Dear VSM LifeSharers,                                           May – June 2009 

     I began May’s LifeSharer letter from the airport in Portland, Oregon when Claire and I were getting ready to leave an action packed weekend from the Hands for Life Conference where we had been speaking. I never got it quite finished and when we got home there were several other items of business that demanded our attention. The result? I didn’t finish it for quite awhile, leading Claire to suggest that I add a few paragraphs and send it out the first week of June as a May and June letter. Not a bad idea so…let’s get on with it, shall we? I’ll start with those first few pages written in the airport….

     We are pretty tired but being on the “home stretch” of a trip is always a bit uplifting in itself. It’s true that we have plenty of things that demand our immediate attention back in Omaha (blogging, a score of updates to the web pages, Claire’s working on the 990 form, setting the summer schedule for Book It! meetings and film showings, working on the presentation for the VSM Pie Social July 20, follow up activities regarding our Portland trip, catching up on my sermon preparation, a whole lot of lawn work, etc.). However, the next few weeks will almost assuredly be less stressful than the last three. Let me explain.

    April ended in a flourish as Claire presented three sessions at the annual Ladies’ Retreat for Faith Bible Church. She had worked pretty hard getting her talks ready but there were other things that were occupying us too. Perhaps most stressful was a thorough spring-cleaning in preparation for several members of my family coming in for a visit. Also distracting was a leg problem that eventually took me to the doctor (we’ve still no clue as to what’s the matter nor has the pain gone away yet – maybe it’s here for the duration.) But we made it and were ready and eager for company.

    On Monday, April 27, my California sister and her husband came into town for a family reunion, one designed for my siblings to catch up on some “quality Mom time.” They stayed with us. Two days later, my Colorado brother and his wife arrived. They also stayed with us. The next day my Kansas sister and her husband arrived. That was it – my Florida brother couldn’t make it. We had a splendid time together but it was pretty hectic too. There was a lot of juggling of activities; a lot of in, out and about; and a lot of very late nights and very early mornings. We were pretty spent by the time everybody went home on May 3 & 4.

    Next up on the calendar was the Hands for Life Conference just a couple of days away. So back we went to our desks to round out our talks for Portland with a few other items folded in, including doing a radio interview with a Portland/Seattle Christian station to promote the conference. We finished all of our tasks (almost!) by the time we took off for the airport at 4:45 Thursday morning. Yawn!

    Travel by air hasn’t really been much fun since I was about 16 but boy, is it a hassle these days. Extra charges for your baggage. Ever-shrinking seats to accompany ever-shrinking service. Security measures which often seem much too arbitrary and needlessly discourteous. Fortunately, I was reading Dickens (Great Expectations) and so I was able to keep my mind off the airline’s limitations and on more pleasant things. Claire was reading Dick Francis and getting in a little sleep.

    Our Portland hosts had persuaded the hotel staff to let us check in early which allowed us to clean up, iron clothes, learn our way around the city and even take a nap. Then late that afternoon, we crossed the Columbia River up into Washington State to have dinner with conference organizers Tim and Janet Straub (and family) and several of their friends. It was a very sweet evening of fellowship and prayers. And we were blessed to see firsthand the vision, perseverance and talented teamwork of the entire Straub clan (Mom, Dad, Nathan, Kevin, Laura, Hannah, Ruth, Lydia and Maria – Teresa was busy in Taiwan). They are a really neat family whose character and courage is profoundly moving. So too is their love for one another, their family-oriented expressions of Christian faith and their splendid hospitality to us.

    Beyond the Straub family, we found ourselves warmly welcomed in Portland by brand new friends, a longtime pro-life colleague we have only known through correspondence (Kathy Norquist from Eternal Perspective Ministries), and even some long-lost friends that gave us a strong (but exquisite) shock when we saw them at the conference. For on that radio program played earlier in the week on the Portland Christian station, I was heard by Lena Pinchuk, wife of a former translator back in Belarus that I had become very close to but with whom I’d lost contact a few years after he moved to the U.S. Anatoly and I had taught together in the Bible school in Minsk on many occasions plus dozens of other places, including the first national pro-life conference ever held in Belarus years earlier – a conference that some of you probably remember was organized by Vital Signs Ministries. I had also been consulted by Anatoly as to how to go about announcing to Lena that he wanted to court her. They assured me that my suggestions were very helpful. (I guess so. They were married a few months later! They even arranged their wedding for a time I would be in Belarus the next year.)

    What a stunning surprise it was to see Anatoly and Lena again and to enjoy conversations with Lena, who hadn’t yet learned English the last time I had seen her. Nor can I leave out the blessing of having conversations for the first time with their lovely daughter, Maggie. Maggie wasn’t speaking any language the last time I saw her! Topping our joy was the presence of Anatoly’s brother Timothy, who I also knew from those first half dozen or so trips into Minsk. Together we enjoyed a sweet reunion on Friday night and then a dinner and evening of catching up on Saturday night. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

   Since the conference didn’t get started until Friday evening, Claire and I were on our own for the day itself. I blogged from Claire’s laptop in the hotel room in the early morning hours and then we took off about 10:30 for a drive along Highway 14 on the Washington side of the Columbia River. We headed east and visited the Bonneville Lock and Dam where we saw Chinook salmon climbing fish ladders. Really interesting. We crossed back into Oregon, had a burger at a place where we could overlook the river and then headed back towards Portland on the scenic Columbia River Highway. Along that route we were overwhelmed by the grandeur of Horsetail Falls, Multnomah Falls and Wahkeena Falls. Wow! We would have stuck around and explored a bit more but it was nearing time to go to work. We hightailed it back to the hotel, cleaned up and made our way to the church where a nice crowd awaited us for the first sessions of the conference.

    The purposes of the Hands for Life Conference were to inspire, instruct, advise and equip Christians in the Portland/Vancouver area to get involved in various pro-life ministries, including sidewalk counseling. Years ago, Portland had been one of the more active cities for such things. There is still a strong presence of certain kinds of ministries (i.e. pregnancy resource centers and adoption agencies) and Eternal Perspective Ministries is in a town only some 45 minutes away. But peaceful protest and consistent, effective sidewalk counseling had fallen so far off the scale as to be almost zero. We were called in to help get some new, principled action going.

    To that end, the Hands for Life Conference featured a lot of informational booths from the local pro-life agencies. In almost every case, they were given a chance to address the gathering in person through quick presentations that “bookended” those given by Claire and me. Also giving sessions were four women who had found forgiveness and healing from abortion and Dana Cody, one of the lawyers who serves with the Life Legal Defense Foundation down in California. Dana had been working directly with Walter Hoye, a black pastor/sidewalk counselor who has been treated with gross injustice by an Oakland judge. (Those of you who visit Vital Signs Blog know some of the details about this outrageous case.)

    Our sessions (Friday and Saturday) were: 1) Why Do We Do What We Do, an overview of Christ-centered pro-life ministry; 2) A Primer on Sidewalk Counseling; 3) Creative, Effective and Do-Able Ways to Make a Difference; 4) Staying Cool, Calm and Collected in Pro-Life Ministry; and 5) an invigorating question and answer session. As you can guess, there was quite a bit of that last activity going on throughout the conference in small groups, individual conversations and, of course, at the abortion clinic the next day. (What? An abortion clinic? Read on.)

    We had been extremely pleased at the response to the Friday evening sessions. It was a good, attentive crowd and we also enjoyed lively conversations with the Straubs, Kathy Norquist, Pastor Gregg Harris and a whole lot of other people. But it wasn’t until the conference “practicum” that we saw how serious was the commitment of this group to follow through with renewed pro-life activism. For there at the infamous Lovejoy abortion mill (where half of Portland’s surgical abortions are committed and where years ago there had been a strong presence of praying pro-lifers to oppose it and yet where that presence had fallen off in twenty years to nearly no one at all), we were joined by not two pro-lifers, not a dozen or even twenty…but 44 Christians! Incredible!

    Claire and I had brought a couple of our pro-life banners from Omaha but there were plenty to complement ours – big, beautiful, winsome signs and banners held by Christians kids, senior citizens, and a bunch in between. It really was impressive – so much so that we think it kept some of the scheduled abortion clients from coming in. Several of the Christians kept close to Claire as she counseled, looking for techniques and tips, and she had an important time in some on-the-job training. Because of the number of entrances to the place, I did a bit of counseling from my location too plus having a couple of conversations with passersby. Everything we did and said interested the locals, so keen were they to learn. Again, for most of these guys, this was a whole new scene.

    It was a compelling experience. I mean, pro-life activism conferences are almost a thing of the past yet here we were among Christians who had not only put together a grand conference but who had bravely included in the schedule a practicum at an abortuary known for severely hassling pro-lifers! And then to have 44 show up!

   Once back at the church, our sessions again went swimmingly. (Audio and/or video copies will be available, by the way, at http://handsforlife.us) We were impressed all over again at how creative and detailed had been the organization of the conference by the Straub family. Claire and I were doing a lot of teaching and equipping and encouraging – but there was a lot of the same coming back at us! Even though the last session didn’t get over until 4 o’clock or so, we finished with fresh inspiration for the task to which God has called us.

    Saturday night was our dinner with the Pinchuks (another really wonderful event for us) and then Sunday morning I preached a Mother’s Day sermon at Household of Faith Community Church. (That can be found on the church’s website, if you’re interested – http://www.hofcc.org/component/option,com_podcaster/Itemid,48/) The sermon was on John 19: 25-30 and it was very well received. We were treated kindly by the parishioners, enjoying several stimulating conversations afterward. Then that afternoon and into the late hours of the night, we relaxed with the Straub family – having lunch; playing with the dog; driving through the hills to the ocean; enjoying an ice cream cone at the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory; taking off my shoes and wading into the cold surf while Claire and Lydia collected shells; having a late dinner at a nifty pizzeria in Cannon Beach and then the long drive back home. We got back to the hotel around midnight, tired but really feeling we’d just had a nice spot of vacation. Thanks, guys.

    We had to get our rental car back pretty early to get our discount so we made a dash out to EPM’s office in Sandy, Oregon where we met several of the staff, had our photo taken for their missionary wall, and got loaded up by Kathy with some of Randy Alcorn’s books. They are a gracious bunch there at EPM and so very effective in their teaching ministries. We really feel honored to be their friends. Then – the drive to the airport (we made it with 5 minutes to spare!) and here we are. Baggage checked. Cold Cokes at hand. And beginning this LifeSharer letter…

    Uh huh. And now we’re back to the present. Since that first part of the letter was written, we’ve been active with a number of things as I mentioned. Among them the Omaha election, a whole lot of blogging, studying and preaching, Claire doing the VSM records, visiting Mom and helping her get used to her CPAP machine, a few dinner engagements, lawn work and planting (I’m sharing with a neighbor the lawn care of another neighbor who defaulted on his mortgage and abandoned his house), preparing for the pie social, sidewalk counseling, preparing to teach a 6-week Sunday evening series on heaven starting Sunday evening, June 7 (if you’d like to participate, let us know), and then, most recently, responding with press releases, many conversations and a television interview regarding the murder of notorious late-term abortionist, George Tiller.  In addition to the press release (which you can read on Vital Signs Blog), I posted the following items in the days after the shooting.

Responding to Violence

This morning Claire and I joined friends outside the trashy Bellevue abortion facility where Leroy Carhart regularly destroys preborn children. By so doing, Carhart contributes to the moral ruination of the families of those children, to the general insensitivity and decadence of our culture and, of course, to the peril of his eternal soul.

Our presence at that tragic and brutal place is to provide a voice for life, not death...to present a winsome picture to abortion clients who might yet understand that there are people who care enough about them and the babies they're carrying to work in their behalf, providing loving help for them to do the right thing.

Our picture signs show beautiful babies. Our colorful banners read "We Care For You & Your Baby" and "Every Heartbeat is a Gift from God." And our offers of help are kindly meant, kindly stated and sincere.

Our appeals are also directed to the abortion workers, including the abortionist himself, who routinely takes the lives of boys and girls in this place and in the late-term abortuary in Wichita, Kansas. Yes, that's the very abortion clinic run by George Tiller who was murdered yesterday by a bent vigilante.

I have participated in protests of abortion at that grisly Wichita business; protests that were (like all of our pro-life activity) peaceful, prayerful and designed for persuasion -- not for coercion. Indeed, the Christian pro-life motivation can be aimed at nothing else than another's conscience. To persuade others, we simply tell the truth. Along with that, we set a high example by living lives of holiness and service. And we pray. These things our Lord commands.

What we do not do is employ force or intimidation, let alone violence, to get our way. Such tactics are specifically and forcefully prohibited by God's Word. Therefore, those individuals who do so (like the assassin of George Tiller) are acting against Christ, against the proper intentions of the pro-life movement and even against themselves since God's judgment is sure upon those who take vengeance into their own hands.

We will continue, by God's help, to raise the standard of the sanctity of human life in our culture. That will include our various educational outreaches, our mercy ministries, our advocacy, our intercession and our sidewalk counseling. It will also include righteous protests of the barbaric, lethal violence dealt out by abortionists like Leroy Carhart and George Tiller. But we will not act impiously, imperiously or with force. We will instead continue in our pro-life ministry as we have for the last 30 years, continuing to submit both our motivations and our methodology under the Lordship of Christ.

An Altruistic Abortionist? It Just Won’t Sell

Late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart is making an awfully big squawk about 1) the extreme danger to life and health posed by pro-life "fundamentalist terrorists" and 2) his friendship with George Tiller which has led him to Wichita to finish Tiller's schedule. He made these comments in a KMTV news story last night in which I was also featured.

However, both of Carhart's points have grievous flaws. First of all, Carhart's outrage against violence is remarkably undermined by the fact that he kills boys and girls for a living! Talk about violence against the innocent!

Several days of every week, Leroy Carhart takes the weapons of a curette and a powerful suction machine and tears preborn children from the safety of their mother's wombs.

He does so for huge profits, by the way.

Which is what dramatically undercuts his second point; namely, Carhart's presence at George Tiller's Wichita abortion clinic isn't because of friendship, ideology or altruism. He's making money committing abortions there as he has been doing for years -- an awful lot of money.

Carhart has shown himself over the years to be quite a blowhard, an egotist with a patent disregard for truth as well as for the sanctity of life. And though many of the "news reports" try to give him a positive, sympathetic slant, they all fail. After all, Carhart's grisly trade is too extreme, too clearly evil for any of his moral protestations to be taken seriously.

Now, none of this is to detract from the severity of evil perpetrated by George Tiller's assassin. As I explained to the reporter last night (a bit of which was put on the program), Tiller's murder is horrible and pro-life activists around the country have expressed revulsion at it. They've done so for three reasons: it is very counterproductive to the pro life movement; it detracts from the thousands of beautiful, gracious, loving actions performed every day by peaceful pro-lifers; and because the murder was, in itself, an evil act that has no moral warrant whatever.

But that certainly doesn't mean that we must swallow the hay that abortionists and abortion promoters are trying to pitch. Remember, these are people who kill children and who have tried to distract America from the injustice, danger and sheer horror of that practice through lies, cover-ups and a mangling of language.

That they try and exploit the assassination of an abortionist to divert attention away from the nearly 4,000 surgical murders those abortionists commit every day in the United States should be no surprise.

___________ ____________ _____________

    Now before I close this May and June LifeSharer , let me remind you to put on your calendars, Monday, July 20 for the annual VSM Pie Social. This time around we have a really special presentation celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the first men on the moon. It will be informational, inspirational and with a more relevant connection to Christian ministry in the 21 Century than you might suppose. More info as that date gets closer.

    As always, guys, Claire joins me in thanking you for your prayerful, generous support which allows Vital Signs Ministries to remain an important voice for life, for the gospel and for His kingdom. May God bless you all richly.

 P.S. * The next Book It! discussion is 7:00 PM, Monday, June 15 over Charles Colson’s The Faith. Call for directions.

 * The next “Faith and Films” showing and discussion will be 7:00 PM, Tuesday, July 7 where we'll be presenting the exciting feature film starring Austin Kearney and Victoria Emmons, Come What May.