A PRAYER WARRIOR FIGHTING FOR HER COUNTRY

Featuring Karen Pennington, CO State Director of Concerned Women for America

Karen Pennington is the Colorado State Director of Concerned Women for America (CWA). Her journey with CWA began in the late 1980s when she attended a Prayer/Action Chapter as a young mother. In 2020, driven by her concerns about the country's direction and the lack of conservative female voices in Colorado, she started her own Prayer/Action Chapter.

Pennington is an active advocate in her community, regularly speaking at county school board meetings on topics such as equity education, critical race theory, and charter schools. She has also developed a collaborative program between local pregnancy centers and churches to educate teens, women, and men on issues related to unplanned pregnancies and sexual health.

With a strong background in nursing, Karen has spent 47 years in the medical field. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Illinois-Chicago, a Master's in Nursing Outcomes, and a Ph.D. in Nursing Research and Philosophy of Science from the University of Colorado. She recently retired after 16 years as a professor and interim dean at Regis University-Denver's School of Nursing. Currently, she teaches as an affiliate professor at Regis University School of Nursing and Colorado Christian University Department of Nursing.

Karen is also deeply involved in legislative advocacy, representing CWA on pro-life and pro-family issues at the Colorado legislature. She is committed to prayer as a powerful tool for spiritual battles and aims to provide a biblical perspective on current political issues in Colorado. Her leadership has served several women and families in Colorado through her prayer and her work, serving God by serving the community and her country. 

Knowing that the socio-political landscape is a difficult territory for women to approach, Pennington has encouraged many women to take action in the concerns present in the country, with prayer as her weapon, covered with grace, and guided in wisdom. 

A LIFE MINISTER CHANGING BIOGRAPHIES

Featuring Gary Ivory, President and CEO of Youth Advocacy Programs

Gary Ivory is a leader who ministers through his life serving others, seeking not to change young people’s behaviors but their biographies. Led by his faith and lessons learned throughout his life, Ivory finds ways to impact people’s lives everywhere he goes. 

Coming from a background where poverty was a highlight, Ivory saw the hardships of life in different ways. Knowing what it is like to work for a meal to seeing three of his siblings be part of the penitentiary system. From an early age, he understood the different complications the youth faced personally, communally and even within the society as a whole. 

Even walking through the different battles that were presented to him, he was able to find solace in the Spring Hill Missionary Baptist church, where he was able not only to support himself and his faith but start a life of ministry that characterizes his lifestyle and core values. Part of his ministry consisted of being a chaplain in hospice care and in a maximum-security prison, tied to his desire to serve God by serving the people in some unconventional ways. 

In 1992 he started his career at Youth Advocacy Programs (YAP) after graduating from the Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. Although YAP is not a faith-based organization, Ivory has learned to serve in his ministry through the work that he does. His belief that everyone benefits from the good future of the youth has led him to form partnerships and connections across the United States, Sierra Leone and Australia. Helping around 20,000 families a year, Ivory is a great impact for those who are facing the same challenges he did when he was younger. His life has been an example to those wanting to change their own lives and the ones who want to help others have a greater future. 

His position is not just about advocacy and influence, but of relationship building and the creation of better opportunities for the youth, their families and their communities.