I’m still in shock.
As you may have heard, our friend in the movement, Charlie Kirk, President and Co-Founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at a campus event in Orem, Utah, yesterday.
Charlie – in the words of his young wife, Erika – “was a force.”
He spoke unafraid and boldly in defense of life, family, and freedom.
In January, I was in a small room with Charlie, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life, and colleagues and friends of the movement where he was a featured speaker.
But I had a moment yesterday where it hit me…
What would Charlie want us to do?
He would want us to fight – but in a very specific way.
He would tell us to never stop talking and debating.
He would tell us to never stop speaking up for Christ, life, family, and freedom.
No matter the threats against us.
He’d tell us it was worth it.
Well done, Charlie Kirk, good and faithful servant – God bless you and thank you.
I found myself thinking of Charlie so much yesterday, recommitting to the defense of life and family – especially training the up and coming generation – and it’s in that spirit I still want to share this exciting update …
Last month, hundreds of high school and college students with Students for Life of America (SFLA) went to the sidewalks for the annual National Sidewalk Day — a day of student prayer and outreach outside abortion and abortion-referral facilities across the U.S.
I have been privileged to train these students each year to prepare them for their day on the sidewalk, offering abortion-vulnerable mothers the help and support they need to choose life.
Sidewalk Day is one of many examples of our robust partnership with Students for Life, from speaking at the National Pro-Life Summit each January and the Leadership Collective every June, to networking with their Abortion-Free Cities locations. This thriving partnership has created a wonderful opportunity to connect our comprehensive training with the passion inspired by Students for Life activism.
In the words of SFLA’s president, Kristan Hawkins:
“Being on the sidewalk outside of an abortion facility is one of the most important works of a pro-life activist, but individuals often stay home because they don’t know what to expect on the sidewalk – or what to do. Sidewalk Advocates for Life has been a reliable resource to SFLA, assisting us in equipping students for continuous involvement on the sidewalks of abortion facilities across the country. After training with SFLA and Sidewalk Advocates for Life, students are galvanized and empowered to show up and help rescue lives from abortion in their local communities.”
The future of our movement depends on the next generation of pro-life activists to answer the call to the sidewalk. Equally important to that “yes,” however, is ensuring those students are trained and equipped to be effective on the sidewalk. Indeed, one of our youngest Sidewalk Advocates, Madonna, shared that although she was intimidated by the sidewalk mission at first, our training helped assuage her nerves.
Madonna now encourages others who want to get involved in the pro-life movement to consider becoming a Sidewalk Advocate: “Pro-life people of our generation need to stand up for what is right, and boldly, in order to show the rest of the generation the dangers and cruelty of abortion.” And she assures them that even though it can be “scary,” changing or saving a life is “so worth all the fear, and it’s so rewarding.”
Being a Sidewalk Advocate has done more than equip Madonna to help pregnant moms. She reflected:
“Sidewalk advoca(cy) has shown me a whole different way of loving others, even complete strangers … how much I need to turn to and rely on God. We really can’t do anything without the Lord’s help, and I’m so thankful that sidewalk advocating has led me to help realize this.”
We are so grateful to the many young women and men like Madonna who courageously stand up for the protection of their preborn brothers and sisters.
And we at Sidewalk Advocates for Life will continue to stand with this new generation of activists and advocates, providing them the guidance and support to answer the call of their hearts to finally and forever END ABORTION.
For Charlie.
For life and family.
For Christ.
Onward!