Editorial

Many pro-abortion advocates routinely accuse those of us who are pro-life (or “anti-choice,” in their rhetoric) of only being concerned about unborn children and not caring about those children after they are born. The charge is baseless.

This Mother’s Day, Florida Baptists can help to demonstrate just how baseless the charge is by our generous support of the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes Mother’s Day Offering.

I don’t apologize for asserting the right-to-life for unborn children who cannot speak for themselves. We should support all legislation that protects life in the womb from abortion, and stand for other public policy initiatives that protect the sanctity of human life throughout life, including the end of life. But, we should do more. Thankfully, Florida Baptists do.

In many ways, including those which will never get public notice, pro-life citizens on a daily basis demonstrate their commitment to the sanctity of human life. This is true of thousands of Florida Baptists in local congregations who minister to needy children and women, especially, in countless ways. And, it’s true statewide through the ministry of Florida Baptist Children’s Homes.

FBCH, established in 1904, is pro-life in word and deed, serving thousands of children and families in need—“precious lives forever changed,” as this Florida Baptist agency describes its work in its 2007 annual report.

As Jerry Haag, FBCH’s president, notes in his report, in Prov. 31:8-9 God requires Christians to, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, … defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

That’s what FBCH did last year, speaking up for and defending 630 children and 2,721 adults and families through campuses and social work offices across the state in Miami, Fort Myers, Lakeland, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Cantonment, Plantation, Gainesville and Milton.

In recent years there has been much said in Washington and Tallahassee about faith-based organizations. FBCH is a faith-based organization in every sense of the phrase. Meeting the physical and emotional needs of children is coupled with ministering to their spiritual needs. Christian house parents and social workers take the kids to church and tell them about the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Last year alone, 62 children made Christian commitments through the ministry of FBCH.

Those decisions among the children to follow Christ are a direct legacy of the thousands of Florida Baptists who have contributed financially and spiritually to the work of the Children’s Homes.

One example of the lives changed through FBCH’s sanctity of human life ministry is “Martha,” a teenage expectant mother. Haag noted, “Our kindness and grace changed ‘Martha’s’ life and will now change the life of her baby.”

Haag also writes, “As we celebrate the lives of the children we were able to change, my heart breaks for the children that desperately need us. There is a downside, a tragedy that I have seen. It is the lives of all the other children that have been abused, neglected and treated in unimaginable ways. In one year, 155,700 children were reported abused or neglected. As staggering as that number is, it represents only the neglected children here in Florida.

“There is a way it can be different. As we work together, we can insure that every child in the state of Florida has the outstanding opportunities for life that we are offering the children in our care today.”

The goal for this year’s Mother’s Day Offering is $1.4 million. This offering is a key component in the FBCH’s annual funding, representing about 14 percent of the ministry’s annual budget of $10.3 million. (You can learn more about FBCH by visiting its Web site: www.FBCHomes.org.)

Every Florida Baptist has a role to play in meeting the financial needs of the Children’s Homes. Every church can set aside time for prayer for its ministry. Every Florida Baptist can give to support this critical ministry.

Let’s all do what we can to assist the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes minister to children this year. Doing so will demonstrate the truth that Florida Baptists are pro-life in word and deed, for unborn children and beyond. Please give generously this year to the Mother’s Day Offering to help change precious lives forever.