[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
In Christian circles, we often hear and discuss the concept of \u201ctruth in love\u201d (Ephesians 4:15). The idea is that as believers, we are to be firmly committed to The Truth found in God\u2019s Word and convey it in such a manner that people <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>feel<\/span><\/i> they are loved and cared for. Many of us have a tendency to lean more toward one side: truth-heavy (focusing on right vs. wrong, justice, sound doctrine) or love-heavy (focusing on forgiveness, encouragement, grace). God is the God of both justice <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> mercy, truth <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> love, so both components are essential. Truth without love is but a \u201cnoisy gong or a clanging cymbal\u201d (1 Corinthians 13:1). Love not grounded in Truth puts us in danger of being swept up by emotions and carried away by false doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). Only one person in history balanced that equation perfectly, and His name is Jesus. For the rest of us, the goal is to model Christ\u2019s example as best as we can, through the power of the Holy Spirit.<\/span> Such is what Jackie Young, a member of Fellowship Benton, experienced on a personal level when she was just thirteen. Jackie grew up in a small town in a Baptist community in northeast Arkansas with her older sister and their parents. Her sister, who was nineteen at the time, got pregnant out of wedlock. \u201cI just saw how she was treated\u2026 It was a very shameful experience.\u201d Truth was present. Love was absent. Deep wounds resulted. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot, a lot, a lot of church hurt surrounding unplanned pregnancies and divorces. Just a lot of different things that\u2019s really, really sad, how as the church, we\u2019re supposed to be surrounding people in times of crisis and trouble.\u201d<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”31336,31335,31337,31338″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The curriculum focuses strongly on evangelism. The ultimate goal is that these women will accept Christ as their loving Lord and Savior and join a local church. \u201cWe hope that they\u2019ll get plugged in and want to stay.\u201d Jackie emphasizes that sticking with them for the long haul is what truly makes a difference in their lives. Toward that end, Benton also offers a second class for women who have completed EG, called \u201c<\/span>Keys to Freedom<\/span><\/a>.\u201d This in-depth study addresses trauma and deep wounds. Like Jackie, these women have scars. Keys to Freedom seeks to help them heal. It\u2019s also one more avenue for Jackie and her team to help these mommas stay rooted in Christ-centered community. <\/span> Jackie and her team aim to open a home that can house two to three moms by the end of 2025. Ideally, these women would be able to stay while they\u2019re pregnant and until their baby is about six weeks old. For right now, though, the team just wants to go at God\u2019s pace, as Jackie puts it. Her team has consulted with many advisors throughout this process (Proverbs 15:22), one of whom warned them about moving too fast. She shared a cautionary tale of previously attempted maternity homes in Saline County that closed because they plowed ahead too quickly without having a firm foundation for steady operations. Jackie concluded, \u201cIt\u2019s going to require a lot of money to be managed well. And so I said from the beginning that we need to have two years of operating expenses in the bank before we ever open the door. That\u2019s because it\u2019s going to take time to get monthly donors and to get that recurring income to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n Another advisor encouraged Jackie to remain locked in on her ultimate goal: housing. See, she had been worried about seeming idle to donors. She wanted to produce a tangible product (such as classes) while they worked toward acquiring a building so that donors could see \u201cresults,\u201d but the advisor stressed \u201c\u2018you just got to be patient, because what God has put in front of you is housing.\u2019\u201d Now, after sound counsel, visits to maternity home conferences, and diligent planning, Jackie and the team are well-positioned to serve women this year, as soon as they secure a home, God willing.\u00a0 <\/span> Jackie didn\u2019t let the scars from those who failed to present the truth <\/span>in love<\/span><\/i> to her older sister leave her bitter and jaded. Rather, she saw how, years later, God wanted to use that experience to show many women Christ\u2019s mercy and redemption. And that only happened once Jackie bowed the knee to whatever the Lord\u2019s will might be for her. She advises anyone and everyone to do the same: \u201csurrender to God\u2019s calling on your life. \u2026I think if we did that, then it truly would change everything. If we actually ordered our life around what God\u2019s wanting us to do.\u201d Indeed, she says, \u201cyou\u2019re going to be more blessed and happy and content where God wants you than you will ever be where YOU want you.\u201d<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Christian circles, we often hear and discuss the concept of \u201ctruth in love\u201d (Ephesians 4:15). The idea is that as believers, we are to be firmly committed to The Truth found in God\u2019s Word and convey it in such a manner that people know and feel they are loved and cared for. 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<\/span>When we fail, though, we can inflict profound hurt and leave lasting scars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/span>But God! He has always been in the business of forgiving sin and redeeming broken circumstances. Jackie didn\u2019t know it at the time, but this scar \u2014 witnessing how her sister was treated \u2014 would become her story. It would catalyze her to minister to a demographic of women who have often been maligned, ostracized, and rejected. \u201cI understand now why God showed me these things along the way. He wanted me to see how things were and that they didn\u2019t have to be that way.\u201d <\/span>
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<\/span>For the past several years, Jackie has been involved in helping lead <\/span>Embrace Grace<\/span><\/a>, a Bible study for women facing unplanned pregnancies, out of Fellowship\u2019s Benton Campus. Janet Dixon, executive director of New Beginnings Pregnancy Center in Benton (a Fellowship partner), approached Benton Campus Pastor Cody Calhoun to see if our church would be interested in starting a chapter. Cody asked if Jackie would want to lead it, to which she enthusiastically replied yes! <\/span>
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<\/span>Embrace Grace has groups in all 50 states. Its mission is \u201cto make abortion unthinkable by providing the church with everything they need to serve those impacted by unexpected pregnancies practically, spiritually, and emotionally.\u201d Indeed, Jackie says, \u201cEmbrace Grace is very much focused on pro-love. We want to support her. And honestly, research shows that most women want to keep their babies. Even a large percentage of women that choose abortion really would \u2014 if they thought they had a better option, they would.\u201d In Benton, Jackie and her team offer the 12-week class in the spring and fall. Jackie loves the encouragement and perspective that the curriculum offers in the Intro: \u201cThis baby wasn\u2019t planned by you, but it was planned by God.\u201d As she puts it, \u201cGod takes our sinfulness into account in His plan and He redeems it; He makes things great.\u201d <\/span>
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<\/span>Women from all kinds of backgrounds come to this study. \u201c…what is more common than not is the hard,\u201d Jackie explains. \u201cAnd a lot of times, you\u2019re sitting with them in their really hard season. And so there are some really great things\u2026 glimpses here and there. But I mean, they\u2019re in a really bad situation, a lot of them.\u201d EG affectionately nicknames their mommas \u201cBrave Girls.\u201d And brave girls they are. Watching what these women have walked through taught Jackie a profound lesson: \u201c…every interaction that you have with somebody matters\u2026 realizing that you don\u2019t know some of the intense hurt that people are walking around with. It has just made me so much more compassionate and so much more aware\u2026 .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/span>As much as Jackie loves and believes in these Bible studies, she knew something was missing. \u201cI realized that almost every single woman that I saw had a housing issue of some sort. And this Bible study was not enough.\u201d Indeed, regarding the overturning of Roe v. Wade back in the summer of 2022, Jackie reflects that, \u201cI was happy at first, but then there was just this pit in my stomach. I thought, \u2018we\u2019re not ready.\u2019 Have you seen the foster care statistics? As a community of believers, all these people that voted for this, we\u2019ve got to do something. Because women that don\u2019t want their babies are not going to cease to exist. \u2026that was just boiling in me, it was all I could think about. Just, \u2018what are we going to do? What are we going to do?\u2019 So that kept ruminating, but I didn\u2019t know what that \u2018something\u2019 was.\u201d <\/span>
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<\/span>The \u201cwhat\u201d hit Jackie in an epiphany moment when she and her husband were visiting a relative at a substance abuse rehabilitation facility. \u201cBilly and I were standing there, and I said, \u2018you know what, wouldn\u2019t it be awesome if there was a place like [this] for women with unplanned pregnancies?\u2019\u201d That simple \u201cwhat if\u201d \u2014 a mere seed of an idea \u2014 would quickly germinate into the next big chapter of her life. At the time, she didn\u2019t even know about maternity homes \u2014\u00a0what they were or how they operated. It quickly became clear to her, though, that she would soon be starting one! During her devotional time in the mornings, she recalls that \u201cseveral days I got up and felt this \u2018if not you, then who?\u2019 And then, \u2018if not now, then when?\u2019\u201d<\/span>
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<\/span>Providentially, God had already been working on cultivating her heart to be completely open-handed with her life, to have her \u201cyes\u201d fully on the table to whatever God might have for her. \u201cDuring that spring, I felt like God was calling me to something, and I didn\u2019t know what it was. I felt the weight of it.\u201d She and her husband Billy prayed to find out what it might be. Before He would reveal His plan, though, God had to convict her of certain things in her life. He needed to spiritually weed out that which hampered her walk with Him. First, the Lord dealt with her pride; He reminded her that none of the good work she was doing was about her. Next, He addressed her faith in and reliance on Him. \u201cGod was like, \u2018how much do you really trust me?\u2019\u201d Questions kept being placed front-of-mind, such as: would you be willing to move again? Would you be willing to quit your job? Would you be willing to become overseas missionaries? <\/span>
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<\/span>This time of intense questioning was uncomfortable, and even provoked fear in her: \u201cthat fear that if I really completely let go, that God would ask me to do something I really didn\u2019t want to do.\u201d All of these growing pains were for the purpose of getting her to a place where she could release (her sense of) control over her life. \u201cAnd so finally, for the first time in my life, that complete surrender. That complete surrender of, \u2018okay God, whatever it is, if it\u2019s moving, if it\u2019s quitting my job, whatever it is\u2026 if You tell us You want us to go on the foreign mission field, yes, we\u2019ll go.\u2019\u201d The funny thing is that once God had done the heart work on Jackie, He didn\u2019t reveal His plan right away. In fact, Jackie and her husband even went to Cody Calhoun and asked him, \u201cDo YOU know what it is?\u201d to which he replied, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t, I haven\u2019t gotten a message.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until the post-Roe summer that it all came into focus. By November of 2022, she quit her job as an accountant and hit the ground running getting everything organized to start the nonprofit.<\/span>
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<\/span>After much brainstorming, Billy came up with the name <\/span>Good Roots<\/span><\/a> for the ministry. If you know Jackie at all, you know that fits perfectly with the essence of who she is. \u201cOkay, so I joke that I love to grow things. Children. Love to grow people. But I love gardening, I love growing things.\u201d She adds, \u201cBeing a mom, being able to provide for my family, I love to cook, and I love to make bread and make all the things. It just brings me joy\u2026 But I feel like gardening is where God pours into me. And then through my family and through my ministry is where He lets me pour that out.\u201d It also encapsulates the aspirations that Good Roots has for these women. \u201c…you can\u2019t just prune branches expecting, you know, different things to happen, it\u2019s gotta happen at the root,\u201d Jackie explains. \u201cSo, part of our curriculum that the women will go through will discuss different roots that make up a healthy life.\u201d <\/span>
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<\/span>Good Roots\u2019 large-scale vision for the future is to have a 50-acre property where the team can help meet immediate and longer-term needs of many women. They envision a two-phase system for that space. \u201cSo that first phase would be until she\u2019s ready to go to work. And then after that, having a semi-independent living situation; in the future, we want that to be on that big, large campus.\u201d On how Good Roots may grow and progress, particularly with how the exact housing facilities will look, Jackie harkens back to what the Lord had taught her in the spring of 2022: \u201cGod has given us this to carry out, and we are open-handed to how He wants to move and change and grow any of this.\u201d At the end of the day, Jackie has always had a Matthew 13:8 kind of hope for these women: \u201cOur goal is for them to be completely stable and self-sufficient and plugged into a church and a community whenever they leave.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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