In This Issue:   August 2008 * Dangerous times * Vote your values: three simple steps * ACfL meets needs across African continent * Heartbeat's affiliates gather for Renewal * One in four girls is infected * God's map for my life We live in dangerous times for the values and freedoms we cherish Heartbeat International affiliates work to Reach, Rescue, and Renew women in over 42 countries, our life-affirming values have been violently opposed in many regions, especially in socialist regimes. Read More... Featured on the Web: You bring light to the ends of the earth Heartbeat's worldwide network of affiliates gathered for Renewal in training, fellowhip, and praise of God at the Heartbeat International 2008 Conference. Read More... » Donate Now » Upcoming Trainings » Peggy Ministers to Woman in Crisis * America Can Do Better Than Abortion » Endorsements from Key Leaders » Ways You Can Help Heartbeat International » LifeLines Archives » Contact Us Last Issue: June 2008 God's map for my life I walked through the doors of Stillwater Life Services (SLS) pregnant and wrapped in many layers of pain from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as a child. Like Lazarus when Jesus raised him from the dead, I needed His people to loose the grave clothes that bound me. God used the staff at SLS, a Heartbeat International affiliate, to bring me back to life. Read more... * Vote your values * Strategic Partners make Conference special * Cross-bearing for the childbearing * Justice prevails * From the heart of a birthmother * Heartbeat Servant Leader Award * Heartfelt remembrance

We live in dangerous times for the values and freedoms we cherish by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., Heartbeat President In our electoral process, we can voice our values freely and in doing so we have become beacons of hope for the world. In fact, as Heartbeat International affiliates work to Reach, Rescue, and Renew women in over 42 countries, our life-affirming values have been violently opposed in many regions, especially in socialist regimes. We live in dangerous times for the values and freedoms we cherish. Karl Marx, who founded socialism almost 100 years ago, opened the floodgates for current assaults on faith, family, and sexual integrity. He called for the abolishment of religion and morality and the destruction of the family unit. He denounced marriage as a form of prostitution and taught that families exploit children. Governments worldwide wove his principles into the fabric of their societies and made abortion a bureaucratic decision. Fortunately, some of these socialist countries are trying to reverse the damage. Heartbeat trainers were invited to share expertise and tools at a pro-life conference in Moscow last year, the heart of a land with great need for Renewal of life-affirming values. Our Russian hosts told us that nine out of ten Russian women have had an abortion. In other countries like Mexico, where Planned Parenthood – founded by fervent Marxist Margaret Sanger – promotes the legalization of abortion, Heartbeat affiliates use our Christ-centered philosophy, techniques, and advice. Requests for our trainings and materials in other languages, especially in Spanish, are growing. The need for our services and your support is great. Great also is the need for our example. Societies that enjoy freedoms like ours are a minority in the world. Yet strangely, socialist-type messages that have failed around the globe now echo through American media and popular culture. Even public discourse reflects these anti-Christian ideas as American courts, government employees, and elected representatives try to redefine marriage, family life, gender roles, and the education of youth. Yet, together we stand firm in our life-affirming mission. Through God’s grace and your support, Heartbeat is Rescuing women, babies, and families – abroad and at home – who have nowhere else to turn. Equally important, your voice and vote ring clear and true, reverberating around the world with the message of God’s love and the value of LIFE. Back to Top Vote your Values three simple steps You can join millions of Americans this fall as we vote to change the political climate at all levels of government. 1. Register to vote. And help others to register. The deadline in many states is October 3. Visit HeartbeatInternational.org for state websites and deadlines or call your county board of elections. Register online at IVoteValues.org. 2. Become familiar with your candidates. As registered voters, it’s our responsibility to know the candidate’s positions on the issues we value. Visit VoteSmart.org to review incumbents’ voting records on key issues. 3. Help others understand the issues. Help your friends and family understand the importance of voting for candidates who share our life-affirming values. Back to Top

You bring light to the ends of the earth Last year alone, while over one million lives were lost to abortions in the U.S., an estimated 55 to 60 million lives were lost around the world. Fortunately, leaders equipped with the love of Our Lord and trained by Heartbeat International are Reaching, Rescuing, and Renewing lives all over the globe. Heartbeat is the most extensive and comprehensive worldwide network of pregnancy resource centers (PRC’s). Heartbeat carries out this work through the generosity that God has inspired in you. Just recently your donations allowed us to provide full and partial scholarships to affiliates from 20 countries so that they could attend the Heartbeat International Annual Conference. They left the conference with an expanded vision, equipped to translate what we teach them in order to Reach, Rescue, and Renew women, children, and families in their own countries. Heartbeat's worldwide network of affiliates gathered for Renewal in training, fellowship, and praise of God at the Heartbeat International 2008 Conference We are making progress around the world. Russia, the first communist country to legalize abortion, embedded the practice so deeply in their culture that former Soviet satellite countries are now threatened by extremely low birthrates. In a complete turnaround, former Soviet countries now hope to increase the number of births by encouraging new PRC’s to open, offering alternatives to abortion, and calling on Heartbeat to work with leaders throughout the region. Across the African continent, Heartbeat is making a difference. In Zambia, Heartbeat affiliates Barbara Mwansa and her husband Edward started a small post-abortion support group when Heartbeat first brought them on a scholarship to our 1999 Conference. Your investment helped this small group blossom into a maternity home for African women with AIDS, an orphanage, and a young men’s home where God’s Word is Renewing families for life. While similar networks are being developed in Asia, South America, Europe, and Australia, much more work needs to be done. Heartbeat’s Option Line® (800-395-HELP) online peer counseling holds exciting promise for help to those who struggle in even the most remote regions. We must also translate more training manuals and use technology to make the Christ-centered Heartbeat philosophy and tools more widely available. We must work together with our pro-life partners and affiliates to counter the abortion industry’s use of international relief funds to promote abortions. You are saving lives and souls through your support of Heartbeat International. With your investment and prayers, Heartbeat can continue to answer God’s call, extending our Reach even farther and demonstrating the Gospel of Life with women, children, and families everywhere. Back to Top

Affiliate profile: ACfL reaches across African continent Africa Cares for Life (ACfL), lead by Gail Schreiner from South Africa, began as a small network of PRC’s. Heartbeat encouraged ACfL to expand its vision to all of Africa. Today, ACfL meets urgent needs through 87 centers across the continent. Heartbeat has supported the critical training of African leaders with scholarships to the ACfL annual conference. We have sent Heartbeat staff to train and equip the leaders who attend. And we have licensed our training manuals to ACfL to modify for Africa. The pan-African Reach of ACfL led us to connect Barbara and Edward Mwansa from Zambia with Gail. Working together, both organizations have increased their effectiveness. Back to Top

God’s map for my life By Kendra Howerton I walked through the doors of Stillwater Life Services (SLS) pregnant and wrapped in many layers of pain from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse as a child. Like Lazarus when Jesus raised him from the dead, I needed His people to loose the grave clothes that bound me. God used the staff at SLS, a Heartbeat International affiliate, to bring me back to life. New parents Tiffany and Ramon Aranda (l) celebrate the adoption of baby Abbey Noel with Kendra Howerton (r). Kendra has helped many women choose life for their babies. Through Heartbeat’s Bridges program, God helped me to build non-judgmental relationships and revived my ability to dream. I learned parenting skills and found lasting friendships with people who helped me carry my cross. The day also came when the Bridges program allowed me to give back to other women in need – as a volunteer. Inspired, I entered college with a dream that I could work in a center like SLS someday. In fact, God was preparing me for that day through my work at SLS as I went to school and started working as the Director’s assistant. In time, I stepped into the role of Director of SLS. Just two weeks after my hire, I was on a plane headed for my first of three Heartbeat Conferences! There, God surrounded me with other Directors of Heartbeat affiliates who share the same heart and passion. I realized that my life was part of God’s plan since the foundation of the earth and that my childhood had prepared me to minister to the unborn, women, and men who are hurting. God has tasked me with telling my own story and that of Heartbeat’s work around the world in order to help others. His grace has revived my family through Heartbeat’s Sexual Integrity™ program, rescuing my niece from abortion, healing my mother of her own past abortion, and restoring my sisters and me from past sexual abuse and misuse. God is using Heartbeat to save and change lives across the globe. Thank you for your prayers and financial support of this amazing ministry. Road to Sexual Integrity Stillwater Life Services, a Heartbeat affiliate center, reaches out to women with the vital message of Heartbeat’s Sexual Integrity™ program through many avenues like its campus campaign. To draw young women into the center, SLS has formed partnerships with key people including the nurse in the women’s clinic, has trained people in the community to hold classes using the Sexual Integrity™ principles, and has blanketed the campus with posters. Going through the Sexual Integrity™ program myself, I finally learned God’s plan for my relationships, my sexuality, my fertility, and my children. I was healed of past sexual abuse and set free from its effects. It has empowered me to walk in sexual integrity - and it continues to empower my family as I raise two daughters to live with sexual integrity. ack to Top

How can I voice my life-affirming values? Ideas for conversations Mike: Abortion is the law of the land so it must be okay. Kathy: We have changed unjust laws like slavery and segregation because just people demanded it. Mom to 12 year-old son: Basically, that TV character just said that abortion is okay. She’s wrong. We do respect people who disagree with us. But we don’t sit back when a person needs protection. We especially try to protect and save innocent victims. Option Line® (800-395-HELP) INSTANT MESSAGE Mom: hola OL: hi, how can i help Mom: i had a girl–just to let u know she is beautiful OL: that’s wonderful!! Mom: ill send yall a pic– since your the one that helped me throughout the pregnancy OL: thank you so much, we’re glad we can help So you want to know more... One in four girls between the ages of 14 and 19 in the U.S. is infected with a sexually transmitted disease according to a March 2008 CDC report. Heartbeat’s Sexual Integrity ™ program provides a real solution to this epidemic. Parents for Truth is a national campaign of concerned parents who are committed to protecting their children’s health and future through abstinence education. To learn more, visit: ParentsForTruth.org/video. Sign the Petition to stop your tax dollars from promoting Planned Parenthood: DefundPlannedParenthood.org. Planned Parenthood spreads culture of death worldwide 1971: PP establishes an international family planning arm in nearly two dozen countries to promote abortion. 1999: PP launches TeenWire.com promoting sex, contraception, and abortion to teens. Claims six million visits a year. 2007: PP reports record $1 billion in revenue. 2008: The PP Action Fund launches $10 million campaign to influence election outcomes. Visit our website at HeartbeatInternational.org for details on the Sexual Integrity™ program and other life saving resources.

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