Orrin Woodward: Isn't Faith Without Works Dead?

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Orrin Woodward claims to be a Christian, but as a pastor I know that all such claims must be put to the test. The Bible says that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The real test of a person's faith is not their profession of faith but the works made evident in their life. Does Orrin Woodward display true faith that is evidenced by his works?

Orrin and ONElife for Life
My wife has known Orrin and Laurie for nearly 20 years and I have known them a little over 13 years. When you know someone for this long of a time you get to see if their walk actually matches their talk. Orrin has continually and consistently revealed to us a walk that is committed to faithfully serving Jesus Christ in all areas of his life. Let me just give you one such example.

A little over a year ago our young little church plant, ONElife Church, received a crazy vision from God to actively engage the culture of death which murders the preborn children in our society. We made a commitment that we would do all that we could do to end abortion now starting in our own county and moving beyond. Rather than waiting for abortion minded women, who feel they have no one who will help them, to come to us we decided to go to them. For nearly a year we have had a faithful presence at our local abortion clinic with our team members pleading for the life of the preborn children as well as bringing the life giving gospel message to the mothers, fathers, and workers. By God’s grace 48 children have been saved through this ministry. To read more about our work read the article the Baptist Press wrote about our team. Here is a video of one encounter that our team had.

Orrin Woodward has encouraged us in this task to save babies and end abortion now. In the early stages of starting this ministry he provided valuable insight to us in order to keep our ministry going. He continues to be a great mentor and counselor. He has invested his own time, talents, and treasures into this ministry. This past March our ministry hosted its first ever end abortion now banquet. There was nearly 300 people in attendance at that event. Orrin was gracious enough to be our keynote speaker. Here is the thing many people might not know--Orrin refused to take a speaking fee and would not even allow us to pay for his travel. He funded his way to get to our event from Florida and in addition gave a donation to our ministry. In reality he paid us to come speak at our event!  He is focused on investing in the Kingdom and in ending the greatest injustice in our society. Orrin believes in the cause and believes it is one of the greatest works a Christian can do today. I pray that God will raise up more Orrin Woodward’s to engage in this very controversial fight of ending abortion.

Orrin's Message
At the banquet Orrin delivered one of the finest messages I have heard in regards to ending abortion. He spoke on the Micah Mandate. He brought immense clarity to the meaning of the text and our present responsibility in light of it.
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Orrin taught on the Micah Mandate from Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This is a shorthand description of the mature Christian life. These virtues are balanced together by having a proper understanding of law and grace. Paraphrasing what Francis Schaeffer said, “It is easy to have law in the church and it is easy to have grace in the church. You need the Holy Spirit to have the balance of both.” When both law and grace are in balance then the virtues of justice, mercy, and humility will be displayed. This was the message Orrin was communicating to our audience. To listen to the full message please watch the video below.

Our Vision
Our vision is to be the McDonalds of the pro-life movement. Our team has caught this vision and believes this is what God has called us to do. McDonalds made a commitment to have a store across the street from every church in the country. Our commitment is to have one of our red tents with fully funded missionaries stationed onsite at every abortion clinic in the country. This is the way to end abortion now in our country. It is time to stop waiting for the government to stop the killing of our innocent children and for the church to actively work to end it. We are praying for the church to join us to stop the shedding of the most innocent orphans in our land--the babies living in the wombs of their mothers.

​Watch the video below to learn more about our vision and how you can partner with us to end abortion now!

Contributor / Eric Stewart
Eric Stewart is the Lead Pastor of ONElife Church in Flint, MI.