2010 National Foster Care Prayer Vigil

The National Foster Care Prayer Vigil is calling followers of Christ together across the country this week (May 16-23) to cry out to God on behalf of children and youth in our nation's foster care system, their families, their workers, and the church as it responds to the needs of those involved in the foster care system.

A prayer vigil can take on many forms. It can be a formal, church-wide event, or it can be an informal gathering with your family after dinner. In fact, the possibilities are endless. 

A prayer vigil can be:

• Part of a regular Bible study group in your home
• Part of a regular Community Group meeting
• Part of a Sunday School class
• A prayer walk through your city
• A gathering of friends at a park, or the beach
• A lunchtime gathering with co-workers
• Whatever and wherever you want it to be

Please join us in committing to pray this week for the children in our country, our state, our county, our neighborhood!

For more information or how to find a group meeting in your area, click here.

Father, thank You for being a personal God...for allowing our prayers to come to Your ear.  Give us the faith to believe that You will hear and answer our prayers for Your children in our communities that will be prayed for today, this week and forever.  Let us pray for Your glory, Your fame, Your name...

Reflections from Summit VI

Well bloggy friends... we've been wanting to post a Summit follow up, but have been utterly speechless at what we experienced! In the midst of processing all the emotions the weekend entailed, we've come across some INCREDIBLE postings from others which sum up our thoughts quite well.

One of the special apsects of Summit is to see the Body of Christ (church, gov't, non-profits, individuals) working together in unity - it's all too rare.  It was thrilling to see the high quality "equipping" that was going on in the breakout sessions." - Andy Lehman, Lifesong for Orphans

What just a few years ago was essentially a small, disconnected and often isolated hodgepodge of orphan and adoption advocates…has grown into an increasingly intertwined, unified, mutually-nourishing movement that grows daily.  Clearly, there’s something more at work here than human hands." - Jedd Medefind, Christian Alliance for Orphans

Summit VI stirred so many emotions in my soul and helped reaffirm the knowledge of God’s loving, persistent and personal invitation to join Him in His mighty fight for His children.  I pray that each of us that were blessed to be there would take the words and images that we heard and saw and let them sink deep into our mind and hearts and ultimately produce fruit with our hands and feet as we together seek to bring glory to our Heavenly Father." - Leah Gerber, Lifesong for Orphans

What blew me away was thinking about just how many children each of those hands will come to represent in the months and years ahead as they go out and “vindicate the weak and fatherless . . . ” (Psalm 82:3). - Jason Weber, Hope for Orphans

A countless number of churches, that up until this conference did not have an orphans ministry, were represented by lay people impassioned to get involved. That means, churches from coast to coast, who did not have orphans ministries, will now have the ability to be mobilized. I am truly excited to see how many of these local champions will have success stories to tell at next year’s Summit VII!!" - Shane McBride, Hope for Orphans

YES... you HAVE to go next year!

Dark to Dawn

Imagine being a foster child… graduating from high school, being on your own, and having no family to support you?  

Dark to Dawn, a ministry based in Thousand Oaks, CA, is organizing an event to support foster youth in Ventura County, where about 40-50 kids age out of the foster care system every year.  Their goal is to rally the Christian community together to embrace the local foster youth. 

This event will tell the story of 4 young people who've transitioned from foster care into independent living.  They’ll share their experiences and struggles, allowing the local community to meet them, learn about them, and love them, as the Lord loves them.

What an inspiration to reach out to the foster youth in our own communities?  What about you?  Have you been a part of a recent foster youth outreach?  We'd love to hear from you!  As Christ's hands and feet lets encourage each other to change how our communities love orphans!

To learn more about Dark to Dawn check out there website at www.darktodawn.org

National Foster Care Prayer Vigil

Many kids in foster care feel like they don't have a prayer...let's change that.

2010 National Foster Care Prayer Vigil
May 16-23, 2010

The National Foster Care Prayer Vigil is calling followers of Christ together across the country during the week of May 16-23 to cry out to God on behalf of children and youth in our nation's foster care system, their families, their workers, and the church as it responds to the needs of those involved in the foster care system. 

A prayer vigil can take on many forms. It can be a formal, church-wide event, or it can be an informal gathering with your family after dinner. In fact, the possibilities are endless. A prayer vigil can be:

Part of a regular Bible study group in your home Part of a regular Community Group meeting Part of a Sunday School class A Prayer walk through your city A gathering of friends at a park, or the beach A lunchtime gathering with co-workers Whatever and wherever you want it to be Are you ready to COMMIT to praying? Click here.

The important thing is not what the vigil looks like or how well it's planned, but rather that

believers come together to pray for those in need.

Is God calling you to be the voice for your city? See the map for a listing of vigils already scheduled.  See the links to the left to learn how you can become equipped to add your city to the map.

Gather together.  Pray for the kids.  Watch God work.

A Heritage of Caring for Orphans...

Jedd Medefind, formerly the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, is now the President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, for a coalition of more than fifty adoption, foster-care and orphan-care ministries. The author of two books and numerous articles as well as an accomplished speaker, he lives in California with three children, including a daughter adopted from Ethiopia.

How do you understand the biblical imperative to care for the fatherless? 

What might a church do to help people through the process of reflection preceding an adoption?

What are other ways people can respond to the needs of orphans?

To read the entire interview, click here.