A presentation from the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center and the Prestonwood senior choir took place in SWBTS Chapel on September 25, 2025.
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Jonathan Teague
Well. Thank you so much. Dr. Grace and good morning, Southwestern family. It really is a privilege and an honor, just for me with such an affection for this seminary, this is I remember Dr Dockery coming to seminary as a student, and think back with a lot of fondness to those days, even in I guess this is a good time to confess this, because 20 years past my degree, but while I was hurrying to get studying done and papers written and be on time and do all the things that you’re doing as a young man in seminary, I remember back with great, great affection to those days when we would stop and come together for chapel and for work. Worship.
And you know, student body, you need that. You need these times. You need these moments in the middle of all the things that you’re doing, to be able to come and to worship and to stand with this great faculty and this great team that loves you and has dedicated their life and their ministry to serve you, to equip you, to teach you and to train you. And so, I want to just say again, on behalf of all of us that are here today from Preston wood, this wonderful choir. Can we tell them thank you one more time for leading us in worship today. Really, all the folks that are in that loft are near and dear to my heart, and I see one of our pastors there, Alan Moore.
He’s going to be really upset at me that I’m calling his name out right now, but he’s a wonderful servant of the Lord, and I believe, a southwestern alumnus as well, if I’m not mistaken. So, Alan Moore, thank you. Love you, brother. Thank you for your leadership, and it is an honor and a joy for us as a church family, really, to join with our Southwestern family, to be able to be here today to encourage you and really just to amplify the work that we’re doing that really the spirit of the seminary, and it’s been our story here at Southwestern for all these many years, is to be a place where the next generation of pastors and ministry leaders and missionaries can come and be trained and equipped and then sent out and launched and literally around the world, the Ministry of southwestern Seminary has done that and has touched the lives and intersected the ministries of countless 1000s of folks over the generations of the Lord’s church here and abroad that are out and amongst God’s people, serving the Lord’s church, advancing the kingdom of God and the witness of the gospel.
And it’s, it’s the work that’s done here in this place and amongst these people, that’s fundamental to the work that is done beyond the days that you serve here. And that’s been true of my testimony, my life Southwestern Seminary is a special place in my story, not only for my time here in my master’s work, and then now coming back, really honored to serve as Dr Grace said, as one of our adjuncts in our doctoral program here. And I’m really honored and thankful that I get to come back and serve and invest back in a place that’s invested so much in me, my dad, my father was a graduate of southwestern seminary. My wife’s father is a graduate of southwestern seminary, and this is a special place in my wife and I’s life and in our story. And so I just want to say again. Dr. Dockery, thank you to you to Dr, Grace. I see so many friends and Dr. Richard Ross a dear man that I love. And Dr Yarnell encouraged me in my theology and my training, and just so many others names that we could call out in this place today who are giving of themselves to serve so students. I just want to say that by way of introduction, I hope that you take time before you leave this place to acknowledge the work that these folks are doing to pour into you, that you tell them thank you.
And they didn’t tell me to say this, by the way, this is just on my heart, but I know they’re happy that I’m saying it, but to tell them thank you for the investment that they’re making in your life and to remember the time that you spend here, and remember the moments that you share, the work that you do, the papers that you write, the exams that you take and pass for the glory of God, and that you don’t just use seminary. And our intern community is here, and many of them are Southwestern students. Would you take a moment and welcome all these students that are here with us today? Love them and so grateful for the unique partnership and ministry that we share here at the seminary in particular, and it’s a one of a kind relationship that we have in training the next generation of leaders.
And so I will just share with you and say, Dr. Dockery, with your blessing, just with the nature of our partnership with the seminary to be able to provide opportunities for you to come receive ministry training within the life of our church. And I’m thankful for these students that are doing that with us. Many of them now have done that for over a year, some of them too and beyond. As they’re completing their studies, they’re also serving with us. We believe in an integrated approach and an immersive philosophy and ministry that as you are learning all the things you need to learn in the center environment, which is critical that you’re also serving the Lord’s Church along the way.
And so we’ve made we’ve purposed as a church family to be intentional about that and provide a place for you to be trained. I’d be thrilled to talk with you more about that after we’re done today, and Leanne is doing that as well in the context of our pregnancy center ministry. She’s going to talk more about that, but why we’re here today, and why I’m so thankful to be able to stand with this wonderful leader and a dear friend of mine, Leigh Ann Jamison, who directs our pregnancy center, ministries and centers and the work of the center. All of that comes from a conviction that we have as a local church and our pastor, Dr Jack Graham, who many years ago now, almost 35 years ago, when he came to serve as our pastor, not within a year, he was already casting vision for us as a church about what we should be doing as it relates to the advocacy for the unborn. And that advocacy flows out of a theology, and you know this, but it’s worth. And saying, We know what the scripture says to us as it relates to what the Lord thinks about those whom he has made image bearers, all of us. And we know what Genesis one chapter.
Chapter one says, we are made in God’s image. But the psalmist goes on to say, in a passage I know you’re familiar with in Psalm 139, beginning in verse 13, the Scripture says, For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Could the Scripture be more clear about what the Lord thinks about the unborn? Amen? And so this, hello, amen, okay, just making sure you’re with me on a Thursday morning, because this is fundamental to where we are in our journey as ministry leaders. Now, you know, there is a culture and a worldview and an ideology that stands directly against this theological disposition that the Lord’s church is called to take biblically. So I would just say this morning to those who feel called to preach in this room that will be serving the Lord, advancing the work of God’s kingdom through the local church and beyond this position is a biblical position our view on the sanctity of life, the sacredness of all life, every life, including those yet to be born, but living in the womb, at conception, those image bearers, those little babies in that mother’s womb, we see right here from the pages of God’s inherent word that the Lord holds those little ones yet born but seen and made by God with immense value.
And so the psalmist says in verse 14, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful. Are your works. My soul knows it well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven into the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed substance, and your book were written every one of them. The days formed for me when, as yet, there was none of them. And by the way, the Lord’s talking about you as well, everybody in this room, everybody in that choir loft, every professor, faculty member, leader, student in this room. Do you know that you are precious in the Lord’s sight? Say, Amen. If you know that you are made in God’s image, fearfully, wonderfully, carefully, creatively, expertly made by a sovereign, holy and loving God, and your life has a plan and a purpose, ultimately, to honor, to know the Lord Jesus and to glorify Him and advance his kingdom.
But you are by no means an accident. You were made with great design and intentionality by a holy, loving father. So it stands to reason that for us as a local church, and I would say at every faithful local church that believes in the Word of God and understands the character of our God and the value and dignity and worth of every person, including the unborn, that we would take this stand, a stand for the sacredness and the sanctity and therefore the protection of every life, including those yet to be born. So you say, Why would Preston, would Baptist Church involve themselves in a ministry like this. Why would we have not one, not two, but three and growing pregnancy centers, places of advocacy for moms afraid, vulnerable and affected by a new situation in their lives?
Leanne, a new story where they find themselves carrying a little one and they don’t know what to do, and there is a world and a worldview telling them that ending that child’s life is right, and we would say, in accordance with the Scripture, in an agreement with the character of God, know that God has a better way that’s for His glory and for the blessing of that mom and that precious Little one yet to be born. So why does Prestonwood Baptist Church and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary share such a bonded partnership to the degree that we would take dirt and brick and mortar and people and resources and time and invest in a location here at our seminary to be a place of advocacy, where babies are saved, moms are loved, families are healed, lives and stories are changed forever. So Leanne, our pregnancy center ministry is now going into its 35th year.
You’re doing an incredible job. I see some of your team here today and countless others, and we see Miss Norma here at our center and others that are leading out. We love this partnership and again. Dr. Dockery, thank you for your vision and Dr. Grace and so many others, and your friendship and allowing us to do this together. This is, in every way, friends what the church ought to be about. This is the business of the Lord’s church to stand right in the middle of all of the spiritual attack in this space and to advocate for the unborn and for these moms and for these stories and so Leanne, that’s what we do. We do it into the tune of 1000s of stories every year. So, share with this group a little more, maybe the story of the centers, and a little bit about what God is doing in this space and why we care so much.
Leanne Jamieson
Well, thank you. Thank you, Jonathan, and thank you for having us, not just here today, but on your campus. I can already, I’m going to share with you already what the Lord. Is doing here at Southwestern and with that, partnership with the pregnancy center is nothing but miraculous, and I’m excited to get to give all praise and honor to the Lord on that but I love what you just said, because the truth of the matter is that the imago day is not just theology, it’s a declaration of worth. And so that means that every life, whether it be a baby or an elderly man in hospice, all carry intrinsic value. And that is why we exist. We exist in a culture right now that tells us that life is disposable. You know, back when we started 10 years ago, or when I started 10 years ago, we were still having discussions in the sonogram room about whether or not that child upon that ultrasound screen was a baby. Do you know that no longer is the discussion?
The discussion now centers around, what is this going to do to my life? And so that’s what I love about the pregnancy center, and what we have been able to do over the last 35 years is that we get to sit with young women and men who find themselves in that unplanned pregnancy, and we get to ensure that they feel seen. Sometimes it’s the first time they’ve truly felt seen, that we get to ensure that they feel love and they get truth, and that truth is wrapped with mercy, grace and His love. And here’s what I will tell you, when a young woman or a young couple or young man walks through our doors and we sit and we listen and we ask good probing questions out of true concern, then what happens is all of that begins to peel away, all the things that they have tried to self-protect their heart with, start to come away. And we get to share the truth about life, and we see over 86% of the time, Jonathan, we see that abortion determined or strongly abortion, vulnerable women choose life.
Jonathan Teague
So I know that, and that’s just by way of just sharing with you as a community, as you pray for us and as we partner together, so you understand the fruit of this ministry and the work that our team does day in and day out. And you may wonder, you know, what happens at a pregnancy center like this, and why, by the way, would it be directly affiliated with the Ministry of a local church? I want to speak to that for a moment again, and then I want you to talk about, you know, the, not only the purpose and the function of the centers, but maybe elaborate more to the nature of the work and the things that we’re doing for these moms, once these little babies are saved and held on to and loved. And you know, part of the reason family why, why we are so committed to this space, and I’m really thankful for our pastor’s vision on this many years ago, and that each year this this ministry, this opportunity, has grown.
But not only, as Leanne said and what we shared a moment ago, just biblically, the foundation for the reason for this ministry, but also practically. And one of the things that you learn, I know you do here, and I know I did at seminary, is not only the theology and the doctrine of the Church, history and the language, which all by the way, and our students have heard me say this for years, is essential, but not only our orthodoxy, but our orthopraxy, that is the practice of our ministry, the function, the application of our theology. Jesus says in John 15, Abide in me and you and I and you, and abiding in me, you will bear much fruit. And apart from me, you can do help me nothing which boy, if Jesus is right on that, and he always is, then we’re in trouble if we’re not walking in the Spirit and abiding in the work the Lord has for us. But I don’t know about you, but, but I want to bear fruit in the Lord.
I want my ministry. I want I want my time, my effort, my passion, our work, the work of our church and these sinners out. We want it to bear fruit and when it’s tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit of God, and it’s front facing towards people like Jesus would be, then we believe that fruit comes. And you hear that fruit in the stories of saved babies and restored moms. And what we’ve decided as a church, and my prayer for you is that you go out, whether to plant a church or on the mission field or partner in ministry in some way, or pastor and preach, my prayer is that you’ll be filled with an enthusiasm and a passion today to say, you know, in my ministry then and maybe even now, I want to give of myself and lead my church to do the same to get where people are. Listen to me. Look right at me. If your ministry isn’t about helping people and bringing people to the foot of the cross, then brothers and sisters, I love you, but now more than ever, in the day in which we live when we’re.
Seeing in real time people’s lives being cut down for the gospel. If you’re not passionate about the work of Jesus and intersecting the lives of people, then I’m not sure, in the long run, you can call it ministry. But if you’re serious about loving people and bringing people to Jesus, then you’ll use every effective means possible, biblically and righteously, to get where people are and be unafraid with the messiness that comes from that. How many of you can bear witness this morning that sometimes ministry is really messy? Can we admit that together and that we’re okay with that we’re okay with the fact that it’s not always convenient and easy and even comfortable, but friends, it’s necessary. It’s necessary that we love people in the way that Jesus would love them. So. So why would a local church not just go partner with other centers and play that’s a good question.
But for us, we felt so compelled that we felt like having a center and a network of centers connected to us as a local church not only guards our doctrine and theology and what we believe, so when we’re sitting with women and talking with them, we’re doing it through the lens of faithful and biblical interpretation. I see some of our volunteers here and others that have spent time and serve. My own daughter has served with Leanne the last two summers at our center. We do it under the authority of the Word of God and with a heart full of passion for people to meet Jesus. So as a local church, we’ve knitted together with this ministry. This is our ministry as a local body. And so at the end of the day, it flows from the preaching and the proclamation of the Word, and because of that, we’re able to love these women that come to the center well, not only from a medical perspective, but really from a soul perspective as well.
Leanne Jamieson
I mean, I love that about my calling, that what I get to do is that, at its foundation, this is a Jesus ministry. It is a gospel ministry. And I tell my staff all the time, I am not here to just make an earthly difference. I want to make an eternal difference, and so we know that there are immediate needs that that young woman or that young couple may have, and we’re going to address those felt needs, but eventually we’re going to get to their true need, and that’s the need of a Savior. So yeah, incredible ministry. So grateful. I love my church, and I love that we serve under a pastor that doesn’t just stand in the pulpit and talk about the issue of life, which, by the way, fewer and fewer pastors are doing that are standing in the pulpit and proclaiming the truth.
They see it as a political issue. Let me help you out right now. This at its heart, and any of us that work in the center can guarantee and promise you this. It is not a political issue. It is a spiritual issue that feeds political decisions, and we aren’t going to see the end of abortion if we don’t have revival in our lands through just a movement of Christ, Jesus, which is, by the way, such an exciting time right now to watch what is happening around our nation well.
Jonathan Teague
Because I know something that Leanne, you talk about a lot, and one of the issues friends that we often encounter in our ministry in this space is the idea of Accessibility to abortion and just by way of education, I think this would be helpful this morning for you to know and understand. Many of you, perhaps, are paid to pay close attention to this issue. I hope, as ministry leaders, you do that you’re watching carefully how this conversation unfolds in the culture, and we see, obviously, in the witness of of men like Charlie Kirk, and I’ll just call his name out this morning, just to keep us in reminding of what we’ve seen and we’re experiencing and the power of that testimony. And I think the spirit of what was happening there in our college campuses is young people in particular, who, by the way, Barna study just came out, and we were talking about this at the North Campus suppressor this past Sunday. Barna study just came out this year that Gen Z, Dr Ross, is now attending 1.9 times a month to church.
You might think, well, that’s still not quite two, and that’s not quite half, and that’s still kind of depressing, yeah, but you think about it, our baby boomers are only coming 1.4 times, translation, almost twice a month. Gen Z, on average, is coming to church. That means they’re coming, that means they’re interested. That means they’re paying attention. That means that there is a quest and a question for truth amongst the youngest in our culture right now that ought to give us some hope, and it ought to alert us. It ought to make us aware of the fact that in this window, this moment that I believe we’re living in right now, that you are being trained and prepared to step right into in your ministry. So I hope on a Thursday morning at Southwestern seminary campus, you’re a little excited this morning about what God’s calling your life is.
I hope you are, and I hope that you’re thinking about how God might raise you up in this time, in this moment, to step into ministry and intersect a world right now that’s listening and paying attention. I hope that fires you up, because we need you. We need you excited and energized for the work of the Lord in the coming days, friends, because I just really believe I believe this with all of my heart. That’s why I think theological education is so essential to the degree that we’ve committed an entire ministry of our church to partnering with our seminary in training our youngest leaders. Because the ability to be equipped and trained energizes us to meet the needs of the day. And when we think about the openness that people have juxtaposed against the accessibility of abortion, Roe v Wade being dealt with at the Supreme Court level, we praise God for that. Roe didn’t turn 50, but accessibility is still an issue, and that I mean availability still is a need for the church.
Leanne Jamieson
Yeah, I think what happened over the last four years is that abortion access really exploded online. And this much we know that online providers are not they do not respect borders. So although I am so thankful that we’re in a state that had a trigger law and made abortion illegal, it is far from unattainable, and so that means accessibility to people like ourselves through the Prestonwood pregnancy center has become even more critical. Remember, I don’t want you to lose hope, because Jesus Christ is bigger than even the internet, and he is figuring out ways for us to engage those that are on there that are seeking abortions through mail order medication. But I will say that that makes our accessibility even more important, which is why we are on your campus just around the corner from here. You know, I want to also point out we as a Prestonwood pregnancy center with you.
We are a mission field. Please hear me. We are not a medical clinic, although we operate a medical clinic, and we aren’t there to just provide counsel and baby bottles and diapers and formula and all the things that we provide, because we are not pro birth. We are pro life, and that means walking with that woman as long as she needs us to. But we are there to be a beacon in the darkness, and we get a chance it. I have, I have said this having been on church staffs for a long time when I came to the pregnancy center, I mean, I just thought, why did I not understand that this was available to me as a believer, to step into and engage my neighbors, that the people coming to us are not they are people that you know. There are people that are on your street and in your in your in the in your schools that you grew up in, they are in your grocery store. I can’t tell you how often when I’m wearing my name tag and I’m going through a checkout store, I’ll have a young lady quietly say to me, Hey, I went to you guys a couple of weeks ago, and it just blows my mind, how are just the reach this ministry has for him?
It’s a very special, special place, I will tell you probably right now, as we sit in this room, there is, in all likelihood, a young woman who’s probably driven up to our pregnancy center. And I can promise you, she’s probably sitting in her car, gripping her steering wheel and trying to will herself to walk through our doors. And what she needs is to be able to meet with one of God’s people who can love her to who can help her problem solve. Guess what? We aren’t the heart changers. We serve the heart changer. Pressure off. You just have to be able to listen, ask good questions and help her problem solve. And it’s interesting when we can just help slow her down and rather have her react to her situation, which is what the abortion industry is trying to get her to do, and we can get her to respond now she’s able to make a healthier decision, not just for her, but her unborn child. And the other thing I do want to also say, because there’s young men in listening today, the Prestonwood pregnancy center is not a woman’s ministry.
It is a family ministry, and more and more, we are seeing the fathers of the baby come and be a part of her journey. Now you would think that’s great news, right? Right? He’s showing up. 10 years ago, was rare for us to see the father of the baby, but now, with increasing regularity, he is He is coming. But here is the rub. The world has told him, it’s her body, her choice. So what has happened is men have lost their voices in this arena, in this discussion. And is not unusual for one of our male client advocates, one of our volunteers, to sit with that young male and ask him the question, if she wanted to continue this pregnancy, would you walk alongside of her, only to be met with total like, I mean, I don’t even, I even thought of that. Is that even okay? Is that even Yeah, it’s not, it’s her, and we hear it so regularly, but it’s her body. It’s her choice. And, you know, we have, we have work to do.
But let me just tell you, it is exciting to be a part of the ministry like this, because we are seeing God move. And the other thing I just wanted to share quickly, and I when we moved on to the seminary campus, I really thought it was going to take a while for us to get up and really be able to make a difference in the community. It is not unusual that when you’re starting a pregnancy center from the ground up, like we were doing here, that it’s going to take a while for the community to know about us. And in fact, actually, we took a took a little bit with Fort Worth city council, and I’m so appreciative that we got here to get a sign, but we opened anyways, no sign, not marketing yet for that that location, let me just tell you how much I know that the Lord wanted us here because my in my own might I decided it was My job to prepare my staff.
You see, we see about 32,000 clients a year at our other locations. It’s quite busy. I didn’t want them moving into Fort Worth and being disappointed if when it was a slow start. So I did all the preparation as their shepherd to kind of prepare their hearts that this could take a while, and if we even see just two or three women that first month, we’re going to call that a win, because it’s about the one for us. And so that very first day, I’m like, you know, you know, nobody get their hopes up, and we have a lot to still do. Three women showed up. It was like the Lord looked at me and what are you going to let me plan this, or are you going to I would love I’m so excited to let you know that by the end of June, we had had over 1200 client visits at that pregnancy.
Jonathan Teague
Praise the Lord for that. That’s pretty awesome.
Leanne Jamieson
I mean, even in the first month, we had 45 women who were abortion determined choose life right down the street.
Jonathan Teague
And so seminary family that’s right here in your backyard, in our in our backyard, here together. And so for students, and particularly, and I know you would say, and again, I want to just thank Dr Dougherty, I can’t say enough about the warmth and the friendship and the openness on the part of the leadership of the seminary. And hard to see the application of this ministry into not only just the real time mission field that this is here in our city, but also for the opportunity that’s available to you as a student here, to be able to come alongside, to be a part of the work, to share, to minister, to learn, to grow into your expertise and awareness and understanding of this space.
I think Leanne and I would both just echo to you again how critical it is for you as an emerging leader in ministry that you become overly educated in this space, that you become conversant and aware of the laws of the states that you’re going to go serve in, and the policies and the dispositions of those in government that are some trying to do good work in this space and in other states, incredibly abortion minded and highly abortion advocates, and to be aware of that in ministry, to understand where there’ll be good partnership and where there may be barriers. And to pray, I think that’s something we would also tell you as well, by way of application, is to pray and pray and then pray some more. Pray for those that are in these centers and here at our Fort Worth Center on the campus, that the Lord would put a hedge of protection and blessing around our sinner and those that work there, pray for what’s said and what’s spoken and what’s shared, that it would be clear and right.
I hope you’re writing this down. Pray that the enemy would have no foothold in those conversations. Amen. Pray that there would be smooth and clear path. Pathways of understanding. When we talk about women who are abortion minded, did you hear that number? 32,000 clients a year and growing, and that’s just through our centers. There’s so many others around the nation that are like minded in this way, just to give you some hope and encouragement, but simultaneously, we need to pray. We need to pray that God would stir in the hearts of these women and these dads, and for those that are having the conversations, that they’ll be clear, that they’ll be understanding, and that there’ll be no fear.
Philippians 4 says, “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, right with prayer and petition.” And this is one of the prayers that we would present to the Lord, is that he would give us favor in these conversations. Some of you in the days ahead, because of your desire and affinity to be a part of a ministry like this. While you’re a student here, you’ll be able to come alongside and serve and and be able to intersect these conversations, these moments. We’re praying for you that God will equip you and enable you in that moment to be clear with the message and with and with what needs to be said in that moment. And on average, I know I’m throwing this without maybe having in front of you, but I bet you probably know. Last year, best guess how many women trusted Jesus as a result of their time spent at the Preston pregnancy Center?
Leanne Jamieson
We were around 200 last 200 people
Jonathan Teague
Amen. Trusted Christ. And as Leanne said, this isn’t just for the moms. That’s the front line, but there’s these young men that are coming alongside and we’re able to create advocacy through the work that we’re doing there. So guys in the room, this is not a women’s ministry. Men in the room, young men in this room, young pastors in this room, leaders, you have a role to play in this ministry in the days ahead, you need to be championing this from your pulpit. You need to be championing this in your ministry. And right now, you could give up your time to go right across it. We’ve made it easy for you now, come on, go right across the street and go stand with a young lady or a team, or stand with a young man. I’ve seen it in real time, young men that come into the lobby of our sinners, and most of the time they are not apathetic, they are terrified.
That’s good, and the Word says that perfect love drives out fear, and we need an army of young men and women in the days ahead, seminary trained, filled with passion, who would stand in a lobby with a young man who’s facing the most critical decisions of his life and recognize that the real decision that he needs to make is to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, and that everything about his story and the family that they’ve started, whether they realize it or not, could be changed By the power of the gospel Southwestern. Do you believe this morning that God can still work like that? We believe it, and that’s why we do it. That’s why we’re so invested in this ministry.
So we’ve heard the stories and the salvations. And I think Leanne, as we close this morning, because I know you could talk about this forever. We both could maybe by way of just encouragement and challenge. What would you say to our our seminary community is a way for them to beyond just prayer. How can they get more involved and active, and particularly what we’re doing here on the campus of the seminary?
Leanne Jamieson
Yeah. I mean, we need you is the truth, and we need you to come and know and understand that you don’t know who’s going to show up, who’s not going to show up, what those divine appointments are, you know, it truly is pastoral training in real time. It’s discipleship ground zero for us. It’s where your theology can become a testimony. It’s where you can make a difference and learn also just to understand, I guess, you know, I would also say Jonathan, when I started at the center, I’ve been on church staff for quite, quite some time, I thought I had a good feeling for what our community was dealing with, and The struggles and the trauma that some of our young people were walking through, and I didn’t, until I came to the pregnancy center, really get a grasp on that.
And so I think it really is going it could be really changing for churches in America, for mission fields all across this world, if people get to come in and understand and see just really where people are at and they’re hurting, and when they come to us, they’re just so honest and that, you know, I think one of the things I love about this ministry is that honesty And that transparency, and, you know, that’s where you get to step in, and Christ begins to work through you. And it’s, it’s pretty powerful. I love it. It’s, it’s hard, but I love
Jonathan Teague
It’s amazing. It’s in a beautiful ministry. And I would just ask friends, would you just take a moment just to acknowledge Leanne and the work of her team and thank her and all of them for their ministry. Dr, Grace, I just feel a little prompted with your blessing. I didn’t really ask about this, so this, I hope this is I think it’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure it’ll be okay. I know our time is just about gone. Could I have both humans blessing and permission to do something right now, I just feel prompted to. Do this, because I know we have prayer warriors in this room. I don’t know what your custom is. Typically, in chapel. Before we go today, I want to ask something this morning. Can you just find two or three people around you right now? Can you do that right now? Can you move? Just move a little bit. Find a couple of people nearby. I want us to pray. Can we do this? I just want us to pray.
I think if we’re going to, if we’re going to ask the Lord to anoint this in our work and our partnership and the movement of God in this space and on this campus, I just feel led of the Lord that we pray right now, that we obey the scriptures. So faculty, professors, staff, students, if you are nearby a faculty member, go find them. But nobody be alone right now. So interns, Prestonwood, interns, I want you to lead here. If you don’t have somebody to pray with, go if you see somebody in the room doesn’t have somebody, everybody have somebody right now.
Choir, you’re in on this too, all right. But I want us. I want us just to pray right now. We’ve raised the awareness. You’ve heard the need. You see the work. You see the investment, the partnership, the stewardship. But listen, brothers and sisters, we know this. No, no good, great work of God that will bear fruit in the long run will do so absent of prayer and a begging of God to pour out. And we’re as serious as we could ever be when we say this right now, this is the time we are living in a moment, and if we’ll but just beg God and ask Him like never before to use us as His ambassadors in spaces like these. I believe that a watching world that is expecting the church to be asleep at the wheel will find an alive and awakened people of God standing ready to proclaim the gospel.
So I want us to pray right now. And I want to ask with just a couple of folks that are nearby, I want to just direct us in two ways as we go this morning. One, will you just pray that the Lord will bring people to these places, to these centers here at the campus of southwestern seminary? Will you pray that God will lead women here to have these moments of conversation. Let’s do that right now, somebody in your circle, just pray, Lord, bring people to us. Pray that prayer right now. You Jesus, just continue to pray, and in an attitude of prayer, here’s our final prayer this morning, as you praying that God would bring his people, bring these women, bring these little, yet unborn babies carried in these wounds into the doorways of our sinners and our center here at the campus of southwestern seminary. Now will you pray this?
And there’s no sweeter sound than the worship of God’s people and the unified prayer is what Jesus called us to in John 17, Lord make us one as you and I are one, a unity, a prayer of unity. And so dear friends, I would just ask that you pray this as well as God brings us people. Would you pray that the Lord would save and rescue these little babies by changing the minds of these women, and that you would pray that God would save them and write a new family, a new story in the lives of these women and these men and these families. Would you pray for salvation. Pray for save lives and pray for salvation. Pray that right now, before we go, you courageous Jesus. So, Father, now you hear the voices of your people and Lord, we say together as men and women being trained and equipped. Father, that you would in the words of Second Timothy, 2:15 Lord, that we would present ourselves as workmen approved, not lacking in anything, holding out the word of truth rightly and righteously. Father, we’re asking in a fresh and new way for every man and woman in this place, myself included, that you would break our hearts over this issue. Father, let it not be said of our generation that it was too much and too hard and we were too busy and too distracted and no Lord, our prayer is that you’d mobilize us like never before as ambassadors of You, Lord Jesus, that our churches and our lives would be a lighthouse of hope and truth.
Father, we understand right now on the streets of Fort Worth as you’ve positioned this beautiful, wonderful, prolific, prominent seminary that stood here for decades as a lighthouse and a beacon training pastors and leaders and missionaries right now. Father, along the streets that flank this seminary, there are women driving by, and the enemy is lying to them, saying that baby’s not worth it, it’s inconvenient, it’s not the right time. It’ll change your life. Father, we know where those lies come from. And Jesus, we know what you’ve said, that you’re the author of life. So Lord, I’m praying right now supernaturally, somehow, someway, by the power of your Spirit, that there be women, even now as we pray, driving by this place, who would somehow, in some way, just be drawn by You, Holy Spirit, to the doors of the Prestonwood pregnancy center on the campus of southwestern seminary.
Hello, rather than be tempted to receive and believe the lies of the devil and the apathy of a world that’s lost and broken, that you’d lead them onto this campus right behind where we’re standing. Lord, drive them down that road, pull them up into that parking lot, walk them into that lobby, put them in front of an advocate, someone who loves them and cares about them and father as they enter that building, not only themselves, but with that precious child in their mind, made in your image, Lord, I pray that that woman, that mom, that little one Father, would be saved and rescued today, and father, they would Choose life that that baby would live, and that ultimately, Lord, that mom would experience eternal life, would know the life that comes to the hope and the power of the gospel. Jesus, we’re ready to give our lives for this, the cause of the gospel.
Let us Jesus, be the generation hands and feet of yours, bringing life and hope and healing to a world that desperately needs it. Father, thank you for this wonderful place, for the leadership, for the love, for the partnership that we share, seminary and church people together wanting to see you do a work in our day, Jesus, would you do it, and as you do it, Father, we will be so quick to give you the glory and to continually commit ourselves to the work of your gospel And all God’s people said, Amen. Love you Southwestern thank you for the time today.
