South Carolina megachurch Pastor Derwin Gray announced Sunday that his multicultural congregation donated $50,000 to a local pro-life pregnancy center.
Gray, the 47-year-old founder and leader of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina, and a former NFL player, recalled how his own mother was encouraged to get an abortion when she was pregnant with him at 16.
He took time during service Sunday to announce the large donation the church made to the Women’s Enrichment Center in Lancaster.
“[Women’s Enrichment Center has] the privilege of serving thousands of young women and their families facing unplanned pregnancies,” Gray told the 3,500-member congregation.
“For those of you who don’t know, my mom was pregnant with me at 16 years old in 1971 at Thomas Jefferson High School. She was bussed to a school then in the suburbs. And the school nurse said, ‘You should go to California to abort your child.’”
Gray said he and his mother have had a “complicated relationship” through the years. However, the one thing they can both agree on, he said, is that giving birth to him was the “right decision to make.”
Gray told CP through an email sent by his assistant that his mother told the nurse: “I will not abort my child.”
“It was a conviction she had. She wanted me to live,” Gray was quoted as saying.
The Women’s Enrichment Center is led by Executive Director Julie Walters, a Transformation Church attendee who began working for the center seven years ago.
“Julie and her team are right on the front lines of helping women and young men just make decisions to bring forth life,” Gray said during the service as he invited Walters to the stage. “So we have partnered with her and her team for several years. Today, we the people at Transformation Church want to give you $50,000 to continue to do the great work that you are doing. We appreciate you.”
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith
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