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PH: You know I talk all the time about Life Centers of Indianapolis and how they’re good friends of ours, good friends of the show and the program – but they have a special event coming up and I’ve been talking about it recently – but then I thought what better way to address this and let you know about it than to bring on the mastermind behind the whole thing, Tom Shevlot. Tom’s been on the program before, but I’m agreeing to bring him back on again. I didn’t want to, it was against my better judgment (laughter) but Tom thanks so much for your time. Again, let folks know about this banquet – what’s going on?

Shevlot: Sure, “mastermind,” thank you, you are much too kind.

PH: Well that’s so if it falls apart everybody knows who to blame it on. That’s why I do that.

(laughter)

Shevlot: Thank you very much, no pressure.

PH: Yep.

Shevlot: Yeah, so we’ve got our 32nd annual Celebration of Life Banquet coming up, on April 23. It’s at 6:30 at the J.W. Marriott, and our keynote speaker this year is Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North – we are very excited about it. You can go to lifecenters.com and register, we are expecting north of 1,200 people to attend this year, so we are very excited about it, and we appreciate the opportunity to talk about it Pete.

PH: When people come to this, some folks are gonna come who have never been to anything like this before. I’ve had the opportunity to go to a few similar kind of banquets, but what should they expect when they come in? Is this going to be a downer of an evening where they are bombarded with the facts about the children that have been murdered by abortion? What does a person need to prepare mentally for when they come to something like?

Shevlot: Well first off, we are not going to bombard you with those kind of gory details, even though that is the reality. Life Centers, we’re not an advocacy group, we’re not a political action committee, we are really on the front lines and so it is our opportunity once a year to share with our churches, with our supporters, what’s been going on in our eight centers that are scattered around central Indiana. Some of the stories that we are going to be able to share are lives that have been changed, and even more so the number of children that have been saved from abortion, as a result of them coming into one of our eight centers.

PH: Whenever I address this issue, I’m always hesitant about the label that goes and refers to itself as pro-choice, because I think the question is always choice to do what? And I think of the answer to that question. But for somebody out there – and I have kind of been stressing this – who truly in their heart is pro-choice, and by that they mean that they think women should be given all of the options and make the most informed decision for them. I guess when I look at what you folks do at Life Centers; it’s nothing that should turn off someone that regards themselves as pro-choice. They should feel comfortable to come to a banquet like this because that’s what your organization does – if I’m not mistaken – it provides women with the choice to choose life, who may not otherwise even think that’s a possibility for them.

Shevlot: Absolutely. And you are spot on. It provides us an opportunity to share that all is not lost, and in fact I just spoke with a client of ours a week or so ago and I’m going to share this at the banquet, but I’m gonna give you a little preview. She said something on, she wrote on the form that we give to the clients every time they visit, and she said everywhere that I went, she was told no – when she was pregnant. She said everyone told me you can’t do this on your own. This is not the way to go. You need to look at aborting this child – until she found Life Centers. And she wrote “I finally found the place where someone was in my corner.” And to me, that was an awesome visual of a boxing ring where you have everybody and anybody on one side, and this young lady that felt that she was all alone, until she came to one of our centers and she finally found someone who was in her corner who said you know what sweetheart, there are options for you. You compare it – there’s adoption, we’re here with you. So yeah, there’s choice, but our choice is life.

PH: Wow. Yeah, when somebody comes to something like this, obviously it’s a fundraising banquet – they are going to pay to get in, but there will also be an opportunity for folks to make donations – I assume that they are tax-deductible – what does that look like for somebody that’s preparing to come to this event?

Shevlot: It’s $60 a ticket, and that ticket includes a meal, and the opportunity to hear our keynote speaker, but you’re right, Pete. This is a fundraising opportunity, and this event funds about 30 to 35 percent of our total ministry for the whole year. So I make no qualms about this is an opportunity for me and our ministry to not only provide an annual update about here’s what happening in the ministry, but then here’s an opportunity for you to continue to support the ministry.

PH: I assume, maybe I’m wrong, it is tax-deductible for folks to make a donation, yes?

Shevlot: Yes, yes, so if you show up and after the dinner it touches your heart in whatever way and you want to write a $100,000 check or $10,000 check, it’s totally tax deductible.

(laughter)

PH: You know the thing is, we laugh about that but there are people who are totally capable of going – I’ve always wanted to be one of those people – that could just sit there and write a check like that. You know God wants us to serve with our resources and some people have the ability to do that. I will be praying that those people find their way to your banquet. Now, again, just hit me with the details to make sure everybody knows the easiest way to sign up to come to this – when it is, time – all that stuff.

Shevlot: Go to www.lifecenters.com it’s all over their landing page, the way to register. There is a link to two different speeches; one is a speech by Oliver North who gave his personal testimony about how he came to know Christ. There’s another segment where last week he was on WIBC, your station, on the Garrison show, where he gave a great 10-15 conversation with Greg about the banquet upcoming. But everything is right there at lifecenters.com.

PH: That’s awesome, and just because I know that there are some out there that are not computer-savvy and like the phone, if they call (888) 57MERCY, they can also register that way as well?

Shevlot: Correct.

PH: Okay we will make sure folks know that, Tom I wish you the best with this with this upcoming banquet, I know I’m gonna be there, I’m looking forward to it very much. And we’ll continue to pray for your peace of mind as it gets closer.

Shevlot: Thank you again Pete, appreciate the opportunity – appreciate what you do for life. << END TRANSCRIPT