Last Sunday (Jan. 19), as churches throughout America honored the sanctity of human life, Daniel Ritchie shared his powerful story at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. Ritchie, born without arms 40 years ago, urged listeners to stand in the gap for life, just as his father did for him.
In the delivery room in 1984, Ritchie arrived armless, to everyone’s surprise, and also struggled to breathe. But when the doctor asked Ritchie’s dad if he should just “let him go,” the new father chose life, urging all necessary actions to bring back his son.
“There’s no way in the world my dad could have imagined what God has brought about” through that one decision, said Ritchie. The married father of two, who has an in-demand speaking ministry, said, “Because of that one sentence, I get the opportunity every year to literally share the gospel with millions of people.”
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Prestonwood, led by Senior Pastor Jack Graham, has had a pregnancy center since 1991. During Sunday’s services, people involved with the center shared how it has changed their life. Ritchie, who will speak at Prestonwood’s men’s conference on Jan. 24, has “no arms but his feet are beautiful carriers of the gospel,” according to a post from Graham.
This is Daniel Ritchie preaching in our Prestonwood pulpit….no arms but his feet are beautiful carriers of the gospel. God spared his life at birth when his father told the doctor to fight for his life tho the doc asked do you want me to just let him go…An amazing man ….you… https://t.co/e7XNc4c4R7
— Jack Graham (@jackngraham) January 23, 2025
Daniel Ritchie: ‘God Is the Author of Life’
Preaching on John 1:1-5, Daniel Ritchie emphasized that “God is the author of life” and that true life is found in Jesus, the Word. “Jesus is our light, our life, our everything,” he said. “Our very personhood hangs on the person and work of Jesus Christ. We look to him to know and understand what our value, what our worth, and what our calling is.”
Ritchie continued, “We’re not a collection of cells. We’re not some accidental, spontaneous creation.” Because God made each person “fearfully and wonderfully,” he said, “there are no accidental image-bearers in this room.”
While growing up, Ritchie doubted God’s plans, wondering, “What in the world is God going to do in an armless life like mine?” Decades later, he sees how “God is using these empty sleeves [and] the weak things of the world to shame the wise…We don’t have to come in the same package as everybody else for us to be used in the kingdom of God.”
During his sermon, Ritchie spoke about the value of pregnant women, as well. Mothers who consider abortion aren’t the enemy or monsters, he told worshipers, and the church must stop treating them as such. “They’re scared, and they have nowhere else to turn,” he said of pregnant women. Thinking the church will judge them, they “turn to Planned Parenthood because that’s the one place that welcomes them with open arms.”
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