PODCAST: Live Q&A at Stonebridge Church (2 of 2)

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Download Audio MP3 | 00:51:52

I spoke at Stonebridge Church in Charlotte again last November after they finished going through the Equipped for Life Course, to answer their questions.

I’ll list the topics below in case you want to jump around:

  • 1:00: “Tell us a little bit about who you are and who ERI is.”
  • 3:59: “So you’ve talked about relational apologetics. Let’s say I’m pro-life and I hate conflict. I don’t want to offend people, so I basically end up never talking about my pro-life convictions. I’m pro-life, but I don’t talk about it because it’s a very controversial topic. How do I get over that fear? What do I do?”
  • 14:21: “How do we make conversations about abortion more common and less weird?”
  • 18:32: “In your opinion, how can we as a pro-life group at a large church, more effectively stir up passion for pro-life advocacy within our walls?”
  • 22:59: “How can we have a greater impact in our community? In your experience and convictions, assuming that the foundational call is to love God and our pro-choice neighbor, what do you think are the most effective ways to turn the tide of our culture toward valuing the life of the unborn more?”
  • 31:52: “I’m going into professional counseling and have been learning about not imposing values onto clients. So if a client came up to me and said that they want to have an abortion, how should I approach that without imposing my values?”
  • 37:14: “If I’m buying a whole lot of baby diapers or something to give to the pregnancy center, and just by chance someone from Walmart or wherever strikes up a conversation, I think I’d probably keep it real short and sweet, but that was an idea that came to me.”
  • 39:08: “I didn’t attend the [Equipped for Life] course classes and I don’t want to cheapen your 35-hours of course material, but is there 60-seconds that you could give…?”
  • 42:10: “I hear you saying that most pro-choice people believe that an [unborn] baby is a human being, but the woman’s right to choose trumps that.”
  • 44:51: “In your opinion, if you were to give a state of the union address on the status of the pro-life movement in America and the culture, what’s the wind of the culture right now when it comes to this? 60-second state of the union address. Where are we culturally? Is abortion going to end in 2017?”

I asked Eric to read the email he sent his friend to initiate a series of conversations about abortion. With Eric’s permission, here is the full text of that, and you can feel free to copy any part of it if it would be helpful to you:

Awhile back I had mentioned the idea of the two of us sitting down to discuss our thoughts about abortion. I’m writing you now to tee that idea back up and hoping that you’ll say yes. I’ve been taking a class that has been geared toward having great conversations with people who think differently about controversial topics, and one of the assignments is to literally have at least one actual conversation with someone about a controversial topic. All too often, people on different “sides” of a topic like abortion spend all their time defending their own view and criticizing opposing views without actually listening to and learning from people who have differing views. I want to be a person who listens and learns. Will you help me do that? I’d like to buy you breakfast, lunch, or just a cup of coffee sometime and learn from your views on this. What do you say?

At one point I talked about the idea that we don’t change people’s minds, but that people change their own minds. I neglected to cite him in the moment, but I owe that insight to Timothy Brahm.

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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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