More than 100 women and girls gathered together at Ridgeline Community Church in Telford, Pennsylvania, for their spring brunch. The theme for the brunch this year was “Beauty from Ashes.”
Of the 102 in attendance, 50 percent were from our local community and do not attend Ridgeline Church.
The event began with a powerful testimony from Wendy Burpee, the executive director of Genesis Women’s Clinics in Pennsylvania where she has served for five years. The Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey helped provide resources for the event from an evangelism grant.
Burpee is a certified Biblical counselor through ACBC Biblical Counselors out of Indiana. She specializes in abortion counseling and her mission is to speak truth and life into the lives of women facing unplanned pregnancy and assist them with their journey into motherhood.
A passion for women in crisis
What drives Burpee’s passion for women in crisis is her own life story.
Although raised in a conservative Christian home, as a teenager Burpee walked away from the Lord and from her family. Even though she walked away, the Lord did not walk away from her and He faithfully pursued her.
Three abortions and two abusive relationships later, God rescued her and brought her back to Himself through a loving and caring friend from high school, who had become a pastor’s wife and had sought her out in order to reconnect with her.
This friend, working as the hands and feet of Jesus, helped restore her to God and helped her find forgiveness.
Burpee returned to her family and back into the community of believers. Her story of redemption clearly displayed God’s gracious pursuit of those enslaved by the darkness of sin.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.
