Standing for Life in Everyday Life: In Your Workplace, Your School, or Your Community
Robyn Chambers: Welcome, everyone. This is an exciting topic and one I feel like is very relevant in our culture in this post-Roe world. And I wanted to start with something. Every Christmas I spend some time with the Lord. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I do say, okay, Lord, am I still where I’m supposed to be? Am I doing what I’m supposed to do?
And He gave me this Scripture. This is out of 2 Timothy. For there’s going to come a time when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who tell them just what they want to hear. They won’t listen to what the Bible says, but will blindly follow their own misguided ideas. This is really my favorite part. Stand steady, don’t be afraid for suffering for the Lord, bring others to Christ, and leave nothing undone that you ought to do.
So, as I was looking at that Scripture and preparing for today, that’s something that I feel like all of us are called to do. To tell the truth with love, with winsomeness, but to stand firm and to not be afraid.
And we know right now the culture is not real positive toward the decision that happened June 24th. So, I thank you, each of you for being here today and for what you’re doing, standing for life, standing for truth. Let’s jump in and share your heart. And of course, Ryan, I’m gonna start with you.
Ryan, can you share what got you into your role of journalism and how you’ve seen the approach to sharing the truth, shape the community around you?
Ryan Bomberger: If I can go back just a little bit, just to talk about my family, because that would probably be the biggest influence. I grew up in a tiny family of 15. I have six brothers, six sisters. Ten of us were adopted, and I was the first one adopted. I was conceived in rape, but I was adopted in love.
And so, that actually forms the foundation for what I do, the organization that my wife, Bethany and I run, the Radiance Foundation.
But I will say my influence with journalism started back in sixth grade when I was introduced to a historical figure, Frederick Douglas, and I just remember being so blown away by someone against all odds who was probably the most eloquent orator of his day, but he was so frustrated that slavery, the fake news media at that time, would not tell the truth about slavery, right?
And what did he do? Did he give up? Do you say there’s nothing I can do? No, he started his own newspaper called the North Star, and I love the slogan of the North Star. It said, “Truth is of no color; right is of no sex. God is the father of us all. We are all brethren.”
And I think, I just remember in sixth grade because I created my first little newspaper fashioned after, the North Star. Everything that I write for me today is about the North Star. And I think of the Journalist’s Creed. Why am I doing this? Because I look around and news media today refuses to tell the truth about life, refuses to tell the truth about a lot of culture-shaping issues.
And I think of the Journalist’s Creed, written by Walter Williams. And part of it says that a journalist is to be quickly indignant at injustice, and I don’t see that. I don’t feel that. And so that’s what has launched me into becoming a columnist and writing about all these issues because the word is revolutionary.
God spoke the world into existence. He didn’t just snap his fingers, but He spoke the world into existence. And that’s why I love just the power of words. And I thank God for just the passion to put those words together and something that resonates in people’s hearts and minds.
Robyn Chambers: Launching off of that conversation or that, that answer and not to be vitriolic and angry when we’re having these conversations, but how do you navigate what feels like a very lopsided media?
Ryan Bomberger: I haven’t noticed it at all. Oh, my goodness. It’s actually, it’s so tragic because so many people aren’t even aware that there is such, I don’t even want to use the word bias because that’s way too mild.
How do we navigate through it? One, as Christians, we are the ones who know the truth, and obviously, the truth is constant. God is truth. And so, we should have a passion for wanting to know the truth. And just trying to figure out how do I deal with the media that is lost. The world is always lost, and it’s going to be lost.
But as a Christian columnist, as a Christian writer and author, it’s on me to bring context and clarity to the public. And that’s what I try to do with all my articles. It’s what I try to do with our books through the Radiance Foundation and just praying that we can break through so much of the cultural noise.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you. So, Christine, coming to you next, Christine Yeargin. This topic of standing for life and kind of telling truth in sometimes a hostile environment.
Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in this pro-life world?
Christine Yeargin: Sure. I experienced my own unplanned pregnancy when I was 20 years old. I knew Jesus, but I wasn’t necessarily walking with Him at the time. We’ll just say that. And I found myself in a local Walgreens purchasing Plan B.
I didn’t know what Plan B was. I just knew that’s sometimes what people did when they were in that situation. And I took one of the pills. It was two pills and I was very uncomfortable with what I had just done. I said, I don’t think I’m pregnant, but if I am pregnant, did I maybe just harm the baby?
And I called the 800 number on the back of the box and I wasn’t confident in the answer that they gave me. So, I threw the other one out the window and I just forgot about it. A couple of weeks went by and my mom, somehow they know everything, showed up at my door with two pregnancy tests and said, take these.
I said, you’re crazy, but I’m going to indulge you. And she was right. We saw two faint pink lines and on multiple pregnancy tests. I was in denial and eventually I had to tell the father of the baby. And he told me that a baby was not something that he was willing to consider.
And he contacted me. We didn’t talk for a little while. He contacted me later and offered me $50,000 to have an abortion. And remember, I said I wasn’t walking with Jesus then. So my words weren’t so nice, but I said, you can, in not-so-nice words, you can take that money and shove it where the sun don’t shine. And I have an almost 15-year-old little boy now named Noah.
And he, having that unplanned pregnancy and realizing what women go when they don’t feel support and they don’t feel love has what pushed me into this movement and wanted to walk alongside these women.
Robyn Chambers: So, would Noah love that you said 15-year-old little boy, probably not. Fifteen-year-olds want to be big men.
But in your, at that time, you said you’re 20 years old in your workplace were you attending college? How did you stand for that truth? How did you stand for life when everyone is saying the best thing for you is to have an abortion?
Christine Yeargin: I just did. I knew it was what was right. I heard his heartbeat on an ultrasound. I knew that his life was not mine to take, and no matter what anybody else said to me, it wasn’t going to sway my decision because I knew there was a life growing inside of me and that was my job to protect him.
Robyn Chambers: Oh, thank you. I’m so proud of that decision. Thanks for sharing that.
So, Brent, I’m going to come over to you. Brent Fielder, can you tell us a little bit about you and how you got started in this? And, being in a public spotlight, how hard is it for you to stand up for your beliefs again in this maybe hostile environment?
Brent Fielder: Yeah, I think we all face different challenges, right? And we’re trying to figure out how do we stand for truth in a culture that’s dramatically changing. It’s changing at a rapid pace. And we’re all trying to figure out how do you raise kids in this? How do you navigate this? How do you stand for truth? And how do you show compassion and love?
And I get to work in the public space, also serve on the board of a couple of higher ed institutions. And we’re constantly trying to figure out how do you manage those two things? How do you keep excellence in what you’re doing? Because I think Christ calls us to excellence. We see that in Scripture all the time, whether we’re in the education space, we should, we as Christians should be, we should give the best academics, right?
Because we have that we should be the best in business. We should be the best doctors. We should be the best lawyers. But at the same time doing that in a way that meets our culture where they are and stands for truth. I don’t have all the answers to it. That’s what we’re all trying to figure out is how do you do that in today’s culture and how do you love people and stand for truth at the exact same time? I think we all got to figure it out together.
Robyn Chambers: And I see you work with a lot of the next gen. So, what are you hearing from those young people that is maybe a challenge that I mean, I’ve been in this work for 30 years, and so I think the basis and the foundation for what we believe in is still there, but conversations are different.
Conversations are very different than they were when I, like Christine, had my own unplanned pregnancy. So, what are you hearing that is maybe a challenge that we’re not aware of?
Brent Fielder: Yeah, challenge. There are no doubt massive challenges with young people, and I think a lot of it is, what we’ve already talked about is they actually don’t know what truth is.
There’s no foundation of biblical truth, the biblical worldview. I think, I love the local church. I’m, I teach eighth-grade boys in Sunday school. I’m very passionate about raising up the next generation, but I think as the church, we’ve got to be able to talk about the truth.
We’ve got to be able to ground our young people in a biblical worldview that helps them understand how to have really difficult conversations. But we’re looking at young people that just don’t have that. And so, when you get to issues like life is a great example, there’s no biblical foundation.
And so many of our young people, when does life start? What is life, the image of God? I mean that like we’re all image bearers and even just these apologetical truth or theological truths they’re just not there.
And so whenever your kids are on devices all day long they’re into an echo chamber of whatever culture is trying to tell them. It’s creative. It’s smart. It’s quick. They’re getting the sound bites that they need to be able to navigate the culture, and they’re not taking time to really digest spiritual truth.
Then they’re going into their educational spaces and they’re getting similar things that may be even conflicting what they’re hearing at home. And so honestly, they’re lost and I think we’ve got to figure out how do we reach young people with biblical world,
true with biblical worldview and with spiritual truth to be able to navigate these challenges.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you. And that’s, I think for all of us, especially parents or grandparents, how do we educate our kids? How do you equip them to have those harder conversations when it’s not the cool thing to do, to talk about life? It’s not the cool thing to do, to stand up and say, I agree that life begins at conception. I agree that all life is valuable. Like you said, that Christian worldview. And as someone said earlier I think, last week I was with John Stonestreet and he said, life is valuable and worthy of protection because God stamped His image on each one of us.
And I think that’s why we stand for life in our communities and our workplaces, but really educating our kids to have that courage, maybe to stand up for that. And so Shannon, great segue. I know you’ve been in this space for a very long time. Can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve done and pardon me, a little bit about yourself and what you’ve done and how you’ve navigated standing in your workplace and standing for life.
Shannon Royce: Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it. As I reflected on this conversation, I love what everyone has shared because it just builds so beautifully. So, I came to DC 38 years ago.
I was very young, and figured I would stay two or three years, and 38 years later, this is where God has planted me. So, I’ve had the privilege to work on Capitol Hill, I led the Southern Baptist Convention office here in D. C., I worked at Family Research Council, I was in an administration.
And it was interesting in reflecting on, how do you carry your faith in all of those places? And there were two things that really came to my heart. The first was just the understanding, the recognition, especially as we’re training our children. Acts 17:26 tells us He appointed their time in history. And I have just been so convicted all along the way in my career that at each point of leading in my life that God was leading me there. That He appointed me to be there.
And I think for my children, I have 25 and 28-year-olds and communicating to them. Yes, this is a hard time in our culture. God created you for this moment. This moment in history needs you to men. And just to remember that myself so that when I face those days where I think, holy cow, what am I up to here? Just the recognition that God appointed me to live in this moment.
And then practically speaking, I get in the Word every morning and before the Lord every morning because I think that we have to have a biblical worldview. And how do you do that? You get before God in the Bible on a daily basis. You listen to people like Albert Mohler. I listen to him every day on The Briefing because he helps me to think biblically before the Lord.
And then walking that out for me is being who God created me to be controlled by Him. Fully myself but fully His in any moment, so that I am living out His presence and His spirit for who He created me to be in, in the challenges before me.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you for that. And I’m going to ask maybe a little bit harder question. After the Dobbs decision, now you’re still in this space, you’re still here in the middle of DC. What was the response to you as a Christ follower from someone who maybe doesn’t believe the same way you do after that decision came down?
Shannon Royce: Yeah, that’s a, an interesting and a little painful question to be honest, because I wanted to respond in a loving way to those who did not believe the same things as I. And so I was actually a little cautious in my public comments on Facebook and that kind of thing. I literally just posted it’s been a really good day and one a family member who is on the completely opposite side of the picture on this just vitriolic response on my Facebook page toward me.
It was really, it was interesting, and I just felt so led to just respond with kindness and said, told my friends who were reacting to her, look, don’t react. I am here and I’ll let her know I would love to visit with you privately if you’d like to talk.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you for your courage. And Brent, I’m going to come back over to you.
I know one of the, one of the comments about you that I found interesting you’re also in education You’re also in education and whether it’s a Christian school or public school, what are you seeing as far as gaps in what we’re teaching or how our kiddos are being taught? Pardon me. And how parents can really be aware of what’s being taught?
And then again, going back to how we equip our kiddos to have a voice Whether it’s 15-year-old Noah or a third grader who’s learning about things that maybe we wouldn’t want them to. What do you see that are challenges in the education from a Christian perspective as well as public schools?
Brent Fielder: Yeah, so I mean, I don’t think it’s any surprise there’s things being taught in certain school systems that are against a Christian worldview, and I think one- just facing the reality. I don’t think we have to get mad and frustrated and start losing our minds over that. I think we can be thoughtful about it.
And how do we engage with the school systems? I think we need to realize that there’s been an agenda for our children for a long time and it’s a play that’s worked really well and really effectively.
And I think we’ve got to think about, from a biblical perspective, how do you counteract that? How do you go back? And we’re going to have to think about a long-term strategy as well. But I do think, I think as Christians, so I’ll speak, I’ve got four young kids. They’re eleven, nine, six, and five. So I think about this a lot.
And I think about our children and one, I think first of all, as parents, I would tell us Christian parents, you cannot just completely outsource education to the educators in their life. I think whether they’re in a public school or private school or homeschool, whatever that situation looks like for you, it’s different for all of us, you’ve got to realize you’re in partnership.
And I think as Christians, we have to be active partners in the educational process. You have a responsibility at home and you can’t outsource it all. I think that goes from biblical truths all the way to your math, right? Like, we have a responsibility as parents and part of that responsibility is really understanding what your kids are being exposed to and what they’re learning.
And I think you’ve got to create a safe place in your home for your kids to be able to talk to you about the things that they’re learning and be able to talk to them about biblical truth. It goes back to that. If you don’t have that foundation in your home, it’s really hard to combat the things that they’re hearing.
And I would say, so educate yourself as a parent, but then also get involved in the civic discussions. You might not control everything a teacher says. That’s not realistic, but you can be a part of the process. And I think we can’t sit by and just let things happen to us. I think we need to be a part of the civic conversations on that.
But then, I would also challenge that we can educate our kids on some bridge-building conversations, right? I think as believers, we don’t need to be always in the political. One side, two side things. I think we see Christ example a lot in Scripture as a bridge builder. And interesting thing about bridges when you look at them, bridges are rooted a little bit on both sides and they’re held up by tension.
And so, there’s that illustration alone. I think if we’re going to be a bridge builder, we’re going to have to be okay living in some tension. And meaning, let’s teach our kids some biblical truths that they can actually talk about in their schools. Like the image of, like being created in the image of God.
That’s, I think we can all get there. Even if you disagree, like we can talk about what does that mean? You treat people in a different way because you see them as an image bearer. You treat people with honor, with dignity, with respect, with love and compassion. And those are bridge-building conversations that actually everyone agrees we should treat people with kindness and love. And so, teach our kids those kinds of truths.
Robyn Chambers: I appreciate that. And, at Focus on the Family, we have a large social media following and it’s interesting to see some of the comments that come through. But one of the things I tell my team is this: always have an open door for conversation. I don’t ever want to judge or condemn someone who maybe they don’t know how they feel about abortion, or they don’t know how they feel about this topic as a whole, and maybe not as educated as they’d like to be on the topic. But let’s leave a conversation open and listen.
That’s one thing I don’t know that we do really well. So, Christine, coming back over to you, pardon me. I’m so sorry. One of the things that I noticed you have used your story to talk to other women who’ve been in the same situation, and it’s started you going down a path. It’s very interesting to me and reaching out and finding resources for young women. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Christine Yeargin: Yeah. So, I, when I started sharing my story, I did a lot of mom blogging on social media and had a little bit of a following. And I wanted to start sharing it. I was scared. Because as some people deem this as a controversial topic. But there’s nothing controversial about standing for life.
The controversy lies with those who advocate for the opposite. I slowly shared it. I didn’t really say the words pro-life or anything. I just said I chose to have my son. I got positive feedback. I started sharing a little bit more gut negative feedback. But I kept going because I knew what I was sharing was right.
And the mom blogging stuff wasn’t fulfilling me anymore even though I was making an income. And I eventually lost a lot of the people, a lot of followers who did not agree and gained lots who did agree and a woman messaged me and said, “Hey, I just want you to know that I scheduled an abortion and I was praying to God because I am pro-life, but I just don’t know how I’m going to do this. I, my husband, or excuse me, my boyfriend lost his job due to COVID. We just moved in with my parents. We already have a kid. I don’t know when we’re going to get back on our feet and I prayed for help. That’s all I prayed for. And I opened Instagram and I saw one of your pro-life posts and I canceled my abortion appointment.”
So it, sometimes when you’re doing these things, you don’t always get feedback, especially when it comes to social media. Not everybody messages you and says, “Hey, you changed my mind, or, hey, this really impacted me, or now I’m going to go influence more people.” But this was like God’s way of showing me you’re on the right path, keep doing what you’re doing.
And that encouraged me to want to reach out to the followers that I did have, because at this point, most of the people who believe the opposite had left. And so I said, “Do you guys want to do a baby shower for her? Do you guys want to help me support her?” And they did. And within 24 hours, we got everything that she needed, crib, car seat, stroller, diapers and wipes for a year, clothes for a year, you name it.
And I had followers who said, “Can we do that again?” Oh I love that. And so we started doing it more and more. And we do that a lot now. And they fill within 45 minutes now, not 24 hours. And I have people who genuinely get mad at me when they don’t get to jump in on one of these. They’re like, “It already filled. Can you add something else?”
And it’s just so beautiful because there is this fake news narrative out there that says we don’t actually care about women and we don’t want to support them. And I’ve got literally the receipts to show that these people do want to support them and they get bummed when they don’t get to help and they want to help and they say, “Add more stuff. Can we do more?” My own story kind of pushed me into that, and it’s just a really fun way to help women.
Robyn Chambers: I love that you’ve dispelled, in action, you’ve dispelled the argument that we only care about the baby because you’re taking action. You’re literally stepping into maybe something that’s a mess, life can be a little messy. But you’re caring for that woman and you’re showing how important she is as well as the life of her child. So thank you.
Now, Ryan, I’m going to pick on you just a minute. So, knowing your story and Ryan and I’ve known each other for a few years, I won’t say how long because then it ages me. But knowing your story and just walking through that and hearing the arguments, how important is it for you as a father teaching your own children how to have this conversation, and is it important for dads to have this conversation with their kids?
And if so, can you give us some tips on how you do that and how you have those really hard conversations? Your own story of being, like you said, being conceived in rape.
That is an argument for an abortion. You hear that over and over. So, how have you had the courage to talk about that? And then how do you pass that courage onto your own children from father to child and having this conversation?
Ryan Bomberger: Great questions. And I love being a father. I have four kiddos.
My amazing wife, Bethany and I have four kids who are twelve, fourteen, fifteen, and eighteen. And they are homeschooled. And my wife does the majority of the homeschooling, and she was a teacher by profession. But I had a father who modeled being pro-life without even ever having to say the word pro-life. My dad was the most pro-life man I’ve ever known.
You have three homemade kids and then you import ten more. You’ve got to be, you’ve got to have some pro-life stuff coursing through your veins. But he really did model that. He modeled the heart, the father heart of God. And because I saw that lived out, it, for me, it’s just such a natural thing, and I will say this because my father passed away on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 2021.
Robyn Chambers: My goodness. I’m so sorry.
Ryan Bomberger: And, but I will say this, it was the most painful thing I think I’ve gone through, but he redeems that day for me. Because what he did, his love and his faith really truly redeemed that day for me. He truly modeled what it meant to actually pour yourself just unconditionally into somebody else.
And so now as a father of four, I try to do the same thing with them. And having them see God through my words and through my actions, it’s natural for us because we have four of my, out of my four kids, two of them were adopted. All four of them love like crazy. But it’s a natural thing. We talk about adoption.
We talk about how adoption is the essence of salvation, how it was God’s plan for us to be put into families. And so, there are ways that we can talk to our children about the role of fathers, the role of dads. We have a culture that constantly says, if you’re a guy, but you get, if you’re a pro-life guy or as like to call them bro-life guys, you’re supposed to be silent, which is insane.
Seven men in black robes at the Supreme court gave us the violence of Roe in the first place; their voice was heard. And so, how much more important it is for men of God to actually impart to their families and to their communities that guys matter. And so there are ways that we can talk about, and it goes back to being made in the image of God.
We are equally made in the image of God. So we have a say. People say, “Oh, abortion’s a women’s issue.” No, it’s a human issue. No one here came into existence without the father. There was a male involved in the procreation of that life. And it’s really important for me to impart that to kids.
The shame of it is that Roe constantly lied and said that, “Women, you’re empowered. We empower you.” No, what it did is it actually empowered men to have sex and run. And for the men who didn’t want to run, they were powerless to actually protect their own child. So Roe created this culture of just devastating fatherlessness.
And we’re seeing that now 40% of children are born into homes without mothers. Back in the 60s, it was 3.8% and we are, I’m sorry, the 1940s, it was 3.8%. We’re dealing with a devastating culture of fatherlessness. And so, men need to speak into this. We are a vital part of standing for life, for justice to come to the most vulnerable and the most marginalized among us.
Robyn Chambers: Ryan, those are powerful words, but can you speak to, and I don’t mean this in a way to judge, the fathers who maybe haven’t been as invested. Christine, when you shared your story, and they’re now feeling that regret, or maybe they’re feeling the shame of, I didn’t step up. Can you speak to that dad and say, “There’s hope and healing, and here’s how you find it.”
Ryan Bomberger: We serve a God of wholeness and healing all the time. He’s a God of transformation. That’s the journey of a Christian. We’re constantly being transformed, and for a man who has made that wrong decision, it may be a man who’s, who was post-abortive, who forced his girlfriend or his wife to have an abortion.
God loves you. God wants you to be restored. That is His heart because an unrestored man is a broken man who can’t really contribute a whole lot. So, for those who feel like, “I made the wrong decision, I can’t be forgiven,” that’s Satan just lying to you. And so I just want to speak hope into your life that God can transform.
It may be a long journey, but God can transform you. God can use you in mighty ways. That one mistake, or maybe it was multiple mistakes, doesn’t matter. There’s not some sort of tally sheet- whoops, sorry, you met the maximum, can’t do anything for you. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve made mistakes, God is constantly redeeming.
And so, I just want to encourage you, step up and be courageous enough. And I just want to talk about courage, even to young men. You don’t, it doesn’t matter if you’re the only one. There could be, people, we often feel like I need a massive crowd around me to support what I’m saying. No, maybe if you’re the only man in the workplace, the only man in your church, the only man in your family or extended family, be the only one. Courage doesn’t need a huge crowd. It just needs a man or a woman filled with conviction.
Robyn Chambers: Great way to shoot it back over to Shannon. I think it’s really easy for those of us who don’t work in DC to assume that you’re, they’re no Christians here. There’s no one standing up. There’s no one in this space, especially in this post-Roe world.
And I know that you started something, you start something called the Christian Employers Alliance. So, what drove that and how have you seen success with that?
Shannon Royce: SR To be clear, I didn’t start Christian Employers Alliance. It was started about five years ago by some very courageous leaders.
And I wanted to add to what Ryan said. Courage is contagious, right? And so, part of our call at Christian Employers Alliance, we’re an alliance of Christian owned businesses. So, we’re nonprofit organizations, 20% of our members are nonprofit, 80% are for profit businesses. And our mission is to unite, equip, and represent those Christian owned businesses to protect religious freedom and provide the opportunity for employees, businesses, and communities to flourish.
So, what is that? Our mission is that salt and light mission from Matthew 5. Be salt and light in your culture. But it’s also the John 10:10 mission. Live abundantly and help other people flourish and live abundantly. So this is the mission of CEA.
Our challenge to our members post-Dobbs, right? We actually talked about this at our fall summit last year, and our challenge to them was find your place. Be involved in the legislative side of this. Be involved in the legal side of this. Be involved in the care side of this. Be involved in your church. Be involved as a donor.
Many of our businesspeople, maybe you’re not comfortable going out on the legislative front or going out into the legal arena, but you’re a business person and you could donate to those and you could support those. You could be that encouraging voice. So we’re encouraging our members. Find your place, but everyone should be involved in a post-Dobbs pro-life America.
RC Thank you. And that that kind of helps wrap us up a little bit. I wanted to share something that Dr. Sharon Ford, who works on my team in foster care and adoption, she is so passionate about this. And she says, ” God calls us all to do something. What’s the one thing,” like you were saying, Shannon, of, find your place.
Robyn Chambers: She does a much better job of I than of, challenging people, but she always says, in the foster care space, God may not be calling you to do to foster or to adopt or, but you could be a respite for a family or you could help financially. But one of the things she said to me that has just so stuck with me and I’m going to leave all of us with this.
She says, “What’s your best yes? And Ryan, I know your story and you’ve stood in that place and you’ve had amazing courage and I feel like that’s your best yes.
Christine, I look at you and what would have been a very easy decision, a financial decision that would have helped tremendously. You stood for life. And you said, this is my best yes. And his name is Noah.
Brent, you are speaking into education, and I loved what you said about parents. That’s our obligation to our kids in a good way. That’s what God’s called us to do. Listening to you be in that space, and you’re working with younger folks. They hate when I call them kids. I have younger kids on my staff. And they’re like, we’re not kids. But the fact that you’re talking to that next generation, those are the ones I want to hand the baton off to because I know that we’ve educated them, and we’ve equipped them, and so thank you for being in that space and your best yes.
And Shannon, I can’t imagine being in D. C. during this time. So thank you for your courage. And I loved what you said. Courage is contagious. So in wrapping up, I’m going to give each of you just a couple seconds. Final words, Ryan.
Ryan Bomberger: Life, life has purpose. It’s actually the slogan of our organization, the Radiance Foundation. And it’s amazing when someone catches hold of that truth. And the reason why my wife, Bethany, and I do what we do through the Radiance Foundation, it’s certainly not for money. It’s not for fame. Definitely not for the popularity.
But it really is because we truly believe this, our own personal stories. So whether you’re planned, unplanned, able, or disabled, every human life has God-given purpose. And the reason why we do what we do, that we stand up and we speak these truths, is because we’re motivated by 1 Corinthians 13:6. It says, “Love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices in the truth.”
Robyn Chambers: Amen. Christine.
Christine Yeargin: Yeah. So, I want to actually go back to something that you said earlier because what was meant for evil, God has used for good. And my son’s father actually is involved now and has him 50% of the time and completely regrets anything that happened years and years ago.
So, what I thought was going to be this awful thing where only I was involved and maybe he didn’t know his father, God had a different plan and it’s been absolutely beautiful.
But I want to say the only thing required to be pro-life is to be opposed to abortion. But I know very few people who stop there. And they want to help and they want to love.
So, finding those people and finding that community and being able to walk alongside these women and being able to utilize the resources that are around you guys and know that I think that people need to get involved in that way and know who the pro-life community is around you and walk alongside these women.
You don’t have to be an influencer or a public speaker or anybody else. One person can influence. One person who influences somebody else who influences somebody else. So it just takes being a little bit more bold. And I think one of the biggest challenges I would send you guys away with today is to be 10% braver in your walk for life, 10% bolder.
And if everybody was just 10% braver and bolder in their walk for life, this would be a different country.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you. Brent.
Brent Fielder: Everybody has said such great things, but I guess I would end by saying, in a lot of what we’ve talked about, I think we just can’t shy away from having hard conversations.
It starts within our home and being willing to dissect some really hard things with our own children, to be able to have hard conversations because they’re hearing these things out in culture anyway. So why don’t we start at home, giving them a biblical perspective on it.
But at Impact360 Institute, at one of the boards I serve on, we’re really trying to grow and develop the next generation of servant leaders. And what that means is we want the best, like I mentioned earlier, the best Christian thinkers in the marketplace, the best Christian thinkers in politics, the best Christian thinkers in the medical field and so on.
And so, we summarize it by saying, the more we can help people know Jesus more deeply, let them be transformed by understanding their identity in Christ, that will then let them live a life of kingdom influence. So, if we can help just young people know, be, and live that out in the marketplace, I think we’ll be able to start shaping the next generation of pro-life thinkers, but just better Christian thinkers all the way around.
Robyn Chambers: Oh, thank you, Shannon.
Shannon Royce: So, I’ll close it out. The thought that’s been on my heart over this last week, we hear so often the passage of Scripture, “Be wary as serpents and gentle as doves.” And a week ago I read that passage and saw something I had never seen before. How many times have I read it? But you know how that happens. You’ll read something and go, holy cow, I’ve missed that a hundred times before.
It starts with, “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.” That has just rocked my world this week because as I said earlier, every single one of us, God has placed us where he has placed us and He is sending us out into this culture to affect the culture for life.
Robyn Chambers: Amen.
Shannon Royce: We don’t need to be afraid. Sometimes it’s scary to be a sheep among wolves, right? That’s a scary thing, but to recognize that the Shepherd would never send the sheep out unprotected. And so He is sending us out as sheep among wolves, and we can be wary as serpents, and innocent as doves, and live our faith in a way that’s pleasing to Him and affecting the culture.
Robyn Chambers: Thank you. This has been such a joy for me, a challenge for me. I love that. I’m the be bolder, 10% bolder. But it really is a challenge. I think everything that you all have said and the courage that you speak about, and each of you have had that courageous step forward. And so I love that you have shared your heart.
I hope that everyone listening has taken away a little nugget, whether it’s be 10% bolder in your church. There are a lot of churches who don’t know how to have this conversation, but in our schools, be a dad who steps in like yours did, be a dad who is all in on education.
Go into the public space like Shannon has, but to be bold and to stand for life is what God calls each of us to do. So, thank each of you for being here and for what you do and God bless you all. Thank you.