Last month, we shared a post to encourage curiosity and conversation about both the unborn child and the incarnation of Jesus (“See What Baby Jesus Looked Like at 4 Weeks”). We thought that for this month the theme is worth emphasizing again, but this time asking the question, “What Did Baby Jesus Look Like at 7 Weeks?” Share the post using the links below. If Christmas has passed when you read this, don’t worry. You can still share the post as a celebration of the “Twelve Days of Christmas”!
What Did Baby Jesus Look Like at 7 Weeks?
Many people are curious to know what Jesus looked like. Though it may be difficult to know what Jesus looked like when he walked the earth, it may be easier to see something of what his appearance must have been like when he was a seven-week-old baby in Mary's womb. And what better time for this than the season of Advent? Click on the image nearby to reveal video at EHD of a baby at seven weeks and four days from fertilization.
To see this imagery on your smart phone, we suggest downloading the stellar "See Baby Pregnancy Guide" app. In the app, you can find interesting facts about the embryo at different stages of development, including a heartbeat count. How many times had Jesus's heart beaten by 7 weeks? Find out in the app (or learn more here). You can also use EHD's heartbeat calculator to compare your heartbeat count.
(HT: JFA staff member Bubba Garrett. We featured a similar post about four-week embryos last month.)
2,017+ Conversations in 2017
2017 Report
Note: This Impact Report is a bit different than others we’ve written. Rather than reporting a story of the impact that God brought about in someone’s life through JFA, we are sharing a sort of “big picture” view of JFA’s impact through names of people with whom we interacted. Each of the names, and each of the conversations associated with them, points to the “one person at a time” we’re so passionate about training Christians to reach. We love the person in front of us for the same reason we love the unborn child and her parents: each of these human beings has intrinsic, enduring value as someone made in the image of God. Thank you for supporting JFA financially and for praying along with us for each individual story represented by the names in this report. - Steve Wagner, Executive Director
This year we wanted to see how many conversations the JFA community could create, so we counted. We’re excited to report that we logged more than 2,017 conversations in 2017. More important than the number of conversations, though, is what’s at the center of each one: a person.
I just read through the reflections of one of our dedicated volunteers who participated in JFA events in Colorado, Indiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma this year. His name is Mark. Some of the 120 people with whom Mark spoke changed their minds and decided unborn children should be protected from abortion. Others seemed unmoved from their pro-choice positions. Yet Mark is not discouraged. He made a list of names and intends to continue to pray for each person with whom he spoke, believing that although good reasons and dialogue are important to helping people change, God is the one who moves in the heart of the person and causes the seeds Mark planted to take root.
Click the image above to read the names. Click here for the printable version which you can post on your refrigerator as a prayer reminder.
Our staff and volunteers (including Mark) worked together to compile the names of many of these people with whom we were privileged to interact this year. Some were pro-choice. Some were pro-life. Some were undecided or confused or searching prior to the conversation.
Please place your trust in God along with us, asking Him to grow in each of these people a strong and active love for those who are often forgotten—for the smallest humans on earth (unborn children), for women and men in distress (related to unplanned pregnancy or sexual assault), and for those whose appearance or worldview makes them difficult to love (such as pro-choice advocates). Pray that each person we talked to this year will take a next step to love the forgotten in the coming months.
Make Your Own Impact with a Year-End Gift
As you consider your year-end giving, please consider giving generously to JFA to help us train more Christians to create more conversations in 2018. You can give online or send your gift using the instructions at our Donate page. Your gift will help JFA plan more events, hire more staff, and reach more people. Here are just two examples: David Rodriguez and Susanna Buckley served as interns during the fall of 2017, and they have both committed to serve as interns during the spring of 2018. Your gift to the Training Program Fund will pay for their travel to and from outreach events, and it will help us continue to provide a place in the Wichita office where they can grow as dialogue artists and mentors of others. Your gift to the Intern Scholarship Fund will fund paychecks for them or other interns like them. Your gift to the Staff Support Fund or to support a specific staff missionary will fund the salaries of those who mentor these interns. Last month, we shared one beautiful story in which this mentoring made a difference ("Three Miracles in One Conversation"). Our “Invest in JFA” page gives you more detailed information on these and other ways you can make an impact with your gift to JFA. Feel free to use our Contact page to contact me directly to discuss JFA’s vision, strategy, and needs for 2018. Thanks for partnering with JFA!
What I Said on Giving Tuesday Might Surprise You
In case you missed it, please read my Giving Tuesday message to all of JFA's readers who serve behind the scenes by praying, supporting financially, providing homes and meals for our traveling team, volunteering during outreach events, creating conversations in everyday life, and supporting JFA in other ways. This message provides important context to my request for year-end gifts above.
Helping the Skeptic
The article linked below was written by our friend Timothy Brahm, the Director of Training at Equal Rights Institute. (Previously, Timothy served as a Training Specialist at JFA.) He shares an interesting strategy for avoiding common, but unhelpful tangents in conversations about abortion. It's a short read that explains this main point: Surprisingly, it's sometimes more helpful to the skeptic to not answer his or her hypothetical questions, but rather to ask what he or she actually believes.
Live Broadcast Tonight: Steve Wagner on Common Ground
Click the image above to link to the live interview (Dec. 1, 2017 at 6pm PST).
They will discuss Steve's book, Common Ground Without Compromise, and answer this question: In the effort to make abortion unthinkable, why is finding common ground with abortion-choice advocates is so important?
To listen to another recent interview of Steve's on Called2Action Radio, click here.
2,017+ Conversations in 2017
The original post from Nov. 30 has been updated. Click here to see the latest version of our November 2017 Impact Report.
Pray with JFA
Pray with JFA for “One Person at a Time”:
See our November Impact Report titled, “2,017+ Conversations in 2017” for the names of hundreds of people with whom we interacted at our outreach events and in “everyday life” conversations in 2017. We suggest praying slowly through each name, asking God to cause the seeds planted in the heart to bear fruit. Pray for each person to love unborn children and their parents in action. Pray for each person to grow in the love of God through Jesus Christ.
Pray for God’s Provision During the Year-End Giving Period:
Please pray with us for JFA’s friends, volunteers, and readers, as they consider giving to JFA at the end of 2017 to help JFA train more advocates to create more conversations in 2018. Do you have a friend with whom you would like to share JFA’s mission? Pass along the links below. Are you able to give a gift? Thanks for taking a few minutes to pray about these things with us.
Featured Resource - "See Baby Pregnancy Guide" App
Most people don’t identify with very young unborn children, and consequently, they lack the affection and empathy that would cause them to suffer ridicule or discomfort in order to speak up for them. One of the best ways to help ourselves and others identify with the unborn child, that we might develop affection and empathy for her, is to see the child. There is no better tool for seeing the unborn child than the free “See Baby Pregnancy Guide” app from the Endowment for Human Development (EHD). The app allows you to see clear video images of very young children in the womb. Please use the app and consider giving a gift to EHD to make sure the app continues to be available as a valuable resource for conversations.
Conversation Starter - "See What Baby Jesus Looked Like at 4 Weeks."
To start a conversation about unborn children and Jesus in a natural way during Advent, we suggest sharing the post, “See What Baby Jesus Looked Like at 4 Weeks.” The post includes a link to clear video imagery featuring the unborn child’s heart beating at four weeks and four days (from fertilization). We hope the post will encourage curiosity and conversation about both the unborn child and the incarnation of Jesus.
See What Baby Jesus Looked Like at 4 Weeks
Many people are curious to know what Jesus looked like. Though it may be difficult to know what Jesus looked like when he walked the earth, it may be easier to see something of what his appearance must have been like when he was a four-week-old baby in Mary's womb. And what better time for this than the season of Advent? Click on the EHD page below to reveal video of a baby at four weeks and four days from fertilization.
Click to make the blurry image crystal clear.
To see this imagery on your smart phone, we suggest downloading the stellar "See Baby Pregnancy Guide" app. Once you do, you'll have the ability to scroll through video images from very early on (like the video above) until late in the baby's development.
(HT: JFA staff member Bubba Garrett shared this idea with me this week.)
We Thank God for You
I've received a whole raft of Giving Tuesday emails today encouraging me to give to all sorts of important things I care about. We here at JFA have no ill will towards the Giving Tuesday phenomenon, but for a variety of reasons we haven't made much of Giving Tuesday in recent years.
I did, however, just have a thought that I wanted 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?
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?
Did you give a monthly automatic gift to our Training Program 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 I worry that you, our friends, feel like you are not truly contributing to our work unless you give money. I 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 I've listed above are essential, and I 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.
It may be that we cannot do our work without financial support, but we trust God will provide the support we need. In the same way, 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 above. 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.
I just wanted to take this moment to say thank you for partnering with us so faithfully through these very real gifts I've listed above. The stories we've shared this year are very truly your stories. 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.
If you're so inclined, I'd love to hear your thoughts about JFA's work and ways you've been able to partner with us this year. You can click the link below at any time during the year to share your thoughts with us.
I mentioned our Resource Bulletin above. It's one of our best resources for making abortion unthinkable. Each month, we post specific, practical ways you can pray for conversations, prepare for conversations, and start conversations. Check it out!
Baby Eleanor and Baby Logan - Perinatal Hospice Stories
The two videos below document the birth stories of Baby Eleanor and Baby Logan. Both Eleanor and Logan were diagnosed with lethal fetal anomalies, and were assumed to be "not compatible with life" after birth. Instead of turning to abortion, their families received support from the perinatal hospice team at Choices Medical Clinic (Wichita, KS), and were empowered to embrace whatever time they could have with their babies. Witness their incredible stories for yourself, in the videos below.
Recent & Upcoming Events - Please Pray
Please pray that God will cause hearts and minds to change as a result of conversations created by our staff, volunteers, and audience members:
JFA Chief Operations Officer Paul Kulas (right, with brochure) at the UMN outreach in October. See more photos and register to attend upcoming events at JFA's Calendar Page.
Chanhassen, MN: 9/30 — Interactive Workshop — St. Hubert Catholic Church (124 attended)
Minneapolis, MN: 10/2, 10/3 — Ten-Foot Kiosk Outreach Event — University of Minnesota
St. Louis, MO: 10/22 — Interactive Workshops — Respect Life Convention (80 attended)
Albuquerque, NM: 10/22 — Interactive Workshop — University of New Mexico (12 attended)
Albuquerque, NM: 10/23, 10/24 — Kiosk Outreach Event — University of New Mexico
Bel Aire, KS: 10/28 — Presentation (Grace Fontenot) — Church of the Resurrection - Closed event
Kennesaw, GA: 10/30 — Interactive Workshop — Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, GA: 10/31, 11/1 — Kiosk Outreach Event — Kennesaw State University
Del City, OK: 11/10 — Chapel Presentation, Interactive Seminar — Christian Heritage Academy
Norman, OK: 11/11 — Interactive Workshop — Christ the King Presbyterian Church
Norman, OK: 11/12 — Interactive Seminar — Trinity Baptist Church
Norman, OK: 11/13, 11/14 — Large Exhibit Outreach Event — University of Oklahoma
Featured Resource - Trot Out the Toddler
JFA Intern Susanna Buckley (right), at JFA’s University of Minnesota (UMN) outreach in October.
When you discuss abortion with others, you’re almost certainly going to hear concerns about suffering — the suffering the pregnant woman is experiencing now and the suffering she and the unborn child will experience soon if she doesn’t get an abortion. Intern Susanna Buckley described an amazing conversation in JFA’s October 2017 Impact Report in which she helped a young woman see a different perspective on suffering. You can learn another approach from the example of JFA trainers in actual conversations featured in our “Trot Out the Toddler” Newsletter Collection. Then use what you’ve learned in a conversation (see below).
Conversation Starter - "Is Suffering Ever Better?"
Use Joanna Bai’s recent post, “Is Suffering Ever Better?” to start a conversation about abortion in a natural way. It features a panel from JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit including a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Share the post on social media or email the link to a friend. Just as the post doesn’t downplay the difficult circumstances and suffering which confront many women considering abortion, we should acknowledge that suffering early in our conversations, affirming the sympathy many feel. In this way, our love for all human beings, both before and after birth, becomes evident to the person we’re trying to reach, commending our message.