Month: June 2012

Suzanne and I were invited to share the story of our adoption journey at Jefferson Street Christian Church in Lincoln, IL, this morning. The service was recorded and can be viewed here:

The message/interview begins at 18:50 if you want to skip ahead. Or, if you want to sing along and watch me play guitar, don’t skip ahead.

Dustin Fulton, Jeff Street’s preaching minister, has been leading the church through a series entitled “Invisible Issues,” and today’s topic was Parentless Children. Although we attend another church in town, we’ve crossed paths with Dustin on many occasions and have friends at Jeff Street who know our story. So Dustin asked if we’d be willing to talk about our experience with Ethiopian adoption and what led up to that.

We were supposed to have shared the stage with Bill and Betsy Lewis, who have adopted from Latvia and were going to talk about their story. Bill is the worship minister at Jeff Street and Betsy heads up an orphan ministry, Woven Together, that’s based out of the church as well. Earlier in the week, in fact, Bill asked if I wanted to play guitar with him during the musical segments of the service. That’s why I’m playing at a church we don’t attend.

Sadly, however, Betsy’s mom passed away last night so they were unable to attend the service this morning. While we grieve with our friends in their loss, we trust in the hope of the resurrection. It’s that same hope that leads us forward in life and in our care of the fatherless.

Thanks to Dustin, Bill, and Betsy for inviting us to participate today. Thanks also to the many folks at Jeff Street who are taking steps to care for the widows and orphans in our midst, both near and far.