The CareCast, recorded from the Care Net National Conference in Mobile, Alabama—contains a lot of good news. Hosts Vincent DiCaro, Chief Outreach Officer, and Roland Warren, President and CEO, began the podcast by announcing that the 2023 National Conference had 1,600 attendees, an all-time record.
The theme of the conference is “Abundantly More,” based on Ephesians 3:20. Read or listen to the good news that Roland and Vincent have for us in the latest episode of CareCast.
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In the podcast, Roland talks about how the annual National Conference gives pregnancy center staff and volunteers an opportunity to network, learn, and be encouraged.
“They are on the front lines,” he said. “They offer compassion, hope, and help to women and men facing pregnancy decisions. These people challenge the gates of hell every day. This is a great opportunity for us, as an umbrella organization (with 1,200+ affiliates), to speak to what they do and give them visibility on a national level, but also give them training and connect them with amazing vendors, sponsors, and allied ministries.”
“Our goal is to help them, refresh them, and encourage them to do this work with excellence,” Vince said. “These pregnancy centers do amazing work every day.”
In addition to strengthening the work of pregnancy centers, the National Conference offers a track of workshops and other ways that connect churches with Care Net’s Pro Abundant Life movement. Making Life Disciples is one of the ministry platforms designed to engage churches.
“We are all about saving the lives of the unborn, helping mothers, reaching fathers, and building strong families. But we also go beyond that because we want those people to become disciples of Jesus Christ as well,” said Roland. “That’s what we call it. God’s design for the family, God’s call to discipleship, a really comprehensive way of thinking about the issue of life so that those people become people who do not need to be served from a ministry perspective, but become people who serve others.”
Care Net offers abortion recovery and care ministry resources for churches. In the podcast, Vince and Roland revealed that the organization is Reclaiming Fatherhood the book/study Bible has been reissued. This publication complements the Forgiven and Set Free book/Bible study for women, which Vince calls “the seminal work on abortion healing from a biblical perspective.”
At the National Conference, Care Net also released a redesigned and updated edition of the Before You Decidea magazine-style publication that is a very popular resource for pregnancy centers.
“We’re getting rave reviews (from pregnancy center representatives at the conference),” Vince said. “They say, ‘This is exactly what my clients need.’ ”
Care Net also offers a magazine edition for men, Before He Decides.
Another podcast highlight was the announcement that Care Net had reached a significant milestone. From 2008-2022, more than one million babies were saved through affiliated pregnancy centers.
Despite the extraordinary news and record-breaking attendance at the National Conference, there is still much work to be done in the Pro Abundant Life Movement, especially in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court Decision overturning Roe. v. Wade. Vince noticed how that sentiment was expressed in the National Conference attendees.
“The work has become more urgent, more important, more important than ever,” he said. “When Roe v. Wade reversed last year, all the guns that were just turned in our direction are now pointed directly at us….We are fighting all kinds of forces.”
Vince and Roland ended the CareCast by thanking all Care Net donors who support the ministry financially, saying, “We couldn’t do it without you.”
“Please stay with us and support us,” said Roland, “because the battle has changed, but it still exists.”
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