On Saturday (March 26), the Walk for Choice group had a walk/rally in Dallas at the Founders Square. I joined about 30 others in a Pro-Life counter rally. We arrived about an 
hour before the event was due to start. This gave us some time to hand out some Gospel tracts and have one on one conversations with tourists. I had the opportunity to speak with a couple who were from India. They had been in Dallas all week for the American Physical Society at the Dallas Convention Center. We had an immediate connection as I told them that my dad was a physicist. I decided to practice using the morality argument that we would use with the pro-choice group. So I asked them question about preference like what kind of ice cream was better and what color shirt was better. We all agreed that it was personal preference. I then swung to the moral questions. When is it ok to kill a two year old baby? What about a baby that had not come down the birth canal yet? They agreed both were wrong. So I swung to the spiritual and explained that we get out morals from God who wrote them on our heart. That is called out conscience. We had a good long discussion. I took them through the good person test and there was agreement that they would die and go to Hell. She said she had read the first 11 pages of the Bible but did not like it because it said that woman came from a mans rib. I told her that aside from that, the Bible also describes the cure for sin, that Jesus loved them so much that he died for them and that they could have everlasting life through Christ. Fortunately, Ellen had a New Testament with her. I gave it to them and the woman agreed to read it. I suggested some tourist sites that they might want to take their son too. They thanked me for the conversation and left.
I saw three young people approaching. I gave them each tracts as they walked by. After 
the got the tracts they were just kind of standing around. So I went and engaged them in conversation. Turns out they were part of the pro-choice group. I had an interesting conversation with them about preferences, morality, when life begins and science. One of them claimed that no one knows when life begins (which is wrong because science has shown that life begins at conception like the Bible says) and therefore when having an abortion it is not known whether they are killing. Another claimed that life begins “in the third or fourth trimester!” When we corrected him on his error that there were only three trimesters he said, “well we all make mistakes.” So I asked, “given that we can all make mistakes, and you don’t actually know when life begins, wouldn’t it make more sense to error on the side that you could be taking a life when you permit an abortion?” To that they had no answer except to claim that life had not begun yet and one even interjected something silly about how he is not concerned about killing a piece of grass. I explained to them that we have to agree that we are taking a human life and then we will understand why it is wrong.
I am thankful for a friend who referred me to this video prior to going out to this event. It was very helpful in understanding the mind of college age pro-choice people. I highly recommend it.
By this time the pro-choice group was growing. I heard someone from the distance yell to the group of about five that I was talking to to “stop talking with these trolls”. At that, they left and went to join the rest of their group.
When I finished up that conversation I noticed that Ellen and several others were talking with the police. The police were telling them that we could not be out there because the other group (the pro-choice group) had already made a plan to be there. They wanted our group to leave or at least go across to the other side of the street. Ellen explained to them that we had First Amendment rights. I had a letter from my attorney explaining the Dallas City code about first amendment speech, noise ordinance, etc. After showing the deputy the letter she went and conferred with her superior and eventually came back and told us we could stay on the sidewalk and even allowed us to use the walkways up to the center of the square. They asked that we not intermingle with the pro-choice group and asked that if we walked with them to stay behind them or on the other side of the street. We agreed. It turns out that this knowledge was very valuable later.
By now the pro-choice group was growing. Probably to 50-75 people. The pro-life was growing to, probably to 20-30 people. Most of the people in our group had signs with Bible verses or pro-life statements on them. I knew God had called me to come here to preach the Gospel. Ellen prayed for me. Then I got up on the box. The pro-choice group could definitely hear me when I turned on the amp. I spoke about preference verses morality. Is chocolate ice cream better than vanilla? Or is it just a preference? But what about killing a child? I explained how there are laws of the city, state and country that if we don’t like we can always move. But then explained how there are certain moral laws that we can never escape and how we will ultimately one day be standing before God to give an account even for every idle word we uttered. While I was preaching my long time friend Matt and his family arrived and spoke some encouraging words to me which gave me more boldness to continue preaching. As I was speaking, the group started up their rally. Some yelled insults at me and our group. After preaching the Gospel, I read from John 3. By the time I finished reading from John 3, they had proceeded on their walk around the block.
I then went back to my car to get some water and returned.
By the time I returned the pro-choice group was circled up in the center of the square having a rally. At one point I heard them mention the Texas bill which would require a 
woman to have a sonogram before having an abortion. When the guy quoted from the bill that the lawmakers wanted people to make a “good choice” the entire group of them booed. Since when is making a choice to kill a human life good? I suppose that must be what they were claiming.
I rejoined the group and gave water bottles to all of the pro-life group. Matt was speaking with two Muslim men from Pakistan. I joined that conversation for a little while. They would agree with us on moral choices and right to life. Matt concluded with the Gospel and why Jesus has to be God. They objected saying “the quran talks about Jesus.” Matt started to explain how he has Muslim friends and they talk about all these things. At that the two men objected saying they didn’t know Matt well enough to talk more about Jesus. So I gave them my contact information and asked them to call me. I told them I could put them in touch with Matt so they could get to know each other better and continue the conversation. They heard the Gospel and left with tracts.
Matt told me that we couldn’t just let them be the ones to get their message out. He encouraged me to get back up and preach some more. I had him pray for me. I got up and read from Romans 1 and 2 and then preached about the text. I went back over the moral vs preference argument and took them back through the Law and the Gospel. I them that today is the day of salvation! Repent and believe the Gospel.
When I got done, I suggested that Matt take a turn preaching. He had never open air preached before. I said he could just read the Bible. We prayed and he agreed. He was very well armed with the word of God and facts about Planned Parenthood, when life begins, Roe v Wade and the pro-life/pro-choice debate. As he spoke, the pro-choice listened and engaged him. At times they chanted to over power him. Eventually a couple of the people from the pro-choice group approached him by walking across the garden area that separated the two groups. As they came over, the police intercepted them and formed a barrier between Matt and them. I was pleased that the police did not shut down the open air preaching of the Gospel, but instead protected free speech and kept the situation from escalating. Matt did a great job of sharing facts with the group, answering their questions and sharing the Gospel. I even had him offer the pro-choice group water from our cooler. But we did not have any takers.
Eventually the pro-choice group disbanded. We had some time of fellowship and talked with some of the other pro-life group that we had not meet before. I was chatting with Matt’s wife, Liz, and saying good-bye. Matt was speaking with a gentleman. So I waited a few minutes to tell Matt good-bye. The man he was talking too was a fellow believer in Christ and was explaining how he was passing through town. We asked him if we could pray with him before we left. At that he broke down in tears and said that his daughter had just died overseas with the military and how he was passing through town from picking up her belongings. He has another daughter and now a grand daughter to raise. He told us how he was walking back and forth between the baptist church and one of the shelters in town trying to get some help when he heard Matt preaching and came over to see what was going on. We prayed for him, provided him some assistance and then I walked back to my car.
This is only my second pro-life event. I did not really know what to expect. I am glad that I went out to stand for life. It is my understanding that Walk for Choice plans to do this every month. Please consider joining us for future events. You can join our constant contact mailing list to be notified of this type and other evangelism events.
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