SPEAKER_02 0:07

Well, welcome to the ProLife Team podcast. I'm Jacob. I'm here with Bryce. And today we're going to be talking about things that Bryce thinks are helpful to those in maybe rural communities or just in general. So I'm excited to hear what you'd like to talk about, Bryce. Would you introduce yourself and then we'll dive into the topics that you're looking to go into?

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Sure. Yes, I appreciate how vague that was, Jacob. It gives me a lot of room to decide on the fly what we're going to talk about here. As you said, my name is Bryce Asberg. I'm the executive director at Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale, Michigan. I've been doing that, well, we're coming up on four years here now. Been involved with pro life work in a variety of capacities before then. Let's see. So I live in Hillsdale, Michigan. I attended Hillsdale College, which is in Hillsdale, Michigan, although originally I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in Tacoma, Washington, and came here for college. My wife's originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. We got married right before my senior year, right after she graduated, and we have lived here since. So we have one son, Malachi, and another little one on the way this fall. Let's see, in addition to my work at Helping Hands, I volunteer with a campus ministry at Hillsale College. I am getting my master's in bioethics from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. And uh I enjoy smoking meat. So that's one of the rules, I think, if you start smoking meat. It has to become part of your personality. So I grudgingly accept that.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Yeah, and one of the things I've heard you say is that perhaps it was world domination or or great influence uh is through smoked meat. Um that might be a good story to share. Share how smoked meats it's been become a part of your you know, your ability to reach people in your community.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, most people don't realize that uh most power accumulated in the world has some connection with smoked meat. Um, and so it's a very important tool to have in your arsenal, um, which I I say jokingly, but it is actually smoked meat is a wonderful hobby because it is a very useful hobby, uh, relatively cheap compared to a lot of hobbies, and you have the ability to serve. So I've actually catered several weddings. Um, and every every year I cater multiple events for pregnancy center volunteers and staff, and um, in in that way, it's a blessing. And then actually, in in some of our partnerships, so I will cater for our county uh drug court graduation, and we we work with them to get referrals and to serve serve some men and women from the courts. Um, and that actually has opened up a huge door just to really cement that relationship. And we were actually just talking about it today. I will be smoking again uh in July. Smoke meat, not meth. That's one of the slogans of our county drug court. Um, and so I'm grateful to get to help with that.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Interesting. So, yeah, tell us about the the judge and the relationship and the men that you're connecting, that are getting connected with your ministry.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah, sure. Um, I'm gonna actually beg off on that in a sense, Jacob. Not that I'm afraid of that question. We'll come back around to it. But I I guess first I I just want to talk about our community. And so we we serve a community that's about 40,000 people. That's our whole county, not you know, not our town, but our county. And for many of your listeners, I'm sure if they're in the pregnancy center world, they're they're familiar with that kind of context, even if it's not theirs. Um, and so it's a very, and you know, every county around us has at least one pregnancy center also. And so that's really that's our target audience, right? That's who we're serving is those 40,000 people, 7,000 women of childbearing age, 700 pregnancies, 500 live births a year, give or take. Right? That's that's it. That's who we're serving. And and that kind of puts a cap then, in a sense, on on how many clients we're actually going to be able to see because there's only so many clients and there's only so many pregnancies in our community. Um and so that's that's been something that we've had to think a lot about uh as we think about growth, as we think about planning and wanting to serve with excellence, absolutely, but also recognizing that just because of the context of where we serve, it it's going to be different. Um, and and I think coming to this point of realization that's really important, yeah, that it's not worse, right? It's very important. Um, but it is different. And and so to compare yourself to a center in in a large urban area is not uh can be discouraging sometimes if you have the wrong perspective going into it. Um and so that that's something that you know I've started talking about over the last couple years and just had the opportunity to to share with some brothers and sisters at the Heartbeat Conference around the same idea. What does it look like to pursue excellence in a rural pregnancy center? Um and so if you don't mind, I I'd rather talk about that first and then circle back around to this cool partnership as an example.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Yeah, I I love yeah, I I would prefer that. And I I love how you you turn the size of your county um into an advantage instead of comparing it to a larger county and feeling like you have to use the same, you know, because you have to use different tools, and you have and you can use different tools um based on the size of your community and number of library. So, yes, please, yeah, share how you know what metrics you look at and the advantages of being in that smaller space.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Well, and you know, I love I I love I've had the opportunity a couple times to present some of this content as a breakout session. And what I absolutely love about it is the chance to make it interactive. And we, you know, it tends to attract people who are interested in this when they see the title. Usually that's their context. Um, and so to turn the question around on them has been so enjoyable to hear what are some of the advantages and what are some of the disadvantages, the strengths and the weaknesses that come with serving in a smaller community or in a rural area. Uh, and it's been really rewarding to get to uh start and facilitate that conversation because you know I'm coming into it, like I said, less than four years, and I certainly don't have all the answers here. But I think it's a really important question, a really important conversation to frame up. Um so unfortunately, we don't have a live studio audience here to chime in their wisdom. So I'll I'll give some tidbits from from my mind and from the collective hive mind I've got to learn it at some of these conferences. But you know, the the first thing I would say is we really we need to frame the issue and we need to step back and we need to say, okay, what what are some of the strengths and weaknesses? What what are what is the situation that you find yourself in? And I think given human nature, uh it's really easy to just start with here are the disadvantages, right? Here are the things that are working against me. Maybe there aren't medical providers, maybe it's really hard to find uh a medical director for your center. Maybe it feels like there's just not enough money to go around. There aren't big businesses that are Christian owned that are excited to support your work. Um, you can go down the list, right? Personnel, funding. There aren't many abortion-minded clients and you know, all of these things, and the list keeps going. But then to actually flip it and say, well, what are some of the things we do have going for us? Um, and and that is a wonderful thing because we do have advantages that are going for us in this world. Um in this work, excuse me. We do have advantages, and so what are those? And one is just the fact that you can actually reach everyone in your community, right? You actually have the ability for everyone in your service area to know who you are before they find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy. Um, and that's a huge advantage, right? That's something that's just not attainable for centers in some of these bigger areas. Um, you know, and and then there's lots of opportunities for creative partnerships that often are closed also. And so this hits on the court that we'll talk about a little bit. But you know, in many of our communities, we may be the only resource for diapers or baby clothes or baby items. And so sometimes people have no choice but to work with us, even if they we wouldn't normally think of them as totally mission-aligned partners. Uh there's still a great chance for collaboration because they need us, right? Because in a sense, sometimes in these small communities, we're all family. And maybe, yeah, we are like the weird religious uncle that you're always a little nervous what he's gonna say around Thanksgiving dinner table, right? But it's still family. So you get an invite and you have a seat at the table. Um, and and that is a real strength of being able to serve in a rural area. You with me, Jacob? Did I lose you yet?

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah, I was talking with someone the other day. Yeah, the internet's a little wonky, but the recording will piece together in the end. So it might be a little bit of a lag between responses. But um, I was talking with someone the other day, and they were in a county of 10,000 people, and I think they measured 138 live births in 2023. And I referred them to you because and I was trying to share and recycle some of the ideas that you have shared that I have heard you talk about, which is to help every pregnancy, help every woman facing a pregnancy. Can you tell us what you some of the things that you've done to connect with every pregnancy in your county, or what are some of your visions at least for that space?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Absolutely. Um, and so, like I said, really the goal has to be how is everyone in our community going to know who we are, right? How is everyone out there going to know the work that we're doing? Uh, what are those community events that, you know, the county fair and the things that maybe there's still a couple things in your area that everyone goes to? Um, and those will be great opportunities to get your face in front of everyone and your name and the services that you provide. But uh the other thing, which I think you might be alluding to is we started a program in partnership with our hospital here, so that every baby that's born at our hospital from our county is getting a box from the pregnancy center. And that layette box, that box includes diapers, uh onesie hat, gloves, socks, uh, blanket, uh, breast pads, a handwritten note to the new mom, information on our parenting services, and a coupon that they can redeem for a family Bible at the pregnancy center. Uh, and that has been just a huge opportunity to one, build a really important relationship, of course, with the hospital partnering is critical, but then to celebrate every life that's born in our community is a worthwhile thing. Um, but then we're making sure, most importantly, that every new family in our area knows who we are, right? They know the resources that are out there and they know that we're here to help them. Um and that that has been just a beautiful thing. And so we give out about 300 boxes a year then through our through our county hospital, which is a lot. And it's probably, I, you know, my estimate's probably about $13,000 worth of material a year that we give out just through those boxes. Um, but it's been very successful in spreading the word, in building bridges, um, and like I said, just making sure that every new family out there knows that they're not alone uh and knows that we're here to help and how we can help.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Oh, that's so good. Um so one of um one of the things that I've learned over the last 15 years, well, maybe more than 15 years, is the power of word of mouth. And back in 2011, I I first saw word of mouth get passed by Google, but that was in a Northern Californian city. Um and but in communities that are 50,000 people or less, word of mouth has stayed number one. And so when you said county fair, community events, and it's also these um these boxes that you're giving to women who've had a birth, a live birth at a at the hospital with a hospital partnership, all of those things are encouraging and empowering and equipping people to provide word of mouth referrals when they know of someone else who needs help and care. And so if you know, and so I would like to encourage those who are listening, you know, if you're in a bigger city, word of mouth by a friend of professional is number two on how someone heard about you, typically. And if you're in a community 50,000 or less, word of mouth is number one with internet, Google, eventually AI as being number two. And all that to say is if by going to the county fair and interacting with people, you're equipping people to do word of mouth referrals, and you you will see an impact and word of mouth going up when you do county fairs, community events, and interact with people in your community.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah, and and and that's certainly especially true for parenting services, right? Um, and so we we invest heavily into online ad spend for abortion-related search terms too, because that's critical, right? That's so important to what we're doing. Um, but you're right that that word of mouth drives a lot of it. And and I was actually helped by a marketing professional that um just you know met with me to give some free advice. Um and he's worked for lots of national scale campaigns. And and and one of the things he helped me to recognize is that when you're running on word of mouth like that, there's not as much of a difference between our donor market and our client market as we might think. Because even when we're doing what we might think of as supporter or donor outreach, right, we are prepping people to make that word of mouth referral. Um, and so, you know, have it being really strong in the supporter communication category and making sure they know how we're talking about things and the work that we're doing and the resources that are available, um, that is exactly like you talked about at the county fair. That's equipping people to to refer clients to you. Um and so that's that's a huge thing as well that was helpful for me to recognize that okay, maybe maybe in the word of mouth context, these audiences that I thought of as separate actually have more of an inner relationship than I would have expected otherwise.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

So yeah, that's that's good. So going back to the the judge um and the smoked meats. Sure. So tell tell us about you know when you were able to have you know interact and build an internship with that judge and what did that look like.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah, sure. Um, you know, it's so this is one of those things where it at first glance it often seems like a negative, but there are opportunities that are included in it. And so what I mean by that is that for many of our rural communities, something that comes up a lot is there aren't resources for this. There aren't resources for that, right? There's no one who's doing this work. Um and certainly there are downsides to that. But like I said, it can create an opportunity for us to come in and serve where otherwise maybe we wouldn't have a seat at the table. And so parenting mentoring is uh one of those things we've seen where where we've partnered with our county court system and are you know the free resource for parenting education and support in Hillsdale County. Um, and that's been a long process because sometimes the wheels of government move slowly. Um but really over the last three years, we've been working um to cultivate this where we are able to bless our county in that way by providing a service that they need. Like they really do need to be able to refer people for parenting education and support. Uh, but they're we're doing that then at no charge to the county as well. Uh we're blessed, we're blessing the clients that we serve because they earn incentives through our store that otherwise they wouldn't earn otherwise, other places. Um and then we're also advancing the mission of our center, uh spreading that word of mouth, making connections with with all kinds of people that otherwise we would not have had the chance to. Um and so that's been that has just been a huge success for us. And when I say huge success, I don't hear me say immediate success, because there will, there certainly were months of disappointment there. Um But you know, like I said, I think there's real opportunities to cultivate these relationships. Sometimes pro-life pro-life people or Christians, I think, feel like everyone is against us, and we get into some of these rooms and think that you know everyone has it out for us, maybe. Um and my experience, and and granted, I understand that my community is you know more conservative than the average in the country, um, but my experience has been that most people don't have it out for us. And I think that's true even in more urban areas. Now, in in some places there are maybe activists or people who are really upset about the work that we're doing and know how to be loud and sometimes get us kicked out of rooms that otherwise we would be in. Um but it's helpful to realize that most of the time, most people don't have an axe to grind against the work that we're doing. And so while, yes, sometimes people are loud and and can cause a little bit of a stir to close some doors for us, um, we also then have opportunities where if we say most people don't care, right? Most people don't have an agenda against us. So let's come in and let's see if the doors are open. And just to encourage that attitude to say, let's knock on these doors and see if the Lord will open them, right? What what what possibilities for partnership might there be here that we would have missed, that we wouldn't have thought of otherwise? And so in you know, in this context, we we just through a mutual connection were able to sit down with with the judges and share about the evidence-based parenting resources we use. We we partner with Brightcourse, as I know many centers do as well. Um and they were really happy to see that, really impressed to hear about the program, to recognize what what a benefit we would be able to bring to their clients. And so that started that. And then really, you know, just of course lots of paperwork and back end stuff, and how are we going to handle these situations? And um, you know, we're still we're still learning things all the time, of course, but uh that that really started that fruitful partnership. And and then it's one of those things that if you're doing your work with excellence, then opportunities yield opportunities. And so some of these people who at first said, Okay, yeah, we'll partner with you and see where this goes, some of them have become some of our biggest advocates, right? Some of our some of our biggest cheerleaders who really, you know, even will go to back for us and say, no, this is a really important work in the community, or this is a really valuable class we need to refer people to. Um and so I guess you know the encouragement there is there are doors that are open everywhere, but especially in small communities, right? There's gonna be a higher percentage of doors that are open for you. Fewer doors overall, maybe, but a higher percent of them will be open. And so just start knocking and see what the Lord will do. And there's lots of need out there. Um, and just because those partnerships haven't haven't happened yet, doesn't mean that they're not open to it, right? Most people are just overwhelmed. Um, you know, I think in in my community, like you think of a uh a group like DHHS that works with foster care, uh, there's an extreme shortage of foster care homes in Hillsdale County. Um there's an unfortunately high instance of child abuse or neglect. And so these people are just overwhelmed, right? They don't have time to go out and figure out what classes are out there or what resources are there. Um and so if we can do their work, if we can look them up and and and I'm sorry, if we can do that work for them, right? If we can look them up and share our lesson list and introduce ourselves and you know just say, hey, if this is ever something that would be a benefit to anyone you work with, here you go, you know, and just start knocking on those doors. And that includes case managers at the county court system, um, you know, whoever it is that that works with foster care or or child abuse or neglect cases or other nonprofits that intersect in those areas. Again, where there's a lack of resources, there could be a great opportunity for us to come in and help meet the need. And I think you'll be surprised to find doors open that you assumed would be closed.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Yeah, that and I'd like to have you share a little bit about um your desire for um encouraging people at at the college in your well in your neighborhood, um and trying to maybe mentor or you know encourage them to consider pro-life work. Talk about that concept.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Sure. Okay, yeah, that's another concept. That's a different thing. Um, can we come back to rural centers after? This can just be a little parentheses because I've got more okay. Good.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Well, whichever you pre wherever you want to go is fine.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

No, we'll do a parentheses here. Um what should we call this? This idea is an embryonic stage, okay? So we're working with like a 12 week, well, eight week embryo here. Um not a fully Developed infant or teenager. This is a weird analogy. I'm going to stop. But so I've shared with you a little bit, Jacob, just that I so there happen to be quite a few pro-life young people at the college in my community. I recognize that's abnormal and not the standard case everywhere. But I've talked with multiple who say, yeah, I'm interested in going to do pro-life work. But almost never have I heard someone say, Yeah, I'm interested in going to work for a pregnancy center. And that makes me sad because pregnancy centers do great work. And I thought, what is going on here? And I think part of it might be that pregnancy centers tend to be, you know, a lot of us are smaller organizations. Certainly, my pregnancy center would be included in that list. We don't have a lot of energy dedicated toward talent recruitment. We don't usually have like a unified big brand. And so people tend to think of all these pregnancy centers across the country as just separate organizations. And there's no one who's doing recruiting for all of us. So I don't have a great answer for that problem, but one of the things we've started trying to do here is developing an internship program at the pregnancy center. And so the idea there is can we can we bring on interns in 10, 20 hours a week and give them an opportunity, sure, to do tasks like folding baby clothes and sweeping floors and rearranging things. Those are the tasks I've had my interns doing so far. But also to do some, you know, some thoughtful readings. Are there articles and books that communicate the work that we're doing here and the significance of it? To put them through training like they were going to be a client advocate. Um to and then to really be thoughtful in our conversation with them, that they would gain an understanding of the pregnancy center movement, of the work that we're doing, uh, of the great opportunities to serve and do the Lord's work here. Um and then wherever they go afterwards, they would they would have an understanding of this movement. And maybe they would be interested in volunteering or even working for. But maybe they just end up as a faithful member of a church and are a voice to say, hey, we really need to be engaged with the pregnancy center, right? We really need to be thoughtful and intentional about this partnership. Um and that and that's a huge value add for the movement. Um, so I'm sure others have done this and have great resources. So if you have an internship program and want to tell me how to do it better, please let me know. We just started with our our two interns last week and are uh muddling our way through it. But but that's the aim is to cast a vision for what it could look like to be meaningfully involved uh in your community through through pregnancy center ministry. And and I really believe that will serve them wherever they go and and whatever they end up doing too. Um so yeah, more I don't know. Maybe maybe we'll talk more about that later when I have a little better handle on what that could look like fruitfully. Right now it's the trial and error, and my poor interns are dealing with the error side of it.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

I just love the I was I wanted to bring it up, at least for the seed planting concept of encouraging others to you know to um to explore, try, and to be encouraged to look at that concept, that idea of um fostering a desire and passion and connection with those those future leaders so that they will hopefully um be weaved into this pregnancy clinic portion of the pro-life work.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Um yeah, I mean, I think that that's one of the most important things our movement can be doing. Is it so say we take a 50-year perspective? What's the best thing you could do to strengthen the movement 50 years from now? Um I have a hard time coming up with something more pressing than developing a talent pipeline. I I really think that that's that's critical. Uh so finding the people who already have the heart and helping them understand how to channel that is huge.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Yeah, that makes sense. So let's go back to yeah, your uh additional topics you might want to um touch touch on so the the rural center thing, um, which of course we've already been talking about a bit, but you know, I just want to underscore like where where did this come from?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Um it's very much a personal project in the sense that you know all of these questions were in my head of what am I supposed to do here, right? Where uh so many of the wonderful models of pregnancy care are hard to translate to a rural context where, okay, that's great if you have an HR person or if you can afford to hire an RN, or if you you know you can do any of these things that just felt so out of reach for us, you know, especially when I when I started and we were coming in on not the most stable footing in every way. Um so what does that look like? And so that's really where where it started. And and I think if I were to sum it up, the the challenge I have is to say, okay, first we need to look around at our situation and to accurately identify where we are, right? What is our community? And and and then start from there, like who are we serving? How many people are are in our area? And and I think to be really realistic about that and say, okay, we're probably never going to serve 100 abortion-minded women in a year because there aren't a hundred abortions in our county. And that's not something to complain about, right? That's something to thank the Lord for. Um and but be realistic about that, right? What what is our what is our area we're serving? Who are we serving? And then and then from there, what are the services we need to serve them effectively? Excuse me. Um, so be realistic. But with that, I say there's no complaining allowed. And this is really important because excuse me. Um, it's really important to say that we can't complain. We look around and we accept our constraints. We say, yes, this is where we are, and I accept it. And why do we accept it? Because we believe that God has placed us here, and and this is so important. You know, in Acts 17, Paul tells us that God has ordained the times and places where all the nations would be. He knew what he was doing when he placed us in rural context, right? He knew exactly what he was doing when he planted your pregnancy center in a in a small town or in a rural, not very populated area. God knows, and he didn't make a mistake either. And so to look around and say, yep, this is where I am, here are all the things I have going against me. I don't have any Christian lawyers, I don't know who's going to be my medical director, so on and so forth, right? Okay, I get it. But accept those constraints and say, okay, now how do I serve my community with excellence? And so be totally realistic. No, no interest at all in sugarcoating it, right? But then accept those constraints and say, what does God have for me here? Because he has something, because he knows what he is doing. And we cannot afford to slack off and say, our clients deserve anything less than excellence. Of course, that is unacceptable. Our clients deserve excellence and we need to serve them better than they're used to being served. Sometimes it feels like maybe the bar is a little lower in rural areas where there's not a ton of resources to go around, uh, but we need to pass that bar, right? We need to treat our clients better than they're treated at any doctor's office in town. You know, the whole experience from starts from start to finish needs to be superior because it needs to be excellent. And this all traces back to this idea that God knows what he's doing. And God has placed us in our community and is actually dishonoring to God to look at a center in a in a bigger area or another town with any amount of jealousy or or or wishful thinking, right? Um, that if we start to compare ourselves in an unhealthy way, we're we're questioning God's wisdom, right? We are dishonoring his plan there because he knew what he was doing. And more than that, he cares about our communities. And that's the thing, is like, yeah, there's there's other centers that are reaching more abortion-minded women because there's more abortion-minded women in their community. And certainly I don't want any of this to be an excuse to slack off or to not meet a need that's there. But God knew what he was doing and he placed us in our communities because he cares about them. He cares about the women and men. And it's not our job to say, I wish that there were 20 times as many of them, or whatever it might be, because our job is to love our neighbors. That's what we're called to do, isn't it? Our job is to go out and to serve and to meet those needs and to stand for the defenseless and to strengthen families in our backyard because nobody else is going to do it. And so that's the thing that that's so encouraging to recognize like maybe it's really expensive to invest in online advertising. Like your cost per lead is terrible because there aren't very many leads or whatever it might be, but there is nobody else who is going to bat for those families. There is nobody else who's seeking to protect and to serve that little life that's in danger of abortion. There is nobody else. And that's what's so special is you get to be the one to stand up for those neighbors because nobody else in the world is trying to save that life, is trying to stand in and support that family. There's nobody else who's doing it. But that's the great privilege that we have that God gives us to do is to serve our neighbors, to love them, to be there for them. And and and so do you see then how how dishonoring it would be to say, oh, I wish that I was in this context instead, or I wish that I was serving those people over here, or that pregnancy center even has an on-staff, whatever it might be. But God knew what he was doing, and he placed us where he placed us that we would serve, that we would honor him, that we would represent him well to the neighbors, not over there, not in that county or that big town or that city over there, but in our backyard. And that's the work that he's given us to do, and he's placed us here for this purpose. And so to really flip it on its head then and recognize we have the great privilege of serving our neighbors. And there's no one else who's doing that. And if we're doing our job right, there's no one who would be better at it either, right? That we would be the experts at serving our community, at serving our county, at recognizing realistically the strengths and weaknesses, the things we don't have going for us, whatever, but then to play to our strengths. And so that's really what it boils down to to accept our constraints because we know that God is in it, and then to play to our strengths because he calls us to love our neighbors and to serve them with excellence.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

Wow, that's so good. Yeah, it's taking you know, reducing the focus on quantity and bringing the focus into qualitative metrics like percents, you know, having you know coverage for the area, and because it's it's within it's attainable and it's reachable. Um so I want to give you a multiple choice option of where to go next. Do you want to talk about your boldness and fundraising, or do you want to talk about church connections or somewhere else? Where do you want to go next?

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I you know, I don't even know what my boldness and fundraising is, Jacob. So that sounds kind of scary to go that way.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

But well, you were telling you were telling me about the your first year and how you worked on paying off the um the loan for your your center as a group. Um that was pretty bold, I thought, and pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

And sometimes here's what I'll say on that. Sometimes the best fundraising strategy is follow the Lord and get out get out of the way. Um and and that's what we did there was we God made it clear a direction that he wanted us to go that wasn't initially on on our radar um and was more ambitious than maybe would have been sensible. Um but it was pretty clear that he was leading, and so we followed, and I got out of the way, and and he blessed it. Um so that's uh yeah, you know, there's more that could be said there, but that's really the thrust of it, is uh get out of the way. Sometimes that's the fundraising strategy that's needed uh to trust the Lord and and not get in the way. That's good. Yeah. This is a very wide-ranging conversation, Jacob. This is gonna be it is well I don't know what you're gonna call it.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Well, really, I I I love the fact that you're bringing in um so much um fresh insight into the the concept of serving in a rural community. And and I feel like that's a very common um question that people deal with is how do you know how do we serve in a rural community when all of these um examples are typically built off of these bigger cities, and and trying to navigate the you know, the examples or the solutions of big city solutions when living and serving in a rural community.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Sure. And and you know, I don't I certainly don't blame anyone for that, right? We're I mean, big centers are where the client traffic is, and it's a good thing to focus on, uh, especially if we're gonna be building a culture of life. Um, but there are a lot of rural centers, and and that's why you know I think the most important thing to contribute to that conversation is is to start the conversation and then to frame it around this idea of accepting your constraints because you trust God's plan and playing to your strengths because you love your your neighbors. And and sometimes, you know, I think this is an important thing also to recognize that it's really easy to talk about love in abstract terms. Like I just have so much love for humanity. Um, it's a lot harder to actually love your neighbor, you know, and to love the person who walks through your doors. Um and I I have very little interest in abstract notions of love, you know, people who say, I wish that this was a more loving place or a more whatever. Uh, if there's not that actual track record of down and dirty, you know, being with people in their affliction. Um and so, you know, I think that's really what it boils down to is it's it's that real love. You know, James talks about not just writing checks for orphans and widows, but visiting orphans and widows in their affliction. Um, and that's such a beautiful calling, and it's a great opportunity for for all of our centers, uh including those of us in rural areas, to actually focus on loving the people that God brought through our doors. And and it's hard, you know. Well, one other thing I I want to talk about real quickly, um, and you know, I I've been helped by this at least, so I keep bringing it up until I find something I like better. But it's hard, you know, it's hard to think about in our community, we have all kinds of different services. So we've got pregnancy tests and ultrasounds and options consultation and you know, material assistance program. We basically run a food bank, but with diapers and baby clothes, and then a parenting mentorship one-on-one program and a fatherhood class. And if you put, you know, how much in common does a fatherhood class have with options consultation for an unplanned pregnancy? Um, certainly the audiences are totally different, right? Um, but we see maybe a unified heart in it. Um and and so how do we how do we think about that? Like how do we think about that suite of services that feels pretty broad? And you know, for me, the analogy I come back to is the difference between lifestyle medicine and uh emergency room, emergency medicine. And certainly both are good, right? Both are really important. I mean, every community needs an emergency room, does it not? For for that time of crisis when something has gone terribly wrong, you know, that's when you need your emergency room. That's what you want at that point. Um, but we also would never want our healthcare system to be only filled with emergency rooms. That would not be uh the best for anyone. And and so with that in mind, I think that that maps fairly well into the work that so many of our pregnancy centers do, too. Where when I think about it, the emergency thing, the emergency kind of medicine, the emergency service is that woman in the moment of crisis considering abortion, deciding if her child is going to live or going to die. Um, that's an emergency, right? And that's so important for pregnancy centers to be there and to be intentional about meeting that need. And even though that's not the biggest number of clients that we see in our pregnancy center in our community, that is that is primary in my mind, because that's why pregnancy centers were started, that's why so many give faithfully, that's why ultrasound machines are purchased, is meeting that emergency need, being there to serve that woman in the moment of crisis. And if we were in a larger city, it may be that 98% of our effort could be spent just on meeting that emergency need. And I would say that it should be. That would be an appropriate thing because there's no one else who's going to do it, like we've talked about. You know, pregnancy centers are designed to be the answer to that problem, to that need. And so, in so many ways, that needs to be primary. Um, we don't want to lose sight of that. But, you know, we also have this idea of lifestyle medicine. Um, and it's a wonderful thing. And I think that, you know, in our context, we'd say, okay, we need to be meeting this emergency need. How can we train well to that? How can we invest in advertising? How can we find those women in the moment of crisis, right? That they would hear about our services and know how to make an appointment with us? How can we be on their phones? You know, those questions are so important, and we have to be there to meet that need. But as that need is met, you know, and we're able then to say, okay, what else are we doing here? Because, you know, in our community, there's less than an abortion a week. And so how are you going to be open four days a week then? What other services are you going to provide? Um, and that's where you know everything else comes in too. That really, in my mind, is that lifestyle medicine that we're working to strengthen families, to be there, to invest in relationships, to meet physical needs as they pop up, to be there invested, serving for the long-term spiritual good of our clients as well. You know, that's the lifestyle medicine portion. And in my mind, you know, they're united because they're driven out of that same heart, out of the same heart to truly love God and to love our neighbors. Um, and so they are united. And I say, meet that emergency need. And if you are firing on all cylinders just to just to try to meet that, because you're in a high abortion area, then I'm not going to come alongside and say, why aren't you doing a fatherhood class? Right? That that's not my interest here. Um, but for rural areas, I think we have the opportunity to meet that emergency need and then say, and how can we meaningfully invest in the long-term health of our community here? Um and and that truly is an opportunity that we have when we think about it in those terms. So, you know, that that's the way I've broken it down uh just for my own headspace of what am I doing here, right? How do I think about all of these different needs and all these different directions that we could go at the pregnancy center? Um, and and that's what I come back to is okay, we're meeting this emergency need, and in raw numbers, there's just not a huge number of those needs, and that's not something to complain about. Um, and so what opportunities are there to invest in the long-term health of our community in these areas of uh life, in these areas, you know, to see life-affirming decisions made for pregnancy, for parenting, for sexuality in our community. What are those doors that are open to us that we have the luxury of being able to invest in, to pursue, to prioritize because of the makeup of our community uh and and and the and the neighbors that God has called us to serve?

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Wow, that's so good. I I love that the way you describe that. It makes me think of like a you know a firefighter going in to you know rescue people out of a burning building, and then when there's no burning, you know, people in danger inside of a burning building, and they're trying to, you know, help people prevent fires or you know, setting up, you know, helping upgrade you know the infrastructure in order to prevent more fires, um, so there's less people that need to be rescued. Um and so that that culture of life work and helping reduce the number of emergencies uh is a great thing to spend that that time when you're not having to rescue those who are in that most serious moment.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

Yeah, and and I think that's a good analogy there too, Jacob. I appreciate that because we would say a firefighter wasn't doing his job well if he was ignoring the fires so that he could install smoke detectors. Um and so, in the same way, you know, if we have all of our energy going into parenting education and we're missing that woman in the moment of crisis, uh, I think we've missed something really serious there too. Um and so, but you know, also with this, I I want to be careful that we're, you know, we're serving our communities and we're not judging others that are that are in the same work. Certainly we can encourage to excellence in various ways, right? Um and be better by by uh helping round each other's edges out where it's needed. Iron sharpens iron as our heartbeat conference theme we just came from. Um but you know, at the same time, it there's a unity between these works, between these different aspects of the work, I should say, between this emergency medicine and this lifestyle medicine. You know, it's the same heart. It's the same heart for life. Um and every community needs all of that. Um and and if we can't do it all, right, there's need for others to step in and meet some of those needs too. But certainly, as the body of Christ, we want that work to be happening. In all of our communities.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Awesome. Well, Bryce, I really appreciate all of the thoughts that you shared here today. Um would you would you close out our podcast in a prayer with the expectation that those who are listening will will pray with you?

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Sure. Yeah, I would love to do that. Okay, let's pray. Father God, uh I thank you for my brother Jacob and for the heart that you have given him uh for you and for this work. Uh specifically, it is an encouragement and uh just his his love for you and his desire to uh love and serve others are wonderful, God. We thank you for this great work that you give us the chance to be a part of, to see the value of life upheld and honored in our communities. God, that it is a great blessing to get deserved in this way. Would you make our work effective? I'm thinking that perhaps many who have listened, uh would listen to a podcast like this are themselves serving in similar contexts to mine. Um I pray specifically, God, for their encouragement this morning, that you would renew in our hearts a conviction that you are God and you know what you're doing, that you have planted us in our communities, excuse me, and you call us to serve them with excellence, that we would show your love to our neighbors. So God, would you encourage us with that? Would you renew our hearts and our commitment to you and to the work you've given us to do? Excuse me, and would we uh honor you as faithful servants, God we thank you again for this time, trust that your spirit will bring good fruit from it, and we commit these things to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Amen. Um, and one last note before we stop the recording, um if anyone listening would like to have a rule concept explored on a future podcast, please uh send it our way, and I'll be glad to share that with Bryce, and maybe we can explore uh any questions or topics that we that we receive. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

I would just add to that, Jacob. You know, I've been like I I mentioned, I've enjoyed being able to present this because I've been so encouraged by the ideas I've I've heard from others too. And so if you've seen something work well, uh, you know, shoot Jacob an email, shoot me an email, Bryce at helpinghandsprc.org. Um and your email can just be, hey, we're a small center, and this has worked really well for us, and I wanted to pass it along. You know, I would I would love to hear that. Um I know Jacob would love to hear that too. Um and and it can be as simple as that, just to share a success story to encourage us, and maybe there's things that you know my center needs there too. So I appreciate that, Jacob.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Yeah, I love the uh the team effort of sharing what's working and just sharing sharing results, sharing fruit, and so that we can learn as a as a as a bigger pro-life team, learn from each other.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

Thanks, brother.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Thank you.