We Had an Incredible Weekend with Students for Life of America

New-SFLA-LogoMy brother Tim and I just got back from Washington DC after spending two amazing days with the staff of Students for Life of America (SFLA).

Our objective was to bring their new Regional Coordinators through the brand new Equal Rights Institute seminar and follow that up with an outreach on the streets of D.C. This was a daunting task because Tim only got to Fresno a few weeks ago which didn’t give us very much time to create a seminar! We temporarily put our fundraising on hold and spent those two weeks brainstorming with a marker board and then separating to write out our material. We created more original content than I thought possible. Much of it will show up on this blog in future posts.

SFLA's Daniel DeFonce, Missy Martinez & Tina Whittington during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

SFLA’s Daniel DeFonce, Missy Martinez & Tina Whittington during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

 

Seeing my friends from SFLA again was wonderful. I seriously love these people, and they’re making an incredible contribution to the pro-life cause. We also got to meet their newest Regional Coordinators (RC’s). These are the staff who are paid full-time to drive in loops in various states to provide training, coaching and logistical support to SFLA college campus and high school clubs across various regions in the country. I’ve said before that I believe SFLA’s Regional Coordinators are some of the most strategically placed pro-life activists in the country, and working with them to reach the 8,000 actively pro-life college students in America has been a big part of Equal Rights Institute’s strategy from the beginning.

SFLA's R.J. McVeigh & Rebekah Chiew during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

SFLA’s R.J. McVeigh & Rebekah Chiew during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

 

The new R.C.’s are fantastic. They are passionate about learning what they need to effectively dialogue with pro-choice students, and to train their students to do the same. They did so well in our mentor groups during the seminar that we often had time for more advanced Q&A! After speaking to them about responding relationally to the question of rape before giving a philosophical response, we went to our groups to put the R.C.’s to the test. We got in their faces and yelled at them about being horrible human beings who want to force rape survivors to be pregnant. Every single one of them responded with love and concern for both rape survivors and the pro-choice person we were pretending to be.

SFLA's Missy Martinez and Casey Tesauro during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

SFLA’s Missy Martinez and Casey Tesauro during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

 

SFLA's Michele Hendrickson and Angela Erickson during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

SFLA’s Michele Hendrickson and Angela Erickson during our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

The following morning we went to the Ballston Metro to talk to pro-choice people. Our goal was to get every R.C. into at least one conversation, and most of them had at least three before we were done!

More incredibly, while using the dialogue techniques we taught them the day before, they talked to four pro-choice people who became pro-life, and ten more who had major shifts in their thinking! It was a more successful outreach than I had even hoped for, especially for only having two hours to talk to people on the street!

It was wonderful to debrief with the staff afterwards and listen to their stories of the people they talked to. I also informed them that SFLA has agreed to have us mentor each of the RC’s on a one-to-one basis to continue their training. They were thrilled. As you can see from the picture below, we had a very lively debrief meeting!

Debriefing after our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

Debriefing after our outreach. Photo courtesy of SFLA.

 

We are so excited to be getting our pro-life dialogue techniques into the hands of the pro-life people that need them most: college students. Would you consider partnering with us to make that possible?

President

Josh Brahm is the President of Equal Rights Institute, an organization that trains pro-life advocates to think clearly, reason honestly and argue persuasively.

Josh has worked in the pro-life movement since he was 18. A sought-after speaker, Josh has spoken for more than 23,000 people in six countries and in 22 of the 50 states.

Josh’s primary passion is helping pro-life people to be more persuasive when they communicate with pro-choice people. That means ditching faulty rhetoric and tactics and embracing arguments that hold up under philosophical scrutiny.

He has publicly debated leaders from Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Georgians for Choice, and one of the leading abortion facilities in Atlanta.

Josh also wants to bring relational apologetics to the pro-life movement. “Some pro-choice people will not change their mind after one conversation on a college campus. Some of them will only change their mind after dozens of conversations with a person they trust in the context of friendship.”

Josh is formerly the host of a globally-heard podcast turned radio/TV show, Life Report. He now hosts the Equipped for Life Podcast. He’s also written dozens of articles for LifeNews.com and the ERI blog.

He directed the first 40 Days for Life campaign in Fresno, resulting in up to 60 lives saved.

Josh has been happily married to his wife, Hannah, for 15 years. They have three sons, Noah, William, and Eli. They live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

David Bereit, the National Director of 40 Days for Life, sums up Josh’s expertise this way: “Josh Brahm is one of the brightest, most articulate, and innovative people in the pro-life movement. His cutting-edge work is helping people think more clearly, communicate more effectively, and — most importantly — be better ambassadors for Christ. I wholeheartedly endorse Josh’s work, and I encourage you to join me in following Josh and getting involved in his work today!”

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