An article in this month’s Christianity Today continues in the vein of a recent blog post here on “Race and Adoption” and last month’s Alliance webinar on “Transracial Adoption.” The article is an excerpt from Piper’s new book, Bloodlines. It’s provocatively titled, “Piper: I Was Racist: How the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church went from a self-described racist to an adoptive father of an African American.”
While the CT article/excerpt touches a range of topics, it includes a compelling passage on the Pipers’ decision to adopt an African American girl, now their daughter.
Not long after I turned fifty in 1996, Noël got a phone call from a friend and pro-life social worker in Georgia. “I have a little girl here who needs a family,” she said, “I think she’s for you.” Was this the answer to Noël’s prayer for a daughter that so far God had answered with four sons? It was not an easy decision. I was fifty, and this little girl was African American. Starting the parenting role again at age fifty was not in the plan. There were those who thought I was crazy to consider it.
Noël and I took long walks together in those days as we sought the Lord together. Finally, I knew the answer. Love your wife, love this little girl as your own, and commit yourself to the day of your death to the issue of racial harmony. Nothing binds a pastor’s heart to diversity more than having it in his home. That was over fifteen years ago. In those years, we have tried to pursue as a church a deeper and wider racial and ethnic diversity and harmony.
See the full article here: Piper: I Was Racist