Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Ministry Spotlight - James Lansberry

James Lansberry is the Executive Vice President of Samaritan Ministries International, and the Project Director for SMI's The Morning Center. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show to talk about his ministry to mothers in crisis. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

What is The Morning Center about?
The Morning Center is a project to provide free maternal care to underprivileged urban areas. We want to be there to give women not just the best care they can get, but also the gospel of Christ.
Why are women open to accepting Christ in this position?
I think it's because they're in a vulnerable position. Part of our mandate as the Church is to take care of the poor.

We want to take care of them both body and soul. That's what the original faith-centered hospital movement was about, and I think we've gotten away from that.
How do you find these women?
We partner with local Crisis Pregnancy Centers and churches. Most of our referrals are word of mouth.

We do our very best to find these women by collaborating with other Christian ministries in the neighborhood.
Walk us through the process that a woman experiences.
The first thing we want to do is rejoice with her. As she goes through the pregnancy, she's going to get all the prenatal care right there in her own neighborhood.

We want to make sure we have mobile care units so she is able to receive aid without having to get on a bus. Most women in underprivileged areas won't be able to travel to get prenatal care.
We will provide first-class care in a hospital for the delivery. Hopefully, by that time she's become a Christian, and we will provide mentors as she begins to raise her child.

We're meeting with urban churches to make sure we have partners there, so women can have a church.
What drives women to abortion?
The primary reasons given are either that they can't afford a child, or that it's a bad time in their life.

The two groups that tend toward abortion are professional women and women who don't have the means to raise a child.

We will be focusing on helping the second group, trying to provide first-class medical care, adoption services if they can't raise the child, trying to give them the best quality of care that we can.

We look at this as a mission field right in our backyard.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Brain Trust - Jeanne Monahan

Jeanne Monahan is the Director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council. She joined The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss the upcoming March For Life. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her interview.

Tell us about the March For Life. What is it?
On January 23, we've got the March For Life in Washington, D.C. It commemorates the sad decision made in Roe v. Wade.
There are events leading up to the actual march as well. And you can also get involved remotely.
How important are these kinds of events?
Quite important. I'm thinking back right now to Poland during the Communist years.
Millions of people came out to praise God together, and that was the beginning of the end of communism.

We aren't protesting communism here today; we're protesting the devaluation of human life.
How healthy is the pro-life movement?
We're seeing that more and more people in the U.S. are becoming pro-life.

We've also got technology on our side. We don't have to do manipulation of the truth; we just have to present the information and any sane person will agree that pro-life is a good position.

It's hard to ever say we're doing great when abortion is legal, but I'm excited.
What are your predictions for 2012 in regards to the pro-life movement?
You said earlier that we want to protect women and protect their babies. I think the truth that abortion is bad for women as well as their babies will become more prevalent.

I suspect that bills dealing with informed consent will be a major driver in the legislature. My general sense is that these issues and laws will really continue to pervade. I certainly hope so.