I have often had the opportunity to hear life-changing phone calls over our decades of ministry, as God uses Terri in amazing ways to help women decide against aborting their babies. But I wish that every Christian leader could have heard what Terri said on a phone call last Thursday, because it contained such important seeds of transformation.

This story begins on June 7, when we learned that a Planned Parenthood mega abortion center — over 10,000 square feet — was being built in Bakersfield. The name of the contractor working on the project was familiar: he was a family member of a longtime supporter of ours (who has now gone home to be with the Lord).

Then I remembered that years ago, our supporter had given me the contractor’s personal cell phone number. I dialed the number and asked if he could meet Terri and myself for dinner.

“What is this about?” he asked.

“Someone told us something about you that I hope is not true,” I explained. “I would rather not discuss it over the phone.”

At dinner that night, the contractor quickly acknowledged that he had won the bid for the Planned Parenthood project and that he knew that it was an abortion chamber. “I really believe that God wants me to have this job, or I wouldn’t have won the bid,” he explained. “My reputation is at stake, so I can’t back out now.”

During a cordial conversation that evening, we provided him with literature about Planned Parenthood along with information about the positive testimony of Christians in the construction industry (such as Chris Danze) who have stood boldly against Planned Parenthood in the past.

He said that he would pray about what we had shared. Last Thursday, when we hadn’t heard back from him for two weeks, Terri called and poured her heart out to him for about an hour. (I only heard her side of the conversation, but she later filled in the blanks for me on some of what he said.)

“I’m just calling to see if you had any new insights,” Terri began, “or anything that God is telling you.”

“I’m going to finish the job,” he announced unapologetically. “I don’t share your convictions about abortion. We should focus on sharing the gospel.” (We had previously learned that he is involved in ministry at a church which for many years was one of the most pro-life churches in Bakersfield.)

“Well, you’re not any different than most of the Church,” Terri acknowledged. “God says that He hates the shedding of innocent blood, but pastors and Christians don’t feel like it is important to stop it. If you look at ‘innocent blood,’ what would be more innocent than a baby in the womb who has never been able to do anything wrong, and its life is taken?

“I used to think like you,” Terri continued, “that a born-again Christian wouldn’t have an abortion, but after over 25 years I have come to realize that 71% or more of those going in for abortions claim to be Christians. Many people are disillusioned because of what the Church is teaching. People say ‘our church teaches that we can’t judge,’ or ‘our church teaches that God is a loving and forgiving God, and none of us are perfect.’ Girls going in for abortions say ‘who are you to judge? I prayed about this and if God didn’t want me to do this then He would have stopped me. I’m sending this baby straight to Heaven. It wouldn’t be a good place for the baby right now if I were to keep him,’ and baloney like that.

“But God tells us that children are a gift from God, and that He is the one who opens and closes the womb, and He doesn’t make mistakes. It’s not like God was busy playing backgammon with the devil while — oops! — they got pregnant. No, God carefully planned each of these children who are in the womb.

“It’s not that the Church is so hard on people, making people feel terrible,” Terri contended. “It’s because the Church sits back and does nothing. If you honestly believe that you can build a place because they’re going to be doing it anyway, that’s logic that everybody could use.

“I plead with you,” Terri continued, “There are all kinds of angles that God is dealing with in this situation, not just you, not just me, but it’s Bakersfield as a whole. But I truly believe that I have a duty to warn you scripturally, just like in Ezekiel 33, where it says you’re supposed to warn the people that there’s a battle coming and if they choose to ignore you and they get attacked it’s not your fault anymore because you have warned them.”

“But,” he interjected, “what about in the Old Testament where God commanded them to kill babies?”

“God commanded them to do away with the whole city,” Terri explained, “including infants and children. If we’re going to get rid of the infants and we’re going to justify that with the Old Testament, then we would need to get rid of the parents too, along with anyone who is fornicating. Why should the baby have to pay when the mother and the father and the abortionist and everybody else involved gets to be free? The baby is the innocent one!

“Unfortunately,” Terri continued, “innocent people do die because of their parents’ sins, but God said that everybody should be put to death. It could come to the point that all of us are going to pay for this.”

“Look,” he interjected, “somebody is going to build it anyway, so it’s better if I am the one they are paying, because I will use the money for the Kingdom of God.”

“But at this point you know that you will be held accountable, because right now you have the power to at least postpone the inevitable, if that’s what’s going to happen,” Terri insisted. “But if you decided ‘I am going to follow God, and I will not be able to do this because I have had a change of heart, I repent’ then they are going to have to find somebody else to do it and I don’t think that they are going to be able to find somebody else as easily the next time.

“If you truly understood how evil Planned Parenthood is, you wouldn’t want any part of it,” Terri contended. “Would you have wanted to build a concentration camp for killing the Jews?”

“No,” he admitted. “But even Oskar Schindler was involved in helping them kill the Jews, even though he saved a few. How do you justify that?”

“He had been totally on the opposite side. But you,” Terri said, beginning to choke back the tears, “you’re my brother in Christ. You’re a born again believer. You should be on the side of life! It’s soooo frustrating after all of our 25 years to try to get the Church to realize that God hates the shedding of innocent blood, and that He says if you have done it unto the least of these my brethren you have done it unto Me.

“There is a spiritual battle going on, and girls are going in saying ‘I’m just going to send my baby straight up to God.’ I tell them that they could have a natural miscarriage if that baby is not meant to be, but don’t choose evil to get rid of the child. Trust God, and let Him decide if that baby should live or die.

“If God really is for whatever reason wanting that Planned Parenthood to be built, then let somebody else do it. Don’t let your hands be responsible for it, because I’m telling you that every baby who dies in that building will be partly because of what you did. I talk to abortion employees going in and they say ‘I pray for the girls in there,’ but if they save one baby in there, they are also helping to kill 25 babies.

“If the Christians would decide ‘I’m not going to have any part of it, I’m going to take a stand,’ then the abortion industry would stop. But they thrive on the business of the Christians. What is more embarrassing than a nice Christian couple whose teenage daughter looks like a role model, and she goes and gets pregnant? Now she’s afraid to let her church family know, so she goes down to the abortion clinic to hide it!

“It’s the Christians who are having many of these abortions, while a lot of the non-Christians are keeping their babies. If only we could get through to the Church, to understand that this is at the heart of God. God says ‘I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.’ He knit us together. He created us. That baby has a soul!

“I think that God has had mercy on you by giving you an opportunity not to do this,” Terri asserted. “I don’t understand why we didn’t know about it sooner, but to find out when we did and to know that your [family member] supported us, and that we had your phone number, I don’t think it is an accident. This is an ‘Esther’ moment, ‘for such a time as this.’ If you decided ‘I’m going to trust God, I sure messed up, but I’m going to count the cost, maybe you could make it so that this whole thing doesn’t even happen, just by being obedient to God. It may cost you, but God owns everything, and whatever you give up on earth, He’s going to repay you.”

“I’m afraid you’re in for an uphill battle,” he replied, unmoved.

“We’re not going to just sit back and let them quietly build this thing,” Terri countered. “I know that it is a big battle and it is probably just beginning, and that they are some of the biggest tools the devil is using against us.”

“But the real battle,” the contractor declared, “is sharing the gospel.”

“God says we were created for good works that God meant for us to do and we are to go and teach people the truth,” Terri responded. “If these were just a bunch of non-Christians going in to abort their babies then I would 100% agree that preaching the gospel is all we need to do, but the battle is in the Church. The battle is that the Church doesn’t want to talk about abortion because they know that a good percentage of their congregation have been out to that abortion center, and they don’t want to deal with it.

“It’s not like these people are lost souls who need Jesus Christ, because we all sin, whether it’s abortion or anything else,” she continued. “But what happens is that we’re involved and we look the other way, just like when they were killing the Jews. Like the story of ‘Sing a Little Louder,’ when the little church by the railroad tracks was bothered when Jews being taken to the slaughter cried out for help, we just sing a little louder to drown out the voices of the people being killed. That’s what we do. We don’t want to hear about what is going on. We don’t want to see the pictures of abortion, we don’t want to talk about abortion. It’s too offensive.

“But it’s offensive to God. God says to ‘rescue those being led away to slaughter.’ We do have a responsibility.

“If everybody did their part, we wouldn’t have this going on. But they don’t. I look at the Body of Christ as if our wrist has been slit and we’re busy over there bandaging up a broken toe or a skinned knee while our wrist is just pouring out blood and we’re just about to die because nobody wants to look at abortion. He says that as we lift our hands, our hands are covered with innocent blood and He can’t hear our prayers, so it’s not something that we can just take lightly.

“This is the American Holocaust, and if you look back and say ‘no, I would not build the concentration camps,’ you’ve got to realize that what you are doing is building a modern day concentration camp. I can’t change your mind, but God can. God can open your eyes if you’re truly willing. Don’t be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear. Your love for God and your willingness to do what God wants can overcome the fear.

“You can’t outgive God. He will provide for your needs, and if in the end you’re eating bread and water but you can sleep at night knowing that innocent children are not being killed because of something you made, then that makes it worth it.

“In my heart I know that this breaks the heart of God,” Terri cried, choking out the words, “please, please. I don’t know what I’m going to end up needing to do, but I’m willing to do what God wants me to do.”

He began to sound concerned, asking “what do you mean?”

“We’re looking at different things,” she replied. “I don’t know what God has for us, but I’m willing to do it. I never would hurt anybody, and I never would damage any buildings or anything like that, but I would risk myself.

“I just know that God doesn’t want you to do this, just like I just know when I talk to girls going in for abortions that God doesn’t want them to do that either, but we all have our free will. There comes a point that there isn’t anything else I can do, but I will be praying for you.

“Also, I did get a call from [a local pastor whose church the contractor is also involved in building]. I haven’t talked to him yet because I really wanted to be able to talk to you first. But apparently he has heard that you are involved in building the abortion center. I think he might want to meet with you.

“Please do the right thing. Even if it’s the last nail to go into that building, if you have a change of heart then do it. You’re not too far into it to just say ‘I’m not going to continue this.’ God will bless you, I promise.

“And just realize that as a Christian, you could be an example to people. God says ‘take up your cross daily and follow me.’ It’s not going to be easy. I do care about you and want the best for you.”

“Well,” he confessed, “you have given me a lot to think about.”

“Can I pray for you before I hang up?” Terri asked, clearing her throat as she struggled to restore her composure.

“Of course,” he responded.

“Father God,” Terri prayed, “I just thank you for his willingness to talk to me. I know that he could just ignore my call so I do appreciate that he is listening, God. I know that there isn’t anything that I could say or do that can change his mind, but I know You can.

“And as much as I feel like it’s 100% that I know that he shouldn’t do that, I do go ahead and I just lay that out just in case there’s some reason that you really do want him to build this, then I put my ideas and my convictions on the line too, God. I just ask that You will speak to both of us, and that we will truly hear Your voice and not Satan. Satan wants to divide and conquer and we want Bakersfield to be a Christian community that truly shines Your light. I don’t believe if this big mega center is coming here that Bakersfield can even shine, God, so I just ask that somehow You help us to know what we can do so that You can shine and be glorified in Bakersfield, and that maybe Bakersfield would be an example to other communities.

“I thank you for all of the good things he has done for this community and his generosity, but please help him to realize that this may be the time for him to shine Your light the brightest. So just help us both to be led by You and bring people into both of our lives so that we know what you want us to do, so that we can glorify You. I pray that You will bless him and his family and me and my family, and fight for all of our needs, and keep the devil from influencing or guiding us in any way. I ask that Your blood would cover our sins and the things that we have done wrong in the past. Help us to press on toward the goal, and the goal is letting others know about You and the goal of becoming more Christlike.

“In my heart I just cannot imagine that You would be building this abortion chamber, so I just again, put everything on the line and just ask that Your will would be done. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”

After Terri hung up the phone, she began sobbing uncontrollably, hanging on to me, unable to speak for several minutes.

Later that evening, Terri called one of the pastors at the contractor’s church to inform him of the contractor’s decision to build the abortion center. She had not previously informed the church, hoping that he would repent. The pastor took the situation very seriously.

But early Friday morning, the contractor called Terri back to report that he had already met with Planned Parenthood to tell them that he will not finish the job!

While clarifying that his convictions are unchanged, he told Terri that he had been thinking about what the Bible says about not doing anything which would cause an offense to a brother. “I do consider you part of the Body of Christ and I don’t want to offend you,” he said.

“Keep me in your prayers,” he urged Terri, “because I don’t know what Planned Parenthood is going to do about this.”

Terri told him about an attorney who has offered to help if there are any problems.

Please pray that God continues to give this contractor courage, and for protection from any attacks from Planned Parenthood.

Please also pray that God will embolden local church leaders and city leaders so that they would have the courage to stand up against Planned Parenthood.