Pastor Dave Johnson of River’s Edge Church in Sacramento is no stranger to the abortion issue. He says he was always pro-life and cared about the issue, but he did not feel called to the political approach to dealing with it. Pastoring his small church in the shadow of the Capitol of the abortion Mecca of California, he was continually approached by political groups asking him to help them in the quest to deal with abortion on a political level.

“All the organizations dealing with the issue of life were political advocacy groups…and there is nothing wrong with that…but my mission as a pastor was to see people transformed to be more like Jesus. My pastor friend, Dustin Wilson, called me to ask me to join his Life Ride team last year because I am an avid bicyclist. So, I examined Love Life first… and the role it saw for the church in the abortion issue. I thought THAT is exactly what I want to do!”

Dustin connected Pastor Dave with Sophia Martin, the Love Life Regional Director in that area. From that point forward, his church began taking the steps to become a House of Refuge church. It has been a year since the wheel began rolling with the influence of awareness provided by Life Ride. Pastor Dave has seen a lot of change in his church, but thus far, it is mostly internal, within the congregation itself.

“We did not even know the stories in the church until we began to discuss abortion from a biblical perspective from the pulpit. I had a man come to me and talk about an abortion from his teens and how it has affected him to this day. Now, married and older, it still wrecks him to think of it. On top of that, he was never able to father any other children…”

Pastor Dave says that Love Life has provided the language to optimally discuss the abortion issue, as well as the tools to love these women and bring the power of Jesus to change them during their darkest moments. He wants other pastors to know that the House of Refuge church training and process is a way to meet people in dark despair with the light of Jesus to redeem their future and connect them to Him.

“There have been some church members who have told me they are pro-choice, but they are willing to continue the dialogue with me. I have the opportunity to give the Biblical basis for how we approach the subject. To their credit, they have not left the church but are willing to talk about it.”

There is clearly a hunger for this way of responding to the abortion issue. Forty of the 250 members of his church showed up for their first Love Life prayer walk. Pastor Dave was excited to see so much interest. Just like him, his flock longs to see a relationship-based rather than a political-based strategy to change the culture of the world.

He understands that while political activism has its place, “Abortion is not a political issue. It is a Biblical issue! In politics, the goal is winning. It is an I win, you lose game. But with the Gospel, the goal is for THEM to win, for those families to come to a true redemptive relationship with Jesus.”

This amazing pastor and his eager House of Refuge Church learned of Love Life through Life Ride. They are now engaged in helping the culture shift gears, seeking to help women run to the church rather than the abortion center. Please prayerfully consider supporting the mission of Love Life to mobilize churches across the nation to create a culture of love and life and bring an end to the abortion and orphan crisis at liferideusa.org.

“To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’” – Acts 26:18