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ATHENS?On a typical day in the east Texas town of Athens, home to 11,000 people, the Crisis Pregnancy Center counsels several women per day, averaging 20 years of age. Each client is special to Deann Brindley, director of the center, because Brindley was once in her clients’ shoes.
“When my husband and I were 16 and 17, during the Roe vs. Wade controversy ? I found myself pregnant and unmarried, so we went to an abortion clinic,” Brindley said. “And we had the abortion.”
Brindley and her husband, John, felt called to this ministry early. John is a bi-vocational pastor and also works in the pregnancy center as chairman of its board.
“We thought that since we had an abortion, we knew this ministry and what we could do to help,” John said. But trials continued their way and God still had things to teach them, he added.
Just two years ago, the Brindley’s 16-year-old daughter, Britney, became pregnant out of wedlock. The father, a 20-something sex offender, was not involved in the days following her pregnancy and the Brindleys found themselves faced with a new situation. This time, they encouraged their daughter to run in the opposite direction of the fate they once chose.
“She may not have heard our warnings to practice abstinence, but we taught her to value life,” Deann said. “She now talks to the girls that visit the clinic very openly and honestly about her experience.”
Deann and John shared the recent story of a young waitress at a local restaurant. After giving birth without medical attention, she left the baby to die and is now facing murder charges.
“I looked back through our records and found this same girl had called not wanting the pregnancy back in November,” Leann recounted. “Now I wonder what more we could have done to save this young infant’s life.”
The Crisis Pregnancy Center in Athens is supported by churches such as First Baptist Church in Malakoff, the Dogwood Trails Baptist Area and Henderson Baptist Association. Dogwood Director of Missions, Mike Smith, said, “We support the pregnancy center because of what they do.”
Robert Webb, pastor of First Baptist Church in Malakoff, added, “The primary way that we are directly involved is through our volunteers and the financial support we give the association, which in turn helps the center.”
“One of the neat things is to see our young girls get involved in supporting the pregnancy center. Last year, they got together and bought a baby bed. They went around in the church to members and asked them to fill the baby bed with supplies that a new mother would need. They had a big day to go over and present this to the Crisis Pregnancy Center. It was just neat to see our young girls get involved in helping like this,” he said.
Deann said when a church had to withdraw financial support, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention gave $3,600 to help pay the CPC’s utility bills and other needs.
Deann, John, and their five volunteers, some of whom come from First Baptist Malakoff, have seen 600 new clients in the last three years. The ministry was founded in 1997 as Bridge of Hope, a home for unwed mothers. But a crisis pregnancy center where unwed mothers could go and be encouraged was more needed. Today, each of the five volunteers who assist at the center work one 3-hour shift per week, but the Brindleys expressed the urgency for at least 25 more volunteers needed to cover all the needs in their area.
Many are repeat clients who return for maternity clothing and parenting classes. Many couples have returned to get married after having received counseling from one of the volunteers. Recently, the center started a post-abortion ministry and five women have attended thus far, naming their unborn children lost to abortion.
Despite the majority number of unwed mothers that visit the center, many church people come to attend parenting classes and to involve their families in the stages of pregnancy. “There are both positive and negative things that occur in the center,” Deann noted. “One husband and wife came in recently with their children, the woman took the pregnancy test, and we got to share the positive results with their entire family.”
Some public schools have allowed Deann in to teach students about abstinence. “When a young girl enters the center, we talk about her situation. If her pregnancy test comes back negative, then we talk about abstinence and then help her find someone to talk to on a continual basis?a youth leader, teacher, or parent,” Deann said.
“The center has developed a ‘negative package’?a package full of stuff to give the girls if their pregnancy test is negative,” including helpful information on abstinence, John Brindley said.
With the increasing pressure from society to accept extramarit
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