Building Successful Stepfamily Conference is May 14-15

Reduced Price Stepfamily Conference Registration Ends in 3 Days!

Only 3 days left to register at the reduced price for the Building a Successful Stepfamily Conference!


Together, let’s change the breakdown* of the family in Oklahoma!

Marriage Network Oklahoma along with several** other organizations and churches is bringing Stepfamily expert Ron Deal to OKC to present a seminar to guide stepfamilies into stronger marriages and families.

Building a Successful Stepfamily Conference

Dates: May 14, 6:30-9:30, May 15, 8-12:30

Cost: $65/person through Friday, May 7; $15 for spouse or fiancé

$30 discount for military, 1st responders, and students (family counseling and/or ministry students)

$85/person May 8-14, $15 for spouse/fiancé

For more details and to register go to www.marriagenetworkok.net


*Oklahoma and Arkansas have the highest rates of men and women who have been married three times or more, twice the national average.

** Also sponsoring: Oklahoma Family Policy Council, Focus on the Family, Mardel, Hobby Lobby, Burbridge Foundation, Oklahoma Christian University, Living Well, Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, Bott Radio, Portland Avenue Baptist Church, Emmaus Baptist Church, North Church, and many others.

What others are saying:

"Listen to this guy. He knows what he's talking about." Dr. Kevin Leman

“Successful Stepfamilies is the most highly practical program I know for helping couples who are dealing with the common struggles of stepparenting." Dr. Gary D. Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages

"Ron Deal has developed a highly insightful and practical seminar that has impacted the lives of thousands...This is a must series and I'm delighted to recommend it." Dr. H. Norman Wright, Director, Christian Marriage Enrichment, author of over 60 books on the Christian family

"Ron Deal is a true minister to stepfamilies. His professional expertise, love for the Lord, and his compassionate heart make for a perfect platform from which to teach remarried couples how they can successfully combine their families in healthy ways. It is no secret that these families face countless complications and with the help of Ron Deal, they will be better equipped to face them head on and be stronger because of it." Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, authors of Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts

"This seminar may have just saved our marriage. We weren't able to discuss our problems without extreme conflict. We talked calmly for two hours last night. Thank you for doing this seminar." Seminar Participant

For more details and to register go to www.marriagenetworkok.net

Injunction to be Issued by Judge Today on Oklahoma's New Ultrasound Law

Oklahoma County District Judge Noma Gurich has told attorneys she will issue an injunction later this afternoon to stall implementation of Oklahoma's new ultrasound law. The law was approved by a three-fourths vote of the Oklahoma Legislature last week, not withstanding the prior veto of Gov. Brad Henry.

Oklahoma's three abortion clinics had reportedly been complying with the law, which required ultrasounds and descriptions to women of the gestational development of their unborn children prior to any abortion, but their compliance will no longer be required once the injunction takes effect later today.

Judge Gurich's injunction will remain in place pending the outcome of litigation by pro-life and pro-abortion forces regarding the constitutionality of HB 2780, to begin later this year.

Glenn Beck, David Barton to Devote TV Time to America's Founders

Broadcaster Glenn Beck is introducing a new series on his Fox News Channel TV program beginning tomorrow: Founding Father's Friday. David Barton, president of Wallbuilders in Aledo, Texas, will be Glenn's guest each Friday. This Friday (April 30) learn more about the amazing Samuel Adams, who once said: "Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the character of public men."

Don't miss it every Friday at 4 p.m. only on the Fox News Channel!

Also, a previous blog entry (click here) described the upcoming excellent series of lectures on The Founders' Legacy of Freedom by OCPA Senior Fellow Dr. J. Rufus Fears. These lectures will be presented each Monday in May beginning at 6 p.m., in the Hardemann Auditorium, inside the Garvey Center, on the Oklahoma Christian University campus in Edmond/north OKC. The first lecture starts this next Monday, May 3rd.

You'll want to take advantage of these wonderful opportunities to learn more about America's Founding Fathers!

Oklahoma House Votes to Override Gov. Henry's Vetoes

A bipartisan group of Oklahoma House members voted overwhelmingly today to override two gubernatorial vetoes of pro-life bills.


Gov. Brad Henry vetoed two pro-life bills Friday, and the House voted to override at the first opportunity Monday.

“I am proud that the House moved quickly in support of the sanctity of life by overriding the veto of these important pieces of pro-life legislation. This is clearly not a partisan issue,” said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. “We must move to stop the degradation of human life seen in recent years and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.”

House Bill 2780, by state Rep. Lisa Billy, requires that doctors provide women information obtained from an ultrasound prior to performing an abortion.

Although ultrasounds are already routinely conducted immediately prior to an abortion, those pictures and the information obtained from the ultrasound are not provided to women.

“This legislation does nothing more than give women as much information as possible before they make the life-altering decision to have an abortion,” said Billy, R-Purcell. “I don’t want a single woman to go through the life-long torture of having an abortion without having all the relevant information.”

Research has shown that many women, after seeing an ultrasound, will opt to have a child. The House voted 81-14 to override the governor’s veto, which was above the three-fourths vote required.

The House also voted to override the veto of House Bill 2656, by state Rep. Dan Sullivan, which makes it illegal to sue a doctor claiming “wrongful birth” because the doctor failed to convince the mother to abort a child.

“This bill simply states that a doctor cannot be sued based on the opinion after birth that a child would have been better off if he or she had been aborted,” said Sullivan, R-Tulsa. “A bipartisan coalition of members supported this bill the first time, and I am pleased they did again today.”

The House voted to override the veto 84-12, again well above the three-fourths of the body required to override.

Both bills will return to the Senate for override consideration.

(Source: Oklahoma House Media Division)

Gov. Brad Henry Considers Pro-Life Bills

Gov. Brad Henry is now considering whether to support or veto several pro-life bills, which recently were passed in the state Senate. The governor's phone number is (405) 521-2342.

Although he recently supported three other pro-life bills in early April, it is unclear what he will do this time. Of course, pro-life Oklahomans hope he will support these bills, too. But, if he chooses to veto the latest round of bills, an attempt to override his veto will be attempted.

The following Senate Democrats voted for the bills, and their support to override any veto may be needed:

Sen. Randy Bass - District 32 - Lawton

Sen. Sean Burrage - District 2 - Claremore
Sen. Kenneth Corn - District 4 - Poteau
Sen. Mary Easley - District 18 - Tulsa
Sen. Jerry Ellis - District 5 - Valliant
Sen. Earl Garrison - District 9 - Muskogee
Sen. Jay Paul Gumm - District 6 - Durant
Sen. Tom Ivester - District 26 - Elk City
Sen. Charlie Laster - District 17 - Shawnee
Sen. Susan Paddack - District 13 - Ada

Oklahomans for Life is encouraging Oklahomans to contact the above legislators to thank them for their past support and to encourage them to support any veto override attempt, should it become necessary.

Wisconsin Judge Declares National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional

The annual National Day of Prayer is May 6. Declared by President Harry S Truman in 1952 and set by Congress and President Ronald Reagan in 1988 as the first Thursday of each May, the National Day of Prayer is a uniquely American day.

Five days ago, a federal district judge in Wisconsin declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional because it allegedly violates the supposed separation of church and state.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb (W.D.-Wis.) wrote, "the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”

The judge's reasoning would surprise this nation's Founders, who, you will remember, at the urging of patriot and Massachusetts delegate Samuel Adams, then known as "the famous Adams," held an official two-hour prayer meeting during the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It would surprise the entire House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, which officially set a Day of Prayer, Fasting, and Humiliation for its Virginia citizens, to stand alongside their Boston countrymen, when the British forces were first closing Boston harbor to enforce a blockade by King George, III.

It would also surprise the supposed Deist Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who offered an official resolution, which called for regular morning prayers to Almighty God as the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia worked to draft our Constitution in 1787.

It would especially surprise Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and a host of other U.S. Presidents who have called for official National days of prayer and fasting throughout our 400-year history. It would also be a surprise to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who called for National prayer during the June 6th, 1944, D-Day invasion of Europe. Our entire history and nation is both an example and an answer to prayer.

Despite the judge's uncalled-for concerns about official acts by government, the National Day of Prayer is an entirely voluntary event. You are invited to pray -- not mandated to join your fellow citizens in prayer.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer, said, "No judge can stop us from praying for our country and I pray that on May 6, millions of Americans will join me in praying for our President, all of our elected leaders, and even for this unjust judge and all those who rule from the bench—that God would guide them and give them wisdom.”

You can attend the National Day of Prayer observance at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Thursday, May 6, beginning at 11:30 a.m.