Ministry to equip pregnancy center and church leaders to help women and men choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.

Contact: Vincent DiCaro, Care Net, 703-554-8741

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Care Net, a nonprofit ministry that supports one of the nation's largest network of pregnancy centers, kicked off its 34th annual conference this morning in the nation's capital. The conference is the nation's largest yearly gathering of pregnancy center and church leaders.

The conference theme, "The Foundation: Standing on the Cornerstone of our Faith" is based on Psalm 62:2 which says, "Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

"Care Net's desire is to get back to the foundational message of the Gospel, in the very place where the foundation of our nation began," said Roland C. Warren, president and CEO of Care Net. "The conference will be a unique combination of training, networking, resources, and refreshment that will leave attendees encouraged to continue serving those making pregnancy decisions with compassion, hope, and help."

The conference will provide pregnancy centers and churches the training and inspiration they need to continue leading the Pro Abundant Life movement, which calls for a fundamental shift in our approach to abortion, requiring a focus on four key areas: marriage, fatherhood, Christ, and culture change.

The conference will draw over 1,200 pregnancy center, pro-life, church, and ministry leaders and will offer opportunities for training and support to help attendees enhance their efforts to help women and men make tough pregnancy decisions and to get the life support they need once they make their decision.

According to Care Net's "2017 Impact Report," the organization, through its network of over 1,100 affiliated pregnancy centers, has saved 603,474 lives in the last nine years. Moreover, Care Net-affiliated pregnancy centers have provided 948,780 no-cost ultrasound scans, more than 1 million clients have received parenting support and education, more than 1.4 million people have heard the Gospel, more than 1.5 million people received material resources, and 2.5 million no-cost pregnancy tests were given at the centers in those nine years. These services, provided completely free to pregnancy center clients, saved communities over $56 million in each of the last three years, for a total of over $168 million of free services provided between 2014 and 2016. This data is collected annually from Care Net's affiliated pregnancy centers and Care Net's Pregnancy Decision Line, the only national hotline providing immediate pregnancy decision coaching.

This year's National Conference will be focused on exploring ways to optimize the compassionate care that pregnancy centers provide to their clients. Keynote speakers include Roland C. Warren, Andi Andrew, Gabe Lyons, David Nasser, and Melissa Ohden.

The conference will also provide guidance on how the movement can continue to take steps to include churches as key sites where pregnancy decision coaching can take place via Care Net's Making Life Disciples program. New promising practices will be revealed to help leaders create more effective programming aimed at engaging men and fathers around their roles and responsibilities with parenting and marriage. Moreover, Alliance Defending Freedom will host a special workshop to help pregnancy centers deal with and prepare for threats to their religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

Care Net will also hold the annual NET Talks, in which a variety of speakers will give short, inspirational talks on topics such as leadership, spirituality, marketing, and other relevant topics. This year's NET Talks include a federal government update on the pro-life movement moderated by The Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Fmr. Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia and President of the Senate Conservatives Fund.

Additionally, Care Net, through its long-standing partnership with Regent University, will award a full-ride tuition scholarship to Aigis Moukila of Frederick, MD. Aigis -- a client of Care Net Pregnancy Center of Frederick, a Care Net affiliate -- will accept her award at the banquet dinner on Friday evening. A variety of other awards will be given to centers for diverse accomplishments in offering the highest level of compassionate care to their clients.

The conference begins today and concludes Friday evening with the dinner and awards banquet. A full schedule is listed at Care Net's website.

Founded in 1975, Care Net supports one of the largest networks of pregnancy centers in North America and runs the nation's only real-time call center providing pregnancy decision coaching. Acknowledging that every human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection, Care Net offers compassion, hope, and help to anyone considering abortion by presenting them with realistic alternatives and Christ-centered support through its life-affirming network of pregnancy centers, organizations, and individuals. Learn more at www.care-net.org.