40 Days of Prayer and Fasting - 40 Days of Constant Vigil - 40 Days of Community Outreach

We had over 17 churches and over 350 people involved in this fall’s campaign. Many people were involved with pro-life efforts for the first time, and at least two groups, possibly more, were started because of people who were involved with 40 Days efforts. Ask God: How are you calling me to become more involved with pro-life work? Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center? Organize and lead regular prayer vigils outside abortion centers? Start a prayer chain or Respect Life group at your church? Make baby blankets for a shelter for unwed mothers? Write to your representative and become involved with pro-life lobbying? Participate in pro-life youth groups? God is calling you to something specific, if simply to offer daily prayers for an end to abortion. Spend some time and allow Him to speak to you.

I’d like to leave you with a reflection from a 40 Days volunteer who wished to remain anonymous:

“Why do I go out to pray in front of Planned Parenthood? What is the Victory I am seeking? What is the Change I am seeking?”

God loves our freedom more than anything. God loves US. He loves our heart — which can choose life — or death. There will be times when we WILL choose the path of death. And sometimes this death leads to the real death of someone, or we make choices that over time eventually mean our own death. God loves our freedom so much, that He lets Hell be an option.

So, in approaching others, we must be very, very careful to honor a person’s freedom as much as God does. In the case of the work of 40 Days for Life, that does not mean honoring the legality of a woman to have an abortion. But it does mean that we should have profound respect for the reality of the human heart, and for God’s mercy. Because what we an honoring is the love of God.
What we need to put our hope in — isn’t Zion, a good culture, or a good country. What we put our hope in is a good Christ.

We are beggars for love. That is the beauty of the movement of 40 Days for me. We stand in the cold, mostly empty-handed, without right argument, because we stand in solidarity with Christ, and we are beggars for God’s love.

40 Days for Lifers,

The date has been set! The finale rally is this Thursday, November 5th at 7:00 pm at St. Mark’s Catholic church in Shoreline. It will be in the cafeteria this time, and will be potluck-style. In traditional potluck tradition, people with last names A-L please bring appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks, and M-Z bring desserts.

The address is: 18033 15th Pl. N.E. Seattle, WA 98155. This is a celebration to mark the end of another successful campaign in the Seattle area. We will have announcements, prayer, and stories from vigil participants of things that touched them when they were at this site this year. If you have such a story that you’d like to share with everyone, please email it to me (monicaoberlin@gmail.com) and we will add you to the program.

We will also be talking about a follow-up group that will meet throughout the year. Follow-up is not always something that gets emphasized as people are usually tired by the end of 40 Days. The reality is that the unborn are killed throughout the year and we cannot afford to lessen or cease our efforts as long as abortion is legal in this country. We will have a sign up for an email list at the rally, but if you are interested and cannot make it, please feel free to email me personally.

Peace,
Monica Oberlin
Seattle 40 Days Coordinator

Greetings,

We’re on the home stretch! We had a really good turnout for our midway event - more than 50 people showed up to pray and sing, despite the downpour. Fr. Raphael Mary gave a very inspiring impromptu talk on how abortion should be unacceptable to everyone, not just Christians, and we had quite a few honks and waves from passers-by.

Most importantly, there seemed to be a lot less traffic in and out of the parking lot: most likely some women changed their minds from our presence that day!!

With this in mind, now is the time to sign up for those hours I know you’ve been thinking about taking or have already been out there for and just never signed up officially.

We have some gaps Tuesday in the afternoon/evening.

Bring someone out who’s never been before! Bring your whole family after church! Bring a friend, spouse, priest, pastor, etc. Trust me, they will thank you for inviting them. I’ve had it happen to me multiple times. We can and are changing people’s minds and hearts. Remember, if God is with us, who can be against us?

In Him,
Monica Oberlin
Seattle 40 Days for Life Campaign Coordinator

P.S. Stay tuned for an update on our Finale Rally the week of November 1st!!!

We’re 22 days into the campaign, and already over 200 mothers across the country have turned their backs on abortion and saved their babies! We’ll be holding our (only slightly belated) Midway Prayer Gathering this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. to noon at the site at E Madison St. and 20th Ave. We’re expecting a big turnout, so come and bring a friend.

Our kickoff rally will be on September 22 at 7pm at the UW Newman Center. Please join us for an evening of prayer and encouragement!

There are lots of open hours. If you want to get a head start and reserve some hours. If you are available during the day, please consider signing up to spend some time in front of the abortion Facility.

Thank you all for another incredible 40 Days for Life! We could not have achieved all that we did without every single one of you. Your dedication in the face of a particularly hard year—when pro-life efforts had to be spread thin over several outreach efforts, and everyone was distracted by the upcoming election—was simply inspirational. In Seattle, we had over 300 volunteers at the vigil, and we found out that the U-District Planned Parenthood facility has ceased performing surgical abortions. Across the country, over 600 babies’ lives were spared just during the campaign this fall! We expect next year’s campaign to bring us even greater blessings and we hope to see as much energy and enthusiasm from you, Seattle’s amazing pro-life advocates.

This is a round the clock prayer campaign that is happening in the same time frame as the spring 40 Days for Life campaign and one of their focuses is the pro-life cause.  If this isn’t meant to be I don’t know what it.  If you can make it to any of their events you should definitely do so.  A little bit of cross pollination could go a long way with a little divine intervention!

Here’s the announcement with all the info on when, where and why…

Operation Rolling Thunder is a 24/7 prayer movement that links, National Day of Prayer and the Global Day of Prayer to through 24/7 prayer in cities and harnesses the momentum of international prayer events to turn our attention back our communities with a focus on transformation.  This has led to Washington State now being covered with 24/7 prayer all year round and the results have been remarkable.  Click http://www.watchmanministries.com/pages.asp?pageid=66569 for the strategy, click http://www.watchmanministries.com/pages.asp?pageid=66974 for an overview and click http://www.watchmanministries.com/pages.asp?pageid=66965 for the history and results.

Now that we’ve mobilized large amounts of prayer we are working to link strategic outreach and strategic prayer.  I believe 40 Days for Life and ORT will benefit greatly from the cooperative synergy that can result by us working together. 

 Besides sharing Saturday afternoon regarding “40 Days for Life” I’d like to ask you to be available to lead us in prayer Saturday evening as well. 

 Operation Rolling Thunder Kick Off 2008 – Feb 7-10 – click http://www.watchmanministries.com/calendar.asp for the details and to register and click  http://www.watchmanministries.com/calendar.asp for the agenda.  It will be a powerful time.

 The Bible teaches us that one puts a thousand to flight and two puts ten thousand.   Every single person is important and I know this corporate on going prayer will bless your assignment greatly.

This Act that is gaining momentum in Congress right now.  They’re trying to rally support and encouraging everyone  to contact their congressman.  We all know how wonderful our local representatives are, so I would say thats even more reason to call so they know how their constituents feel.

You should check it out!

We made the news this last week.  An article published was published in the UW daily on Wednesday.  It is a pretty well balanced take on the campaign and has received some good comments.

Click here to read the article

Todays email from David Bereit has an awesome challenge:

Here’s what I’d like you to do today…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR ABOUT 40 DAYS
FOR LIFE AND SUBMIT IT TO YOUR LOCAL PAPER!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Most people are not aware that the opinion page of
their local newspaper is one of the most read pages
each day.

By writing a Letter to the Editor, you can spread the
word about 40 Days for Life, shed light on the tragedy
of abortion, and bring hope to your community.

Look on the opinion page of your local paper or go to
the web site for your newspaper (look it up in a search
engine if needed). You should find their guidelines for
a Letter to the Editor and instructions on how to
submit your letter.

Here are some suggestions of different things you could
write about:

1.) WHAT 40 DAYS FOR LIFE IS: You could talk about the
89 cities in 33 states that are united in prayer,
fasting, vigil, and outreach until November 4.

2.) HOW YOU ARE INVOLVED: Whether you are praying,
fasting, participating in a vigil, or helping with
community outreach, tell your story!

3.) SHARE THE BLESSINGS: Tell stories about blessings
you have seen, heard about, or experienced during
the 40 Days for Life.

4.) CALL TO ACTION: Invite people in your community to
join the prayer and fasting, the vigil (if there is
one in your town) and the outreach. Give clear
instructions on how to get involved.

A few points to keep in mind when writing your letter:

>> Stick to the paper’s guidelines for Letters to the
Editor or your letter will never be seen.

>> Stick to the facts, and don’t report rumor or
here-say items.

>> Stories are a compelling way to motivate people.

>> Be positive, Christlike, upbeat, and charitable.

Let’s flood the opinion pages of every paper in the
country and get the word out about the problem of
abortion and the solution of 40 Days for Life!!