Divided on the sidewalk

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 28th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: gospel preachers at abortion facilities.

Pro-lifers who gather on public sidewalks outside abortion businesses often don’t see eye-to-eye. One question that divides them is whether spiritual conversations should be used with women considering abortion.

MAST: Today, WORLD’s Leah Savas introduces us to a man who says gospel conversations should come first.

JORDAN SWEEZER: If you would turn away from your sins and turn towards Jesus Christ, He will not cast you out.

LEAH SAVAS: That’s 30-year-old Jordan Sweezer, doing what he’s been doing regularly for the last three years…

SWEEZER: He will not say to you, you're too bad. He sacrificed Himself on the cross, and that is a greater price to pay than any sin you could possibly have committed. So turn to Jesus today and receive His love and His mercy.

Sweezer is preaching outside the Planned Parenthood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s trying to get the attention of people in the lobby.

When more people are coming and going, Sweezer tries to start one-on-one conversations. He approaches cars or calls out to the people in the parking lot.

SWEEZER: Please trust in Jesus today. Please come and talk with me. We can help you.

His main goal is to tell the people there about Christ, whether they’re there for STD tests, body modifications, abortions, or just walking through the neighborhood. But he sees that as working in tandem with his other goal of saving babies, since only God’s Word can change hearts.

SWEEZER: I have no ability to change anybody's mind. I have no ability to manipulate or convince or even if I did, it would be short term. They would come right back, you know. And God does the work.

The main abortion facility in town used to be a couple minutes away on a busy street. But when that facility closed in 2023, Sweezer moved to this Planned Parenthood on Cherry Street. It’s quieter here—a cozy-looking neighborhood with rows of fancy old houses and people walking their dogs.

But Sweezer’s arrival brought backlash from the neighbors.

NEIGHBOR: All of you, get out of here right now!

That’s audio from one day in 2023, when Sweezer and some fellow pro-lifers were gathered to pray. A woman who lived across the street cussed them out. A neighborhood man threw eggs at them. Another guy drove his Subaru into the Planned Parenthood driveway…

SOUND: [Car driving over]

and sat on the vehicle’s roof, holding a sign saying, “Pray to end male oppression.” Sweezer was trying to read a Bible verse.

SOUND: [Metal music and Jordan reading Bible verse]

The sidewalk has quieted down since then.

SWEEZER: It was a mess out here, you know, not that we were doing anything wrong. We were still loving and kind and sharing the gospel, but they were blasting their music and honking their horns for four hours, you know. And so it looked pretty wild out here.

But some local pro-lifers say the street-preaching style Sweezer uses agitated the community.

MELISSA YEOMANS: The sound actually does impact people who are just living alongside that abortion facility.

Melissa Yeomans is a local leader with the national organization Sidewalk Advocates for Life.

YEOMANS: And so it stirs up a lot of anger amongst the neighborhood. It becomes a toxic environment where there's a lot of tension and there's a lot of emotion, and all of that I feel distracts from that focus on being ever present and ready to respond to that abortion-vulnerable woman the moment that she is ready to engage.

Yeomans agrees the spiritual needs of women considering abortion are important. But she said leading with talk of sin and repentance isn’t a good idea.

YEOMANS: Shame-based, condemning messages are not effective. They don't reach that woman in her moment of considering abortion.

When all the sidewalk groups moved to this Planned Parenthood, the change affected the local pregnancy center as well. PRC Grand Rapids shares a parking lot with the abortion facility, and the pregnancy center staff got a front-row seat to the sidewalk drama. Becky Buick is the center’s chief operations officer.

BECKY BUICK: I still, you know, I want to get out of my car in the parking lot. I'm not crazy about hearing a microphone. I mean, my spirit initially goes, “Ugh!” you know.

Initially, her instinct was to question their approach to pro-life work because it was so different from hers. But she’s since had a chance to get to know Sweezer and see his love for Jesus and knowledge of Scripture.

BUICK: And I think as Christians, it's really easy to throw a stone at someone who's preaching on the corner and to have prejudice about them.

The Lord, she said, ministers to people in unique ways, including through street preaching.

BUICK: And just because that's not something that would appeal to me doesn't mean that it's not something that would really cause someone's heart to melt, and I've seen it.

SWEEZER: How are you doing today?

Back on the sidewalk, Sweezer keeps trying to strike up conversations.

WOMAN: Hi. I have an appointment, I’m sorry.

SWEEZER: At Planned Parenthood?

WOMAN: Yeah.

A handful of people come over to talk. Some are there for routine visits or STD testing. At least one is there because she’s thinking about aborting her baby.

WOMAN: I don’t even believe in it, but I have so much goin’ on. My money, I can’t afford—I’m just, you know. I have a lot going on.

Sweezer offers to buy her pregnancy tests. He tells her about adoption.

SWEEZER: So I just want to plead with you—make the commitment today to trust God and trust that he'll provide for you, but I'm literally here to be God's hands and feet to help provide for you.

A couple minutes later, she still walks into the building. Sweezer wants to see babies—like that woman’s—saved. But spiritual conversations take priority.

SWEEZER: I definitely feel like I've found my sweet spot, or what the Lord wants me to be doing out here. Just always gospel centered, always rushing to the cross because it's the power of salvation. You can save a baby, but they can both go to hell if they don't know Jesus.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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