There’s a new phrase catching on in our culture that we never used to hear—”birthday abortions.” There are actually people in our country who are advocating that abortion should take place up to and sometimes after a baby has been born. It is a horrible evil. But one pastor’s wife from Jacksonville, Florida, set up a 5K to help fight this evil practice.
Kim Wiggins—wife of Pastor Garry Wiggins of Evangel Temple Assembly of God—set up an “End Birthday Abortions” 5K through her Awaken the Word women’s conference. She raised almost $10,000 from this event and gave it to the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. I was so impressed with the difference she is making through this race that I invited her to speak about it on my “Strang Report” podcast. (Click here or click on the podcast icon in this article to listen to that episode.)
“We believe in life, and we believe that God is a pro-life God,” Wiggins says. “He said in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ So we want to speak up for those who have no voice—Proverbs 31:8. And unborn children have no voice. Our hearts have been broken as we’ve watched across our nation a fight not only to save lives but even for babies to survive a botched abortion. It’s legal in some places to finish what was started and allow the baby to die.”
When I visited Evangel Temple, almost everyone was talking about the 5K. I love that the church has such a heart for missions and giving. Someone told me the church reached out to help victims of Hurricane Dorian shortly after the storm. And despite her busy schedule as a mother and grandmother, Kim Wiggins put great effort into making this 5K happen.
Evangel Temple hosted the 5K on its campus, so the expenses for the race weren’t high. The campus is large enough to create a 1.03-mile track that runners could go through three times to equal 5 kilometers. This saved the church from spending money to host the race in a public space or to have police officers present.
“We even had pink and blue smoke for this year for the runners to run through,” Wiggins says. “And then we gave prizes to those who won. The fastest runner got a prize. We gave good prizes, because we wanted to encourage people to run and get sponsorships. We also gave a prize to the person who had the most sponsorships. One of the ladies raised $2,000 herself to fight first-day abortions and all abortions and to sponsor life.”
I find Wiggins’ and Evangel Temple’s work on this race inspiring. I hope other churches and ministries around the U.S. will follow their lead and host their own races to fund pro-life efforts. All it takes, Wiggins says, is for Christians to believe they truly can make a difference.
“We can do more than just talk or get on social media,” she says. “We can actually do something to save lives and sponsor life, because God is a God of life. And if it will inspire other people, then we’re happy to talk with anyone and share with them that God says to open your mouth for those who have no voice. Do something. Speak for them. And we can do that. Children are gifts from God. They are His rewards. They are not a burden. An unwanted pregnancy does not mean it’s an unwanted child.”
Be sure to visit etag.tv for more information on what Evangel Temple is doing to further the pro-life cause. And listen to my full interview with Wiggins to learn more about her inspiring 5K!
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