CareCast, recorded from Care Net’s National Conference in Mobile, Alabama””contained an abundance of good news. Hosts Vincent DiCaro, Chief Outreach Officer, and Roland Warren, President and CEO, started the podcast by announcing that the 2023 National Conference had 1,600 attendees, an all-time record.
The theme of the conference was “Abundantly More,” based on Ephesians 3:20. Read or listen in on the good news Roland and Vincent have for us on the newest episode of CareCast.
Want to hear the podcast?
Find full access to the newest CareCast episode.
The above link sends you to SoundCloud, you can also find this episode on iTunes and Spotify.
On the podcast, Roland noted how the annual National Conference gives pregnancy center staff and volunteers a chance to network, learn, and be encouraged.
“They are on the front lines,” he said. “They are offering compassion, hope, and help to women and men facing pregnancy decisions. These folks are challenging the gates of hell every single day. It’s a great opportunity for us, as an umbrella organization (with 1,200+ affiliates), to speak into what they’re doing and give them a perspective at a national level, but also give them training and connect them with fantastic vendors, sponsors, and allied ministries.”
“Our purpose is to help them, refresh them, and encourage them to do this work with excellence,” Vince said. “There is remarkable work being done by these pregnancy centers every day.”
In addition to bolstering the work of pregnancy centers, the National Conference offered a track of workshops and other avenues that connected churches with Care Net’s Pro Abundant Life movement. Making Life Disciples is one of the ministry platforms designed to engage churches.
“We are all about saving the lives of the unborn, helping the mothers, reaching the fathers, and building strong families. But we also go beyond that because we want those folks to become disciples of Jesus Christ as well,” Roland said. “That’s our call. God’s design for family, God’s call to discipleship, a really comprehensive way of thinking about the life issue so that those folks become people who don’t need to be served from a ministry perspective, but become people who serve others.”
Care Net offers abortion recovery and care ministry resources for churches. On the podcast, Vince and Roland announced that the organization’s Reclaiming Fatherhood book/Bible study has been re-released. This publication complements the Forgiven and Set Free book/Bible study for women, which Vince called “the seminal work on abortion healing from a biblical perspective.”
At the National Conference, Care Net also unveiled a redesigned and updated edition of Before You Decide, a magazine-style publication that is a very popular resource for pregnancy centers.
“We are getting rave reviews (from pregnancy center representatives at the conference),” Vince said. “They are saying, ‘This is exactly what my clients need.’ “
Care Net also offers an edition of the magazine for men, Before She Decides.
Another podcast highlight was the announcement that Care Net had reached a significant milestone. From 2008-2022, over one million babies have been saved through affiliated pregnancy centers.
Despite this exceptional news and record-breaking attendance at the National Conference, there is still plenty of work to be done in the Pro Abundant Life Movement, especially in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court Decision that overturned Roe. v. Wade. Vince noted how that sentiment was expressed among National Conference attendees.
“The work has become more urgent, more important, more crucial than ever before,” he said. “When Roe versus Wade got overturned last year, all the guns just kind of turned in our direction are now pointed directly at us”¦.We are fighting all kinds of forces.”
Vince and Roland concluded the CareCast by thanking all the Care Net donors who support the ministry financially, stating, “We can’t do it without you.”
“Please stay with us and support us,” Roland said, “because the battle has changed, but it still exists.”
Can’t find the podcast?
Here’s your full CareCast episode.
Don’t have SoundCloud? Find this episode on iTunes and Spotify.