By Evan Lenow
On the day that the new ultrasound machine arrived to be installed, the previous outdated machine finally stopped working. That was the story I heard when I visited LifeClinic in Saginaw, Michigan, earlier in the summer. This was my first Psalm 139 Project ultrasound placement to attend after becoming president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, but the stories from various placements are similar. God, in His providence, made a way for an ultrasound machine to be available at just the right time through this life-saving initiative of the ERLC, and He often uses Southern Baptists cooperating together to make it happen.
This story didn’t just begin with God’s perfect timing — though that was certainly a small miracle. It actually began with His work in the churches of the Bay Area Baptist Association and their associational mission strategist, David Roberts, placing a desire in their hearts to serve their local pregnancy resource center. That center had an aging ultrasound machine that barely worked and a growing need in a community racked by abortion. Roberts and the nine churches of that association determined that something needed to be done. Undeterred by the cost of the machine, they undertook a plan to make something happen.
If the story stopped there with a local association raising money to buy an ultrasound machine, that would be great, but it gets better because more Southern Baptists cooperated to bring this dream into reality. In order to meet the financial goal, Bay Area Baptists needed help, and the Baptist State Convention of Michigan stepped up. Leveraging the resources of a larger group of churches, Michigan Baptists increased funding to purchase the ultrasound machine, but they were still short on funds. So the local association reached out to the ERLC for assistance, and we were able to funnel money donated to our Psalm 139 Project — given by Southern Baptists across the country — to complete the fundraising process so that LifeClinic could receive a new ultrasound machine.
It is amazing to see how God worked through the entire process to bring this goal to fruition. It is also a picture of how Southern Baptists cooperate. Churches in a community desired to serve the women and preborn children in their area. They banded together through their local association to put feet to the dream. But when they could not reach the financial goal on their own, they continued expanding the circle of cooperation from the association to the state convention to a national SBC entity. There is no clearer picture of Baptist cooperation than what I saw unfold in Saginaw.
Perhaps the greatest part of this story is the fact that it is just one of many similar stories across the country this year. In 2026 alone, the Psalm 139 Project assisted in placing ultrasound machines in Alabama, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Back in May, we witnessed the 100th placement in the history of the Psalm 139 Project, and it is picking up steam. We have at least four more placements that are at various stages of the process to be completed in the near future. We are quickly making our way from the first 100 ultrasound machines to the next 100. And the way we do this is by cooperating and partnering with Southern Baptists.
The churches and messengers of the Convention have been unequivocal for nearly 50 years that we take the issue of life seriously. From the 1980 resolution calling for legislation or a constitutional amendment against abortion to the 2024 resolutionaffirming the dignity of the human embryo from the earliest stages of development, Southern Baptists have made our position on life and abortion clear. The ERLC has been honored to come alongside our churches to promote a culture of life and advocate for the protection of the most vulnerable image-bearers in our society — those in the womb. Fundamentally, the role of the ERLC is to come alongside SBC churches and assist them in fulfilling their mission to reach their communities with the gospel. In this case, we are doing so by cooperating with churches to save preborn lives who are “remarkably and wondrously made” (Psalm 139:14).
Lenow is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
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