In celebration of the 20th anniversary of CAFO, we invited several leaders to reflect on the early days of CAFO and how being part of this community has impacted their lives and ministries. These videos were shared from the stage at CAFO2024 in Nashville, Tenn. Sept. 18-20, and we hope you will be blessed by their testimonies of God’s faithfulness!
If you have memories from CAFO to share, please send them to commsteam@cafo.org. We’d love to hear your stories!
Sharen Ford, Focus on the Family
“As I reflect on the early days of the Summit, I remember being in state government and in child welfare and being in awe …that people were gathered together for one purpose and one cause: to care about God’s children. It was a time of refreshing, a time of renewal, a time of praying and a time of being accepted that I wasn’t an outsider because I worked for state government.
“I felt special and I felt renewed as I went back to my office, knowing I needed to come back to CAFO again and knowing they were my people and I was welcome there.”
Steven Curtis Chapman, Christian Recording Artist & Founder of Show Hope
“Through my family’s own personal adoption journey, we have experienced some of life’s greatest joys and highest moments in our lives, as well as some of the deepest, darkest, hardest and most painful moments we have journeyed through … and yet through all of it, and through the amazing work of Show Hope, I have seen and become convinced without a doubt that Jesus is our only hope. In the end, all we have is Christ. And it’s Him working through us so that one day we will see that He is truly who He says he is, making all things new.”
Dennis Rainey, Author and Co-Founder of FamilyLife
“It has been said only God knows the number of apples in an apple seed, well back in 2004 we planted an apple seed. That apple seed became Christian Alliance for Orphans. It came about as a result of Christian organizations who felt like their voice was not loud enough on behalf of the orphan. And so we decided we’d check our egos and logos at the front door and form this organization called Christian Alliance for Orphans … I want to challenge you not to plan apple seeds but go plant some orchards. A.W. Tozier said, ‘God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity we plan to do the things we can only do by ourselves.’ May God’s favor rest upon you as you go in faith giving voice to the orphans.”
Bishop Aaron Blake, Founder of Harvest Life Ministries
“What would I like to see of CAFO 20 years from now? … a rainbow of children that we now are working with and now they are leading CAFO. Can you imagine if there was a kid who was once in crisis being the Jedd 20 years from now? … Let me encourage you. God has your back and you can do it, so let’s go do it.”
Belay Gebru, Founder of Hope for the Fatherless
“We live in a world with brokenness and depravity. In my day-to-day work, I hear and see a lot of brokenness. Brokenness in a family and relationship in the life of many children. Most of the time I have a tendency to fix those problems … but in the past few years, I have been coming to a balance between justice and the inner life. Our first calling is to become more like Jesus and follow Him. Justice and mercy is a product of our walk with Christ.”
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We’d love to hear your stories of God’s faithfulness!
Tag us @cafoalliance on social media – we would love to re-share your story! Find us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
