Hear Gordon Douglas, a dedicated pro-life advocate, to the Pro-life Team Podcast, where Gordon shares personal stories and insights on engaging pro-life leaders and fostering a culture of life in churches and communities.
Transcript
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00:05 :
So Gordon, I’m excited to have you on the Pro-life Team Podcast once again.
00:10 :
Would you introduce?
00:11 :
Yourself, as if you were speaking to a room of pregnancy clinic executive directors.
00:19 :
Well, I would say hi my name is Gordon Douglas and I have been on the front lines for Life Firm Golly since like 1986 I think was when I first became part of our pregnancy center here in Philadelphia, the Delaware County Pregnancy Center. I am the pastoral advisor to the board of our center and have been since it opened. And I am blessed to be part of the team there and blessed to spend the last 20 years raising money for centers across the country speaking at Care Net and Heartbeat over 300 pregnancy centers so far I have marched outside of some of the abortion mills in the Philadelphia area. I’ve been involved in writing some oh God, yeah we’re doing live writing articles and speaking and debating and speaking with college campuses so a lot of different roles for me in the pro-life thing as well as our home it’s just been a model of just demonstrating that we believe that every life is important.
01:22 :
Yeah and i’ve seen your, I’ve seen some of your shows and you’re hilarious and I really enjoy yeah, getting to talk to you and just hearing your stories of well your stories that are inspirational And so it’s amazing to see, you know what you say and how you live and so i think that’s been a real testament to, well, to, you know, to you as being a really genuine, authentic, amazing speaker. So I just want to, yeah, really appreciate you.
01:55 :
It is. It’s kind of what I do when I get to speak at banquets is to share my story, because I think it gives people a foundation for the fact that every life is important. And then I’d like to share what’s going on at the individual center of ministry that I’m representing. And then I kind of put out the challenge to the audience on how they can be a part of saving a life or be a part of a life saving ministry. And for us, my story, simply since we have some new listeners, is, you know, my wife and I are married 44 years and we were told when we got married we could not have kids. It was physically impossible the doctor said no way it could happen. And I love when God shows the doctors are wrong but I love kids i wanted kids i have a heart for kids that’s one of the miracles of my own life is that I was the angry, hurting kid that never felt like I fit in at school or at home. I wrestle with suicidal thoughts and depression in high school. I use comedy to cover my pain. I get to speak a lot at high schools, even today when a pregnancy center brings me in i’ve been in 41 states now I ask if I can go and connect with a school, public school, Catholic school, homeschool groups to share my story with high school kids because especially since COVID, teenage suicide rates have just skyrocketed so i reach out to kids who are hurting. And as a result of doing that, way back in the late seventies early eighties when I started my comedy career as an official comedian, hurting kids connect, comedy connects hearts. And the Long story short is my wife and I took in three boys off the streets of Philadelphia and we did kind of a glorified foster care. And that three boys turned into 13 over the next 10 years, two of which were under house arrest. And along that lines, my father-in-law moved in after a stroke and he brought his son Chucky, who has Down syndrome. They said we had three boys with alcohol and addiction problems, 2 prisoners under house arrest, a father-in-law with a stroke, a brother-in-law with Down syndrome. And then God showed he had a sense of humor and added five miracle babies to our family. And there’s a lot of humor in that as the story unfolds. I’m skipping all the jokes, but it’s it really is there’s a lot of comedy involved but it also has a lot of lessons on how each person has a life god has a purpose for each one and that we I’m a rescue God rescued me and we have tried to rescue others and it’s just been amazing to watch. The timing of this is perfect jacob, ’cause I just got a call from the newest you know people said yeah i was recently on the Mike Huckabee show and i’m honored to do that mike has been a pretty good voice for the pro-life cause and my brother called and he’s, yeah, involved with politics and he said, you know, you’re going to be on this national TV show, you better be accurate you know, your website says you’ve taken in 19 kids, you better be accurate, ’cause they’re people love to undermine Christian testimonies and they like to show. So my wife and I sat down and we made a list of all the people who have lived with us over the years and not all were kids somewhere were young adults and even a young couple with a baby. And we found out we were wrong it wasn’t 19, it was 24 The joke is we just didn’t like five of them. But we recently took in. When I say recently, six years ago, we took in our first girl, ’cause God blessed us with three natural birth babies that were girls. So we took a step of faith and took in a young 12 year old girl who’s now six years 1819 years old this next week, Valentine’s Day her birthday is Valentine’s Day and she’s in college now and she called yesterday and we just took her back after her winter break. So it’s kind of a neat thing that my baby newest baby is in college and stepping out in faith and the stories are heartbreaking when you think about what people have been through but it’s one of the joys of Speaking of banquets is hearing the testimonies of really many directors and many people who volunteer at pregnancy centers were former clients. They were in high school they were in the college and they thought, there’s no way I’ll ever get through this there’s no way I’ll ever graduate there’s no way I’ll ever get my career there’s no way my parents will understand. But when they go to these places, they find someone who has been there before they hear a story of hope they have people come alongside them. They get some tools to navigate they get some scholarship money. And now five ten years later, they’ve got their degree, they’ve got a job you see these babies either live or pictures of these five year old, these eight-year old, Oh my goodness and the smiles on their face, it’s just thrills my heart that it it’s worth it. And that’s what our money does that’s what our effort does people say how do you stay so excited after 300 banquets don’t you ever get tired of this? No. How could you ever get tired of this? We are saving lives we are making a difference. There’s something we are doing today that is saving a life and changing a life. And it’s i pastored a church for many years jacob, I don’t know if you, if you even knew that I was a youth pastor for 20 years, became a senior pastor people can’t see if they’re listening, but I’m doing air quotes i was a senior pastor. As Mike Williams said, it was the toughest 2 weeks of my life, but it was actually for 10 years I was a senior pastor. Yeah, you can. You can do Sunday school, Sunday morning, preach every day, go to prayer, meeting for 10 years and see so little fruit in people’s lives. They learn Bible stories they learn Bible facts. But their marriages don’t change they don’t seem to grow. They wrestle with the same sins. Being a pastor is a frustrating job if you’re like me and you have ADD and you like results and you want to see things happen. Being a pastor was not my main calling i love to preach i love to study God’s Word, but I want to see fruit and being in this pregnancy center world and being out, travelling, sharing my story and doing evangelism and my main gift is encouragement. I want to pump people up i want to share with them results i want him to see that God is working and he is building his church. And i I’m naturally and I don’t know, your folks probably don’t know this and Jacob, you know this ’cause we were roommates last year at Heartbeat but I was in a pretty bad car accident three years ago and if I seem excited now, this is me on medication i’m on 3 pills. I’m on 3 pills right now to deal with the concussion, head trauma and all three pills make me groggy so this is me groggy, this is me on medication to calm me down. And i actually my lawyer, I’m in the middle of a lawsuit from this accident, and the lawyer asked my wife, so what’s changed since the accident? And my wife said my husband’s much nicer now he’s much calmer now. So that’s really good praise God for medic. Praise God for medication.
09:45 :
So I’ve got AI think you can handle this question, but to me this is this might be considered a hard question. So what are and what are your thoughts about encouraging or empowering pro-life Friends and pro-life Leaders on how to talk about pro-life ideas in a winsome or positive way that will win over those who are in disagreement with us or who are not engaged in this fight so how would you encourage people who are, you know, pro-life leaders, you know, and maybe on how to speak about these topics in a way that’s winsome and helpful to those who disagree?
10:31 :
Yeah, that’s it’s a great question because it in our world, you know in i’m with the ambassador speakers out of Nashville and we have 400 of the best speakers that we represent. And we have politicians, we have nurses, we have women who have had abortions, women who have survived abortions, We have doctors. And out of our group of 400 we have about five six comedians. And many people will not even talk to us because abortion is not funny. But we always say, well, I don’t do abortions and we try not even to talk about, you know, that subject but first you have to understand comedy is an incredibly powerful tool that connects hearts, that it breaks down walls, that it really there’s so much in the Bible about joy and it celebrates, so just engaging people with a joyful story of victory can be powerful. I have to deal with directors all the time that have to convince their boards that it would be good for me to come to their banquets where we’re not even dealing with people on the other side that are coming from a Planned Parenthood background or just not even understanding the pro-life ’cause now at a banquet, we’re not even trying to convince people of our cause, We’re just trying to get them to take a step forward and get engaged in the battle financially or in prayer or to do something. What I’m finding, and again, i’m on Facebook i i’m guess part of an older generation and you young computer whippersnappers out there. But I do Facebook and I get blocked a lot on Facebook because you can’t post hardly anything that is pro-life on Facebook without getting blocked. But since the last election i try to put stuff out there that will engage people in a conversation and that the humor helps a little bit and what I found, there’s people who have been incredibly brainwashed because the information is almost 100 to 1 misinformation against anything that is pro-life There was one out there today from a pet. I’m in pennsylvania is one of the worst states against the pro-life ’cause our governor, they’re trying to reverse everything that we’ve gained in 10 years. They’re trying to take away all the medical requirements for Planned Parenthood and the abortion clinics they’re trying to shut down the mobile units, calling them predator vans that they they’re trying to extend the time that a girl can now have an abortion they’re trying to undo the parental notification. This governor is just and for what? If to just engage people in a conversation. I find most people are reasonable and the people that are not what I would call pro-life are nice people that really think they’re doing the woman good. They really think they’re protecting her from harm they think that having this abortion is going to give her a better life. They’re really nice people that have no clue of the medical, mental, psychological or physical damage that an abortion does. They don’t hear the stories that I hear every week at my center or when we go to Care Net and Heartbeat they don’t know the overwhelming struggles of the shame, the guilt, the depression of people that 1020 thirty years later are still struggling with. So if you really care about the woman, it’s just getting them to the place where can I share with you what happened can I share with you a story of a lady in our church can I share with you what happened when someone came? And when you do it with some love and compassion and hopefully a little humor, you can at least give them something to think about. I don’t think you change somebody’s mind overnight. You’re not going to give them some facts. I mean, one of the best books. I don’t know people can’t even see i’m holding up a book on our podcast but why pro-life by Randy Alcorn. A new version of that just came out. But he has some of the most interesting facts of taking the top five to 10 objections of the people that are pro abortion and just give some very simple facts, even for those that have been raped, which is just maybe the like the number one red flag or what about those who’ve been raped and the stat that he gives in the book. Gosh, i should have it memorized by now. But it’s the fact is that the number of people who’ve been raped to get pregnant is very small. But for those who do, those who have kept their baby, made something good, come out of something bad, are far better off than those who said I had something horrible happened to me the worst thing probably that could happen to any woman is being raped. But when they chose to try to get rid of that baby instead of maybe putting it up for adoption or even some, unbelievably will keep that child and make something good come out of it, in every measurable category, fared far better. Those who chose to end the life of that baby end up far worse, far more depressed, far more medical issues. And how do you get that information out to people? Because whose heart wouldn’t go out to someone who has been sexually abused in any way. And yet that’s always the red flag that Well, what about this what about that what about that? It’s like and it if you really care about just the woman, then the medical information if you really care about her, then we really need to talk about why pro-life is a better option. And then that’s not even discussing what’s better for the baby and the neat thing and the Barnard barnard just did a new research, and there’s some great information out there that this whole new, I don’t even know what you call the new generation XYZ, whatever they’re calling them now yeah if we’re just simply going to do what we’ve learned through the COVID debacle is follow the science. These kids have not been brought up in Sunday school they’ve not been brought up in church they’ve not been what Planned Parenthood would say, been brainwashed with this Christian philosophy. They know just instinctively and through the science. This is a baby. I mean, these are 4D5D sonograms. There’s just a baby that we’re talking about. Isn’t there a better way? Isn’t isn’t there some way that we could even stop this pregnancy from happening if there is, isn’t there some way that we can find a way to help both the baby and the mother, to try to engage somebody in a reasonable, compassionate way to say that there are options out there and let me tell you some stories let me tell you some ways we can help and it hopefully it opens more doors than yeah, to call people a bunch of baby killers or it’s just that kind of dialogue has never been very productive. And I’m finding those that are most adamant in the argument in the debates are sadly those who have had abortions and many of them. Again, I was a youth pastor for 20 years, and when you’re in that kind of ministry, you see a turnover every four years, right? The kids come through high school and then go off to college. So I don’t know how many girls have come through my youth group over the years, but there’s many and I know the stats are what are the stats now three out of four girls under 40 have had an abortion. It’s over 60 % if I, if I understand right, 6060 % of girls under 40. Again, I have a concussion so double check me, double check my stats but it’s a lot and I just heard this on a radio show the other day that 60 % of the abortions that are done by people who regularly go to church. So the church is either silent on the issue or people are not listening to the issue or the churches are not evolved or connected to a pregnancy center world. Again, our church we have a big baby bottle that sits pretty prominently in our lobby of our church people know we’re connected, but other than Sanctity of Life Sunday, we don’t mention it a whole lot at our church and we have a college ministry. I’d like to see it addressed a lot more. Just so people know there’s an option that what’s that baby bottle for why do we only mention it once a year. You know what’s going on at our center, pastors not to argue roe V Wade not to argue. I mean it would be neat if we had small groups discussing it i mean, what you’re doing with this podcast just people need to be informed. And one of the quotes that I use when I do get asked to speak about it and long before Roe V Wade. Yeah, it was overturned. My argument was always my goal was always I want to make abortion unthinkable not illegal. Yeah, I’m old enough to go back and remember that the and read enough of the whole prohibition time if we could just outlaw. We could just outlaw alcohol it would stop drunk drivers it would stop, you know, drinking and that wasn’t real effective. You know, there there’s all the bootleggers and drinking and the speakeasies and stuff, you know, until you change the heart, you know, the laws are, I mean it would be neat to, I think as a nation we’re responsible before God to say, hey, we are going to stand for life, but it’s not going to stop the plague of abortion until we change the hearts and the information and getting it into kids and getting it into high schools there. There’s a lot of levels that we need to fight this battle on that we’re just not, we’re not doing a good enough job yet.
20:47 :
Wow. So gordon, if you how?
20:51 :
Many fronts did I cover how many fronts did I cover there for?
20:54 :
You Oh, that was good. I’m going to ask you a follow up so if you could pick between talking to a handful of pro-life candidates, political candidates or a handful of preachers, you know, who would you pick to talk to 1st and what would you say? I mean in regards to the invitation towards maybe talking about this topic or maybe bringing up post abortion healing is something that needs to be weaved in more often.
21:27 :
Yeah, I well, I’ve never been asked that question, but my gut reaction would be to pastors first because if those stats are right, again, you have to check my facts because i do have this concussion thing and honestly stats can get a little jumbled. But there i’m pretty sure about that stat that it’s something like 3 out of four women under 40 have had an abortion does that sound right this could that, could that possibly be right? That seems a little bit high i know this and it does seem high but what whatever that stat is i know this is true and probably every church and every pastor there’s somebody in that congregation that has had an abortion and including including pastors wives or pastors daughters and that is shocking and many pastors don’t even have a clue that their own wives i mean that has come up as we’ve gone to these things so that I would love for pastors to say you need to talk about this and not just to speak out against abortion but the whole recovery, so much of the work that we do. I was just on the phone an hour ago with a lady in West Virginia that overseas six pregnancy centers and so much to celebrate there because in West Virginia there’s not a single Planned Parenthood left sadly they neighbor Pennsylvania so there, you know we see some of the traffic coming across the border. But she was talking about in their one center, 190 women are right now engaged at her local center. And of that hundred and ninety women, I believe she said 16 or pregnant. Most of them are following up on their baby has already been born and they’re now teaching them about parenting or they’re helping them get jobs and or they have had an abortion and they’ve come for healing. And oh gosh, that’s one of the things that fires me up the most Jacob, is when I get in a discussion and yeah, whether I’m on a plane or get somewhere, people ask what you do and I start to tell them. I get in these discussions all the time and some people throw this in my face. You’re not pro-life you’re just pro birth. No, you right wing conservative Republicans you don’t care about babies after they’re born you’re just pro birth. It’s like where in the world did that argument come from? And I think it’s a it’s a characterization of some Republican policies that is just not true of. First of all, i never even mentioned Republican or not. But I said do you, do you have any idea what my pregnancy center does pro birth? I mean, we stick with these women up to five years after their baby is born. We do help them get jobs we do help them get their GED we do have an affiliation with a junior college. We do parenting classes we do weddings we do marriage counseling we do and so many of them become volunteers at our center we become family. What are you talking about pro birth? We are with them for the long haul. And I said I have spoken at 300 pregnancy centers and I can’t think of a single one that doesn’t do the same thing. Every single center I speak to does the same thing. They are they’ve never heard this. The news that they hear from the from the news network, the paper, the stuff that is online, there is such a target and misinformation out there against the pregnancy centers. And i did a little search that even this morning just Google stuff and boy the last three years there is just such a target on pregnancy centers and how they’re predators and they’re praying on these poor women. And all the years of the of the research of women who have gone into Planned Parenthood with the secret cameras, with the with the microphones, who were lied to, who were pressured, who were offered deals to get the pregnancy test now to get the abortion today we can offer you a discount you don’t have to tell your parents why don’t you just take care of it today they were rushed into a decision and that’s one of the greatest quotes for this book and Randy Alcorn then and I’m sure about this quote, it’s over 90 % i believe it’s 97 % of the women who had abortion said they would have made a different decision. They would not have had the abortion if one person would have given them another option, if one person would have given them hope. A mother, a pastor, a boyfriend, if just somebody. But they felt such pressure to go through with this crazy, crazy.
26:35 :
Yeah, that seems, I feel like that stat. It really seems to echo, you know, how a pastor can offer how that, how that how a pastor or a church family can be that one person who can offer that additional option of hope. And also seems like that might be a message that a politician could take, is to also echo how Princey clinics are being that one person, you know, how they’re taking on that role of offering hope maybe that could be a political message that could be an answer to some of these debates and questions. If you were to go to that second room of people, you know, that group of politicians, What advice or what suggestion and or what words of wisdom might you consider trying to share as a way of responding to, you know, to pro abortion questions in a way that might be winsome and helpful to those who are listening?
27:37 :
Yeah wow well, I haven’t thought that through but yeah, you’ve used the word winsome a few times i have to rethink my myself because I’ve not been in that circumstance. I’m trying to think more like a politician.
27:51 :
When I think that you’re you, I would think your normal voice. I’m not asking you to put on like a politician hat, but really.
27:57 :
Your voice doesn’t have the.
28:00 :
Encouragement in your voice of positive, joy filled care you know, care filled words I think resonate in this space without having to go through a filter. That’s like political speech.
28:16 :
Yeah i guess yeah, personal stories always are helpful. So I guess maybe starting there, ’cause, yeah, part of me wants to fight on their turf, and that’s probably not the smartest thing, and come against these lobbyists and you know, how much money that they make and how much they’re contributing to your campaign. And I, you know, and again, i’m not good at fighting on those things, but I know it’s a lot. So i went, you know, and as a pastor, I want to fight on the spiritual battle and say like you’re going to be accountable before God for these bills, you know, And we as a nation and we as a state are accountable. So that’s you’re taking it to the smarter level of all right, let’s go personal and.
28:58 :
Yeah so think of a story that might be good to share with a politician that they could then share as a way of delivering, healing and hope when confronted with one of these hard questions, like what’s the story that they could share? And they could say it came from you, or they could say that it came from your clinic or a clinic that you’ve talked to. Yeah, maybe what’s a really good story that really resonates with the hope and healing that’s being delivered? And some of the stats you’ve delivered, you know, you’ve already shared are amazing actually, that book, Randy Alcorn’s book, might be the reference point perhaps as well.
29:39 :
Yeah i’m trying to. It’s hard to think of anything winsome if I was in that setting, but yeah, just success stories are maybe the best just to give them some hope that it works and we can come think of what I share at Banquets.
30:04 :
Yeah.
30:04 :
We’ll share that’s our good deal share at banquets, that’s our well, that’s a really good thinking question. Well, i share a lot about my family, but one of the reasons I got into this, and I’m actually sitting in the chair, I mean, i don’t normally come in, this is my wife’s office, but it’s got some of my comedy posters in the back but I remember when I first started getting into this, I came home from a trip and my wife said your daughter’s in the office, your daughter’s in the office. And I came into this very office and my 14 year old daughter was sitting in the chair I’m sitting in now just kind of spinning in a circle and it’s not a funny story, but she was spinning around and she was crying, which is never a good thing and I don’t do well with tears, you know, 14 boys off the streets, I’m pretty good with that you know, I can deal with the tough love. But I was like, honey, what’s up and she was crying and she said, daddy, it’s not me, but my friend is in trouble. And her friend who basically lived here, you know, those girlfriends, those teenage girls that just hang out at the house all the time. But her 14 year old friend was hanging out with some older boys and was molested, date raped and thought she was pregnant. And it was just when our center was opening. And so true story of what do you do and where do you go? I had no clue i was a brand new youth pastor i’m a new father i got a new daughter girls and I don’t know how do you even do this stuff but it was because of our pregnancy center that I was able to call and say what do we do? What do I tell this girl? And it took six months to walk through a process of is she pregnant is she not pregnant do you press charges how do you do this stuff. And they walked us through a process myself, my wife, my daughter, her friend. And we could have never done it without these dear friends and the pregnancy center world so yeah. The good news was she was not pregnant. But the ministry goes so far beyond that so when I say yeah, what When I when I do, people say, well why are you so passionate. Hey, when somebody is there for you in your toughest time. Yeah they got me for life yeah. Not just for life, but for my life. So that’s that would be a story i mean, it’s like that kind of stuff goes on all the time. And yeah, with the sex trafficking and the other stuff, those kind of issues are humongous. Again, the stats, I’m terrible with stats anyway, obviously. But the number of people who have been abused and the number of things that are out there in the pornography industry, and again, I forget, yeah, you’re Arizona are you Arizona?
33:05 :
Yeah, I’m out of arizona.
33:07 :
You’re. Yeah, ’cause. Yeah, Things are just coming out more and more now in Pennsylvania. And concerning sex trafficking in the highway system, I had no clue that Pennsylvania was one of the worst states because of the i ninety five and i eighty, that we’re one of the biggest areas for abductions and trafficking and a girl can get caught and be 3 states away in a matter of hours and it’s like, yeah and some of this is just coming out now it’s like I had no clue and there’s we are just so blind to the battle so i I’m, i get overwhelmed at times and there’s so many battles to be fought but you know, so I always have to ask the Lord what but and but this is the one area where I feel I can do the most good and it’s where i’ve chosen to put my energies.
34:03 :
So Gordon, how valuable is it for a pastor or a politician or a Prancy clinic director to have stories ready to share on the work being provided or the, you know, the work being done at a Prancy clinic? And how important are those stories and how do stories connect with someone emotionally when they hear a story?
34:32 :
Wow it’s funny of my newest daughter I was just referring to she she’s in a class at college on how people learn and you know just like 10 % of what you see and 20 % of what you see and hear and learn and what you do. So yeah so stories connect at so many different levels. That whole picture is worth a thousand Words thing. And for pastors particularly, I think kind of it connects to your question is that pastors need to see the pregnancy centers are not competing with the church. We are doing what churches can’t do very. I only know a handful of churches in the country that have their own pregnancy centers that there’s a couple bigger ones that actually there’s one in Philadelphia, People to People Ministries has their own pregnancy center, which is awesome. And so hey, what do pastors do if a teenager comes up what does a youth parent? So to know and tell a story of, like, hey, here’s who I had to call and I and I share all the time, Hey, i know my pregnancy center’s phone numbers, six eight seven two nine i know it because I’ve had to call and I’ve had to give it to people. And I encourage people to have pens and pencils in their church with that pregnancy center because there’s going to be somebody that needs to know. So the stories connect and they give hope and they also are teaching people. Here’s the steps that I took, and it’s teaching people here. That’s the old what did we teach us in second grade stop, drop and roll you know, in case of fire. Here’s a simple thing, it’s training people how to think and it’s also sharing with them. Here’s how to respond in case of an emergency. And the other thing that I’ve learned from our friend Mike Williams, who many of our listeners may recognize the name as maybe the best fundraiser in America, at least it says that on his website the most booked and rebooked fundraiser in America. He’s yeah, my best friend, my teacher, my mentor, but he has taught me over the years in terms of fundraising that people invest in two things vision. This is what I want to see happen. But more than that, this is what’s working. And when people hear these stories of somebody that made a decision, somebody whose life was turned around, Here’s a baby that was born here’s an example of how this worked here’s what this ultrasound did for this. Here’s what this mobile unit did. The stories of success that inspire hope. And i share it with people all the time. I’ve been to banquets where they go up there and plead with people. We’re going to have to cut hours or we’re going to have to lay off staff and we’re going to have to do this if we don’t raise this tonight, we’re going to have to, you know, and it’s a sinking ship. And I’m thinking, if I’m a businessman and I’m hearing these tales of woe, why should I write a check of 10 or twenty thousand dollars to something that’s going down? I want to hear. Last year we saw 23 babies born and this year we want to see 40. This year we want to increase our hours this year we want to open a new center. I just did an event on Long Island, New York they have three centers, Jacob, three centers. All three are across the street from Planned Parenthood. And this fiery director named Gloria, she has already targeted A4 center she has the address. She has a building in mind and she wants to open a force center directly across the street or next door to a Planned Parenthood, she said you want to talk pro-choice I’m going to give people choices. You can go in this store or this store. I love that. And if I’m in an audience and I hear that kind of stuff, yeah, I’m going to give money to that. I want somebody that’s got a vision and is stepping out. So those kind of stories of this is what’s working, This not only what’s working, this is what works. And that maybe it’s my personality, but that fires me up.
38:44 :
Yeah, that sounds awesome like here’s where we’re going and we’re currently on that pathway, you know we’re two notches we’re you know, we’re almost there, we’re getting there we’re working towards it. This is exciting and this is where we’re heading and we have milestones along the way and sharing that excitement and having, you know, just sort of like letting that excitement flow through the stories and through the voice sounds amazing wow.
39:15 :
Yeah, Just always looking back i mean, Scripture’s full of that looking where we’ve been, but look how far we’ve made it. And none of us have fully arrived. It’s one of my favorite quotes is the Destination is the Journey i got that out of an old revival book cause a lot of us we you know we think we’re not going to be happy until we reach a certain point or a certain level of success in the comedy world. You know it used to be once I get a DVD or once I make it now let’s if I make it on Drybar or once I get to Huckabee and no enjoy where you are enjoy where you are and enjoy your relationship with God. But no matter where it is it can get better. You know, God’s got something more. And so i love, I mean the fact that God has an abundant life for us and there’s more, there’s still more but I’m going to enjoy where I am and I can always look back and think, look where I was. And yeah, with this brain injury that I’ve been recovering from, you know, i go to these therapies and it’s very measurable. You know, they have things for my knee they have things for my back and how much weight can I lift and how much can I can I range of motion? And I can look back and I sometimes it’s like, man, i don’t think I’m making progress and Oh no, look, six months ago you could only do this, but now look what you can do. I love progress. I love that With ADD, I’d like to see more and faster, but it’s neat and if we can see that in church, we can see that in the pregnancy center world. That’s a little tip for anybody that’s doing banquets, You know, share the progress you’ve made, but share the vision. Here’s where we want to go this is what we’d like to see in the next year or five years. It’s exciting stuff.
40:55 :
Wow. Well, thank you so much Gordon, for being on here before we wrap up, would you share some of your vision for where you see whether it’s your prey, see clinic going into the near future or maybe for your own, you know, the speaker work that you’re doing or the pro-life movement as a whole? You know, maybe share a little bit about that vision and then maybe we can wrap up with a prayer.
41:20 :
Sure, Surely, Yeah. The world in the last three years, obviously between COVID and Roe V Wade, I’m one of those guys that I’m always trying to anticipate what’s the next thing what’s the next thing? And, you know, I’ve been doing this for 20 years, this being speaking at banquets and churches and schools, and I wonder at my age, ’cause I’m pushing 70 i know I don’t look like it, but I’m pushing 70 and I think I can do this another 20 years i love what I do, but I’m thinking is what’s going to change so I don’t know between the legal parts and others, what’s going to change. But I don’t think the problems going to go away. I know that people are still going to struggle sexually i know that people are still going to struggle with parenting skills. So I think the need is still going to be there. What’s changing with the pregnancy center, the at home medical abortions with the abortion pill. I talked to a few directors in the last week or two on what’s changed since COVID and what’s changed since Roe V Wade. I know my own center our director just went off to a new ministry so we’re looking for a new director in the Philadelphia area, but our interim director said our calls have gone up. Yeah, during COVID our calls have gone up. First a lot of people were home and unsupervised a lot more kids were seeing and experiencing sexual freedom and our number of calls for young people have gone way up. And second with the at home pregnancy pills has not slowed the number of calls that we’re getting for pregnancy centers and I have found that true with the directors that I’ve talked to. There are other issues related to that medically and the stats are really hard to find. So what’s it going to look like the next 5 or 10 years i’m not sure but I think that’s where I think the Bible talks about the sons of Issachar they understood the times. So i pray for wisdom. Lord, help us to figure out what we need to do and be positioned. Yeah, you helped me when you looked at my website and said it was a little dated. It served me fine for 10 years i didn’t think there was anything wrong with my website. But you taught me that most people that look at websites look at it on their phone. I had no clue my flip phone was working fine but I but my kids just got me one of these new Samsung things and obviously it my website needed some updating So I got this new I rapture website thing that looks really cool and I updated videos so I’m anticipating some new stuff So i think the needs are still going to be the same I as the battles go to states I think we’re going to see some more things there. I just don’t put myself in the political realm as much but i want to keep my ear to the ground and just say how can we best help and fight in those areas. But my focus is still really more on the heart and where the church can be involved. That’s good. I don’t know if that helps i’m.
44:50 :
No that’s. Yeah and that’s and I think that’s honestly I think the work that we’re doing is yeah, it remains what we need to focus on and we shouldn’t stop doing what still needs to be done only because the legal atmosphere has changed from federal to state based fights the need in all the states is still present. How people are going about getting abortions has shifted from the abortion clinic to the bathroom or to the neighboring state that offers abortion clinics or offers abortion clinic services. And but you know the opportunity to intercept traffic, to intercept hearts is still present and probably ever present because sin is not one of those things that stops happening just because it’s illegal or you know it’s And so it’s interesting i feel like prey city clinics, the need for Prey City clinics, as great as it was, I wouldn’t say less or more i would say it’s as great.
46:03 :
Yes. Yeah so you know in terms of prayer my last my reason for optimism, i just got back from a week long pastors conference in South Jersey and I was asking pastors, I’d like to ask questions you ask really good questions is where do you see the church in 10 years And I won’t mention the denomination I was at cause people get stereotypes with denominations but I would say easily 8 out of 10 pastors were depressed and said I don’t see the church being here in 10 years we’re just waiting for the rapture we think the tribulation has begun or I don’t see they were very discouraged in part because of their theology and their eschatology. So you know, their view of end times is God is pretty much done and America is doomed. And they said, I said, i don’t agree. I don’t agree at all and they said, well, why are you so optimistic i said because I’ve read the Bible. I didn’t go to your seminary or your school but yeah, my Bible says we win. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says wait for the rapture i don’t see that i don’t see that. I see verses that talk about the latter rain i see things talking about the best wine is saved for the last i see about the fullness of the Gentiles coming in i see. Yeah there’s warnings about tough times in at the end. And we’re not to be. Yeah, not to be worried about that jesus said in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, ’cause he’s overcome the world. And as I always joke about that, there’s a new version of the Bible, that’s Jesus at the Last Supper by the way, Jesus is about to die. And he tells his disciples, hey, before I go, tough times are coming. Cheer up. It’s like, wait a second tough times are coming cheer up that makes no sense. Except, he says, because I’m going to overcome this world. And so that kind of ends on a, hey, you’re going to go through some stuff, but I’m going to win. I’m going to win. So I tried to share this with these guys and they said, well, what do you see happening? And you know, I’m a part of Intercessors for America i’m a part of like 3 different National Prayer groups and in the last four years they have not just doubled or tripled, they have gone from like 3000 followers to 50.000 thousand followers every day there’s like fifty thousand. People praying for America. That did not happen five years ago, 50.000. Thousand sites have up to five hundred thousand not that all five hundred thousand are praying every day, but that wasn’t there five years ago. And I think if God would spare Sodom and Gomorrah for just 10, if we got 500,000 thousand on a prayer list and there’s three different groups that are praying, I’m very optimistic and I see signs what’s happening at Asbury Revival, what’s happening at a few other churches, what I hear it happening at certain pregnancy centers. I think that we’re going to see a mighty move of God before the Lord comes back. Not that everything is going to be easy, but I’m very optimistic. So in the midst of legal stuff, in the midst of an election year, I always tell people my hope is not in the White House. My hope is in God’s house that God is building his church. The gates of hell are not going to prevail against it. Right now I’m focused on the remnant, but that remnant is rising up and God’s doing some good stuff. So how can I not be optimistic? How can I just so that’s my theological mindset and what keeps me going every day.
49:50 :
Wow.
49:51 :
So can I pray along those lines?
49:53 :
Yes, please do that ‘d be great.
49:56 :
Sure so, Father in heaven, thank you, thank you that you are true to your word. And your word says that first that you are with us and you’ll never leave us. Your word says greater is he that is in US than he that is in this world. Your word says that you have a plan to give us a future and a hope. You said that to Israel while in captivity and that you were going to bring them back. And your word says that we’re under a new covenant that’s even better than the covenant you made with Israel. So, Lord, thank you for these promises and the reasons for hope. Then thank you that we’re part of ministries that give hope to women who feel that they have no hope, feel that they’re overwhelmed, think that there’s no way that they could keep their babies so Lord, we pray blessing over these pregnancy centers the people who are on this call, encourage them make them know remind them that they are making a difference. Even if it’s just one baby this year, it is worth it. But Lord, we pray you would expand their borders. You would add to their staffing that you would increase their income, that you would open up the doors of heaven and bring whatever resources are needed to just multiply this ministry of saving lives and saving souls. Lord, we pray your blessing through this podcast that you will do some great things and changing hearts and it will be part of what I pray that you will do across this country and around the world. A mighty move of your spirit, a revival that will lead to a reformation that will lead to the coming back of your Son with all of his glory. Lord, get us ready for this mighty harvest of souls and the revival that I believe is already coming. And get us ready for the battles that will come in the midst of this, knowing the enemy is not going to give up easy. So teach us how to use the weapons of our warfare that tear down strongholds teach us how to pray effectively specifically, teach us, Lord, how to stand on your promises in the midst of these battles. Connect us with people of like mind and like faith. Lord, rise up, your remnant. Let your bride get her ready for your return. And Lord, we just give you the praise and the honor and glory in your name that gives us the victory jesus our savior amen.
52:13 :
Amen.
53:03 :
And know that I am God beasted. And know that I am God beasted. And know that I am gone beasted. And know that I am gone. The fire, midnight, The Thunder over waves. The murmur we can hear it all the reaching of our hands. The alibi, the broken wish inside the chorus of our questions all creatures of the earth beasted, and know that I have gone peace, and know that I am God, the will and the lion mother and the son, The family of Terra Firma, creatures of the earth beast. And know that I am gone. Be still and know that I am gone. Be still and know that I am gone.