I spent the last few days in meetings and events in Fargo, North Dakota, and filmed a VERY powerful case study that covers every aspect of conducting a successful 40 Days for Life campaign.

(I’ll be posting that video here at the beginning of next week — free of charge — and you are going to absolutely LOVE it!)

As a result of that trip, I wasn’t very accessible by e-mail and was quite stunned to find 881 unread messages in my inbox while flying home.

The buzz and excitement about this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign is unlike anything I have EVER seen in my 10 years of pro-life work!

The challenge is that there’s just no way I can personally respond to every question, so I decided to give you a resource that will provide a comprehensive overview of 40 Days for Life and answer 95% of the questions we’ve been getting:

http://www.40daysforlife.com/docs/special_report.pdf

The newly-updated “40 Days for Life Fall 2008 Campaign Special Report” is filled with 34 pages of dynamite info about 40 Days for Life and how to conduct a life-saving campaign in your town this fall, from September 24 – November 2.

Download and print it out now, then schedule a few minutes this weekend where you can curl up in your favorite chair and study every word:

http://www.40daysforlife.com/docs/special_report.pdf

By the time you’re done reading, I believe you will have a good sense of whether 40 Days for Life is right for your community or not.

If you need the free Acrobat reader to open a PDF file, it can be downloaded at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Be on the lookout for more exciting pre-registration training coming to you over the next few weeks.

Enjoy, and have a blessed weekend!

In Christ,

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

P.S.- Every indication is now pointing toward this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign being the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization IN HISTORY. To be honest, we’re a bit overwhelmed by that, but we know that with God, all things are possible!

P.P.S.- Due to many, many requests, we’ve decided to have a longer registration period than past campaigns to accommodate people’s busy summer schedules. The dates to register for this fall’s campaign are going to be July 16 – 28. That’s less than three weeks from now, so be sure to mark your calendar!

Whenever you get an e-mail with 20 exclamation marks in the subject line, you know it’s one of two things…

 1.) A spam message

  -OR-

 2.) Something REALLY exciting

After getting off an airplane Friday coming home from a talk in Indiana, I jumped in my car and fired up my laptop to quickly check e-mail, and there it was: “Prayers Answered!!!!!!!!!!! Aaron’s Abortion IS CLOSING!!!!!!!!!”

I opened the message to verify what I suspected, and sure enough, the notorious late-term abortion facility in Dallas, Texas — site of the second 40 Days for Life campaign in history — was shutting its doors for good!

Grabbing my cell phone, I dialed my friend Karen Garnett, Executive Director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas (the group that led the 40 Days for Life outside that Aaron’s Abortion center three and a half years ago.)

(David Bereit with Karen Garnett at the White House in April)

Karen answered and confirmed the amazing news. Her voice was almost quivering with excitement.

She only had a minute, as she was about to go on the air for a live interview with a Dallas radio station, so we agreed to talk later.

On Saturday evening I was able to get her on the phone for about twenty minutes and she agreed to let me record our discussion so I could share it with you…

…And you won’t believe what she shared!

Listen Online Now (click “Play” button to start audio):

Download MP3 (click to play, right-click to save to your computer):

http://www.40daysforlife.com/blog/audio/dallas_closing.mp3

With less than a month before registrations begin for this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign, God has given us another beautiful gift to show what can happen in a community when dedicated people pray, fast, and put their faith into action.

Would you like to see this kind of impact in your hometown?

It can happen.

Ask the people of Dallas, Texas, who are now gearing up to conduct 40 Days for Life campaigns at TWO locations this fall.

(Photo from original 40 Days for Life in Dallas, outside now-closing Aaron’s abortion center)

Ask the people of Rockland County, New York — site of the other abortion center that shut down less than two months ago, following a local 40 Days for Life campaign.

If you want to see abortion end in your city, you owe it to yourself to listen to Karen share how 40 Days for Life — and the ongoing faithfulness of many people over many years — led to the closure of a late-term abortion facility.

Her words will give you great hope!

Maybe YOU’LL be the next one sending out an e-mail sharing the exciting news from your city: “Prayers Answered!!!!!!!!!!! The local Abortion Center IS CLOSING!!!!!!!!!”

Yours for LIFE,

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

P.S.- This case study begins the pre-registration training to help you and others decide if 40 Days for Life is right for your community this fall. We certainly weren’t planning to begin this way, but realize there’s no better way to start than with a view of the possible end result! Please post any comments as a reply below!

Even as we’ve been aggressively working behind the scenes preparing for this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign, people have been pounding us non-stop with e-mails, wanting to register NOW so they can get started…

…In fact, more than 500 cities have already expressed an interest in joining the fall 2008 campaign!

Now, I fully realize that some of these cities may not actually go through with it, but based on early indications, this fall’s 40 Days for Life promises to be the largest and longest grassroots pro-life mobilization in history.

Based on the questions coming in — as well as the feedback from the 139 cities that have previously conducted 40 Days for Life campaigns — we’ve decided to give you a lot of information, tools, and training BEFORE registrations to help you:

• Discover what 40 Days for Life is, and the measurable results it has generated
• Decide if 40 Days for Life is right for you and your community
• Discern your personal role in this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign
• Get others excited and involved
• Plan for community-wide prayer and fasting
• Prepare for a successful prayer vigil at a  Planned Parenthood or other abortion center
• Gear up for highly effective community outreach efforts
• Assess what a successful local 40 Days for Life might cost — in terms of time and money
• Expand the effectiveness of pro-life efforts in your town, saving many more lives!

The fall campaign will be held from SEPTEMBER 24 THROUGH NOVEMBER 2, ending the Sunday before America goes to the polls to elect new national leaders — a crucial time for people of faith and conscience to join together in a massive, unified effort of prayer, fasting and peaceful action.

The registration period for the fall 40 Days for Life will begin in mid-July — sign-ups are tentatively scheduled to begin on July 16.

One of the biggest things past campaign leaders told us they needed was more time to prepare.

Well, we listened.

To help you prepare effectively, over these next few weeks we’ll be sending you a number of short, focused pre-registration training materials including:

• Videos
• Audios
• Multimedia presentations
• Downloadable training guides
• Planning checklists
• Printable materials

By the time registrations begin, you will have already had time to test the waters and ensure that 40 Days for Life is a good fit for your community BEFORE making any commitment.

And you will have the tools and training you need to prepare for an even more successful campaign.

It’s going to be an exciting journey over these next few weeks, and I can’t wait to get started!

Yours for Life,

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

P.S.- We want to make sure we answer as many of your questions as possible prior to beginning registrations. If you have ANY question at all about this fall’s 40 Days for Life, please post it as a reply at the bottom of this blog posting.