Summit VIII - LIVE Webstream Available!

Can't make it to SummitVIII this year? 

For the first time ever, Summit’s plenary sessions and certain other special features will be web streamed live on May 3 and 4!

Admittedly, there’d be no way to capture the full in-person experience online (and aren’t able to offer the closing night concert with Steven Curtis Chapman).  But the webstream will still provide a meaningful window for your friends and other advocates into some of the rich content that you’ll be encountering firsthand at Summit VIII. 

You may also want to invite your pastor and church staff to join online Friday, May 4, for the Pastor’s Track workshops with Rick Warren, Dr. Russell Moore and Alex Kennedy.

The Forgotten Initiative: Advocate Highlight

My journey to becoming a Forgotten Initiative Advocate has been full of uncertainty, setbacks, and answered prayers.  Every time I look back on the events of my life, I feel as if God has been leading me here all along. 

He opened my eyes to the orphan crisis while I was still in High School.  I knew very early in my Christian life that He was calling me to care for these forgotten children.  Originally, I was bound and determined to move to Africa and work in one of the orphanages there.  After meeting my husband, Ryan, we both felt that God was telling us that Africa was not His plan for our lives.  He had something for us here, in our own backyard, but we had no idea what it was.

We knew that adoption was in our future, but had decided that we would have biological children before adopting any others.  God had other plans.  Shortly after we were married in 2009, we suffered two grueling miscarriages.  In our despair, He gave us a verse that will forever shape our lives, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but one day you will understand.” John 13.7.  After months of prayer, God spoke loud and clear that His plan was for us to adopt and not wait.  He changed our hearts and showed us that adoption is not a plan B, but that our adopted child will be exactly the child that He designed for our family.  Nine months later, we brought home a beautiful baby girl through adoption. 

Since then, God has continued to open my eyes and show me the immense need for foster and adoptive parents in our community.  As my heart grew for these children, I found myself wanting to do something more.  We felt the pull of our hearts towards foster care.  The more I learned about the foster care community and its brokenness, the less I was able to sit still and do nothing.  I wanted desperately to help, but had no idea how just one person could tackle the huge needs of the foster care community. I stumbled across The Forgotten Initiative on a friend’s blog post one day and realized that this was exactly what God had been preparing my heart for all of these years.

Anna Shumpert:  Forgotten Advocate – Columbia, South Carolina

To get involved in Columbia, SC, email Anna at tfi.columbia@gmail.com and “Like” Anna’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/tfi.columbia to stay up to date on local needs!

Interested in starting The Forgotten Initiative in your area?  To learn more about becoming a Forgotten Advocate, please email info@theforgotteninitiative.org

Family Friday: Steve & Kim

 

We have been blessed to partner in fundraising with Steve & Kim as they brought home their precious daughter Charis from Zambia. Listen in as they share some of their journey...

As we walked through the adoption process, we were grateful for the people who approached us asking if they could help. Lifesong became an invaluable partner for us, establishing an avenue for our friends and family to surrounded and support us in our mission to bring home our wonderful daughter. 

We were impressed by the responsiveness and the flexibility Lifesong offered. Once we got the clearance to travel, things moved quickly. Lifesong responding by dispersing monies very quickly. Zambia is not like adopting from other countries. The staff at Lifesong were great to work with because they were willing to adapt procedures to match the uniqueness of the process.

Adopting Charis was the most amazingly wonderful and painful experience all wrapped up into one. The process was a mess. Yet, through it, we constantly saw God’s timing and perfect plan from lodging to “just happening” to meet the one person who could get a document processed quickly.

We praise God for his protection and provision.

Thank you Steve & Kim for partnering with Lifesong--it was our JOY to be just a small part of this incredible journey that God led you on. We commit you and your family to God in prayer...that He would continue to show Himself to each of your hearts and that your family could be a picture of the gospel to those you meet.

Construction, Sponsorship & Stories - Lifesong Ethiopia

Please enjoy these updates from Lifesong Ethiopia...  Student Update: Meet Taretkegn Taretkegn is a nine-year-old student atLifesong Ethiopia. He was very young when both of his parents died.  His grandmother cared for him until he was four and then he went to live with an aunt who had the means to support him. Taretkegn eventually got to go to school.  This year he is in the first grade and loves it!  Soccer is his favorite sport, so he's always looking forward to recess.  In the classroom, math is his preferred subject.  Taretkegn holds the dream of becoming a doctor someday. Taretkegn is very thankful for the opportunity to go to school.  He wants to tell everyone from Lifesong that he loves you.  Construction Update: Ziway & Adami Tulu The two-story 14-room building at the Ziway Primary School is ready for the second-story. The workers are preparing to pour the floor of the second story. They are using eucalyptus poles which will support either plywood or metal to form the ceiling. The four-classroom additional school building at Adami Tulu is racing toward completion, with the roof on, the stuccoing of the walls underway, and the forming up of the support for the veranda. Child Sponsorship Update: We are thankful to have 119 of our children sponsored! If you are interested in supporting one of the remaining 70 students, please visit the Sponsorship Website.

Family Friday: Scott & Alison

Listen in as Scott & Alison, Lifesong adoptive parents, share their journey of brining home Ethan and Levi from Ethiopia.

Without a doubt, God's provision with our adoption expenses was one of the most amazing aspects to our adoption process. We had fellow adoptive families advise us to make a financial plan for our adoption but then also to step out in faith and watch and see how the Lord would provide. By the end of our adoption, nearly $20,000 had been donated toward our adoption! Unbelievable! A true Miracle!

We believe that partnering with Lifesong encouraged family in donating toward our adoption.  Many were glad to see their money go directly to an organization and their funds used towards only our adoption expenses. 

Thank you Lifesong for partnering with us and making our adoption a reality!