She’s Young But Reaches Out in Boldness

0:00 I Am Yours, I am yours, I am yours. S and me, Lord, I am yours, I am yours. I'm welcome to the Gospel Center Pray Life Podcast, a podcast designed to equip, encourage and challenge you in pray life ministry, and always with a focus on the Gospel. Stay tuned. I felt show passish, touch your heart. Use Me, Lord. Welcome back to the Gospel centered pray life podcast. Appreciate you guys joining us and we'd appreciate if you guys would share this podcast episode. We would appreciate if you guys would just share this podcast in general with your friends, people that would be encouraged and blessed by this podcast. The focus of this podcast is the Gospel. We want to bring the Gospel to places of darkness and in particular, and Pro Life Ministry, on the sidewalks at abortion centers. That's the main focus of this podcast. We talked about other things from time to time, but really the focus is bringing the Gospel to the abortion centers where the Gospel is needed. And we just did an episode that came out well today. Because we record these things, we can in advance, but for you guys, it will be last Thursday. That was about boldness and I was blessed by it. Actually, just as we went through the different scriptures, Vicki, and as we just talked about how God,

1:32 by his Holy Spirit, filled the apostles with boldness. Right, they spoke the word of God with boldness, and I hope it was a blessing for those of you who listened. I hope it wasn't a Blo I hope it was a blessing and encouragement to you that you can be bold, not because of how great you are, but because of the one who's in you, the Holy Spirit, and he can be bold through you. So please share that episode and, as always, we encourage you to reach out and give us some topics that you think would be a blessing, that maybe you have questions, things like that. We cover stuff like boldness, like how to be bold, how to operate in boldness. We also cover practical stuff, like what to do when an ambulance shows up at the abortion center. Like, who does a podcast about that? Well, we do. Are Unique.

2:20 Yeah, yeah, when. But but that boldness topic was actually be thought of it because of our guests today, right. Yeah, thought of it because of Jenna, because she's young and bold and I'm working with many new counselors right now, also young, and there are varying degrees of boldness in them, and that's what kind of sparked that one and then led to this podcast. Yeah, Les, we want to know what's her secret, right, right, Daniel h yeah, this is kind of like a part two of that previous pot. It is like how can this manifest? Yeah, we gave you some scripture and some scriptural examples and some experiences that we've had, but we wanted to bring Jenna on because she's a bold young lady, but she's also she's humble. She walks in humility. She's walking with the Lord, of course, and it's obvious that God is moving through her and working through her. So we thought that we would get her to share her story with you guys, maybe share what the Lord has taught her of how to walk in boldness. She's on the sidewalks, she's engaging people, but even beyond that, like she's engaging pastors, getting pastors to come out and if you know anything about love life, we try to get churches to adopt a week and ultimately do a prayer walk at the abortion center. She's asking pastors to do that, pastors who've not really done anything about abortion.

3:47 She's getting them to come out and do a prayer walk at an abortion center, which is really a difficult task. And so obviously she's got some boldness, but I think she would recognize, and we'll get her to share here in just a second, that it's the Lord working through her. So anyway, we wanted to bring Jenna on. I hope this will be an encouragement to you guys. So yeah, so Jenna, just introduce yourself a little bit, kind of where you serve at and we'll kind of get into your background and the different things that we we think would help encourage others. Yeah, Hey, guys. So my name is Jenna. I'm a sidewalk missionary and Rona, Virginia and I'm twenty one years old. I've been married for a little bit over a year now to my wonderful husband, Eastman, and he's here. He's from here, Roona, Virginia, but I was actually born and raised in Woodstock, Georgia. Okay, yeah, so your southern girl I am. Yeah, that's probably where the boldness comes from. Actually married twenty one years old, I mean when I met her, I'm sixty five and I'm thinking, Wow, they just keep getting younger and how is she gonna do? Because this is this is really I mean the sidewalk missionary in a new city, a big and very in many ways intimidating position to to be in. So so we were all very pleasantly surprised by how you just really took the bull by the horns and and did what what you needed

5:23 to do out there with with boldness, integrity and, like Daniel said, a lot of humility. Yep. But yeah, I'm very Y. I did talk with you a little bit at at when we first met you, and I knew a little bit about your background, but can you kind of fill us in a little bit about, you know, your family, your upbringing, when when you came to the Lord and you know, things like that. Yeah, absolutely. So. I'm actually the youngest of five children to my amazing parents, Jean and Jamie, and I was really kind of raised in the church and I also grew up going to a private Christian school. So faith and Christianity, you know, those were never foreign terms to me and my parents taught preschool in our church. They've taught for over fifteen years. So I feel like it was through my family and through other believers influence that really drew me to Christ at such a young age, because I saw the way that they lived their lives and I just remember thinking like man, I want that. So I gave my life to Christ at five years old and I was baptized and, you know, growing up in the faith, I feel like God really gave me a heart for people that were seen as less than people who were maybe struggling in life, and serving others has just really become a part of my heart and something that I desired to do, and God has always really revealed himself to me through the way that Jesus

6:55 reached out to, you know, what we would call the least of these. Yeah, yeah, so there was never really a time in your life that you remember that you were not walking with the Lord. Yeah, I'm mad, is have Jesus was always, you know, a big part of my life and you know, even through holidays or just you know regular every every day of the week, it was a big discussion in our house and that had I had to develop my own faith, not just my families, and that was a challenge for me, but coming to look know the Lord on my own, through the influence of my family and through strong believers. HMM. Yeah, so talked a little bit about I know you've already shared a little bit, but when you came to know the Lord, what was what was the context there, and just kind of the impact that the Lord kind of you had immediately on your life, coming from being raised in a Christian home and having a faith that saturated the home, but then embracing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Kind of talk about that a little bit.

8:00 Yeah, so, I mean growing up I had great influences through not only my parents but my siblings, and I saw them walking in the Lord and I think that's really what encouraged me to get to know this Jesus more. And, you know, growing up being in the church, you know every Sunday, every Wednesday, and being in a Christian school, that topic of Jesus and what he did for us on the Cross was very prevalent. But I had to determine for myself what I believed and why I believed that, and just through reading God's word, he really revealed himself to me and I feel like he showed me so much grace by revealing himself to me at such a young age that I was able to give my life to Christ at five years old, which, of course, I didn't know everything about the Gospel, nor will I ever, but he's continuing to reveal himself to me as I grow in the faith. Yeah, so it age five, you know, there's got to be just a very, very cursory understanding of sin and and just all of the other, you know, major biblical concepts would as you got older. Were you just building on that or was there a period where you really thought, I'm not sure any of this is true and you had to kind of go and re examine it? I would say, you know, there's always doubts, always questions that I've had in my mind,

9:33 but my dad would explain to you that he's always seen me as a very black and white person, the way that I view things, and I think that's because of my foundation on scripture. He often shares an example of one time when we were at a roller skating rink and I was, you know, going around the rink and the announcer said, all right, it's time to get off the you know, off the floor, and immediately. He said I'd be lined it all the way from the oppossite side all the way over to where he was, and I got off and I looked behind me and I was like, why are they not listening? Why is everyone still going around the rink? So I feel like that's a good example of how God has really given me that black and white view of scripture and, you know, life versus or evil versus good. Right. Yeah, yeah, if I forget to ask later, it may not be the right point now to ask, but I want you to kind of keep in your mind if you've ever been challenged by someone saying you always knew God, you always knew right from wrong, you had an incredibly supportive family who always guided you and right from wrong, you can't possibly understand where I'm coming from, because I know I have heard that to other young people raised in the faith from a a very hurting, wounded population, which are most of the women that are going to be entering an abortion center right so I don't know if we want to answer that right now or if you want to think about that and we'll

11:07 touch on that later, maybe in this in this chat. Yeah, I mean I'll answer that myself for you are you didn't have that stainless background, did you, Dan? Yeah, not really. What the Bible says of itself like if you have. This is Paul speaking to Timothy, talking about the word of God. Yeah, that, if you've got the word of God, I'm paraphrasing, then you're thoroughly equipped for every good work. Like you know, personally, I've never been a woman, never been pregnant, and so I've had the accusation gets me. How do you know? You don't know what it is to be pregnant, you don't know it is to be a woman. Who are you to talk to me? Well, I'm someone that loves you and cares about you, and though I don't have all of your life experiences, no one does. No one has everybody's life experiences.

11:54 You know, you could. You could come from a horrible background and not be the same ethnicity as somebody in you. Of course, don't know. They're cir their circumstances, of their situations, but what you do know is you know truth, and if you know truth, then you've ultimately got what people need right they need and encounter with the truth. The one who is the truth, Jesus, himself. So I'm answering that for Jenna, although we can let her answer that later on if she I think that's a that's a great answer. I think what I'm hearing, and have always heard, is that she has truth and she has always had that in her background and that is powerful and attractive. Yeah, and people will seek after that.

12:37 So tell us about what brought you to sidewachman ministry, because that's you said. You always felt you wanted to help others, kind of that that was your model that you saw in Jesus. This is a very difficult ministry and not a popular one and really, in many ways unknown, and I didn't know about it. I'd been a Christian for thirty years before I have heard knew that people did this. So here you are, aged twenty one and you chose to devote your life to it. What made you, or at least your life right now, out to that? So what brought you here? Yeah, well, God is, you know, he's very detailed and very intricate with his plans. So it is amazing how I got where I am today. And you know, being raised in the church, being pro life is kind of in the DNA and the fingerprints of being a Christian.

13:31 But it wasn't until my freshman year of college where I was truly exposed to the, you know, atrocity of abortion. So I was going to community college in Georgia for a degree and dental hygiene and I was just taking my core classes, one of which, one of which was American government and what my professor one day decided to bring up the topic of abortion and she allowed us to have kind of a discussion about it, but it ended up not being much of a discussion. It was actually very much one sided in favor of abortion, and honestly, I can just remember sitting there that day and my body was physically shaking and I was almost just angry that my generation had been so deceived to believe that abortion was okay. And I wasn't prepared that day to be a voice for the voiceless. I didn't know what to say, but I was motivated to do something further. So right after class that day, I actually went up to my professor and I just started telling her what I thought about abortion. And it turns out she was pro life and a Christian, and not only that, but she had been praying for God to raise up a student on campus that could help her start a pro life club at the school. So together, me and her, you know, we got connected with students for life and we watched this club on campus to really just educate students on abortion and then also to help expecting moms,

15:03 and we would do, you know, occasional sidewalk outreach. And then it wasn't too long before covid hit and caught wind and it, you know, closed the school campus and I was laid off my job and I was just stuck at home and didn't know what to do with my time. So during this time I was engaged and I was planning to move to Virginia after the wedding and I didn't really want to invest in this school club that I wasn't going to, you know, be a part of anymore once I moved. But I still wanted to be involved in pro life work. So what I started to do was outreach through social media, on instagram and facebook, because that was really the only place at that time that I could have a voice.

15:52 So I was just writing posts about, you know, how would you respond to typical pro abortion arguments, so that I could share it with my followers and educate people. And then over that summer a friend of my husband's actually saw my social media post, and this is kind of some of the intricate details of the whole story, but he was staying with Josh Cappis Love Life Cope or, you know, Co President or vice president, and yeah, he was telling Josh about some of my posts and this was really at the time when love life was expanding from Charlotte all the way through love life America. So I got in contact with Josh and we started having zoom meetings and I was invited to training with you, Vicky and Daniel. So I attended that training and I think it was August of two thousand and twenty and you know, I was commissioned as a sidewalk missionary and went off to Rona, Virginia, and that's where kind of this ministry began. So, as you can see, you know, God is really in the details and has guided me to where I am right now. Yeah, that's an amazing story and this is like a little point that you made early on, but I am dying to know so that you you were in a class with a professor who communicated a what was really the pro abortion side and unless time it's understood.

17:21 You. She actually went down and talked to her and she was actually prolife. Yeah, so what she had communicated that day was just that we were going to be talking about abortion, but she wasn't doing much of the talking. It was the student who were having a conversation in class. So it was really all these pro abortion students, people that were my age, that were, you know, for abortion, and I was the only person in class that day that was against abortion and I didn't know much to say, but I do remember bringing up the fact that life begins its conception and talking about all the human DNA, you know, that unique, never to be made again, human DNA, and that was the only thing that I could think of that day to talk about and you know, that has motivated me to be more prepared so that I can have those conversations with people.

18:14 Yeah, it also was a scenario that is not unlike what you faced on the sidewalk. You are you are usually one voice in a sea of opposition. And and so the personality type, I think, that thrives in that kind of a mission or ministry is someone who is bold enough to not shrink back from the fact that you're one of very few that are, you know, trying to speak what you believe is right and true. Yeah, that's so, that's that's pretty amazing. God really was that to you know, speaks to situations where, you know, because we can lack confidence and we can lack boldness and we can even shy away from putting ourselves in situations where we're going to be put on the spot. And I don't think that day that you knew you're going to be put on the spot in that way, but you did know, going into a university or to a college campus, that it was going to be sort of a hostile environment, right. Yeah, and as believers in Jesus, we've got to be willing to put ourselves in hostile environments because what often times the Lord will do in those environments is, like you said, use that to spur us on to dig deeper and to figure out. Okay, I don't know how to combat these arguments right now, but I'm going to find out. And I would say the same way as far as the sidewalks are concerned, I get a lot of questions from people who say, you know, I don't want to go out there because I don't know what to say. I don't know how to respond when

19:45 someone says this or says that, and we we do podcast episodes to help you know how to respond. So we've taken care of that for you. But the fact is we can never do enough episodes to tell you how to respond in every situation. You've got to just go out there, put yourself on the line in the sense put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, and God would like. We promise, God will grow you and ways in your walk with God. If you go out there on that sidewalk, you will grow in ways that you will not grow otherwise, and I think that's what you've discovered, even in that setting, but also being out on the sidewalk. Am I right about that? Yeah, definitely. You know, you grow up and if you grow up in the church, you kind of grow up in what people call the Christian bubble. Yes, and going to college, university be that wasn't, you know, faith based. It was kind of a culture shock for me to see that there are actually different opinions. So it is important that we're preparing ourselves, you know, for needing to respond to those other opinions and showing them the Gospel through it. Yeah, throughout that semester, were you able to go back to those students, to that class, and slowly begin to give your point of view and challenge their worldview?

21:00 Yeah, great questions. So I actually did go back to that class and that same professor who helped me start the pro life club, she invited me to come share about, you know, our club that we had started and to share a little bit about abortion. So I was able to go back and share the truth that I had learned. So that was an amazing opportunity to be able to respond. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I was going to ask what are some of the things that you did to help equip yourself? You know, you're in that situation you leave with, you know, barely being able to answer, at least not having a good framework for answering these things. Is here you are exposed to a whole classroom for the pro abortion people. What did you do? What did you go online and sort some websites and get some information and things like that? Yeah, so right after that day, I mean I was fired up, like God was really breaking my heart that day and I was just so motivated to educate myself. So I went home and immediately I just started watching Youtube video after Youtube video of people responding to pro abortion arguments and learning what the best way to communicate with someone would be and how to use scripture to guide those conversations.

22:22 And so, in a sense, as always like to use a we talked about boldness and stepping out the analogy of David, David and Goliath, in a sense, like Goliath was in that classroom that day, this this big culture of death thing, mocking God, mocking the truth of God, and you went and guts five smooth stones to take the life down right. Yeah, that's kind of what happened. That's that's good. I think it's just so astonishing how sometimes there are single pivotal moments in life that really are they truly do change the trajectory of our life, and it sounds like that that classroom situation was was one of those. And and how how wonderful of God to point you not only through that experience, but then to point you to josh and to be able to find out, hey, there is a place where I can do what God has now raised a passion in me to do. Absolutely so. Yeah, and to see that plan through the through this school reveal itself to me. You know, if anyone knows me, I had mentioned I was in going to school for dental hygiene. But if anyone knows me, like I am not into other people's dental hygiene. So it was very bizarre that I was even going to school for that in the first place. But that was the only college in my area that offered a degree and m a hygiene. So it was God guiding me there specifically for

23:53 that moment to break my heart for abortion. Yeah, amazing, that's pretty that's pretty cool. And then just seeing how the Lord made that connection with ultimately with love life and, you know, just at really the right time. That was pretty cool. So your fiance's friend was staying with Josh because he knew Josh's family or something. I can't remember, like you, I think. Is that an internship some way or something like that? And when he's internship of Chickfula, staying with Josh and his basement and heard about this love life thing and kind of US expanding and hey, here's a here's a girl that I know who might be interested in this. You end up coming a boot camp, which I know that was a step of faith as well.

24:41 And and then really, once you hit the ground in Rowano, he really hit the ground run. It has been just such a blessing for us to see so rewarding. I don't know about for you, Vicky, but it's for me to see we've sown some some principles and some truth into people and just to see those seeds that we've sold take root. It's really rewarding. It really is, and I would love to hear from your perspective it. You're still pretty new at this, I guess it has it been a year of year that all over, a year to yeah, think back when you started here. You are no one else, is that there right, this is you starting a ministry at a at an abortion center in your city.

25:30 How did you feel? What were the challenges? Did you feel this boldness and confidence that we see in you as you step out on that sidewalk or step in front of pastors? So kind of talk us through those those first days, what you were feeling as a young person this this new, challenging time in your life. And and you know, where did you go from there? Yeah, so when we first got out to the clinic, I hadn't done much sidewalk counseling before love life. I had, you know, gone out to an abortion clinic a few times and maybe held a sign and prayed, but I hadn't communicated with anyone who was abortion minded. So I was very overwhelmed when first going out. But I remember the first time my husband came with me to play parenthood in Roanoak and the first three women that came in stopped and took resources and I just couldn't believe it. And while there's challenges to being young, I feel like there's also different benefits as well. I feel like God has really put favor on me as far as being able to communicate with these women. You know, they see a young girl and I think it makes me approachable. But you know, like you said, there's also those challenges as well. There's been times where I'm not taken seriously and I've been called, you know, referred to as a little girl, or that I'm ignorant and don't know, you know, don't know what I'm talking about or I don't understand. And I've been asked several times

27:02 myself if you know I was even a mom, because I couldn't understand what they're going through, which, you know, it doesn't take being a mom or an older adult to understand that God has placed value on life and that he cares for the unborn. So yeah, there's definitely that benefit and that benefit of being young, but there's a challenge as well, and I know that I had a lot of doubts going into this Ministry of, you know, just asking God like why me, like why would God pick me? You know, at this when I was first starting with love life, I was nineteen years old. Wow. So I was like, why me, when there's so many other adults that are more wise than me or more equipped than me? But it's not about my capability, it's hot about what I can do, but about what Christ can and will do through me. And I remember at boot camp, if you guys kept telling us over and over again that you're running with the willing. So while I may have been, you know, the youngest there, there was adults up to seventy s beyond, but the same the thing that we all had in common was, first of all, faith in Christ and we understand that we're simply just vessels, you know, ready to be used by God. So, even through those challenges of debt doubt that I've faced. I trust that God will do the work through me and you know, all I have to do is be willing and obedient. Yes, that's so true that that gets kind of to that question. I asked early on when people challenge you because you have not had

28:34 their experiences, and you answered very similarly to how how Daniel answered that it those experiences are not what you need. You Need Truth and you've got that. You've got that through through the Lord. So did you ever have someone really come and say I I'm not even going to talk to you because you can't begin to know what it's like to be pregnant and poor when you've never even been pregnant and you've got, you know, this supportive family? I would say we've had an overwhelming good response from most of the people that we have conversations with. So I went necessarily say that I've had people, you know, ask me for a response in that way. But when we first got started, it was very slow and we weren't seeing any fruit from our labor, Labor, and that was very discouraging to me and I just started asking my mom. You know, I'm in Rono Virginia at this time and my mom and my family and all my friends are back in Woodstock, Georgia, and I just asked her like would you please, please pray for us, and she felt moved by the spirit to start a prayer group for us.

29:48 And once this prayer group took place, you know, these are people praying from Woodstock Georgia, people praying from our area and even across the United States. We saw this huge shift take place and there were more families that were coming up and talking with us and they were open to communicating and they were being vulnerable with us, which is something that I hadn't seen before. So I would say that we have had a really, you know, a great response from the families that we do have an opportunity to talk to. I love would what you just pointed out. It's such a truth that you perceived that this battle was truly not a battle of flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle, and you began immediately to fight it with spiritual weapons, and that's when a turnaround came. So so the prayer, a faithful prayer group behind you. That's that's amazing. Yes, yeah, yeah, I mean I would say, Gosh, that's something I've learned as well. I'll just knowing the spiritual warfare that we're in and knowing the battle that we're facing.

30:53 It's so intense and the discouragement that can come can be so it can be detrimental. Just the discouragement that we can be under. Knowing that there are people specifically behind US praying is a powerful thing. I've seen a shift myself, even being out here in California. There's just been some challenges and things. Moving my family out here has been a challenge and just spiritual warfare that's here, the devil trying to come in and just distract and all these other things like, man, I need to get a prayer group together myself, so I reached out to a couple of brothers and said, Hey, would you guys be praying for me, and I can just testify to what you're saying, Jenna. I can feel a difference. I can see momentum building and I can see things moving forward at a faster pace because I know that people are praying, they're appealing to heaven for me. So you guys that are out on the sidewalk, and I would say specifically for you who are brand new and you're thinking maybe you've never been out in the sidewalk or maybe you've only been out there for a couple of times. I want to encourage you to do what Jenna did. Reach out to some people. There are people in your life, believers, who can't be out there on the sidewalk for it whatever reason, but they can pray for you, and have them pray for you once a day. Or maybe you have seven different people praying for you once a day every week. Have some might cover each day, you know, or just the days that you're going to be out on

32:23 the sidewalk. Maybe you're committed to go out on the sidewalk every Friday. Build a prayer team to be praying for you every Friday. Have a have have that air support, because that's kind of what it is like military terms, right. You've got the people that are on the ground and then you got the air support, and that is a powerful, powerful weapon against the enemy and against discouragement, but also, like you see, breakthrough. Like yeah, you testified to Jenna. Yeah. Now let me ask you, because I don't want to leave the this point too quickly, because I know I, like, like both of you, I think have, you know, came to a realization, wowvious is not of me. I need per support. I would start as soon as a mom I'd be talking to a mom, or someone else on the sidewalk was talking to mom. I would start texting or putting a post out on facebook. Please, please pray for us, and sometimes I would see a mom choose life, but sometimes they still choose abortion. They still do does it, you know. So God is not genie in a bottle that that grants our wishes. His will is supreme. But I certainly have experienced dis spite feeling like like sometimes I am in our team is fighting the battle with spiritual tools and well and prayer support,

33:55 we will still experience defeat. We will still see moms walk into that abortion center. We will still fight discouragement. At least I have. So I'm just wondering if to have you experienced that as well, and how have you dealt with that if you have? HMM, yeah, there's definitely been some defeat in this ministry, and I mean we all want to see fruit from our labor, you know. We all want to see those lives saved and we want to see those amazing stories of how we've been able to walk alongside moms and mentor these families, but sometimes that's not always the case. And you know, I've had situations where I've counseled moms for the longest time, you know, outside the clinic orent and have continued texting them and praying for them and they still make that decision to disobey God. And something that you guys would say at training a lot that is really stuck with me is that the victory is in obedience and we just have to remember that. It's, you know, not those numbers, it's not the fruit of the Labor, while those are all very good things, but our victories in that obedience that we take. Yeah, and that helps you do that. Yes, it does. Yeah, I haven't. That's that kind of goes back to even the podcast episode we did about motivation, right, and our motivation for ministry. That our motivation can't be the babies in the MOM's not my primary motivation. Certainly, were motivated by that, right, you were initially motivated

35:28 by the fact that our world are culture is a culture of death, and all the students in that classroom were pro aborts, pro abortion, but except for you, right that was a motivation, but your primary motivation is the Lord, your love for him, what he's done in your life. We've got to keep that as our motivation because if the victory is in babies being saved and the victory is in the moms choose in life, we don't see that every day and so we feel like we're not victorious every day. But if the victory is in obedience and if our motivation is a love for God first, then every day we show up, we're being obedient and we are victorious. God's doing the stuff behind the scenes and God's doing the work.

36:13 If the all the work is up to us, then we're going to be sadly disappointed. The work is up to the Lord. We're just called to be obedient, to be a vessel for him to work through. Yeah, yeah, so that prayer support and all the spiritual uplifting and support can certainly help to change just our outlook on everything that we face, both the the wonderful fruit that we do see, but also of those times when we when we don't see food. So I don't want to leave it on a Downer like that. I know you've seen some really amazing things happen there. There are rewards. They're definitely rewards that are really pretty awesome and in this ministry.

36:54 Can you talk about some of those? Yeah, well, I love the beginning of some of these verses in Isaiah Sixty one, because I kind of goes through what we're doing on the sidewalks and it says the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called Oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. And I feel like the reward that I really received through, you know, US being taking action through this word, is just the joy. I there's just so much joy in this Ministry of being a part of God's work and there's a reward and expectancy of hopefully seeing some of these families join us in the Kingdom one day them. There's just there really is nothing that brings me more joy than doing what God has called me to do. And you know, God doesn't need us. We often talk about how God doesn't need us and he doesn't have to have us, but he does choose to allow us to be a part of his work and that's a big blessing to me because I'm able to be

38:29 a part of that fruit. You know, here in Roanoke we've seen sixteen lives saved from abortion over this past year. When we first started, you know, I said it was slow and we weren't seeing any fruit. So now to get to the point to where there's sixteen babies that were scheduled to die that now have life and that is such a reward to that would let us be a part of that testimony. So yeah, it's just amazing to witness the fruit of the Labor that he's allowed us to be a part of. have any of those babies been born? Have you had the opportunity to hold any of them. Yet there has been one born, one baby boy, and he's a couple months old now, and we just threw a baby shower for Mama why, and she is do in January, so we're expecting her baby girl very soon. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it's it's the mercy of God that we get to see the fruit of our labor.

39:24 Yes, it is encouraging, even though the victories in obedience. That's like, that's the fruit of obedience, seeing God do, who is his work, in the loves of these MOMS and saving babies. So part of your job has been getting churches behind you, convincing pastors that that they should come on board and and be more active in supporting frontline pro life ministry. Has that been a challenge? Has that presented challenges for you, particularly in light of the fact that you're young and and a woman? A lot of pastors, most pastors, I assume that you're speaking with her, going to be man. Tell us about that. How how do you develop courage to do that? Yeah, I mean there's definitely challenges there. I never thought that at age twenty one, as a girl, that I would be reaching out to pastors, you know, connecting with churches. So it's kind of bizarre that God has put me in that position because I never would have expected it.

40:29 And there has been some challenges. You know, there's been churches that have told us, well, we don't want to be known as what we're against, we only want to be known as what we're for, which I understand. Let's be, you know, for these MOMS, let's be for these babies, but also Jesus was against sin, so it's okay to be against abortion. So I've had responses like that. But I've had an amazing team that God has really raised up in here and Roanoke of close friends of mine and members of the Church that have really come along and assist me and, you know, raising contacting these churches, and I'm a young girl, so you know it's not appropriate for me to go meet with pastors by myself, but I've had this team come behind me and assist me and going to share the heart of love life and we've had an amazing response. We've had about eight churches that are partnered with us in roanoke that are praying with us and have adopted weeks and even further. I've gotten people from their churches connected through sidewalk counseling or life discipleship. People even interested in orphan care and, you know, people who have had abortions in their past who are able to receive healing and restoration, and then also those who are interested in leading those Bible Studies for these women. Yeah, wo how did you raise up the teams? You said I appropriately God raised the teams, but you were used by God to help raise those teams. So I know that that's a huge

42:01 challenge for anyone in in any city and can be a really daunting task. So how did how did that come about? When? Well did you play in developing teams? Yeah, well, when I moved to Roanoke I was pretty much, you know, as me and my husband, Eastmand, and everyone I knew was in Georgia and I was like man, how am I going to rally the Church when I don't really even know anyone but Eastman? You know, his family way is here in roanoake and I do have, you know, some of my best friends that live here. They're the ones who introduced me to Easton actually, and Easton's family and my best friends that live here have really been a vital part in this ministry and these are people that I already had strong relationships with and, you know, through this passion that God has given me, I feel like he's stirred it up in their heart as well and they've been a vital part walking alongside of me and encouraging me, but they've also really kind of taken on this role of wanting to engage the church as well. So I feel like just through the passion that God gave me, he started stirring it up in other people, you know, as I took action. HMM. So you start, you started with what you already had, kind of and just and and God flamed fan that into flame and it expanded from there. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, well, your passion for the Lord and desire to serve him in this capacity was

43:35 contagious in that that got on other people, got into other people, and I believe it's going to continue to spread. Their believe your team's going to continue to grow and and you're going to continue to get churches on board. This is kind of the way this thing happens. Is really it's got to start with somebody. Again, going back to the analogy of David. After David lopped off Golias head. He had to be a cat, a list for this thing. That's when the children of Israel came out of their caves and started running after the Philistines, you know, to basically run them out of the land. It's got it. You got to have somebody that steps out and to see a young lady like yourself step out and really be a catalyst for what I believe is going to be that culture of love and life in Rowanoe, Virginia and beyond really taking root, it's pretty encouraging and I think it's it challenging and encouraging for anybody who's listening. If there's this kind of mentality, it's like, I'm just one person, what can I do?

44:34 Well, here you've got Jenna sharing. She just one person. What can she do? All she can do is obey God and step out where he's called her to and in God's going to do the work through her, and he is, and he'll do the work through you. But you've got to step out, you've got to step out in faith. Yeah, we don't have a whole lot of time left, Jenna, but what, what advice or encouragement would you give to people who maybe are like minded to you and and feel like, like Daniel said, I'm just one person. I don't know what to do. What, what possible difference could I make? What can you say to them as a young person who not only started in this new ministry but in a completely unfamiliar, well somewhat unfamiliar, New City with really little support? Yeah, well, I'd like to, you know, talk a little bit about my inspiration and it really comes from, you know, youth in the Bible that were just like me. But you're not David ner. Daniels talking about David, and he was this young guy, and we're currently facing this modern day Goliath. So we do absolutely have to have that boldness and courage when facing this giant. But I'm inspired by the youth in the Bible that have set an example of faith. You know, there's David, s Sir Joseph, Timothy, Mary, Daniel and like.

45:55 The list goes on of these young people who took bold action in obedience to Christ. Like David was only seventeen when he took on Goliath. Esther she was around fourteen years old when she became queen. Mary gave birth to the Son of God at Age Sixteen as a virgin and she had to have boldness to face judgment. And Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, you know, as a slave, that aged seventeen, but he worked towards, you know, everything that he did, and he prospered and eventually rose to second in command of Pharaoh. So you could see, like through each of their lives and their background, that God wasn't calling the equipped, he was calling those were that were willing and obedient. So really, the advice that I would give is you can start living a life of obedient and righteousness right now, like you don't have to wait until you're an adult. If you're the youth. God calls the youth and encourages us. We look to the example of First Timothy Four undred and twelve. We're told to set an example and speech, conduct, love, faith and impurity. So we can set that example through every task and every moment. You know, Colossians three through twenty three says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for Human Masters. Or strinthians one thousand and thirty one. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God and some of the best advice that I've been given that I'd like to share, as well as to invest your time and things that last forever. And there's only two things that last forever,

47:28 that's God's word and people. So my challenge would be start investing your time in the lives around you by being a witness of the Gospel of Christ. Man. It's wonderful you could do next next week's podcast, which is possible, about this very subject. Great, great, great advice and encouragement. Yeah, yeah, well, I think it would be good if you wouldn't mind, Jenna, just kind of wrapping up this podcast for you, just to pray real quick for those who, young or old, that need boldness and that need to step out in faith and know that they need to step out in faith, and so we just lift them up in prayer.

48:13 Yeah, absolutely, let's pray. Father, we just thank you so much for what you're doing in our lives. God, I look back at the past few years of my life and I see the intricate plan that you've set forth from me. You know, back in college, when I had no idea what your plan was and I had my own route. You know, I was coming into dental hygiene and you had different plans. Lord, you set me apart and you called me to this ministry. And Lord, I know that there's other youth that are just like me, that have passions and that have a desire to serve you in every way that they can, Lord, so I pray that you would just raise up those labors of youth. Lord, we know that you can use the youth, and I pray that you would help us to set an example. You know, portion is affecting our lives. This is our generation and we have a responsibility, that obligation, to do something about it. So I pray that you would raise up the youth. Lord, help us to be full of boldness and full of courage so that we can stand in the gap for these unborn children. Lord, help us to be a witness. We love you in Jesus name.

49:19 Amen. Hey Man, Amen. Thank you, Jenna. Thank you, guys, and that was that was a blessing, that was an encouragement. Yes, and we hope that you guys listening aren't courage where hope, we hope that you're challenged is well, to step out in faith and just to know that God is stepping out with you. So if this podcast was a blessing to you, please leave us a review and again reach out if you have any suggestions for future episodes that we can cover. That would be a blessing and encouragement to you. You can reach me at Danuel at Love Life Dot Org. You can reach Vicki at Vicki I love life dot Org. And if you want to reach out and encourage Jenna or maybe even support the ministry there in Rowanoke, if you're close to Rowan Oken you want to support a local ministry that's having impact, you can reach out to her, Jenna at Love Life Dot Org, and I'm sure she can send along a link if you want to support her front financially or support her support her, sorry, in prayer. I'm sure that would be a blessing to her as well.

50:20 That's Jenna with one end. Yeah, just so that you know, I always have spelled it incorrectly. It's one end, KNA. Yeah, that's right. So if feel free to reach out and until next time, God bless, God bless. Give me our love for love, give me our love for gratitude. I know it will cost me my life. Nothing's too precious in some you