Florida
Governor Romney to Skip Third Consecutive Social Conservative Event
After turning down requests to participate in Personhood USA’s Iowa Tele-Town Hall, then Personhood USA’s Live Presidential Prolife Forum, Governor Romney has dismissed yet another social conservative event, Florida Awake!, a Presidential Candidate Forum sponsored by Liberty Counsel and co-sponsored by Personhood USA.
Governor Romney was the only Republican presidential candidate who claimed to be prolife, yet refused to sign Personhood USA’s Personhood Pledge, which quoted and affirmed the Republican Party Platform on abortion.
http://www.personhoodusa.com/blog/personhood-republican-presidential-can…
The Iowa Tele-Town Hall, hosted by Personhood USA, included Senator Rick Santorum, Speaker Newt Gingrich, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and Governor Rick Perry.
Personhood USA’s standing-room-only South Carolina Presidential Prolife Forum included Speaker Gingrich, Senator Santorum, Governor Perry, and Congressman Paul.
Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Rick Santorum are confirmed to participate in Florida Awake! Congressman Ron Paul regretfully declined, as he is not scheduled to be campaigning in Florida at that time. The event is already sold out, with over 1800 tickets reserved.
Governor Romney, again expressly invited, has again neglected to notify organizers of his willingness or disinclination to participate.
“Following President Obama’s statement celebrating the Roe v. Wade decision – effectively celebrating the deliberate killing of 54 million innocent American citizens – Personhood USA recognizes the urgency of ensuring that we know where our candidates stand,” stated Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. “We need a president who values life, and will defend the innocent in word and in deed. We certainly don’t need a candidate who cares nothing for the Sanctity of Life, nor one who will join President Obama in celebrating the deaths of millions.”
What: Florida Awake! Presidential Candidate Forum and Audience Q&A
Where: Aloma Church in Winter Park, Florida
When: Saturday, January 28th, at 3:30pm
Who: Liberty Counsel and Personhood USA, Moderated by Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, with an appearance by Personhood USA’s Keith Mason.
Liberty Counsel™ is an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. With offices in Florida, Virginia, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem, Israel, Liberty Counsel has hundreds of advocates around the world.
Personhood USA is a grassroots, Christian organization founded to establish personhood efforts across America to create protection for every child by love and by law. Personhood USA is committed to assisting and supporting Personhood Legislation and Constitutional Amendments and building local pro-life organizations through raising awareness of the personhood of the pre-born.
Group hopes to define a fertilized human egg as human under state Constitution - Tallahassee Times/Herald
A referendum on the issue Tuesday in Mississippi could be a precursor to a similar drive in Florida, where supporters are gathering signatures to allow voters to decide eventually on a constitutional amendment.
By Katie Sanders
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE — Voters in Mississippi will decide Tuesday whether a fertilized human egg should be recognized as a person under the state constitution, an anti-abortion strategy that a group of Christian conservatives hopes to mimic in Florida.
The “personhood” amendment would define a human being “from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent thereof.”
If it passes in Mississippi — a poll released Sunday found that 45 percent of voters supported the amendment, while 44 percent opposed it — the amendment could lead to the banning of all abortions in the state as well as some forms of birth control.
Personhood USA, the Colorado group behind the Mississippi ballot question, has been collecting petition signatures to bring a similar proposal to Florida.
But Florida election laws already have dashed the hopes of the group to have the measure appear on a statewide ballot next year.
The group needs 676,811 petition signatures in Florida — 8 percent of votes cast during the 2008 presidential election — to qualify for the November 2012 ballot.
And those petitions must be certified by local elections supervisors and turned into the Secretary of State by Feb. 1.
Personhood Florida state coordinator Brenda MacMenamin said the group has so far gathered only about 20,000 petition signatures. (Those signatures also will soon become worthless because of changes in state law requiring all petitions to be gathered within two years.)
MacMenamin said Monday that petition gatherers will start over next year in hopes of making the 2014 ballot.
“We have built a network across the state at this point,” she said, “so it really is hitting critical mass.”
The personhood movement frames its case as the “most important civil rights struggle of our age” on its website, equating it with the Supreme Court’s ruling against Missouri slave Dred Scott that deemed him property.
“That’s basically what Roe v. Wade says about the pre-born,” said MacMenamin, 51, a stay-at-home mother from Port St. Lucie.
The national organization’s goal is to enact a constitutional amendment that would invalidate the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.
Petition drives are happening across the country. The amendment twice failed to pass in Colorado, including in 2010, when it was defeated by a 3-to-1 margin.
It has been criticized by even some pro-life groups, who believe a protracted court fight would be sure to follow, taking time and energy away from the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.
And, of course, it has become a political issue ahead of the 2012 presidential election.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, blasted the idea in a conference call with reporters last week.
“We’re sounding the alarm bells now because it’s absolutely critical that Floridians understand just how extreme this personhood campaign is,” said Wasserman Schultz.
The effects of the personhood amendment are not altogether certain, though it could make illegal some methods of birth control, including the “morning-after” pill and intrauterine devices, in addition to abortions in the case of rape and incest.
Wasserman Schultz said she conceived two children through in vitro fertilization, a procedure that might also be targeted.
Outgoing Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour shared Wasserman Schultz’s concerns over in vitro fertilization, as well as what the amendment would mean for women suffering life-threatening ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg is implanted outside a woman’s uterus.
Still, Barbour said he voted for it because he believes life begins at conception.
In Florida — where the state requires 60 percent voter approval to alter the state constitution — Personhood has at least two well-place allies in the Legislature: Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos.
Haridopolos has already signed a petition, while Van Zant, an architect with a doctorate in theology, plans to propose the “Florida for Life Act.” The bill, which failed the two previous legislative sessions, would ban abortion in nearly every circumstance by returning to pre-Roe v. Wade state law. It provides an exception when a pregnancy puts a mother’s life at risk.
“I have higher hopes because many of us have been praying more about it,” Van Zant said.
Representatives from two other well known state pro-life groups, Florida Right to Life and the Florida Family Planning Council, did not return calls seeking comment.
MacMenamin said her group plans to collect signatures regardless of the outcome in Mississippi.
“I really feel that if we do not protect life we will lose our liberty,” MacMenamin said.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/07/2491569/group-hopes-to-define-a-fe…
Florida May Face Personhood Fight Next Year - CBS Miami
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/11/04/florida-may-face-personhood-fight-n…
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Voters in Florida may see a preview in Mississippi of an abortion fight that could be coming to the Sunshine State next year.
Mississippi voters are about to decide on a highly controversial state constitutional amendment that would redefine personhood as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”
The bill is the latest move from state legislatures seeking to circumvent the Roe vs. Wade decision and effectively end the constitutionally protected right to abortion.
But, the Mississippi bill takes it a step further.
The bill would make the morning-after pill, often given to rape victims, illegal. In addition, any birth control that could destroy fertilized eggs would be banned.
Plus, in vitro fertilization would be hampered because it would become illegal to dispose of unwanted fertilized eggs.
The group behind the amendment, Personhood USA, is planning to push for a similar measure in Florida, Montana, and Ohio in the next year.
Mississippi votes on “personhood amendment” - Orlando Sentinal Blog
Catholics — posted by jeff kunerth on November, 2 2011
ReligionLink reports on the new abortion battleground: states defining the beginning of life at the moment of conception:
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, voters in Mississippi will cast ballots on a so-called “personhood amendment” that would define a person as existing from the moment of the fertilization of an egg. Abortion foes in Florida, South Dakota and Ohio are considering similar measures for 2012.
Many abortion opponents back the measure because they believe passage of Proposition 26 would effectively end legalized abortion by making destruction of an embryo at any stage and for any reason illegal.
The measure’s supporters also hope passage will spark a grassroots movement to ban abortion in other states and provide the U.S. Supreme Court with a test case to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
But some in the pro-life movement fear the opposite outcome – that Proposition 26 would be so far-reaching that it would provoke a backlash in favor of the pro-choice side, and that it would lead the high court to reaffirm Roe rather than overturn it.
In fact, the Catholic bishops of Mississippi have called the personhood amendment a “noble initiative” but said they would not support it.
Still, the Mississippi ballot measure has strong support from many well-known groups and state politicians and could make Mississippi the first state to pass such a law.
The personhood amendment is on one level just the latest skirmish in a wider battle over abortion rights that is increasingly taking place in the states rather than in Washington. Governors and legislatures are cutting funds for Planned Parenthood in some cases or are trying to pass laws that, for example, would require abortion providers to show women an ultrasound of the fetus or listen to a fetal heartbeat.
The subject is also returning as a campaign issue as the 2012 presidential election season heats up. The GOP hopefuls are being careful to court pro-life voters, while the Obama administration is angering the Catholic hierarchy and other abortion opponents with policies that many say would sharply expand coverage for abortion and contraception.
- A flood of abortion-related legislation has been introduced in state legislatures this year. Among other things, a number of states are seeking to limit private insurance coverage of abortions.
- On Oct. 13, the U.S. House passed the Protect Life Act, 251-172, a move praised by abortion opponents, including the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The measure aims to protect conscience rights of health-care workers and apply long-standing federal policies on abortion funding and was introduced in response to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by Congress in 2010.
- Americans are conflicted about the morality of abortion, but a majority say it should be legal in all or most cases, according to a survey conducted in April and May by the Public Religion Research Institute.
Personhood USA Coming to Florida this Saturday
Coming Together for the Pre-born, the Disabled and the Elderly!
Keith Mason from PersonhoodUSA will be coming to Port Saint Lucie this Saturday, July 16th from 9am to 12 pm at Grace Family Church on 6300 NW Torino Parkway, Port Saint Lucie, Florida 34986.
In the evening Cal Zastrow and Operation Save America will be coming to Orlando at 6:30 pm to 9 pm this Saturday, July 16th at Victorious Living Center, 250 N. Ivey Lane, Orlando, FL
Psalm 133:1-3, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”
In 2009 the idea of Personhood began in Florida. At that time the personhood movement was in 16 states. Now Personhood is, at various levels, in all 50 states.
Come hear what God is doing to restore Life in our nation and find out what You can do to be part of this historic move of God in our state and in our nation!
Proverbs 31:8-9 (NLT) “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.”
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.
Please come hear the new developments and strategies that are involved in ending abortion. We are watching God give us victory! But much remains to be done and the babies need You!
Looking forward to seeing you and working with you to restore our Constitutional Republic.
Bren
http://personhoodfl.com/2011/07/06/personhoodusa-comes-to-florida/
Pro-life group Personhood USA to followers: ‘bring the streets to the polling place’
by Virginia Chamlee | 06.07.11 | 12:43 pm | More from The Florida Independent
http://washingtonindependent.com/110575/pro-life-group-personhood-usa-to…
Personhood USA, the group responsible for unveiling initiatives aimed at undoing abortion and some types of birth control acrosss the country, released a new video yesterday. The clip — titled “Pro-Life? What Is It?” — urges listeners to “get off the couch” and “bring the church to the streets, bring the streets to the polling place and bring healing to our world.”
The video suggests that being pro-life is more than simply “going outside an abortionist’s office, praying and giving counseling to young women.” While a graphic of Jesus on the cross is displayed, a narrator urges supporters to ”not settle for the protection of just some, not be afraid of defeat, of the future, of death.”
In a press release, the group touted the video as its “latest contribution” and says it “serves as both a moment of self-reflection and a call to action.”
“This is the key question as we examine where we have been in the last 40 years and where we are collectively headed,” said Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA, according to the release. “The video not only helps answer this question, but we also hope it inspires lifelong pro-lifers and activates a new generation to rally in defense of the lives of every human being.”
The group, whose motto is “protecting the pre-born by love and by law,” has unveiled initiatives across the country, in an attempt to undo Roe v. Wade. Personhood supporters argue that the key to outlawing abortion is to redefine what constitutes a “person,” which they argue begins at the moment of fertilization.
Mississippi residents will vote on a personhood amendment to their state constitution in November. Similar amendments were defeated in Colorado in both 2008 and 2010. A personhood initiative is also being attempted in Florida, and while it has yet to receive the signatures required to make it on the 2012 ballot, the head of the Florida affiliate has said he remains undettered.
Watch the Personhood clip: http://www.youtube.com/user/PersonhoodUSA#p/a/u/0/IgDcihrotIA
All Good Things Must Come To An End: An Update from the PersonhoodNow! Team
After a successful summer, the PersonhoodNow! project has finally come to a close. In this final blog update, the team would like to catch you up on what's gone on since our last blog update and fill you in on what we're looking toward in the future.
Our last weeks of the project we're spent traveling throughout the state (literally, we reached every part of the state) working with local contacts.
After leaving Sarasota and Ft. Myers, we hit the road to Naples. We started off the trip by petitioning at Sonrise Christian Church which is pastored by our good friend, Mr. Tom Harris. The church family is actively involved in engaging culture. They wholeheartedly signed the petition and took thousands more for others to sign. We scooted out the door in order to visit a Grace Bible Church potluck where we spoke with the pastor of several satellite churches about getting his congregation involved.
Our hospitable hosts in Naples were the Scofield family who entertained us with exciting games of Balderdash and filled us up with lots of healthy food! We spent a day dropping off information packets to local churches and taught a training workshop for a large group of volunteers. Members and leaders of a local chapter of the Institute for Cultural Communicators attended our training event. They took thousands of petitions and decided to take on petition circulation as a group project over this next year. The church that hosted the training workshop, New Hope Ministries, rolled out the red carpet for us: They provided audio and video recording of our workshop. These recordings can be used by PersonhoodUSA to train people across the country.
The cherry on the sundae was when we were invited to an event with keynote speaker and pro-life leader, Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She herself has been involved with personhood efforts in her home state of Georgia, so she was delighted to hear about all of our progress when spoke to her before the program. During her presentation, she asked us to tell the audience about ourselves and what we are doing. Plus she thought our iPerson shirts were pretty rockin' and had one of our PersonhoodNow! volunteers come to the front to model one for the rest of the group. (What more reason do you need to order one for yourself? Visit PersonhoodUSA's online store to get your very own!). The PersonhoodNow! team was also interviewed by the Naples Daily Times during the event.
On our way from Naples to to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, we stopped at the Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park in order to stamp our National Parks Passports. We went a little further south of our destination by going to Key Largo and stretching out on beaches of the Keys.
Our friends, the Forman Family put us up (put up with us?) in Fort Lauderdale. They were such a blessing! In Fort Lauderdale, we contacted churches, met with pastors, conducted a training workshop and circulated the petition at a sunday church service at the First Christian Church of Fort Lauderdale. On Saturday afternoon, we petitioned outside a gun show. The response was mixed, but positive overall. We got into several great conversations and were able to challenge others opinions on the issue.
Our last stop of our tour of the state was the city of Jacksonville. Sarah Brooke is an all amazing PersonhoodNow! youth volunteer. In addition to finishing up courses and preparing to travel abroad for a scholastic competition, she set up several events for us to petition at, got us in contact with several churches, and wrangled a sizable crowd into coming to our training workshop. Our hosts, the Baker family, deserve an honorable mention as well. They were a very hospitable and fun family. While in Jacksonville, we met with local pastor and trained excited petitioners.
After bidding our farewell to the people of Jacksonville, we hit the road. Austin, dropped off the rest of the team in Atlanta, GA on his way back to Texas to start summer college courses. The rest of the team traveled to the Institute for Cultural Communicators' National Convention in Maryland in order to staff the event and share the Personhood message, before returning to their respective home states.
While the PersonhoodNow! Team is no longer barnstorming the state of Florida, PersonhoodFL is continuing to gain momentum. A major focus of our project was to train others and help build a statewide network of pro-life leaders. Our group was also a "guinea pig" project to see what a PersonhoodFL action team might look like. To our great satisfaction, action teams are sprouting up around the state! To find out how you can be involved, visit PersonhoodFL.com and sign up as a volunteer.
Goodbye for now from the PersonhoodNow! team. Thank you all for your prayers and support. Now go, be encouraged, and keep up the good fight for the Lord's precious children!
A Note From a Personhood Volunteer
Hello there, from sunny and breezy Florida! My name is Kristen Au from New Jersey and I arrived here to work with the Personhood Now! team on Sunday afternoon. I am thrilled to be part of everything that’s going on over here. We’re already off to an exciting start for our second week on the ground.
Sunday began bright and early at 3:45 AM – maybe I should say “dark and early” – for most of the team. Everyone woke up and headed off to petition at a triathlon at Madeira Beach. Some of the athletes were impressed that volunteer petitioners had woken up so early just to make the event!
Later that day, the team stopped by the airport to pick me up. Along our drive back, they told me stories about the past week and walked me through our schedule for the next month. The family that is hosting me during my stay here in Florida generously invited the team for dinner, where we had an amazing meal that was not only tasty, but also healthy. (Yes, Mom, I am doing a good job of eating properly while away from home. ;)) Three hours later, we had discussed history, economics, politics, religion, travels, our culture, and, of course, their two adorable dogs and had found ourselves a family of incredible supporters in the day-to-day work of our project.
On Monday morning, the team drove out to Port St. Lucie to meet with the directors of the state-wide Personhood Florida initiative, Brenda Mac Menamin and Pastor Brian Longworth. Over lunch, we talked about places and people to contact for different networking opportunities. I was so encouraged to hear about what else had been going on across the state and to see that this project is so much bigger than our small Personhood Now! team.
That afternoon, Mrs. MacMenamin took us two private Christian schools where we got to share our brand new training workshop on personhood and petitioning with the students. Running our workshop for a first time was a little nerve-racking, but the huge positive response from the students in both classes reminded me that communicating truth like this is something that really matters. It was just fantastic getting the chance to visit those schools and get the word out that there really is something we all can do about personhood. God bless Golden Rule Academy and Treasure Coast Christian School as they train future pro-life advocates to our culture!
But our chances and opportunities to do things definitely did not end there! Today has been quite a full day for us. This morning, I was reading from Oswald Chambers’ book My Utmost for His Highest and one sentence really stuck out to me: “God can do nothing for me until I get to the limit of the possible.” I was still thinking about that as we began our planning for the weekend and the next couple of weeks, having little idea how true that quote was.
Originally, we had hoped to petition at the FPEA Homeschool Convention this Friday and Saturday. As we continued to look into that, we discovered we would have to be affiliated with a booth in order to petition inside of the convention hall and that all of the booths had sold out in January. I thought we were pretty much stuck, although our team did try contacting several booths to see if they would be willing for our team to be affiliated with them so we could petition at the Convention. After many calls, the Verity Institute agreed to have us be affiliated with their booth during the Convention.
Later on, we were able to visit with local pro-life activist Shannon and talk with her about her involvement in 40 Days for Life. She shared her own knowledge with us and gave us some more contacts and support so we could continue setting up meetings, networking, and preparing training workshops. Her passion for the personhood issue was such an encouragement to me and I know I am looking forward to working with her more in the future.
Our second meeting that day was with Pastor Jon Farris from the Crosspointe Church. He was really on board with our project and even found space for us to present a bit of information about our initiative during next Sunday’s service. In addition to welcoming us to petition before and after the services, Pastor Farris is also bringing this issue to the attention of a group of pastors that he is affiliated with. Being able to see those two meetings unfold really showed me God’s hand in this project. So many open doors! I had no idea that what I expected to be a little petition drive could be this exciting!
Finally, if all of this wasn’t enough, we headed out the Ray’s game at Tropicana stadium and had a great time petitioning before the game started. It was my first time ever petitioning, but I caught on quickly and loved being out there, standing up for what I believe is right. Judging by our nice stack of petitions afterward, it looks like we chose a really good time to come out, petition, and give away plenty of magazines.
And, to cap the day off, it looks like we’ll be able to stay with a host family over in Orlando during the Convention, which will really save in travel time and costs. So, overall, today was incredible: not just amazing, but quite unbelievable. I had my idea of what was possible and then God took that and turned it into something far beyond anything I could ever expect, hope for, or even imagine. I definitely don’t want to dramatize what has been going on with our team, but wow! God is growing my faith and showing me that prayer truly matters.
PersonhoodNow! Team Update
The Lord is richly blessing the PersonhoodNow! team. This past week, we met with Pastor Danny Hodges of Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg. He got on board with the growing personhood movement by inviting us to circulate petitions at each of the church services this coming week and the week after. Additionally, he made calls to a few of his friends who also became enthusiastic about working with us. Those people recommended that we meet with people that they knew, as well. It’s exciting to see the pro-life network expand throughout the Sunshine State!
We drove to downtown Clearwater to circulate the personhood petitions at the Smile Awareness Month event. All we had to do was smile at the event organizers and they gave us a smily face donut and coffee. The guys on the team were all over that! We then walked through the streets of the downtown petitioning. Something interesting about this experience was that the Church of Scientology has its national headquarters in downtown Clearwater. We had the opportunity to not only circulate the petition, but to also witness to these people who have been led astray.
We met with a local pro-life leader, Sol Pitchon. Mr. Pitchon has a great ministry that counsels pregnant mothers, aids needy families, and raises awareness about abortion alternatives. Mr. Pitchon gave a hearty endorsement of the amendment. He connected us with churches, denominational associations, and media networks. We’re looking forward to reaching even more people within the state with these leads.
On Saturday morning, we gathered signatures at a local farmer’s market. The event was going quite well until the event organizer confronted us. She told us that we were not allowed to circulate the petition and that we had to leave the (public) property. We graciously informed her that we had a right to circulate a petition on the public sidewalk. She proceeded to call the police. When the police arrived, he reiterated to all of us that we have the right to assemble on public property as well as speak to individuals about the plight of the unborn. We learned to not back down in the face of persecution, but to stand up for our God-given and Constitutionally-insured rights.
After a long week of petitioning (a week that was made much longer by our “friend” at the farmer’s market), we hit Treasure Island beach Saturday afternoon. It was nice to be able to relax and soak up the Florida sunshine for a few hours!
Sunday morning came sooner than usual, as we had to be at Madeira beach each in time for a 5:30 a.m. triathlon. It wasn’t easy getting up that early, but it was definitely worth the effort. We gathered many signatures from the early morning exercisers. One of the triathletes (and signer of our petition) was the sponsor of the Florida ultrasound bill two legislative sessions in a row. We had the opportunity to talk to him about how the personhood initiative strikes the heart of the abortion issue! The competitors as well as the event organizers were very receptive and easy to work with.
The day ended well quite splendidly. Our New Jersey girl, Kristen Au, arrived to join the team. After finishing up college courses and other ministry obligations, Kristen was able to fly to Florida to work with us full time. She is such a joy to work with and is an invaluable asset to the PersonhoodNow! team.
Thank you for all your support so far and we’ll be sending another update very shortly!
An Update from PersonhoodUSA's Youth Team
An Update From The PersonhoodNow! Team in Florida
It didn’t take long for the team to get settled in, here in St. Petersburg. We’re staying at a house owned by Calvary Chapel and we’re incredibly thankful for their tremendous hospitality and support for what we’re doing. Our first week on the ground has been a whirlwind of activity. Since arriving, we’ve already petitioned at a number of events, including Bible studies, church services, a Tampa Rays game, and a Country Music Throwdown at the State Fairgrounds.
We met some interesting people at the country concert. As we were circulating the petitions, we came upon a group of people playing beer pong in the parking lot. We weren’t sure if we should ask them to take part in our civic matter, but we mustered up the courage to ask them if they would like to sign our pro-life petition. Their self-proclaimed spokesman announced that the game of beer pong was on hold and that everyone in the group would sign the petition. Help can come from unexpected places. Through this experience we learned to follow God’s direction no matter who he leads us to, even if the situation doesn’t appear fruitful from our human perspective.
We visited a speech and debate tournament being held by the Institute for Cultural Communicators in Lutz so that we could meet with some our mutual friends in the organization, judge debate rounds, and network with the pastor of the North Tampa Church of Christ, where the tournament was being held. He said that this initiative was definitely something that his church would like to be involved in!
Our house-mate TJ invited us to a Calvary Chapel “Life Group” Bible Study, so we came for the study and were asked to share a little bit about the personhood project. We were able to pass around the petition and everyone signed it. Many took literature and more petitions so that their friends could sign! Plus, there was free food there. It was a win-win-win-win situation.
On Sunday morning, we met with the priest at Holy Family Catholic Church before going to Covenant Bible Church in Plant City, where we gave a personhood presentation for the congregation during the service. It was exciting to see such a staunchly pro-life church that was so willing to get involved! They asked us to set up a table in the fellowship hall and everyone came to sign our petition. Those who couldn’t sign it took down our information so that they could get involved and others took extra petitions so that they could get more signatures. That evening we went to Calvary Chapel’s college group called The Remnant, where we gave another personhood presentation and collected signatures. Many wanted to learn how to circulate petitions themselves, so that they could get their friends to sign. Plus, there was an ice cream social afterwards.
I was greatly encouraged after meeting with a local sidewalk counselor who was interested in what the PersonhoodNow! team is doing. Mrs. Espisito took petitions and personhood materials to share with a Crisis Pregnancy Centers conference in Orlando and prayed over our activities while we are here. Another exciting meeting was with the pastor of Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg, which has about ten thousand attendees each week. After we shared the personhood strategy with him, he was excited to help us by talking to other pastors and allowing us to circulate petitions at Calvary Chapel.
During our “down time”, we wove together a Personhood Program that incorporates interpretive elements from Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and Frank Peretti’s Tilly. We also completed a training workshop designed to teach others how to petition and how talk about the issue of abortion effectively in the conversations that might come up. We plan to provide the training workshop and/or perform the program for any groups, clubs, or churches who are interested. If you are part of a group that would like to know more, email me at joshjcraddock@gmail.com. And of course, keep us in your prayers as we continue to crusade for personhood in the state of Florida!
