Displaying items by tag: Best of Heartbeat 2024

by Lori Kuykendall, MPH, President of Beacon Health Education Services

Optimal Health was originally defined in 2009 as "a dynamic balance of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health." Like-minded leaders in the previous presidential administration succeeded in having The Optimal Health Model published on the government’s website, and it is used widely in the Sexual Risk Avoidance field. Optimal Health concepts help serve clients with community education and prevention programs.

The definition of "optimal health" includes key concepts for helping people achieve the best outcomes in all five dimensions: physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual. Read each of the three statements below carefully and see how applicable they are to serving clients.

1. "Health promotion is the art and science of helping people discover the synergies between their core passions and optimal health, enhancing their motivation to strive for optimal health, and supporting them in changing their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health."

What pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) do every day is both an “art and science” of prayerfully guiding clients toward optimal health, enhancing each person’s motivation, and providing positive support. We can help clients better understand their core needs and passions shaping their behavior (both helpful and harmful) and begin to take small steps toward choices that promote and protect their physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health.

2. "Lifestyle change can be facilitated through a combination of learning experiences that enhance awareness, increase motivation, build skills, and most importantly, through the creation of opportunities that open access to environments that make positive health practices the easiest choice."

We have an incredible opportunity to provide personalized learning experiences that are both practical and inspirational, with the hopes of fostering a better environment for making better choices.

3. One other Optimal Health concept that gives direction and helps to set reasonable expectations for serving those coming to us in high-risk environments: Optimal Health "measures success by the degree of movement away from risk."

The target image with "high risk", "low risk" and "no risk" helps give perspective for where our clients are, and where we can hope to support them. It guides us in working together with them to set reasonable goals moving toward lower levels of risk, and ideally on to no risk. Some examples of this are questions like "Is not having sex an option for you?" or "What steps could you take to move away from this unhealthy relationship?" Depending on the client’s unique situation and your center’s services, you may be able to discuss STD testing or other services you offer. These "risk reduction" measures require wisdom and discernment but can help facilitate an ongoing relationship with the client with the continued goal of moving them to a no-risk environment.

Concerning community education and prevention programs, the Optimal Health Model allows an emphasis on “primary prevention” in sexual health education. We want to help those at no risk (as are most young people who haven’t been involved with sexual activity yet) to have the awareness and motivation that this is the best choice for their whole-person well-being. We give clear, positive messages that normalize avoiding sexual risk by avoiding sexual activity. Students who are engaged in at-risk behaviors are encouraged that a no-risk status is an achievable option that brings both short and long-term flourishment. The Optimal Health Model emphasizes all aspects of nonmarital sexual activity and its associated physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual risks while promoting the whole-person benefits to be realized in preserving all sexual activity for marriage.

The Optimal Health model is a strong tool for use both inside and outside the pregnancy center. It is future-facing and provides guidance and hope by encouraging all toward well-being and flourishment.

by Valerie Harkins, Director of Maternity Housing Coalition for Heartbeat International

As leaders in maternity housing, we often find ourselves giving so much of our time, energy, and love to our residents along with their own tiny residents (their children) in need. While this is a worthy and fulfilling calling, it can also take a toll on our well-being. Fatigue and feelings of isolation creep into our souls without our noticing while we are fast at work with our hands to the plow.

Take this note in your heart and tuck it away for a later date: God is faithful to provide His strength and His comfort in our time of need, but not necessarily an end to the difficulties or even the opposition pressing upon us. He is the miraculous God who does far beyond what our imaginations can even think to ask. While our souls may cry out for deliverance from the lion’s den, He is the wise God who instead gives peace that surpasses understanding while inside the den. How glorious and perfect, a solution that gently silences the powers of darkness at work around us that boast of their own strength while also creating a demonstration of His own nature before unbelievers. This creates an “altar moment” for all surrounding the den and watching you in the midst of a trial. It is an opportunity for all to be awed by Jesus, the One whom even the lions obey.

The life raft for your soul, is the deep remembrance that you are not alone. Never. God is always by your side, ready to provide strength and comfort. In Psalm 46:1 it says, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Lean on Him and seek His guidance in moments of weariness. He’s proven Himself over and over throughout the Bible, throughout global history, and throughout your very own life. 

A little practical support for you while you’re in the den:

• Avoiding burnout is essential for us to continue serving effectively. Make sure to carve out time for rest, relaxation, and movement.
• Prioritize tasks and delegate when possible.
• Set healthy boundaries: Remember that saying "no" to some things allows you to say "yes" to what truly matters.

It is crucial to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. Connect with other leaders in similar roles for support and advice.

Heartbeat Affiliates: If you haven’t already joined be sure to submit a request to join our private facebook group Maternity Housing Coalition - Affiliates Group. Remember, it's okay to ask for help when needed, or even just when it’s wanted. Every housing affiliate has access to a cost-free maternity housing consultation per month. Hop on the schedule here.

May you find renewed strength and encouragement in your journey as a maternity housing leader. Remember, you are making a difference in the lives of many. Keep shining your light bright!

by Tracie Shellhouse, Vice President of Ministry Services

Sanctity of Human Life (SOHL) Month, marks a pivotal time for your pregnancy help organization (PHO) to engage your local churches and community. While this month serves as a poignant reminder of the intrinsic value of all human life, it also presents a unique opportunity to increase community awareness, develop new relationships, and strengthen established partnerships through ongoing support and advocacy.

Strategies to facilitate year-round engagement:

Relationship Building:

Use this month as a platform to initiate and fortify relationships. Offer to speak about the sanctity of human life and the power of pregnancy help in January and throughout the year. Engage local church leaders, congregations, and community groups through church services, events, and forums discussing the sanctity of human life. Be ready to meet new people—potential volunteers, donors, and even clients—and build rapport, exchange ideas, and showcase the life-transforming work of your organization. Consider creating a short, up-to-date video about the mission and impact of your PHO and offer it to churches that can’t accommodate a speaker but are willing to include it in their services.

Education and Resources:

During Sanctity of Human Life (SOHL) Month, in January, presentations make it clear that honoring and protecting life is a year-round ministry. Share your plans and hopes for the year ahead. Mention your upcoming events and share the types of educational opportunities your PHO can provide for interested groups: pro-life apologetics seminars, topical workshops (adoption, trauma-informed care, sex trafficking intervention), abortion-recovery support, and sexual integrity presentations. Encourage continuous education through your training and workshop events, point them to your online presence for more resources, and offer them practical tools they can use throughout the year.

Collaborative Initiatives:

Partner with local churches to empower them to support pregnancy help through your center by...

• facilitating support groups like Embrace Grace
• encouraging Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs to do community-wide diaper drives
• supporting mentorship programs for dads and moms at Boys and Girls Clubs and through Head Start programs
• providing services at health fairs alongside your local health department
• exhibit at church mission conferences

This collaborative approach fosters shared responsibility, increases awareness in your community, and invites others to join you in supporting expectant mothers and families. When scheduled throughout the year, these events will keep your PHO engaged with your community, provide ample opportunities for local media coverage, and your collaborating organizations will even help promote your brand and services.

Consistent Communication:

Regularly update churches and community partners about events, success stories, and upcoming opportunities through annual reports, newsletters, social media, and personal interactions. Attend partnered organizations' events to show that you support them, too. You can drop by a business’s open house, attend the Exchange Club’s auction, or volunteer at the Chamber of Commerce’s back-to-school bash. Connect in ways that let people know you “see” them. Acknowledging faithful donors can be as easy as penning, “God is touching and saving lives through your support!" at the bottom of their donation receipt. A phone call, a praise report via text message, or a short email can be touching and inspiring. And, lastly, don’t overlook the impact of sending an occasional handwritten thank you note or timely card (holidays, birthdays, life events). Keep it simple. Share a milestone achieved or miraculous “save” made possible through their support. Today, people rarely receive “happy mail,” and when we do it feels special.

You may already be doing some or all of the strategies presented above. If you are just getting started or trying to decide where to begin, I encourage you to lean into the process—it will be worth it.

1. First, choose one or two new strategies to implement. Take time to evaluate and adjust them to fit your ministry’s needs. These efforts will produce a harvest that will likely surprise you! As you gain momentum, you can choose other strategies to implement.

2. Second, don’t be a lone ranger. Build a team of board members, volunteers, and paid personnel to help with donor and community engagement. Share donor and partner touchpoint opportunities (phone calls, texts, emails, and thank you notes) with your team members who enjoy making connections and building relationships. Just three of you making one connection each day of the workweek could produce 60 meaningful donor connections a month. Imagine the possibilities! Train seasoned staff and board members to represent your PHO at speaking engagements, events, and exhibits. With a bench of trained representatives to call on, your ministry can be simultaneously present at multiple events and you can accept more speaking engagements than ever before. And as your PHO's opportunities and impact increase, you may be surprised to find that your workload may not. John Heywood wrote, “Many hands make light work,” almost 500 years ago. This proverb still rings true today.

By leveraging the momentum and awareness generated during Sanctity of Human Life Month, you can increase your network of dedicated supporters and advocates who—united for life—will create lasting change and affirm the sanctity of life every single day of the year.

by Beth Diemert, Director of Affiliate Services

“I didn’t sign up for this!”

That quote may be something that a strong leader in a pregnancy help organization may be tempted to shout—out loud! That’s because Part 2 of the third Realm of Leadership we are addressing is often the most challenging: navigating the complex world of legislators and policymaking.

Many of us entered this calling into pregnancy help with just that—a calling. We knew and were committed to serving women in need with the love and truth we innately possessed, from our own relationship with the One who called us. And many of the same would say that the political side of this issue was not a high motivator.  And yet, here we are.

Legislation in the post-Roe arena has become a very real factor in our ministry, as it has a direct impact on the work we’re doing in our center, clinic, or maternity home. While it can be tempting to avoid this arena altogether, pregnancy help must be represented through engagement with legislators and policymakers. 

Why? Because it is necessary to ensure unborn children are given a chance at life and that women facing unintended pregnancies get the support and resources they need. And that is what we signed up for.

The reality is that our mission, which was once able to serve women in a somewhat quiet and private way very effectively, has now been cast warp speed into an increasingly public, hostile, environment set on eliminating it all together. And that means once again, our methods have to change. The mission remains the same, and the calling remains the same, but fully serving her to the best of our ability must include advocating for her rights and defending the integrity of our good work in a very public space.

How do we do that?

1. First, it means staying informed about the latest laws and regulations that affect your ministry. Finding a trusted advisor within your state that can be your information source is vital. Often this can be a relationship with your like-minded public policy folks who are knee-deep in this arena daily. It also means speaking out and informing others on relevant issues. Become that voice in your community representing life and advocating for your clients in as many venues and events as possible. Build relationships with elected officials. Open the doors wide, invite them in, show them the good work you do, and help them understand what an asset you are in the community. And learn how to make your voice heard at public hearings and meetings. Media training is a must-do!

2. Second, build your brand. Your community needs to know and love you when the hits come! Build your brand around your amazing resources and support. Create community engagement strategies and build strong community relationships. Don’t allow your organization to be the best-kept secret! The goal is to become a household name.

3. Lastly, learning how State Coalitions serve the pregnancy help community well in providing leaders a safe space to confide, collaborate, and create. There is no better time than now to unite and stand strong. There is strength in numbers! In post-Roe America, the pregnancy help community is more robust than ever, and the coalition model is alive and well. Heartbeat currently lists 40 coalitions and contacts on our website, most of them organized at the state level.

Starting a Coalition

Strengthening State Coalitions in this season can happen with simple steps; the most obvious is to start a coalition in states where they don’t currently exist! The great news is that there are plenty of models out there to adopt or adapt, and plenty of great leaders who would be willing to help a new state get started. It can also happen by increasing services that the coalition provides such as increased networking on current issues the state is facing post-Roe, and perhaps starting working groups that can address more specific state issues.

Coalition Classifications

The most strategic opportunity for a coalition in the uncharted waters most states are wading in today, may be the consideration of reorganization. Some coalitions currently may not be a legal entity, they operate loosely with no formal structure. Others may be organized as a 501(c)(3). But with the overturn of Roe that threw legislation back to the states, it might be time to consider a coalition by gaining 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6) status. Both classifications offer more opportunities to lobby and influence legislation within the state. It gives the state’s pregnancy help community a legitimate and stronger voice and lifts some restrictions in place with a 501(c)(3).

Requirements

There are organizational requirements that would need to be heeded in terms of membership and governance, but these are very doable and could prove well worth it. Investigating these models with an attorney and/or CPA is highly recommended. Your first step should be re-visiting your coalition’s mission and solidifying your purpose and calling as a group. Then, determine what classification will best help you reach those goals and objectives.

If you haven’t already, connect with your state coalition and join their efforts in legislative engagement and advocating for life, or create them. We are better together!

As we reminded you earlier in this series, "leading a pregnancy help ministry is not for the faint of heart. It requires skill, dedication, and a deep commitment to the Gospel of Life. By navigating the three realms of leadership, with vision, courage, and grace, you can ensure unborn children are given a chance at life and that women facing unintended pregnancies get the support and resources they need. Keep pressing forward, knowing that your work is noble and necessary..." The Lord is with you, and remember, the legislative community is one more constituency to speak life to!

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To read more in this series, visit the Three Realms of Leadership That Shouldn't Be Ignored.

by Ellen Foell, International Specialist of Heartbeat International

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”  - Matthew 24:6-8

In early October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel on the 50^th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In September 2023, both Serbia and Kosovo moved troops to their borders in a standoff. In February 2022, the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine.

Wars and rumors of wars. And that is not all.

Did you know that according to the Geneva Academy¹ (which classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law), there are currently more than 110 armed conflicts around the world? Some of these conflicts make the headlines while others do not. Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years. Here is a map showing the locations of current armed conflicts.²

One does not need to study the map for very long to see that the geographic locations where armed conflict is occurring far outnumber the nations where there is some semblance of peace.

Of course, as soon as any war or conflict erupts, leaders start to talk about “calm heads,” and pursuing peace; they begin to argue about who started it, but mostly, their loudest cry and call is for peace—even though hardly anyone dares to talk about what that would look like. It is the cry not only from those engaged in the war but from those who lead powerful nations, and those who have influence. Throughout history, and in the context of hundreds of previous conflicts and wars, great leaders in the world and history have spoken about world peace: Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Men and women—black and white—of every generation has had its spokespersons for peace. Everyone wants peace.

As a “world community,” prizes are even given to those who advocate for peace as if the advocacy for peace had a magic dotted line to actual peace. It doesn’t. And even if we think it does, the prophet Jeremiah wrote: 

“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.”

– Jeremiah 6:14

The phrase “peace, peace,” when there is no peace is found in Jeremiah 6:14 and Jeremiah 8:11. It is also found in Ezekiel 13:10 and 16. In all four places, it has the same meaning in the same historical context: a cry for peace for a nation, for a people, amid conflict and oppression.

We want peace, and we cry for peace. As we look at the nations at war, the ethnic and regional conflicts, that are occurring right now in our world, of course, we pray for peace. But let us not kid ourselves. Jesus said we would hear of "wars and rumors of wars."Not only that, but Jesus told His disciples, “In the world, you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33)

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” - Matthew 10:34

“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” - Luke 12:49

Is this the same Jesus who said, “Peace I leave with you…” no fewer than three times to the disciples after he rose from the dead? The same Jesus who oftentimes told someone whose life he had just irreversibly and gloriously changed, “Go in peace.” Including, the woman He healed from the issue of blood (Luke 8:48), the woman who anointed His feet with her tears (Luke 7:50), and the royal official whose son was healed (John 4:50).

Jesus was called the Prince of Peace. He could make winds stop, still the waves, calm the raging Gerasene and quiet the accusations of the religious leaders. Jesus said to the disciples and to those He healed, several times, “Peace I leave with you,” “Go in peace,” “Be at peace with one another,” and “My peace I leave with you.” In the famous opening to His great sermon, known as the Beatitudes, Jesus taught, “Blessed [happy] are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9).

Well, which was it? Did Jesus come to bring peace or division, calm or conflict, serenity or a sword? What if He came to bring both?

We know that Jesus also said in John 14:27 the most enigmatic thing of all: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Christ's "peace" here refers to a hope and reassurance that goes beyond what a fallen world can offer (Philippians 4:7). It is permanent, guaranteed, and eternal (Hebrews 6:18–19). Our vice president of Ministry Services, Tracie Shellhouse, shares an encouraging word about peace for each one of us. In Christ alone, we can have peace.

The Prophet Micah at 4:3, articulated his hope for a world where nations would no longer engage in warfare; where people would live in safety and unity, sitting under their own vine and fig tree with none to make them afraid. Micah, along with Isaiah and other prominent prophets, consistently emphasized the importance of justice, righteousness, and the pursuit of peace as integral components of a harmonious society. This underlines the idea that true peace was not just the absence of conflict but the presence of justice and righteousness in the world. We strive for peace, but we also know that the day when the lion lies down with the lamb is not for this side of eternity.

We have short video updates about the war in Israel from Sandy Shoshani, National Director of Be’ad Chaim, and Nadia Gordynsky, President of Save a Life, International, with a network of centers across Ukraine. Her testimony of what is happening in the Ukraine assures us God is on the throne and His work endures and grows despite conflict and war.

Friends and allies, we grieve the death and destruction caused by ongoing wars and conflict, but not as the world does. Our fully redeemed and truest hope is not in this world, and our hope is not in this present life. Nonetheless, let us pray and work for the peace of Jerusalem, the peace in Kiev, and the peace in every area of the world where conflict and unrest continue, until the shalom of the Prince of Peace is manifest.

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Sources

1. https://geneva-academy.ch/galleries/today-s-armed-conflicts (accessed 10/31/23).
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts (accessed 10/31/23).