Denny Hartford
Last night was the 25th anniversary of Vital Signs Ministries, an Omaha-based pro-life ministry. To celebrate this milestone, Vital Signs held a catered dinner of fried chicken, green beans, and potatoes at the Shadow Lake Community Church in Papillion. The food and fellowship were great, but it was the presentation by Vital Signs' founder Denny Hartford that really moved me last night.
Denny Hartford is a cultural crusader.
With his iconic white cowboy boots, "Fu-man-chu" mustache and a mullet that he wears about his shoulders, Mr. Hartford is hard to miss. It is obvious that he does not allow our culture's current leanings dictate how he should look. Instead, Mr. Hartford transcends the culture. Of course it is not simply his unique fashion sense or his impressive size that makes Mr. Hartford a compelling man. What makes him compelling is his warm and accepting personality, his sincere love for people of all ages and his impressive record of living out that love. Denny Hartford does a lot of preaching and then he does a lot of practicing what he preaches. That is impressive.
I don't know Mr. Hartford very well on a personal basis, but from what I have seen of him I have been very impressed. Denny Hartford and his wife Claire devote every Saturday morning to convincing pregnant girls not to kill their babies in front of the Council Bluffs abortion clinic. The story is often told of Denny calmly leaning into the car window of an extremely vocal abortion supporter and convincing her of her sin through his gentle and loving spirit of truth and righteousness. That's how Denny works.
Last night, at the banquet, Denny and Claire recounted powerful stories of perseverance against opposition over the last 25 years of Vital Signs' existence. One memorable story was how Methodist Hospital (one of the most prominent hospitals in Omaha) began to perform abortions. Denny began to hold silent candlelight vigils for the dying children outside of the hospital every week until over a hundred pro-life activists were standing there with him. However, the hospital did not respond to Denny's tactic, so Denny began to do some networking. One of the big pro-life supporters in Omaha at that time, was a Catholic priest who just so happened to be elected as the president of Boys Town a little while earlier. To make things more dramatic, Boys Town had recently switched all of their medical insurance to (you guessed it) Methodist Hospital. The kind Priest wrote to Methodist, informing them that if they did not stop the abortions, they would have to end their contract and seek medical assistance elsewhere. In the end, Methodist Hospital stopped performing abortions.
I have gone down to the Council Bluffs abortion clinic twice since I've been here in Nebraska. Each time was pretty uneventful, and very cold. It would be very easy to just give up and go home. But Denny truly values those little lives that are at stake every saturday morning and realizes that if he can convince even one girl to turn around, it is worth it. I really love how Denny is not only active in changing our government's attitudes about the sanctity of life, but he's interested in changing the hearts and minds of the mothers, and the father's who are seeking to destroy their heritage. Ultimately, of course, Denny seeks to share Jesus with these people...because that's what they need most of all.
As I listened to Denny and his wife recount all of their struggles and victories, I realized how weak and short-sighted I really am when it comes to our culture. The Hartfords are in this for the long haul. They are not seeking an immediate changing of our culture, but a slow and steady faithfulness that will build the kingdom of God. They seem to know what it means to persevere; to wait upon the Lord. This is something that does not come naturally...unless you are actively pursuing God's favor. Unless we are willing to humble ourselves and just obey the Lord, we will not see any change. Before we try to sanctify our culture, we need to be sanctified. We need to be seeking God in our personal lives. When we're all alone and it's just us and God...in our prayer closets. That's when it really matters. That's how we will make a difference. Perhaps Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said "the meek shall inherit the earth."
Let's pray for "earth-inheriting" meekness...meekness like Denny Hartford.
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