Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Worship for Haiti
Coming in February, we will let you know as soon as the date is confirmed. We will be taking an offering that night as we have heard the best way to help is to get money to the smaller organizations and orphanages, so start saving now.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Worship for Orphans
There are an estimated 143 million orphans in the world today, 143 million. If we gathered all of these orphans together they would make up the 7th largest country in the world, right behind Russia.
James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The adoption community has taken this verse as their motto, as well they should but my challenge to you tonight is that this verse is for all of us. It is for the high school student, the young family, the empty nesters as well as the retirees. The question then is what does this verse mean for you? The need is the same, 143 million orphans, yet the call to meet these needs will be different for all of us. For some it will be foster care, for others adoption and for others orphan care.
I believe that from the beginning of time Hope was meant to be my daughter, that God knew that late one night in October of 2001 He would lead me to a photolisting of children in Haiti and whisper to me that I had a daughter in Haiti and that someday I would need to go and find her. I do not believe that Gods plan for the world would leave children as orphans, that war, famine, and disease would rob children of their parents. That mothers would be put in a position to place their children up for adoption because they could not afford to feed them, this is the reality of a fallen world, but Psalm 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families”. I believe that in His sovereignty God knew that Emilia would not be able to keep Hope and so He placed her in my heart, to grow as my child and in His perfect way and in His perfect timing He brought Hope home to her forever family. Adoption is not saving a child, it is not a mission or a cause, it is the way that God has chosen to build families, it is a reflection of Him choosing us as His children, Ephesians 1:3-8 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.” Maybe you are here tonight and God has already begun to plant the seeds of adoption in your heart, if that’s so we have information in the back from a few different adoption agencies and Jen, Melissa, and I would love to talk and pray with you afterward.
Our goal for tonight is simply to make you aware of the orphan crisis and that you would leave here knowing that you must do something. We have a few tangible ways for you to be involved tonight.
We have an offering jar at our Maria’s big house of Hope table which is the video that you saw earlier, this big blue caring facility is a beacon of hope to the people of China and the world. It is located in one of the poorest provinces in all of China. Please grab a Rice Bowl on your ways out to collect spare change to help feed the orphan. These are just a few ideas of ways to help, there are many other ways, if there is a country God has laid on your heart I am sure there is an opportunity for you to support an organization there, google it, I promise you will find something.
143 million. I want to ask you to imagine these children but I know that that is impossible, it is truly beyond our comprehension to do so….so then what do we do with a number so great. A number that numbs our senses, that removes the faces, names and stories of the children it represents. How do we fight a statistic that we can’t wrap our head around? We give the statistic a face, we find out their story, and we call them by name.
James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. The adoption community has taken this verse as their motto, as well they should but my challenge to you tonight is that this verse is for all of us. It is for the high school student, the young family, the empty nesters as well as the retirees. The question then is what does this verse mean for you? The need is the same, 143 million orphans, yet the call to meet these needs will be different for all of us. For some it will be foster care, for others adoption and for others orphan care.
I believe that from the beginning of time Hope was meant to be my daughter, that God knew that late one night in October of 2001 He would lead me to a photolisting of children in Haiti and whisper to me that I had a daughter in Haiti and that someday I would need to go and find her. I do not believe that Gods plan for the world would leave children as orphans, that war, famine, and disease would rob children of their parents. That mothers would be put in a position to place their children up for adoption because they could not afford to feed them, this is the reality of a fallen world, but Psalm 68:6 says, “God sets the lonely in families”. I believe that in His sovereignty God knew that Emilia would not be able to keep Hope and so He placed her in my heart, to grow as my child and in His perfect way and in His perfect timing He brought Hope home to her forever family. Adoption is not saving a child, it is not a mission or a cause, it is the way that God has chosen to build families, it is a reflection of Him choosing us as His children, Ephesians 1:3-8 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.” Maybe you are here tonight and God has already begun to plant the seeds of adoption in your heart, if that’s so we have information in the back from a few different adoption agencies and Jen, Melissa, and I would love to talk and pray with you afterward.
Our goal for tonight is simply to make you aware of the orphan crisis and that you would leave here knowing that you must do something. We have a few tangible ways for you to be involved tonight.
We have an offering jar at our Maria’s big house of Hope table which is the video that you saw earlier, this big blue caring facility is a beacon of hope to the people of China and the world. It is located in one of the poorest provinces in all of China. Please grab a Rice Bowl on your ways out to collect spare change to help feed the orphan. These are just a few ideas of ways to help, there are many other ways, if there is a country God has laid on your heart I am sure there is an opportunity for you to support an organization there, google it, I promise you will find something.
143 million. I want to ask you to imagine these children but I know that that is impossible, it is truly beyond our comprehension to do so….so then what do we do with a number so great. A number that numbs our senses, that removes the faces, names and stories of the children it represents. How do we fight a statistic that we can’t wrap our head around? We give the statistic a face, we find out their story, and we call them by name.
Feeding the Orphan
We partnered with Rice Bowls and gave out around 60 bowls that night, which are simple piggy banks in the shape of a small bowl of rice.
"When filled with change, the funds from Rice Bowls supply much needed food to a strong network of loving, Christian Orphanages. As a faith-based non-profit, we work directly with these orphanages, which are currently in India, Haiti, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the HIV/AIDS crisis, as well as other factors, have greatly marginalized the lives of children." -www.ricebowls.org
We collected the bowls on December 1st and raised $342.44!!!!
Forever Families, Adoption
We worshiped with families waiting and families complete...
Waiting, Haiti Home, Thailand
Home, Haiti
Home, Ethiopia
Waiting, Ethiopia
Home, Thailand
Waiting, Ethiopia
Guess what we are talking about.....hair!!
and even a demonstration, love it!!!
Home, Ethiopia
Waiting, Ethiopia
Home, Thailand
Waiting, Ethiopia
Guess what we are talking about.....hair!!
and even a demonstration, love it!!!
After this night we have welcomed three precious daughters to our Worship Defined Families, Miss Meili, home from China and Miss Zuri and Miss Zinea, home from Ethiopia...pictures coming soon!!
Orphan Care
World Vision sponsorship is a tangible way to live out James 1:27
7 Children were sponsored that night!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
