by Tracie Shellhouse, Vice President of Ministry Services

Sanctity of Human Life (SOHL) Month, marks a pivotal time for your pregnancy help organization (PHO) to engage your local churches and community. While this month serves as a poignant reminder of the intrinsic value of all human life, it also presents a unique opportunity to increase community awareness, develop new relationships, and strengthen established partnerships through ongoing support and advocacy.

Strategies to facilitate year-round engagement:

Relationship Building:

Use this month as a platform to initiate and fortify relationships. Offer to speak about the sanctity of human life and the power of pregnancy help in January and throughout the year. Engage local church leaders, congregations, and community groups through church services, events, and forums discussing the sanctity of human life. Be ready to meet new people—potential volunteers, donors, and even clients—and build rapport, exchange ideas, and showcase the life-transforming work of your organization. Consider creating a short, up-to-date video about the mission and impact of your PHO and offer it to churches that can’t accommodate a speaker but are willing to include it in their services.

Education and Resources:

During Sanctity of Human Life (SOHL) Month, in January, presentations make it clear that honoring and protecting life is a year-round ministry. Share your plans and hopes for the year ahead. Mention your upcoming events and share the types of educational opportunities your PHO can provide for interested groups: pro-life apologetics seminars, topical workshops (adoption, trauma-informed care, sex trafficking intervention), abortion-recovery support, and sexual integrity presentations. Encourage continuous education through your training and workshop events, point them to your online presence for more resources, and offer them practical tools they can use throughout the year.

Collaborative Initiatives:

Partner with local churches to empower them to support pregnancy help through your center by...

• facilitating support groups like Embrace Grace
• encouraging Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs to do community-wide diaper drives
• supporting mentorship programs for dads and moms at Boys and Girls Clubs and through Head Start programs
• providing services at health fairs alongside your local health department
• exhibit at church mission conferences

This collaborative approach fosters shared responsibility, increases awareness in your community, and invites others to join you in supporting expectant mothers and families. When scheduled throughout the year, these events will keep your PHO engaged with your community, provide ample opportunities for local media coverage, and your collaborating organizations will even help promote your brand and services.

Consistent Communication:

Regularly update churches and community partners about events, success stories, and upcoming opportunities through annual reports, newsletters, social media, and personal interactions. Attend partnered organizations' events to show that you support them, too. You can drop by a business’s open house, attend the Exchange Club’s auction, or volunteer at the Chamber of Commerce’s back-to-school bash. Connect in ways that let people know you “see” them. Acknowledging faithful donors can be as easy as penning, “God is touching and saving lives through your support!" at the bottom of their donation receipt. A phone call, a praise report via text message, or a short email can be touching and inspiring. And, lastly, don’t overlook the impact of sending an occasional handwritten thank you note or timely card (holidays, birthdays, life events). Keep it simple. Share a milestone achieved or miraculous “save” made possible through their support. Today, people rarely receive “happy mail,” and when we do it feels special.

You may already be doing some or all of the strategies presented above. If you are just getting started or trying to decide where to begin, I encourage you to lean into the process—it will be worth it.

1. First, choose one or two new strategies to implement. Take time to evaluate and adjust them to fit your ministry’s needs. These efforts will produce a harvest that will likely surprise you! As you gain momentum, you can choose other strategies to implement.

2. Second, don’t be a lone ranger. Build a team of board members, volunteers, and paid personnel to help with donor and community engagement. Share donor and partner touchpoint opportunities (phone calls, texts, emails, and thank you notes) with your team members who enjoy making connections and building relationships. Just three of you making one connection each day of the workweek could produce 60 meaningful donor connections a month. Imagine the possibilities! Train seasoned staff and board members to represent your PHO at speaking engagements, events, and exhibits. With a bench of trained representatives to call on, your ministry can be simultaneously present at multiple events and you can accept more speaking engagements than ever before. And as your PHO's opportunities and impact increase, you may be surprised to find that your workload may not. John Heywood wrote, “Many hands make light work,” almost 500 years ago. This proverb still rings true today.

By leveraging the momentum and awareness generated during Sanctity of Human Life Month, you can increase your network of dedicated supporters and advocates who—united for life—will create lasting change and affirm the sanctity of life every single day of the year.

2024 Keynote Speakers

We're excited to announce our 2024 International Pregnancy Help Conference Keynote Speakers!

▷Jor-El's Biography Jor-El Godsey serves as President of Heartbeat International. He leads a staff dedicated to equipping, empowering, and encouraging the thousands of leaders and developing leaders of Heartbeat’s affiliated pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, in the U.S. and on every inhabited continent. He oversees Heartbeat’s core mission to be the leadership supply line for the growing pregnancy help movement worldwide by providing accurate information, training resources, leadership development conferences, programs, and daily support to help affiliates start, grow, and expand their services to women and couples at risk for abortion. Jor-El comes to Heartbeat having served in the pregnancy help movement since 1988. He first served as a volunteer at Hope, the pregnancy help centers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Then he joined their board, served as Chair, and then as Executive Administrator. In 1999, Jor-El became Executive Director of Life Choices in Longmont, Colorado. Six years later, in 2006, Jor-El accepted the call to help Heartbeat International meet the diverse and expanding leadership needs of the pregnancy help movement as Vice President. Jor-El met his wife, Karen, at a volunteer training meeting for the Hope Center in Ft. Lauderdale. They now have three children.	▷Amy's Biography Amy Ford is the Co-Founder and President of Embrace Grace, a non-profit that inspires and equips the church to love on single and pregnant young women and their families. She is also the author of the book Help Her Be Brave: Discover Your Place in the Pro-Life Movement, released in January 2021 as well as other books. Amy speaks nationally to a varied audience including women’s ministry events, pro-life and adoption conferences, church leadership equipping, and pregnancy center benefits. Serving in Embrace Grace, she has countless stories of how churches, pregnancy centers, and the body of Christ have come together to impact communities beautifully. She brings a fresh perspective on how one life can make a difference by stepping out of our comfort zone and just loving people. Amy always delivers a combination of inspiration, authenticity, and depth!	▷Dr. Kearney's Biography Dr. Dermot Kearney is a distinguished consultant cardiologist and the former President of the Catholic Medical Association (UK). He earned his medical degree from UCD (Dublin, Ireland) in 1989 and completed General Medical and Cardiology specialist training in Ireland. Dr. Kearney further honed his skills through a Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology in Leiden and Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 2001 to 2003. Since 2003, he has been a consultant cardiologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead. Joining the Catholic Medical Association (UK) in 2008, Dr. Kearney has held various roles, serving as a Council member since 2010 and as Honorary Registrar from 2011 to 2018. From 2018 to 2021, he held the position of President, demonstrating his commitment to the organization's mission. Dr. Kearney's career faced challenges when the General Medical Council raised concerns about his pro-life stance, challenging his ability to provide the abortion pill reversal protocol to women seeking to reverse their abortion choices. Despite the scrutiny, the council eventually dropped its case against him, affirming his adherence to medical ethics. In navigating the intersection of his medical expertise and pro-life convictions, Dr. Kearney stands as a resilient advocate, leaving a lasting impact on cardiology and broader medical ethics.

▷David's Biography David Bereit is an experienced leader, an inspiring communicator, and a strategic advisor to pro-life leaders and organizations around the world. Previously, David started and led the global 40 Days for Life movement through its first decade, mobilizing 750,000 volunteers in more than 700 cities across all 50 American states and dozens of nations, whose prayers and efforts have saved 14,643 children’s lives, brought 177 workers out of the abortion industry, and closed 96 abortion centers. David recently stepped away from his role as CEO of 40 Days for Life to pray and plan for a new ministry project. David is an internationally sought-after keynote speaker, and his presentations in more than 550 cities around the world have inspired audiences as large as 70,000 people. David’s work has been featured in nearly every major media outlet, including coverage on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, HBO, hundreds of radio programs, and over 100 newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. David has advised many of today's most successful pro-life leaders, helping hundreds of organizations increase their life-saving impact, and raising more than $55 million for pro-life causes. David has been joyfully married to his best friend, Margaret, and lives outside of Washington, DC.	▷Sylvia's Biography Sylvia Johnson is the founder and Executive Director of Houston Pregnancy Help Center, Inc., which currently has three locations in Houston, Texas: Fifth Ward Pregnancy Help Center located on the corner of Shotwell and the East Freeway, the Downtown Pregnancy Help Center located at San Jacinto and Alabama, and the new Medical Mobile Van which serves the greater Houston area. Sylvia has served as a Pregnancy Help Center Director for the past 39 years and has opened five Crisis Pregnancy Centers and assisted with the opening of two others. These centers provide services to over 20,000 clients per year. Under her leadership, medical services were implemented. Sylvia is known as “The Encourager,” a woman of vision and most importantly a woman who loves God and His people.	▷Kyle's Biography Kyle Mann is the editor-in-chief of The Babylon Bee. A prolific comedy writer, public speaker, and podcast host, Kyle has written thousands of Babylon Bee headlines and articles, along with the published works he's authored or co-authored: The Sacred Texts of The Babylon Bee, The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness, The Babylon Bee Guide to Democracy, How to Be a Perfect Christian, and The Postmodern Pilgrim's Progress, addresses hot topics like censorship, wokeness in comedy, and the importance of laughter and humor. Kyle has delivered keynote speeches, sat on panels, and addressed large crowds at large events across the country.

 

▷Kerri's Biography

Kerri Pomarolli grew up performing from a young age and got her B.F.A. in Musical theater from the University of Michigan. She also attended the Stella Adler Conservatory in NYC and the British American Drama Academy in London.

She moved to LA and had roles on soaps such as Port Charles, General Hospital, Young and the Restless, and a few parts in movies and sitcoms. Kerri Pomarolli was attracting big hitters in the industry. She started standup comedy 17 yrs. ago and never looked back.

Kerri Pomarolli is a national headlining standup comedian who has worked with everyone from Jay Leno, Jim Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Carol Channing, Jerry Lewis, The Jonas Brothers, and Candace Cameron Bure. She's been featured on The Tonight Show 29 times, Comedy Central, Netflix, ABC and many more.

She's been on tour with Family Life Today, to sold out crowds of over 16,000. Kerri has been a favorite corporate entertainer for major companies such as Ford Motor, Food Network, Cisco Systems, and many others. She is not only a gifted comic but a popular speaker as well. She was on the cover of National Speakers Magazine.

She was awarded Comedian of the Year 2022 at the Hollywood Red Letter Awards.

She lives in CA with her two daughters. Fans from 8 to 80 will relate to her comedy and fresh ministry of the gospel.

Joanna James, Mission Advancement Officer

Frances Lacson, Grants Coordinator

Ashley Dewart, Mission Advancement Officer

Ash Monk, Mission Advancement Officer

by Jennifer Wright, Developmental Editor

“Ummm, Tony? My water just broke.”

That was me at midnight the night before Easter. My husband reacted as many husbands do—he started getting everything together, made sure we had childcare for our toddler and drove me to the hospital—all with just a little bit of panic in his voice.

Our son was born less than 11 hours later—during the Easter morning Mass we had planned to attend. We had been waiting with expectant hope for months and we brought home our healthy son with joy and celebrated Easter more joyfully than ever.

Only eight months later, I’m reflecting on this experience during Advent. Since I’ve become a mother, imagining the events leading up to the first Christmas has taken on new meaning. Reflecting on Mary’s journey with Joseph, so close to the end of her pregnancy, brings me more empathy than ever. I can understand now what it is to be close to delivery and have many things to worry about, in addition to how labor will go, whether my baby will be healthy, and if I will be able to care for and provide for my child.

Add in the uncertainty about where a child will be born, the physical toll of travel, and the anxiety of settling into a new place (perhaps far from family), expectant hope can easily turn to fear and dread.

But Mary and Joseph had support. They found someone who made space for them in their poverty so that Jesus had a manger to lie in. They had joyful shepherds who celebrated, spread the good news, and glorified God. They had wise men who brought gifts (although wise women might have given more practical gifts…) and protected their new child.

Thanks to you, new mothers have the support they need to bring their children into the world too.

I love the liturgical calendar because it gives me set times during the year to reflect on individual parts of salvation history. Advent is a time when I remember the expectant hope of our faith—expectant hope like that of waiting for a child to be born. But it also reminds me that, for many in our movement, it’s always Advent.

It’s always time to help a woman make room for, provide for, and protect her child.

I’m eternally grateful for this movement of wise men and women, joyful shepherds, and generous innkeepers who walk the steps of Advent with women every day.

When you next find yourself overwhelmed or sorrowful because of a client’s decision or story, remember that while you may find yourself in an eternal Advent, Christmas—the most wonderful mystery of salvation history, when God becomes man—is coming. You can wait with expectant hope, knowing that we will have a time of celebration.