Lewis Carroll quipped, “The time has come,” the walrus said, “To talk of many things: of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings.” Though these topics will not be discussed in this newsletter, a time has certainly come. A chapter of life is ending, and a new season is dawning. The old guard is fading, and a new guard is emerging.
The Scriptures teach, “We will not hide them from their children, telling the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children” (Psalms 78:4-6).
We serve a Lord with a multi-generational Kingdom mission. His praise, worship, testimonies, laws, truth, revelation, salvation, and Kingdom must be passed from one generation to the next. The prayer of our souls, the keenness of our wits, and the strength of our bodies should all be employed for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
It has been my distinct honor to serve Operation Rescue/Operation Save America for over half my life. I was birthed into the battle to abolish abortion in the fall of 1988. In 1994, brother Flip Benham became national director and recruited me to become his assistant. Flip and I served together for 20 years. What a ride! The Kingdom adventures and war stories abound. We went through a lot together always keeping our eyes on the high call and prize.
I can remember Flip initially sharing his vision, mission, and message with me as he took the helm. He adamantly desired to bring this movement back to Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom. This remains the only foundation sound enough to end the American holocaust. It is that Kingdom commitment that has provided the endurance of OR/OSA.
OR/OSA has had a few leaders through the years. It started with Randall Terry. He passed the mantle to Pastor Keith Tucci. From Pastor Tucci, it passed to brother Flip and from brother Flip, it eventually passed to me. If this ministry were based upon men, personalities, and human tactical means, it would never have lasted this long, especially, if you consider all that the devil threw at us through the years to destroy us. Thankfully, the foundation was not built upon us, but built upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our responsibility was to be careful how we built upon the solid rock of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 3:10).
To God’s glory, it is now time to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders. Our family just returned from a weekend gathering with the families of those who will take the mantle of responsibility. Prayerfully, they will go further up and in to end the American holocaust and set this nation free from blood guilt. It was a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). We also took the time to prepare for the spiritual as well as the practical preparations that will be needed to make a smooth transition of leadership this June at our national event in Arizona from June 23rd-26th.
For these next couple months, I will be in King David mode. He worked diligently to prepare the way for his son, Solomon, to replace him (1 Chronicles 28 and 29). Part of the purpose of this last newsletter that is being penned by me (Jason will be writing them in the future) is to beseech you to pray, financially support, and continue to participate with OSA after I step down and others take the helm.
Jason Storms has agreed to serve as the new national director and has chosen two faithful, capable young men, Pastor Derin Stidd and Lucas Childress, to serve as his assistant directors. They all have large, budding families with a lot of responsibilities and yet are willing to serve the Lord through OSA.
I reminded these young men of our Lord’s teaching on God’s Kingdom. Jesus taught, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” The challenge for them is to keep the good things of the old and seek the Lord on new Kingdom strategies that will make OSA more effectual and have greater impact for the future.
At this juncture, it is time to share my heart with you all. There have been a lot of trials, tribulations, and struggles to advance the Kingdom of God to break this covenant with death that has defiled our land. We have gone through the good, the bad, and the ugly. There were errors made along the way, and yet we have also experienced joy unspeakable that has been full of glory. Through it all, our Lord has been faithful. One of the tremendous blessings that has been so near and dear to my heart is the caliber of Christian brothers and sisters I had the honor to serve with in this just cause.
OSA saints are some of the most loving, giving, hardworking, and sacrificial Christians I know. Cannot communicate enough what that has meant to my family and I through the years. We have bled together, been jailed together, reviled together, and suffered together, and through it all most of you spit out the offense and remained faithful to the Lord and one another. Truly, it is a godly heritage that I hope you will treasure for the rest of your days.
It is now time to pass this legacy on to the next generation. As the people were with Joshua, when he replaced Moses, so be with brother Jason Storms, Pastor Derin Stidd, and Lucas Childress (Joshua 1:16, 17). In citing saints of old like David, Solomon, Moses, and Joshua, please do not think I am trying to compare myself or any of the future leaders to them. It is just the Biblical narrative and principle I am seeking to communicate as we go through this Kingdom transition.
New Book: Biblical Strategies to Abolish Abortion
My son, Micah Thomas, helped with the design and artwork for the book cover. He did a great job. The goal is to have the book ready for release at our national event in Arizona. The dates are June 23-26.
The book seeks to bring Biblical admonishment to the church, the pro-life movement, and the abolitionist movement to make sure all we say and do in the just cause to end the American holocaust agrees with God’s Law/Word. Everything must be planted firmly on the solid rock of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:24-27).
I have different men of God proofreading it right now and gathering endorsements. Please pray our Lord will use this book powerfully to convict God’s people to fight this battle to abolish abortion according to God’s will, word, and way in Jesus’ name. This book would be prayerfully good to hand to pastors, elders, Christians, and magistrates in your local area and beyond.
Much progress has been made to prepare the way of the Lord into Birmingham, AL for our spring regional event. There will be three nightly rallies and two afternoon sessions. The first afternoon session is closed to the public on Friday afternoon, and the second one will be open to the public on Saturday afternoon. In the mornings, there will be planned Gospel outreaches.
Opening rally will begin on Thursday evening on May 13th, at 6:30 PM. The scheduled speakers are former Chief Justice Roy Moore, Dr. George Grant, and Les Riley.
Friday morning, May 14th: Different teams doing street activities and Gospel outreaches.
Friday afternoon session at 2:30 PM: Closed session for local leaders only.
Friday night rally at 6:30 PM. The scheduled speakers are Jason Storms and Rusty Thomas
Saturday morning, May 15th: Different teams doing street activities and Gospel outreaches.
Saturday afternoon session at 2:30 PM: Two open sessions. One session will cover the importance of local politics and another breakout session will cover how to use social media platforms more effectively to advance the vision, mission, and message to abolish abortion and minster the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Saturday night rally at 6:30 PM: The scheduled speakers are Pastor Derin Stidd and Rusty Thomas
Host Church: Doers of the Word Ministries. The address is 4744 Messer-Airport Hwy, Birmingham, AL 35212. Hotel Info: Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport, 5000 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd, N Birmingham, Al, 35212, Phone: 205-909-1999
Our opening rally Wednesday night, June 23rd, will be hosted by Church of the Redeemer (Apologia Church meets there as well). The rally will start at 6:30 PM. The address is 717 N Stapley Dr, Mesa, AZ 85203. The speakers will be Jason Storms and Rusty Thomas.
Thursday morning, June 24th, will start with street activities. Thursday afternoon session and rally will be held at Desert Hills Bible Church. The address is 3636 W Greenway Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85053.
The afternoon session will start at 2:30 pm and will be pastors reaching pastors in the just cause to abolish abortion. It will be livestreamed so you can invite your pastors/elders to view or send them a link later. The rally will be held that night at 6:30 pm at the same church. The speakers will be Apologia Pastors, Jeff Durbin, Luke Pierson, and Zack Morgan.
Friday morning, June 25th, will be street activities. The afternoon session and rally will be held at Desert Hills Bible Church. The address is 3636 W Greenway Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85053.
The afternoon session will start at 2:30 pm and will concentrate on reaching magistrates in the just cause to abolish abortion. It will be livestreamed so you can invite your local magistrates to view or send them a link later. The evening rally will begin at 6:30 pm. The speakers will be Pastor Keith Tucci, former national director of Operation Rescue National, and Rev. Flip Benham, former national director of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America.
Saturday morning, June 26th, will be street activities. The afternoon session will be held at Desert Hills Bible Church. The address is 3636 W Greenway Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85053. The afternoon session will concentrate on training youth for the battle. The goal is to raise up future leaders a time like this demands. It will be livestreamed so you can invite youth to view or send them a link later.
The last rally night on Saturday will be held at the Church of the Redeemer (Apologia Church meets there as well). The rally will start at 6:30 PM. The address is 717 N Stapley Dr, Mesa, AZ 85203. We will have the setting in ceremony by a presbytery to install Jason Storms as new national director of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America. With all dispatch and as a personal favor, please try and make it to this last event I serve as national director. It would mean a lot to my family and I.
A Word from New Leadership
We are tremendously blessed to have the opportunity to take upon ourselves the mantle of leading Operation Save America! OSA has an incredible history, a heritage of Kingdom faithfulness when it comes to the battle to end abortion in our nation.
The Rescue Movement is predominantly responsible for getting Evangelicals in the battle to save pre-born children. Many Christians sacrificed their time, talent, and treasure to make OSA what it is today. We are blessed by our God and feared by our enemy.
In addition to a great history and heritage, OSA also has an amazing strategy! Instead of attempting to create change through organizational hierarchy, OSA instead strives to transform culture through equipping and mobilizing families and local churches. Each of the three of us who are a part of OSA’s new leadership team have personally benefited from the discipleship and encouragement we have received from older godly brothers who are part of OSA. Our families, our churches, and our communities have been positively impacted by the deposit that OSA has left in our lives. We are better Christians, husbands, fathers, and leaders because of the faithfulness of the ministry of OSA.
We believe that OSA has been built upon an incredible foundation of Kingdom faithfulness, and we intend to build upon that foundation in a way that honors the unique history and heritage that makes OSA so amazing, and we hope that you will join us in that endeavor!
Future Kingdom Endeavors
Though I’m stepping down as national director, as long as I have life and breath, I’ll continue to serve the Lord. God willing, we will continue to travel, preach, teach, write, and minister through Elijah Ministries. One of the major Kingdom projects that we will seek to accomplish is to establish a school called The Kingdom Leadership Institute. There will be three fields of study. They will consist of ministry training, entrepreneur/finance/business training, and law/government/political training.
The Ministry School will concentrate on raising up faithful pastors and elders in the Body of Christ to equip the church to fight the battle. The goal of Entrepreneur Field of Study will be to raise up future paymasters in the Body of Christ that will fund the Kingdom of God. The Godly Statesmen Field of Study will concentrate on training godly statesmen to be salt and light in the political realm.
One final request: OSA is not known for begging for money to do the Lord’s work. One of my main goals, however, is to bless the new leadership when I step down. It is important they have enough resources in the OSA coffer for them to start off well. If you would, please consider giving a generous one-time donation this month or commit to support the work monthly. I know it would be a great blessing of encouragement as they take the helm.
