Summer of Mercy Recap

First...please watch the video of Kelly Stauffer's testimony about her abortion when she was 14 years old. It is found in the previous post and since I posted it just before this one, I don't want it to be overlooked! It is one of the most emotionally powerful statements I've ever heard.

I wanted to give you a recap of the amazing week we have had at Summer of Mercy 2.0! The week-long event kicked off last Saturday evening with a rally at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. There were a number of powerful speakers, including Wendy Wright, former president of Concerned Women of America, and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. (If you have the time and inclination, I would highly recommend checking out Father Pavone's 30-minute speech here.) But by far the highlight of the evening was the extraordinary testimony from a Philadelphia woman named Keisha, who showed up at Carhart's clinic to have a late-term abortion but changed her mind and decided to keep her baby after talking to Dr. Grace Morrison and several other caring women standing outside the clinic that morning. Dr. Morrison and other pro-life activists have provided a great deal of assistance to Keisha -- both financial help and pre-natal care -- and Keisha is now the proud mother of a new baby girl named Kayden. Keisha was hoping to be in attendance that evening, but the recent birth of her daughter prevented that, so a video presenting her story was shown on the big screen instead. A smiling Keisha had nothing but gratitude for the "beautiful people" who helped to save her daughter's life. (You can find the video of her story by clicking on the Summer of Mercy video page here and scrolling down to the first link under the heading "July 30th- Opening Rally.")

Unfortunately, my wife and I were unable to attend the the Sunday evening Youth Rally, but among the attractions that evening were a live ultrasound shown on the big screen and a live performance by Christcentric (a hip-hop group whose members attend my church) of their new song "Fight For the Children." (See the video of their performance here.)

Throughout the week, Summer of Mercy participants kept daily vigils outside of the clinic at 8:00 am, 12:00 noon, and 7:00 pm. The Monday morning and Friday evening crowds were sizable, exceeding 300 people. One of the exciting stories of the week was Leroy Carhart's decision to shut down the clinic for the week due to the Summer of Mercy protests. My pastor, Charlie Baile, gave an impassioned speech at the Friday evening vigil, which was followed by pizza and fellowship outside the clinic. (See the video of Pastor Charlie's talk here.)

Throughout the week, every effort was made to keep the protests as peaceful and prayerful as possible. Each meeting was begun on our knees in prayer. There were no shouting, graphic signs, or angry slogans. The protests showed a remarkable unity across denominational lines, with Catholic, Presbyterian, Bible, Episcopal, Sovereign Grace, and non-denominational churches all taking an active part. Operation Rescue, which has been involved in the Summer of Mercy, stated on their website that about 3/4 of the people involved in the Summer of Mercy event were area residents who had never before participated in a pro-life street rally. (Operation Rescue's website also has lots of photos and further details about the events of the past week.) We had some success in outreach to those in the immediate community. The owner of a local ice cream shop in close proximity to the clinic at first expressed anger and told us to stay away from his property, but when someone from the Summer of Mercy talked to him personally and explained what Carhart was doing, he changed his tune dramatically and even offered to let us use his shop's bathroom during our vigils! He also kept his shop open late each evening so we could buy ice cream after our evening protests. Other local business owners expressed support for what we were doing, offering to sign our petition to the Maryland Board of Physicians to shut down Carhart's clinic and even participating in the protests! One of my friends also had the opportunity to speak to some of the security guards patrolling the area and explain to them why we were there. The Montgomery County Police Department did a great job assisting us and making sure we caused as little disruption of traffic as possible. Overall, I felt our group maintained a great witness to the community.

The pro-choice crowd was also staging a counter-protest called "Summer of Choice" this past week, but their numbers were paltry in comparison with ours (at least every event I attended). I saw a few pro-choice activists on the other side of the street holding signs now and then, but that was about it. More creepily, groups of three or four of them would walk up to us when we were praying and videotape us or write down notes about us on a notepad. We were under strict instructions not to engage them in any way and to avoid shouting back (or giving any response whatsoever other than a smile) if they shouted at us, but it was never an issue at any meeting I attended during the week.

One of the final events of the week was the "Cross 4 Life" event. All of us showed up outside the clinic at 2:00 this afternoon, wearing red shirts and holding red pieces of paper saying "Prayer for the Protection of Life." We then spread out from the clinic and covered two major streets, standing in the form of a giant cross with each local church covering a different section of road. It was so exciting to see such a huge tide of red shirts -- I'm not very good at estimating the size of large crowds, but I would guess anywhere from 600 to 1,000 people were there. The road I was standing on -- Route 118 Germantown Road -- is one of the biggest arteries through Germantown, which is now the largest city in Montgomery County. So there is no question that we were forcing people to take notice. Best of all, a friend of the pro-life movement who owns a small plane agreed to fly over the area during the rally to take aerial photos of the Cross 4 Life. I am excited to see them and will certainly post them on here when they come out. At the end of the event, it started pouring down rain and we all got soaked, but I saw nothing but smiles on everyone's faces!

Please continue to pray! The Summer of Mercy events may be coming to an end, but our work here in Germantown is not done as long as Carhart's clinic stays open. After being closed for the week, Carhart's clinic is re-opening tonight and the killing of babies resumes tonight and tomorrow. We continue to maintain a pro-life presence outside of the clinic tonight and are hoping for a large turnout tomorrow morning again. Pray for Carhart and his staff, for the women who are going in to have abortions and for those who have already had abortions, for those taking a public stand for life outside of the clinic, for local pregnancy centers that provide hope and alternatives for women who need help. Most of all pray for God to change people's hearts and open their minds to see the evil of abortion, especially the late-term variety that Carhart performs.

And please sign the online petition to revoke Carhart's medical license in Maryland! I would encourage everyone to sign, but especially people who live in Maryland. The online petition is only showing a small number of signatures at the moment, but hundreds of people attending the rally have signed in person so the total number of signatures is much higher than what is showing on the website right now.