Hope Haven Pregnancy Center in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, is appropriately named.
As the pregnancy center approaches its first anniversary on Aug. 1, Hope Haven is living up to its mission of removing the need for abortion by “providing hope, help and healing” by meeting “the practical, emotional and spiritual needs of families facing an unplanned pregnancy crisis” in Lawrence County and surrounding communities.
Tiffany Huskey, director of Hope Haven and member of New Prospect Baptist Church, Lawrenceburg, knows what it is like to have an unplanned pregnancy, having become pregnant at the age of 15.
She had what many young women facing similar situations do not have — a loving and supportive family. “I have often thought about that throughout my life of how my situation could have been a lot different if I had not had the family and support that I had,” she said.
“So, I’ve always had a heart for families in this kind of situation,” Huskey added.
‘Wouldn’t let go’
Huskey shared that one day she talked with a woman who ran a pregnancy care center and that was where the idea for a center in Lawrenceburg began to form.
“It was something that I had no idea of what to do, but it was something that I prayed about and prayed about and God just really wouldn’t let me let go of it.
“And, then it’s just been really neat to watch everybody fall into place with Hope Haven. I didn’t know most of the board until this got started. So I would like to say I went out and found all these people, but really they just came to me.”
Among those who came was Howard Kitter, pastor of Summertown Baptist Church in Summertown.
“God placed a vision and passion in Tiffany’s heart,” he affirmed.
Huskey said a group worked on beginning the center for several months before it opened last August.
The center has been embraced by the community, Huskey and Kitter agreed. The community has been “phenomenal” in providing a lot of resources, Kitter said, helping the center supply “diapers, wipes, clothing, food and all kinds of different things to families.”
Designed to ‘save a life’
Hope Haven has a three-prong approach, Kitter explained. “Our main objective is to save the life of the child, but also to interact and influence the life of the mother through counseling as well as the father through counseling.
“So, we’re reaching the child, the mother and the father all together. We’re looking to reach all three of them.”
He observed that all ministries are designed to meet needs of people. Hope Haven, however, “is designed specifically to initially save a life and then begin to meet needs of that life.”
In the nine months the center has been opened, Hope Haven, which is staffed totally by nonpaid volunteers, averages about six to eight clients every Monday, the only day the center is currently open.
As the center grows, they hope to add additional days and hours of operation, Huskey said.
When the center opened, it was given an “antiquated” ultrasound machine. Lawrenceburg pastor David Simmerman of Leoma Baptist Church, Leoma, knew of the need.
He also serves as a director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Working with harvest field leader Josh Franks of the TBMB, the need was submitted to Beth Moore, compassion ministries specialist for the TBMB.
“It was such an honor to partner with Hope Haven for this new ultrasound machine,” Moore said. “It really came together in a way that only God can get the credit,” she added. The ultrasound machine was provided with funds from the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions.
Dedication
The new machine was dedicated in April at Hope Haven. “This center is meeting a need that no one else in that community is meeting,” Moore said.
The new machine has already served its purpose. “We have already had two moms who came in with the intention of having an abortion who have changed their minds and chosen life,” Huskey said.
In addition to saving the lives of the unborn, Hope Haven’s staff is able to share the gospel with the parents.
“That’s our big thing,” Huskey stressed. “We obviously want to save the life of the baby, but our goal is really to share the gospel with each family that comes through our doors.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
