Upbeat reports are coming in from all across the country about what transpired over Orphan Sunday weekend. From a stirring sermon in a suburban start-up church of fifty to city-wide efforts that touched scores of churches across a number of major metropolitan areas, it seems Orphan Sunday was just what all of us had hoped. In countless ways large and small, it created a nationwide echo calling the Church to mirror God’s heart for the orphan in worship and theology, prayer and action.
Friday night’s “LIVE from Colorado Springs” event was unforgettable. We pray the 1,000+ students present and countless more watching via simulcast, webcast and cable TV were stirred in ways that will affect their life choices both now and for decades to come. From those I talked with Friday night, I believe many were.
I spent Orphan Sunday at Calvary Chapel of Ft. Lauderdale, where I had the privilege of teaming with Pastor Bob Coy and Doug Sauder to bring Orphan Sunday reflections and call-to-local-action to four services (each of which would dwarf my home church). Meanwhile, more than 20 other churches around Ft. Lauderdale highlighted a similar message, each in their own way.
Response to the Answer the Cry DVD (produced by Show Hope, Focus on the Family and Hope for Orphans) has also been tremendous. More than 1,000 copies were shipped to individuals who’d requested to use them to host local Orphan Sunday events. An email I received yesterday described, “We showed “Answer the Cry” to both the adults and youth during our Adult Bible Education hour, and it appears to have made an impact on the several people we talked to, as well as many others who remained in the sanctuary talking about the video after it ended. I even walked in on a conversation in the ladies room among four women who were talking about how to support a foster family in our church that is preparing to finalize the adoption of their daughters this month.”
I’ll share more windows into all that happened in the days ahead. ((We’d love to hear your Orphan Sunday report as well–just send it to [email protected]!) For now, we can thank the Lord together at all He’s done, and continues to do, to reveal His heart to the world through this movement.
Photo: Robert and Dorothy Bode and their 11 kids served as welcoming crew, ushers and fierce bouncers at the LIVE from Colorado Springs event. (Any ruffians that may have considered crashing the event, it appears, turned tail and ran when the saw the army they’d have to face.) Also in the photo are (starting 3rd from left) Alliance Intern Rosalynn Robb, Orphan Sunday National Coordinator Jodi Jackson-Tucker, and yours truly.
