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June 2004
Backing up the front-line soldiers
Just a few months of helping women who were considering abortion
overwhelmed the small group. "We realized that we didn't have enough
resources amongst ourselves," Stephanie explained. As God opened the doors
to provide more resources, the group began a pregnancy help line and started
offering pregnancy tests with the assistance of Dr. Ray Helston.
"Then we started talking about starting a crisis pregnancy center that would just be devoted to meeting these needs," Stephanie recalled. "The Life Savers would touch the girls, bring them in to the CPC which would provide the pregnancy tests, the counseling, and then help move them on back into churches or where ever they needed to go to get support."
Steve and Stephanie organized an ad-hoc committee to establish the Bakersfield Crisis Pregnancy Center. Steve served as chairman of the committee. By late 1985, the CPC opened its doors to serve the pregnant women of the community.
Tim and Terri Palmquist, leaders of Life Savers Ministries, at the LifeHouse pregnancy help center.
After the establishment of the CPC, the ministry of Life Savers continued offering hope to the hopeless, but now the sidewalk counselors had a new resource to help encourage women to let their children live. "Sidewalk counseling has to be there or nobody is going to go to the crisis pregnancy center," Stephanie observed.
In the early days, "there was a cohesiveness between the CPC and Life Savers; everybody was doing both," according to Carlotta.
In 1986, a young newlywed couple from Delano sensed God leading them to become involved in pro-life ministry. The couple first attended CPC training sessions to become counselors, but serious illnesses and hospitalizations interrupted their plans. "Isn't there some way we can reach out directly to women who are planning abortions?" the wife asked. The CPC directed the couple to Life Savers Ministries. That couple, Tim and Terri Palmquist, today are leaders of Life Savers Ministries.
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Return to June 2004 issue of In Touch With LifeSavers Ministries
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