Pro-Life Radio Jeremiah 1:5 Project Discussion with Apostle Arnold Culbreath
Summary of Discussion with Speakers
Speaker 1 (Bruce Cherry)
Welcomed guest Arnold Culbreath, pastor and apostle with the Douglas Leadership Institute (DLI)
Discussed DLI’s mission to educate, equip, and empower faith-based leaders to apply biblical principles
Highlighted DLI’s focus areas: strengthening the family (especially Black families), supporting criminal justice reform, securing economic and educational opportunity
Speaker 2 (Arnold Culbreath)
Acknowledged the pro-life movement has sometimes used harsh language that alienates the Black community
Emphasized the importance of building relationships and rapport before engaging on sensitive topics like abortion
Shared concern about the disproportionate impact of abortion on the Black community, citing statistics and Margaret Sanger’s troubling views
Discussed the “paralysis in the pulpit” where some pastors avoid addressing abortion due to fears of offending or losing members
Introduced the Jeremiah 1:5 Project to equip and empower pastors to preach, pray, and promote the sanctity of life
Key Points and Decisions
The pro-life movement needs to approach the Black community with more compassion and relationship-building, rather than harsh rhetoric
Pastors play a crucial role in addressing the issue of abortion, but many feel ill-equipped or afraid to do so
The Jeremiah 1-5 project aims to mobilize and support pastors, especially Black pastors, to become more vocal advocates for life
Next Steps
Encourage more pastors, especially in the Black community, to sign up for the Jeremiah 1-5 project to receive resources and support
Continue building relationships and rapport with the Black community to have productive conversations about the sanctity of life
Explore ways to equip and empower the Black community to become more involved in the pro-life movement
And welcome to another edition of Pro-Life Radio.
I can’t believe we’re almost through January already.
2026 is moving fast. Good evening. Across from me, my lovely wife, Vicky Cherry. I’m Bruce Cherry. And tonight for the show, we have a great guest. All of our guests are great. But this guest is incredible. It is Arnold Culbreath. He is an apostle, a pastor. He has a passion for God’s Word, and he’s going to share that with us tonight on the show. But, of course, we start everything off with Jeremiah 1-5 and prayer.
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.
Heavenly Father, we come before you once again to ask for your blessing upon this show and upon all who hear it, upon our guest and his ministry, and upon those who choose to protect life. And God, we ask for your mercy upon those who have chosen to take life. God, we just want to share truth and we want to open up hearts to understand that a life that you have validated, a life that you have ordained to be, none of us has a right to end.
And God, we pray that the truth that we share tonight will save lives, change hearts, and bring more people to you. And God, we ask for your blessing upon this show and all who hear it. In the name of your precious Son, Jesus Christ, amen.
This is All right.
So, Apostle Culbreath, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here with us.
Well, thank you for having me, Bruce and Vicky. I appreciate it.
Now, Apostle Culbreath is a pastor, an apostle, and he is with the Douglas Leadership Institute. You may have heard of it referred to as DLI. Tell us, what is the Douglas Leadership Institute?
Okay. The Douglas Leadership Institute is a national education and public policy 501c3 organization.
Uh, with a mission to educate, equip, and empower.
Faith-based leaders to embrace and apply biblical principles to life and in the marketplace.
And we carry out that mission in four key ways. One is strengthening the Black family— or strengthening the family in general with an emphasis on the Black family, because the Black family has been so decimated by bad public policy and other societal issues. Secondly, supporting common-sense criminal justice reform. Thirdly, securing economic opportunity. Fourthly, educational opportunity. So that’s how we carry out that mission.
Hmm-hmm.
Now, you mentioned something about common-sense criminal reform. Can you get a little bit more in-depth about that?
Yes, our president, Bishop Garland Hunt, used to… He serves on the Georgia Parole Board, and he has served as… president of Prison Fellowship following Chuck Colson. leadership there. And he’s a pastor, but he’s also an attorney. uh and has done some phenomenal work relative to common sense criminal justice reform and really helping to equip and empower returning citizens to do that in productive ways.
care.
A pastor and an attorney. Wow.
Sometimes that seems like that’s not possible, right?
But yeah, under… I was going to say, and obviously he’s someone who enjoys school.
Well, he’s definitely an educator and a teacher. In the Word of God. He’s just a phenomenal man. People can find more out about about him and about our organization and our website, dlinstitute. org.
Okay.
So DL Institute is also very much, you mentioned strengthening the family, you mentioned black families, but families in general. I’ll share with you, last Saturday, Vicky and I were at the March for Life, March for the Preborn in Jacksonville, Florida. And one of the things that I’ve always noticed that just… it amazes me that at these marches you have folks from almost every walk of life except the black community is almost absent.
I mean, there was myself and maybe two other people of color. And. And when I have these conversations with people in my community, in the African-American community, they feel like… The pro-life movement is bigoted towards them, but they don’t seem to understand that it’s actually fighting for them.
Would you agree with that?
I would agree with that. I would agree with that. I would argue.
This is. In many scenarios, locally, nationally, and internationally, that the pro-life movement hasn’t necessarily, although I am part of the pro-life movement. Hasn’t necessarily done as good a job at, um, at bridging gaps in regard that you’re talking about. For example, it has been, in my opinion, a bit too harsh and heavy-handed around some of the verbiage in trying to get the message out, as opposed to approaching.
Uh, befriending and engaging African Americans on the topic, uh, from a relationship. Bye. Thank you. Interactive. You know, build relationships, get to know them, get to know what. Okay. It’s been picked off. Then you have a little bit more credibility and a little more. Uh, relatability if you will to engage in this this touchy topic.
Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. It does. Thank you. I just, I guess to a certain degree in my mind, because I’m so active in the, Vicky and I both are so active in the pro-life movement here, I guess I don’t… I don’t understand the harsh… harsh language so much. And to a certain degree I do because we’ve stood outside of clinics where some folks are yelling, ‘You’re murdering. Your baby doesn’t murder your baby and things like that.’ And yeah, that is harsh, that is harsh, and that’s and we all know that’s not the way to get someone to have a conversation with you. As somebody who sells for a living, you want to use words that sell. Your words have actions. Your words have consequences. So I do get what you’re saying about the harsh language sometimes.
Sure, and while that is true, what you just said, that wasn’t exactly what I was talking about. What I’m talking about is a person who’s very passionate about life, as we should be, and, you know, approaching a person of color with, you know, elevated voice, you know, flailing arms. You know, abortion is genocidal and it’s impacting your community. Why aren’t you all, you know, doing this, that or the other? You know Dustin, so, you know, and you immediately have a person back on their heels. And at that point, they shut down and become, you know, almost complete. bad of and don’t even want to hear what you’re saying. It’s like, who are you? Where are you coming from? You know, kind of a thing. And then it becomes an immediate, immediate argument. That’s the harshness I’m talking about.
A peaceful relation.
A relation wrap. Kind of an appeal, building a friendship. And I’ll say more about that a little later in our broadcast.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, I’d be interested to hear that.
Yeah, I understand what you’re meaning. And that’s in any, it’s not even a matter of color. It’s a matter of how do we interact with our fellow.
mankind. I mean, are we? Yes. Because we all know it’s easier to get somebody to come to our side with honey than it is with vinegar. But we automatically go to that, a lot of it because we’re so compassionate about it. You know, we want to end abortion. We want it to end now. And instead of going at it, I think we get impatient, and that’s a lot of it too.
But let me tweak a little bit of what you said, and I agree with what you said. But I’m going to say. I think sometimes our passion outweighs, and this is back on my point about the harsh sometimes of the movement in its messaging. I think our passion oftentimes outweighs our compassion.
Yeah.
That’s a good way to put it. You know, I mean, we’re so, you know, zealous about carrying the message as we should be. But it’s got to be a loving kind of an appeal, even with the passion.
Yeah. And I mean, if you think about the Bible and Jesus Christ.
He did that, you know, he was bold. Full of passion and compassion.
Угу.
Yeah. You know, what comes to mind is John Michener’s book, when you say this. And, Apostle, I’m sure you may or may not have… heard of John Mishner or read his book, but he has a a book on Avoiding the dark side. Overcoming. Overcoming the dark side of the pro-life movement. And in it, it talks a lot about… Our passion overcomes our compassion. We need to show more compassion, but share— that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Yes.
so significant? Mm-hmm. So significant. You know, it’s easier to have this kind of a dialogue or an abortion-related dialogue with somebody that I’ve built relationship with. You know, we golf together. We have coffee together. We interact with one another with some level of regularity, as opposed to just a cold call kind of conversation, immediately trying to get to the matter at hand when I haven’t even.
I haven’t even spent any time engaging the person on a human.
You have to develop rapport with someone before you can get them to see your side of an argument. And if you haven’t developed rapport, then, yeah, they’re not going to. They’re going to avoid you. So.
Yes. And that’s one of the things that the movement has struggled with. And I work with pregnancy centers, national leaders and the whole gamut of the pro-life movement for several decades now. And I see this commonality. uh, you know, that, um, It takes longer to do the relational approach. than just diving straight to a topic-based or an issue-based kind of a conversation.
The relational approach. Thank you. Wins the day far more frequently.
Gotcha.
Arnold, we are up against a break. We’re going to be right back. And when we come back, I’d like for you to tell us more about how the Douglas Institute is working to strengthen the family. We’ll be right back with more Pro-Life Radio on a Sunday night on AM 950, FM 94. 9, The Answer, streaming on TheAnswerOrlando. com.
And welcome back to Pro-Life Radio on a Sunday evening. I’m Vicky Cherry. Across from me is my very handsome husband, Bruce.
Hello.
And we have online with us, Arnold Culbreath. He is Um… with us today from the DL Institute, right?
Yes, the Douglas Leadership Institute.
And named after a great Frederick Douglass. Yes. Awesome. I gave a dramatic pause there.
Oh, is that what that was, Bruce? That’s what that was. That wasn’t a forgetful moment?
No, because trust me, Doug… Oh, no. Frederick Douglass is one of my heroes. He is one of my heroes. In fact, there’s a very historic place not far from here in St. Augustine, Florida, where he spoke. And that room has been maintained in St. Augustine as a historic place. So when you take tours, they talk about the fact that he was invited there and spoke there.
I know we have a lot of the, there’s a Frederick Douglass little booklet about him. The Frederick Douglass Republican booklet, yeah. And we have that all over at work.
We have a couple of copies at home on our bookshelf. Yes, we do.
So, all right, so Apostle.
Culbreath.
Tell us. We were talking about strengthening the family earlier. That was one of the missions of the Douglas Institute, Douglas Leadership Institute. How?
Well, we do that in a number of ways, as I stated earlier. The one I want to, the pillar of our, the one of our four pillars that I really want to zero in on. On the for the remainder the remainder of our time is strengthening the family. We do that in a number of ways, but one of the primary ways we do that is a real emphasis on protecting the sanctity of life. Uh, you know, we are a bible-based organization. We, we, we, our foundation is the word of God. You know, and in Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 through 28. You know, God says, ‘Let us make mankind in our image. After our likeness.’ So that they may rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, and all the wild animals. And over all the creatures that move along the ground. And God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female. He created them, it’s there.
And then I love the way the Spalmers. You know, kind of picks up some of that thinking in Psalm 139.
You created my inmost being. You knit me together. In my mother’s womb. I praise you because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.
All right. He said, ‘Your eyes saw my unformed body.’ Thank you. Same for me.
One of them came to be. But we’re precious in the sight of God, we’re made in His image, and we ought to protect that.
We’re not just a bunch of cells, like they say, right? I mean, we are, but that means more.
But we’re not a clump of cells.
Yes, we’re not an unorganized clump of cells.
Exactly, exactly. And the baby in the womb does… feel stimulation, does feel pain.
Tim Tebow, we were blessed to be at a dinner last weekend also in Jacksonville. It was pro-life weekend there. And Tim Tebow spoke and he shared a story that was just— a woman who had been counseling women. through this abortion clinic. She helped them deal with the aftermath of abortion.
and so she decided she didn’t know that much about abortion, so she wanted to go in and actually see an abortion take place.
She worked at an abortion clinic, yes, that’s what I said.
Yeah, and she went in to see the abortion take place and she watched the baby fight against the doctor and move away from the doctor and it sickened her so much she didn’t.
She said that she’s seen that one of the arms.
Let me get to it.
All right.
It sickened her so much she had to leave the room.
Well, she pulled herself together and she came back after the abortion was done. And on the counter next to where the cell had taken place was the baby’s body in various parts.
And she looked at the doctor with just dismay on her face and disgust. And the doctor looked at her with a straight face and said, ‘Yeah, some of them are fighters.’
And she decided at that moment she could no longer do that work. And she became an abolitionist for abortion.
Um, against you know, an abolitionist against abortion, so Yeah, so that’s… That’s what this show is all about, and obviously that’s what the Douglas Leadership Institute is all about— sharing the truth about life, that life is precious, that we’re not just a clump of disorganized cells. Babies can feel in the womb.
And we have to protect them. And I’m sorry, I kind of hijacked your line there, and I apologize. So go right back, please.
No, no, no, you’re all speaking, you know, right, right, you know, right in line. We’ve got much work to do. I mean, since 1973, when abortion was legalized— with the Roe versus Wade and Doe versus Bolton decisions— which thankfully have now been overturned. But since 1973, you know, we’ve aborted, you know, close to 66 million, if not more, babies. In the womb. And out of that 66 million, you know, about 20 million of them are collapsed.
Hmm.
We’re black. You know, in 1960, according to the U. S.
So if we’ve afforded. 22 million black babies. And we’ve afforded more black babies. Higher black population.
America in Mm.
Yeah, the statistics are horrible of, you know, if you take the amount of childbearing age black women. And then the amount of abortions, especially of black women. It’s way above any other population.
Why do you think that is?
It is. That’s right. That’s exactly right. In 2022, uh, the black population was, you know, about 12%.
But.
Thank you.
Astronomical. Drastic disproportion. Drastic. And so Margaret Sanger… from the grave, has achieved what she wanted to achieve.
And Hitler, and yeah, it’s just…
You know, you’re doing something obviously wrong when Adolf Hitler is your biggest fan. And Adolf Hitler admired Margaret Sanger for her work in abortion because the whole purpose behind it was to eradicate the black population.
How many blacks, how many do you think really understand how abortion and why abortion started? Is that, is that one through the black community?
Not, no, not as well known as it is. Now, I don’t want to discount that there are those. Do know. and still choose to side on the wrong side of, you know, on the wrong side of this issue. However, the vast majority, and I’ve been traveling around. nation and beyond for quite some time addressing this issue. It’s still not enough, no. But to your point about Margaret Banger, I mean, her letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble of the Procter & Gamble fortune in 1939 is just… It’s just bone-chilling, you know, when she just openly talked about her strategy. Again, for the listeners, Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood. And if you want to Google her, I say her name is spelled just like danger, but with an S. But she wrote to Clarence Gamble, we should hire three or four colored men. Preferably with social service backgrounds and with engaging personalities.
The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.
And, you know, now you see and now you see black pastors. I know a couple of years ago we were at a and they were busing in churches, mainly black. Members with black pastors, and they were for abortion.
It was at a pro-choice rally. The crowd was so thick. I think I had another obligation that morning, so I had to drop Vicky off. There was no parking anyway, so I dropped her off and went to my other obligation. And by the time I came back to pick her up, she was almost in tears. And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she says, ‘There are pastors here with people. They were bussed in, churches full of people. And they’re supporting pro-choice.
And I just, I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it.’ Of course, that was the tip of the iceberg for us, because we found out later on, Vicky was the captain of the Human Life Protection Team for Orange County and Seminole County when we were fighting against Amendment 4. And when we would approach churches and ask if we could come in and speak to the congregation about getting signatures to to root out Amendment 4 off of the ballot. We were told no by the pastors.
Mm-hmm.
And unequivocally, in some cases it was like, ‘We don’t want to infringe on a woman’s right to her own body.’
So they really did a good job starting like what you were talking about.
Right. And that’s been one of the real points of entry. Or the pro-abortion movement is appealing to people in general, but right now we’re… primarily talking about the African-American community. However, it is appealing to them from a rights-based perspective. And the argument is often: if you allow them to take away this right, then what other rights will be taken away from you? You know, no. Consideration of quote unquote, this right that you’re talking about protecting. Is the right to kill your baby in the womb.
Hmm.
But that’s the fear of many. And I’ll say some more about pastors. I really want to spend a moment talking about pastors. That’s a great segue, unfortunately, talking about those pastors that were standing on the pro-choice side of things.
Exactly. But hang on to that thought, because we’re up against another break, and we’ll be right back with more Pro-Life Radio. If you like this show, you like this ministry, we need your support. This show is self-funded and through the generosity of folks like yourselves. So coming up, details on how you can help support Pro-Life Radio as we enter and are now in our third year on the air. God willing, we’ll help save some lives and change some hearts with your help. Details coming up on AM 950, FM 94. 9, The Answer.
And we’re back on a Sunday night pro-life radio with our guest, pastor, apostle, Arnold Culbreath from the Douglas Leadership Institute, a fine, fine organization doing some fine, fine work. And we’re talking about pastors misleading the flock.
And that might sound a little harsh, but there are quite a few out there.
You know, earlier we talked about harsh and the message shouldn’t be harsh. And I have to say, when I saw those pastors, I was harsh with them.
I could tell from the tears in your eyes when I picked up.
I said, ‘Man of God, where are you? What are you doing, man of God?’
So yeah, I was a little harsh.
And you witnessed a run-in that I had with a pastor that… We severed a relationship that our church, Liberty Church, had with a Seventh-day Adventist church here locally. Because they took a stand against pro-life, and we’re pushing for a kind of neutrality on Amendment 4.
And letting the abortionist doctors park in their parking lot so they wouldn’t be accosted at the church.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
It was ridiculous. Yeah.
Yeah.
But yet they didn’t do anything political. That’s why they didn’t want Amendment 4 signs up at their church.
Yeah.
But they were voting.
Place. Yeah, they were a polling place.
But they refused to let us put up.
Vote no on Amendment 4 signs. But that’s another story. Yes. But you were talking about pastors.
Please continue.
Well, let’s talk about what I call paralysis in the pulpit on this issue. Okay, you just spend some time talking about, you know, those pastors that are on the wrong side of this issue. And just very bad witnesses for Christ, quite frankly, concerning the sanctity of life, and that’s unfortunate. However, we have far more. Pastors that are simply um, unaware.
On the issues of abortion and and when they’re made aware when it’s done. Tactfully it can be, it’s far more effective of a strategy. But in many instances, you know, a pregnancy center director or a right-to-life worker are just a concern. Uh, citizen, you know. Attempts to have that conversation with the church or with the pastor. And pastors oftentimes… glaze over, you know, in their response because they’re thinking about their capacity.
Uh, already being maxed out, you know, as an individual, you know, there are so many societal ills and organizations and issues that prevail upon the pastor. A pastor is thinking, and I say this as one who has pastored for many years. You know, you’re thinking, man, I can’t fit one more thing. On my to-do list. So one of the things we do at the Douglas Leadership is… help. That pastor to identify.
You know, a couple of individuals in the church that we can come alongside of, and we can train and equip, and they can be, you know, really the primary carriers of the torch under that pastor’s leadership. And then he determined… you know, what kind of reporting and frequency of interaction with those individuals that he had. But it doesn’t. He is. Um, Heavy. Schedule. Doesn’t prevent the church from being. A life center, if I can put it that way.
Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dave, pause for a second.
I am sorry.
You okay? Yeah.
I’m just choking a little bit. I had throat surgery several years ago.
Mmm.
And ever since then, at the drop of a hat, I’ll just start choking and coughing.
Oh boy.
Yeah.
So I’ll pick that thought up when we come back. And you okay now?
Give me a second here, please.
Take your time. Fire when ready. Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
I wish we had a cough button in here but we don’t. Okay.
I have a cough drop. Do you want? No, it’s not.
Yeah.
It’s just all of a sudden I got a tickle in my throat and wouldn’t go away. Okay, Dave, pick it up from there. Okay.
Go ahead, Pastor.
Okay. So we’re talking about this. You know, this problem of pastoral paralysis. Just kind of break that down for a minute. And unfortunately, time doesn’t allow me to do an elaborate. You know, breakdown of each area, but many pastors, when they do find out about the issue… They just feel unequipped to address. You know, life in the womb. Um And part of what we do at the Douglas Leadership Institute is help to… equip them in that regard.
There are many that are fearful of offending members that if they talk about abortion, you know, that. That a post-abortive woman will be re-traumatized, you know, and those kinds of… Those kinds of things. But, you know, if she’s carrying around or he. Because for every pregnancy, you know, an abortion, there’s a man involved at some level. You know, so we have post-abortive women and men. sitting and silently suffering in our pews. on an ongoing basis so that pastors silence on the issue. is helping. to keep that post-abortive individual. in their sin and in their trauma. whether they realize it or not.
And not fully receiving God’s forgiveness.
That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. you know, and when, you know, we also need to think about Those young people who… you know. Hmm. Arrgh. I have never encountered abortion.
And without them hearing the truth about the issue. When you know opportunities for premarital sex come up and should they get pregnant, you know, and they’re confronted with abortion. They don’t have the tools necessary because they’ve not heard it. Uh, you know, adequately preached from their pastor.
Mm-hmm.
Hold again. You know, many pastors are afraid of… I’m sorry, go ahead.
Hold just a second. Dave, pause, please. Cough, cough, cough.
Pardon me. I am so sorry.
No, don’t be sorry.
I hate the show. I hate the show.
Mm.
Okay.
Sorry about that.
It’s okay.
I’m sorry you’re going through that.
Puff. I go through it all times the first time it’s happened during recording the show, usually. If it’s going to happen, it happens during the break, and I can step out or something.
But today, it’s just a pretty pivotal topic, so the enemy is not happy about this.
That’s true.
Yeah, probably so, that’s for sure.
Okay, I think I’m good now. So, Dave, we can take it up from there. So, go ahead, Pastor.
Okay. Many pastors are afraid of losing members. When you start talking about this issue, there are—I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday who’s a minister, and he was talking about a pastor who was preaching on the topic of abortion, and, you know, many people in his church, you know, left. So there are many pastors who are afraid of losing members. I was speaking to a pastor one time at a large church, actually in… Florida, you know, interestingly enough. And I won’t mention his name or the name of his church, but he was really moved about the issue, I mean, to the point of tears. And he looked at me very matter-of-factly, but very sadly. He said, ‘If I preach on this, I will lose members.’ And in that moment, the Holy Spirit gave me a response. And I said to him, sir, you don’t. address this issue, you’re already losing members. They may not be this generation. But those, you know, those in the utero, in utero, or who will be.
You know, in the womb. And I could see that that response really… uh, you know, really moved him. I don’t know what he did with that information as a result of it, but you know, my job was to sow a seed. And I submit that to the whole pro-life movement.
And that’s true.
Yeah, we’re not called to win arguments. Even though so many of us on social media and otherwise are. Heavily and vehemently engaged in argument. Our job is, I believe, to sow seeds, to do them winsomely, to do them consistently, to do them lovingly. And God will cause that seed to germinate.
I’m sorry, go ahead, Vic.
And Jesus didn’t change the message. He let the message change the hearts. And so, as long as it’s like you said, Pastor, it’s done in a way that we’re not trying to offend. We’re not letting our passion overtake our compassion. But we are addressing the issues because that is another reason that our churches are failing. They’re not addressing the issues. And they need to. If you lose a few people, at least you didn’t lose Christ.
Well, pardon me. Our society is failing because our churches have let us down. And you’ve got pastors that seem to feel like it’s their job to have large churches, large congregations. But no, their calling is to share God’s word and his teaching.
And to change hearts and to save those people through that. And so, if you’re not going to share the gospel, all you’re doing is you’re filling pews and taking up collections.
You’re a motivational speaker.
Yeah. Yeah. You’re doing a TED Talk. That’s all you’re doing.
And if a pastor’s listening and they feel like, you know, this roadblock in their mind, so to speak, on addressing this issue on a Sunday morning, then don’t start there. Perhaps addressing this topic in their midweek Bible study. You know, addressing this topic in their men’s ministry meeting or their women’s ministry meeting, or in their young adults ministry, you know, there are already those ready-made pockets, forums of discussion within the congregation that you can begin having those conversations before you even get to. The Sunday morning, you know, the Sunday morning hour. Now, I know many pro-lifers are, you know, are turning over chairs, as I said. Hate that because they want They want the big win of the Sunday morning. And, you know, baby steps are oftentimes still a significant step. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I mean, it’s… As the saying goes, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
And we’ve got to be in it for the long haul, for sure. Yeah.
And if, like the pastor was saying earlier, if we offend the people before we even build that relationship, it’s not going to go any farther. Actually, you’ve probably taken steps back.
But here’s the thing. Pardon me. If you’ve got them already sitting in your pews, they’re already members of the church.
They’re looking to that pastor for leadership.
And if that pastor isn’t going to— be a true leader and share that gospel as it’s written. We know it’s not, the gospel as it’s written is not comfortable for anyone.
It’s not meant to be comfortable. It’s meant to be convicting.
And if it’s not comfortable for them to sit there and listen, then they need to search their hearts. And yes, there are times when pastors will lose congregants. They’re not called to keep congregants. They’re called to change hearts, to educate them, to share God’s truth.
Preach the gospel. You’re exactly right. A couple things come to my mind. One is… the numbers of women. that work in our nation’s pregnancy centers. that have you know, that indicate the large percentages.
of women coming into those centers. that claimed some religious affiliation.
Mm-hmm.
You know, by that I mean many of them are tending. Church. somewhere.
receive abortion services.
And by God’s grace, he uses those centers to share the gospel with them. and for them to choose life for their unborn baby. But my point is, Um, you know.
You know, there are those that are sitting in the churches that are getting pregnant outside of wedlock, sometimes in wedlock. are then seeking abortions. and they’re going to the centers. So they’re sitting in our church pews. We’ve got to address this issue.
Exactly, exactly. Pastor, we are up against a hard break. We’ll be right back with more Pro-Life Radio. Our final segment is coming up on AM 950, FM 94. 9, The Answer.
And welcome back to Pro-Life Radio on a Sunday evening. I’m Vicky Cherry. Across from me is my handsome husband, Bruce. Hello.
Hello. I say this every week. I pay her to say that.
No, he does not.
I do. We have a, she has a salary of 12 kisses a day minimum.
and you are in error. Am I? Am I?
Oh, am I a long way? Am I okay?
Listeners, you better Pray for him. Pray for him.
There we go. All right, so we have our guest with us. He’s a pastor. He’s an apostle. He’s Arnold Culbreath, and he is with the Douglas Leadership Institute, supporting pastors and pro-lifers and folks who just… Want to learn more and be on the right side of God’s Gospel, so we were talking—Pardon me.
We were talking earlier about pastors not sharing the total Gospel, and there are women and men in their congregations that need to hear this because they may… I’ve been on the front side of an abortion. Or on the back side.
Well, just like Kathy, the… She was an abortionist before and then, after she came to know the Lord and realized that wasn’t the thing. She’s seen in her practice.
The women that kept their babies were doing very well.
And very healthy.
And the women that were not had all kinds of issues, addiction, suicide, alcohol, you know, all kinds of things were going on with them because they didn’t know and they didn’t want to bring it to light. You were talking about that. Pastor about how The churches need to reach out to those women and men in their churches.
Sure. And, you know, we’ve talked a lot in this broadcast about abortion.
disproportionate impact in the Black community, but just the atrocity of abortion in general. I want to speak to the listener. That has been directly impacted by abortion, male or female.
You need to know that God loves you. That he has not given up on you. Uh, that his grace and his mercy. And His forgiveness.
Uh is available to you. I love the way 1 John 1 and 9 talks about God’s promises. It says, ‘If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just. He will forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that includes… the sin of abortion.’ So you don’t have to continue to carry that. You don’t have to continue beating yourself up about that. God loves you and he forgives you. Even from the sin of abortion, when you ask him. And I want to add to that.
Part of what makes us see the resistance of allowing pro-lifers to come into the church and share their message. You know, maybe a three-minute spot on a Sunday morning or whatever the case may be. Or, the silence we see from the pastors themselves on addressing the issue. We’ve come to learn at the Douglas Leadership Institute that in many instances, that’s because of the direct impact of abortion on the pastors themselves.
These are their wives. Has had, you know, an abortion. Or they were part of an abortion, you know, in college. Or now that they’re hearing the truth about the issue, maybe thinking back on the congregant, the young congregant that came to them pregnant.
And maybe they didn’t directly steer them toward Planned Parenthood. Let me stop there. Maybe they did steer them directly towards Planned Parenthood. They’re racked with guilt around that. But many pastors are wracked with guilt because of their silence. They didn’t know what to say. And their silence was. was deemed as consent to that young congregant and they went ahead and had an abortion. So we find that to be directly impacting the, you know, the… you know, pastors preaching on this issue.
And if I may take it even a step further, there was a pastor that I was familiar with. And I know this for a fact, had taken place, his teenage daughter had gotten pregnant. And he was a very prominent pastor in his community.
He and his wife. Put their daughter on a plane out of town with a with a family friend, and sent her off to some place to have an abortion and come back home, and so they were more worried about their reputation than their daughter’s soul or the soul of their grandchild, the life of the grandchild.
Hmm-mm.
Institute and I love the fact that you opened up with Jeremiah one time. We have a Jeremiah 1-5 project. At the Douglas Leadership Institute, and it’s designed to primarily… reach pastors. And, you know, Jeremiah 1:5 in the New Living Translation. It reads this way, and it’s God speaking to Jeremiah, we know. But he says, ‘I knew you.’ Peace. Before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart. And appointed you as my prophet to the nation. So if you take that first and just kind of… you know, unpack it a little bit. There’s three key things we see in that write-off. We see the purview of God. And sees and knows us even before we’re formed in the womb. We see personhood because he’s acknowledging Jeremiah as a person, not just a clump of cells.
And lastly, we see that God assigns purpose in the womb because he called him to be a prophet to the nations even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. So we share that simple truth. With and we ask them.
To do three things, to pray, to preach, and to promote. To pray for an end of abortion.
To preach that life comes from God is precious. Should be protected. And then lastly, promote. By inviting others. To join us. In this regard. And one of the things we have discovered… Is that a pastor? Pastor Appeal.
On the issue of life. Is maybe the most powerful appeal out there. Now, I’m not minimizing or looking lightly. At those different God conversations that he initiates, you know?
Between whomever. God can use whomever he wants to, whenever he wants to, wherever. See you soon. And he does it real well. Uh-huh. However, when pastors have that appeal… you know, one-on-one over coffee or they’re golfing together or they’re fishing together and they begin to have these kinds of conversations. It’s a very different kind of a conversation because, you know, it doesn’t feel like it’s exposing them as much or they’re not being talked at. You know, but but they’re being uh they’re having conversations around the issue. And we’re finding that that’s winning the day. Mm.
Well, and they understand what they’re going through as a fellow pastor.
Yeah.
Maybe. They may not. They may be a pastor who’s passionate about the issue, but may not be directly impacted by abortion themselves. Right. But the pastor they’re talking to may be directly impacted by abortion, but it gives him a safe place to begin to talk that through with his pastoral colleague.
Well, I meant more from a congregational issue. He’s a pastor, so he knows what comes out of the congregation to the pulpit, you know, and that pressure that they would have to share any issue— not just life, yeah.
You know, it’s something that people don’t often think about. You know, you’ve got your pastor that you go to for counseling and for help, but who does your pastor go to for counseling and help?
And that’s so powerful. Because pastoring can be a… and I can be, is. a very lonely kind of a proposition.
Because you and your family are supposed to be perfect, right?
That’s exactly right. Boy, have I lived that down through the years, you know. But we have, you know, our website, you know, again, it’s the Douglas Leadership Institute, but the web address is d. l Institute dot org. and if a listener goes to the website, they’ll see our Douglas Leadership Institute there. Excuse me, our Jeremiah 1-5. project. there. is what I meant to say.
A pastor or anybody could sign up. To be part of the Jeremiah 1-5 project, you don’t just have to be a pastor. You know, there’s three indicators on there. One is I’m a pastor and I have the authority to speak on behalf of my church. The second option is… I am a pastor. I don’t have the authority, but I’ll speak to my leadership about it. And the third one is, I’m not a pastor at all, but I’m a person that agrees with everything you say, and I stand with you as well. So anybody can sign up for our Jeremiah 1-5 project, primarily.
I’m looking at the website right now, and if you go to the Douglas Leadership Institute website, there are a series of buttons at the top. Top, home, about us, their annual conference and projects, go to the projects button, click it. There’s a dropdown menu and that’s where you’ll find the Jeremiah One Five project.
And obviously we love Jeremiah One Five Radio. Yeah.
Yes, yes. I was so blessed to see that the broadcast started with that verse. That’s a god thing you know it is but we we have now um amassed by god’s grace 100 of pastors, primarily black pastors. That are becoming more and more educated about this issue and more outspoken about it. But, you know, you’re not going to hear about that in the media, but that’s not our goal. You know, our goal is to get the work done. Yeah, let’s get the work done.
The media can find out about it later on if they choose to report on it or not. You’ve got to get black America involved in the pro-life movement because, like we said earlier, the number of babies that are aborted is disproportionate. One baby is too many. So we need to save babies of all colors, all races. That’s what God has chosen us to do.
Pastor, Apostle. Arnold.
Thank you for being with us. We have run out of time. This show goes so fast, especially when you’ve got great guests like yourself. Thank you for what you’re doing. You are truly doing the Lord’s work.
It would be great if we can meet up sometime in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Yes, or if you make it to Florida, we’d love to have you come and visit with us at dinner. Pro-Life Radio, we’d like to thank Arnold Colbreth from the Douglas Leadership Institute. We want to get a promise from you that you’ll come back and be on the show again sometime.
Absolutely.
Thank you much.
Thank you again for having me.
Thank you. Thank you. That is Pro-Life Radio for this week. We’ll see you again next week. God bless. May God bless everyone who hears this show. And God has certainly blessed my lovely wife, Vicky, and myself to be able to bring it to you. Thank you. Thanks to Dave DeRica, our producer, and thank you all for listening. We’ll see you next week on AM 950, FM 94. 9, The Answer.
Goodnight.