By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Dianne Massey once supported the pro-abortion movement; however, an encounter with Christ 44 years ago changed her mindset, and now she fights for pro-life causes.
Massey said holding her own newborn son brought to reality the value of life and how God cherishes the unborn. For the next 44 years, Massey went on a journey that included involvement with women’s Bible studies and prayer groups at her church, volunteering with pro-life centers and most recently witnessing to clients of CENLA Pregnancy Center about her own personal journey.
The CPC honored Massey, Sept.17, by naming her “CENLA Pregnancy Center Volunteer of the Year” for 2023.
“Even though I had been a Christian, I was in an atmosphere of humanism in my early adult years,” Massey told the Baptist Message. “And I didn’t realize how much I was being affected by all of that as a social work major taught by all non-Christian professors and being in the middle of the feminism movement. But God used the holding of my new baby in my arms 44 years ago to help guide me to the path to being pro-life. And ever since then I have been committed to that.”
Massey, who began volunteering at the pregnancy center four years ago, serves as the front desk receptionist on Monday mornings, one of the busiest times of the week to field calls. She also places stamps on envelopes and counts money in baby bottles that individuals, churches and businesses use to collect spare change that is donated to the center. Massey also visits young mothers to help comfort them on their journeys.
She said it has been a blessing to see, first-hand, God at work in the lives of so many women.
“This place is so special,” Massey said. “You can just feel the presence of the Holy Spirit when you come in here. I can leave behind anything in my life and I can just focus on what is happening here. I feel like it is such a blessing just to be a part of this ministry. It just has God’s hand all over it.
“I see these young women come in, sometimes teens with their moms, and they are so worried and scared and anxious as they sit there in a waiting room waiting to see one of our counselors or the nurse,” she continued. “They’re given a pregnancy test and ultrasound by the nurse. Then we continue to minister to them, and they begin to see there is hope for them — that they are truly not alone. By the time they leave, they’re smiling and laughing. That never gets old, and I see it over and over again.”
Massey noted that prayer has been a driving force behind the pregnancy center.
“During our shifts, when we get abortion-minded calls, we transfer them to a one of our staff members. As soon as we hang up, we immediately pray that this precious woman will choose life for her baby,” she said. “We pray over our list of women coming in for appointments that day. We pray with staff members for other needs they may mention. And we answer heroic media calls (abortion-minded callers who have responded to a website are transferred to the closest pregnancy center). After we alert the staff member, we transfer the call, and immediately pray.
“When we are not on our shift, we get prayer alerts on our phones when a staff member is counseling an abortion-minded client,” she continued. “We also receive alerts to rejoice and thank the Lord when a mother chooses life for her baby. So, you see, everything done at the CPC is bathed in prayer.”
Kim Lyons, director of the CENLA Pregnancy Center, said Massey is among more than 20 volunteers who regularly help at the center. Weekly volunteers such as Massey agree to three-hour shiftd during clinic hours to assist staff and clients.
“Additionally, we are so blessed to offer a variety of other volunteer opportunities,” Lyons said. “For example, one can sign up to be a regular prayer warrior, where you will receive a prayer request via text when we are meeting with our most vulnerable clients. We also have our social media ambassador team and our marketing distribution team, and in September we have our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Annual Gift of Life Banquet held at the Riverfront Center, where more than 100 volunteers assist us with this phenomenal evening.”
Massey said anyone who wishes to volunteer should consider it.
“Just come and you’ll get put to work,” she said.
Connect with the CENLA Pregnancy Center at 318.314.3061 or visit the Alexandria facility at 1254 MacArthur Drive to get plugged in.
