Signal Tribune Newspaper

From left: Al Howard, Judy Howard, Scott Blumenthal and Abner Rivera, with the mural painted by Rivera and other artists

Photo and story by Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer

Abner Rivera is still celebrating the life of his son Anthony, who was born five-and-one-half years ago. Rivera tells everyone that God saved his son’s life by bringing his pregnant girlfriend to His Nesting Place– a ministry that persuaded her to not have an abortion. Recently, as an expression of thanks to God and to the ministry, Rivera and some other artists painted a mural on the wall of the building where his girlfriend changed her mind.
In early 2004, Rivera’s sweetheart, 14-year-old Laura, had already decided to terminate her pregnancy. But when she went to the abortion clinic, someone asked her to go see a video at the ministry’s Pregnancy Counseling Center on the corner of Market Street and Elm Avenue in North Long Beach. The video persuaded her to change her mind.
The mural features a lion with a baby riding on its back. According to Rivera, the lion symbolizes Jesus Christ, referred to as “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” in the Bible. The baby on the lion’s back has the face of Rivera’s son, Anthony.
“My son’s birth changed my life,” Rivera said. “It made me realize that I had to be serious about life and become more focused.”
The Knights of Columbus paid for the mural, which was done under the auspices of Dreams and Visions Art Company, a Long Beach-based business that produces portraits, reproductions, murals and graphics. Scott Blumenthal, who owns the company with his wife Christi, just happens to be Laura’s father.
“God really blessed us by bringing my grandson Anthony into the world,” he said. “It was a life-changing experience for all of us.”
Dr. Al Howard and his wife Judy founded His Nesting Place 26 years ago. “We started out as a church named Confirmed Word Faith Center 38 years ago, and we still are a church,” Howard said. “But our ministry changed drastically in 1983 when I went to a prayer conference in Los Angeles.” At that conference, he believed that God was telling him to rescue unborn children from abortion. Soon afterwards, he changed his church’s name to His Nesting Place and began a concerted effort to persuade pregnant women to not have abortions.
The church is non-denominational and works with many churches in the area.
“We have housed over 6,000 mothers and children since 1983,” Howard said. “We have a large housing complex for women, children and babies. We can safely say that since 1983 we have saved the lives of over 3,000 babies that would have died by abortion.”
The church’s Pregnancy Counseling Center is part of the ministry’s complex that occupies the buildings on all four corners of Market Street and Elm Avenue. The complex includes living quarters for pregnant women as well as apartments for single moms and their children. “On a daily basis we take care of about 15 women and 35 children,” Howard said.
In the counseling center alone, the church has talked more than 2,000 women out of having an abortion. “We have done that by simply showing them a film that shows an actual abortion,” Howard said. “Once they see that, they realize that the fetus inside of them is a real, living baby.”
The church also gives diapers, cribs, clothes and other supplies to needy moms or moms-to-be.
His Nesting Place staff reaches out to pregnant women in many ways. “They come to us from many walks of life,” Howard said. “The police and social services agencies bring some. People refer them to us by word of mouth. But we also have a vigil at the abortion clinic located on Long Beach Boulevard. We have talked hundreds and hundreds of women out of going in and allowing us to share with them.”
Christine Mata and her children have lived in the His Nesting Place housing facilities for two-and-a-half years. “I came here with nothing but the clothes on my back and eight months pregnant,” she said. “I was in a domestic-violence situation, and I had been using drugs for 12 years.”
She explained that she sneaked away from the baby’s father because he was constantly beating her, and the staff at His Nesting Place welcomed her with open arms.
She added that after proving to her brother that she was no longer on drugs, he and his wife gave her back custody of her three older children. “I love this place,” she said, explaining that God had used His Nesting Place to give her back her life and her children. “At one time, abortion was a form of birth control for me, and I didn’t think anything of it,” Mata said. “But now I know that unborn babies are alive. They are God’s children and it is very wrong to kill them.”
The church also helps the women get job training and education. Now, in addition to rearing her four children, Mata is attending Cerritos College for criminal justice and no longer using drugs. She has her own car, works at the church thrift store and is training to be a house manager for the ministry. “All that we do here is funded by donations and sales made at our thrift store, which is located at 326 East Market Street,” Howard said. He added that the ministry does not get any financial assistance from the federal, state or local governments.
“For the last 26 years I have felt that what we do here is really the job of the church,” Howard said. “My prayer is that the church will eventually become the safe haven for pregnant women and their children.”
His Nesting Place is a community church and its services are open to all. The main service is at 10am on Sunday mornings. A program designed to help people overcome drug habits takes place at 7pm on Tuesday nights. The church is having its annual fundraising dinner on September 24 in Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach. His Nesting Place is located at 350 East Market Street.

More Information
(562) 422-2137
www.hisnestingplace.org