We at Starting Point feel called to step up our investment in the lives of young fathers across our community. Pregnancy decision models and educational formats are constantly changing but our core mission to share God’s truth and love with young moms and dads never will. Because of your support, clients facing the fear and anxiety of life changing decisisions will find mentors ready to walk alongside them.
We live in an increasingly complex and fragmented society where it can be difficult to find safe relationships or to build personal, trustworthy support systems. This is where the Start Here Community comes in. Members of this community will not only find education and material support, but also the love and encouragement of staff and volunteers. The team has dedicated their lives to coming alongside those who need a listening ear, the benefit of someone else’s experience, or a safe place to process the life experiences that can be so challenging.
As we celebrate Sanctity of Human Life month, we recognize there are those among us experiencing the “forbidden grief” of pregnancy loss. Everyone knows someone, but these losses are outside the normal rules of polite society, so we rarely know what to say or do. The caring professionals at Starting Point understand and are here to help.
As stakeholders in Knox County for nearly 34 years, Starting Point is committed to educating and empowering teens and young adults to make informed decisions about their relationships and future families.
As stakeholders in Knox County for nearly 34 years, we at Starting Point would like to introduce ourselves to those who may not yet know about this life-affirming organization. We are a faith-based, non-profit Pregnancy and Family Resource Center dedicated to helping young women and men make informed decisions about their relationships and future families.
I wish this wasn’t my story, but God in His great mercy and grace has asked me to make it His story.
Forty-seven years ago, I was a scared 20-year-old student when I discovered I was pregnant. I found my way to Planned Parenthood and believed Satan’s lie, that abortion was a good solution for my problem. No one needed to know my secret and my life could go on as normal. So, I chose abortion.
Creating different social media accounts for both our clients and donors also allows us to reach and connect with the younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials), while still maintaining our relationship with the Gen X and Boomer generations.
I saw a bumper sticker recently that read, “God is pro-life.”
I certainly can’t disagree with the statement. But I also can’t help but wonder if we believers know what pro-life really means. Yes, God is for developing infants. And God is also for the poor, the abused, the neglected, the vulnerable, the abandoned and the marginalized.
I wish I could say it was pure excitement from the first ring. This time around, however, "I’d questioned. And when my phone rang less than twenty-four hours from submitting our “Yes”, I wasn’t sure what to feel but numb. My fingers shook as I answered to hear the words I’d waited so long to hear: “Jamie, she chose you.”
It was November when we knew we’d heard from the Lord about adoption. June when we purchased our new home in preparation. October when we submitted our application. Then finally, it was the beginning of July 2018 when we completed our home study and handed over our profile books to the adoption agency….
Imagine this: You are a single mother, fully responsible for the care of your two children, ages two-and-a-half and 14 months. Most weeks, you are barely scraping by as you live paycheck to paycheck. Your minimum wage job serving at the local restaurant in town covers the bills. . . barely.
You have been making it on your own for a while now, as most of your family lives out of state. You have some friends in town who offer to help, but most days they are unavailable handling their own issues. You wake up every morning feeling the undeniable weight of the day on your shoulders, as you are fully aware that the livelihood of you and your children depends solely on you.
You can do this, you tell yourself when the alarm sounds, even though you’ve been parenting on your own with no support from your children’s father…
Hello! I’m so glad you happened this way. My name is Jamie Read. My husband and I live right here in Knox county with our two young kids: Lucas and Eliana. I am the current board secretary at Starting Point and am a big fan of this ministry for so many reasons.
Fun fact: I love to sign my name “Jamie Joy”. Rest assured, it isn’t because I’m not a fan of my last name. Believe me, I’ve thanked my husband on numerous occasions for not having a long, confusing last name! (Though, of course, I would have married him either way. Probably.) No, I love to sign my middle name because of my story.
My mother was a few months pregnant with me when she lost her father suddenly. It was the next morning, as she sat grieving with my grandmother, I kicked for the first time. A few months later…
Every heartbeat pulsated in my ears as I stared at the tiny infant in my arms. He was perfect. Ten tiny fingers. Ten tiny toes. Bright shining eyes and milky skin. For months I’d been plagued by doubts and worries. In some way or another, these are common to nearly every mother’s experience. For me, however, buried beneath the mountainous erosion of inner turmoil was a single fear I wrestled with day and night. No amount of words can describe how I hated my own skin for even thinking the question: Do I want my child?
But on a warm spring morning in a hospital room, silent but for our two hearts beating, light pierced the darkened sky of my battered soul. Towers of impossibilities I’d erected in my mind melted. Healing didn’t come in an instant. But the power of darkness trembled when a single grin from my newborn baby infused purpose into this mama’s heart.
The Starting Point Boutique.
Within our community, it has become a claim to fame. Individuals from across Knox County will unload bags full of baby items to be donated for our families in need. When taking someone on a tour of our facility, it is most frequently the favorite room of them all.
The material assistance component of our services is often what draws in our pregnant clients. Many are uncertain how they will be able to provide their child with all the necessary items.
Our Boutique is a crucial puzzle piece to our ministry— one that would be impossible without the support of our volunteers who keep it all running.
To better understand this work, keep reading for a typical day-in-the-life of a Starting Point Boutique volunteer.
When a client walks through Starting Point’s doors, they know they will find open arms, welcoming smiles and listening ears. . . they will find our loving Client Advocates.
The role of the Client Advocate is a unique one. These are the wise mentors, ready to journey alongside our “Start Here” members.
There really is no predictable day for a Client Advocate. In fact, it is nearly impossible to foresee the crises they may have to talk our clients through. Yet it is a rewarding task, one that presents the most perfect opportunity to plant seeds of God’s truth and love.
To better understand the work of these individuals, keep reading for a typical day-in-the-life of our Client Advocates.
If you have attended a Knox County church within the last few weeks, you are probably familiar with our tagline “It only takes one donor filling one bottle to change one life.”
This phrase encompasses the truth and power of our Baby Bottle Campaign. In this very moment, hundreds of families in neighboring towns are actively collecting spare change to benefit the young families of Starting Point. However, it only takes one to change a life.
“How’s it going?”
“What’s happening?”
“How was your day?”
“What’s new?”
The list goes on… and on… and on… I mean, there are hundreds of ways to ask the same question, and not surprisingly enough, there are hundreds of ways to give the same answer.
Spiderman. Batman. Ironman. Superman. Captain America. Wolverine. Hulk. Thor. Wonder Woman.
I know I’m not the only superhero movie lover.
There’s just something about the way these characters save humanity that makes us want to grab some popcorn, turn off the lights, put up our feet, and press “play.” Am I right?
Most people won’t know Eric. In fact, no one on social media knew him until the Olympic Games in Rio. Eric broke the internet when his picture, shown carrying a bag of condoms, was tweeted and retweeted. He, along with other staff, were hired for the sole purpose of handing out condoms to Olympic athletes. Olympic coordinators provided 450,000 condoms this year, to serve over 10,500 athletes and staff, encouraging them to practice “safe sex.” That number is up from 150,000 that were handed out in London just 4 years earlier.
It’s summer! Next year, I’m a senior! Life as a Christian girl is good, well except maybe just this one part … I think I’m pregnant!
My monthly cycle hasn’t shown up yet. I’m scared & anxious – I mean I’m in high school & 17! I’m a “good” Christian girl, who’s not married. If I’m pregnant my life will suddenly be different.
What if we search online to get answers about where we can go to get rid of the situation? What’s this … Starting Point? I know we’re in shock & panicked but I’ll call & maybe we can go there.
I (Ashley) was scared & anxious as I stared down at the positive home pregnancy test. I was in a relatively good relationship…now, at least…but I was still suffering the memories of a past abusive relationship. Living at home with my parents, & not having any extra money, I thought, “How could I possibly care for a baby?” I didn’t think there was any way I could be a good mom. So, in my fear & panic, I decided if there wasn’t a heartbeat yet, I would definitely get an abortion. It felt like my only option.
