Pray for Charlie Kirk’s Family

We are deeply, deeply saddened by the news of Charlie Kirk today, who was shot and killed at a campus event in Utah. This young man was a devoted Christian who boldly spoke for our shared American values on a national scale. We are praying for his young family: his wife and two children, as they grieve. We pray that our nation may heal and turn away from political violence. 

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." - Psalm 46:1

Announcing the 2025 NDFA Legislative Session Scorecard!

We are excited to announce the release of our 2025 Legislative Scorecard for this year’s 69th Legislative Session! You should be getting a hard copy of the scorecard in your mail shortly, although you can also access the digital version if you CLICK HERE. Please spend a few minutes and see how your district legislators voted on key bills. If they voted to uphold your pro-life and pro-family values, then please thank them; if not, then we encourage you to ask them why they voted against these bills. Among other things, the legislative scorecard is intended to be an accountability publication that draws directly from factual information that is readily available through publicly accessible data.
 
We had a great legislative session this year. That is all thanks to God, the legislators who supported pro-life and pro-family values, and you. Without your tremendous financial support, prayers, and responses to our Call-to-Action requests, we would not have been able to have such a successful session. Thank you so much for all you do to protect biblical values here in North Dakota!

Marriage Matters

by Marit Heidbreder

The summer wedding season is in full swing! We recently traveled to the nuptials of one of my dear nieces on a beautiful ranch in Wyoming. It was an outdoor wedding ceremony bathed in warm sunshine with the stunning backdrop of a bubbling brook gently flowing behind the altar. The weather cooperated beautifully, and the guests were thrilled by the breathtaking flowers and thoughtful details. My sweet niece and her husband chose to save their first kiss for their wedding day – it was such a precious moment as they were pronounced husband and wife before their Creator and guests! Now the fairytale begins, right?
 
Despite appearances, many things went wrong prior to that perfect ceremony! It’s not important to share all the details, but suffice it to say that numerous struggles arose in the 24 hours leading up to the big event, including a crazy hailstorm. Maybe you can relate? Weddings can bring all kinds of stress and drama as they come with the pressure of potentially being the most important day in the life of the bride and groom.
 
As weddings are often extolled as the beginning of a fairytale life together, I appreciated the truth of the situation held within their selected Scripture and elaborated on by their minister. The couple’s wedding verse was taken from Ecclesiastes 4:12, “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”  Anyone who has been married knows that while there are countless fairytale moments, as mentioned in John 16:33b, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
 
Through the gift of Godly marriage between a man and a woman, we don’t have to face the hardships of life alone. In fact, we don’t even face them just side-by-side as a couple. Christian couples have the infinite power of Almighty God as the third strand to their cord as they navigate the joys and trials of life. It was an amazing blessing to witness this young couple’s entrance into Holy Matrimony, knowing that while they don’t know what is ahead, they do know their Creator is with them every step of the way, providing His strength and wisdom for each day! 

As my husband and I come up on our 25th wedding anniversary, I look back and remember many instances when God faithfully provided His strength and supernatural help to our circumstances. Praise God for His incomparable gift of marriage and family!

What’s Your Collar?

As you may have already guessed, this is another weekly email where I find a way to intertwine a story about our dog Annie. I’m sure there is some deep-seated issue to why I try to interpret public policy issues through the life of my dog, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time. What I want to focus on is Annie’s collar.

There is really nothing special about her collar. It’s red, has a few tags on it, and I attached an AirTag not long ago in a profound exercise of fanciful thinking that we could track her if she ever got out. It makes for a nice ornament on her collar, regardless. What’s most interesting about Annie’s collar is what it does to her when it’s taken off or put back on. This struck me again tonight as I took her collar off to wash the dirt and grime off it.

As I removed her collar, she became agitated. She started acting nervous, looking around, and nuzzled my hand holding the collar. I washed it in the sink, and all the while she stood right next to me watching. As soon as I dried it and sat back down, there she was, bumping into me to get my attention. She wanted the collar back on. As soon as I put it on her, she settled down and is now sleeping at my feet.

I regard her reaction to the collar as a holdover from when she was a rescue. She was clearly someone’s dog – she knows commands, listens carefully, understands that she shouldn’t repeat actions that get a “No”, etc. What I believe happened was that when she became pregnant with her puppies, the owners abandoned her. When they left her, they removed her collar. She was found wandering with two pups in tow and without a collar.

Now, this is just my guess at what happened, but we’ve had many dogs over the years, and none of them ever wanted the collar on, but always loved having it off. I feel sorry for Annie and what that moment must have been like for her. The final act that would forever be connected to the loss of her home and her “pack”.

I believe we all have collars of a sort. We all have things that make us feel good, while all the time they really enslave us. Perhaps it’s that new car you love, but constantly worry will get dinged in a parking lot. Or maybe it’s the attention one gets from an abusive home environment. A job that we like doing, but which slowly wears us down because of the toxic environment at our employer. I’m sure there are many more examples, but I think you get my point.

 I find that the world of public policy also has its collars. The need to prove that something bad is happening before making a law to address it (i.e., prevention is often not a familiar concept). We sometimes put up with the collars of letting bad laws get written into the Century Code because some law addressing an issue is better than none, right? It’s not just legislators, either, but those of us who lobby have our own collars. I sometimes see myself momentarily tempted to take the easy public policy approach, just to “get the win” and claim victory on some issue. Thankfully, that is not our calling or how we operate, but it sure would feel good, once in a while, to pick the easy issues.

Collars and their control over us can sometimes last a lifetime, as I’m sure it will with Annie. I wish I could help her get over her fear, but only she can do that. In the same way, you and I are the only ones who can take the first steps in shedding the collars holding us back and enslaving us.

So let’s be brave, acknowledge our collars, and ask God to help us shed them. Let’s not live in fear, but trust that God knows what’s best for us when He asks us to remove our collar. He doesn’t want us to be that lonely, unloved dog wandering the streets, but instead wants us to be safe and secure in the warmth of His love. We are part of His pack, and He’ll never abandon us.

Hope On The Horizon

by Jacob Thomsen

I have been a professional sports fan since I was very young. I fell in love with them and spent many hours as a kid pretending to be various sports stars while playing across the street with my childhood best friends.

Professional sports are incredibly popular and among some of the most popular programs on national television, with growing viewership every year. As an example, Major League Baseball (MLB) has an average viewership of 1.74 to 1.84 million viewers per game this season. This represents a large-scale increase in viewership, especially amongst young people.* Professional sports provide an opportunity to reach a wide audience, and for the last 5-10 years, they’ve been used as a soapbox for so-called “social justice.”

Since June has been deemed “Pride Month,” every team in the MLB, except the Texas Rangers, has a “Pride Night.” Some of the activities include free rainbow pride hats and t-shirts to the first 10,000 fans, drag queens throwing the first pitch, special rainbow uniforms, etc.

Recently, on June 14th, the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers hosted their Pride Night against the Kansas City Royals. Their hats donned a rainbow version of their normal “LA” logo. Although he did not pitch, one of the best Dodgers pitchers of all time, Clayton Kershaw, wrote very visibly in marker next to the logo, GEN 9:12-16.

These few passages state, “12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Seeing this gave me hope. Clayton Kershaw is a leader on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he is not afraid of standing for Biblical truths. In the middle of Los Angeles, during Pride Month, on national television, he was not fearful. He had the courage to stand for something, which is a sign of promise from God, and not agree to the misappropriation of the rainbow by the LGBTQ+ community.

Though it doesn’t get nearly as much attention, the Dodgers have also hosted Christian Faith and Family nights, some of which Kershaw has led. His leadership is a great encouragement to me as well as other Christian sports fans. While we may be surrounded by worldly things and the worship of them, we should not accept them but stand for what is right and true at all times. Not all hope is lost in the world of professional sports.

The words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16: 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Let this be an encouragement to you this June. There are brothers and sisters in Christ out there boldly sharing the truth. Even in Los Angeles, in a professional sport on national television. The rainbow is meant as a symbol of hope for the world, a promise that God instituted thousands of years ago. Let’s not hide that hope, but put it on a stand for the whole world to see.