July 9th, Sunday

Today, we have the privilege of having Amy oxton with us, representing the Care. Net Pregnancy Center. And if you been there a year and a half now, or is it just about a year-and-a-half as as the Director in Sault Sainte Marie? And I didn't have the privilege of being here last year when she came and presented the work. And so I'm glad that I get to be here. This time to hear we're familiar with them. We drop stuff off whenever baby. Pantry has excess an overload of of clothing and stuff like that. We like to to take it and drop it there and make sure that it will be put to good use. And I'm just going to get out of your way and let you come on, Cherry Me. Good morning, everybody.

So I do have one clarification. I I don't mean to be a nitpick but my name is actually spelled a, i m e e. I b, the French version and I found out a few years ago when I worked I was and I work in healthcare for 15 years before I started working in Ministry and when I work in healthcare, I found out that the correct pronunciation of my name is actually met and I thought that was really cool and I thought, you know, I think I like it better but my mom named me Amy, she chose that spelling. And so I had to honor her with what she had decided to name me. So I guess I mentioned I work in healthcare for 15 years and then I worked in Ministry for 7 years. I was the director of community impact in Missions at a church in the Lansing area and I loved my time there. I learned so much about church leadership and I I had to say I'm really impressed about all of the things that Your church is doing to reach the community around, you all of that. You know what, they're not just events and activities to Vacation Bible School. The ladies day, the the shoe boxes. They're not just activities. There's things with intention and I love that Pastor John talked about the praying for you. Praying for those children Horgan receive boxes. Be praying for their children and their families that are going to be coming to BBS. It's not just the children that you're reaching but it's their parents. So just I encourage you to do what he said to be praying for that and to turn it is a great privilege that you get to be part of God's work in this community. It's it's so important in something that we should take lightly. Has anybody ever heard that expression Bloom? Where you are planted. So that is very much where you are, you are in the community of Newberry. So you need to Blue meanie to shine for Christ in every interaction that you have with those around you. So I do have my two, two of my children with me today and my two younger children, some of you have met, I have Aubrey and Ian and they are thrilled to be here. We're good. We're heading up to Tahquamenon Falls after we leave here today. So we're excited about that. So Care, Net Pregnancy Center. I don't know if you know, but it has been around for almost forty-one years. This November, I believe will be 41 years. I know, last August, we celebrated 40 years with our banquet, and it's been a vital part of the Eastern, Upper Peninsula. Peninsula for all those years with thousands of lives being impacted in, countless lives being saved. It's not just me though, I am the executive director but I have a wonderful team of volunteers are wonderful staff. In our board that keeps the ministry in line with everything that we do. I appreciate our board. They they keep me accountable, they ask tough questions. They truly desire to have the love of Christ, be extended to every person who walks through our doors and the spare strike and I know before I came, it was be done with this. I get that I've only have the experience of the last 16 months, so I see it every day. In fact Care, Net pregnancy, center of the EU P was the very first Crisis Pregnancy Center in the state of Michigan. So we were kind of trendsetters, the Vigilantes for the fight for saving lives. I have found that the work of her pregnancy center is not for the faint of heart. We deal with real people facing the very real situations every single day. I wanted to share just a few examples with you of situations that we could turn counter whether through phone calls or through website contacts, or for from people showing up at the center.

College students to have bought the idea that abortion is their only option and they want us to provide an ultrasound to find out the the gestational age of the baby to determine what kind of Fortune to have. That's particularly true in the form of chemical. Abortion, also known as the abortion pill. There's supposed to be a A cutoff age where the abortion pill can be prescribed, but what we're finding is that these prescribers of the abortion pill aren't exactly following those rules. Since we've had some actually, we've had some pretty scary situations with clients recently who have taken that they took the very first abortion pill and then there were complications and then the clients are reaching out to us for guidance, but we can't give them any guidance because they're reaching out to us because they can't reach the person who prescribes a pill. And so they're stuck in this scary situation with no follow-up. So, that's one reason why. We as a staff is an organization or angry about the abortion pill because it's not, it's not the easy things at the prescribers in the supporters of our making out to be a has very real consequences and very serious implications for the women who are taking this pill. We have women that are in abusive relationships and they just believe that this is the only thing for them that he believed that their they deserve the abuse. They're getting. They believe that they there's no other option. These are clients that we serve every day. We have men male clients who are trying to get rights to see their children. So one of the surprises that I have encountered since being on staff is there are quite a few men who are truly Desiring to be good, dads to their kids, in on one and sat and it's kind of sad that the situations are coming from, but on the other end, it gives me hope that these there are men who truly want to be good, Dads to the kids and they're reaching out to us for services. Three women who are married to men. Who think it's okay to sit on their butts all day, playing video games. While their wife works for jobs and raises the children. With each scenario in each kind of that, we serve there are some vital elements in the ministering that we do. The first is we very much need to lean on the holy spirit in the leading of the conversations that we have a client to come to our doors. We desperately want to speak love and truth to save lives and we do to that but we also recognize that our human abilities that in our human abilities. So we will fail, if we tried to do it on their own. Secondly, we have to strip away. Any judgement towards the decisions are clients have made or will make or, as well as any Pride, that's in our hearts, that demonstrates that we think we're better than them because we are not the only difference between us and them is that we have the hope of Christ in our hearts. And my opinion, is if we have hope in Christ Our Hearts, we better be living out that way. And acting out that way in the clients that we serve. I have a very small tolerance for judgment with our clients. Thankfully, our staff and volunteers, they're not judgmental. They work very hard to truly show the love of Christ. We actually have a small sign in the center, has very small sign, and it's taken from Luke 23:24. It says, love them. Anyway. And we look at that sign. Every time, we're walking down the stairs to greet our clients, as they come in the door, and it's a reminder to me. Into my staff and volunteers. We need to love these clients. Anyway, even if they're coming from Dirty situations, even if their kids are unruly in in don't behave. Well, even if They come in reeking of marijuana. We have to love them anyway because that's what Christ has done and that is what he does. Have you been the executive director for a little over 16 months? I have seen the approach of love them. Anyway, work there are many fine programs and services available in the Eastern, Upper Peninsula and we are working with many of those organizations to let our clients know about them and they're letting their clients know about us. So it's actually become very beautiful and just to be working together because the common denominator is we all truly care about the people that were serving

Do United Way may have different reasons for helping people than we do. But the common denominator is what we truly care about. Those people. What I have said to my staff and volunteers is our niches that we have Jesus. So in everything we do, we show the love of Christ, they may get services and support from DHS or the health department, but they're not getting Jesus. There in its entirety where Christian organization, we don't shy away from that. So they're getting Jesus along with a whole lot of other things that we provide. I'm in fact, we've become the agency that the case workers and probation officers. And she feel wanted to walk honey refer to when it comes to parenting classes, this is just happened in the last six months where we're getting calls from the court asking, if will take some of their clients who need parenting classes because they have recognized that we have an excellent program. And I think that's a pretty cool thing to be a tree, not proud of in a prideful way, but like, look what God is doing through us. And while we are so happy to be able to provide the services that we offer such as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds parenting classes tangible goods, that can be returned to classes and shopped for in the crib formerly known as the Mart. We have mentoring an emergency resources, but what drives us the most and sets the part from other agencies, like I said, is that we offer the hope of Christ.

And that is through the relational component of everything that we do from in-person classes, with our mentors to the texting capability that we started last summer. We are very relational in the care. And compassion, we showed to our clients. Are we pray for our clients. We share with each other prayer needs. If we see our clients out in public, we are not shy about hugging them and giving them a word of encouragement.

2020 22 with a year of highest yet numbers in the history of Care. Net Pregnancy Center, we performed 30 pregnancy test in 24 ultrasounds, we had 756 appointments between in person and online learning learning classes. Speaking of the online classes, we began that program in August of last year and buy a year and we had hell and had held 56 online lessons with our clients. And they completed that too. That's how I count it. As if we can we can assign the classes but if it don't completed, it doesn't count. But 56 cranes. Completed online classes. In 4 months. This year. However, in 2023, just six months in we have already performed 17, pregnancy, test 10 ultrasounds, we've had 721 appointments, and 139 of those are online classes that have been completed. We have over 30 on my clients clients and that has grown huge in this become a huge benefits to the people that were serving because many of our clients, they live farther out. And they don't have transportation to come to the center. So, this is a way that we can reach them. They're getting good parenting classes as well as support with us because with every client who doesn't online lesson we're texting them. And then when they come into the crib to redeem, the points that they are in, in the classes were loving on them and encouraging them. There has been a very cool way to reach people. In 2022, had 2135 client touches. Those are the services that we provide, the text messages that we do in person if they come in person and already this year, we've had 2167. So we've surpassed what we had in 2022. So we are vastly growing our impact in the eastern and slow and how we are reaching plants to Tell them the importance of the value of not only their life but the life of their child, that's her, considering aborting.

Is it blows my mind? The third element of our ministry is also relational. And that involves our relationships to you or supporters. our ability to do this Pro Abundant Life, the ministry can only be done through financial support of individuals and churches and organizations that believe in the work we are doing your church, is a faithful supporter of our work and we are so thankful for that your support encourages us, not only financially but also emotionally you see because we truly are in the front lines of a of a very real war against the value of life. We can't escape that in the work that we do my staff and our volunteers were faced with that everyday. We truly are fighting for lives. So many of our clients are defeated, they're just worn down. Many of them. Come from horrific situations generations of abuse and the belief that things just cannot get any better. I had a recent. I am feeling like, to share this with you need a recent. I'm a client, a young man. Actually, who reached out to us. He left us a voicemail message on her Friday, so I didn't return the call until Monday. When I went back into the office and he said, I, I heard that you offer supervised visits because that is something that we have started doing where we we supervised visits with custody issues, the court recommended us for that. So we are doing that and he wanted to set up a time to do that. So I called him on Monday and I said, why don't you come in, we'll meet you at the young man. He's actually a year younger than my oldest son. So he's 22. And this, this young man came in and he was just, he came in, with his hood on is wearing a hoodie in kind of stopped over. And with all of our clients, I invited him and offered him, a cup of coffee, some Waters and snacks and invited them into the one of them into her rooms and just sat down and talked with him and tell me what's going on. So he told me he was trying to get 50/50 custody of his son, his son is about 16 months old. This young man has been in jail. He has struggled with addiction but he struggled with substance abuse. He doesn't he doesn't. He's an addict. I don't think he is either anyway, but he said I've been I've been sober for 9 months and I I just want to be a good dad and he was saying this and you could just tell his confidence was so low and I almost think that he came in thinking that we were going to point a finger at him but we don't do that. So I didn't do that and I'll just talk to him. And so I explained the program to him explain to him how we can help him and I see him like kind of his countenance scripture talks about Trump tells us about countenance how would that can change how a good words? Change the count in some people's face since I see him. Changing in his poop in his eyes and and I tell him and I said to him you know what, no one has told you. I just want you to know you're a good dad and he does Didn't believe me and I said, no really, you know you have made mistakes in the past. It's evident I've made mistakes, please know that I've made mistakes but you're here and you're here because you want to be here, you're not, he wasn't court-ordered to come to parenting classes. It was recommended by his probation officer and he decided to reach out and so he was there. And I said, I want you to understand you took the first that you're here because you desire to be a good dad to your kid. And he said, yeah, I do and I said, you know, I can tell that you come from a rough background and he said, yeah, sorry guys.

End. My heart just hurt for him, but I was so happy at the same time but he was there. So we finished our conversation. And then I was able to, we have a male Mentor, who is a pastor at one of our local churches during this appointment. I was able to connect the client with the pastor to do mentoring sessions, so they connected and they agreed to meet the next day and then at the end of her visit and he's feeling a little bit more encouraged and I am just like, Lord, thank you for the opportunity that I got to take me to turn me in to the crib and said, you know, we did a parenting class to see was there anything you earn 5 Points today? So you get to get some items from the crib for your son. We went out there and he picked out a package of pull-ups in a package of wipes. And I handed them to him and he said, I'm not used to receive. And it just about broke you. Because a package of diapers and a package of plates was the love of Christ that this year we needed. And that moment is because of our supporters. So if you support you do you support is to your church. But if you support us individually, please know that this young man felt the love of Christ to a package of diapers and a package of wipes in the cool thing is sorry, I didn't mean to get this emotional. The cool thing is is that he did meet with that Pastor the next day and they had a wonderful conversation and later that night they give me and texted the pastor and instead you gave me some really heavy things to think about today and I'm so thankful and they will be meeting again this week too. So I just that speaks of the work of what we're doing and that you pee or making a difference, this man's life is going to be changed and I would ask that you pray for him because he's trying to make your change is now. But you have to know that Satan is going to come after of him even harder and more. Sleep. But we have them right now and actually I'm scheduled to meet with him tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to that. So who are all doing? Okay, my kids hate it. When I cry, when I speak. Sorry guys. So each week before we prepare a deposit, we pray over the checks that have arrived and we thank God for his provision, for his work, into the hands. And hearts of those who wrote this text, please know how humbled we are when we're doing the deposit and we're so encouraged that you are supporters, believe in the work that way drawing.

So if you are tithing and supporting the ministry, work of First Baptist Church of Newberry and you're supporting, you are supporting the work of care in the ministry Pregnancy Center because the leadership of this church believes in us, thank you, Pastor John and again, we thank you. Fulbright would challenge you to consider how you may support us above and beyond. A few suggestions, you can become a monthly supporter. You could provide a one-time Financial gift donations of tangible items such as diapers and children's, clothing or toys, for a Christmas shop. If you receive our newsletter, you'll know that we we had a Christmas shop last year for Christmas and we gave our clients. Extra points is a way to come in and Shop, but they also were preparing for it, so some of them saved their points to. So, they could come in and Shop in the Christmas shop, in all of the items were toys that were donated by our supporters, and it was such a lovely event and another way for our clients to feel the love of Christ, it help them out tremendously to give their children presents that they might not have otherwise been able to give And then lastly, I just want to let you know that we have our Fall fundraiser, which will be, our largest fundraiser will be in October. It's replacing the annual banquet that we have done in years past and we're having an improv comedy night, October 14th or bringing a improv comedy group up from the Lansing area is clean comedy but have any of you ever seen the show Whose Line Is It Anyway. So it's similar to this, so audience participation is going to happen, but it's going to be a fun night will be sending out save-the-date cards in July. But watch our website, check out our new settlers will be ways for you can order tickets, but we would just ask that, you would consider coming to this. Make it a date, right? It'll be family friendly. So children can come to me, it's just going to be a great night to come together as a group of supporters, for a great ministry. I'm in to support the work that we're doing in the Eastern, Upper, Peninsula Sault. That's all I have. I thank you again for allowing me to come and share this Sunday with you and to speak with you about the work that we're doing. And I want to just encourage you to continue doing the work you're doing in this community and I will be praying for you as well, because you have some great things coming up and I'm just pleased that you love this community so much and you're you're doing your best to show the love of Christ. So well done. Thank you.

Oh yeah. Question test any questions?

Okay, well, I'll be around if you have any questions, I have some information up here at the table to go. There was one a couple of books, I didn't bring a whole lot of them but this is probably didn't life. It was written by the CEO of CareNet the big CareNet and it's just kind of talks about what it means to be Pro Abundant Life. A lot of times pro-lifers pro-choice people accuse pro-life people of only caring about the baby and that's not true. We definitely care about the baby but we carry about we care about the mama and the daddy too. But this is about this book talks about Abundant Life In Christ. And so that's what we are doing. All to mately. We want our clients to know Christ and have that Abundant Life. And then another book is why pro-life by Randy Alcorn, which is a very good book. I'm just give you any more information about the importance and of understanding the value of life. It's not just about saving a baby's life. It is truly about understanding our value to God, as well as our clients value as well as the children that they're carrying. So in, those are on the table as well.

Excuse me.