What can you do for Orphan Sunday?

Orphan Sunday is coming up on November 7th!  It's time to start planning what we can do to make this Orphans Sunday one to remember!

Here are some ideas!

- Have your pastor preach a sermon series on orphan care or adoption

- Plan a special Sunday School program or activity

- Get a prayer group together

- Serve Gobena coffee

- Host a Both Hands project

- Launch a Church Adoption Fund

Whether your event is big or small let's make this Orphan Sunday a time to reflect, worship, and inspire the church to care for the fatherless!

Check out more ideas at orphansunday.org

Rescued

Our Lifesong director in Liberia, Bishop Emmanuel Jones, has a passion for children that is contagious... probably because he understands from experience what it's like to be hungry and abandoned.

Bishop Emmanuel Jones from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Now, after spending years helping orphans and street children through their Master's Home of Champions program, he and his wife, Ramona, have taken their passion a step further and invited three newborn triplets, Faith, Hope, and Joy, into their home!

Imagine what it would be like to foster newborn triplets!  

Do you have that picture nice and vivid in your mind?

Now, imagine walking 11 hours to pick them up!  Not driving, walking! 

That's exactly what Emmanuel did when he discovered their need for a home!   

Wow!  What an awesome visual of Christ crossing leaps and bounds to rescue us!

Changed

Recently, 14 year-old Addisyn had the chance to travel to Ethiopia to pick up her newly adopted sister, Havyn. This amazing opportunity left her with a new found vision and desire to serve in a way few teenagers understand.

My favorite part of being in Ethiopia was getting to spend the day with missionaries Gary and Peggy Ifft. Gary took us to Adami Tulu Preschool in Ziway, Ethiopia and I am pretty sure I left a piece of my heart there. 

I knew that I couldn't return home and go on with my life the way it had been. I couldn't open my closet door and see 12 pairs of shoes in there without thinking about those left behind with none. I couldn't go into the mall with friends and spend $15 on yet another t-shirt knowing that $15 would have fed 5 children at the preschool for a month. I couldn't just be a regular American teenage girl anymore- I was different.  And different, I am realizing, is a good thing.

If you would like to read more check out her family's blog here!

Thank you, Addisyn, for your servant heart and passion for a work that is at the very heart of our Father in Heaven!

God moves in the waiting...

Last March Randy and Candice Wagenleitner received word that their long wait for a baby girl in Korea was almost over.  A few short months later Elliana Sa-rang was home, with parents and three older brothers to love her! 

Though their 5 year wait was hard and long, they learned a lot along the way and God used this time to share His heart for the fatherless with them.  In a letter to Lifesong they wrote:

…God has used this adoption to forever change our hearts and give us a huge passion to care for the 147 million orphans left in the world.  Like it seems to be for a lot of families, when we first started talking about adoption years ago it was mostly to add another child to our family- specifically a daughter that we had never had.  But somewhere along the way God opened our eyes and hearts to all of the children who are left without a mommy and daddy and without someone to share the love of Christ with them.  We began to see the bigger picture of God’s adoption of us into His family and how adoption is the gospel lived out.

Now we cannot seem to sit still because we want to advocate and be a voice for those who cannot speak up for themsleves!  It has started small, but we are faithfully praying that the Lord would use us in whatever ways He sees fit…

…We are SO excited that we will be attending the Orphan Summit in April- largely in part  because of Lifesong’ encouragement to attend!  We may not have even know about it if it weren’t for Andy’s email...  We checked it out… and just knew that it would be the perfect starting poiunt for the Lord to give us a clear direction of what to do next…

Check out Candice's blog here!

'Every chance I get...'

Every chance I get, I point adopting families (and those who think they might be) to Lifesong for Orphans. Our Christ Jesus is using this ministry to empower families to adopt children, and thus to point the whole church to the gospel that saves us and the mission that sends us.                                

--Russell D. Moore, author, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches.

Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, where he ministers weekly at the congregation’s Fegenbush location. Moore is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and Adopted for Life.

Thanks Dr. Moore for the significant part you are playing in raising awareness and equipping Christ-followers to participate in our Father's powerful plan for the fatherless.