About Us

To tell the story about how Beyond The Pews For Life started, one has to travel back several years when John Lewis and his wife Laura moved to Memphis to begin their married life in 1996. For seventeen years John & Laura and their family would intimately learn the city of Memphis through church, college, work, and community. Much of their time in Memphis was spent yearning for the time when it would be appropriate to relocate back to John’s hometown of Lexington, Tennessee. The opportunity to pick up their established life and move “back home” came in September of 2013 when the Lord opened a door to facilitate their move back to the Lewis family farm. Grateful for the opportunity to live in a small town and be closer to extended family is an understatement. Nearly eight years have passed since the move and the four Lewis children are swiftly becoming independent and as such, more time is available for ministry.

The passion against abortion is not a new-found conviction for the Lewis family. All six of them first stood on the sidewalk outside of Planned Parenthood in Memphis in the fall of 2010 as a part of a ‘40 Days for Life’ campaign. Promoting pro-life political candidates and standing against abortion advocates has been a personal platform of John for decades. That conviction FOR LIFE has only grown through the years and John now feels like abortion ministry is a burning platform for Christ followers and we must firmly defend and protect all LIFE, born or unborn.

During the latter part of 2020, John & Laura were introduced to a few organizations whose goals were to end abortion altogether through sidewalk counseling and other avenues of ministry and outreach. In Tennessee, one such ministry that focuses on steering women away from abortion is Operation Saving Life founded by Pastor Scott Hord. Scott and others stand outside the Planned Parenthood in Nashville each weekday pleading with folks to turn away from getting an abortion and turn to the gospel of Jesus for the HOPE that only He can bring. John followed Scott’s updates on Facebook, and felt compelled to support Scott’s efforts to rescue lives from death. In January, 2021, John first joined Scott Hord on the sidewalk to learn what goes on and how his ministry differs from other sidewalk ministries.

The next six months would become foundational for a ministry for which God had been preparing John since he first moved to Memphis. As John stood on the sidewalks and observed Scott and his team, one of the predominant lessons learned was that the Gospel applies to all people and that effective sidewalk counseling is “bigger than abortion.” Scott’s model was one that “engaged” the community and shared the LOVE of Jesus with everyone, not just those seeking abortion. Meeting physical needs and praying with strangers is not uncommon on the streets of Nashville in front of Planned Parenthood. John was convicted that the reason that Scott’s ministry had been successful to reach hundreds of women who subsequently chose LIFE for their unborn children was the fact that his communication was first and foremost rooted in LOVE. The LOVE of Jesus when applied to hopeless situations is like a healing balm. LOVE goes hand-in-hand with TRUTH. Sometimes the most loving thing a person can do is to tell someone the truth, even if it hurts. Honest, truthful conversations from a loving heart must also exhibit HUMILITY in order to reach those who find themselves in desperate situations at abortion clinics. Outreach must demonstrate all three attributes – LOVE, TRUTH, and HUMILITY – to effectively communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people.

As John became more familiar with Scott Hord and Operation Saving Life, he felt led to step out on faith and replicate Scott’s model of sidewalk ministry on the streets of Memphis. Seventeen years spent in and around the city of Memphis prepared John to meet the needs of the people of Memphis and the Mid-South. When he stands outside the Planned Parenthood in Memphis this time (11 years after his first sidewalk experience), he is boldly and humbly engaging the community with the LOVE and TRUTH of Jesus and meeting needs of all people, because the battle for the soul really is “bigger than abortion.”

Scott wholeheartedly encouraged John to “GO!” and by God’s grace, the organization Beyond The Pews For Life was born out of the passion to be the Church of Jesus beyond the doors of the church, and fight FOR LIFE.

…GO out into the highways and hedges, and compel them… Luke 14:23