“We desire to open a pro-life crisis pregnancy resource clinic,” Denny Hydrick, executive director of Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS), announced in his report to messengers at the 2019 IBSA Annual Meeting Nov. 6-7 in Marion.
Hydrick shared how since the ministry’s founding in 1919 it has adapted, added, or adjusted to meet the contemporary needs of people. This has included adoption services, Angels’ Cove Maternity Center, and the addition of 13 Pathways Counseling locations.
One hundred years later, he said, “Your ministry is at another critical point.”
Hydrick said he recently reread Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” The phrase “the day of evil” stood out to him in that particular reading.
Referring to the BCHFS Board of Trustees, Hydrick said, “We’ve been working to respond to this day of evil that has come for the unborn here in the state of Illinois. Your ministry continues to stand firm for those that cannot speak for themselves….We’re going to stand our ground in our belief that all life has value when the value is determined by the Creator, not the created.”
Hydrick shared the Board has begun “prayerfully working through the complicated process of establishing a new ministry.”
He asked Illinois Baptists to pray for what he called a “vital need and a public way to express God’s value” of life.
Hydrick and the trustees recognize the challenges they face in a state with liberal abortion laws and attitudes. “This is a faith test complicated by a hostile state and a social environment which desires to wipe out pro-life Christian values,” he said. “My commitment to you is that we will stand our ground.”
BCHFS reported to messengers that 1,958 people were served in 2018, the most ever in a single year.
Messengers approved the 2020 budget of $3,670,651 and Board of Trustees officers: Chair Wes Hahn, Shiloh Baptist Church, Bridgeport; Vice Chair Rebecca Whittington, FBC West Frankfort; and Secretary Jana Searles, Calvary Baptist Church, Alton.