Five Ways to Ensure the Orphan Crisis Will Never Be Solved By The Church
I was looking back at some old blog posts recently, kind of reminiscing about how far this journey has taken me, and how much I’ve learned and experienced along the way. For me, I don’t like wading into online squabbles or controversial issues. I would rather do that face to face. I think it’s the […]
The Long and Winding Road (CO, TX, LA)
The Long and Winding Road Way back in 1970, the Beatles released a song called “The Long and Winding Road”. This song seemed appropriate in so many ways during this trip. It crept into my mind as I would be driving down what seemed like an endless road. The only change I would make to […]
Montana – Big Sky Country
It’s been a while since I sent out an update. There is a reason for that. We’ve been in the middle of the country, in very remote locations. Moving from location to location almost daily presents some challenges, like a good wifi connection. After our Michigan meetings, we headed west toward Montana, via Iowa, parts […]
Patch Tour Update #3
Oh, Michigan. You treated the Gillis family so well. When I reflect on our time in Michigan, I am overwhelmed by the hospitality of old/new friends, and I’m inspired by what I see happening on the orphan care front. From Kentucky, we made a quick stop at Cedarville University to see my brother, my sister-in-law […]
Utah – Via Wyoming
Oh man, Wyoming and Utah. What unique states! Fortunately for us, we had to travel south through Wyoming to get to Utah. We’ve never seen so many pronghorn ever….not even on TV. Everywhere you look traveling through Wyoming, there they are. And you can’t get from Montana to Utah without going through Yellowstone! (Well, you […]
A Day with the Bates Family
I will start off by stating that I am not a big blogger. I would rather be with people and keep those experiences between us. When I see someone taking pictures, I often think, “am I going to show up on Facebook somewhere”? It can get a little irritating, I must admit. But it can […]
Patch Tour Update – (Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky)
Traveling in an RV is different than traveling in a minivan. There, now that we cleared that up, we can move on. You realize that you can turn your mind on auto-pilot when you are driving a regular car/truck. Not so much when driving the RV. We were blessed to rent an RV from a […]
Welcome to the first official Tour Blog!
The Tour: Patch Our Planet is embarking on an 18+ state tour in the late summer this year. We have a goal of equipping 500 churches by 2020. We are currently around 220, so we see this tour as a great opportunity to equip many more churches as we travel throughout the US. […]
3 Ways Every Church Can Serve Orphans Right Now
Let’s start here. We all agree that the church should play a primary role in caring for the orphan. Unfortunately, the “how to” can get lost in this complex world of foster and global orphan care. The heartbeat to serve orphans is alive in almost every church, but the first step is often the hardest. […]
Leap of Faith or Common Sense – My Story.
“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” – C.S. Lewis It’s been a long time since I sat down to write a blog. I’ve turned over […]
