40 Days For Life - Spring 2009

What better way to prepare for Easter than to participate in 40 Days for Life? I am anxiously waiting for the Spring 40 Days for Life campaign to begin. Not surprisingly 40 Days for Life coincides with Lent. Please consider participating in this very important campaign. If you have any questions about this campaign please ask me or better yet visit the website. A link is on the sidebar. Below is a message from the founder of 40 Days for Life - David Bereit.

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After 36 years of legalized abortion in America, it's FINALLY time...

40 Days for Life: The groundbreaking
pro-life campaign that GETS RESULTS!

Save lives from abortion ... protect women and
men ... provide healing to the wounded ... mobilize the
Body of Christ in your town ... IN JUST 40 DAYS!

Dear pro-life friend,

If you, and others in your community, are ready to...

• Heed God's call to speak up for those that cannot speak for themselves ...
• Take courageous action to save the lives of innocent children in the womb ...
• Protect women -- and men -- from making a terrible decision that they'll regret for a lifetime ...
• Help those who have been hurt by abortion to find healing and forgiveness ...
• Turn the tide against abortion right where you live ...

...Then this could be the most important letter you've ever read.

Go lock the door, take the phone off the hook, turn off your e-mail, grab your favorite hot beverage, and study every single word of this letter. It's THAT important.

The problem...

In America, a nation that was founded on an unalienable right to life, endowed by our Creator, more than 1,200,000 innocent children are killed by abortion each year.

However, it's not only children that are affected...

• Millions of women have been wounded by abortion -- some physically, and many more emotionally and spiritually -- and fathers who have lost children to abortion have been shoved to the sidelines, abandoned to lives of regret.
• Our children have been sold a lie about so-called sexual freedom without being adequately warned about the long-term consequences of promiscuity and sin. As a result, teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases have reached alarming levels.
• Recent elections have placed more abortion advocates in powerful state and national offices, and the prospects for our nation are quite chilling -- unless something drastic changes now.
• Judicial activism has overrun our court system, and unaccountable judges are forcing their personal abortion agenda on America. Even with recent hopeful changes on the United States Supreme Court, experts still say there are not enough votes to overturn the unjust 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that imposed abortion on all 50 states.
• The national media has overwhelmingly taken a position in favor of abortion, saturating the airwaves and print publications with biased information, and portraying pro-life Christians in a negative light.
• Many Christian churches have fallen silent about abortion, and many followers of Jesus Christ have become apathetic or indifferent, failing to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves."

Clearly, our nation has turned away from God. This may seem like cause for despair, but scripture reminds us...

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
- 2 Chronicles 7:14

A new solution...

There is reason to have great hope. And that hope is found in a simple -- but highly effective -- pro-life campaign known as 40 Days for Life.

Starting in 2004, communities quietly began to conduct the 40 Days for Life campaign, one after another. In the fall of 2007, more than 80 communities held 40 Days for Life campaigns simultaneously. In the spring of 2008, more than 50 additional communities united for another nationwide effort. In the fall of 2008, more than 175 localities participated in the largest national campaign yet.

To date, 204 cities in 49 states, two Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia and one American territory have joined together in this initiative. These campaigns have created a track record of extraordinary life-saving results across America:

• More than 175,000 people of faith and conscience have joined together to pray and fast for an end to abortion
• More than 55,000 people have taken to the streets, forming peaceful prayer vigils outside of Planned Parenthood centers and other abortion facilities
• More than 1,100 children have been saved from abortion
• Hundreds of women - and men - have been spared from the pain and regret of abortion
• Those with abortion experiences in their past have found healing
• Three abortion facilities have gone out of business following 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Other abortion facilities have experienced sharp setbacks, cutting back hours and closing down for days at a time
• More than a dozen abortion workers have quit their jobs due to 40 Days for Life efforts
• Media outlets have given the pro-life position prominent coverage with more than 400 news stories
• Churches have been activated and united for life
• New people have been recruited, educated, and mobilized
• People have turned back to God with renewed hope

40 Days for Life requires lots of prayer, hard work, and personal sacrifice, but the campaign is actually quite simple.

Components of 40 Days for Life...

One of the strengths of the 40 Days for Life campaign is its simplicity. Your community can make a tremendous impact by implementing three basic components...

1. Prayer and Fasting

Want to end abortion? First you pray.

Prayer is at the center of 40 Days for Life. During the campaign, we are calling on prayer warriors across the nation to fall on their knees before the Lord, asking Him to hear our plea and heal our land. Pray at church. Pray outside an abortion facility. Pray at work. Pray in the car. Pray at home with your family. Pray!

People of faith are also invited to fast throughout 40 Days for Life.

Christ said there are demons that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. A fast is not a Christian diet; it is a powerful means of drawing closer to God by blocking out distractions. Fast from food. Fast from television. Fast from excess time in front of a computer. Fast from apathy and indifference. Fast from whatever it is that separates you from God.

We believe that when God's people fast with a broken, repentant, and contrite spirit, our heavenly Father will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation, and our world.

2. Constant vigil

The visible, public centerpiece of 40 Days for Life is a 40-day, round-the-clock prayer vigil outside a Planned Parenthood center or other abortion facility in your community.

It is a peaceful and educational presence, and this 24-hour-a-day presence sends a powerful message to the community about the tragic reality of abortion. It also serves as a call to repentance for those who work at the abortion center and those who patronize the facility.

If you do not have an abortion facility or Planned Parenthood office in your town, you can still conduct 40 Days for Life however you will need to select a different location with some strategic significance -- perhaps near city hall, a courthouse, or a highly visible intersection.

Does your vigil have to be 24-hours a day?

No, that is not required. The hours are completely up to you and others planning your local 40 Days for Life campaign, as long as you commit to try and fill a minimum of 12 hours a day. We do, however, encourage you to prayerfully consider this question. Those communities that have conducted a round-the-clock vigil reported amazing results from their additional sacrifice.

3. Community outreach

During 40 Days for Life, you have a great opportunity to take the pro-life message to every corner of your community.

A door-to-door petition and education drive can be implemented to reach out to every household in your town or city. During this time, informational flyers are distributed in neighborhoods to raise awareness about the local crisis of abortion. Citizens are invited to sign a petition of support for the sanctity of human life, and people are given the opportunity to visibly show their support for 40 Days for Life by wearing wristbands, placing signs in their yards, or displaying bumper stickers on their vehicles.

This one activity alone can help a community rapidly identify hundreds, or even thousands, of pro-life supporters during the 40 days. These people can then be encouraged to get involved in local pro-life efforts during and after your campaign.

Church involvement begins by meeting with local pastors, other church leaders, and members of different congregations. The Body of Christ is invited to pray together and participate in 40 Days for Life, uniting in one focused mission that can save lives and make an eternal impact.

Media outreach is conducted through carefully targeted news stories, talk shows, editorials, and letters to the editor. This enables you to get the pro-life message out to many people who would never see the inside of a local church.

If your community has a college campus, many students can be impacted through an intense 40-day campus outreach. This can consist of flyer raids, sidewalk chalking, petition drives, table displays, and much more.

Benefits for your community...

By implementing the three components of prayer and fasting, constant vigil, and community outreach, your city or town could:

• Reduce abortion rates -- by 15% ... 20% ... 25% ... Or more!
• Recruit and mobilize hundreds -- even thousands -- of new people into effective, life-saving efforts
• Lead post-abortive women -- and men -- into proven and effective healing programs
• Develop dynamic new leaders to increase the future impact of pro-life efforts
• Bring churches together in an historic display of Christian unity and action
• Generate enormous buzz by getting prominent pro-life news coverage -- even from biased media outlets
• Increase local financial support for pro-life efforts
• Make the sanctity of human life a crucial issue in local, state and even national elections

These are bold claims, however these results (and many more) have actualy been accomplished in other communities.
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He also sent me this email
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Dear Mike,

OK, registrations for this spring's 40 Days for Life
campaign are officially underway... and things are
pretty crazy around here!

In the first day of accepting applications for
the spring campaign, we've already registered more
than DOUBLE the number of cities compared to the
first day of applications for last spring's campaign!

By early indications, this spring could be even
bigger than we expected!

Now, as the national director of 40 Days for Life,
you know I'm biased about this campaign.

Frankly, I've seen God accomplish so many amazing
miracles through this effort that I believe EVERY
city would be closer to ending abortion by applying
to conduct a 40 Days for Life campaign this spring:

http://40daysforlife.com/apply

40 Days for Life has a track record of proven life-
saving results that is unprecedented...

...But please don't just take my word for it!

Take the word of other people -- like you -- who have
personally experienced the impact a 40 Days for Life
can have in a community.

Some of them were scared, busy, inexperienced, in
remote locations, or not sure if they could pull off
something like this in their town.

But they took that step of faith.

And you'll want to hear -- in their own words -- what
it meant for them and for their communities:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=184

On that page are two resources to help you discern
whether God is calling you to take that same step of
faith...

1.) A 14-minute audio featuring testimonials from
nine local 40 Days for Life campaign leaders
from very diverse circumstances

2.) An inspirational case study video of the Fargo,
North Dakota 40 Days for Life where you'll see
exactly what's involved in conducting a
successful campaign

Those are both posted online at:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=184

If, after going through those, you feel called to
hold a 40 Days for Life in YOUR town from February 25
to April 5, apply now at:

http://40daysforlife.com/apply

It could be one of the most rewarding "New Year's
Resolutions" you've ever made! :-)

Yours For Life,

David Bereit
National Director
40 Days for Life
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I know that participating in something like this is a little bit of a sacrifice. It was difficult for me to get involved, but it is something that needs to be done. Think of how you can save lives. Our small sacrifices don't seem so bad when you consider what great good can come from our participation in this pro-life campaign. Even if you spend one hour praying outside an abortion clinic, you are doing God's work. Make this Lenten season the most holy and rewarding Lenten season of your life. Participate in 40 Days for Life. Thank you and God bless you.