GO Then Stop To Serve Women and End Abortion

There is a 12 week pre-deployment process that all ICU Mobile Fleet Affiliates go through prior to coming to our office in Akron, Ohio for training and deployment of their mobile medical pregnancy center. It’s a comprehensive pre-deployment designed to prepare the pregnancy center and mobile team technically, operationally and spiritually.

Five weeks prior to training and deployment, we travel to the community where the Mobile will be deployed for a working consultation called Know Where To GO. During this time we apply an algorithm to the abortion data in the community to understand where abortions are coming from by zip code. We stack rank the zip codes by those producing the most abortions to the least. In doing this, we know exactly where to take the mobile medical clinic for maximum impact, efficiency and effectiveness. We go to where women in crisis live; right into their neighborhoods as they go about their daily routine.

On day two, we travel to these neighborhoods and determine the best locations to advertise, stop, park and serve women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. These are women who, based on the data analysis, are most likely to have an abortion. We GO and then we STOP to provide service in the heart of the neighborhoods where abortion is most prevalent. Our decisions are systematic and driven by data so that we don’t guess and make mistakes.

Really, this is imitating Christ.

Jesus continually faced competing calls for His attention. When a man of influence approached him with urgency and humility to request help for his sick child, Jesus set out to offer assistance. The crowds around Jesus continued to grow and made progress difficult. Suddenly, right in the middle of a huge crowd, Jesus stopped and asked, “Who touched me?” Many people had bumped into and brushed against Him but Jesus sensed a different kind of touch. Someone had reached out in faith. (Luke 8:42-48)

But why did Jesus stop? The woman’s healing had already occurred. Jesus stopped to draw attention to her plight and relief because she needed to realize that she wasn’t an interruption or unimportant to Jesus; she mattered. She needed to hear someone call her “Daughter,” affirm her, offer her hope and send her home in real peace. With His compassionate words, Jesus expanded and deepened her healing and knowledge of who He is.

Jesus asks us to imitate Him (Ephesians 5:1). He asks us to never let women in crisis, the women that the ICU Mobile Fleet serve, be an interruption. Jesus wants us to trust in Him and serve these women in His name; inviting them and their families to put their trust in Him too.

We GO and then STOP, right in the heart of the communities where abortion is most prevalent so that we might bring love, hope and grace to women whose plight demands relief.

We GO and then STOP to demonstrate they are not an interruption, they are not alone, they are not unimportant. To also show they are not an interruption or unimportant to Jesus. To show them they matter.

We GO and then STOP to provide an oasis in the midst of crisis, sharing truth with compassionate words and revealing life at the crossroads of decision so they might see hope of a better future themselves and their baby.

We GO and then STOP because this is what Jesus would do.

 

The art for this blog post is used with permission from Overcomers Art. We strongly encourage you to visit their website as portions of the proceeds from the sale of their art are stewarded to ministries.