My Friends' Pictures From Planned Parenthood Protests Around The Country

Today the family and I attended one of over 300 protests against Planned Parenthood. Ours was at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina. A cameraman for WYFF, who showed up two hours into the protests, when maybe fifty of us were still around, had been told five hundred had been present. I had just told him I thought it was four hundred. This was a better turnout than a lot of places. But lots of tiny towns had attendance just as large, and many in huge cities were tiny events. Churches, y'all. That's what does it. Churches being into it the way just a few crazy individuals are.

Whether one was there with five hundred or with fifty, I imagine that many felt the way I did when all was done: beleaguered. Surrounded. Like the fight was worthy but very big and very long. Like there's suddenly an opportunity to attack on a front where so long we'd been retreating, but you can't find anyone to go over the top with you.

But I was encouraged when I logged into my Facebook and saw so many pictures from brothers and sisters in Christ who had gone to protests near them. At one town, a few dozen or a couple hundred. At another, over a thousand and thousands. But either way, I drew comfort from the fact that my brothers had shown up, wherever they were.

These pictures aren't necessarily my friends' pictures. They're from my Facebook feed, so...people I know, and people I kinda know, and people who know people I kinda know. They're not necessarily great photos. But they're here in case they can have the same effect on you that they had on me: comfort. Be comforted in knowing that this is just a tiny part of the Church of Jesus Christ around the world. "I, even only I am left" was not true of Elijah, nor will it be true of you. Behold God's people. They will conquer in the end.

Roseville, CA

Nashville, TN

Seattle, WA

San Antonio, TX

Wenatchee, WA

Louisville, KY

Bremerton, WA

Aurora, IL

San Antonio, TX

Greenville, SC

Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA

San Antonio, TX

Greenville, SC

Springfield, MO

Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA

Greenville, SC

Annapolis, MD

Austin, TX

Charlotte, NC

Cincinnati, OH

Springfield, MO

Columbia, SC

Ft. Wayne, IN

Harrisburg, PA

Knoxville, TN

Lakeland, FL

Meridian, ID

Morristown, NJ

Moscow, ID/Pullman, WA

Wichita, KS

Raleigh, NC

Portland, OR

And finally, St. Paul, MN, where 4,000 turned out.

John Piper prays at the Planned Parenthood protest in St. Paul.