One thing you can do now that would be a great help is to forward this email on to other families that you know of so that we can let them know about future ministry events.

Also, I’m not going to send a bunch of emails out on this list, but if you want to be removed, let me know and I’ll take your email off…

Thanks,

John Steczkowski

The webcast is now available here. Take some time to watch it and let us know if God is touching your heart to be part of what God is doing in Central Texas or around the world to care for the “least of these.”

True numbers are hard to get as there are many different definitions of what makes one an orphan. But at the end of the day, I’d rather not use the word orphan. To me, that dehumanizes the situation much like the word fetus does to an unborn child. These numbers represent little boys, little girls. It is someone that has been created by God. He or she has been created to do great things, God has great plans for them — until sin got in the way and disrupted those plans.

Here are a few of those statistics. Click over to Jason’s post for them all.

• The most recent estimate is that there are approximately 145 million orphans in the world (UNICEF 2008). For this number, an orphan is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents.

• More than 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, over 11.6 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

• In 2007 67.5 million Children in South Asia and East Asia had lost one or both parents due to all causes.

• Included in the 2008 estimate of 145 million orphans are more than 92 million that have a surviving mother—-with whom they most likely live.

• Approximately 15 million children are “double” orphans—growing up without either mother or father.  That’s about ten percent of the whole 145 million.

Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Several foster care alumni studies show that without a lifelong connection to a caring adult, these older youth are often left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations:

Outcomes
Earned a high school diploma         54%
Obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher     2%
Became a parent                 84%
Were unemployed                 51%
Had no health insurance             30%
Had been homeless                 25%
Were receiving public assistance         30%

What’s your role in changing these numbers? It can be overwhelming to look at the 145 million number. I don’t think we can help 145 million children but we can look into the eyes of ONE child and say, “what can I do for you?” or to come alongside a young couple and say “how can I help you adopt?”

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

This past Sunday, our pastor taught from the book of Acts. He showed us “the big picture” of Paul’s life. How God used his life to impact the early church in a dynamic way. You don’t have to look very hard to see he has a sordid past. Throughout his ministry, God used Paul’s history (family and education), his brokenness and sin, his conversion, his associations and relationships, and his circumstances to further spread of the gospel and bring thousands to salvation. (To see the full sermon, click here and look for the Sept. 20, 2009 sermon entitled “It Is Written.” You can download the sermon notes there, or listen to or watch a video of the sermon.)

In our ladies’ Bible Study last week we learned about shifting control of our past. For some this may be family issues, for others it may be facing personal sin or the sins of others. Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23 speak of Immanuel, “God with us.” Coming face-to-face with Immanuel makes me ask the question, was God there even in the yucky parts of our past? And if so, how does this change how I view the pain from the past? My conclusion is this: He was there, He knows all.

And so when we come to Him with our pains from or questions about the past, it’s not new to Him.  Romans 8:28 also tells us that He alone draws on the canvas of our lives and uses it for a greater good. Like the backside of a tapestry, we may see only a mess, but God sees the big picture, a masterpiece. And like He did with Paul, God can us our past as a platform for His greater purpose.

And so I am comforted with the knowledge that the circumstances of our daughter’s life are part of a bigger picture. One that God has been painting since the beginning of her life. He knew her in her birthmother’s womb, and she is fearfully and wonderfully made. He has great plans for her. She is His masterpiece.

Though she knows Jesus, I look forward to introducing her to Immanuel.

• What did people forget to tell you about adoption?
• What did they omit or conveniently not tell you before you adopted or relinquished your child?

It’s an interesting read.  Check it out here.  Scroll down past the comments and read what others have shared.

What are your thoughts?  We’d love to hear from you.

You may remember Shaun as he joined us for a Sunday morning several years ago. He’s a singer/songwriter who is also a strong advocate for the fatherless and adoption.I just added his blog to our blogroll.

His post discusses God’s universal will, those commands that apply to everyone, the entire church versus God’s individual will, how He calls each of us uniquely. And the ultimate question Shaun asks is this: where does adoption fit? Is everyone called to adopt? I don’t believe so. Is everyone called to support those who adopt? Again, I don’t think so. (Shaun’s blog has a pretty big following as more than 50 people weighed in with their thoughts on the topic.)

But, is everyone called to live out James 1:27 is some form or fashion? I believe we are but would add that this can look dramatically different to each person.

Some will care for the single mother in their neighborhood, watching her children, bringing her meals, fixing her home. Others will go on a mission trip to provide care and hope to the fatherless in other countries while sharing the ultimate hope of the gospel. Others will financially support those who go. Others will bring a foster child into their home. Some will support someone in their small group who is adopting. And yet others WILL adopt.

To me, a member of Hill Country Bible Church, the question is this: are we, as a body of Christ-followers, characterized by our desire to broadly and individually support adoption and orphan care?

Research shows that the number one reason people don’t adopt is the perception that it’s too expensive. And while it can be expensive (today, the average private or international adoption costs between $20,000 and $30,000), we feel that if God is calling you to adopt, He wouldn’t do so without also providing financially.

The church has been very generous in a seed donation to the fund. With the addition of several other donations our fund is beginning with $10,000. We are very excited as this level of funding will quickly assist couples that are in the process of adopting. To start, the Adoption Fund will consist of granting short-term, interest-free loans.

Let me talk for a second to both the couples who feel that God is calling them to adopt, as well as those who would potentially contribute to this fund. I believe that God has a role for both of you to fulfill His will to care for the world’s orphans.

Let me start with the second group first. While we are starting with a significant amount of funding, the ongoing growth of the fund will depend on giving from people like you. While you may not personally be called to adopt, it may be that God is calling you to help a young couple who IS called to adopt by giving to this fund. Please know that we in no way want this to detract from your regular church giving. This should be “over-and-above” giving as you feel God leading you. You might choose to make a one-time donation or you may choose to make it a part of your regular giving.

Here are two ways you can contribute:

1. By check made payable to ABBA Fund with HCBCnw in the memo. Mail to:

The ABBA Fund

P.O. Box 1120

Ramseur, NC 27316

2. Online at www.abbafund.org

Click on “Donate”

Enter HCBCnw in the line “Partnership Fund Designation”

Now, for those of you who DO feel God is calling you to adopt — we want to hear from you!

This fund will be successful if the money in it is out working to complete adoptions. Please contact us and we’ll find time to sit down with you to hear your stories, to pray with you and walk you through the process. We have an application that you will be required to complete, along with personal references, that will be sent directly to Abba Fund. We will not have access to any of your financial information – that will all be handled by Abba Fund and they will make a recommendation to us. You will work with Abba Fund to determine a loan repayment timeframe, so effectively any contribution to the fund is a “gift that keeps on giving” as more and more families utilize the fund.

Finally, let me also point out that there are a number of ways to adopt for little or no cost, including through the State of Texas and local, Christian agencies such as Arrow Child & Family Ministries. If you’re interested in this approach, please contact us as there are many families at HCBC that have already or are in the process of adopting in this way.

Thank you and thank you to the regular givers to Hill Country Bible Church. It is through your regular giving that we’ve been able to launch this fund.

As you read the Bible, you can’t help but notice three groups of people that come up again and again. God continually draws our attention to the orphans, the widows, and aliens (strangers). “What these people have in common is their desperate need of provision and protection. They are the weak, the under-privileged, and the needy among us.”  (Fields of  the Fatherless, C. Thomas Moore)  More than 60 times, scripture draws our attention to the need for caring for these individuals and include His promises to them–a father to the fatherless, their defender, promise to ensure justice, to bless them. Many passages in both the Old and New Testaments confirm God’s commitment to these special groups.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me stop and wonder.  What am I doing for any or all of these, the least of these?

“The Bible reveals that God commanded His people, the church, to set aside a portion of their fields, their provisions, for the sole purpose of providing for these groups. The line that designated this special area was called the ‘ancient boundary.’ It created a field, figuratively and literally, in which the fatherless, orphan, or widow could find the provision necessary to survive.”  (Fields of the Fatherless. C. Thomas Davis)  There was nothing they had to do to earn this provision, hence, the Fields of Grace.

Deuteronomy 24:19-21 records God’s directives:
When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

And so I wonder, what am I doing for “the least of these?” What are you doing for “the least of these?” What is our church doing for “the least of these?”

What is your field of grace? Do you have enough margin in your life or your budget that you can “let it lie”, you don’t have to go back and glean it afterward and pick up every last bit for yourself?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, if you’ve had moments alone with God where He has revealed things to you about His call to care for “the least of these,” — the orphan, the widows, the aliens.” It doesn’t mean every one of us has to adopt children into our homes or become licensed foster families. While it does mean that for some, or others it calls us to enable those who are called to do those things to support them, financially, with meals, with respite.