Sharen Ford, Ph.D., is a nationally-recognized child welfare consultant and the retired Manager for Permanency Services for the Colorado Department of Human Services in the Division of Child Welfare Services.  She retires with 30 years of comprehensive work history with the department.  She oversaw six programmatic areas including the Foster Care and Adoption Program and supervised a team of professional staff. 

Dr. Ford is the former President of the National Association of State Adoption Programs (NASAP) and the Association of Administrators for the Interstate Compact on Adoption Medical Assistance (AAICAMA).  She currently serves as the Director for Foster Care and Adoption at Focus on the Family and is as committed as ever to raising awareness regarding the need for every child to have a permanent family.  

Adoption and Foster Care Outreach Opportunities

Once abortion is ended in the United States, the church will need to be much more prepared to help those facing unplanned pregnancies. The first half of this presentation will share ideas and suggestions for churches to engage the foster care system and support children and families involved in it. The second half of the talk will highlight ways the churches can support adoptive families.

Dr. Michaelene Fredenburg is the President and CEO of Life Perspectives, the global authority on reproductive grief care. She is an author, guest lecturer, and sought after speaker. Within Life Perspectives, Michaelene led the creation of continuing education curricula that is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and approved by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Michaelene has also established Life Perspectives at the forefront of creating impartial and impactful research to understand the way individuals process reproductive losses, and to establish global standards for offering compassionate care.

Comforting Those Who Mourn: Our Shared Responsibility to Remember Children Lost Before Birth 

Research reveals that one of the greatest challenges men and women who experience miscarriage, abortion, or stillbirth face is the fear that their children will be forgotten. This is easy to understand in a culture that tends to treat reproductive loss as a non-event. However, this type of disenfranchised grief leaves those impacted feeling isolated and alone putting them at risk for emotional, behavioral, and spiritual difficulties. In addition to gaining a better understanding of the unique obstacles facing bereaved parents and their families, you will walk away with grief care tips that can be employed individually and as a church community to bring comfort and hope to those who mourn. 

Laura Huene, lives in Parker, Colorado with four of their children. In 2006, a mid-term diagnostic ultrasound on the baby girl they were expecting revealed a fatal condition, and, over the next few months, she was carried to term surrounded by the love of her family; baby Pearl is now in heaven. In 2007, Laura, using her experience as a Registered Nurse specializing in Labor and Delivery, began String of Pearls, a Non-profit organization focused on Perinatal Hospice. Laura combines her professional experience with, compassion and help as she serves approximately 150 families locally and nationally every year who are recognizing the sacred life of their unborn baby while also preparing to say good-bye at, or soon after, their baby’s birth. Pearl’s legacy, through String of Pearls, reaches out to help encourage other parents and families who are walking the same journey that her family continues to walk every day.

A Prenatal Diagnosis

An unexpected prenatal diagnosis can bring heartache, questions, and uncertainty into what was supposed to be a happy time. When families are encouraged to terminate the pregnancy, they are often left with little support if they make the decision to carry their baby to term. Perinatal Hospice can come alongside of families and offer individual support and care that honors and celebrates the life of their baby, no matter how long or how short that life may be. Laura will share about her baby Pearl and how churches can provide help and support to families facing a prenatal diagnosis for their unborn baby.

Priscilla Anne Hurley, MA, has over 40 years experience working in the health field, as an educator, advocate, administrator and manager.  

Priscilla has a three-layered experience with abortion.  She has lost two children from abortion, and then worked at an abortion industry in “support” of other women looking for comfort.

But her first experience with abortion was as a survivor of her mother’s attempted abortion, something she learned about when she was 19, after she aborted her first child.

Her testimony of pressing on through trials, redemption through Christ, healing and hope can resonate within the hearts of many. 

Priscilla resides in Anchorage, Alaska where her 3 adult children, their spouses and her 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren also live. 

Testimony

Priscilla will provide personal testimony on Friday morning after the morning worship service.

Monica Kelsey, is an Amazon bestselling author and the founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes (SHBB), Inc.

Knowing she was adopted her entire life, at the age of 37, Monica discovered the devastating
truth that she was conceived in rape and abandoned as an infant.

Monica is a U.S. Navy Veteran, a former firefighter & medic, and has spoken across the U.S., Japan, Ecuador, Peru, and South Africa.

She shares her personal story with thousands of people every year and has made it a personal mission to not only advocate for the sanctity of human life, but to also one day eliminate illegal infant abandonment across the U.S. and around the world.

Following God’s Purpose

Monica went from being abandoned to saving abandoned babies.  Watch as she shares her story of taking tragedy, and turning it into a life saving organization! 

Bishop Eric Menees was born in Compton, California on November 21, 1961 and is a tenth generation Los Angelino. Bishop Menees graduated from the General Theological Seminary with an M.Div and from Seabury Western Theological Seminary with a D.Min.

Following his ordination Bishop Menees served Spanish language congregations in East Los Angeles and Santa Ana in the Diocese of Los Angeles. From there he was called to the Diocese of San Diego to be the chaplain at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, California and later as vicar and then rector of Grace Church, San Marcos. In 2011 by God’s grace Bishop Menees was elected the fifth bishop of San Joaquin succeeding Bishop John David Schofield. Bishop Menees serves as bishop for Caminemos Juntos the ACNA Spanish Language ministry support network, leads the Border Bishops’ Conference seeking to evangelize and plant churches in Mexico, is the ACNA representative to the Anglican Province of South America and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Menees is married to Florence Guadalupe and has two grown children, Milagro a registered nurse, and Sebastian a firefighter.

John has been married to his wife Terri since 1988, and together they have seven children, all of whom were adopted through the Los Angeles County foster care system. John is a strong believer in and vocal advocate for permanency and justice for children, having witnessed the impact that both have had on his children. John enjoyed a career in Hollywood in film/TV production and as a screenwriter before becoming fully immersed in adoption and foster care ministry, first through his employment at Hope for Orphans, and then at Home Forever.

Currently, John is living with his family in Virginia, where he is a regular speaker at Focus on the Family’s Wait No More Adoption Conferences. They attend Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, VA and are passionate about seeing the ACNA be a part of what God is doing through the foster care and adoption movement.

Adoption and Foster Care Outreach Opportunities

Once abortion is ended in the United States, the church will need to be much more prepared to help those facing unplanned pregnancies. The first half of this presentation will share ideas and suggestions for churches to engage the foster care system and support children and families involved in it. The second half of the talk will highlight ways the churches can support adoptive families.

Lauren is an attorney whose passion for defending the sanctity of human life led her into the pro-life movement. Under Lauren’s leadership as President & CEO, Sidewalk Advocates for Life has witnessed nearly 15,000 babies saved, 80 abortion workers who have left the business, and 27 closed facilities. Lauren lives with her husband and three rescue dogs in Texas and loves bringing God’s people together across denominational lines in the pro-life movement. 

Saving Lives on the Sidewalk

While the idea of sidewalk couseling in front of an abortion clinic may not be what the Lord is calling you to do, knowing what to say to someone who is planning to have an abortion could save a unborn baby’s life. This presentation will help us understand what the expectant mom needs to hear.

Bobby Schindler is President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, Senior Fellow at Americans United for Life, and an Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Bobby advocates for the medically vulnerable in honor of Terri Schiavo, his sister.

A full-time advocate, speaker, and writer, Bobby and the Life & Hope Network have been instrumental in providing resources and support to upwards of 4,000 patients and families at risk of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and denial-of-care situations from physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and others.

Bobby is a member of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, and his writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, TIME, The Linacre Quarterly, National Review, Human Life Review, Townhall.com, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, LifeNews.com and others.

Bobby has spoken in more than 46 states and in more than a dozen countries. He has spoken especially to young people at dozens of colleges and universities, with special emphasis on medical and law students. He speaks not only with firsthand accounts of Terri’s story—which is often misrepresented by mainstream media—but also on topics relating to the medically vulnerable today, particularly including the right to food and water, medical ethics and the bioethics movement, and how to uphold human dignity for a disabled or medically fragile loved ones. He has testified before state legislatures in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, California, Kentucky, Ohio, and has addressed Members of Parliament in Australia and Canada concerning the protection of the medically vulnerable.

Bobby holds an M.S. in Bioethics from the University of Mary and a Certificate in Health Care Ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center, as well as degrees from LaSalle University and Florida State University.

Considering Human Dignity

This talk with introduce audiences to the basics of human dignity, medical ethics, and proper bioethical perspectives on delivering basic and ordinary care. It will also include issues such as “personhood” theory, futile care rulings, and the quality of life diagnosis. Appropriate for any audience but particularly young people and medical/law students.

When Robin was nine years old, Robin’s maternal grandmother told her that she had survived three abortion attempts via saline infusion, helping finally shedding light on why Robin had spent much of her childhood sick, and in the hospital.  Her life’s message is one of forgiveness and hope restored.  She is an ordained pastor, and currently serves as the Education Coordinator for the Abortion Survivors Network, where she is passionate about serving her population of Survivors by equipping them to share their stories and change culture. Robin is the author of Miracles Happen in the Wilderness, an autobiographical snapshot into the goodness of God in her life. Her life is a walking testimony of, “You intended harm to me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” – Genesis 50:20, NIV. 

Never Say Never

After overcoming three abortion attempts via saline infusion, the doctors said I’d never be able to do many basic things.  God’s helped me to not only do these things, but to equip and empower others as well.  My life is a testimony of His grace, which empowers us to overcome.

Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and was honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia.

An attorney by training, Wesley left the full time practice of law in 1985 to pursue a career in writing and public advocacy and has since published thousands of articles, columns, and opinion pieces on issues pertaining to the moral importance of human life. Wesley addresses the entire spectrum of bioethical issues, particularly relating to conscience, patient protection, eugenics, suicide, transhumanism, medical ethics, and law and policy. Wesley’s writing has appeared nationally and internationally, including in Newsweek, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, the Weekly Standard, National Review, The Age(Australia), The Telegraph (United Kingdom), Western Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Bioethics.

Wesley has appeared on more than a thousand television and radio talk/interview programs, including such national shows as ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, CNN World Report, CBS Evening News, EWTN, C-SPAN, Fox News Network, as well as nationally syndicated radio programs, including Coast to Coast, Dennis Miller, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Afternoons with Al Kresta, and EWTN.

Wesley is often called upon by executive branch officials, lawmakers, and policy advocates to advise on issues within his fields of expertise. Wesley has testified as an expert witness in front of federal and state legislative committees, and has counseled government and business leaders internationally about matters pertaining to bioethics and other issues about which he advocates.

Euthanasia and Organ Harvesting: A Dangerous Combination

Wesley will look at the international development of a constitutional right to commit suicide, and be assisted, for any reason. And will discuss how this is specifically a threat for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s. He will also share how the conjoining of euthanasia and organ harvesting is becoming the new normal once a state legalizes hastened death.

Professor O. Carter Snead is one of the world’s leading experts on public bioethics – the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods. His research explores issues relating to neuroethics, enhancement, human embryo research, assisted reproduction, abortion, and end-of-life decision-making. He is the author of What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (Harvard University Press, October 2020), which was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “Ten Best Books of 2020,” received the 2021 “Expanded Reason Award” (given by Francisco de Vitoria University (Madrid) and the Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation), and has been reviewed or featured in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Bloomberg Opinion.

What it Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics

Based on his new book with the same title, Professor Snead helps people understand how laws impacting the human body must consider the very nature of what it means to be human – so the laws can be effective in helping those they are intended for.

By God’s grace, David Williams is a champion for the unborn, a minister of compassion to men and women in crisis due to an unplanned pregnancy, and an instrument of healing and grace to those, men in particular, who are hurting from a past abortion. 

The Importance of the Man

Our society has disregarded and minimized the man in an unplanned pregnancy. This has allowed men to shirk their responsibilities as fathers to their preborn children leaving their partners more vulnerable for an abortion as they often shoulder the full responsibility for the outcome of the pregnancy. As we validate men in their roles as fathers this helps them to see that they have an obligation to their preborn child.  This also helps men who have experienced abortion to see that there is a loss of fatherhood that needs to be healed. This presentation will challenge us to see that we can play a significant part in decreasing the number of babies killed and women suffering from abortion by being intentional in our ministry and outreach efforts to the man.