most of this in a conversation." – Sierra

"I feel a lot more confident now with talking to other people about abortion.  The dialogue practice with a partner was especially helpful." – Marilyn

"[The day after the workshop, during a class discussion on abortion], I didn't know if I was going to say anything, but finally decided to use the argument I had learned [the night before]." – Megan

The day after the JFA workshop, Megan found herself in a class discussion of whether or not it is morally acceptable to abort children diagnosed with Down syndrome in utero.  See "Megan Schools Her Classmates on Abortion" by Jeremy Gorr for the whole story, including what Megan said, how it impacted her class, and a picture of Megan at the JFA outreach event later that same day.

Can We Tell Other People What to Do? (#MindBlown)

In election seasons, it is very common for people to talk about what the law should be on abortion.  When that is the topic, it is also very common to hear some version of the following sentiment:

“I’m pro-life, but I can’t tell other people what to do.  Therefore, abortion should be legal.”

JFA trainer Rebecca Haschke did a beautiful job of helping a young man reconsider this sentiment in a conversation she described in a recent letter entitled #Mindblown.  In this man’s case, he felt that because he had religious reasons for his point of view on abortion, he was disqualified from making a case that abortion should not be legal.  I think you’ll be encouraged to see how this young man came to see things differently in just minutes.  In the process, you’ll witness Rebecca’s manner, and you’ll learn a sequence of questions you can ask when you confront this sort of concern in conversations with friends and neighbors.

Members of JFA’s training team interacted with the topic of Rebecca’s letter recently.  You can read some of their reflections and post your own at the JFA blog.

Confidence Creates Conversations - Andrew's Story

Andrew gained the confidence to create conversations in a matter of a few days.

Andrew gained the confidence to create conversations in a matter of a few days.

Imagine how many lives would be saved and how many hearts would be changed if all of the people who have pro-life views would regularly talk about abortion with their pro-choice friends. Often, pro-life advocates don’t raise the topic, and when it’s presented to them on a silver platter, they don’t dare speak up. That is why Justice For All’s training program is so vital.

In our March Impact Report, "Confidence Creates Conversations," JFA trainer Jeremy Gorr and one recent JFA volunteer, Andrew, reflect on Andrew’s experience with JFA. Along the way, they illustrate how confidence is built little by little, through the right kinds of activities.

Thank you for partnering with JFA to serve pro-life advocates like Andrew and help them gain the confidence to become the sort of powerful pro-life advocate we imagined above, able to create conversations that change hearts and save lives.

[Note: This was posted on May 4, but was back-dated to sync with the content so that JFA's content can be viewed in order through the blog.]

Bridges Builds a Bridge

Keawe Bridges (holding brochure) talks with a student at the University of Oklahoma in March 2015.

Keawe Bridges (holding brochure) talks with a student at the University of Oklahoma in March 2015.

Keawe Bridges learned recently that talking to pro-choice advocates wasn't the only thing worth doing at a JFA outreach event.  (Keawe's alma mater, Christian Heritage Academy, is a regular partner of JFA's.)  You'll be encouraged to see how in his first conversation that day, Keawe built a bridge for a pro-life student who didn't know how to defend the unborn.

Then, in another conversation with his pro-life friends and a pro-choice student, he was able to build a bridge for all of them at one time.  

Read both stories in JFA's November Impact Report, "The Student Becomes the Trainer," written by Joanna Wagner.  Joanna's short report includes numbers that also illustrate JFA's impact in 2015.

Comments from Recent Events

“I was very curious of what abortion was. I never realized abortion was this horrible. Seeing the baby in the mother’s womb made me realize we all have rights and we are all created equal.” – Grace

“I need to stand against abortion. I also need to ask others what they think about abortion.” – Christopher

“I didn’t understand much about abortion, but now I know for sure that abortion is wrong.” – Joy

“I learned that abortion isn’t something we can fight with harmful words, but we fight it by asking questions and helping people understand.” – Conner

“[I learned] how I can have a conversation about abortion and maybe save a life, even at my age.” – Carley