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Last night, I joined the monthly prayer meeting of Little Life, a local Christian pro-life ministry. The guest speaker was a young woman from my church. She shared her experience as a social worker, and how God led her to do pro-life ministry with Little Life during the past year. We spent time praying for Little Life, and also for Hong Kong's government and various social welfare organisations.

God has opened doors for Little Life to have a big impact, especially for the moms they serve. Please pray for their ministry to prosper!

For me, one way to invest in East Asia’s pro-life movement is by talking about it. Let me explain.

I can’t do a lot of things.  But something I know I can do is to shine a light on the beautiful stories and “pro-life testimonies” I hear about. And I can also shine a light on the darker issues—on the various aspects of the “culture of death”—and give wider social, historical, and political context for talking about them.

It’s easy to talk in general terms—with broad statements about the draconian family planning policies in China and Vietnam, or forced abortion in various places, or gendercide, etc.

But the reality is that, in some ways, East Asia’s social problems aren’t as terrible as people think.

And in some ways, they’re actually far worse.

For most people, though, it’s just not easy to take these issues seriously enough to really understand them, and to talk about them as though they’re solvable.

That’s one of my goals for creating the Asia for Life podcast. I can’t solve all the legal, political, social, and demographic problems. But, I can at least enable people to think about them, and talk about them. And if that happens—if enough people are willing not to just to worry and complain, but to actually understand, discuss, and take some action—then I think that will be a win for everyone.

Here’s a “rough draft”. It’s messy, and I hesitated to share this right now. But if you’re interested, and if you have stories or topics that you’d like me to cover, your input is welcome!

You might be wondering—who listens to podcasts? It's still a fairly new platform. But this month, roughly 100,000,000 people will listen to at least one podcast. This week, the average podcast listener will consume approximately 5 hours 39 minutes of podcast content. (Source: Edison Research)

If you don’t listen to podcasts, there's a chance you'll start soon. It’s a rapidly growing platform that shows no sign of slowing down.

Yesterday, I spoke with a “podcast coach”, who helps non-profits with audio and recording needs. I’ll be focusing this month on setting up the “Asia for Life Podcast”, and will share what I’ve got for you by next month. I believe this is an important project, and that it will be a more productive long-term platform than either YouTube or other social media platforms. I would appreciate your prayers this month as I work on this.

Right now is an important time financially. God has provided in so many remarkable ways since I moved to Hong Kong in 2012. But since I started Asia for Life a few years ago, I’ve mainly relied on just several monthly donors.

I recently heard from my largest donor that it’s time for them to retire, and so they have to end their monthly donation soon. This is a large part of my budget, and I will need to find new financial partnerships, soon, in order to continue Asia for Life next year.

Please contact me if you'd like to talk about financial sponsorship, a speaking opportunity at your church or pro-life group--or anything else.

You can find all giving info here, for giving in Hong Kong, the U.S., or elsewhere.

It's an especially busy month--there's really a lot going on. I'd appreciate your prayers for me, and also for my wife, that we can handle all we have going on, without having to take any sick days! : )

And finally, we've gotten everything in order for the funeral ceremony for Mercy. With all the delays we've experienced, it's hard to believe it's finally happening. But if all goes as planned, we will have a small ceremony tomorrow morning, at the cemetery near our home.

God bless you, and thank you for your prayers.

--Joe