Hector Juarez’s journey has taken him from serving as a full-time pastor and pregnancy center volunteer to leading men’s ministry at the center, and now he is into his seventh year as the Executive Director of Hope Pregnancy Center in Ontario, Oregon—just across the border from Idaho.
From Abortion to Forgiveness
It is clear when talking to Hector about Hope Pregnancy Center that he has a passion for fatherhood ministry, church engagement, and the Gospel. When asked why he originally began volunteering at the pregnancy center while he was still a full-time pastor, he shared how his testimony shaped him and prepared him for this season of his life.
“When I was in college, I had a girlfriend. I got her pregnant, and I said the stupidest thing, ‘Whatever you decide, I will support you.’ So, I’m taking off my God-given responsibility. I’m throwing all of the weight and pressure on her shoulders. Of course, we both wanted to go to college and didn’t want a baby. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t know about pregnancy centers, and I took her to the abortion clinic. I paid for my own child’s abortion.”
From walking through that season to now, Hector shared that God has redeemed that situation to work through him at the center. “Whenever I would talk to guys, a lot of times I would see myself in them, remembering what it was to be 18 or 19. I think I was 19 at the time when my girlfriend had an abortion. That sin weighed for years and years on me until the Lord saved me. I had contemplated suicide. I went through a dark time of depression until Christ saved me. Now that I am at this pregnancy center, I am able to look at these guys and recognize I used to be like them.”
Hector continued, “I can understand what they’re going through. With certain guys that I know are considering abortion, I have shared my own abortion story with them in hopes that it’ll make an impact so that they don’t make the same mistake that I made. I can safely say that I am here at Hope Pregnancy Center, along with many other women and men that have an abortion testimony, so that God is able to redeem my own mistake now within the context of walking with people who are dealing with those same fears, that same anxiety, that same weight, and pressure over an unexpected pregnancy.”
Fatherhood Programming
A couple who chose life as young teenagers because of Hope Pregnancy Center.
It was that drive to help other men not walk through the same situation Hector walked through that motivated him to begin giving some hours of his time each week as a volunteer at Hope Pregnancy Center. His volunteering helped the center establish an official fatherhood ministry.
“When I started, I was a volunteer, and the Lord just opened up this opportunity that I could volunteer here at the center and meet with guys. At that time, we didn’t have our men’s ministry room set aside. So, I would just meet with the guys in the waiting room. A lot of times I would find guys on their phone, sleeping, or taking a nap, and I would go out there and engage them in conversation. I would find out why they were there and then talk about our services. I’d ask them a lot of questions, trying to get to know them. Then, when I would explain about our clinic being a Christian ministry, I would ask, ‘Can I share with you about Hope Pregnancy Center?’ We were able to connect with guys that way.”
Shortly after Hector’s involvement with fathers-to-be in the waiting room, the center created a men’s ministry room to facilitate these interactions so that the conversation didn’t have to end when a client walked through the door. This allowed his conversations to become deeper and more personal. “When I started here and started meeting with guys, I would ask them what their interests were. Most of the guys wanted to be good dads, and then eventually they wanted to be good fathers. We would talk about goals like, ‘Hey, where do you see yourself five years from now?’ We find that if clients can imagine themselves and picture themselves five years from now, ‘This is what I want to be doing. This is what I want to have,’ then we can help them work towards that.”
Pointing to the Gospel
In talking to male clients, Hector and his team know how important it is to take that opportunity as a Gospel opportunity and share about God’s plan for the family, which includes marriage.
“In a conversation about marriage, of course, we take every opportunity to point them back to God’s word. I was able to do about 20 weeks of Bible study because this young 17-year-old guy was here, and he wanted to be a good dad. He basically watched every baby educational video that was going to help him. It’s like, ‘Well, you’ve watched most everything. Would you be interested in doing a Bible study?’ We went through the Gospel of John, and it was a beautiful thing.
“We’ve done just Bible studies through the Bible and the Gospel of John. I’ve done other studies where we’ve looked at marriage with guys, and I think the biggest compliment that I had from a guy was, ‘Hector taught me how to read my Bible.’ I said, ‘Praise God for that,’ because that is so cool what the Lord is able to do. We might have a client that says, ‘Hey, I grew up in the church, and then I walked away from the church.’ Now, they’re open to having those spiritual conversations. We find some of these clients do have a spiritual background, but they’re not in regular fellowship at a church. We see it as kind of a renewal ministry where the Lord is renewing them and drawing them back to himself.
“It’s been really neat having those clients walking through this discipleship process because we know that’s the only thing that will change their lives and transform their lives—is walking with the Lord.”
The statistics speak for themselves when it comes to Hope Pregnancy Center sharing the Gospel and having Bible studies with clients. In 2024, their Gospel opportunities with clients increased by 65%. Their Bible studies they had with clients rose 171%, which is a testimony of the ministry that is occurring within the walls of the center. Hector states, “We’re not just serving these clients with free medical services. We are sharing the Gospel.”
Church Engagement
One of the most important relationships that Hector has found is needed with the pregnancy center is the relationship with the local church. “We have attempted not to just educate our clients with the services that we offer, but also educating our churches. We have benefited greatly from Care Net’s abortion facts. We share those with our pastors. We’ll have a pastor lunch twice a year and in preparation for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. We’ll share some of those abortion stats with them. We encourage them to talk about the sanctity of human life. We’ve shared a lot of Care Net resources with our local churches.”
Because Hector previously served as a pastor for 16 years, he understands the situation pastors are in and can help them see the importance of the message of the sanctity of life. “I have wonderful relationships with other pastors, and I’ve been going to churches to speak. I’m able to not just talk about the sanctity of human life from my biblical perspective, but we talk about abortion and let them know the reality of it, what it is, and the stats behind it. Because a lot of what we find, a lot of places in Idaho churches specifically, they think, ‘Oh, well, my state outlawed abortion. I don’t have to worry about it.’ The reality is, ‘No, you still need to be very active, continue praying, continue supporting the Idaho Pregnancy Centers, but realize that people are now driving 50 minutes to an hour or more to Ontario, Oregon to get an abortion.’”
Because of his family history and his own experience, Hector is able to bring a unique perspective to the congregation when he can speak from the pulpit. “One of the things that I will share at churches as I talk about the sanctity of human life and then abortion is that with abortion, God is the one who has designed humans to reflect his image. I talk about how Satan presents a counterfeit image about abortion. I discuss how one of the counterfeit images about abortion is that abortion is kind of like this counterfeit compassion where a woman who has been raped is encouraged to get an abortion. I share my own family story of how my grandfather was conceived out of rape. I talk about my grandfather, and I make mention that when a woman is pregnant, it’s not just a potential life. I say that it’s great potential because my grandfather had 10 kids. Then, my mom had 10 kids, and he’s responsible for probably more than 120 people alive today. So the Lord is able to redeem every broken situation, including those victims of rape.” Hector also shares his personal testimony of abortion when speaking with churches.
He shared, “I’m hopeful that my message is truly coming across as a message of compassion and the love of Christ. Whenever I speak to a church, I let them know I’m going to talk about some really heavy things, and I wish I didn’t have to talk about this, but I want them to know that I come not to heap any kind of guilt or condemnation or fear, but I want to share about the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Christ. I think people are understanding of that. I want to talk about that through the lens of the Gospel because that will ultimately set people free in our churches.”
Hector has spoken to around one thousand congregation members in the past year. He encourages other pregnancy centers to make those connections and take opportunities to speak at churches when they can.
A Request
When sharing about the day-to-day of Hope Pregnancy Center, Hector shared about the spiritual battle they are in. When Idaho outlawed abortion, a new abortion clinic opened up in 2023 in the city where Hope Pregnancy Center is because it’s on the state border of Oregon and Idaho.
“The only thing that I would ask people to do is to pray for Hope Pregnancy Center in Ontario, Oregon, because of how dark it is here and how oppressive it is. We haven’t been firebombed like our other sister pregnancy centers have in western Oregon, so it’s more conservative here. Nonetheless, we just recognize we need prayer. We need people to just be aware of what’s going on in Ontario, Oregon.
“My encouragement would be for you in your own community, do something about the life issue. Either support your local pregnancy center or do a life group in your own church supporting single moms. If people could be encouraged to do that for the Lord, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity.”
Lastly, Hector wants anyone reading this with an abortion in their past to know, “There is forgiveness. You don’t have to live in any guilt or shame from whatever past decisions that you have made. And so I really, really hope that through my own story, people in the church can know, okay, I don’t have to hide this anymore, and God can redeem this stark past of mine.”
Hope Pregnancy Center is a growing pregnancy center that has served its community faithfully for 39 years and is an affiliate of Care Net.