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

Upcoming Conferences! Together for Adoption & Summit VIII

Wanting to let you know of some EXCITING conferences that are coming up in the next couple months!

Together for Adoption Regional Conference -- Winston-Salem, North Carolina

April 28th, 2012 at Calvary West

Join us in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area for our first Together for Adoption Regional Conference. T4A has been called, “the theological engine of the evangelical orphan care movement.”

Our objective: to magnify the adopting grace of God the Father in Christ Jesus and to mobilize the church for global orphan care. T4A Winston-Salem will provide you with a deeper sense of God’s adopting love for you and a better understanding of how to love and care for orphaned and vulnerable children in tangible ways.

Register online: https://togetherforadoption.webconnex.com/T4A_Winston-Salem

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Orphan Summit VIII Conference -- Lake Forest, California

May 3-4, 2012 at Saddleback Church

If you've adopted or are considering adoption, Summit VIII is for you!

*Adoption Track includes a host of vital issues: cross-racial adoption, attachment & bonding, thriving marriage amidst adoption challenges, fundraising for an adoption, straight talk from adoptees, adoption medicine and much more...

*Hague Credits -- See more...

*For Moms: Women's Path (New this year! Connection, Refreshment, Relationship)

*For Dads: Men and the Cause of the Fatherless

*Pre-Summit Session with Karyn Purvis and Milan & Kay Yerkovich (Come early! See more...) 

*Unforgettable plenary sessions, Steven Curtis Chapman concert, and a host of other amazing resources, Special Features, and much more!

Register online: https://summit.webconnex.com/summit8

Summit VIII - Speakers

Summit VII is coming up May 3-4 in Lake Forest, CA (Saddleback Church)...will you be there?

Check out some of the speakers that will be there:

Rick Warren

Francis Chan

Kay Warren

Crawford Loritts

Jedd Medefind

...and so many more! To see the whole list of speakers, schedules, and how YOU can get resgistered, visit Summit VII! 

Taking Care of the Details - The Forgotten Initiative

Listen in as Jen Young, Forgotten Advocate, shares the impact one 'journey bag' had on a precious foster care child,

A caseworker called to say thank you for the journey bags we delivered. She described one story of a child that came into care with a sibling from a horrible situation that involved a death of a parent. Caseworkers tried to keep the two brothers together, but could not, which was very difficult for the boys.  The caseworker said that when she gave them a journey bag, their eyes lit up. She expressed how excited they were to have their own bag and the joy it brought the kids really touched the caseworker as well.

I couldn't help but tell this caseworker about the 500 bags we received from a church that put each of these bags together.  I told her that while we're glad the bags are appreciated, needed and useful, God cares about this child and took care of the details. His hand was upon this situation and He knew just what this child needed!

The "Journey Bag Project" is just one way The Forgotten Initiative, partnering with Lifesong for Orphans, seeks to bring joy and purpose to the foster care community. 

To see how you can be involved or to learn more, please visit their website.