The Power Of Prayer Outside Abortion Clinics

This is family policy matter program is produced by the North Carolina family policy Council of profamily research and education organization dedicated to strengthening and preserving the family and up from the studio here is John Rustin, Pres. North Carolina family policy Council, thank you for joining us this week for family policy matters. It is our pleasure to have Sean Carney with us on the program showed his campaign director for 40 days for life, which is a national pro-life campaign to end abortion through prayer, fasting and peaceful vigil. The regular media spokesperson and has been featured on Fox news. The O'Reilly factor. USA Today and Focus on the Family. Sean is a sought-after pro-life speaker at events across the nation and he is the author of the book 40 days for life discover what God has done.

Imagine what he can do. Sean is with us today to talk about the 40 days for life campaign and more generally the increasing number of young people in our culture, who identify as pro-life Sean. Welcome to the program were so glad to have you with us on family policy matters your arm directly on what was so grateful for the work that you do Sean and for 40 days for life and all that it entails and all that it stands for tell us as we begin and end for the benefit of our listeners who may not be familiar with 40 days for life talking but about 40 days for life and how this national campaign began absolutely wrongfooted life started locally in College Station record college downward grain and that and it was in 2004 we get our local abortion number going up and we decided to spend an hour in prayer just got a we could possibly do to help get those numbers down in 40 days just came to life and we decided to do 40 days of prayer and fasting.

40 days of community outreach and 40 days of a nonstop vigil outside of our local Planned Parenthood abortion facility that was the first-ever 40 days for life campaign that was in the all of 2004, and it helped drop local abortion numbers by 28% and I believe it or not other that he started inquiring about how we did this 40 days for life campaign for the part-time and our tipping point was we help the group and in Seattle do a 40 days and that group and Green Bay Wisconsin.

But it wasn't until we got a phone call from the leader in Charlotte, North Carolina saying they had just completed a 40 days for life campaign without ever even letting us know they were off and they have got information about websites so we decided to launch this is a nationally coordinated effort. It was really the Charlotte North Carolina campaign Catherine Hearn who inspired that and it's been beautiful to see. Now, 40 days for life in 2007 is gone from one community in Texas to 579 Eddie in over 30 countries. While that is great. Include any testimony and I start to North Carolina. Now Sean just speaking about you personally. You started out as I understand it is a volunteer with 40 days for life. I imagine there are some listeners that can relate to your story and certainly the stories of others who been involved in 40 days for life talk a little bit about your involvement how you got started with 40 days for life. What led you to have a heart for the pro-life movement. Well, it was really in middle school and high school is where I got very, very young age. I went to a wonderful: Texas and so we always heard about the strength of the human life, and I got really convicted by a relatively small town protected. We did have an abortion facility.

Working with you. Your you know talk about birth, the on on the news there going political debate. It was born but my freshman year at Texas A&M.

I would ask by my then girlfriend is now my wife to go out and display pride at a local Planned Parenthood and I was volunteering for a local organization called the coalition for life and that organization ended up hiring me and that's when we started 40 days for life in the fall of 2000 or I have joy or during the director of that local public organization for six years but for the seed of my pro-life action was on the seventh or eighth grade. I heard post-abortive women share their testimonies. I heard former worker Carol Everett share her testimony at a very large Baptist Church, my hometown.

This is very very powerful. We all at one point had a heart broken on abortion and that's really the epitome of the heart of afforded for life campaign is is you letting God work with those broken hearts, our own and also those that abortion continues to break every single banner nation great calling to God put on you. Unfortunately grateful that you followed that because it is made such a difference by talking about 40 days for life.

What makes it unique compared to some of the other pro-life movements or campaigns in which some of our listeners may have heard about or even been involved with what sets it apart. Great great question and I think you know when we look at the rapid growth of pregnancy. Restart enter across the country quickly. There North Carolina and I think their rapid growth really explain the rapid growth of 40 days for life, which is that people want to be able to do something after the abortion that are happening where they live. They know they can't control for better for worse, what goes on in Washington DC they can control what goes on in the downtown and when we see that this is about hearts and minds of of young women and young men considering abortion schools and arm churches in our community that really hit home and it and it sort of empowers us to do something about it and that's real that really explain the growth I mean the hero's afforded life are the local leaders be there more often than not volunteer at bay at home mom or Pat Berger retired military. Col. Fleming would get everybody we boarded our campaign and interleaving it locally, which is where the abortion industry is the weakest very powerful politically at the fair week at the local level and I think that the pregnancy centers spreading the country. 40 days for life exploding around the world.

I think these are good times for the future generation Kabila focus locally pray because there's always something that individuals can do to get involved in have an impact in their communities.

Now Sean 40 days for life has had a major impact since it first began talking little bit about the lives of the been saved from abortion as well as the impact on abortion clinic workers things that we see in the statistics that are so positive the come out as a result of 40 days for life. I currently am. And when we know of 10,336 mom that have children like their baby at the very last moment.

We had over 400 during this all 40 days, collect and primarily hundred and 78 right now debating and tomorrow were to send out a a beautiful email that really speak to what your talking about and that is not fruit and not paying are part of what we were out there. You know sometimes you may feel like. You waste your time. It takes yet overcome a lot of fear to go out and pray and abortion facility would add over the current 50,000 people participate in go to vigil over the last eight years and it's hard it difficult, and yet in the email from my work betraying all the stories talk about mom who during this campaign have seen people out in front of the local abortion, but Billy and they've taken their children who are too early for five years old.

They've taken out to the vigil and thanked the people for being out there and then informing them they drove into this facility. Great four years ago called them and could not go in, and that their little boy or little girl is a result of those people trigger factor five go out and into pray and go you know we always proved infrequent. We could show up in the God of the rest assure that same message as we are working down in the same legislature lobbing you the most important thing that someone can do initially is to just show up to be available and then let God work through that availability can have such a profound impact on somebody's life. Even if you don't say a word and that's one of the great things about 40 days for life is, many of the activities just call individuals to go out and stand in a peaceful and loving way to share a message of God's truth and his love and he can use that to have a profound impact on folks. Now Sean understand that not only have have you seen the wonderful circumstances like those which are described but also we've actually seen some abortion clinics close down really is a result of 40 days for life campaigns. Talk about a little bit you stuck your mother been record number abortion facility card during the last couple years, there were 87 the quote and 2013 throughout America and 79 in 2014 like yourself the closure, we think before abortion facilities closed their doors after multiple for life campaign outside of them and go out of business. Not one to close and relocate the one that actually gone out of business and that is just so encouraging because the former Planned Parenthood workers Tele that no show rate for an abortion appointment can go as high as 75%. When people are out there crying, and that just really speaks to the powerful impact that like you just said showing up is so much of it and we see the comfort of the board for the workers everything apart and in their jobs. We got 118 of them. I have had a change of heart and leave their job and that really speaks to the reality that this is about hearts and minds week. We cannot be colder or cynical when it comes to this issue that we need to try this really is about hearts and minds the conversion rate only headed in one direction. People who for some reason supported abortion rights.

At some point in their life and now they are pro-life, including those who have worked in this industry. In speaking of fortune mom is one of the exciting things to see is the number of young people that are involved in 40 days for life campaigns and also those who are embracing the pro-life movement in general.

National surveys show that more young people today are pro-life than ever before one of you seen as far as young people's involvement and engagement in 40 days for life and how does it compare to the young people that you see on the other side of the abortion issue to consider themselves to be pro-choice or supportive of abortion. Do you see the same level of excitement or motivation among young people who are pro-life, not not at all not at all and it is a great point.

I believe that the pro-choice activist movement is essentially dad I wrote an article about that recently and that the reason for that is because something they have lost the they often put many of their their eggs and political baskets and as a result young science and technology of the last 40 years, and shall not who were aborting and and they've shown that the beauty that goes on inside the woman so you can go take the prepare and up you know it to the Council meeting and then back the video that come out of the last you have them help in the brand is an all-time low and so you have this quote pro-choice movement, but the old and an unmotivated active.

The pro-life movement is active in the younger by the day when I go to the March for life.

I feel old and I'm ready for your daughter – there's there's a lot of strollers allow high school but a lot of college and that's very, very encouragingly certainly seem that as you pointed out in 40 days for life campaign. The enthusiasm that you have because you know young people they they want to do something special in their lives. They want to stand for something, and abortion is about life-and-death the pro-life movement is not if you're pro-choice, but also to make the audience might they could have been aborted and if there born after 1973 and so there's this awkward relationship in your your life was somehow you know okay with society and so would you know your mother made a responsible decision by having you, but if you were considerably different. She could've been just as responsible for her aborting you young people reject that mentality.

It's so anti-family and it's so anti-culture and so I think that young people are turning away from that because they see the reality of life in the loan and the only way to justify abortion these days for the other side is to completely deny all truth claim by science and all truth claim by religion and to reject those two institutions in order to support abortion is is not something most people are willing to be publicly completely agree with you on that unfortunately were just about out of time, but I do want to make sure that they check out your website and look at the resources that you have available next 40 days for life.com, the number 40 days for life.com and Shawn Carney without.

I want to thank you so much for being with us on family policy matters, and especially for your dedication to defending the number one through 40 days for life. Thank you.

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