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BRYAN, Texas (BP) -- Christians throughout the Brazos Valley in Texas credit the power of prayer and God's grace for the closure of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Bryan, believing it could be a breakthrough moment in the fight against abortion.
The clinic cited "budget cuts and persistent attacks on women's health" when it shut its doors in early August.
Some of the Christians confessed they never believed the clinic at 4112 29th St. would close. Still others were certain it would happen -- in God's time. For 15 years the coalition of Christians prayed for and counseled countless women -- and saved and lost the lives of unborn babies.
Yet while they mourned the loss of 6,400 babies at the Bryan Health Center-Family Planning, they praised God for the birth of an international movement, 40 Days for Life, which they consider the final nail in the coffin for this facility and others across the nation.
"God used you, and abortion is now ended in the Brazos Valley," Shawn Carney, campaign director for 40 Days for Life, said at a celebration Sept. 7 across the street from the former clinic.
Bobby Reynoso, director of Coalition for Life in Bryan-College Station, said local pro-life leaders are praying that it will be the "tipping point for the pro-life cause in helping end abortion across the nation." The coalition is exploring ways to replicate the success in other cities.
Speakers at the celebration included former abortion clinic employees, pastors and priests, prayer volunteers, crisis pregnancy center volunteers, health care ministry volunteers and the mayor of Bryan.
Jason Bienski said as mayor he usually is glad to see new business startups. "Today we celebrate the closing of a business. Planned Parenthood was never welcome in Bryan-College Station," he said.
Speakers recounted stories of spiritual interventions and the renewing of their faith in a seemingly endless fight.
Karen Hall, director of Central Texas Orphan Missions Alliance and a member of Central Baptist Church in Bryan-College Station, said the driveway to her offices sometimes was mistaken for the driveway to the neighboring abortion clinic.
Once inside the CTOMA facility, some women, thinking they were at Planned Parenthood, said they had arrived for their ultrasounds.
CTOMA has a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine as part of its pro-life ministry. While the women completed forms, an ultrasound nurse was hurriedly making her way to the clinic.
"There was joy in heaven every time a woman missed that Planned Parenthood drive and came into our office," Hall said.
David Bereit, 40 Days for Life national director, told the crowd, "I believed the end of abortion would begin in this community. ... Read More
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1500 cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada will participate -- Chains in other nations are held at different times of the year
Pro-life's two leading stories in 2013, Life Chain's 26th year, are unchanged in America and Canada: Abortions remain numerous, and the church remains bound by deception and apathy. All the while God mercifully waits. He waits to work through His sons and daughters to end the unspeakable horror, but the ears of His church do not hear and the eyes of His church do not see. The result is a church imprinted by shame from a calamity much greater in scope than the German Holocaust. While 56 million chiefly surgical abortions have been reported in America and 3 million in Canada, the actual numbers are much higher, and hidden deaths from the abortive chemicals in birth controls may exceed the surgical deaths.
When, O Lord, will the most essential leadership emerge? When will your clergy realize their accountability and discern the humanity of rejected Preborns in each community? When will they unite, plan, and mobilize their people against the horrendous evil of child mutilation? The cogent document "Defining the Pro-Life Pastor" declares: "America doesn't need more 'pro-life pastors.' Over 300,000 are serving today, and our culture is collapsing beneath an unconscionable scourge that's killed preborn Americans by the tens of millions." The document's resounding cry is for America's many gifted pastors to end their passivity and display what Pro-Life truly means, namely "...humility, integrity, compassion, wisdom, courage, action, and resolve -- which bond into unassailable love for imperiled preborn children."
Mindful, therefore, that no church ministry exceeds our obligation to love our neighbors, born and preborn, and to "rescue those led to slaughter," Life Chain urges clergy to provide essential leadership by applying both their strategic skills and their broad (often exclusive) control over the values and interests promoted in their sanctuaries. For decades, the powerful spiritual forces sustaining the abortion holocaust have cleverly manipulated pastoral priorities and schedules; and it is vital that pastors find deliverance from unawareness and denial, from timidity and self-interest, and from preoccupations that betray the church's duty to meet the urgent needs of Preborns threatened by abortion's unbounded cruelty.
The solution in each community is a triumphant church that "the gates of Hades cannot prevail against," and on National Life Chain Sunday 2013, pastors in each local area are urged to lead their people to the nearest Life Chain to intercede against the spiritual forces that sustain legal child killing and corrupt our culture through multiple means. Life Chains occur in other nations on different dates, and all Chains are peaceful. More than 20,000 have been held thus far, and no known pro-lifer has been cited or arrested. For that record, Life Chain credits God's faithful help, and we praise Him with grateful hearts.
Christian Newswire
Director,
Life Chain,
530-674-5068,
Royce@NationalLifeChain.org