wfn.org | Presbyterians Pro-life Serves up a Dramatic Buffet

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14-June-1998 
GA98019 
 
 
    Presbyterians Pro-life Serves up a Dramatic Buffet 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Presbyterians Pro-Life (PPL) served a buffet with a 
decidedly dramatic flavor to approximately 200 commissioners and others via 
Los Angeles  actor/director John Eldredge, who portrayed 19-century 
abolitionist William Wilberforce during the PPL Assembly dinner buffet here 
June 13. 
    Two-hundred years ago, England led the world in the slave trade. 
Hundreds of thousands of African men, women, and children were torn from 
their homes and shipped to the West Indies and the American colonies for a 
lifetime of brutal, forced labor. Nearly half of them died during the 
journey. 
     Terry Schlossberg, PPL executive director, said the slave trade was 
the moral outrage of its time -- yet it remained unchallenged, a staple of 
the British economy. Until a young member of Parliament, William 
Wilberforce, devoted more than 50 years of his life in the campaign against 
the British slave trade. A devout Christian, Wilberforce fought for the 
rights of African slaves long before such a cause became fashionable. 
    Wilberforce won a peaceful revolution in England 60 years before 
America's bloody Civil War, despite at one point being the most hated man 
in his country. But when he died, he was called the "conscience of a 
nation," the "George Washington of all humankind." 
    Meticulously costumed for his part, Eldredge reminded his audience that 
the time-worn cliche "one person truly can make a difference," is as true 
now as it was centuries ago. He said Christians should never be afraid to 
take on divisive or controversial issues, regardless of the power and 
influence of the secular culture. 
    "The people of God can overcome great evil," Eldredge said. "Measure 
your progress by your experience of the love of Christ and how well you 
share it with others, for we are bought with the blood of Christ, and it is 
the love of Christ that constrains us." 
    Eldredge has worked in Los Angeles for more than a decade and founded 
"Last Minute Productions," a Christian theater company based in Southern 
California. He is also a senior fellow for Christian Worldview Studies at 
the Focus on the Family Institute. Copies of "William Wilberforce, A Man 
Who Changed His Times," by John Pollock, are available at the PPL exhibit 
booth in the Assembly Convention Center. 
    According to its statement of purpose, PPL is a Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) entity that is "committed to strengthening the bonds of family, 
love and nurture and to protecting human life." The organization opposes 
abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and any other practices that affect 
human life. 

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