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

And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” Genesis 1:28

Eternal Father, could a loving God command us to be fruitful and multiply into over population and extinction? Forgive those who encourage abortion for the poor, disadvantaged, and selected races in our country. For Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was poor, disadvantaged to the point that there was no place for Him to be born except in a stable, and born a stranger in a distant land from that of His mother’s.

Dear Jesus, I pray for those who see abortion as a method of birth control and even population control of “less desirables.” I pray for the World Population Organizations that are requiring that Third World countries accept abortion programs in order to qualify for financial assistance.

Come Holy Spirit upon all pro-choice people so that they will understand that when You gave us dominion over life, it was to care for it not to destroy it.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. - Psalm 139:13

Eternal Father, You have marvelously designed the womb to be a place of protection and the perfect environment as we go through over half of our stages of development. Forgive our nation for discriminating against the unborn - not because of race, color, religion, or sex – but because of residence in a womb.

Dear Jesus, I pray for those who deliberately confuse the facts about embryonic stem cell research for financial gain. They claim that embryonic stem cells are so superior to adult stem cells because they can form any cell in the human body, blatantly leaving out the premier fact that this has only happened in the perfect environment of the mother’s womb – never even once in over 25 years of laboratory experiments, wasting billions of dollars.

Come Holy Spirit upon all Americans so that they will understand the differences between embryonic and adult stem cell research and not only say “NO” to funding of embryonic stem cell research but also make it illegal.

Stories are starting to come in from around the nation about the impact 40 Days is making on individual lives.

From Durango, Colorado, we learned that one woman left
the abortion facility after sitting in her car for
about 15 minutes, while three 40 Days for Life
volunteers prayed fervently for her.

Then the abortionist didn’t show, so five other mothers
waiting for abortions left. As many as six babies may
have been saved!

In Richmond, Virginia, a woman going in for an abortion
rejected information from sidewalk counselors, but a
post-abortive woman reached out to her and said,
“Please don’t make the same mistake that I have. You
can chose a better way, God’s way, the way of life!
Please won’t you let your baby live, and love you?”

The woman went in to the abortion facility anyway…

…A few more minutes went by, and the young woman came
out of the clinic. She hugged the sidewalk counselor,
took contact information from her regarding where she
could get medical and emotional support, and got into
her father’s car.

As she drove away, she glanced over at the 40 Days for
Life participants and mouthed the words “thank you” as
tears streamed down her father’s face. Then they were
gone.

I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! - Psalm 139:14

Eternal Father, Your design of our development is truly full of wonder and awe! Forgive those who set arbitrary time limits on when

an unborn is a human person based on our ever-changing medical ability to keep a fetus alive outside the womb. How is it that our

limited and changing abilities and understanding of the mystery of creation should determine human life?

Dear Jesus, thank You for the 4D Ultrasound pictures that can show lips at week 6, eyelids at week 7, a frown at week 8, fingernails

at week 9, teeth at week 10, fingerprints at week 11. I pray that mothers will be able to see her unborn through this new technology

and change their mind about having an abortion.

Come Holy Spirit upon our nation to instill a profound reverence for all human life and its development.

I’ve put in a good number of hours today, and at points I’ll admit that things seemed unsurmountable.  This morning it looked like we would have to fill in about 15 hours tomorrow.  By tonight, not only can I now get sleep, but it looks as though I might even have time to work (which my boss will be thrilled about ;).

If you don’t have an hour but you’ve got some time to kill, spend it wisely and come out and join us in prayer.  No reservation necessary.  The more the merrier when it comes to spiritual battles.

It’s hard to feel down at the end of this long day when we receive messages like the following:

OK, where can I get a t-shirt? Or 30?

I’m a senior at a Catholic high school in Seattle. I want to bring a
group, we’ll do an hour, we’ll do a few hours. Right now this is
obviously tentative - what can I do? I want to help.

You all are awesome.  God is so good.  Day 1 is coming to a close.  Lets make the best of the next 39.

Last night we had around 80 people show up for our Kickoff Rally. The speakers were awesome. The group was vibrant. The opposition was present. We had 30ish protesters outside [edit 10/2: before the event began], which is almost reassuring. You know there’s something powerful going on when the opposition shows up.

Roughly 12 hours ago we started our first hour of vigil. Eight brave souls made it out for the midnight hour. Since that time we’ve had all the hours occupied. This is just the beginning. We’ve had no opposition present for any of the hours so far. If their organizing to protest today, they’re sure taking their sweet time.

If you were at the kickoff meeting or you’re well informed and you have been waiting to sign up for vigil hours. The time is now! We really need your help filling out the next few days.

If you’re here to gather information and you’re not sure yet. Please get in contact and ask questions.

Please continue to pray for us. We need all the prayer we can get.

[edit 10/2: Per our commentors suggestion there where apparently greater numbers of protestors later in the evening. The Seattle Weekly article suggested there where 100 on each side. I know that to be a slight embellishment of our numbers, but have no way of knowing how many people in total showed up in opposition]

Things are heating up. This weekend we’ve been out speaking at a couple church’s, and we’re getting great response. Hours are filling up about as fast as we can update the calendar, please give us a day or so if you don’t see your hour reflected yet.

For those of you who are still waiting to pick up your hours. The time has come! There are still a good number of vigil hours available during the first week, and we’d sure like to see those go first.

Plans for the kickoff event are also coming along. We have 3 speakers lined up:
Sheila Donavan
John Russell
Michael Pauley

T-shirts are in, and they came out great!

We’ve had time to address a number of key challenges with the vigil itself, such as finding a camera for our security, where we can use the restroom and where we’re going to store all the miscellaneous stuff that will keep this vigil running.

A number of you have inquired about budget and donations. Click here more information on this topic.

I hope you are all resting up and getting excited. It looks like we’re in for an eventful month and God is doing some pretty amazing things already!

We’ve developed a variety of different resources for spreading the word about 40 Days for Life. If your interested in helping us spread that word we’d love for you to have access to these. If there’s anything you need that isn’t available here feel free to jump over to Contact Us and let us know how we can help!

General Information

• Information Packet
• General Flyer
• Vigil Sign-up Form
• Endorsements Sheet

Recommended Text for Bulletin / Newsletter Use:

Seattle 40 Days for Life Campaign

40 Days for Life is the largest simultaneous pro-life mobilization in history – made up of fervent prayer, a 24-7 peaceful vigil outside an abortion clinic, and community outreach. The campaign will occur from September 26 – November 4. This specific campaign has generated measurable lifesaving results in seven communities where it has been conducted during the past three years. Now, over 80 cities in 32 states will be holding it simultaneously, including Seattle. For more information, please visit http://seattle40daysforlife.com and contact seattle@40DFL.com

Contact Cards:

So these aren’t a download-able resource, but get in touch and we’ll get you as many contact cards as you need.

Example:

To kickoff the Seattle 40 Days for Life we will be holding an evening of encouragement and prayer. This is a great time for anyone who is interested in the campaign or the prolife community to come together and get a taste for the campaign we are embarking upon.

This event will take place on September 25th at 7pm at the UW Newman Center (directions below).

There will be several speakers who will address different aspects of the issue and the campaign. We will have light refreshments and at the end of the evening we will go and spend time together in vigil in front of Planned Parenthood.

I hope you will join us!

Directions to the UW Newman Center:

Get off the freeway at the 45th St Exit
Travel East on 45th St - about 1 mile
Turn Left onto 20th Ave
Turn Right into the Newman Center parking lot
The Newman Center is on the corner of 45th and 20th

View Larger Map

UPDATED 9/11/07

The vigil signup form is up.  Click here to signup for hours.  If you want to check the Calendar to see which hours are taken check it out here!