365+ Californian children are aborted every day, many at tax payer’s expense. Since the Dobbs Decision last year, California has been outspoken against issues surrounding pregnancy centers and the life issue. In this episode of Care Net TV, Roland Warren, President and CEO of Care Net, sits down for an interview with Janette Chun, Executive Director of Birth Choice Centers based in Temecula, CA.
We are inspired by Janette’s passion and calling to serve families. You will find her passion in this interview. Listen in on Roland and Janette’s conversation as they talk about serving California and the importance of supporting families and fighting for life while giving compassion, hope, and help to those facing pregnancy decisions. Find portions of the conversation, access the full video, and be encouraged by Janette’s leadership and ministry.
Interview with Janette Chun, Executive Director of Birth Choice Centers
Care Net TV Spotlight: Birth Choice Centers
Who: Birth Choice Centers
What: Birth Choice Centers offers support to people facing pregnancy, parenting and reproductive health concerns. They offer pregnancy verification free of cost, provide accurate, evidence-based pregnancy information, value the role of fathers in the lives of their children, prepare people for parenthood through education, equip people for success with material assistance, and comfort those who have experienced a pregnancy loss.
Executive Director: Janette Chun
Where: Temecula, CA (3 locations in the surrounding area)
“An Unbelievable Thing” CA Government Working Against Pregnancy Centers
What follows are portions of the interview with Roland Warren (RW) and Janette Chun (JC). Watch the video for the full interview.
Roland Warren (RW): Why don’t you start by telling us about what you’re seeing on the ground in CA, and what your efforts have been related to the challenges you and your colleagues in CA have been facing?
Janette Chun (JC): It’s an unbelievable thing that they would even come after pregnancy centers because obviously we’re a great addition to the community, providing the services our families need through pregnancy centers. I’ve noticed an absolute vehemence against anything that goes against the California narrative of “abortion on demand at any time.” The fact that they would come after us””it’s not as if we’re making this massive dent even in Planned Parenthood’s work.
In order for us to be able to keep a pulse on what’s happening I’ve become involved in the political world out here so that I know all of our City Council members, all of our school board members in each of the cities we’re in, and have made a great effort to know our assembly members. We can then pray and ask the Lord what we should do and how should we do it.
Called to Serve: Janette Invited to Join Board and Then Became Center Director
RW: Tell me about the history of your center, how long you have been there and what’s life like in Temecula.
JC: I started out in 2013. I didn’t know we had a pregnancy center in our area. A friend asked me if I would join the board because I had shared my testimony about a teen pregnancy and the difficulties I had faced””how the Lord helped me through it. At the time the center was going through a transition. The executive director would be leaving, and the board had gone through months of interviews trying to find the right person. I kept feeling the Lord tell me to throw my hat in the ring and I didn’t want to do it.
To be perfectly honest, my youngest son was graduating high school in 2013-2014 and my husband was a teacher. I wanted to go on vacation all Summer and simply enjoy life after raising three children””one of them being special needs””which is a great challenge. I thought it was my time to go, have fun, and enjoy the rest of our time together. But that wasn’t what the Lord planned.
I had been a lay biblical counselor for a long time, and I counseled teen moms at church and other places. I had conducted a lot of crisis counseling as well. After several board meetings, the Lord did not let me leave a meeting. My stomach became so sick I could not leave; I had to sit down. My friend who was the board president at the time, asked me if I was ok. I explained that the Lord wasn’t going to let me leave until I threw my hat in the ring. He said, “Finally, we’ve only been waiting for months!”
That literally started the journey for me. Two months later, I was hired as the executive director of that center. The center was in trouble, and it took a couple of years to pull it out of trouble. But that’s how I started my journey. I was reluctant to listen to God. But I think that’s a part of my testimony””that if I can obey what God asks me to do, God has a greater plan than my own ease and comfort. The tools He raises us up with, He intends for us to use for His Kingdom.
I had to decide, do I want Janette’s way of vacation during the Summer? Or do I want God’s way of Kingdom living and obeying Him? After a few years of serving in this role, the center near us was closing, so they asked us to take it. Then, there was a mobile ministry that needed somebody else to manage it. We took it as well. Then, a few years after that, we took on the Palm Desert Center because they came and asked us to take them. Now, we have all these centers within five years of me starting this journey and it’s been unbelievable, but it’s been a definite God journey.
Focus on Fatherhood: Fathers Have Been Silenced but Need to be More Involved.
RW: What are some new programs or initiatives that you and your team are especially excited about?
JC: Two years ago, we felt the Lord calling us to ramp up a fatherhood program. We’ve been working hard on it. It has taken a long time. We had the vision for it and we’ve been praying through it. It’s just now, after two years of working diligently on this program, we’re starting to have volunteers saying, “The Lord led me to come and be a part of this program.” We must get the fathers more involved. There’s been an effort to silence them. They had their child. They should have a voice. Whatever their spouse or their girlfriend chooses to do with the baby, they should have options to talk with somebody about it.
We just signed off on a men’s grief and loss program. We have a gentleman who will lead the program; he has been a counselor for many years and a pastor. It feels like the field of dreams””if you build it, they will come. We’ve prayed and prayed and now the requests to join the program are starting to pour in. Men are desperate for healing. They’re desperate for somebody to talk to. Desperate for a voice. They’ve been told to be quiet for so long, but they have inner pain, and it needs to be counseled. Men need the Lord to come in and give them help to walk through that difficult journey. Men need a voice.
Thank you, Janette Chun, and Birth Choice Centers, for fighting for life and giving compassion, hope, and help through serving families in Temecula, CA.
Details about Birth Choice Centers
- Find Birth Choice Centers online
- Follow Birth Choice Centers on Facebook
More Care Net TV Spotlights
- Kathy Edwards at Resource Health Services of Kansas City, Missouri
- Alecia Jones at New Beginnings Center of Hope, Queens, NY
- Andrew Wood at Hope Resource Center, Knoxville, TN