Unwanted Archives - Faces With Names

Faces With Names, Foster Care & AdoptionSeptember 3, 2018April 18, 2022

What Could Make Simon Cowell Cry?

Simon Cowell is best known for his blunt and often controversial statements to contestants over the year’s as a judge on a variety of shows such as, American Idol, The X Factor and Britain’s and America’s Got Talent.

His famous line and the title of his book, “I don’t mean to be rude, but…”, is often followed by harsh and cutting insults to contestants about their abilities, or lack thereof.

So how is a no-nonsense and harsh personality who is unphased by the crowds opinion, moved to tears?

It all started this past June when a singer and adoptive dad named, Michael Ketterer, stood on the stage to audition for America’s Got Talent. He not only looked very nervous, he admitted he was very nervous.

Watch Ketterer Family Story

As Simon Cowell began to address Ketterer, he asked, what is the ambition or dream for you being here?

Ketterer responded,

“My family is the reason why I am here. My wife and my six children. One of the things that happens, especially because my children came out of foster care, when you’re surviving, you can’t dream. That has been one of the most rewarding things is providing them with a home and a safe environment where they are free to dream. I am here because I want to show that if their dad can live out his dreams, there is nothing impossible for them.”

And so with what appeared to be a few prayers under his breath, Ketterer began a moving rendition of the Bee Gees, “To Love Somebody,” where the emotional words of the song rang through to the audience and judges:

You don’t know what it’s like, baby

You don’t know what it’s like

To love somebody

The way I love you

Watch Ketterer Audition Here

And with what Simon Cowell explained as a real and unexpected performance, he gave Ketterer one of only five golden buttons of the season, pushing him directly through to the live performances.

This golden moment also thrust Micheal and Ivey Ketterer, and their six children into the spotlight of what it means to be an adoptive family. They immediately became a beacon of light in the orphan care world with everyone cheering them on and celebrating their success.

But this spotlight, although important for all of us in the orphan care world who want to bring awareness and advocacy to orphans and vulnerable children, speaks even louder to a world who is amazed at this singer and his wife’s selflessness.

With great anticipation, Ketterer finished out the show of the first live performances and the quarterfinal elimination round. He did not disappoint with another moving performance by James Bay’s, “Us.” A few words from the song:

Tell me how to be in this world

Tell me how to breathe in and feel no hurt

Tell me how could I believe in something

I believe in us

As the song concluded and the judges were to speak, Simon Cowell was asking for a pass. But the host, Tyra Banks pressed him and urged him to share, even in his emotions.

On live national television, this perceived, hard-hearted guy shared with tears in his eyes and a crack in his voice. This is what Simon Cowell said,

“As a dad, I can’t imagine doing what you’ve done, and the fact that you’re on this show and you really need this. You’re a really, really special guy,”

I think the most important and fascinating words Cowell then spoke was this. He said to Ketterer, “There’s just something about you.”

Watch Simon Cowell Cry

Any parent understands the challenges and frustrations of parenting. Kids are a lot of work. But there is a vivid reality of what it must be like parenting children from hard places and devastating circumstances.

It is one thing to be the biological parent of children who might have challenging personalities or special needs. But to willingly choose children with those same circumstances when you don’t have to, now that will get people’s attention. And in this situation, even make Simon Cowell cry.

The selflessness of this father who is singing on America’s Got Talent, to give hope and dreams to his adoptive sons, resonates with a lost world.

James 1:27 tells us, “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.”

So when the world expects religion to look judgmental, self-seeking and self-promoting, God says there is an answer: caring for those who can do nothing for you and can give nothing back to you. Who can argue with religion like this?

Beyond the impact Ketterer has had on Simon Cowell, I read this response on a YouTube conversation board which said,

“I’m not religious myself, but when I see this man, I see the good religion can do. He is the walking embodiment of the best of Christianity – generosity, goodness, kindness.

Truly hoping more people will express their Christianity like this man does with his family, this was just beautiful.”

When the love of the gospel becomes so evident through our care for the most vulnerable, it creates a dynamic where the lost desire to know about a God who will love them in the same way.

As followers of Jesus, as The Church, we have the opportunity to replicate this unselfish, gospel-centered care for the most vulnerable. God, in his infinite wisdom, made no mistake. He took a word the world sees as negative and gave us the opportunity to make it pure and faultless.

So if I may borrow a line from Simon Cowell, “I don’t mean to be rude, but …”,

It’s time for pastor’s, churches and believers to stop reading James 1:27 as an option. A lost and dying world is watching on whether we are willing to take up our cross daily to care for the most vulnerable.

As a whole, our performance as, The Church, stinks. It would receive the harshest Simon Cowell review and criticism. We can do better Church, and it is so much easier to start with the support of our pastors!

So what could make Simon Cowell cry? The very life of an unselfish dad who is living out a pure and faultless religion, called, The Gospel.

Eric Mills

President – Faces With Names www.faceswithnames.org

National Pastoral Director for Orphan Sunday & Stand Sunday www.orphansunday.com

Faces With Names, Foster Care & AdoptionFebruary 28, 2017April 18, 2022

OBLIVIOUS!….?

Oblivious, that was me! I don’t think I should have been. At the time, I was serving as an Outreach Pastor, my wife and I had just completed a three year adoption journey to bring our daughter home from China and our church had participated in Orphan Sunday.

Just over a month after we brought our daughter home from China, I attended my first Summit Conference, put on by Christian Alliance for Orphans. This particular year, the conference was held at Saddleback Church in Southern California.

Through our own adoption journey and my role as an Outreach Pastor, God was really stirring in my heart to engage our church at a deeper level to care for orphans. Because of our own adoption journey, the focus we had presented to our church was primarily on adoption. I also began to realize, many of our international ministry partners were already caring for orphans in a variety of ways.

One of my goals at the conference was to research and learn ways we could begin to implement an orphan care ministry at our church. I was especially excited to attend one of the breakout sessions at the conference entitled, Building Church Ministries 101: Launching a Church Orphans’ Ministry.

There was a large turnout for this particular session as many churches had interest in engaging more into the orphan care crisis. What I quickly learned in this session was, the audience was mostly made up of lay people who had a passion for orphans. It didn’t take long to sense a common frustration amongst many of these lay people about the lack of support from their pastors about orphan care ministry.

Now there might have been more pastors present at the session, but they likely were staying quiet like I was out of fear of not making it out of the building alive.

Even though I was a pastor myself, I could certainly understand their frustrations as I was experiencing some of this same type of pushback or lack of interest in my efforts to introduce an orphan care ministry.

This was my first experience to witness a widespread lack of support amongst pastors on a topic that couldn’t have a more clear Biblical mandate, caring for orphans and widows in their distress.

Just one day later at the conference, I can safely say my world was rocked, in a big way. We watched the debut of a brand new documentary called, Faultless: The American Orphan. I don’t know how I could have been so oblivious to the foster care system in my own country, but I was.

I had no idea that at any given time in our country, there can range between 400,000 to 500,000 children in the custody of the state. Of this larger number of children, at any given time, close to 100,000 of these children are eligible to be adopted. Simply put, the parental rights of those 100,000 children have been terminated.

The title of this documentary speaks for itself. These children, through no fault of their own have been neglected, abused and are in situations bad enough that those outside their worlds notice there is something dreadfully wrong.

The sad reality is, our society and culture have masked that we actually have orphans living amongst us. I understand the sensitivity of how we label these children, but have we gone so far to protect them that now we don’t even know they exist? These children go to school with our kids, they live in our neighborhoods, but do we even know they are there?

What I was so struck by was the heartbreaking statistics of vulnerable children who are placed into the foster care system. Let these statistics sink in:

80% of children in foster care have physical or mental health issues

70% of the current US prison population has spent time in foster care

80% of death row inmates have been in foster care

65% of the US homeless population has spent time in foster care

51% of foster kids will be unemployed after aging out of the system

71% of girls who have been in foster care will be pregnant by the age of 21

60% – 70% of those caught in sexual human trafficking in the US have spent time in foster care

Only 3% will attend college

This information rocked my world! Again, how could I be so oblivious to the realities of children who live in the smallest of rural communities, to the largest cities in our country, and everywhere in between?

In light of these staggering statistics, where does The Church fit into this crisis? The sad reality is, the frustration with pastors I was exposed to in the breakout session at Summit many years ago, is one I have now experienced on a wider scale personally as we have worked to engage churches in orphan care through our ministry, Faces With Names.

Having served previously as a pastor for many years, I understand the overwhelming work load many pastors already are facing. Having served as an Outreach Pastor, I also understand the numerous requests pastors and churches receive on a weekly basis.

A common response I often receive from pastors is, we are already doing too much. My question is, what if you are doing too much of the wrong things? Other pastors I speak too are narrowing their focus to such a small degree, there is no room to even consider another ministry option.

Either way, so many churches have eliminated a sacred space and left little to no room for something so close to the heart of God.

The unfortunate reality is, we will either deal with these children now, or we will deal with them later as adults. If Christian families and churches would be willing to step into their lives at a young age, there is more of a chance to see healing and restoration in their already broken lives.

Statistics show, the longer a child is in the foster care system, and the more placements or homes they have lived in, the more likely they become one of the unfortunate statistics listed above.

If we deal with them later, they will likely be the ones selling drugs in our towns, stealing our cars, breaking into our homes, selling their bodies voluntarily or involuntarily and making up a large percentage of those filling our prisons, living homeless on our streets, and requiring assistance from the government.

I often hear from DHS workers how they have worked with grandma, mom and now the children. The generational cycle of poverty, destruction and addiction is not only robbing these families of their God given potential, it is often blinding them of the enormous love God has for each and every one of them.

I love the statement my wife Susan once made and we now use as motivator in our ministry efforts:

“We believe, every time a vulnerable child or orphan is placed in a loving, healthy Christian family, through foster care or adoption, they are literally being snatched out of the hands of the enemy, and given a hope and a future.”

I know the hearts of most pastors is to reach the lost and to see peoples lives transformed. When we pray for revival in our towns and in our churches, are we only praying for those who will come in and make an immediate positive impact in the lives of our churches? These new people we have been praying for will provide leadership, they will serve, they will tithe, they won’t cause the pastor any headaches or additional work.

If we are honest with ourselves, this would be our selfish prayer. But what about those vulnerable families and kids who are not easy to deal with? If The Church is really going to be the answer to the foster care crisis, it will likely be more compared to taking up our cross daily for the sake of others than it will be easy wins.

Amazingly enough, that is exactly what Jesus called out for His followers to do, take up our cross daily. Not a popular subject most of the time, even to pastors. I write this blog with a continued desire to bring awareness to pastors and churches, there are vulnerable kids and families who desperately need our help!

But I must admit, I also write this blog with a bit of frustration at pastors who are ultimately the gatekeepers of what ministry transpires in their churches and are unwilling to even consider caring for orphans and vulnerable kids. I certainly understand how orphan care can seem like a very peripheral ministry idea.

But consider this, as pastors, have you ever tried to explain to a person who has never tithed before, why it is important to tithe? Tithing is a concept on many levels that makes no human sense and is often hard to explain why one should participate.

I equate orphan care for the church in the same way I equate tithing for the believer.

It might not make sense, but in God’s economy, it is better to participate than to not participate.

I love this quote I heard Andy Stanley make as he was addressing foster families at his church, NorthPointe.

“Foster Care is the best and most significant ministry we do, and I really, really believe that. It will never be huge, but it will always be significant. It will will never make sense financially, but we are going to do fund it anyway. It means there aren’t going to be as many positive stories as there are heartbreaking stories, but that is just the nature of ministry. I really do think even though initially it seemed like a little sideways energy, a little bit off focus of what we do in terms of planting churches. I really believe there is not a more significant ministry that we do. Which means from my perspective as your pastor, as a church planter, of all the things I’ve seen, there isn’t a more important thing that we do as a church.” Andy Stanley

I appreciate this heartfelt expression from Andy Stanley on the importance and significance of churches participating in caring for vulnerable children through foster care. The reality is, starting an orphan care/foster care ministry already parallels many of the ministries you already have in place. I have said to many pastors now to date, all we need is your support.

You already have people in your church who are passionate about caring for orphans and vulnerable kids. Support them, unleash them, and watch how God blesses every aspect of what you are doing through your church.

There is this pesky little verse we find in Matthew 25:40 where Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

To those lay people who are frustrated, stay encouraged, and pray for your pastor. For pastors who are not interested in orphan care/foster care yet, would you ask God how He might want you to lead your church in caring for the most vulnerable amongst us? For the pastors and churches who get it, thank you! It’s not easy, but it’s worth the effort.

Every negative statistic from foster care represents an individual. Every one of those individuals has a face, with a name. Their real life stories can be swept into the abyss of negative statistics, or they can be embraced by loving families, from loving churches who can introduce a Jesus who can bring healing, restoration and salvation to all things broken.

I was Oblivious! Are you?

Faces With Names, serves as a catalyst ministry to engage and equip churches to create the culture of orphan care through foster care, adoption and global orphan care. To learn more about how we can serve your church to help care for orphans and vulnerable kids, please visit our webpage: www.faceswithnames.org

Craig Groeschel – “Orphans Embraced” Every child in need has a face, a name and a story.

Faces With NamesJanuary 16, 2014April 18, 2022

The Road to the Unwanted

This is the actual road we traveled down to arrive at the boys prison in Burma

So this is what the road to the unwanted looks like. This thought was flooding through my mind as we traveled outside the city of Yangon, Burma. It was only supposed to take an hour to get there, but we were now past two hours and headed down a long narrow dirt road that seemed to lead to nowhere. We were headed to a prison for young boys ages 6 through 16. There was a great unknown as to what the conditions might look like. I was expecting the worst. Beyond the unknown, I could hardly wrap my mind around the need for a prison for boys this young. What conditions in life have to exist for boys this young to commit crimes to land them in prison? We finally arrived to a setting to which I was pleasantly surprised. You could equate it to a decent youth campground that was well taken care of, nothing special, but clean. No overbearing security fences or guards were to be found. We walked through classrooms of boys dressed in their student uniforms, hard at study.

Young boys studying - notice the tattoo

Young boys studying – notice the tattoo

Things on this compound seemed organized and disciplined. We learned there were 400 boys present and they were split into two areas on the compound. Around 200 of the boys were there because they had committed crimes from pick pocketing to murder. The other 200 were vulnerable children who had been rescued off the streets and were being given a place to live, being fed and had the opportunity to learn. Of these 400 young boys, 130 of them were specifically known to be orphans. As we walked through the barrack type dormitories, the young boys stood at attention.

This dorm was primarily made up of orphans rescued from the streets of Yangon

Their young innocent faces stared at the foreigners who were in their midst. Despite the best and honorable efforts of those in charge of these young boys, I could not help but think about the families who were absent from these boys lives. What circumstances lead to these boys becoming unwanted? This question would only be amplified as I departed from Burma and joined our team in Nepal.

I had already heard the stories from some of our team members who had been out on the streets to interact with the street kids, but nothing could prepare me for seeing these children with my own eyes. Our team was headed back into Kathmandu after visiting and saying our final goodbyes to the boys at the Joyful News Home. Once we reached the city, I got out of the van to join Samrat on the back of his motorcycle.

A motorcycle ride with Samrat I will never forget

As we departed from the team, we only traveled about a quarter of a mile before we came upon a group of young boys sitting alongside the road around a small fire.

Center, on the curb - Robin (12 Years Old)

Center, on the curb – Robin (12 Years Old)

Each boy was sitting inside of a small box and the rest of the cardboard was being used to fuel the fire. Before I exited the van, I put extra layers of clothing on to stay warm as we approached the midnight cold. Here, some of these young boys sat in shorts and flip flops around the fire. One young boy answered the questions Samrat was asking him. His name was Robin and he was 12 years old. He told us he had been on the streets on his own from the age of 2. I was still trying to process the fact that this 12 year old was out on the streets close to midnight when I heard he had been on his own since the age of 2. The road to the unwanted made more sense to me in Burma where we traveled well outside of town, away from the normal flow of life to alienate the unwanted. But this group of boys sat on a main thorough fair directly across the street from the edge of the fenced in runways for the Kathmandu International Airport. Everyday, people from all over the world travel by this exact spot coming and going from their excursions to see and experience God’s creation of the Himalayas. All the while, these far more important creations of God go unnoticed.

It felt like the most shallow and meaningless prayer I have ever prayed. Their eyes looked up at me as to ask, aren’t you going to help us? Even though my main purpose was to simply observe on this night, as I have reflected back, James 2:15-17 has come to my mind. It says, “Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” As I got back onto the motorcycle and rode away, the cold air blowing on my face was the only thing that kept me from weeping uncontrollably. On this night, I knew I was eventually headed back to a warm hotel room to sleep on a bed, while those young boys sat in a box on the side of the road in the cold. As Samrat and I headed to our next stop, we were detoured by some military men because of a bomb threat. As if what I was experiencing was not already emotionally overwhelming, there is nothing like being detoured because of a possible bomb. This detour lead us to another location along side a normal city road. As we parked next to a six foot rock wall, Samrat asked me to wait on the motorcycle as he climbed the wall to check things out. He wanted to assure it was safe for me to join him. As I scaled the wall and walked up a small embankment, I noticed a small makeshift tent attached to the building next to this empty lot. You would never know this tent was there from the street. Bricks had been gathered to form an L shaped wall that held the plastic tarps which was also attached to the wall of the building.

Kids sleeping in their makeshift tent

As we walked up to the opening of the tent, two small candles dimly lit the inside of the tent. I could barely make out about 8 kids lined up and sleeping on the ground inside the tent. Samrat introduced me to a young man named Kanchha who was 22 years old and had been on the streets since he was 6.

Samrat & Kanchha

He shared his dream of being able to save enough money to buy a rickshaw style bicycle to be able to earn a living and eventually get off the streets. It was clear he was the leader of this group of young kids. As we stood there and talked, another young boy staggered up to the tent, high on the glue he had been inhaling, laid a piece of plastic on the ground and quickly went to sleep. Kanchha informed Samrat that none of the children, including himself had had anything to eat on this day. It was now after midnight and Samrat gave him some money for food. As we headed back to the motorcycle to leave, Kanchha along with another young boy he woke up were off to buy some food for those in the tent.

In conversations prior to heading to the streets, Samrat described to me in more detail the struggles these kids face on the streets. The end result for many of these kids is huffing glue to cover the many hurts and pains they experience on the streets.

The effects of huffing glue

You see an innate survival mode come alive in these young kids. But in the midst of their survival, there is a loss of innocence and value for life. They live in the midst of pure evil most of us cannot even begin to fathom.

The unwanted of Kathmandu

How do you instill value for life into those who have experienced the greatest sense of abandonment and betrayal a person could feel, being unwanted. The most shocking aspect of our conversation was the reality that many of the young girls on the streets become pregnant by other street kids, perpetrators and even police. Many of these girls carry these children full term, give birth, only to watch these newborns be killed or die from lack of care. In the cultural context in which they live, most of these newborn babies are then burned up in a fire. Upon hearing this disturbing information, my unexpected journey to care for orphans, which began in 2001, when my wife informed me she felt God laying on her heart to adopt a little girl from China had reached a breaking point. What started off for me as a focus on adoption, then was expanded to the needs of children in the US foster care system at Summit 9 through the movie “Faultless,” was now global unwanted faces with names. I have always been convinced it is much easier to look at the pictures of orphans or vulnerable children if you don’t know their names. But now, I had looked into the faces of Robin and Kanchha and something changed for me. Orphan care for me moved well beyond a perceived fad or ministry trend to the all out spiritual battle to which it always has been and continues to be. Ephesians 6:12 became real to me in a way I have never seen it before. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Every life matters and every soul is cherished by God. I began to ask myself, what if the call by God to Christians found throughout Scripture to care for orphans is simply ignored or taken less than serious? Jesus obviously had a special place in his heart for children. There is purity and innocence in the faith of a child. When Jesus says to his disciples in Luke 18:17, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” In Matthew 18:1-7 it says, “About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.” What if the childlike faith God places in these little ones is stripped away by the injustice and pure evil they endure simply by being unwanted. And what if the value for life is stripped away to the point they themselves become the perpetrators of such a grievous act as to take the life of a new born baby. The road to the unwanted takes on both a literal and figurative dynamic when we see the children in which Jesus loves and who he died for carrying out acts that can only be attributed to the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The road to the unwanted is not always intentional or malicious. We know tragedy, illness, natural catastrophes, poverty, addiction and cultural perversions have lead in large part to the estimated 150 million plus orphans and vulnerable children around the world. But even if the original cause was not intentional or malicious, the unfortunate outcome for many of these children is far less than the best God intended for them. The stigma of orphan or foster child is not one that is easily overcome in most cultures. The door of opportunity for the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy is dramatically increased and makes these children very vulnerable to those who have less than good intentions. It is easy to attribute blame to those who cause so much injustice and evil in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. The Bible makes it clear there are dire consequences for those who cause children to fall into sin. The other side of this coin though is the responsibility of Christians to engage in the lives of these same children so they have an option other than being exploited, abandoned and unwanted.

As I have reflected over these past number of weeks on what I experienced in Burma and Nepal, I have asked myself, what do I do now with this information I have heard with my own ears and seen with my own eyes? Although I have been to Burma and Nepal before, in all my years of ministry and all of my travels, I have never been as deeply affected as I was on this trip. In my life, Psalm 139 has been a very meaningful and significant passage of Scripture to me. In particular, verse 16 which says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” In all, I have lived a very blessed life. As I have reflected on the days God has ordained for me, I realized I have not come anywhere close to knowing what it feels like to be unwanted. I have certainly experienced tragedy, felt the sting of rejection, struggled with the doubts of being good enough, but never have I felt abandoned or unwanted. In November, my family had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents and my brother and his family in North Carolina. This planned time together was also done in celebration of my parents 50th wedding anniversary as well as my brother and his wife’s 10th wedding anniversary. As I continued to wrestle and process my experience in Burma and Nepal, I was faced with the unexpected irony of the blessings of my life and experiences. As I wrote the majority of this blog, I sat in a multi-million dollar, lavish, 6000 square foot log cabin on top of a mountain with an amazing view. Our family was blessed to use this beautiful home through a family connection. Beyond this blessing, I reflected on all the love and stability I have experienced my entire life from parents who have always been there and provided for me, even to this day. After seeing the boys in the prison in Burma, and the kids on the streets in Nepal in the midst of abject poverty, it is hard to understand why the days ordained for my life are so vastly different from theirs and have included the love, stability and blessing God has allowed me to experience.

In the midst of all the negative and heart wrenching images I saw in Burma and Nepal, I also saw the positive where the unwanted are being rescued and cared for in the name of Jesus. In Burma, international adoption is not even an option.

Heritage Team at the Galilee Children's Home

Heritage Team at the Galilee Children’s Home

I continue to be amazed each time I have the privilege to visit the Galilee Children’s Home in Yangon, Burma where Dr. Morris & Sonia Liana have created an environment of love and care deeply rooted in the love of Christ for these orphan children. I had the distinct honor and privilege to meet Samrat Sunchauri for the first time in Kathmandu, Nepal. Samrat runs the Joyful News Home where young boys who are being rescued off the streets of Kathmandu are brought to be loved and cared for and have the opportunity to have shelter, food and gain an education. At both orphanages I had the pleasure of experiencing extended times of worship with these orphans and those who care for them.

Before - On the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal

Before – On the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal

It is hard to describe in words the genuineness, authenticity and purity of worship that comes from these children. It is as if they worship from a place in their heart I don’t fully comprehend.

After - Worshiping Jesus at the Joyful News Home

After – Worshiping Jesus at the Joyful News Home

A place or life they know they have been saved from that overflows with thanksgiving and gratefulness expressed in worship to Jesus. In reality, the worship coming from these precious children would never have taken place had they not been rescued and been introduced to Jesus Christ by those running these orphanages.

I recently read a quote from Mother Theresa that summarizes and expresses the feelings I experienced in Burma and Nepal. Seeing so many vulnerable and unwanted children still not connected to an environment where they could be introduced to a God who loves them and cares for them. She said, “The greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to be shunned by everybody, to just be nobody.” What a tragedy to know there are still so many orphaned and vulnerable children who fall into this description and are plagued with this disease and suffering.

As we have just come through the Christmas season, I could not help but to think of Jesus purpose in coming to bring hope and healing to the world. He came as a rescuer to save and seek that which was lost. As we are called to follow the example of Christ, to take up our cross daily, we must also strive to seek and save these children who are lost and unwanted. I know the Christian orphan care movement in the US has taken some harsh criticism in the past few years. The further I get involved with the global orphan care movement, I realize there are no easy answers or easy fixes. Despite this reality, we should not shy away or cower from the biblical mandate God has given to those who follow Him. Our motivation as Christians to engage and bring justice to the marginalized, the vulnerable, the unwanted must come from our obedience to Christ and Scripture. We might not always do it right, but we can never stop our pursuit of bringing love, care and purpose to these lost and vulnerable children. As Christians, we are the rescued. But we are also to follow the example and attitude of Christ, with great humility became the greatest rescuer the world has ever known.

My greatest concern for the Church as a whole is when we are unfazed, unmoved and indifferent to those who are the most vulnerable and who need us the most. It is as if we are losing the spiritual battle because we are unwilling to even enter the battle for the very souls of children who have no hope otherwise. If we truly are unfazed, unmoved and indifferent to those who are the most vulnerable, why should the Church be surprised that those who sit in our services each weekend are unfazed, unmoved and indifferent to their family, friends, neighbors and co-workers who don’t know Christ, and by appearance are without need. As an Outreach Pastor, I have learned the things that are closest to the heart of God are often the hardest things to get people to try and do. So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. What Jesus said long ago is still very relevant for today. Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do for me.’

On Friday, December 6th, my day off, I intended to finish writing and posting this blog. Early on on that morning, I received a call from my mom that my dad was in an ambulance, unresponsive, and being taken to the hospital. Sadly and unexpectedly, my dad went to be with the Lord on December 10th from complications from bacterial meningitis. We are grateful to God and celebrate our week long Thanksgiving vacation together in North Carolina, celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary less than a week before my dad got sick.

World's Greatest Dad

World’s Greatest Dad

I want to honor and dedicate this blog to my dad who exemplified and lived by example what it means to serve Jesus by caring for the marginalized, unnoticed and unwanted. My dad loved and cared for people and in serving others was one of the most unselfish people I have ever known. One of the things I shared at my dads memorial service was the fact that it has never been hard for me to understand and accept the love of my Heavenly Father because of the great love my dad always showed me. In this unexpected loss, I have found a renewed fervor to serve God by serving others. My dads life was an amazing example of the importance of serving people and that in the end, ministry is all about people. I have a new, more personal appreciation and understanding of James 1:27 in caring for orphans and widows. Although I do not consider myself an orphan, I do feel the real loss and emptiness of being fatherless. I feel the real loss for my mom who is affected the most after losing her husband of 50 years and by no fault of her own becomes a widow. I am fortunate to have a lifetime legacy from a father who loved me, cared for me and taught me so many things to now model and live out for my children. My heart aches for those children who never experienced this type of love and care from a father who was present or absent in their lives. One of the great joys of my life was talking to my dad on the phone almost everyday. The last time I talked with my dad was the day before he became ill and became unresponsive. He called to see how our adopted daughter was doing as we were heading home from the hospital with her after she had surgery. I already do, and will forever miss those daily conversations with my dad. Almost daily, my dad would end our conversations by telling me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me. I choose to honor my dad by carrying on his legacy of loving Jesus and loving and serving others. I love you and miss you dad! I am so proud to call you my dad and to see the impact you made in so many lives. Your life, was a life well lived!