The Impact of the GLS | Twenty-Nine: Eleven Maternity House

People often get on a soap box about saving the lives of unborn children, but Mike and Beckie knew they needed to do something—and trust that their efforts would serve God’s plan.

When Twenty-Nine: Eleven Maternity Home became their mission, they created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation (Imago Dei Ministries) with the goal of providing a maternity home for single women in crisis pregnancies. They traveled locally and around the country to visit other maternity homes to see how they meet the needs of the young women in their communities.

“We will be a part of saving and transforming lives, with our most important desire to serve the Lord and nurture a relationship between the mothers we will be service and Jesus Christ,” says Beckie. “We know that it is difficult for many single women when they learn they are pregnant. Oftentimes they cannot see themselves carrying out the pregnancy for a multitude of reasons. The obstacles seem insurmountable, and the self-doubt seems overwhelming.

“It is our desire to come alongside these women. It is our goal to help them by providing a Christian home for them to live in, food, friendship, mentorship, support, and encouragement. It is also our goal to assist these young women with counseling, education, job training, financial literacy, nutrition, health benefits and education, parenting education and a host of other services that seem beyond their reach. Most importantly, we will nurture an intimate relationship with God. In essence, we would like to be with them and for them during this difficult time so that they are able to do life outside of the home—and do it well.

“At the Summit in 2014, I was most impacted and inspired by Wilfredo de Jesus,” says Beckie. His explanation of what it means to “stand in the gap” and the stories he made come alive from the Bible as he applied them to his own ministry was very moving. His challenge to see the entire community as my church…to sit with the lost…eat with the lost…approach them and engage them…those words really touched me.

“I know the business of a maternity home is messy, but if I wasn’t prepared to do anything about the problem, I shouldn’t have asked the question, ‘God, why are so many innocent lives being taken through abortion?’ As Pastor Choco said, ‘With revelation comes responsibility.’ I began reading his book In the Gap after the Summit and it has been a useful tool to help me progress through this journey.

“I have personally attended for the past seven years and my wife has been for past five years,” says Mike. “To hear from a diverse group of leaders in a Christ-centered context is invaluable for us,” says Mike.  “It is an experience that uplifts, encourages, inspires, and challenges us in new ways every year. We are hooked, and we look for any opportunity we can find to encourage others to attend! In fact, I pay for anyone at my law firm who wants to attend and I we also plan to do the same for those working with us on our Twenty-Nine: Eleven Maternity Home such as our board members and executive director.

“We believe our home, which we have named Twenty-Nine: Eleven (after Jeremiah 29:11), can change the lives of many, many women and children, both figuratively and literally,” says Mike. “My wife and I both have a heart for single moms and struggling families. We have been in situations where we were in need. We have benefited from the support of family and friends throughout our lives, both as children and as adults. This is our way to pay it forward. We have a strong desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves…something special…something to save lives. This will be our legacy, and it is our hope that this maternity home will bless the community for decades to come, long after we are gone. Though we have the home which we own outright, we are now focusing our efforts on raising the necessary funding for the renovations and start-up of the program. We are confident we serve a God who is quite capable of making this dream a reality. We want nothing more than to serve Him.”

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Mike and Beckie say the Summit has helped confirm that our dream of a maternity home was, in fact, inspired by the Holy Spirit. “Once you’ve passed the initial excitement and adrenaline rush of a huge ‘only God’ vision, it’s so easy to fall into questioning if you heard Him right,” says Mike. “As God spoke through each of the presenters at the Summit, we received confirmation that we are acting in obedience as we pursue this ministry He has entrusted to us.”

Both Mike and Beckie believe that sometimes God will put something on your heart and though amazing, it can be intimidating and scary. They encourage people to press through the fear, doubts, and attacks from the enemy because God is so good to work people and situations into your life to help things come to fruition.

“As we have experienced over and over again in our lives, it is easy to get caught up in the idea that we are not qualified to do a missions trip or run a maternity house or lead a home group,” says Mike. “However, we are all His creations, wonderfully made and implicitly capable. We must remember that we are doing His work, so we must surrender our fears and doubts to Him because He will conquer those demons. If we trust in the Holy Spirit and listen for His promptings, the words and actions which we need to perform His great works will be given to us!”

– Mike and Beckie Perez, Summit Attendees, California