 to welcome you to the third. We are so excited that you have tuned in to Hope Today. This is a special edition of Hope Today over the next few Tuesdays that's gonna be off the chain. And we're gonna be talking about life in a post-role world. I'm Pastor J. Anthony Gilbert. Alongside my lovely wife, Pastor Tiffany, so good to be with you. Yes, it's good to be here. Oh my goodness, this is like a new thing for us. We're like the pro-life Mark and Kelly here going on. That's what I'm talking about. Yes, it's so exciting to be here with all of you today for this new journey that we're on here. In this wonderful new year, ladies and gentlemen, happy new year, and we're doing new things here at Cornerstone, and we're so excited about this life in a post-role world. It is so important that we understand the importance of standing up for life in this season. We're so thankful for Cornerstone, giving us the opportunity to bring out some guests to inform and to inspire and just educate people to get off of the front row and onto the front line. And that's right, Pastor J, that's so important. I mean, we really have to have that settle in our spirits where we have to go from the front row to the front lines. You know, even for us, when we did our research, we got in there. God said, you can't just sit there. You have to do something about it. You have to move, you know, when we had an opportunity to really kind of do our research and find out, okay, this is what's actually going on. I mean, God really arrested our hearts and he compelled us to say, hey, listen, get up and move forward, do something about it. That's right, and that's why it's so important. Listen, when Roe v. Wade was overturned June 24th, 2022, it was a great victory, but ladies and gentlemen, it's very important that we understand it is a call to action. The church has to rise up and do something and to be a voice for the voiceless. So listen, over the next few weeks, it's gonna be awesome because we're gonna have different guests. We are gonna have senators on. We're gonna have women that have chosen life with newborn babies. It is gonna be an awesome time and what do we have coming up today? Ooh, I'm so glad you asked me. Listen, our guest today, Pastor Jared Parks, he has an awesome testimony of how God intervened in his life. Listen, we had an opportunity to meet him at our gala for the, well, for me for the first time and boy, my mouth was like down here when I heard his awesome testimony of God's intervention in his life. Yeah, yeah, so it's gonna be really great. And you know what, I'm so excited because I believe that this is gonna be a phenomenal year that we are gonna see a lot of babies saved in Jesus' name. Some of you that don't know, we have a pro-life pregnancy center and you are the executive director and you are doing a phenomenal job and we've been seeing babies saved left and right. Yes, that's so true. I mean, there is nothing like when you are actually sitting across the table from a woman, tears in her eyes, feeling the weight and the pressure of whether or not to abort her child or not, you can see the Holy Spirit move in that room, Pastor Jay. I mean, you see that woman just transformed by the Holy Spirit. And we've actually had women come back and say, thank you so much. Thank you so much for even just informing me and telling me of my choices. Telling me, hey listen, I don't have to do this. I don't have to abort. There's other choices. It may not just be parenting. Maybe parenting is not an option, but it could be adoption. Adoption could be an option as well. So they're just, I mean, it's just a phenomenal thing to have that experience. It is, well, we're real excited and we're gonna have a whole lot more coming but our guest today was the keynote speaker at our last gala. He resides in my hometown in Ole and New York with his wife and kids, where they pastor Mount Zion Christian Assembly. He is an up and coming voice and a champion for the pro-life movement. His story is being used to motivate and inspire others to be a voice for the voiceless. Pastor Jared, welcome to Hope Today. Pastor Jay, Pastor Tiffany, thank you so much. What a privilege and honor it is to be with you today and just advocate for those that are not born yet. And so thank you again. Well, I feel the Holy Ghost already, Pastor Jared. I believe what you're about to share is gonna be life-changing. I think your testimony is outstanding. And listen, we're just gonna jump right into it because it was 1989, I was a little boy in Mount Zion Church. And I'll never forget sitting there in the gym in the YMCA, because that's where they were meeting at the time. And then something supernatural happened. Tell us what took place in 1989, Pastor Jared. It's so incredible and it's so profound how every one of our stories really starts before us. A couple months before that service that you were sitting in, there was a young lady that was in an abortion clinic and she was hopeless, feeling the shame, the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was five minutes away from her appointment to abort the child, which was me. And the doors of the abortion clinic opened up and in walked a believer, in walked the hope, the church. And after that meeting that he had with her just a brief couple of minutes, she made the decision to put me up for adoption to a good home. Long story short, that weekend, that same believer was ministering in Mount Zion Christian Assembly where you were sitting along with all of my family. And there was an announcement that came over the podium and it simply said, if anybody in this room feels called to adopt this child and to make a difference in his life, raise your hand. And I'm told all of my family that was in the front row raised their hands and that was just one of the most amazing days. But I think for me, what's really powerful about it is when everybody else lost hope, when the young woman that was feeling the shame, the weight of the world on her shoulders, when nobody else stepped in to help, the church showed up. The church didn't stay in the four walls of the building. He met her in the lobby of the clinic and that is the church, the responsibility that we have to be the vehicle, the expression of love on earth. And so that's what happened in that room that day, changed my life forever. Wow, Pastor Jeff, that is awesome. I mean, what would you tell a woman? Cause you just mentioned about how these women come in, they have the weight of the world and they do. I mean, I see it all the time. They come in, they just feel like they just need that release. They wanna abort. They may not even have all the answers. They may even know that this might not be the antidote to everything, but they just wanna get that weight off. What would you tell a woman that's experiencing that weight that you just talked about? How would you encourage them and push them forward and say, listen, you can do it? Yeah, my answer to that is twofold. As the church, I would say first, we have to make sure that we are not fighting against young mothers that are carrying, but we are fighting with them. And what I mean is because of the shame, because of the hurt and because of the season of life that they may find themselves in, it's so easy to point fingers at them and say, how could you or you are so wrong or how could you get to a place like this? I think the better response for us as the church would be to pray, to show up, to love on them. And then also the other part of that question, what would I say to a young woman, a young mother would be there are people that are with you. You're not alone. And no matter what, there's something that we can do, whether it be adoption, whether it be the church finding homes to support you, meals to be delivered. But I think the thing that I wish that I could have whispered in my mother's ear would just simply be, this is your chance to make a difference. This is your chance. You never know who is in your belly. You never know nations that will be affected by this life. In fact, there was a newspaper article that was written about my situation growing up. And a part of the newspaper article, they interviewed, oh yeah, it's right there. They interviewed my father who adopted me and he said, Jared was rescued. Like Moses, God has plucked him out of the fire. And what I find so beautiful about the story is that now I'm able to have conversations like this. I've traveled the nation, I've traveled the world telling of God's goodness. And so for that young mother, I would just simply say to you, there is so much purpose, there's so much hope, there's so much life and you're not alone. Wow, Pastor Jared, you never know what you're pregnant with. That's right. There may be women out there watching right now. There may be people out there watching that you don't understand that you might have had a mistaken pregnancy, but you need to understand that baby has purpose. You know, Pastor Jared, as I look at your life, it's amazing. We fast forward now 34 years later and it's outstanding that I was sitting in that church had no idea that I would be 34 years later on the air with you right now preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. But even furthermore than that, you did our gala, but let's rewind a little bit. Let's go back to the summer of 23. Tell us a little bit about what happened, how God brought you full circle. Tell us about the interactions with your biological parents and just the story about what church you're pastoring right now. Absolutely. So the type of adoption that I had was a closed as an adoption. So that just simply means I would have really had no opportunity to connect with my birth mother or birth father that we went through the proper legal channels to make sure that there was sort of no connection. But you, if anybody gets to know me, I wanna know. And part of every child, every person's DNA is to be connected with the family or the womb that they were raised in or that they were born in. And in 2014, I was fastened and praying and I felt like I heard the Lord say, it's time to find your mother. And so I went on Facebook and I'm like, okay, hold on now. I'm fasting. I should not be on Facebook, hold on. And so I laid back down. I woke back up a couple of minutes later and I had been searching my entire life for my birth mother. Long story short, I found her in a matter of five minutes by the morning. She had already contacted me. We already had a plan to meet up and all those things. Well, fast forward to this summer, I have the privilege and opportunity to pastor Mount Zion Christian Assembly, the same church that was responsible for the adoption, my adoption. And even to go further, it's so profound, it's so powerful, but to go further, this was our 40th year in ministry. And 40 years in biblical terms is when the next generation will take the lead from the generation behind them. And so what God did was, he raised me my entire life as a child or as a son, a son of the house, in the house of the Lord, with a godly family that loved and served him. And then when he saw time, 2023, me and my wife, Jessica, were installed as the lead pastors and fathers and mothers in this region. Wow, that is so awesome. You know, every time I hear it in my heart, it gets touched, you know? Pastor Jared, what I wanna know too is, you're a pastor. How would you encourage other pastors and leaders to get in this fight, to get in this march of pro-life? You know, in a world where there's a lot of political influence, some great and some not so great, but I would say as a believer, as a Christian leader, the biggest place to get right now is in the presence of God, where he will release strategy for the broken. He'll release strategy for social injustices. He'll release strategy of how to win your city more than marketing schemes, more than good business meetings. I would say pastor, get in the face of God and allow him to reveal his heart for the unborn, to reveal his heart for those that are in need. You know, when I look at the Bible, what I love so much about Jesus is he's always willing to go and meet people where they are. He's not just interested in people coming to find him, but he's always willing to go and meet people. He met the disciples when they were fishing. He goes into the synagogue and sets the record straight. He's walking to and fro from city to city. He's meeting the woman at the well. He's sitting with those that most people wouldn't sit with. And so I would say pastor, your best strategy is gonna come from the presence and the power of God. You know, pastor Jared, I wanna thank you as well for partnering with our center. Even though you're in Ole and we're here in Pittsburgh, you've made a partnership with us and we're so thankful for you, your church and for all that you're doing and for your testimony. And I want you to do one lesson. We've got a couple of minutes left. I want you to minister to somebody out there. Maybe they've been adopted and they're battling with identity. Maybe they're struggling in sub-capacity and wondering, okay, maybe they don't have that same exact story, but they don't know who their father is. They don't know who their mother is. Would you just take a minute and minister and pray for them in our closing time? Absolutely. I struggled with the same thoughts for a majority of my life. The feeling of rejection, the feeling that nobody sees me, nobody knows what I need. And I just want to speak to that right now. The Bible says that before we were even formed in our mother's womb, that we were fully known by God, that he had purpose for us, that he had a plan for us, that he loved us so much. And I just want to speak to you right now and just declare over your life that you indeed have a father that knows you more than you even know yourself. And right now, I just come against that lie of the enemy that you're alone and that you're rejected. And we replace that lie with the truth that says you are more than a conqueror. You are a son, you are a daughter and the family of God. And there's no place that you can go that the love of God isn't seeking and searching after you. And so for anybody right now that's listening on the sound of my voice, Father, we thank you for your presence. We thank you that you are our ever-present help. God, we thank you that you have seen us and known us all along. I pray, Lord, for anybody that feels rejected, that you would just open up their heart to be able to receive you that right now they would sense your nearness, that they would sense your love for them, Lord. I pray that at any moment where they find themselves even talking to themselves and telling themselves someone that they're not, that the truth of God would just reside, I pray that you would send people in their direction to encourage them, families, churches, ministers, that music, that Godly music that they would hear, it would be divine encounters, Lord, that they would just feel you and know you, Lord. And even as you have done for me, you have supplied a good home for me to be raised to have a good foundation. God, I pray that you would supply God homes for each child, for each mother that's wondering, is this the right choice, God? You are the hope of the world. Jesus, you are the hope of the world. As the church, help us to express your love every single day. Jesus' name, amen. And amen. Amen, amen. Pastor Jared, thank you so much. Hey, listen, do you got a book out yet? Not yet, but I'm working on it. I am working on it. Man, I was just thinking about those like that as being an outstanding story to tell. Your story is amazing. We are so proud of you. We love you. Keep up the great fight. Thank you for your time and sharing your testimony. Thank you, I love you so much. Amen. Yeah. Well, Pastor Tiff, I tell you what, what an amazing story. This is the reason why we do what we do. This is the reason why we are, we opened up a pregnancy center. This is the reason why we've gotten onto the front lines. This is the reason why we're doing what we're doing why Cornerstone? Thank you so much Cornerstone Television for allowing this beginning of the new year to start off on the front lines of standing up for life and giving us an opportunity to show people how to live life in a post-world world. It is just outstanding. The testimonies that take place when people will get out there and rescue the lives of the unborn. Yeah, it's powerful, Pastor Jay. And I love his story because it reminds me that God is a Romans 828 God. Yes, he is. All things work together. Not just some things, all things work together. You know, and the fact that he's telling his story, you know, I thought, well, he was telling a story that we need to tell our stories. Yeah. You know, we need to share our stories. His story is actually setting people free. Even when you asked him about the whole adoption piece, there's people out there that are adopted and they may have those feelings, but they never shared that. You know, so it's just so important to share that, to share those stories that God has given you, to share those victories and those testimonies that he's allowed you to walk in because it's really gonna help other people because he's a Romans 828 God, Pastor Jay. And that's the reason why we're doing these shows right now is because it's time for you to get off of the front rows and to get on the front lines. We want to inspire you and inform you so you can partner. Listen, you need to go find a pregnancy center. You need to go find a church. Get your church involved in pregnancy centers. Roe v. Wade being overturned. Thank God for it, but ladies and gentlemen, we have to put the pedal to the metal from this point forward. Babies are still being mutilated, is it? What was it, 3,000 babies a month? Yes. If I'm not mistaken. In the Pittsburgh area, ladies and gentlemen, we have an opportunity. You can partner with us at VoicesForTheUnborn.org. Go there right now and say, I want to partner with you guys. I want to be a part. And there's three ways that you can do that. One, you can pray for us. You can pray, and it's not just us. There are others. There's Woman's Choice Network. There's choices. What are the ones out there that are pro-life centers? There is... Choices, Woman's Choice Network, Trilife. Yep, Trilife. There are so many others that you can be a part of, and it doesn't have to just be ours at VoicesForTheUnborn. But we need people to pray. Number two, we're gonna ask you to participate. And what do you mean by that? Go find a pregnancy center and find a way to volunteer. Find a way that you can get involved in there. Your skill sets, find out what they need. And then number three, plant. Find a pregnancy center, find a pro-life center, and support them financially. I don't know if you know this or not, but they took away all of the funding in Pennsylvania when our governor got in there. This is the reality, ladies and gentlemen. It doesn't... We don't get any type of support, except for what we raise. And so if you could partner with us or any other center, we want to encourage you to do so. And not only testimonies like Jared's. You know, Pastor Tiff, you have testimonies of being in that room. A woman comes in, abortion minded, saying, I want to murder my baby and seeing lives transform. Talk to the viewers about what it's like being in there and seeing that miracle transformation. Wow, it's profound, Pastor Jay. You know, one of the things that I think about is our scripture, vision scripture. It's Proverbs 31-8. And it says, speak up for those who cannot. Speak up for themselves. You know, I always think, okay, there's babies there on the other side that's counting on me to speak up. So when I speak up and I see that transformation of that woman, just like I said earlier, listen, with tears running down her face, she doesn't really want to make the decision, but she doesn't feel like she has another option. Tears running down her face and you count, you rely on that Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit comes in and he transforms that whole entire atmosphere, Pastor Jay. And then you can see the transformation literally happening on that woman's countenance. And she says, listen, I am choosing life today. And then everything shifts, everything. It just shifts for her and she comes back. I mean, it's really amazing because a lot of people don't get an opportunity to experience this where you see literally the Holy Spirit work right in front of your eyes, right in front of your eyes. You see that transformation. And it's amazing because many of those women, we've had an opportunity and they come back and they say, you know what, thank you so much for telling me the truth. Thank you so much. I now have my baby and I couldn't imagine life without that little one. Tell them the story about the young man recently that his grandmother was involved. Oh my goodness, this just happened. We had a couple that came in. They were abortion minded. They wanted to abort their baby. God came in, met them and it was interesting. The young man's grandmother said that day, she said, listen, he was talking to her about the challenges in life. And he said, listen, God, she said, God's gonna come and God's gonna give you an answer. Don't worry about it, he's gonna give you an answer. He came to our center that day. They chose life, our volunteer led him to the Lord. He said to her, listen, my grandmother talked to me this morning and said, God's gonna have you give you an answer. God saved him that day and he said this, he said, I didn't know that me coming here was the answer that God was gonna give me today. And so listen, he said he wanted to come and talk to you because he wanted to be discipled. Amen, so basically what happened and they came in abortion minded, ended up saving the baby and getting saved themselves. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the reason why pro-life pregnancy centers are so important. Thank you again. I can't say it enough to Cornerstone for allowing us to have a voice to speak to those that are out there, to mobilize you. Thank you for being pro-life, thank you for sitting in your church and amenning your pastor. But God spoke to us and said, get off of the front row and get on the front line. Preaching to the choir is not going to rescue the lives of the unborn, but going out there and saving the lives of the unborn. Being a voice, participating, being there for those women from the womb to the tomb, Pastor Tiff. That's right, that's right. We don't just save the baby, we empower them economically and everything else during, after they get the baby as well. Absolutely, it's literally from the womb to the tomb, we have an economic self-reliance program. Listen everybody, we have a store right across the street as well, so if there's any women that need help with anything, whether it's material assistance, whether it's trying to find a job, whether it's counseling, we have a licensed therapist there as well. So we know that life is full of challenges at times, so we have a lot that we have for them. Well this has been a great show and I'm so thankful again that you had an opportunity to tune in. Listen, let other people know about the shows that are coming up. We are so excited because next week, we have another special edition of Hope Today, Life in a Post-Row World where we're gonna be having guest speaker, founder and former CEO of 40 Days for Life, David B. Wright. And we are gonna continue to keep this coming to inspire you, to inform you, to stand for life, to be a voice for the voiceless and rescue the unborn in this post-row world. We'll see you next time.