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. […]
God, What Do You Want From Me?
If ever there was a verse that represented God’s heart for the orphan, it is this one. Advocates from every country point to this one verse as the central reason for why they are taking extraordinary steps in order to do something on behalf of vulnerable children. Many of us have responded to the call […]
How Fostering Continues to Shape My Family Spiritually [Guest Post]
This is a guest post from one of our partners, John Camardo (@JohnCamardo), Exec. Pastor at the Chapel in Buffalo, NY and leading voice in western NY through the Every Child Network . In my last post on Leading at Home, I spent some time unpacking why my family decided to get involved in fostering […]
A Plea to Pastors & Church Leaders
Dear Pastor & Church Leaders, I know that orphan care is difficult. I know that foster care is extremely intimidating. I know that you are only human and have limitations. I know that your schedule is straining and challenging because you are running point for the rest of us in this spiritual battle. I know […]
#CAFO 2014
If there is one orphan care conference that you should consider attending this year, it is this one. It’s called the Summit Conference, hosted by the Christian Alliance for Orphans. This year, the conference will take place at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, IL on May 1-2, 2014. Patch Our Planet will have a […]
Rachel’s Drawing
My daughter, Rachel, is 6 years old. She has a real heart for orphans. Like many children, she longs to help orphans in some way, but she finds it difficult to know how to help them. This past weekend, we had the privilege of sharing at the Awakening conference in Venice, FL. We decided, at […]
Calling all Shepherds
Who will look after this ONE? One child, among so many….. There is a large flock that sits in an open field surrounded on all sides by an enemy. There are over 153 million in this flock. The enemy is a wolf and he comes in many different forms. There is only one way to […]
Families for Children Conference Take-Aways
Recently, I spent the day with some great advocates at the Christian Alliance for Orphan’s conference titled, “Families for Children”. Let me take a moment to share some of the valuable principles I learned while there. Hopefully, there will be an idea that you can grab onto and make a difference in your context. Who’s […]
Pastors vs. Orphan Advocates
Pastors & Orphan Advocates – THERE IS HOPE. There is a story line that plays out on my phone quite a bit. And it gets me really excited. The problem is not exciting, but the solution is! The conversation goes something like this with a pastor or staff member at a church: “Steve, I’m covered […]
Guilt by Dissociation
It’s hard to imagine how to help 153+ million orphans. It can be such an enormous cause that most of us would rather not even think about it because deep down we believe that we can’t really have the kind of impact needed to help all of those children. So, many of us choose to […]
