I know you will enjoy learning more about Heartbeat, where moms find hope and babies are saved every day. - Cindi
Every woman deserves love and support during an unexpected pregnancy. That's why there are pregnancy help centers around the world dedicated to providing material assistance, moral support, and medical services to meet their needs.
Pregnancy Help Centers (PHCs) are life-affirming non-profit service providers that provide women who have an unexpected pregnancy with alternatives to abortion. Their services often include free pregnancy tests, consultation, ultrasounds, material support; education and information on adoption and abortion; and services and referrals for ongoing pregnancy and parenting needs. There are approximately 2,750 PHCs in the U.S. serving women and their families every day with a 99% satisfactory rating from clients1.
Centers that additionally provide limited medical care under the supervision of a licensed Medical Director are called Pregnancy Medical Centers (PMCs). Their services include pregnancy tests and ultrasound, to prenatal care and STI/STD testing.
Equip yourself with the truth about pregnancy centers at PregnancyCenterTruth.com, where you will find helpful stats and evidence-based answers!
If you would like to support the vital work of Pregnancy Help Centers, you can give here!
The mission of Heartbeat International is to Reach and rescue as many lives as possible through an effective network of life-affirming, global pregnancy help to renew communities for LIFE. Here's how we are working toward that mission.
You may have heard them referred to as “crisis pregnancy centers,” “fake clinics” or worse. But what is the real story on pregnancy help organizations (PHO), the best-kept secret in the pro-life movement?
1. PHOs are committed to true reproductive health care. Offering a spectrum of medical services that range from free pregnancy tests and no-cost ultrasounds to STI testing, Natural Family Planning education, and even perinatal hospice, PHOs approach pregnancy and sexuality not like an illness that needs to be cured, but as a gift to be understood and celebrated.
2. PHOs save thousands of babies in America every week. An estimated 1 million babies are aborted annually in the United States alone, a rate of more than 3,200 each day. Heartbeat International’s nearly 2,000 U.S. affiliated locations—which compose about half of all PHOs in the country—combine to rescue 3,000 babies every week, as women and families make the courageous decision to preserve the lives of their children.
Note: 1 million abortions is an estimate because two states (California and Maryland) don’t require abortion providers to report numbers, while reporting is voluntary in New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. More than 50 million babies are aborted every year worldwide.
3. PHOs perform a wide range of functions and offer a variety of services to the community. Some PHOs offer pregnancy tests and limited ultrasound but focus their energies on peer counseling, material assistance, and educational programs like motherhood/fatherhood or job skills training. Others offer more extensive medical services, including STI testing, prenatal care, abortion pill reversal, fertility care, and well-woman care. Still others house pregnant women during pregnancy and into the early stages of motherhood. Finally, adoption agencies work with women looking to entrust their babies to the care of adoptive parents. About the only shape or size PHOs don’t come in is the cartoonish fake clinics depicted by radical pro-abortion supporters.
4. PHOs offer long-term support and services. While PHOs no doubt focus on a woman who is pregnant, the care doesn’t end in the delivery room. Many centers offer motherhood and fatherhood mentoring programs, as well as “Earn While You Learn” incentive programs, which reward a mother with material goods such as diapers, clothes, and bottles to support her family.
5. PHOs care for a mother and a child. The term, “woman-centered” sums up a PHO’s approach to reaching out and caring for a mother-to-be. PHOs are careful to keep in mind the multifaceted harm done by abortion to women and families, and many offer abortion recovery programs. PHO staff and volunteers learn to listen to a woman and learn her story before helping her to see her options and consider the effect her present decision will have on her life in years to come.
6. PHOs existed before Roe v. Wade. By the time Roe v. Wade made abortion-on-demand the law of the land in the landmark ruling January 22, 1973, at least 130 pregnancy help organizations (including 11 in Canada and one in New Zealand) were collected in a book called the Directory. This was the forerunner to the Heartbeat International Worldwide Directory Desk Reference, which now contains more than 7,000 entries.
7. PHOs are being planted and established in every corner of the globe. Reflecting the worldwide presence of both the church and the tragedy of abortion, Christ-centered PHOs are on the rise in every inhabited continent. Most of these centers are spearheaded by nationals, some of which are active in creative or restricted-access countries for Christian missionaries.
8. PHOs are financed entirely by donations and grants—with few exceptions. Unlike highly profitable abortion businesses that prey upon vulnerable women and families, PHOs keep the lights on and staff their life-saving ministries with funds given by individuals, churches, foundations, and other groups. While some PHOs do receive limited government funds, these funds are designated for specific initiatives geared to bring abstinence and choices education to settings such as public schools.
9. PHOs offer an unparalleled opportunity for relational evangelism. Staff and volunteers at PHOs enjoy a unique opening for the spread of the gospel. Sitting across from a young woman in the throes of perhaps her most trying time, life and death hang in the balance—the life of her baby and the trajectory of her life, though she may not fully appreciate that reality at the time. She needs a thoroughly gospel-saturated response, pairing a Christ-centered offer of hope with a real-world commitment to walk alongside another.
Joining the team in June of 2017, Hannah Ellis serves in dual roles as Heartbeat International’s executive assistant and international program specialist. Prior to her work with Heartbeat, she served as a Policy Analyst/Writer and the National Field Director at Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.
Hannah has appeared on television, radio and podcasts, and her writing has appeared in American Thinker, Breitbart, CNSNews.com and The Christian Post, as well as other national and international pro-life sites.
A graduate of Cedarville University with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies, she specialized in Bible, editing and publishing, and Spanish. Hannah’s heart for cross-cultural Christian ministry has led her to serve in Zimbabwe and Mexico.
Hannah’s desire to reach vulnerable people with the hope of the Gospel has also led her to answer phones for Dawson McAllister’s The Hope Line, which answers over 50,000 calls from troubled teens each year.
Hannah’s favorite titles, however, are Christ-follower and wife to her best friend.
A long-time leader in the pregnancy help community at the local, state and national levels, Cindi Boston was named Heartbeat International's Vice President in January 2016.
Cindi previously served on Heartbeat International's Board of Directors from 2013-15, and was recognized as a 2011 Heartbeat International Servant-Leader honoree. She chaired the board for Missouri's Alliance for Life that played a role in passing a state resolution honoring the work of pregnancy help organizations, as well as directing funds for specfiic services covered under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Cindi has worked in the business, education and non-profit sectors in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri since 1985. She was first elected to the first Board of Directors for the initial setup of Pregnancy Care Center (PCC) in the winter of 1998. She oversaw the center's growth from startup through the first 15 years of service, where the ministry reached 285,150 local women and men.
Cindi is a graduate of Evangel University. She is a certified Life-Affirming Specialist (LAS) and was selected as one of the top 12 non-profit directors of underserved populations in Missouri. Cindi is the proud mother of two sons, Josh and Caleb.
Margaret H. (Peggy) Hartshorn, Ph.D., currently Chairman of the Board of Heartbeat International, has served on the Board for 30 years, as Chairman previously from 1990-2004. She also served as Heartbeat’s President for 22 years (1993-2015).
Peggy co-founded Heartbeat International’s Option Line in 2002. It is the only 24/7, bilingual, internet-based, pro-life call center in the world. Option Line handles about a quarter of a million calls for help each year, connecting callers to their community-based pregnancy help center for life-saving and life-changing help.
Peggy and her husband, Mike, joined the pro-life movement in 1973, first working with the educational, political, and legislative arm of the movement. They housed pregnant women in their home (beginning in 1974), attended their first Heartbeat conference in 1978, opened the first pregnancy help center in Columbus, Ohio, in 1981, and Peggy joined the leadership team of Heartbeat International in 1986 (as a member of the Board, later Chairperson and President of Heartbeat).
Peggy has traveled to 52 countries, teaching and training, visiting existing pregnancy help organizations, and helping to start new ones in Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. She has also appeared on television and radio as a spokesperson for pro-life and life-affirming alternatives to abortion, and she is the author of Foot Soldiers Armed with Love: The First Forty Years of Heartbeat International.
Peggy is the recipient of many awards for pro-life work, including: President’s Volunteer Service Award under President George H.W. Bush, the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the Defender of Life Award from Students for Life, the Cardinal John J. O’Connor pro-life award from Legatus International, the Norrine A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Life Prizes Award, the Sanctity of Human Life Award from Care Net, the Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle Award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Founder’s Award from the Christ Child Society, the Catholic Woman of the Year Award from the Diocese of Columbus (Ohio), the Life Champion Award from Pregnancy Support Services of Asia, the Woman of Impact Award from WRFD Christian Radio, and the Praesidium Vitae Award from Aid for Women.
Peggy has been married to Mike for over 50 years, and they have two children, adopted as infants, and 5 grandchildren.
Jor-El Godsey serves as President of Heartbeat International. He leads a staff dedicated to equipping, empowering, and encouraging the thousands of leaders and developing leaders of Heartbeat’s affiliated pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, in the U.S. and on every inhabited continent. He oversees Heartbeat’s core mission to be the leadership supply line for the growing pregnancy help movement worldwide by providing accurate information, training resources, leadership development conferences, programs, and daily support to help affiliates start, grow, and expand their services to women and couples at risk for abortion.
Jor-El comes to Heartbeat having served in the pregnancy help movement since 1988. He first served as a volunteer at Hope, the pregnancy help centers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Then he joined their board, served as Chair, then as Executive Administrator. In 1999, Jor-El became Executive Director of Life Choices in Longmont, Colorado. Six years later, in 2006, Jor-El accepted the call to help Heartbeat International meet the diverse and expanding leadership needs of the pregnancy help movement as Vice-President. Now serving as the second President in Heartbeat International's 50+ year history, preceded only by Peggy Hartshorn, he continues to remind us all that we are better together.
Jor-El met his wife, Karen, at a volunteer training meeting for the Hope Center in Ft. Lauderdale. They currently make their home in Columbus, Ohio, and have three children.
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Heartbeat's Life-Saving Vision is a world where every new life is welcomed and children are nurtured within strong families, according to God’s Plan, so that abortion is unthinkable.
Heartbeat's Life-Saving Mission is to Reach and Rescue as many lives as possible through an effective global network of life-affirming pregnancy help that Renews communities for LIFE.
To achieve our mission, we:
On November 13, 1971, Dr. John Hillabrand, a Toledo, Ohio, obstetrician, and Lore Maier, a refugee from Nazi Germany, formed Alternatives to Abortion to network emerging hotlines and pregnancy help services. Knowing that legalized abortion would spread rapidly around the world, they soon became Alternatives to Abortion International (AAI).
On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, reshaping the national landscape by legalizing abortion. This pivotal ruling not only nullified existing state abortion restrictions but also established a federally protected right to abortion, removing state-level regulatory power. This decision catalyzed an expansion of abortion access across the country, underscoring the urgent need for pregnancy help services to support women facing unplanned pregnancies.
By 1993, about 75 original contacts had grown to about 200 affiliates and AAI changed its name to Heartbeat International. More and more Catholic and Evangelical Christians felt called to help and start calling for help. We became the “go-to” place for start-up manuals, model programs, leadership training conferences, and a place to go for advice and prayer.
Through a joint venture with CareNet, Option Line took it's first call in 2003. While it's no longer a joint venture, Option Line continues to serve as a 24/7 pregnancy help contact center open any time, to anyone reaching out for help, answering more than 1,100 connections each day via phone call, live chat, texting, and email.
Dr. George Delgado, founder of the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, was looking for a partner to enhance and expand abortion pill reversal. A year later, Heartbeat International officially took over the management of the APRN. Since then, we have had the opportunity to share these miraculous stories with legislators, reporters, and other pregnancy help organizations!
On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade, in its fiftieth year, was finally overturned. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, written by Justice Samuel Alito, masterfully disassembled Roe’s deeply flawed legal footing, releasing each state to protect the lives of women and their babies from the predatory practices of abortion providers. Unfortunately, the ruling also allowed states to reaffirm or advance abortion practices and provisions.
Over 50 years later, Heartbeat International's story continues to take exciting and challenging turns as we develop leaders to supply a growing pregnancy help movement. From the underserved urban neighborhoods—so often targeted by Big Abortion—to the rural reaches, the mission field created by abortion calls us to impact more lives.
The best alternative to abortion is another person.
Today, Heartbeat International serves over 3,800 affiliated pregnancy help locations, maternity homes, and non-profit adoption agencies on every continent.
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Our story continues as simply one of helping God’s people discover the life-saving, death-defying, soul-satisfying, and God-glorifying power of neighborly love.
Read more about our story in "The Power of Pregnancy Help," a history of the pregnancy help community by Heartbeat International Board Chairwoman, Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., and President Jor-El Godsey.
Follow along with us: Subscribe to receive weekly news in your inbox!
 Heartbeat International proudly serves over 3,800 pregnancy help organizations. All of Heartbeat International’s affiliated pregnancy help providers, whether they are pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, or adoption services, make a commitment to serve their community with:    |
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Affiliates adopt “Our Commitment of Care and Competence.”
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Not all pregnancy centers offer medical services. If you have questions about the services offered at this pregnancy center, please ask to speak to a center representative.
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Jor-El Godsey, President Jor-El Godsey serves as President of Heartbeat International. He leads a staff dedicated to equipping, empowering, and encouraging the thousands of leaders and developing leaders of Heartbeat’s affiliated pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, in the U.S. and on every inhabited continent. He oversees Heartbeat’s core mission to be the leadership supply line for the growing pregnancy help movement worldwide by providing accurate information, training resources, leadership development conferences, programs, and daily support to help affiliates start, grow, and expand their services to women and couples at risk for abortion. Jor-El comes to Heartbeat having served in the pregnancy help movement since 1988. He first served as a volunteer at Hope, the pregnancy help centers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Then he joined their board, served as Chair, then as Executive Administrator. In 1999, Jor-El became Executive Director of Life Choices in Longmont, Colorado. Six years later, in 2006, Jor-El accepted the call to help Heartbeat International meet the diverse and expanding leadership needs of the pregnancy help movement as Vice-President. Now serving as the second President in Heartbeat International's 44 year history, preceded only by Peggy Hartshorn, he continues to remind us all that we are better together. Jor-El met his wife, Karen, at a volunteer training meeting for the Hope Center in Ft. Lauderdale. They currently make their home in Columbus, Ohio, with their three children. |
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Cindi Boston, Vice President A long-time leader in the pregnancy help community at the local, state, and national levels, Cindi Boston was named Heartbeat International's Vice President in January 2016. Cindi previously served on Heartbeat International's Board of Directors from 2013-15, and was recognized as a 2011 Heartbeat International Servant-Leader honoree. She chaired the board for Missouri's Alliance for Life that played a role in passing a state resolution honoring the work of pregnancy help organizations, as well as directing funds for specfiic services covered under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Cindi has worked in the business, education and non-profit sectors in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri since 1985. She was first elected to the first Board of Directors for the initial setup of Pregnancy Care Center (PCC) in the winter of 1998. She oversaw the center's growth from startup through the first 15 years of service, where the ministry reached 285,150 local women and men. Cindi is a graduate of Evangel University. She is a certified Life-Affirming Specialist (LAS) and was selected as one of the top 12 non-profit directors of underserved populations in Missouri. Cindi is the proud mother of two sons, Josh and Caleb. |
Board of Directors
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Margaret (Peggy) Hartshorn, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board Margaret H. (Peggy) Hartshorn, Ph.D., currently Chairman of the Board of Heartbeat International, has served on the Board for 30 years, as Chairman previously from 1990-2004. She also served as Heartbeat’s President for 23 years (1993-2015). Peggy co-founded Heartbeat International’s Option Line in 2002. It is the only 24/7, bilingual, internet-based, pro-life call center in the world. Option Line handles about a quarter of a million calls for help each year, connecting callers to their community-based pregnancy help center for life-saving and life-changing help. Peggy and her husband, Mike, joined the pro-life movement in 1973, first working with the educational, political, and legislative arm of the movement. They housed pregnant women in their home (beginning in 1974), attended their first Heartbeat conference in 1978, opened the first pregnancy help center in Columbus, Ohio, in 1981, and Peggy joined the leadership team of Heartbeat International in 1986 (as a member of the Board, later Chairperson and President of Heartbeat). Peggy has traveled to 52 countries, teaching and training, visiting existing pregnancy help organizations, and helping to start new ones in Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. She has also appeared on television and radio as a spokesperson for pro-life and life-affirming alternatives to abortion, and she is the author of Foot Soldiers Armed with Love: The First Forty Years of Heartbeat International. Peggy is the recipient of many awards for pro-life work, including: President’s Volunteer Service Award under President George H.W. Bush, the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the Defender of Life Award from Students for Life, the Cardinal John J. O’Connor pro-life award from Legatus International, the Norrine A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Life Prizes Award, the Sanctity of Human Life Award from Care Net, the Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle Award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Founder’s Award from the Christ Child Society, the Catholic Woman of the Year Award from the Diocese of Columbus (Ohio), the Life Champion Award from Pregnancy Support Services of Asia, the Woman of Impact Award from WRFD Christian Radio, and the Praesidium Vitae Award from Aid for Women. Peggy has been married to Mike for 46 years, and they have two children, adopted as infants, and 5 grandchildren.
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Keith Armato Keith Armato is President of the Union Street Tin Co. based in Chicago, IL. Keith is the third generation of his family to carry on the tradition of decorative metal packaging since his grandfather Michaele came to the United States from Sicily and founded the company in 1908 manufacturing olive oil cans. Keith and Mary Armato have been married for 41 years and have two children and five grandchildren. Keith and Mary spent their honeymoon in Italy and have returned to the country over 50 times introducing family, friends and business associates to the culture and especially the religious heritage of Italy and particularly Rome. Keith is a Knight of Malta and a Knight of St. George. He has served two terms on the national Board of Governors of Legatus, the National Fund for Catholic Religions Vocations, and the Saint Pio Foundation. |
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Christine Dattilo Christine Dattilo is a nonprofit technology strategist helping organizations connect and build relationships with an online generation. Chris has worked with churches, mission organizations, community groups, pregnancy help centers and Heartbeat International as a strategic consultant and web strategist. Chris and her husband Joe live in South Carolina. |
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Doug Grane In addition to his 20-year commitment to promoting a culture of life, Doug is an entrepreneur who recently co-founded a private equity and angel investing firm. Previous senior leadership positions include: pro-life non-profit, public relations/public affairs, transportation and commercial real estate. Doug and his wife Mary, married 18 years, live in suburban Chicago with their daughter and three sons. |
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Chris Humphrey, Ph.D. Chris Humphrey, Ph.D., is a long-time pastor, writer, educator and pro-life leader whose most recent work in the life-affirming field is as co-founder and executive director of Vision for Life. Based in Pittsburgh, Vision for Life has partnered with national pro-life groups including Virtue Media, Online for Life and Heroic Media in efforts to connect women in unexpected pregnancies with local help. After starting out his journey in ministry with the Salvation Army in the late 1970s, Chris served as executive director for Coalition for Life, a pro-life lobbying group in Ottawa, in the mid-1980s. He has since served in a variety of writing, editing and educational roles, and currently edits a monthly magazine, The Word, which is published by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Originally from Ottawa, Chris and his wife, Edith, have three grown daughters and 12 grandchildren. |
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Derek A. McCoy Executive Vice President of C.U.R.E. (Center for Urban Renewal and Education), Rev. Derek McCoy has led non-profit organizations and initiatives that have stood to serve the advancement of the family and promoted righteousness and justice in our culture. He is also the Principal of TMG Management & Consulting which works on issue based projects to have an impact on the culture nationally. McCoy has been a consistent advocate in the building of coalitions, government relations, and media on key issues such as the protection of life, marriage, and the family. He served as Sr. Vice President of The High Impact Leadership Coalition and serves as Associate Pastor of Hope Christian Church. He has been instrumental in conducting Educational Summits with pastors, community leaders, and citizens on issues that are affecting the culture. His consistent, proven, and thorough work has allowed him to become a trusted resource for many elected officials, leaders, and pastors. McCoy has appeared as a guest on NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, NPR , Gospel Today and Family News in Focus and has been in publications such as Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Washington Times. Derek is married to his “girlfriend” Cathy for 23 years. They have 3 incredible children: Derek Jr., Justin and Cailin. |
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John Murphy John Murphy is an accomplished Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur and technology innovator. His project management, marketing and organizational skills resulted in his being appointed President and CEO of one of the largest personal computer peripherals manufacturers in the world. Following this he became CEO of a sophisticated real-time imagery software company working primarily with the Department of Defense and U.S. systems integrators to deliver very fast, high end reconnaissance solutions to each of the four branches of the armed services. As commercial applications for this technology developed, Mr. Murphy became the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of two IP based video surveillance software companies and is the founder of United in Purpose, a not-for-profit, non-partisan GOTV organization as well as several other non-profit (501c3) enterprises. Mr. Murphy has been married 39 years, has three adult children, two precious grandsons and an unquenchable passion for our nation's founding principles that have been pivotal in why he is pro-life and active on the issue! |
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Zeke Swift Zeke Swift brings to non-profit work 23 years of global marketing, issue management and organization design experience at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer product company. Prior to P&G, Zeke had six years of commissioned service in the US Army. Zeke co-founded the Southern Africa HIV-AIDS Collaboration (SAHAC) and consults with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the areas of strategy, organization development and issue management. Zeke has been married to Beth for 43 years. They have three grown children and six grandchildren. He is an elder at Mariemont Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and, with Beth, has an extensive personal discipleship, marriage, and small group ministry. |
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Gary Thome Gary Thome brings his expertise managing multi-billion dollar businesses to Heartbeat International to help create a culture of life in our society. He is passionate about spreading the gospel of life to all. When not serving Heartbeat, Gary serves as vice president of strategy for a large multi-national technology company. He is also very active in several ministries at his local church. Gary and Pam, his wife of nearly 20 years, are the parents of five beautiful children. Each is a testament to the power of life. |
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John Wootton A graduate of Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, John Wootton is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. He has served since 2008 as an executive officer of the Ohio Ministry Network in the position of Network Superintendent, and previously as Network Secretary. For eight years, John served as the district men’s ministries director, as well as the assistant to District Superintendent Robert Crabtree. Prior to that time, John was a minister on staff at two Ohio churches (Trinity Assembly of God in Columbus and Bethel Temple Assembly of God in Parma). His wife, Brigette is the Network Women’s Ministries Director and Silver Buckeyes Director. They have four children, Tyler, Clayton, Abigail, and Olivia. |
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Sherry Wright In 2008, Sherry Wright helped start The Open Door Pregnancy and Family Resource Center in Cisco, Texas. In 2011, The Open Door expanded into Breckenridge, Texas with another medical pregnancy resource center. Sherry has been the president of the board since 2008. In addition, Sherry serves on the prayer teams of Mountain Top Church and The American Renewal Project. She has had leadership positions in many local community organizations and had a board position with another national pro-life organization. Sherry and her husband, Billy, have been married for forty three years. They are blessed with two wonderful daughters Annie and Becca, who are married to Ryan and Brad respectively. Sherry and Billy have five grandchildren who are the joy of their lives. |
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