Since Roe v Wade’s overturn in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, I’ve been interested in the abortion problem from a different perspective. I know I can’t cover every aspect of the issue, but I hope to cover one concept in particular and build from there.

The following article will not deal with whether it was right or wrong for SCOTUS to overturn Roe v Wade, but rather what the church can and should do moving forward.

By the way, I wrote a companion Scripture study about Psalm 139:13-16 that you can read AT THIS LINK.

The Abortion Saga: Becoming a true Sanctuary

In 2019, the little town of Waskom, Texas (population 2000) became the first municipality to create what Pastor Mark Lee Dickson called a “sanctuary for the unborn.” On the surface, Dickson’s effort seem surely a call from God, and perhaps it is. As I’ve given this more thought, however, I’m uncomfortable with the concept. The towns who pass such regulations tend to be small, don’t have abortion clinics, and wouldn’t attract them in the first place. Even in the largest such city, Lubbock, Texas (population 257,000), there was only one clinic at the time of the city-wide vote. And it came with a caveat that the city didn’t make being a sanctuary part of municipal code, but instead provided a way for people to sue clinics and individuals who took part in providing abortions.

But here’s the real problem: These towns are too small to support being a sanctuary city. They don’t have services for young women and families who are in the position that being a sanctuary town is designed to support. In Waskom’s case, for example, the nearest pregnancy resource center is 20 miles away. What exactly makes this a sanctuary? Are the unborn somehow able to pick where they live or are born?

Of course not.

My concern is that, as more states modify pro-life or pro-choice laws based on the Dobbs case, we the church will celebrate being a sanctuary for the unborn and not properly support young, poor families and single parents. That’s why I want to highlight ways churches and Christians can help the families and women of upwards of a quarter million or more new babies who will come into the world under Roe’s repeal each year. I’ll be doing more of that over the ensuing weeks. Sign up for my newsletter to keep up with that work.

Being a true sanctuary for the unborn means being prepared to counsel an unwed mother-to-be who doesn’t know what to do and doesn’t know where to turn for help. It means diapers, date nights, formula, and the like. It means day care so a single parent can earn a livelihood and support the child. A more complete list of what makes a place a sanctuary for the unborn comes a little later in this article.

To be a sanctuary for the unborn, we need to create a sanctuary for the entire person, conception to the grave. Sadly, we as a church aren’t there yet. We can be, but saying we are, as many do in the wake of Roe’s repeal, does not make it so.

This isn’t to say we aren’t closer than the unbelieving world wants to acknowledge, or that we aren’t working on it. Indeed, in the case of Waskom, Texas, First Baptist Church supports the aforementioned pregnancy center, even though it’s 20 miles away in a different town. They also support United Help of Waskom, which provides food and clothing to those in need. FBC supports the ministry as a prayer effort, while St. Lawrence of Brindisi, a Catholic church in town, supports it through volunteer labor. My emails to both churches went unreplied, so I don’t know if there is more effort than what I was able to find in my research. Still, what this shows is that effort is being made, at least to some degree.

Let me get to my point: What I am afraid of is that the church, in taking its victory lap at Roe’s repeal, will forget that suddenly there are going to be hundreds of thousands of more babies each year that we hadn’t had in years past. What a blessing! But as any parent knows, what a lot of work as well! We cannot merely be the church of the unborn. We must be also the church of the young, the church of the adults, the church of the poor, the church of the needy, the church of the confused, and so much more.

What I envision is a whole-church ministry that focuses on being a true sanctuary for life. It will include the following:

1. Support for a pregnancy center that informs expectant mothers of their true options.

2. Support for young families in need. This includes supplementing WIC and other programs by ensuring basic needs are met (diapers, clothing, food, etc). This can be done through the church’s food pantry, or in partnership with another local pantry or organization.

3. Respite care for young families. Once a month or once a week where young couples get to be together away from the kids. This alone would be an amazing work by a church community.

4. Getting kids ready for school. Do they have clothes? Shoes? Will breakfast be available? Have parents been made aware of all support services available to them, and has someone helped them fill out necessary paperwork?

5. Job seeker support for single parents and young families. Hosting or supporting job fairs, providing professional clothing, childcare, etc. Most people want to support themselves. Help them do it by getting them ready.

6. After school programs for kids in need. Latch key kids are kids in danger.

7. Addiction and codependency recovery ministries. Untold numbers of children are wounded each year because of addiction. Helping people recover will support healthy living for children.

8. Other programs and ministries as needed.

As you can see, there is a lot of work to do to prove to a desperate world that we are more than one court decision. If our mission is to introduce the unbelieving world to the total and all-encompassing love of Jesus Christ, who went to a bloody cross for us, and rose in victory from the tomb, isn’t this it? If working to overturn Roe was us saying “go in peace,” then an effort like mentioned above is surely the giving of things needed (James 2).

I implore you, as you consider all that the Dobbs decision brings us as a church and country, to consider very carefully what you ought to be doing now to prepare yourself and your congregation for the thousands of new children coming into the world. Are you ready for the single mother or the poor family? Are your pantry shelves stocked and ready?

I hope so, because now is when the real work begins.

Sign up AT THIS LINK to learn more about S. Daniel Smith and to get his monthly newsletter.

As Hurricane Ida continues to cause issues for the New Orleans area of Louisiana, local Hampton Roads congregation Essential Church concluded an effort this week to support a congregation in St. Charles Parish.

Alex Goff, Essential Church’s communication pastor, joined Dan on the show today to discuss the church’s effort to provide relief to the St. Charles Parish area. In this episode, Dan and Alex discuss the decision-making process, how partnerships are built, and how Essential’s congregation responded on behalf of people a thousand miles away.

In the second part of the episode, Dan shares his story of 9-11 in memory of that fateful day.

To sign up for Dan’s newsletter, click HERE. 

Headline: The American withdrawal from Afghanistan

First, local and commonwealth politics.

On September 1^st, the Virginia-Pilot reported that Terry McAuliffe, the democratic gubernatorial candidate, and the republican Glen Youngkin presented talking points to a 300 person gathering at the Virginia FREE leadership luncheon.

McAuliffe focused on the recently passed Texas abortion law, stating that it would be, quote, “I cannot tell you how dangerous this is for women. Dangerous. And it’s crippling for business.”

The Virginia-Pilot article did not elaborate on how it would affect business, nor did any other major publication covering the event. My personal belief is that McAuliffe suggesting the impact to the economy was thrown in because of the topic of the luncheon, not because he has evidence.

When his turn came, Youngkin talked about his tax plan and how spending has occurred under a democrat-led state. In future episodes, we will investigate further the issues at stake.

My goal is not to start arguments on who you should vote for this coming November. I loathe podcasts and radio shows that so quickly show their colors. There are so many Christians on both sides of the isle in Hampton Roads that I would be flat out wrong for telling you who to vote for. You must make that decision for yourself. Indeed, I must make that decision for myself.

The only thing I will suggest you do, indeed implore you to do, is actually vote. While there is no mandate to do so directly in the Bible, as there was no democratic system to vote in and freedoms, particularly for early believers, were virtually non-existent, I will say that I believe the Bible supports voting. At least it does as much as it supports paying your taxes.

When confronted by the challenge of supporting the government with taxes, Jesus asked his detractors whose image was on the coin. When they said Caesar’s, Jesus replied in Mark 12:17,  “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

In our society, rendering to Caesar is giving our vote when called for. Of that, I am convinced. Who you vote for is up to you. I will present many sides throughout the life of this podcast. In the end, however, I hope you will exercise that right to vote in the understanding that it is our mandate to do so.

Turning now to Afghanistan, we start with a great summary of Afghanistan as a country from 9-11 through to today, thanks to a reprint from the Associated Press, published in the 3 September issue of the Virginia-Pilot.

The summary is a good one, if not overly simple. One part that intrigues me most is this quote: “The Afghan military that would collapse in the wake of Taliban advances in 2021 began existence with its recruits often more loyal to a warlord than the army itself. Training was barely eight weeks for new, generally uneducated men. Building the Afghan army was often likened to repairing an aircraft midflight.”

In contrast, the American military’s junior-most service members go through up to 12 weeks of basic training and, in almost every case, advanced follow-on training for their specialty. And, perhaps most important of all, are loyal first to country, then to state or region.

In focusing on what the current administration has promised, the Associated Press brings up an important fact, stating on August 31^st that: “THE FACTS: For the record, Biden vowed that he would get 100% of Americans out before withdrawing forces. And his suggestions Tuesday that many of the remaining Americans are dual nationals who may be undecided about leaving do not reflect the full reality.

The reality is that there are roughly 200 Americans still in Afghanistan. Some of them are dual citizens who may not have intended to leave with the main push, but it is certainly possible that many of them had wanted to leave. The AP article continues, saying: U.S. officials estimated up to 200 Americans were left behind, along with unknown numbers of Afghans and others who were trying frantically to leave.”

So, while I don’t want this to be a political podcast, and I am certainly not trying to call my commander in chief into question, it is important to note that we still have work to do in Afghanistan. So… like how former President Bush claimed the Mission accomplished in Iraq from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in May 2003, months before the country fell apart, our current president is learning, first hand, that these conflicts are not as cut and dry as we may want.

The impact of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has many local impacts. The first is those who served and gave in Afghanistan. I was in the local barber getting my hair cut a few days ago and struck up a conversation with the woman cutting my hair. Our conversation turned first to children, then to spouses, and I asked her what her husband did for a living. Turns out that he was wounded in Afghanistan and is a disabled vet. I’ve deployed a few times in support of the conflict in Afghanistan, but I’ve never been in country. I have no idea what that was like.

And I can’t imagine what it was like to be wounded by an RPG hitting my Humvee, and I can’t imagine what it was like to worry if my spouse was going to make it and I can’t imagine what it was like to learn that my spouse would never be the same. And finally, I can’t imagine what it was like to have America leave the country I sacrificed for, just to have my enemy take back control so quickly.

This war was not Vietnam. I don’t pretend to have the same feelings my father did as he sailed back into port for the last time on his destroyer, the USS Aggerholm, and hear reports of Saigon falling to the communists. But maybe I know a little, just that taste of bewilderment and sadness as I pulled into Norfolk after the last deployment on USS Eisenhower.

I don’t know how many thousands of people in Hampton Roads feel the sting I feel right now. Certainly, many of them feel a greater frustration than I, such as the spouse of my barber.  What I’m going to say next is not a trite statement. We can act now to support those who have suffered during this week. We can pray for veterans, families who have suffered loss, and for Afghanistan’s population, reach out to see what veterans’ associations need in the way of support, and find out who is helping refugees and learn about those needs as well.

Speaking of refugees, I want to draw your attention to a local organization that is helping support those who have and will flee the Taliban rule in the future. The New American Outreach Ministry, headquartered in Yorktown, Virginia, appeared in a 13News Now report from 16 August. In the broadcast, the Afghan refugee situation is brought into the forefront. Patti Cubstead, NAOMi Director, was quoted as saying, “Here on the Peninsula, we have hundreds and hundreds of families who are from Afghanistan and Pakistan who are directly affected.” End Quote. Many of those are families who have green cards but are unable to leave the country now. Others are individuals who supported American forces while in country, and now need real relief.

I want to encourage you to go to www.naomihrva.com and click “Get involved” to learn more. And as you do so, remember the admonishment from God to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 10:18, 19:

He (Meaning God) executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. You also must love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Before I go, I want to follow up on a promise to keep you informed on the Virginia Redistricting Commission. The commission is meeting again on the 9^th and I’ll follow up on that as well, but for now, I want to point you to a great editorial from the Virginia-Pilot.

In this editorial, the writer rightly points out that the process is difficult most importantly because redistricting involves the lawmaker’s careers themselves. These lines have been drawn very carefully, if not in a sickly matter, in order to keep the lawmaker in question in power, or at least in the running for power. Giving that up for a more equitable districting process has to be difficult. As Christians, we know pride and power are the motivators here.

Thankfully, the commission isn’t made up only of lawmakers. Having civilians represented gives Virginia a better chance of cutting through the pride to make this effort more successful. Now, pride can still get in the way. Almost no one in the country is truly bi-partisan at the moment, so the citizens on the commission must also be fair, but this is, as the Virginia-Pilot points out, a good step.

We must continue praying for this, folks. There’s a good chance that some headway can be made here. I’ll keep you informed.