NASHVILLE (BP) – The latest series on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) podcast covers a variety of topics related to life including abortion, adoption, foster care and the ministry of pregnancy resource centers.
The series discusses the changing landscape of pro-life ministry since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but also speaks on other important topics relevant to creating a “culture of life” throughout the nation.
“The 50-year mission of the prolife movement was realized when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, but there’s still much work to be done for our country to truly embrace a culture of life,” said Lindsay Nicolet, ERLC editorial director and podcast host.
“The mission of those who believe that every life has inherent dignity from the moment of conception to the day of natural death is far from over. And that’s why we wanted to highlight topics related to life on our latest podcast series. We want to assist Southern Baptists to stand firm and persuasively articulate what the Bible teaches about all human life. In so doing, we pray the Lord uses the efforts of his people to work toward a day when abortion is unthinkable, mothers, babies, and fathers are cared for, and families flourish.”
Life is one of the ERLC’s four focus areas, along with religious liberty, marriage and family and human dignity.
The podcast previously covered the highly requested topic of gender and sexuality, which falls under the focus area of Marriage and Family, when the podcast relaunched last September.
Featured in the episode is Herbie Newell, president and executive director of Lifeline Children Services and its ministry arms. Under Newell’s leadership, Lifeline increased their international outreach to 25 countries through adoption and strategic orphan care, obtained licensure in 17 states and established a foster care arm.
He spoke about how pastors and leaders play an important role in helping create a “wrap-around” pro-life culture within their ministries.
The second episode contains the ERLC Research team conducting an interview with Scott Klusendorf, the author of the book “The Case for Life.” Klusendorf has a vast array of experience advocating for the pro-life cause.
Klusendorf has participated in debates against abortion advocates including Planned Parenthood directors and attorneys who have argued for abortion access before the Supreme Court.
He is also known for his work with Life Training Institute, which helps prepare Christians to articulate and defend the pro-life movement with rational and theological arguments.
He spoke about how he began his life’s work in pro-life ministry after seeing a video depicting abortion at a pastor’s conference, saying “everything changed for me that day.”
The last episode in the series discusses the on-going ministry of pregnancy resource centers throughout the nation and abroad.
The episode includes an interview with Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasurer for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, speaking about how the convention approaches pro-life ministry.
“This issue of life is theological,” Unzicker said. “I became a Christian at the age of 28 and dove right into God’s word and immediately realized that all people are made in His image from the very first pages of the Bible. The imago Dei is why we advocate for life, and all of life. The pages of Scripture scream out that God is for life.”
“The answer to how our convention works with the pro-life movement is the same way we would work on any issue, and that is it begins with the local church. The buckets that we like to think about it at a convention level is that pro-life means that we defend, love, adopt and volunteer.
Unzicker also said the ERLC’s Psalm 139 Project has “fit like a hand and glove with churches in North Carolina.”
The episode also features a conversation with Karen Roseberry, who served much of her life as the executive director of Care Net Women’s Resource Center in Lancaster, Calif.
Roseberry tragically died in a car accident after recording her interview for the podcast, but Care Net’s staff encouraged the ERLC to still share her words of wisdom since pro-life ministry was her life’s work.
She spoke about the changes Care Net experienced since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the opportunities they have to share the Gospel.
“We have seen an increase of over 20 percent across the board, and certain demographics even higher, of the number of clients who are walking through our doors,” Roseberry said.
“There’s a greater and greater need for services that we provide. Far too few people know that pregnancy centers exist … so really an opportunity and a challenge is for us to be able to be better known through our community.
“We have two parts to our center. We have our clinic and we have our material center. On the clinic side, we perform pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. We also have our advocates who meet with the moms, just providing a listening ear … and as a faith-based clinic also seeking to take each opportunity that we have to share Jesus any chance that we get. We want moms and dads to know that their greatest and most important resource is Him.”
