By God’s grace, we are getting very close to the total number of signatures we need to get the Personhood Amendment on the ballot. We have the most ground to make up in South Mississippi & the Delta, but are confident that there are more than enough pro-life Christians in these areas to get the job done if we can get the word to them,

There is some very postitive & encouraging news to share from these areas.

First Temple Baptist — a large church in Hattiesburg, invited us to come help them get signatures on the 10th & 17th of Jan. (a picture of our team there is above). This is the best way to get signatures. If your church (large or small) has not done a petition drive, please have them do it this week or next. If they have, please contact people you know or the pastor of every church in your area and encourage them to join the effort ASAP.

Then, Lt. Gov Phil Bryant recorded a call in support of Personhood that went to people across the Coast. The Sun Herald — the Coast’s largest newspaper — picked up this news and wrote a great story about Personhood (link below)
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102941073311&s=402&e=001SMPca_eqjiRsoPEFbAXPyf…

And this morning, we were interviewed in a Clarksdale radio station that covers a large part of the Delta. And two Delta churches have called wanting someone to come speak about Personhood/ gather signatures.

Praise the Lord ! ONE MONTH LEFT. Pray hard, work dilligently, give generously and trust God for thee results

Pastors Commit Sanctity of Life Sunday to Petitioning for Preborn Lives
Washington D.C., January 13, 2010 – Pastors across the nation have committed to using January 24 – traditionally Sanctity of Life Sunday – as an opportunity to put their faith in action and gather signatures for the Personhood movement.

“At First Baptist Jackson, we are thrilled to give our people the opportunity to sign a petition to put the Personhood Initiative on the ballot,” stated Pastor Stan Buckley, Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi. “Abortion – the taking of innocent human life – is one of the most important issues facing our state and our nation. We encourage more Christians and more churches to get involved in the fight for life. Getting the Personhood initiative on the ballot is a huge step because we believe the people of Mississippi, if given the opportunity, will choose life!”

Petition drives in Colorado and Mississippi are getting close to having enough signatures to put personhood amendments on the ballot. “In every Personhood campaign, churches are the key,” explained Keith Mason, cofounder of Personhood USA. “This year, we are very excited that hundreds of churches around the country will be honoring the sanctity of life.”

“By default, we are called to protect human life with our God given rights and resources,” added Pastor Adam Briggs of Damascus Road Bible Fellowship in Indiana. “Let all pastors join together and publicly declare the personhood of all human beings!”

Currently Montana, Colorado, Mississippi, Florida and California are all gathering signatures to put personhood amendments on their state’s ballot. In these states pastors can celebrate Petition for Life Sunday by collecting signatures to protect every child by love and by law.

In other states, pastors can encourage their flocks to restore the dignity of every human person, by supporting or even leading the personhood efforts in their state. Over 40 states are working towards Personhood for all human beings.

More information about Petition for Life Sunday is available at www.PersonhoodUSA.com.

“We will win the battle and restore dignity to every human person in America! Let’s use the coming sanctity of life Sunday to protect children not just in word, but also in deed by affirming their personhood rights in our law and by love,” concluded Mason.

Personhood USA is a grassroots Christian organization founded to establish personhood efforts across America to create protection for every child by love and by law. Personhood USA is committed to assisting and supporting Personhood Legislation and Constitutional Amendments and building local pro-life organizations through raising awareness of the personhood of the pre-born.

We have had a number of people contact us stating that they are confused about the deadline — saying that they had heard one date; then another; then something different. Some people have asked why we keep “Changing the Deadline” ?

Here is, for everyone, an explantion of our deadline & the different dates that you may or may not have heard :

There have been at least 4 dates published or mentioned for the deadline. . .

1) The legal deadline is & has always been Feb 13. After Feb 13 we are dead in the water. Not only will no signatures count after that date, but we will have to wait at least a year before trying again. (or even starting the process)

2) The Oct 1 deadline was self imposed & promoted because we needed to have the signatures to the Sec of State & certified by either the 3rd or 4th of Oct to have any hope of getting the amendment on the ballot next year (2010). Anything after this date, would put make us be on the ballot in 2011. We had strategic reasons for wanting to be on the ballot next year instead of 2011, but our main reason was that we didn’t find another year of child killing acceptable.

3) As far as the other deadline, I have actually heard of at least two more myself. Dec. 31 & Nov 15.
Dec 31 was a date that some folks in the logistical end came up with because it would give us a whole month to get the 100,000 or so signatures counted, organized and certified. We also hoped that if we had all the signatures by Jan we could give the legislature the opportunity to either: a) enact a personhood amendment themselves; or b) go ahead & put it on the ballot for next year. And if they didn’t we could still turn in the signatures in Feb
(We have some precident for this hope. In 2001 the signatures were gathered to put the “Flag” question on the next general election ballot — 2002 or 2003 — but the legislature wanted to get this hot potato off the table so they voted to have the people vote on it in April 2001)
As to the Nov 15 deadline, I’m not sure where that originated (?). Several people have told me they heard it on the radio. I’m not sure, but my guess would be that some of the Christian radio stations that were promoting it (or some of the folks that were working with them) just pushed the date out when they learned that we didn’t make it and wanted people to keep pushing . . . Not sure.
Make sense ? Does this help ? Feel free to email me back or call

Honor God, Love our Neighbors, Restore Justice & the Rule of Law, Turn back Judicial Usurpation join the efforts of Personhood Mississippi –
http://personhoodmississippi.com/

Friends of Personhood.

1) Personhood got some great news coverage this week (although only half was good) .
The very popular conservative news site had a story about Personhood efforts as their lead story over the weekend
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=114423

The not so conservative Newsweek also covered us
http://www.newsweek.com/id/220442
The Newsweek piece was not as positive, but the fact that we are getting covered shows that we are making an impact.

2) And for more proof that showing people the humanity of the unborn is the way to ultimately stop abortion, this great news from Texas :
Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
http://www.breitbart.tv/planned-parenthood-leader-resigns-after-watching…

3) When we got involved in the pro-life movement there were at least five abortion clinics in Mississippi. Now there is one. Due to consistent pressure from Christians offering help, hope, & the Gospel as an alternative to the death offered at the clinic, “business” there is waning. We could be the first abortion free state !
At the same time, among all the 32 states working on Personhood measures, Mississippi is among those with the strongest opportunity to pass it.
WE CAN LEAD THE NATION ! WE CAN BE THE FIRST STATE TO OFFER PROTECTION — IN LOVE & IN LAW — TO UNBORN CHILDREN ! Humanly speaking YOU MUST GET INVOLVED FOR THIS TO HAPPEN

4) Three different sets of volunteers got hundreds of signatures each this past weekend. More churches got involved. We expect to do even better this weekend. We almost certainly will do better if we help in your area.

• We should get about 8000 or more signatures in the next week.

We still need your help. Support is growing daily & we still have hundreds of Petitions & new volunteers coming in from all over the state. But, we need to keep going.

Please get involved. Please help us get the signatures to get on the ballot & then help pass the Mississippi Personhood Amendment. Everyone reading this can help —- pass the word; everyone can give a little of their time or resources; everyone who receives this message can get a few more signatures or convince one more church/ pro-life group to get on board.

Normally I send long messages detailing all the ways you can get involved. This week I’m asking you to find events in your area & pass them on to us.
We have a huge push coming the next ten days with about 15 young people petitioning full time across the state. We are over 99% done in the first district & gaining ground in all others. We can get from 8000 to 15000 signatures, more churches & more volunteers (even more if YOU help).

YOU CAN HELP END ABORTION IN MISSISSIPPI. PLEASE GET INVOLVED. CONTACT ME IF YOU WANT TO HELP MORE & DON’T KNOW HOW.

—
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19

Personhood Mississippi
Les Riley Sponsor
662-760-8695
personhoodmississippi@gmail.com
http://personhoodmississippi.com

Please stay involved and watch for more information forthcoming