I am launching a pro-life non-profit organization this fall. Here’s what I plan to do and why I needed to launch my own organization to do it.
I turned 30 last September. I didn’t think that would be a big deal, but I suddenly started thinking a lot more about how I was spending my time. It was becoming more important to me that I spend as much time as possible working on things that could have a great impact for the pro-life movement.
Before I get any farther into this story, I want to make something clear: There is no secret rift between me and the organization that employed me for the last six years. Right to Life of Central California (RLCC) remains one of the most effective local pro-life organizations I know of. But that’s exactly what it is: a local organization. RLCC had been very gracious to me, letting me spend some of my time on work that would make an impact outside of Fresno. They let me create Life Report, which had both a local and national impact. They also let me occasionally accept speaking opportunities in other states, as long as it didn’t conflict with any of RLCC”s events. But because I was working for a local organization, I was spending the majority of my time on local work: speaking at confirmation classes, marketing events, etc. I did 34 speeches last year, and 30 of them were in the Fresno area. I knew that if I wanted to spend all of my time trying to have a national impact, I would need to work at a national organization, regardless of how much I love RLCC, its board and its staff.
My brother Timothy
I spent a week in January with my brother Timothy. I’ve referenced his work a lot on this blog. Timothy graduated from Biola’s philosophy program several years ago and went to work with Justice For All. The plan in January was for Tim and me to work on a book we’ve been writing on conversation stoppers, things that people on both sides of the abortion debate do that mess up dialogues. I rented an office where we would have privacy and we spent the week there.
