Teachers Saving Children® Inc. - National
Newsletter
Volume 9, Number 3
February 1999
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"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
World Vision founder, Robert Pierce, stated: "Just because you can't do everything, don't fail to do something." Fighting the "sanctity of life" battle gets weary, but even with our busy lives there is something - whatever that might be - each one of us can do so that each child conceived may see and experience life to its fullest. There are many ways in which each of us can get involved in doing good so that our world can change, one heart...one person...at a time.
At the Fall TSC Board of Trustees meeting, the Board members discussed various ways that individuals could become more actively involved within TSC. There are some individuals who have the time and want to become more involved while others are more limited as to their involvement. I would like to take the time to share several ways that everyone could prayerfully consider doing themselves and/or encouraging others to do.
* Prayer: C. H. Spurgeon has stated, "Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to praying." From the very beginning prayer has been a vital part of the ministry of Teachers Saving Children®. Soon after the incorporation was formed, several individuals began serving as prayer partners for the TSC Executive Director and Board of Trustee members. Often in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, Paul mentions the importance of praying for one another. One of my favorite passages is Philippians 1:4-5 that states "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." I am so thankful for the partnership that we all have together through the avenue of intercessory prayer. I am so thankful for those of you who have diligently prayed for Teachers Saving Children® on a regular basis. My prayer is that even more individuals would lift Teachers Saving Children® before the Lord each day as they spend time with Him in prayer.
* Informing Others about TSC: One of the best ways to build our membership foundation and to gain leadership within other states is through personal contact and an invitation to join TSC. Please pray about requesting a few brochures and asking the Lord to direct you to a few individuals; then share the brochure and encourage them to join TSC. TSC brochures are available upon request.
* Brochure availability through conventions/bookstores One great way to spread the word is for pro-life organizations to distribute TSC brochures through exhibits at fairs and conventions. If you have contacts with pro-life organizations and/or leadership, discuss with them the possibility of distributing the TSC brochure through their exhibits. In addition, some Christian bookstores will allow brochures to be available on a free literature rack display. If there is a Christian bookstore near you, check with the management to see if they would be willing to make TSC brochures available to the public. If either of these options is possible, please contact TSC to receive multiple copies of the brochure.
* Article: An article about Teachers Saving Children® has been written for publication. Maybe you know a pro-life or pro-family organization that has a publication in which this article could be included. Often an article has a better possibility to be published when individuals who are either involved or personally know someone within an organization can share the article directly with these organizations and/or leadership. Pray and ask the Lord in what publication(s) might a TSC article be most effective and then act on His leading. The article is available upon request.
* Letter to the Editor: One of the most effective ways to inform and/or express our concerns and opinions is through a letter to the editor of the local newspaper(s). A letter about Teachers Saving Children® and/or our concerns regarding the NEA (or even the AFT) could be written at any time during the year; but may be most effective in January, in May or June, or in August or September. Two words of caution: First, always check with the newspaper regarding their rules as to word limit. Secondly, check with the newspaper regarding their rules as to the listing of addresses and phone numbers of organizations. This information may need to be included within the letter in order for the information to be printed.
* Speaking Opportunities: The TSC Executive Director and the Board of Trustee members are available for speaking at conventions, workshops, rallies, churches, and any other pro-life functions. Recently, I spoke at the North Carolina Right to Life Rally for Life in Raleigh. It was an excellent opportunity not only to share about TSC and to speak up for preborn children, but also to meet some wonderful individuals who are involved in the pro-life movement.
* Delegate to the State and/or National Education Association Representative Assemblies: For individuals who have more time to be involved within their association, one option of involvement is being a delegate to either the state affiliate representative assemblies and/or the national representative assembly. (See related article for more information on this option).
Teachers Saving Children® is having a great impact across the nation because of the grassroots efforts of individuals who are willing to take a stand for life and who are determined to make a difference. The success of the national organization, and its state affiliates, will continue to be dependent upon the efforts of grassroots individuals like each one of you.
Please prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you to do to help TSC have an even greater impact across the nation. It may be only one or it may be several of the ways listed within this article. It may even be a way not listed, but one that the Lord specifically speaks to you about doing. It may be immediately, daily, or sometime in the year ahead. Whatever way you are able to become involved, both the Board of Trustees and I thank you for your partnership as we continue to join together in the battle for life.
Editor's Note: The following article appeared in The Washington Times, Thursday, January 22, 1998. Although one year later, the comments are very pertinent as we reflect on the most recent anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Reprinted in its entirety (with an updated title) with permission.
On January 23, America will commemorate one of the saddest anniversaries in the history of our democratic experiment. Twenty-five years ago, in the Roe v. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court inaugurated what amounts to abortion on demand.
An estimated 35 million infants have been aborted in the wake of this decision. On the occasion of this anniversary, I think we should engage in some sober reflection about what this means for America. And we should do this on a deeper level than the law itself; we should address what it says about our national character.
We are citizens of the world's leading democracy. In this century, which some have called "the American century," we have played an immense role in shaping the destiny of the world. We took the lead in defeating totalitarians of the left and right, vicious ideologies that threatened to extinguish the progress of the human race toward freedom and dignity.
That, in my view, is who we are as a people. But what the Supreme Court launched in 1973 was the steady erosion of the finest part of our national identity.
When I was in college, Hubert Humphrey was Vice President of the United States. Over his long and impressive career, he was capable of articulating "the better angels of our nature" as well as any American statesman of his time. Humphrey believed that the "moral test' of any society was how it treated the weakest members of the community. Specifically, he singled out "those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
He was touching on a basic truth about America - that in this country, even the weakest individuals enjoy sacred and inalienable rights. I believe that in America, those values still apply. That is why I will join hundreds of thousands of marchers on this anniversary, to say that we do not believe that any human being should be relegated to the shadows of life. All of us - including the sick, the needy, the disabled, and the unborn - have a right to live in the bright sunlight of human dignity and human worth.
That dignity is God's gift to each and every one of us. And now, 25 years after the Roe decision, we will continue to fight through the democratic process to make sure that gift is not taken away from the youngest Americans.
My old friend Henry Hyde likes to say that in defending the unborn, we are "loving those who can't love back" - and I think he is absolutely right. But I would add that the phrase "those who can't love back" includes not just fetuses in the womb, but also the future generations who will live in this country.
This is more than a battle about whether certain individual children will live. It is an argument about the kind of America our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will live in.
In the 1840's and 1850's, America had a national argument about whether the principles of the Declaration of Independence should apply to African-Americans. Some partisans denied that blacks had full humanity; others said that to liberate the slaves would interfere with the slave owners' property rights, their right to choose whether to hold slaves. It took a Civil War, the leadership of one our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, and over a hundred years of arduous struggle thereafter, to win that argument.
Last week, America celebrated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man who symbolized the victory in that long struggle about the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. This week, concerned citizens from all over America will rally for the principle that the guarantees of the Declaration apply to unborn children.
The Declaration says, after all, that all people have the unalienable right to life. For me, that defines the values of the kind of country I want my grandchildren to live in - an America where nobody looks down on anyone else as somehow less than human.
This America - an America of justice and human dignity - already exists. It exists in the hearts of millions of Americans who want our country to be not just a great country, but a good country - a country that does not think it is okay to kill 1.6 million young Americans every year.
And we are making progress. We are reaching people.
I, along with the other Americans who are pro-life, believe the fetus is a human person. But for 25 years, we have been asking our fellow Americans who are pro-choice or undecided to ask themselves whether there is even a chance the fetuses who are being aborted are human beings. If there is even a shadow of a possibility, shouldn't we resolve that doubt on the side of protecting human life?
Slowly but surely, we are winning this debate. In 1995, 46 percent of Americans said they agreed with the proposition that abortion is the same as murdering a child - up from 40 percent in 1989. Even self-described pro-choice advocates are starting to come to grips with the evil, the brutality of abortion.
The tide is turning because of the national dialogue we began after the Roe decision. Thanks to what we are doing - us and our pro-life marching families from Ohio and all over America - uncounted millions of men and women will someday live in the better America we already cherish in our hearts and in our homes. It will be an America of which President Lincoln and Dr. King would be proud.
Often we know who our local officers and building representatives are. However, most of our dues money, in fact - hundreds of dollars, goes beyond the local to other levels of the Association. Knowing who represents us and how they vote isn't just a matter of principle; it's a matter of how our dues money is being spent.
Comments are often heard that NEA and its state affiliates have a strong tradition of democratic governance. The NEA Representative Assembly, the annual meeting of the Association, is the largest deliberative body in the world. During the Representative Assembly, delegates vote on issues that affect us in many ways. They adopt all the NEA policies, the budget, and the resolutions; enact legislative agendas; and consider many new business items. They also elect Association officers and vote on amendments to the NEA governing documents.
All delegates are selected in the local and state affiliates by their colleagues to represent their views in the deliberation of the assembly. It is not too late to get involved. Details for running as a state delegate can be received from your state affiliate office. The state delegate elections will take place between now and mid-March.
For local delegate representation to the NEA RA, check with your local president. Election results from local affiliates are not due to their state affiliates until April 15. Unless your local Constitution & Bylaws allows for officers to serve as your delegates or allows for multi-year terms for delegates, most voting should take place between now and the first part of April.
So watch those local memos and newsletters carefully for NEA delegate election information. We will only get good representation when members take the time to get involved by educating ourselves about the candidates, and VOTING!
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