By Marc Eichelberger, LBCH Communications
NEW ORLEANS – Your Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries continues to move forward with its mission. A Mobile Pregnancy Care Center (MPCC) is the latest addition to a multi-faceted strategy for meeting needs and changing lives.[img_assist|nid=7532|title=Life-saver|desc=The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries Mobile Pregnancy Care Center on July 20 provided free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. The MPCC partnered with the Baptist Friendship House in an effort to reach out just north of the French Quarter to a New Orleans inner-city community.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=360]
Kay Bennett, director of the Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, said she is grateful for this new Children’s Home ministry. On July 20, the MPCC partnered with the Baptist Friendship House in an effort to reach out to Bennett’s inner city community just north of the French Quarter.
Baptist Friendship House staff and mission volunteers distributed food through a Feed the Children project. MPCC registered nurse Cindy Kouf provided free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, while her husband Ron and crisis pregnancy volunteers shared pro-life literature and a positive Christian witness to interested women.
“I was so impressed with the Mobile Pregnancy Care Center,” Bennett said. “The moment I stepped inside, it felt warm and welcoming. What a blessing to have such a nice unit where young women can feel loved, be cared for, gain knowledge, be given options, be counseled, and most importantly, come to know the love of Jesus Christ.
“So many young women are taken to clinics that are cold and impersonal, unsanitary, and are given only one option – abortion – which in turn affects them for the rest of their lives,” Bennett continued. “The MPCC provides a loving environment where lives can be changed and babies can be saved.”
Ron and Cindy Kouf, MPCC staff, said they are excited to be back in Louisiana. They served in volunteer missions for 20 years from their home state of Arizona. They were first introduced to Louisiana in 2003 during a week-long WMU MissionsFest in New Orleans.
The couple returned to New Orleans briefly in 2005 to view the devastation from Katrina. They both sensed God calling them to volunteer to help in the recovery process. Returning to serve as volunteers in August 2006, God placed Ron on staff with the North American Mission Board in the New Orleans Area Home Rebuild Project (NOAH). Ron coordinated operations at the supply warehouse for the NOAH Project and Cindy served as a volunteer missionary until March 2010.
The Koufs say they are thrilled to back on the mission field in Louisiana, operating the Mobile Pregnancy Care Center for the Children’s Home.
“We’ve already encountered a number of friends we made while in New Orleans,” Ron said.
“I’m so excited to be serving in such a strategic ministry,” Cindy stated. “As a result of the Baptist Friendship House partnership, we did a number of pregnancy tests, one ultrasound, shared a lot of literature, and counseled several young women concerning a relationship with Christ.
“We saw first-hand the awesome ministry potential the MPCC has to change lives and save babies across the state,” Cindy added.
LBCH is partnering with about a dozen crisis pregnancy centers around the state to have the Mobile Pregnancy Care Center at block parties, health fairs, festivals, and other events. If you are interested in sponsoring an event in partnership with the Children’s Home and the local crisis pregnancy center you support, please call 318.343.2244 or email phancock@lbch.org.
You can also learn more about the MPCC at www.pregnancyanswers.net, a new crisis pregnancy E-Magazine.