100 Orphan Sunday Reports

Although the high-level statistics of “what happened on Orphan Sunday” are exciting, the truly thrilling part has been receiving reports of all the things–large and small–that took place in communities across the U.S. and beyond.

It’s these little details and anecdotes that point to the heart of what it’s all about:  not a big, national phenomena nearly so much as myriad local expressions of God’s heart for the orphan.  It brings change the way that a thousand corn blade poking up from moist soil herald spring.

If you have a moment, take just a glimpse below at some of one hundred examples we’ve pulled together over the past few days.  They weren’t chosen because they were the biggest or best.  Nor were they edited much beyond shortening a few.

Individually, some are amazing and some quite simple.  Taken together, though, they echo upon each other in a way that once again confirms what we’re seeing again and again: God is stirring His people to reflect His heart in love for the fatherless.  God’s agents this time, as most always is His way, were ordinary people with a love for Him and for orphans.  One by one, church by church, heart by heart they spread passion and vision.   That’s just how movements grow…

100 Orphan Sunday Reports from Across America and Beyond

1. We had a slide show celebrating the 80 children who have been in our church this year through foster care…which was a direct result of our Orphan Sunday event of 2009.
2. Twenty additional children sponsored in Ethiopia!
3. For our first, city-wide Orphan Sunday Concert we had at least 600 people show up.  We were encouraged by the turnout.  We had 20+ orphan care and adoption organizations at the event and many people visited each table and received information from child sponsorship to adoption.  We pray that God continues to work and call more families in Austin towards caring for orphans!
4. We raised $893.25 for foodfororphans.org
5. Our youth got together on their own and had a bake sale to raise money for orphans.  They have other plans to visit our local children’s home.  In our in home Bible study, we went to the adoption website and chose 3 orphans to pray for until they are adopted, then we will choose more and pray for them.
6. We had about 200 people attend the luncheon after the service. Already one of those couples have started the process to foster to adopt! Others are very interested in Safe Families. Others want more info on adoption. We’re going to keep it going!
7. 120 kids and adult volunteers in our church participated in a food packing event with Change This World, and filled 4200 meals!  At night, we had a “Dare You to Move” Concert with Kristin Orphan and The Finally Home Band attended by 600 people.  I have never seen people linger so long after an event.  There was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement wrapped around the idea of caring for orphans in our community and around the world.  You can see some of the pictures here.
8. A new Compassion ministry formed in our church!  My pastor said he would like to do this every year.
9. We took roughly 10 minutes during each service following the message to pray for orphans, waiting children, families and the Church.  And in both of our services, once our allotted time for prayer was over, we still had groups praying for these children.  Since last Sunday, several couples have spoken with our staff wanting more information about how to become foster or adoptive parents.
10. Matthew Wilson created a remarkable video to show for Orphan Sunday in church.  The closing section is especially powerful.
11. I had several families pledge to sponsor children that had never sponsored one before – praise God!!
12. We did the “Day in the Life of an Orphan” simulation as an all school Sunday school event, culminating with a cornmeal breakfast. It was really exciting to see people of all ages involved, adults experiencing it through the eyes of the children in their groups.
13. Also, during the service, we periodically had children bring shoes to the front, placing them in a pile on the communion table. By the end of the service, there were 140 pairs of shoes (280 shoes) overflowing off the table and down the stairs. Each shoe represented one child that would be orphaned during our 70 minute-long service–VERY powerful!
14. At last year’s “Orphan Sunday” event (11/2009) there was a family that was prompted to begin looking into adoption.  This year that family of 4 kids came and shared their story of how they are currently in the process of adopting 3 siblings out of foster care.  They now have a family of 7 kids.  It has transformed their family, the lives of those kids, our church, and the generations to come.
15. For Orphan Sunday in San Luis Obispo, CA we held an awareness walk with close to two hundred people to pass out flyers on the streets.  I believe great seeds were sown and it was privileged to be a part. You can see a little video of it here.
16. God used Orphan Sunday as a time of greater awakening in our church to His heart for the fatherless, the plight of these children, and the call to believers to care for them.  Just yesterday, a week after Orphan Sunday, someone came up to me at church and shared that they had three families to their home the previous week (at separate times) and talked with them about what God was showing them regarding the fatherless in large part due to Orphan Sunday.
17. …There has never been any teaching or preaching from the pulpit about orphan ministry or adoption, and little interest in Orphan Sunday events.  [But] this coming Sunday…Edgewater Christian Fellowship will have its first Orphan Sunday Event that is fully endorsed by church leadership and actually given platform time during a Sunday morning service.  Here is a video produced for it.
18. Mark Marshall, our pastor, was 110% on board and decided that his sermon would be about orphans and what God’s word says about caring for them.  His sermon was UNBELIEVABLE!!  We took our normal offering and in addition took a “love” offering which was above and beyond anyone’s normal giving.  We were hoping for $10,000 but weren’t sure if we would quite get there.  We have about 2,000 members.  We have been blown away by the funds that have come in already.  The number keeps going up, so who knows when it will plateau!
19. We made a video for our church with the call to care for orphans as a response to God’s grace to us.  (George Robertson, quoted, is our pastor.)  We have started a new ministry called Minus 1, so this was also introducing that name to the church for the first time.
20. We had an Adoption and Orphan Care event and it was extremely successful. We had an organizational fair and breakout sessions with adoption and orphan care professionals. We did a survey and the response was VERY positive. We are so excited at the possibility of all the children that will be helped due to our event. God can do amazing things through us ordinary humans!
21. Lots of interest in adoption and we were able to sponsor 12 orphans in Africa.
22. Our church dedicated 14 children that have been adopted this year (internationally and domestic).  We also celebrated with a family that our church has partnered with to build two bedrooms so they can complete an adoption for a sibling group.
23. God had been moving on a number of families in our congregation with regards to orphan ministry and adoption and this event helped to galvanize the group. Through our time of intercession God solidified His calling on our people. We have now formed a group that is launching an orphan ministry in our church and establishing an adoption agency to serve our church network here in the MPLS/St. Paul area.
24. One lady was looking at ways to give financially and has started giving to 3 different [orphan homes] as a result.
25. There are several families in our church that are very excited to get involved in orphan care and possibly adopting. We also have one young lady who is anxious to go into the missions field caring for orphans and we are in the process of finding somewhere for her to go. God has been pleased to work through our local event and we pray that He has done the same around the nation.
26. [We showed the “Answer the Cry” video.]  The songs from Mark Shultz…especially the birthmother song initiated wonderful conversation and real questions from many of our group members…became a great discussion point for our evening.
27. We were encouraged that we had people from different generations wanting to help in defending the orphan. For our first event, we were very pleased with the small group, questions asked and professionals that participated to help ensure its success. Praise God.
28. We used a short video clip to encourage and will have a small group meeting to share the entire dvd with on Dec. 4. Hopefully, the ones who were intrigued by the video clip will be some of the ones taking action.
29. When we began planning it was meant to be a very simple event to involve our youth group and promote awareness in our community.  The event grew with much community support and included many volunteers from the community as a whole.  We walked for awareness caring 70 portraits of children waiting for adoption and then placed the portraits in a Community Heart Gallery for the month of November…all 70.  We had guest speakers and testimony followed by a spaghetti dinner and live band.   The goal was to allow people who are thinking of becoming foster/adoptive homes to feel more comfortable in inquiring about the process.  We have had 10 people sign up to participate from the event and I am anxious to see how many more will come on Wednesday.
30. We had 45 individuals or couples sign up to join our Orphan Care ministry!
31. I have been involved in orphan advocacy for several years. It is predominantly a place where women speak and advocate. I was thrilled to see that, though I had asked adoptive families to share testimonies, except for one single woman, all the presenters were the dads. This was an exciting time to hear them speak up for children!
32. There are 2 families actively pursuing adoption/foster care as a result of this event.
33. Pastor preached on adoption/orphan care for the whole time rather than just a highlight.
34. We had many come up to us and say they were touched by the event, around 10 signed up for more information from Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, an organization that works with foster care and adoption.  We are also working on starting an orphan ministry in our church.
35. We’ve had several requests for our pastor to tape the keynote he gave for use at other events.  He’s currently planning to give it at least one more time for another church.  Also, we had many people come for information on foster care, adoption, refugee foster care, human trafficking, runaway teens and Project Open Arms.  Most of the local agencies were represented in these sessions, working together toward the goal of protecting and helping orphan/at risk children.
36. We had great guest speakers to share their stories-as well as a Q&A parent panel that was received well. This is the 3rd year I have organized this event and this year was most successful. I’ve had several (about 5) families contact me thus far for additional information on adoption and a few more on orphan advocacy!
37. We attend a large urban church in Philadelphia with a congregation of approximately 5,000.  The materials available on the Orphan Sunday website were fantastic and gave us a readymade toolbox for presenting the Orphan Sunday message to our congregation.  Within a single day we were able to reach approximately 3,000 to 4,000 believers to raise awareness.  We then set up a resource table to share more information on how individuals in the congregation could get involved to address orphan issues through adoption, foster care and orphan support.  We are planning a follow on workshop in December to share more information with those interested in adopting or fostering children or in supporting orphanages.  To God be the Glory!
38. Our church is now raising $6000 to provide a clean water well for a village, and we are conducting a food drive a local children’s home.  Also, our senior pastor’s family had been praying about adoption.  This event has confirmed for them that they need to move forward.  They made the announcement on Orphan Sunday.
39. We had 1 family that is beginning the steps to adopt, and 2 other families that are praying about adoption.  About 6 people committed to pray for orphans regularly.  One couple is praying about going on a mission trip to work with orphans.  $850.00 was raised to feed kids at the Kids Kitchens in Honduras on our upcoming mission trip. We had a powerful service–God is working on the hearts of our people.
40. Our church was blessed!  We decided to paint a picture of what’s already going on in the lives of those in our church caring for orphans thru a variety of ways.  This was a great start and then we watched the DVD together. We’re also meeting weekly for those that want to join. Thank You for great resources!
41. We did one of the Bible Studies you had on your resource page with our small group. Only one couple has kids so it’s very exciting to think of how God might lead all of us in the future to advocate/care for orphans through adoption!
42. We had 3 children sponsored from Living Hope International in Mexico!
43. This coming Thursday a family in our church is finalizing the adoption of two foster children whom they’ve been caring for.  After showing “Answer the Cry” on Orphan Sunday, I heard people talking about how they could support and minister to this family.  Additionally, several people are now planning to discuss and pray about beginning an orphan ministry in our church!
44. Another opportunity to help people focus on the call to reach out to orphans and hurting children. People were touched.
45. We actually have taken the month to talk about Orphans, Birth parents, Foster Care and Adoption.  It has been a great month and have enjoyed the resources from www.orphansunday.org.  Thank you so much for the DVD – it was well rounded and was a great resource.
46. After services, we hosted a Q&A session for families interested in pursuing adoption.  Couples who had recently adopted from China, Ethiopia, and the USA, answered questions and shared their experiences of adding to their family through adoption.
47. We were approached by a local Christian radio to do an hour long speaking engagement on air telling their listeners about the needs of the orphan and how they can help. Hoping that many people hear the call and want to make a difference.
48. In our small church, we have about 7 families that have expressed interest in adopting. Two of these families didn’t reveal this until after the orphan service this year. It was our very first Orphan Sunday! What a blessing to have collected $600 for Show Hope.
49. We had about 5-10 families commit to coming to an information night about foster care in our area. Our kids (who served all the adults in the church a special morning tea) raised about $1500 to buy formula for an orphanage in the Philippines (a lot of money for us!) and another $300 to go towards much needed medical care for orphans in that same home. Many people spoke to me about how they were impacted and it has made them think harder about these issues and what they can do.
50. A friend of mine shared that after the event she and her husband discussed the possibility of adoption for their family. She said it made her think for the first time that this is something they should do!
51. I really didn’t think our Birthday Box supplies drive for orphans (oversees in a Chinese Foster Home and locally for our local Youth for Christ Foster Care placing office) would garner a lot of donations.  But God knocked my socks off!  I taught a lesson to our K – 5th graders about orphans and then the following week we presented information about orphans and foster children to our congregation.  I was blown away by the amount of supplies we collected from our small church!
52. We used that Sunday to introduce a new church-wide orphan care ministry. We believe that God used the launching of that ministry to get many of our church members and attenders to start thinking about how they can get involved in orphan care.  Second, in conjunction with that Sunday a family adopting internationally and the church senior pastor were interviewed on an Indiana Moody Radio affiliate. The interview expounded on the need for every Christian to be involved in orphan care.
53. It was a beautiful evening to share with our church family…many were touched by the message and the reminder of God’s mandate concerning the orphaned and the widowed.
54. We started an orphan care ministry at our small church and 11 people came to the first meeting!  Everyone seems really excited and we have lots of support.  Can’t wait to see how God will use us to impact the community.
55. Our church has decided to pursue an orphans & widows ministry as a specific program.  Many people are excited about being a part of it and seeing where God will lead our church.
56. On Orphan Sunday a family had three of their sons dedicated, they were all adopted from foster care and it was a great way to witness a family who welcomed children into their home in Jesus name.
57. There is at least one family in our church seriously considering if God is calling them to adopt!
58. While we had only 4 families express interest in fostering or adopting, we feel our event was successful as it was our first year.  We were able to provide 4 different adoption/foster agencies; we received television and newspaper coverage and we had 5 families who have adopted come out to network with those just beginning.
59. I was so blessed by the response of my church. I forwarded the sermon notes from your site to my pastor and he had a service about the role of the church and Christians in Orphan care. About 10 people came to my house to view Answer the Cry. I was so humbled by the response and everyone’s ideas and eagerness to get involved on an individual and church level. I’m so thankful to God for blessing the day.
60. Our church took a love offering for another pastor in town adopting from Ethiopia. Our little church raised $125 toward their adoption that will be matched by another group. Praise God!
61. Approximately 50 people committed to pray daily for a special needs orphan thru Reece’s Rainbow
62. We are a small congregation in a state where there are not a lot of resources at our disposal. Through Orphan Sunday, many families in our church have shared their passion to do something to help an Orphan Ministry and we are working to start a Bethany Christian Services in our state.
63. Grace Place proposed a transitional home for aged out orphans in Ukraine…  After 3 services over $50,000 was raised, which was enough money to meet the goal!  (See the video at http://vimeo.com/16597297).
64. Pastor tied “orphans & widows” together with specific examples of church involvement & history.
65. A lady was heading up stairs, looked down at our table, started crying and then came down to talk to me…  She and her husband had been considering adoption, but felt scared and stuck as to what to do next–she had even prayed specifically during the church service that morning that God would show her what He had in mind for her family and direction as to what to do next, not knowing that our table for orphan care / adoption awareness was out in the foyer!  I have three adopted sons, and we shared a sweet time of encouragement and amazement at God’s provision.  Can’t wait to see how it all turns out!!!
66. We introduced local orphan children (heart gallery) to our congregation and made a commitment to pray for their adoption.
67. In 2009, we hosted our first Orphan Sunday. The four of us helping to organize the special day were all interested in adoption. As it turns out, the Lord had another avenue for our Orphan Ministry. All four couples, as well as 2-3 more, attended foster certification classes. Through these seven families, we have touched 80 children through long-term placement and respite care. Through the example of these families, others throughout town are also attending foster certification classes. As a follow-up to our Orphan Sunday this year, we are hosting our first adoption seminar. The last year we have seen the Lord move in wonderful ways. All of us look forward to seeing what He has in store for 2011.
68. We had an amazing 40% of our response cards indicate an interest in adopting or fostering a child – we were blown away!
69. God is starting to build a strong team of orphan care defenders in Vermont. Key people were brought in this year to help me and I am ready to see where the Lord takes this ministry.  He is building a foundation right now in our state of believers who are ready to defend the fatherless together in His name.
70. One family in the adoption process has been struggling with fear of loving… the testimony of Mrs. Chapman was very encouraging & comforting. Also, a lady who gave up a child for adoption was really ministered for by Mark Schultz’s testimony. Video resource was great! Thank you!
71. While the message was heard by all, one couple in particular was very impacted by the call to adopt.  I think it is something they’ve been kind of pushing out of their minds for awhile, but they were very impacted by watching the Answer the Cry DVD and I’m meeting with her this week to talk about the adoption process.  It is so exciting to watch how their hearts are being softened to the plight of the orphan.
72. Room for One More is our non for profit organization and through it we advocate for foster care, orphan care and adoption.  We hosted our fist annual 5k walk/run and 10k run followed by an adoption celebration including several local organizations also serving children.  The turnout was wonderful.  We had 120 runners and with the runners and sponsorships we raised enough money to give 5 adoption grants and help bring 5 children home!!
73. Several people approached us to let us know they were considering fostering after hearing the messages.
74. The church leadership chose to use a special offering for orphan care and we had an anonymous donor “match” the contributions dollar for dollar.   Also had local food manufacturer donate soup for our luncheon where we highlighted orphanage life.
75. The whole day was very impactful. I felt like the people at my church finally understood why my wife and I are so passionate about adoption.
76. The group is now inspired to reach out and do something for orphans. We will be getting together and praying about how we can help the orphans in our community and internationally.
77. Our church was very focused this year on supporting one of our partner ministries — Charasia. (Charasia cares for the children of girls who are being trafficked in brothels, etc.) We raised money to purchase nearly 100 pairs of shoes for these children!
78. In our Children’s Ministry we had several children who shared their adoption stories (adoptees and their siblings) and what life in an orphanage is like in their own words at each service.  This proved to be a powerful time for those listening and those sharing. All of the kids in Children’s Ministry had been saving their quarters and bringing them into Kids Blast in preparation for their mini food packing event.  Each meal cost 25 cents.
79. Our Orphan Sunday service is recorded here.  We also had our children’s and student’s ministry learn about children in fostercare. They got involved by not only learning about the biblical mandate to respond to the needs of children at-risk, but they also put together “Treasure Boxes” for the County Social Services.  The kids were wide-eyed and engaged. They had… so many questions about WHY their parents could not take care of them.  The following week we had a “next steps” event.  Over 60 people came to learn and take the next step.  Amazing!
80. Our program included:   a testimony from an adult adoptee; we viewed the Answer the Cry DVD; personal testimony by a family who has adopted from Ethiopia; testimony from a foster parent…We created an “Action Card” and asked people to complete them and turn them in.  People are being challenged, lives are being changed, and hearts are being broken and then filled by the desire to help, love, and care for orphan children
81. Have had lots if inquiries about adoption and a group has started to get together care packages for children in Haiti. Awareness is coming!
82. Four people came through and want to adopt/foster children, one wants to start an orphan ministry, the church is sponsoring a Christmas wish list tree for foster children.  Several “children” came to me after the speech and said they were foster children who were fortunate to find families and were so thankful of our raising awareness and they want to help too.  Some people visited from other churches including a pastor who is involved with several hundred churches who came and brought his adopted son to hear what was being preached and testimony.  What a blessing!
83. Our pastor gave a great sermon on the way God has adopted us into his family and how adoption mirrors this great truth.
84. On our Orphan Sunday, I focused on the Doctrine of Adoption/ Orphan Care in our Message. Showing our people through the word of God, the fact that Adoption/Orphan Care is ingrained in our faith practice. And how it illuminates our salvation experience with Christ in realizing our Adoption into the Family of God.
85. I let our church know about the plan my wife and I have to Adopt, and how we have just completed the Formal Application. I explained how Adoption was a Faith Journey for us, because we didn’t know where the$16,000 was going to come from. At the close of the service, after explaining some tangible ways that people in our church could care for Orphans or learn more about Adoption, a person came up to me in the welcome center and slid me a check. They told me never to mention their name, but that God had told them to give me this check. As my wife and I headed to lunch that afternoon, I handed her the check and she unfolded to see that it was written out for $5,000! Almost 1/3 of our entire Adoption Cost! We were so humbled by the LORD and so excited to see how he had answered to our prayers! We can’t wait to see how he will work in other areas of our life through this process!
86. We asked our congregation to collect spare change back on October 10th to bring as an offering on Orphan Sunday. We had no idea how much to expect, so we bought a round tub and sat it at the front of the church for our offering time. We asked everyone to bring their change together as a family and pour into the tub. The line seemed never ending as people began to make their way to the front of the church. We also had people giving cash and checks. It was amazing! The grand total of change given on November 7th was $3017.26. Cash and checks totaled $434.00, for a grand total of $3451.26!!! We are so grateful to our Great God for this offering for the orphans.
87. There is a mom (Laci) that has been doing foster care for 6 years and has adopted one little girl so far. She has had the cold shoulder from her mother and her mother treats these kids very distantly. The mother invites her mom to hear the message and the mother puts her off the whole week. Her mother calls her Saturday night (the night before the service) and tells her that she will come (but she did not sound excited about it at all). Her mom comes and the whole time tears are streaming down her face and she is really listening. Laci said when the service was over she found her mom loving on her adopted child and loving all over the two foster children she has in the home. Laci said all she could do was cry and savor the moment. Her mom looks at her thanks her for inviting her and says “I know understand the importance of what you are doing”. Another story I have is three days after the service I had a father come up to me in the grocery store and say you did a good job. I had no idea who this man was and he started talking to me. He told me that his father was and orphan and that the service blessed him and made him realize the importance of the church taking action. I also had four people come up to me after the service and say that they wanted to be foster parents.
88. There were several people in our county who made commitments to foster and adopt through the weekend activities.  Several churches participated in the planning of the event.  It was the first of its kind in our county and the beginning of a new Centre County Orphan Care Alliance.  We are excited to see what God has in store for the churches in our county as we are more deliberate together at serving the fatherless.
89. We had 2 people sign up to join our new orphan care ministry!
90. We prayed for 40 days prior to the event, and gathered over 200 photos of children local, national, international for sponsorship, or prayer, or adoption, or pen pals with orphans in Ukraine. Many families are already corresponding with orphans through the amazing generosity of a Christian Ukrainian translator. She provided us with her email, so we can write letters to her and she translates and mails them to the children. We have established an Orphan Ministry in our church as a result of last year’s Orphan Sunday. God’s heart has reached us!
91. Our entire Sunday service was dedicated to this cause.  We featured, through slide shows and videotaped interviews, close to 25 individuals from our church who were adopted.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house by the time it was over, and that included the pastor!  He himself has 3 adopted children, was announced from the front that he has been moved in his sleep the night before to start a fund to help couples in our church who want to adopt.  As if that wasn’t cool enough, I had been given the same vision not more than 3 weeks earlier (unbeknownst to him) and had been wanting to approach him about it.  Here’s hoping we as the global church see many orphanages and foster care systems emptied in the next decade b/c of this movement God has started.  Praise be to Him!
92. With the success of last year’s event and the impact that the New England United Methodist churches made in the lives of Orphan/Foster children and families, N.U.H.O.P.E has added a number of opportunities for churches in the “new” New England Annual Conference to get involved and make a difference. This year the N.U.H.O.P.E goal is to have every one of our churches in the “new” New England Conference involved by at least praying, and at least three quarters of all of the churches supporting Orphan Sunday and Orphan Awareness Week 2010 with activities and financial support.
93. We were contacted through the Orphan Sunday website by someone we didn’t know who saw our event.  We’ve made a GREAT connection with them because of it.  As they have recently adopted, their story has been super encouraging to us in many ways.  God sure works in amazing ways!
94. Of course it was a wonderful day for our family as we announced our plans to “foster to adopt.”  Wed. following one of our ladies gave testimony of how encouraging it was to her that there were Christian people who desired to foster and share the love of Christ as she had been in foster care growing up.  Most of the folks would not have known her story, but she felt emboldened to share and encourage others to take similar action to our family.
95. We held our first Adoption Network Gathering at Woodlands Point, where 40 people gathered around the cause of the orphan to learn from reps from different adoption and foster agencies. We are a 2 year old church plant and are thrilled to see God cultivating the Gospel deeply into people and tangibly expressing its application through adoption. We were adopted by God through Jesus as His sons and daughters, and pray God continues to deepen our understanding of that reality through the avenue of coming alongside orphans.
96. We had a silent auction and church service for 2 adoptive families. These families are forerunners in adoption for our congregation, so we had a great prayer meeting as well that God would raise up other families to adopt, and that these 2 families would be an encouragement. They shared their testimonies, and we showed video clips from the Orphan Sunday website. There was also a sermon on helping orphans, and a well known musician led worship. We raised $2000 for the families.
97. Our United Pentecostal Church organization was so impressed with the idea of Orphan Sunday that our whole organization now throughout the US and internationally knows about Orphan Sunday, and they are commemorating it every year now!  We had a big turnout for our service. My pastor told me last night that we will be having OS from now on out, and I will be in charge of it. My plan is to start an orphan and adoption ministry in our church, and have signed up for the Webinar series on this subject, which will be held on Nov. 18th.  God has done great and marvelous things in our midst, and I know He has plans to complete it!”
98. We were very blessed to be able to attend the LIVE Event personally, since we are about 80 miles from Colorado Springs. There were 6 of us that participated in this. To see the young people at The Mill so involved and excited about their ministry, and specifically their involvement with orphan projects, was inspiring.
99. We had a great response leading up to the event, and our nearly 4,000 members heard “God’s Heart for Adoption” in our morning services, and then we held our “Answer the Cry” event in the evening…

In our second year of celebrating Orphan Sunday we saw a much higher level of interest among both the leaders and congregation!   We showed a 5 minute video clip (“True Religion”) and the worship service was framed around confession, repentance then grace for fulfilling our calling in this area followed by exhortations to consider what we can be doing individually and corporately. Multiple families asked for more information following the service and our information table is receiving a lot of visitors. The conversation has opened up tremendously! Thank you for all your efforts and resources!