Patty, * a mother to four children living with her mother, left her home state of Mississippi to seek an abortion. She ended up in North Carolina with very little money. That stop, and that situation, provided an encounter with not just one person but several others, all who made an impact on her and her pregnancy decision.
“Instead of getting the abortion, she accidentally ran into someone that was a part of the ministry of Love Life, and so accidentally ran into Jesus,” said Pastor Joseph Parker, board chair for Pregnancy Care and Hope Center, in Mississippi. “The lady that was part of the ministry of Love Life persuaded her to keep her baby and shared the Gospel with her, and she got saved.”
Love Life is a North Carolina-based pro-life organization dedicated to propelling churches and Christians to step more actively into the pro-life arena, near abortion centers and conducting sidewalk outreach to women entering those abortion facilities.
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Although Patty changed her mind about the abortion, she still needed to return home to Mississippi. That’s when Pastor Parker became involved. Patty resided in the area where Pregnancy Care and Hope Center is based, a region known as the Mississippi Delta.
“She didn't have enough gas to get back, but someone with the [North Carolina] ministry contacted an individual [in Mississippi] who contacted us, and we were able to make contact with her,” Pastor Parker said. “The Lord worked out a way for us to get gas money to her to help her make it back home.”
Upon Patty’s return, Pastor Parker and his wife reached out to her and connected her with the pregnancy center staff, who continued to provide support and encouragement for Patty and her family.
“Once we begin our working relationship with the moms, we try to continue that working relationship with them for a time, and we don't really have a cut-off date,” Pastor Parker explained. “If we are aware of a need, we take this to prayer, and there are many instances where there are needs that come up that may not be something that's typically within our purview.”
Tweet This: Once we begin a working relationship with the moms, we try to continue that relationship with them, we don't have a cut-off date.
Such was the case with Patty.
“She was wanting to move out of her mother's home, to get her own apartment, and … the Lord had opened the door, and she was so excited to get in,” Pastor Parker said. “She just needed a little bit of financial help with some of the deposits, and so we were able to help, along with another church. She was able to move in, and she was just so excited to get her own apartment! We were grateful to have been a part of that.”
Patty gave birth to a baby boy, “a precious little fellow,” Pastor Parker told Pregnancy Help News.
“She's so glad that she didn't have the abortion,” he said.
Mobile for a purpose
Approximately three years ago, Pastor Parker, his wife, and a small group of people saw the need for a pregnancy help organization in their area of northwestern Mississippi.
“There were only two effective pregnancy ministries in the Mississippi Delta, which is a very small number for such a huge geographic area,” he said.
The ministry and activity of the Pregnancy Care and Hope Center began in 2023.
“The Lord miraculously raised $191,000, and we were able to purchase the mobile unit,” Pastor Parker said.
The mobile medical unit currently parks near the emergency entrance to the community’s hospital. Future plans include traveling to other locations, including different communities in the Delta and one with a college, he added.
Call to Christ’s church
In addition to serving as the board chairman for the pregnancy center, Pastor Parker works for American Family Association Radio and shepherds Ebenezer AME Church in Benton, Miss. He believes churches and individual Christians around the country have a calling to help women experiencing unplanned pregnancies by supporting pregnancy centers and pro-life causes.
“There's such a need for much more of a passion to be upon the hearts and the minds of, I believe, both the leadership of the church and the church as a whole,” Pastor Parker said. “Yes, praise God for the fact that Roe v. Wade was overturned – that was a wonderful thing – but the reality is, sadly, the other side has become emboldened, and it looks like even more so than ever.”
He alluded to the seven states that passed initiatives in 2024 to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right and also the initiatives adopted by many states to help pro-life causes, such as pregnancy help organizations. He highly encouraged church leaders and congregations to support state pro-life endeavors and pregnancy centers with time, treasure and talent.
“There’s a need for the local church to become so much more involved in giving time and energy and money for life causes, and I believe there's a great opportunity to challenge pastors as a whole to become much more passionate about the life issue,” Pastor Parker said.
“My experience is that your average pregnancy clinic is poorly funded, and that's tragic,” he said. “I think it wouldn't be hard at all to really fund them and fund them well and adequately. There is a need to challenge churches to take it upon themselves to … passionately go before the Lord and say, ‘Lord, show us what you want us to do to help with this.’ There's plenty of work that, I think, if believers are listening [to God], they can get involved with as it relates to the life mission.”
*Client name changed
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct name of Pastor Parker's organization and podcast.
