Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Ford.
Amy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was at a Pink Impact Conference at Gateway Church where Christine Caine was speaking and Kari Jobe was leading worship. The presence of God was so tangible in this moment and Chris asked God to give us all a word, dream, or picture of how we were to leave the conference and go change the world. I closed my eyes and I had a vision of me 10 years earlier with an unplanned pregnancy.
The pictures were memories but that season of my life, I felt so alone and all of the snapshots showed me sad and afraid. Then the vision changed to me throwing baby showers. That year I had thrown 13 baby showers for my friend! (There was a baby boom with my friends) The snapshots were then of me happy and excited about people and my life. After the conference, I ran into a small groups pastor at my church and I told her about the vision. She suggested that I should start a small group at the church for girls with unplanned pregnancies and throw them a baby shower during the semester.
I had never lead anything in my life before that moment so I was nervous but super excited! We had 3 girls show up to that first class. They were so nervous. They would barely make eye contact. They were scared in that moment and also for their future. But every week something would change inside of them. I could see it in their eyes… they had HOPE. By us just encouraging them and cheering them on, they had a sparkle in their eye again. Their shoulders got a little broader. They were becoming confident that they were going to get through this and they started understanding that God had completely equipped them with everything they needed to be a great mom.
Their lives completely changed, and so did the leaders. After that first semester, we were hooked and knew God was calling us to love these sweet, brave moms that choose life! Fast forward a few years later, we started to see the need for the church to BE the church and be a safe place for moms to run to instead of away from because of shame and guilt. We started Embrace Grace, Inc. in 2012 to equip churches all across the nation to love on single and pregnant young women and their family and provide great curriculum to help the church to help the moms.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that Embrace Grace would become a 501c3 nonprofit, much less in over 420 churches across the nation, in 45 states and 7 countries! We were obedient with that first step of starting a group, having fun doing it. And over time we started developing our own curriculum, and then other churches even in other states would call us out of the blue, asking us to show them what we are doing and asking permission for them to use our curriculum. A pro-love movement was beginning! Every day is an adventure. Our favorite words around the office is, “GUESS WHAT!” God is always surprising us with miracles daily!
Has it been a smooth road?
We have been amazed at how God has opened up doors that we could have never opened on our own. Most everyone have loved the idea of a pro-love mission like what Embrace Grace has. Hundreds of women that have experienced an abortion in their past have said that their lives would look so much different if they had an Embrace Grace to turn to for support and love years ago.
Every once in a while we have a church that feels like we are rewarding sin or condoning bad behavior because as a part of Embrace Grace, every mom gets a big baby shower that is thrown by the church. But we just refer to the prodigal son story in the Bible and explain that we are just loving people. Love changes lives and people’s hearts. We believe that no single mom should walk alone.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Embrace Grace inspires and equips the church to love on single and pregnant young women and their families. We want the church to be one of the first places a girl runs to in that situation instead of the last because of shame and guilt. We have a 12-week curriculum (DVD and Study Guide) that churches use in a small group setting that teaches about God’s grace and love. We want them to understand that their value and identity comes from God alone and that God loves them so very much. We are seeing many salvations and transformations, as well as babies being saved!
The churches make the community aware, even partnering with local pregnancy centers so that the girls know to come to the church for support. We can talk about being pro-life until we are blue in the face, but without love, we are just a clanging cymbal. Embrace Grace is the bridge into the church and the church becomes the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s amazing to see the movement spreading! We also have a program called Embrace Life, a 22-week curriculum for single young moms to host within churches.
This program also has an identity as its foundational message but integrates practical teachings like parenting, financial stewardship, time management, dreams and goals, friendship and dating, and so much more! Spiritually and emotionally healthy moms parent spiritually and emotionally healthy babies. One of our new initiatives is our LoveBox project. Loveboxes are given to pregnancy centers for free, to give to moms that just took a pregnancy test and found out that they are pregnant.
The box is to inspire moms to be brae and choose life. Each box consists of: A Best Gift Ever onesie, a brave girl journal, A Bump in Life book full of testimonials of girls that chose life by parenting or adoption, a handwritten letter of encouragement, and an invitation to a local Embrace Grace group at a church in their area. The box is beautiful and a great way to make moms feel encouraged and brave. One of my favorite quotes is from a mom that received a box from a pregnancy center and she said, “It made me feel like someone out in the world was actually happy for me.” Sometimes that’s all a mom needs in order to be inspired to choose life.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The Dallas/Fort Worth area is one of the largest networks of churches that host Embrace Grace groups! If you know anyone that is single and pregnant, check www.EmbraceGrace.com for listings of churches that would love to help a single mom on her journey! Or if you’re interested in starting an Embrace Grace group at your church, we would love to partner with you!
Pricing:
- $25.00 per Lovebox to bless a single mom to choose life
Contact Info:
- Address: 700 W. Bedford Euless Rd. Ste G
- Website: www.EmbraceGrace.com
- Phone: 8177558484
- Email: amy.ford@embracegrace.com
- Instagram: Embrace Grace, Inc
- Facebook: Embrace Grace, Inc
- Twitter: Embrace Grace, Inc
- Yelp: Embrace Grace, Inc
- Other: Embrace Grace, Inc
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
