Beth Burns is a co-founder of Abundant Life Ministry in Washington state. She organized our Love Life conference in Washington last year. The goal of the conference was to mobilize and equip churches and volunteers to end the abortion and orphan crisis and to be on Washington sidewalks of abortion centers, offering hope and help to the families on this destructive path.
One of the conference attendees was her mother, Genelle. Beth’s 13-year-old daughter, Ella, attended a later conference Love Life held specific to sidewalk outreach. Ella was eager to learn more, having been involved in sidewalk ministry since age eight. Genelle had always been pro-life and was very proud of her daughter and granddaughter. However, she knew she could NEVER do something like sidewalk outreach at abortion centers.
Until she listened to the Love Life sidewalk outreach presentation.
She heard them say, “You may believe you could never do this. That is how I felt, and it is true. I cannot do this in my own power. However, the Holy Spirit CAN do this in me. And as soon as one Christian foot hits the sidewalk, that sidewalk belongs to God.”
Genelle was convicted at that moment.
She joined her daughter Beth ministering in Everett, Washington. Her granddaughter, Ella, was eager to serve alongside her grandmom, ministering to abortion-determined women. Sometimes, Genelle would consider taking a week off from ministry, but Ella was the one urging her grandmother to go to the sidewalk and please bring her along!
Where we stand as believers with God is HOLY ground!
“…Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover, He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.”
Exodus 3:5-7
Three generations of women are serving the Lord because they understand this truth. We cannot be silent in the face of innocent preborn human beings dying each day at 700 abortion centers around the nation. We cannot let fear dictate our obedience to the Lord. We can be families that proclaim and promote a culture of life by the simple act of showing up in the name of Jesus at these places of death and destruction. And we can be certain that when we stand on that sidewalk, in the power of the Lord, we seize it from Satan.