You might have people in your congregation
who have never told anybody that they've had an abortion.
They've been carrying that with them.
They've been carrying that with them every Sunday morning
or every weekend when they come to listen.
They've been carrying that with them to small group.
They've been carrying that with them
when they go to minister.
Hi, my name is Bill and I work with Save the Storks.
I've been a pastor for over 30 years
before I started at Save the Storks.
I started as a junior high pastor.
I was a high school pastor.
Went to college ministry, became a teaching pastor,
executive pastor, lead pastor, church planter, all that.
Lived in four different states.
Served at some of the fastest growing churches in America
as well as some of the largest.
And now I serve at Save the Storks
as the director of church programs and partnerships.
And that's what I'd like to share with you today.
Part of what we do at Save the Storks
is to help equip churches to be a place of story
and hope for women who are encountering
an unplanned pregnancy.
For 30 years, I strategically positioned myself
away from the pro-life conversation.
I was that pastor who anytime that conversation came up,
I would either ignore it, push it to the side.
And it wasn't because I didn't believe in pro-life.
I just didn't know what to say.
I felt unequipped to bring wisdom
or to bring the right words to what was going on.
And sadly enough, because of that,
I kept myself out of a lot of things
that I should have been into.
And so at Save the Storks,
we want everyone to be educated on the reality of abortion.
And we want everyone to be equipped to respond in love.
Now here's a couple of crazy statistics
if you think about these.
One in three women were attending a church regularly
when they had their first abortion.
One in three.
52% of women who attend a Christian church,
listen to this,
say no one at their church knows about their abortion.
That means right now in your congregation,
if you're a pastor,
you might have people in your congregation
who have never told anybody that they've had an abortion.
And they've been carrying that with them.
They've been carrying that with them every Sunday morning
or every weekend when they come to listen.
They've been carrying that with them to small group.
They've been carrying that with them
when they go to minister
and they've never been able to release that.
50% of women, of those women,
agree that the church does not have a ministry prepared
to discuss options during an unplanned pregnancy.
Man, those are crazy statistics.
65% of women believe that a church member
will judge expectant single mothers.
That judgment goes deep and that shame is there.
50% of women don't feel that sermons on God's forgiveness
even apply to them.
Now I want you to think about that for a minute.
50% just sit in the congregation
and even if you're talking about God's love
and His grace and forgiveness
and the price that He paid on the cross,
they don't believe that that applies to them.
Why?
Because of what they did was so heartbreaking,
so destructive.
And as pastors, as a pastor, I never mentioned that.
And so here we just don't talk about it
and it's kind of hidden.
So why do women choose abortion?
73% feel economic stress.
Now think about that.
73% feel economic stress.
74% feel pressured by others,
maybe their partner or somebody in their family pushing them.
48% cite relational concerns
and they don't wanna be a single parent, right?
We can see all of these things.
But here at Save the Storks, you know what?
We believe that the church was created
to provide compassion, wellness, and refuge in the world.
We believe the church is there for that
and we can make an impact.
Ephesians chapter one, verse 22 says this.
I love this verse.
And he put all things in subjection under his feet
and gave him head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all.
Now let me say that again.
When it talks about this, it says,
and he, talking about God,
put all things in subjection under his feet,
talking about Jesus.
So it's God put all things in subjection under Jesus' feet
and gave him, Jesus, head over all things to the church.
And then it says this, right?
The church then is his body,
the fullness of him, of Jesus, who fills all in all.
And that means the church is the place that accomplishes.
the hands and feet of Jesus everywhere we go.
And we represent God in this world.
We are ambassadors of Christ.
And if we have women that are hurting
and families that are hurting,
and even men that are hurting from things of the past,
we need to be a place where people feel comfortable
and loved and cared for.
That's why we do what we do.
Ephesians chapter two, verse 10,
it goes on a little later to say this.
It says,
but for we, which is the church, are his workmanship.
And that word in the Greek is masterpiece, is poiema.
It's like a poem.
It's we are his workmanship.
We are his masterpiece.
Created in Christ Jesus for good works.
I love that.
Why were we created?
We're the hands and feet of Jesus.
We fill all things, all in all.
But we are his, we're his masterpiece.
We're his work of art.
That means when someone walks into our church,
they should say, you know what?
Man, this is like a work of art.
This is one of the most beautiful organizations
because it's honoring to God
and it reaches out and brings love
and lives out Jesus in the world.
And so we are a place that should be that as the church.
I was just talking with some friends who have a church
and they were really struggling with the idea of the men
who have encountered abortion in their lives.
And so they decided, they said, you know what?
We want to, we really wanna have that tough conversation
with these guys and sit down in their men's ministry
and spend time focusing on, hey, if you're a man
who has been a part of an abortion story,
maybe you just went along with it
or maybe there was a secret in your past,
like it's time to get that out.
And so they're creating environments
for these strong men to be open and broken
about the past sins that they had committed.
Man, that's what it's all about, right?
Because we believe the church was created
to provide compassion, wellness,
and refuge in our world today.
Isn't that awesome?
So check out a few stories here of hope and transformation.
The day I decided to terminate,
there were about 20 or 30 other girls sitting in a room.
And I remember thinking, I'm just a number.
It was, let's hurry up and get this done.
And I had major complications,
thought I was actually gonna die.
But when I came to, ushered out of the abortion clinic,
I drove the long distance home, crying the whole way,
looking out the window, and I had immediate regret.
No matter the church that I had ever been a member of
or attended, I never felt like it was a safe place.
So 16 years went by before I first uttered
my abortion story to a soul.
And it was then that my real healing journey began.
Once I brought that to light,
the Lord placed me at a pregnancy center banquet
where I heard testimonies of beloved friends
who I had no idea shared the same regrets.
And then I began volunteering and took one job
after another and ended up being an executive director
where I could use the most painful thing in my life
to be my passion.
My wife confessed having an abortion in her past
for 33 years, we were in complete secrecy
about the abortion.
But now she was in a position where she felt
like she could release that.
And she came home and she released me
to be able to share our story too.
I would say the word that comes to mind now
when I think about our experience is redeemed.
I felt like God has redeemed me finally
after all these years that he's purchased me back
and placed me in a space where I could be used
to help other people who may have experienced
the same thing.
So I would just say that there's no situation
that is so horrible or bad that God can't redeem it.
For 25 years, I didn't talk about my abortion with anyone.
I feel like Satan used the secret of my abortion
to hold his thumb on me and to stop me
from doing what God wanted.
And what God wants is for us to use our stories,
to share the pain that we're walking through,
to help others behind us.
I knew for years that the Lord forgave me for my abortion.
After I confessed it, but forgiving myself was the real challenge.
When I finally realized, you know, when things are kept in the dark, it's never, you know, with the Lord.
So if God is light, then why would I be hiding something in the dark?
Every little broken path that I have, every single mistake that I've made, need to be transparent and need to be open and need to be brought to light.
So that I can live a life without double identity, without feeling like I have to keep up with these hidden secrets.
And there's a very long period of time I worry about what people would think.
And then especially when I joined the pro-life movement, what would my colleagues think?
What would the people in the life affirming, you know, movement think?
And then I realized it really does not matter what they think.
It matters what God thinks.
And if God is with me and God has forgiven me, then I guess it will be okay.
And that is when I finally reconciled with the fact that I don't need to be pleasing, you know, anybody other than pleasing God.
And if I am using this opportunity to do more and to save more and to transform more lives,
not just to save the babies, but save the moms and save the ones that have an abortion stories
so that they understand that their stories can also be a brilliant light for others
and that their restoration experience can also be an encouragement for another,
then I am okay and I am totally at peace.
That's my full and transparent abortion story.
Man, those were amazing videos.
Wouldn't you agree?
Amazing stories of God's mercy, God's grace, and people finding hope.
So what can you do?
What's something your church can do or you as just a leader can do?
Number one is pray.
Pray for women and men who are facing an unplanned pregnancy to feel the love of God.
Pray for women and men who are facing an unplanned pregnancy to feel the love of Jesus through your church.
Man, that would be an incredible thing where they know that your church is the city on a hill where they can find hope.
Number two, you can preach.
Make sure your community knows that your church is welcoming, that it's judgment-free,
that it's a supportive place for people who are in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy or have been through an unplanned pregnancy
or who have had a past abortion.
Preach about that. Talk about it. Open up.
And number three is, hey, partner with Save the Storks.
That's why I'm here.
You can email me at Bill at SaveTheStorks.com
or you can check us out at SaveTheStorks.com
You can look under church and find out how particularly your church can take those next steps into partnering with us
and what we feel is such an important work.