Red Envelope Project Campaign Founder Surprised by Huge Pro-Life Response

From http://lifenews.com/nat4837.html


Red Envelope Project Campaign Founder Surprised by Huge Pro-Life Response

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 13, 2009

Email RSS Print

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Christ Otto has spent the past 21 years of his life in ministry founding churches and working as everything from a pastry chef and worship leader to a hotel clerk and vocal coach. Little did he know he would become best known around the country as the founder of the Red Envelope Project.

Inspired during a prayer, Otto came up with the idea of sending red envelopes to President Barack Obama to protest his pro-abortion policies.

As he tells LifeNews.com, what started out as an email request to 120 of his ministry friends and supporters turned into a nationwide phenomenon that could result in hundreds of thousands of pro-life envelopes heading to the White House.

"Three weeks ago I was doing my usual routine of prayer, Bible study, and quietly listening to God. Usually I begin the day with 'Lord, what’s on your agenda today?'" he explained.

"That day, my mind wandered a little, and I imagined hundreds of red envelopes in the mail room of the White House. On the back, a simple message stating that each envelope represented an innocent life lost. I took that idea, and sent it in an email to my 120 ministry supporters. They in turn, sent it to their friends," Otto added.

The rest, as they say, is history.

There are now three web sites supporting the grassroots effort, countless blogs, and two Facebook groups based on Otto's idea.

"From the sketchy information I have found, I am estimating at least 100,000 have been sent so far," he said. "Who says one person can't make a difference?"

Since the original email, some have changed the plea and referred to Otto as a woman or a friend of the sender of the email.

Others have embellished it with requests to put pro-life literature in the envelope or action alerts asking people to also contact members of Congress or send envelopes to them as well.

Otto appears amused by the developments but says he hopes people will focus on the basis of the red envelope project.

"This is not about politics, it’s about changing one man’s heart," he says about Obama. "And if that one man can change then maybe others can too, and maybe there still is hope."

"For me, this has been a living parable of my philosophy of life and ministry, : 'Listen to the Lord, and do what He tells you,'" Otto tells LifeNews.com. "I was not expecting such a dramatic outcome."

Related web sites:
Red Envelope Project - http://www.redenvelopeproject.org
Send a Red Envelope - http://SendARedEnvelope.org
Red Envelopes for Life - http://RedEnvelopesForLife.org