1 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,880 Well, good morning. We were here back on the Sunday 2 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,440 after Easter in 2023. And so we're glad to be back 3 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,720 today. So just a little bit about 4 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,240 families for families. We are, we're a faith-based 5 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:25,560 foster care agency here in the state of Georgia. 6 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,040 We have 9 contracts with the Department of Family Child 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:33,160 Services and we just started our office in that Kenneth runs up 8 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:35,400 here in Cartersville in January of 2023. 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,080 You guys were our first partner church that we spoke at. 10 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,520 We were working through contracting and stuff still and 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,680 so you guys have been a great partner. 12 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,080 We have several foster families in this church and then we also, 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,840 you, you guys have hosted our gala 2 years in a row here. 14 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:53,920 And so last time I was on this stage I was asking for money. 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,920 I will not be doing that this morning, but you guys have 16 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,280 hosted 2 galas for us here. We raised $100,000 this past 17 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,160 year. And so we had a great gala. 18 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,720 And just leave a little bit about this area up here. 19 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,320 We have, we're getting ready to complete our 10th adoption in 20 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:11,760 this office in about two years because we just started a couple 21 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,880 years ago, placed over 80 kids. Hey, let me show you something 22 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,320 about Northwest Georgia. So we have 10 regions that we 23 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:18,840 work in Georgia. The way we divide it up 24 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,840 Northwest Georgia has more kids in foster care than any other 25 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:24,640 region that we work in the state of Georgia. 26 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:29,080 In fact, your kids in this area come into care at a 50% higher 27 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,240 rate here than they do in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett 28 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,440 counties. And so we've pulled all kinds of 29 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,800 data and stuff. We last year, I'll go this 30 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:45,400 minute, we denied 2330, nine, 3223 kids, 691 of those kids 31 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,240 were right around your church here that we just didn't have 32 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,800 enough homes for it. So this morning I just really 33 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:52,760 want to share with you kind of what's going on in your 34 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,240 community, what's going on with kids and how you can, how you 35 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,920 can help with that. I did not grow up doing foster 36 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:00,960 care, never thought about going into social work. 37 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,440 I was in construction. So if you want to talk 38 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,680 Caterpillar bulldozers and Komatsu's and stuff after 39 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:08,280 church, I'm more than happy to do that with you. 40 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,040 I grew up in that. And then in 22,008, see if I 41 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,600 remember 2008, if you don't, you were not in construction. 42 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,200 OK. But in 2008, my wife and I 43 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,520 reorganized financially. That means we filed bankruptcy 44 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,640 and lost everything we had. We were, we were developing land 45 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:26,800 and we were clearing land and we were doing all this stuff and we 46 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,480 lost everything. In 2017, we started Families for 47 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,160 Families with our first office out in Loganville, GA. 48 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,520 And so our whole mission was to connect with churches. 49 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:41,400 And so we really believe that the church is an untapped 50 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,720 resource for foster care. And so we went into foster care 51 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:45,920 with this. We were going to connect with 52 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:47,160 churches. We were not going to charge them 53 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:48,840 any money. We were going to raise money 54 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:51,880 from the business world. And so we wanted our families to 55 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,720 be a member of a church, have a pastor's reference, sign a 56 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,600 statement of faith, a positional morality, and hold a biblical 57 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,960 view of marriage. And so as we started talking 58 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,360 about that and sharing with that, people told us that will 59 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,880 never work. You will never get enough 60 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,480 families with that model and and you'll never be able to scale 61 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,720 that. Today we are the largest 62 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,480 nonprofit foster care agency in the state of Georgia with 9 63 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,720 offices. We have placed over 1500 64 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,800 children and completed 250 adoptions since we started. 65 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:30,280 So I say that, I say that, I say this, I still believe God's way 66 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,640 is the best way. I still believe the answer for 67 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:37,240 foster care is the church and, and I'm, I want to share with a 68 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:38,240 little bit about that this morning. 69 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,360 So here's the first slide here. Just share a little bit. 70 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,760 Last year, so last year we placed 287 children in Christian 71 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,960 foster homes. We did 120 reunifications, 44 72 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,600 adoptions. We open 93 new foster homes. 73 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,200 We're trying to do 110 this year. 74 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,000 And this is the number I want you to remember. 75 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:59,560 Last year we denied 3223 kids. That means the state of Georgia 76 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:05,520 called us 3223 times and said we have an abused or neglected 77 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,960 child that needs a home. And we said no. 78 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:14,680 And so people want me to come talk about the 287. 79 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,839 How'd y'all do 287 kids? How'd you open 93 foster homes? 80 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,880 And I'll say this, as long as we're denying kids, we're going 81 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,040 to keep pushing and we want to keep growing and we want to keep 82 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:25,960 connecting with churches. And so part of my job is that 83 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,320 I'm in a different church every Sunday speaking. 84 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,960 Next week, I'm somewhere. The next week I'm down in 85 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,320 Albany, GA at Sherwood Baptist. They called us. 86 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,200 It's the last place we haven't worked in Georgia. 87 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,640 They got 92 pastors that are coming to a pastor's lunch to 88 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,400 hear me come speak next Sunday afternoon and partner with 89 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,360 Sherwood to plan an office down there in southwest Georgia. 90 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,360 I believe it is so. So I want to share with you this 91 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:50,640 morning here. If you don't hear anything else 92 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,920 me say this morning, I believe the church is the answer for 93 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,680 foster care. So let me show you my first 94 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:57,240 verse this morning. We're going to start here in the 95 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:01,040 book of Exodus. And so if you've been in church 96 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:02,720 for more than a week or two, we have the book of Genesis and 97 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,160 then we have the book of Exodus. And so it says this first part 98 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,320 of that verse says you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless 99 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:11,560 child. And so here's what I want you to 100 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:11,880 hear. First. 101 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:14,920 Think point number one, this is not a new problem. 102 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,040 Foster care, the orphan and the widow are not a new problem. 103 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,640 In fact, if you read the book of Genesis, we know Adam and Eve 104 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:23,640 have two two sons, Cain and Abel. 105 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:28,040 Cain kills Abel, so Abel's wife was the first single mom raising 106 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,160 kids in the Bible. It's very possible that Adam and 107 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,880 Eve were the first grandparents helping raise their grandkids. 108 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,880 OK, but in Exodus, God starts to deal with the orphan and he 109 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,320 starts to deal with the fatherless and he starts to deal 110 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,000 with the widow. It's interesting in Scripture we 111 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,680 always see this word widow and fatherless together. 112 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,240 Or we see the word widow and orphan together, depending on 113 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:49,560 what translation of Bible you have. 114 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,200 They're together and Isaiah they're together and Ezekiel 115 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,360 together. And James, Jesus talks about 116 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:55,880 them together. And it's kind of weird because 117 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,480 you look at the the widow and you say, well, she's older. 118 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:00,760 And you look at the child, the fatherless child and you say, 119 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,760 well, they're younger and you say, well, why do they always go 120 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:05,760 together? And here's the reason why is 121 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,360 they both lack a male protector. The fatherless child doesn't 122 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,160 have a dad and the widow doesn't have a husband. 123 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,760 Can I just say something? You don't have to look around at 124 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,440 our culture very much today that there there's a plot to get rid 125 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,920 of men. There there is a plot to get men 126 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,520 out of our culture today. Every movie they make makes men 127 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,360 look stupid. Everything we do, we're trying 128 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:30,840 to get rid of men. And let me just share this with 129 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:32,320 you today. Satan's got something figured 130 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,240 out. If he can get rid of men, 131 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,840 society will do everything he wants to to women and children. 132 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:40,640 And so there's this. There's this idea where God 133 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,640 calls us as men to come in and to fight. 134 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:47,480 He says you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 135 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,720 Now, I've invited some friends of mine today, and some will be 136 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,800 very careful what I say next. But when this verse was written 137 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,880 back in Exodus, there were no Rotary clubs, y'all with me? 138 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,520 There was no Kiwanis clubs. There was no Department of 139 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,080 Family child services, There was no state government. 140 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,240 So this verse was not written to any of them. 141 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,480 This verse was written to us as believers. 142 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,760 And I have people tell me all the time, and I said this in the 143 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,560 last service, they say, Wayne, there's so many problems and 144 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,120 there's so much going on. And just just hear me say this 145 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 with love this morning, the biggest problem we have with our 146 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,040 kids in the state and really in our nation, the biggest problem 147 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,520 we have with the Department of Family Child Services is that 148 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,120 the church has left their post. God never called the government 149 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,240 to find homes for kids. He called the church to do it. 150 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:49,760 And we talked about, we say, hey, Wayne, there's so many 151 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:51,920 issues and there are issues. But let me tell you, the biggest 152 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:55,640 issue is us. The biggest issue is that God 153 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,280 called us to do it and we chose not to do it. 154 00:07:58,280 --> 00:07:59,640 And we gave it back to the government. 155 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,320 And then we look at the government, we say, you guys 156 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:03,720 aren't doing it right. And I just want to say this, If 157 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,000 God called us to do it, he will not hold the government 158 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,040 accountable for what happened to kids in our communities. 159 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:09,440 He'll, he'll, he'll hold us accountable. 160 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:11,360 And so he says, you shall not mistreat. 161 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,760 And he says, and if you do mistreat them at all, and they 162 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,720 cry out to me that I'm going to hear their cry. 163 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,960 I tell my staff all the time, I'm like every time a child's 164 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,440 abused, every time a child's neglected, every time a child 165 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,200 goes hungry, every time a child's cold and they cry, God 166 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,600 hears that cry. Did you know that a tear has 167 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,640 never fell from a child's eye that God didn't know about and 168 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:36,600 God didn't hear? And you say, well, Wayne, how 169 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,120 come? How come sometimes abuse goes on 170 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,039 for days and weeks and sometimes for years? 171 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,320 And I don't know, but I know God hears that cry. 172 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,320 And I know if I read my Bible right, I know who he's going to 173 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:47,800 send to help him. And it's me and you. 174 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,840 It's us as believers. This week we placed four kids, 175 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,880 two abandoned babies, another child, actually 5 kids, and a 176 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,960 sibling group of two. All five of those kids this 177 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:01,800 morning are in church for the very first time. 178 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,400 All five of those kids last Sunday were in an abusive home. 179 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,320 And this Sunday they're all going to church for the first 180 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,920 time. And so God sends us to help. 181 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,280 I hear all this people talk about COVID and how much mental 182 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,120 health worse since COVID and drug uses were since COVID. 183 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,920 And I'll say, listen, look at foster homes in Georgia. 184 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,560 We're down like 3000 homes since 2019. 185 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,960 And I would just ask us as believers, if we believe that 186 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:29,320 kids are creating the image of God. 187 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,800 If we believe that God ordained those kids all the days of their 188 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,840 life before they were born, If we believe that God's got a plan 189 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,720 and a purpose for their life, then what is Our Calling in 190 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:40,120 answering that in our communities? 191 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,160 I believe the church ought to lead the way in social work. 192 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,320 I believe our church is not in. Your church has done a great 193 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:47,840 job. You guys have done a lot here. 194 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:49,320 There's several families here that foster. 195 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:51,880 I'm getting ready to share a story about one of those 196 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:53,360 families. But as a church, we're not 197 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,560 called to be silent in this part here. 198 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,600 And so on the next slide, there is a fatherless. 199 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:01,480 And so we talked about the fatherless. 200 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:03,640 And now this is federal data. This is not from the Southern 201 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,640 Baptist Convention or anything. OK. 202 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,760 So listen to this. 63% of all youth suicides are fatherless 203 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:12,640 homes. 90% of our runaways are from fatherless homes. 85% of 204 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:14,560 children who show behavior disorders are fatherless homes. 205 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,640 71% of all high school dropouts are fatherless homes. 206 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:19,920 How much money we spend trying to keep kids in school? 207 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,160 My family, we had a program for keeping kids in school. 208 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:24,800 It was me. You know what the program was? 209 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,120 My dad. Mom, I don't feel good. 210 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:29,840 Today. My mom would be in the kitchen 211 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,080 making me chicken noodle soup and saltines. 212 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:35,840 You know what my dad would do? Get up. 213 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,800 You're going to school and when you get off, when you get home 214 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,840 from school, you can go to bed because you don't feel good. 215 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,800 My idea was I lay in bed all day when my friends got off the bus. 216 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:47,040 I could go play with him that afternoon. 217 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,720 But my dad, there was no option of going to school. 218 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:53,240 And if you couldn't throw up, you went to school. 219 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,080 And if you did throw up, my dad said, OK, you know, you're 220 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,120 better now, go to school. 71% of all high school dropouts, 221 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,440 fatherless homes, 75% of adolescents who show behavior 222 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:07,040 disorders or who chemical abuse. There is possible 85% of youth. 223 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,440 This was from Fulton County and a county in Texas that are youth 224 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,040 that are in prisons, are from father's homes. 225 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,800 So people tell me all the time they say Wayne Satan's working 226 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,360 so hard in our culture and he's destroying families and he's 227 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,360 working through drug use and runaways and trafficking. 228 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,320 Let me tell you what Satan's got figured out. 229 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,760 All he has to do is remove you men from being the provider and 230 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,320 protector for your home and society will take care of 231 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:31,840 everything else. He doesn't have to do anything 232 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:33,600 else. Once he gets once he breaks 233 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:37,880 down, the family society will take care of almost everything 234 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,480 else he wants to do. Let me share a story with you. 235 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:48,920 In October of 2023, not far from your church, a little 6 year old 236 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:53,320 girl was with her mom and dad and they had some pretty 237 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,480 significant drug issues. They were homeless, they had 238 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:01,520 drug issues, there was neglect and there was abuse. 239 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:07,000 And her family was working with the Bartow County Resource right 240 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,280 up the road here and doing a pretty good job. 241 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,000 And it got so bad that they couldn't take care of her 242 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,400 anymore. And a lady who worked there 243 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,720 ended up taking care of this little girl for a couple weeks. 244 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,360 She moved in with her. The judge let her go there and 245 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,480 she stayed with her. And she stayed there for a 246 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,200 couple weeks. And the family just said, it's 247 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:27,600 too much, like we can't do this anymore. 248 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,920 And so they are going to surrender her over to the 249 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,640 Department of Family and Child Services. 250 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,240 And on that day that families destroyed, this little girl's 251 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:38,800 already been removed from her family. 252 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,480 She goes to another family. Not not anything they did wrong. 253 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:44,600 They just couldn't do it. So you think about this little 254 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:46,600 girl, my mom and dad don't want me. 255 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,000 So I go live with a friend for two weeks. 256 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,080 They don't want me. And it's six years old. 257 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,960 Her view of family and stability is gone. 258 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,720 And so this lady that has this little girl at six years old 259 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:06,120 remembers that there's a church in Cartersville that started a 260 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,440 foster care, foster care ministry named Cartersville 261 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,560 First Baptist Church. So she picks up the phone and 262 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:19,120 she calls your executive pastor Stephen James says, hey, I know 263 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,480 y'all started a ministry. I know you're working through 264 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,280 the licensing process to get your home open. 265 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,960 And his response was our home just opened yesterday. 266 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,760 Now you talk about God's timing. Let me tell you something. 267 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,920 There's a lot, there's somebody a lot bigger than any of us in 268 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,640 here fighting for these kids. And so God's timing was that his 269 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,480 home opened yesterday and he got a phone call and we took a 270 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,120 little bit through courts and judges. 271 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:51,760 In October of 2023, she moved in with the Stephen James family in 272 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:56,880 your church. And the family continued to 273 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,680 struggle and visits and all the stuff that happened. 274 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:09,640 In March of 2025, her 13 month old brother also came into care 275 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:19,720 and the James family said yes. In November of 2025, this little 276 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:24,800 6 year old girl was adopted by the James family and your 277 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:31,280 church. And I was talking to my staff 278 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,040 this week and I said tell me some, you know, I can't keep up 279 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,680 with 300 kids. And they said tell me some, tell 280 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:38,880 me some information about what's going on with the little boy. 281 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:40,600 And they said we'll call you Friday. 282 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:45,520 And so Friday they called me. And on Friday, this past Friday, 283 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,440 like 3 days ago, the James family signed 30 threes, which 284 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,440 is an intent to adopt and they'll be adopting the little 285 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,760 boy named Michael who they're changing his name to Matthew. 286 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,280 So all that happened, none of that happened because of 287 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:02,040 families for families. That happened because of your 288 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,320 church. Now let me let me share 289 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,240 something with ready that little girl and I know a little bit 290 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:07,880 about her. I actually got to meet Matthew 291 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,040 just a few minutes ago. I know about her. 292 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,320 She understands an abusive dad and she understands a neglectful 293 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,800 dad. And now she understands the dad 294 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:24,480 that adopted her and chose her. She understands what family 295 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,480 dysfunction looks like and drug use looks like and neglect look 296 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,400 like. And now she understands what a 297 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:32,760 church family loving on her looks like. 298 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,000 And she understands what it's like to be homeless. 299 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,840 And now she understands what it's like to have a warm bed 300 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,080 every night. And now she understands what 301 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,280 it's like to have food. And now she understands what 302 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,720 it's like a church family. And I believe one day, because 303 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,600 right now while we're sitting in here, she's back there in kids 304 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,880 ministry and I believe she's going to go to vacation Bible 305 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,120 school and she's going to go to youth camp one day. 306 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,880 And you small group leaders that sitting here, you guys are going 307 00:15:57,880 --> 00:15:59,880 to pour into her. And Matthew's in the nursery 308 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,080 right now and somebody's probably rocking him and singing 309 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,640 Jesus loves him. And someday those kids are going 310 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:06,160 to give their life to Jesus in this church. 311 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:09,160 And let me tell you what's going to happen when that happens is 312 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:12,880 generational sins have been passed down from that family 313 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:15,560 from years and years and generations will all be broken 314 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,720 and strongholds in that family will start to come down. 315 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,080 And alcoholism and drug use and abuse will end because of those 316 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,040 kids and because of what this church did in those kids lives. 317 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,000 Now here's the only question we got to figure out this morning 318 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,240 is how much of our life are we willing to give up so that can 319 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,000 happen for a child. That's the only question about 320 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,760 foster care. The only question about foster 321 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,080 care is this is what part of the American dream is your family 322 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,680 willing to give up so that a kids nightmare can end? 323 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:50,640 And what's my life really worth because of travel ball? 324 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:52,840 So important that I don't have time to take care of another 325 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:56,200 kid. Nothing wrong with travel ball. 326 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,120 My kid play sports. They were terrible, but they all 327 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,080 play. I'll be honest, we didn't play 328 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:02,040 travel ball. We weren't that good. 329 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,359 Nothing wrong with all that, but taking another kid and take him 330 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:11,319 to play ball with you. But what happens because that 331 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:14,720 little girl now understands she's got a mom and she's got a 332 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,319 dad that love her. Those kids are here this 333 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:20,040 morning. So church when you're teaching 334 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:24,240 Melinda in the 1st grade, 2nd grade, whatever 6 year olds are, 335 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,520 I guess they're first grade when you're teaching her and you're 336 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,840 holding Matthew, just know you stole one from the enemy and put 337 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,880 them back in God's Kingdom. That's what this church ought to 338 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:35,160 be about. That's what God calls our 339 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:37,840 churches to do. Here's the next verse says this. 340 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,280 He says learn to do good, seek justice, right, correct 341 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,960 oppression, bring justice for the fatherless and plead the 342 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,560 widow's calls. Now some versions say to fight 343 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:49,680 for the fatherless. Some versions say to take up the 344 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,240 cause. Some versions say to defend. 345 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,960 But the word here is this. If God calls us to bring justice 346 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,520 to the fatherless, the the the issue is there's begin in just 347 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:01,120 things done to them. Does that make sense? 348 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:03,840 If God calls us to defend something, it means they're 349 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,400 being attacked. If he calls us to bring justice, 350 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,240 it means there's been in just things done to our fatherless 351 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,600 children, OK. And so I told you, well, we had 352 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,600 five kids growing up. I had three girls and two boys, 353 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,240 OK. And we were watching National 354 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,080 Geographic with our kids. You ever watch the National 355 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:20,520 Geographic with your kids? I don't know if it's good or 356 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:21,760 not. My kids are grown, so it's too 357 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:23,080 late. But we don't watch that. 358 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,640 And these little gazelles be going down towards the watering 359 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,560 hole, and you know, it's waiting for the gazelles before they get 360 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,040 there. The lions, you guys watch that 361 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,200 with your kids too. And so the lions and the lions, 362 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:34,760 they call them a pride of lions. And they all wait for the 363 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:36,320 gazelles to get right in the middle. 364 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,880 And then they all jump out at one time and all the gazelles 365 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:40,520 run. And there's three gazelles that 366 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:44,080 get left behind. Now my girls scream for the 367 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:45,160 gazelles. They can run. 368 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,000 Gazelles run. What are my boys screaming for? 369 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,840 The lions? They're going to kill them. 370 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:52,960 I shouldn't say that. Get them. 371 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,560 They're saying get them. And so they all start running. 372 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:58,160 Now there's three gazelles that get left behind. 373 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:00,040 The old gazelles that can't run as fast. 374 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,160 That would be some of y'all. You don't have to be the 375 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,040 fastest, but you cannot afford to be the slowest. 376 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,560 OK, so some of the old gazelles get left behind. 377 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,160 The second gazelle that gets left behind is the gazelle that 378 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,120 maybe got a broke leg and maybe got wounded in a previous 379 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:13,280 attack. But the third gazelle that gets 380 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:14,640 left behind is the one the lions want. 381 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,720 Which one is it? The babies. 382 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:22,240 The lions want the babies first. Peter 58, says your adversary, 383 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,800 the devil, walks around like a roaring lion looking for someone 384 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,880 to devour. Do you know what stands between 385 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:29,800 Satan and those kids in the nursery back there? 386 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:31,680 You know what stands between them? 387 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:34,960 You do, mom and dad. You fight for them. 388 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,600 Your health is important because you fight for those kids. 389 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:43,120 And before Satan's going to get to those kids, he's got to go 390 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:45,080 through you. So if Satan can just remove you, 391 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,280 he wants those kids. This what I believe about men. 392 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,760 Men, I, I think the church has done injustice in this. 393 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:58,440 Men are called to fight. We are called to protect and 394 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:00,960 provide. But more importantly in that we 395 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,400 are called to fight for our families and we're called to 396 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,560 fight for kids that cannot fight for themselves. 397 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,920 That is Our Calling as that is Our Calling as a biblical man. 398 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:17,000 I know we don't say this in church, but I'm not a real 399 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,360 pastor. I told you all that so I can say 400 00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,360 it. You guys watching NASCAR for 401 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:24,240 four hours, you know what you're hoping for in the back of your 402 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,200 mind that you don't say. What are you hoping for? 403 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,200 A wreck? We're all the same. 404 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,600 We want to see metal flying and cars flipping and bodies flying 405 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:40,000 out because there's a part of us it's like, yes, that's exciting. 406 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:46,360 We watch a football game in the end of the game ends in a brawl 407 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,280 in the guys are taking their helmets. 408 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,200 I don't know why they take their helmets off, but they take their 409 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:52,120 helmets off and they start hitting each other. 410 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:55,560 And ESPN will say, oh, this is terrible for college football. 411 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,480 We hate to see the game in this way. 412 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,680 But they showed the clips 30 times on Sunday afternoon. 413 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,560 You know why they show it? Because they know who's watching 414 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:04,920 ESPN. It's men. 415 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,040 And we're like, we want to see a fight. 416 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,800 We watch MMA. We watch people getting an 417 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,880 Octagon with bare knuckles and beat the slop out of each other 418 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,920 and going to come to church and say bless your brother. 419 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,520 You know why? Because God put that in US. 420 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:28,040 God put that in you. I grew up in construction. 421 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:30,360 I've shot everything there is to shoot. 422 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:31,760 I've mounted everything there is to mount. 423 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:33,120 I've catch. I've caught everything there is 424 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:36,400 to catch. I still drive a four wheel drive 425 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:38,120 truck. I don't need it for anything. 426 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,440 It's a diesel. I don't even know why, but I 427 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,560 drive that because I feel like, you know, a little bit of 428 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,800 manhood hanging on, you know? Let me tell you something, man. 429 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,320 The most manly thing you might can do is put down your golf 430 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,680 clubs and your guns. Don't sell them. 431 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,360 Just put them down and go pick up a kid that doesn't have 432 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,080 anybody to fight for him. And you look that kid in the eye 433 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,600 and you say before anybody gets to you, they're going to come 434 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,160 through me. And before anybody ever hurts 435 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:15,440 you again, they're going to have to deal with me first. 436 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:21,320 And you stand between that child in harm's way and you say it 437 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:27,880 stops today. We have no right to complain 438 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:31,080 about people abusing kids when we're not willing to take them 439 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,160 after they need a home. Well, you don't understand. 440 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:38,440 We're busy. Everybody's busy. 441 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,920 You don't understand. I got hobbies. 442 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,760 If there weren't kids in here, I could go into detail with you 443 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,160 what happens to our children and our state. 444 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,040 And the main reason it happens is because the church is 445 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,160 silence. Because we're as men were silent 446 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:03,200 as families, we become silent. I want to read a letter to you 447 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,120 we got a few years ago. I got to put my glasses on to 448 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:07,760 read it. A few years ago. 449 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:11,200 We got a sibling group of four, three boys and a girl. 450 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,560 The girl was the oldest and the mother wanted to get the girl 451 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:20,520 back, but she didn't want her boys back because she could use 452 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,320 the girl to make money to get her drugs. 453 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:32,480 And there was a talk about reunification until somebody, 454 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,920 families for families heard about it and started meeting 455 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,640 with county directors and people going, this is not going to 456 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,720 happen and they can't override me. 457 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,240 But if they do, there's going to be a lot of meetings. 458 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:47,720 And that was about six years ago. 459 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:49,560 And she was in my office last week. 460 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,680 I wasn't there and she left a letter on my desk for me. 461 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,880 And I want to read it to you this morning. 12 year old girl 462 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,440 and all this abuse happened from 5 between she was five and six 463 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,600 years old. And because of who's in, I'm not 464 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:03,960 going to details, but you can figure it out. 465 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:09,560 This is what it said, she said. Dear Wayne, thank you for your 466 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:14,720 company because if it wasn't for you I would have never been with 467 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,400 a great family. Sorry that I didn't get to talk 468 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,440 to you in person. You are the reason I got saved 469 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:24,720 and I'm safe because if you never made this company I would 470 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,360 be lonely and probably wouldn't even be here right now. 471 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,320 Thank you for being friends with my dad and being there for me. 472 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:42,800 So tell me what's more important than that? 473 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,040 That girl just spent three days at my house because she's 474 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,280 friends with my one of my daughter's. 475 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,240 And I'll just say the church like these kids are going to 476 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:04,280 spend eternity somewhere. There's kids that are going home 477 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,800 to an abusive home today and it's a church. 478 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,200 Sometimes I think we're just like, well that's OK. 479 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:12,560 There's nothing we can do about it. 480 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,960 And I just, I want to encourage you, we can fix this. 481 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:22,240 We can fix this churches. We you guys, you guys can fix 482 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,600 this. This church 2 services 1000 483 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,120 people on Sunday morning. Y'all could change your county 484 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:35,960 for foster care. Next verse is James 127. 485 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,640 It says this. It says religion that is pure 486 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,840 and undefiled before God is to visit the orphans and the widows 487 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:46,920 and their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the 488 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,400 world. It's pure religion. 489 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,720 It's investing in people that can't pay you back. 490 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,080 It's loving on people that can't love you back. 491 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,080 It's you bringing something to the table when they don't bring 492 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,520 anything back for you. I go and go next slide. 493 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,920 And so James 2 talks about how that James 2 talks about if you 494 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,720 see somebody, if you see somebody who needs clothes and 495 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,720 food going to the next slide and you don't and you pray for him. 496 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,640 James 2 basically says that what good is that? 497 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:18,520 Because if you pray for somebody that's hungry, they're still 498 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,000 hungry. If you pray for somebody that 499 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:21,320 needs a coat, they still need a coat. 500 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:23,640 If you pray for a kid that needs a home, he still needs a home. 501 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:25,120 And I so I kind of put this down. 502 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,080 Church should provide the practical and pray for the 503 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,720 supernatural. As churches we ought to provide 504 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,280 the practical and we ought to pray for the supernatural. 505 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,960 Y'all remember Moses when he went up on the hill to pray and, 506 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,880 and Josh was in the battle fighting the Amicon Knights? 507 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:40,360 Y'all remember what God told him to do? 508 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,280 God said, I want you to hold your hands up, right? 509 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,600 And I'm going to make the sun stand still and you're going to 510 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,640 hold your hands up and the sun's going to stand still as long as 511 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:50,120 you hold your hands up. Josh was going to win the 512 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:51,840 battle. And so Moses is praying and his 513 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,920 hands starting to get tired and start to come down and Joshua 514 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,840 starts losing. And so Aaron and her are with 515 00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:58,840 them. Y'all remember what Aaron and 516 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:00,000 her did. Y'all can talk if you want to 517 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,840 what they do. They held his arms up. 518 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,240 Now if the God of the universe can make the sun stand still, 519 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,120 can't he make Moses hold his hands up? 520 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,120 But God wants us to be involved in his work. 521 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,400 So think about this. I know they weren't Baptist 522 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:20,520 because if they were Baptist, Aaron and her would have prayed 523 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,760 for Moses to have more strength to hold his hands up. 524 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:25,640 They wouldn't have done anything else because they were busy. 525 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:33,080 That make sense, But no, they said, oh, we have a we have a 526 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,240 Moses is over here. He's praying and he's tired, so 527 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,760 maybe we should help him. That's a novel approach. 528 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,200 Here's a another Remember when Jesus called Lazarus out of the 529 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,880 grave? He's been dead for four days. 530 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,160 Jesus speaks into his Jesus speaks. 531 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,120 He said Lazarus come out of the grave and Lazarus walks out of 532 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:50,320 the grave. You know what God told people to 533 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,280 do? Take his grave clothes off. 534 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,800 Jesus can give him life after four days and he wants us to 535 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,480 take his grave clothes off. Why didn't Jesus make his grave 536 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,920 clothes fall off? Because he wanted us to be 537 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:06,280 involved in the work. We call these banner churches. 538 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,720 We call them Banner because of the the story in Moses. 539 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,360 So I'm going to, I'm going to share a story. 540 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:12,240 I'm going to we're going to do an illustration, then I'm going 541 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,120 to share a story with them. Then we're going to then we're 542 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:15,360 going to close. Is the Hamilton. 543 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,400 Where's the Hamilton family at? Y'all come on up here, all of 544 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,440 you. Your pastor recommended you. 545 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:28,480 I'm sorry. We got some kids for you. 546 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,320 They're in the nursery. I'm just kidding. 547 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,480 All right, Have you ever thought about fostering? 548 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:39,240 Good. OK, you're going to be a foster 549 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,680 dad. Be a foster mom right here. 550 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,160 OK, so this is a foster family. Now I'm going to share 551 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:44,840 something. You guys ready. 552 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,240 Half the foster family is going to foster care quit within the 553 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,600 first year. Now, we hold about a 90% 554 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:51,840 retention rate with our foster families and I'm about to show 555 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,640 you why, but you guys all have a part in this, OK? 556 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,720 So y'all have boys over here. OK, We are going to give you boy 557 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:00,000 who takes care of the boys mostly. 558 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,120 That's what I thought. All right, so and y'all are 559 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:11,560 married, right? It's good because Steven told me 560 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:12,480 y'all were. So that's good. 561 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,080 Husband, wife. OK. 562 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,640 And we have. All right. 563 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,600 Sorry these got mixed up. We have a mom. 564 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,400 You're a mom here. Make sure we can see all that. 565 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,280 OK, Dad. OK, this is good. 566 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:27,360 All right, y'all ever thought about how many kids you're going 567 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,520 to foster? What's that? 568 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:31,720 How many kids y'all want to foster? 569 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,360 I can put some pictures of kids that need homes up there. 570 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,000 OK, we're going to say 3. That's great. 571 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,400 Thank y'all for volunteering for three. 572 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:40,760 There we go. 3. Here, hold that for me. 573 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,160 OK, so this is a foster family, right? 574 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,640 This is a foster family in your church that's struggling Now, 575 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,760 what are y'all going to do? You're going to help, right? 576 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,360 You're not. You are going to pray for them, 577 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,160 but you're going to do more and pray for them, right? 578 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,200 Oh, we're praying for y'all. You know, they got these boys. 579 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,520 Do y'all like to eat? Yes. 580 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,400 OK, so all right, so as a foster family, he's still a still a 581 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,680 mom, still a dad, still a husband, still a wife. 582 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,880 Now they're foster parents, OK. And now they bring these kids in 583 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,400 the home. They have traumas and they don't 584 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,520 understand what's going on and they act out sometimes. 585 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,800 OK, so this what we try to do. We need a family. 586 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,520 You're going to volunteer. I need a family that says, hey, 587 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,960 I'll cook a meal once a week, or my small group has four people 588 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,280 in our small group and once a month somebody will do a meal. 589 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:26,640 And that was just illustration. So who's going to volunteer? 590 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,080 Come on. I was going to say, if nobody 591 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,800 raises their hand, y'all are all Baptists for sure. 592 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:32,920 Because you're just going to pray for them. 593 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,200 OK. Tell me your name. 594 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,640 Aaron. Bring your wife because we don't 595 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:37,960 want you cooking. OK, There you go. 596 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,160 All right, Aaron. Aaron and his family, his him 597 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:43,720 and his wife, they're going to work through a small group and 598 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,640 they're going to bring a meal once a week for this family. 599 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,040 Is that important? Thanks, Aaron. 600 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,840 Thanks, Aaron. OK, now, as a foster family, you 601 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,120 can't just leave your kids with anybody, OK? 602 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:55,840 You can't just leave them at the neighbor's house, OK. 603 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,440 So you have to find another family that goes through the 604 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,520 whole process. And so your wife's been doing a 605 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,280 great job taking care of the boys, taking care of you. 606 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,280 She needs a break. You're going to take her. 607 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,480 Where you going to take her? To Apple? 608 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,120 No, no. You're going somewhere, like for 609 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,880 three or four days. Would you like to go on a 610 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,240 cruise? She's going on a cruise. 611 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,000 OK, Sure. Can't take the foster kids out 612 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,320 of state, out of out of they don't have passports. 613 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,960 So we need a family that would go through the whole process, 614 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,280 but not bring kids in your home and just be a respite family. 615 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,400 OK, They're going to stay with you for a week. 616 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,840 Husband and wife. Anybody, anybody. 617 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:31,240 OK, come. Y'all come on up here. 618 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,640 This is going to be this is going to be great work. 619 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,040 Kenneth, you're getting all these guys information. 620 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:36,960 Good. All right, so here's the respite 621 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,040 family. What's your name? 622 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:42,440 Tom. OK, Tom, you're going to get the 623 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,720 foster children, OK? And then you guys get all three 624 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,880 of these kids, OK? You want to give your boys up 625 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:54,680 too, OK, We're leaving them. I'm not sure, but anyway, we'll 626 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,680 talk about that later after everybody leaves, OK? 627 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:00,560 So because now, oh, you know what, when y'all are on the 628 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:02,680 cruise, by the way, you're not a dad. 629 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:04,320 You're not just husband and a wife. 630 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:06,800 You're not a foster mom. Because it's important for our 631 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,040 foster family sometimes just to be a husband and a wife. 632 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,160 Sometimes it's important for them just to be a mom and a dad. 633 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,440 Now, don't tell me when you see families in your church or 634 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:16,920 struggling. Oh, we're praying for y'all. 635 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,000 They, they need you to pray. They need help. 636 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:26,040 Your families need help. So now I'm losing my stuff here 637 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,920 sometimes even if you weren't to go to is Appalachian Grill is 638 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,960 that close here? Even when the Appalachian Grill, 639 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,080 you won't leave your kids for a couple hours. 640 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:39,160 How old are y'all? 14 and 13, OK, You aren't 641 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:40,120 allowed to keep kids by yourself. 642 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:41,960 You got to be 18 to keep kids by yourself. 643 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,960 So is there a 18 year old in here and say hey, listen, I 644 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,240 would do a background check and ACPR check and I could keep kids 645 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,280 for two or three hours so they can go on a date. 646 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,720 Anybody. I'm look, come on up here. 647 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:55,880 I was about to say I'm looking around. 648 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:57,280 Most of y'all look over the age of 18. 649 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:04,080 OK, What's your name? Name. 650 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:06,360 All right, so May's going to babysit. 651 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,520 OK, so now we're going to take the foster children. 652 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,240 They're back from their cruise, by the way, and you're going to 653 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,560 keep them for a couple hours. So now they can go out and be a 654 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:20,240 husband and wife. Let me tell you something else 655 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,360 about our kids too, though. You ready? 656 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:28,720 Sometimes, a lot of times these kids have behaviors and traumas 657 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,960 that we don't understand that that none, that none of this 658 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:38,600 helps. That therapies help control 659 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,240 behaviors, but it doesn't change their hearts. 660 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,160 Therapies can help rebuild their minds, but it can't change their 661 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,520 hearts and sometimes their behaviors that only Jesus can 662 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,200 fix. We have a church in Snellville. 663 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,760 56 couples in their senior citizens ministry have adopted 664 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,320 56 of our families and they pray for our families every week. 665 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:00,800 We've seen some stories of our time. 666 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,120 I could share with you of what we've seen God do in families 667 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:04,800 this year at Famous for Families. 668 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,760 So I need somebody that could just call this family once a 669 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,920 week and not do it like Baptist do it, but really do it and just 670 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,280 pray for them. Is there a couple here that 671 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,120 could do that? Y'all come on up here. 672 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:20,960 All right, tell me y'all's name. Jansen. 673 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,199 Jansen. All right, Jansen and Jenna are 674 00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:25,120 going to pray for this family. Y'all go to Santa? 675 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:27,920 Barbara Jansen. And Jenna are going to pray for 676 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,960 this family question, wonder if every foster family, and this is 677 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:33,000 what we do at Families for Families. 678 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,360 What if every foster family had this around them? 679 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,280 Let me tell you what would happen. 680 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,159 You wouldn't have half the families leaving in the first 681 00:34:40,159 --> 00:34:43,600 year. Now I shared a number with 682 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,480 y'all. Earlier y'all remember how many 683 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,679 kids we denied last year 3. 1223. 684 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,880 I spoke a couple about a month ago at the Georgia Baptist 685 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:54,199 Convention. I don't think they'll ever 686 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:57,040 invite me back because you know what? 687 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:58,040 He, I asked him. I said you. 688 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,840 Know how many Jimmy just Southern Baptist churches are in 689 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,440 Georgia not non denominational not independent not Methodist 690 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:08,000 not Lutheran not just Southern Baptist churches are in Georgia 691 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:16,800 3400 3400 Southern Baptist churches in Georgia if. 692 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:21,160 Every church. Had one family and supported 693 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,120 that one family. We could have said yes to every 694 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:25,760 child they called us for last year. 695 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,480 In fact, that's not even true because most of the kids we get 696 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,040 are sibling groups. So really 3002? 697 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,560 123 was. Probably only 1600 phone calls. 698 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,800 Does that make sense? Can I tell you something? 699 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:39,680 There is no problem with defects. 700 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:43,400 There's no problem with the foster care crisis in Georgia. 701 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:48,160 The problem is believers obeying God's Word and being doers of 702 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,640 the Word and not just hearers of the Word. 703 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,000 That's the problem and I speak to. 704 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,880 Myself when I say that too. All right, y'all put those down. 705 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,720 Thank y'all. We do have your information. 706 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:00,400 You will be will be expecting a response. 707 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:04,600 All right, I got one more thing and I'm going to be done. 708 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,320 Let me show you what's going on right around you. 709 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,000 You hear 12,000 kids in foster care. 710 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:10,960 How's our church going to do that? 711 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,320 Bartow County, 126 kids in care right here. 712 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,560 Just the counties that touch your county, 13147 kids. 713 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,200 I really believe this. I believe there's enough 714 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,000 churches in Bartow County we could take care of all those 715 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,000 kids. I was coming this morning. 716 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:24,480 I live in Gainesville. I drove past the churches at 717 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:25,720 cross point and up the road here. 718 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,520 Big old church. We could be doing a lot more 13, 719 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:34,880 147 kids. People ask me all the time that 720 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:38,680 when how did you go from construction like land clearing 721 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,400 to this right? How did how did you go from land 722 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,280 clearing to, to doing this? Since I want to share a story I 723 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:46,320 told you all. We have 5 kids. 724 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,320 We're a weird family. We homeschooled our kids. 725 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,040 They all have jobs and so they're doing well. 726 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:55,120 And so, but we, we, we always took our kids overseas like 727 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,560 Honduras, we took them to Africa, we took them to India. 728 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,080 And so we heard, we heard through this guy, he said, Hey, 729 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,400 y'all know, there's, there's like kids in in the US that need 730 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:05,960 homes and we're like it, but not in Georgia. 731 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:07,360 They're like, no, there's kids in Georgia. 732 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,400 This has been 14 years ago. And so we began to do some 733 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:11,800 research. My wife and I did at the time, 734 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,640 there was about 8000 kids in foster care in our state. 735 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:17,520 And so we're like, hey, we could probably take in one kid and 736 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:19,240 just foster them for a while, help mom and dad. 737 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,960 So that was kind of our goal. And so we we went to D fax and 738 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,480 we tried to get open and they said, well, they didn't think 739 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,560 we'd be a good foster home. So the wind went to private 740 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,560 agency. And so in God was just using all 741 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:31,360 of that. And so we went to private agency 742 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:32,760 and we got approved in a couple months. 743 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,880 And I was at church, I was on staff at my church and my wife 744 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,120 called me on a Monday morning at 10:00 and she said, hey, the 745 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,000 state just called us and said her home's been approved by the 746 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,360 state. I'm like, honey, what does that 747 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:42,080 mean? She's I don't know. 748 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:43,080 I think we're done with paperwork. 749 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,120 That's good. That's good because it's a lot 750 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,240 of paperwork. By the way, it should be a lot 751 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:48,600 of paperwork. They're putting a human life in 752 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,400 your home. And so they called back like 6 753 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:57,040 minutes later and then hey y'all ready for a placement And I'm 754 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,080 like. We have 5 kids. 755 00:37:58,080 --> 00:37:59,160 We've been open. For six minutes. 756 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,480 And y'all think we're the best option, you know? 757 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:05,640 And they said, well, yeah. And I said, well, honey, what, 758 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,480 what do we know about her? And she said, well, we know 759 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,200 this, that there's a little girl. 760 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:11,560 And last night she was born and left behind a dumpster in 761 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,360 Atlanta. And she's got 5 drugs in her 762 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:15,600 system. Cocaine is the worst. 763 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,720 Mom has some significant mental health issues, like bipolar, the 764 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:21,600 other words, schizophrenia, that I can't say very good. 765 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,120 She aged out of foster care at 18. 766 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,960 There's a lot going on. And I'm like, honey, we, we're 767 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,240 remember, we're Baptist. We need to pray about this for a 768 00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:33,760 few days and she's like, well, you can pray all you want to, 769 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,400 but they're on hold on the other line waiting on your answer. 770 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:40,600 And I'm like, I'm just a youth pastor. 771 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:42,360 I don't know. Honey, no. 772 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,520 And we, we joke, but all my kids are in the background. 773 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:46,880 GoDaddy, can we have her? Can we have her? 774 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:49,480 And so we said yes to her immediately. 775 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,480 And so we, I'm going to teach my students on Wednesday nights. 776 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:55,760 My wife's going down to Grady Hospital, pick this little girl 777 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,800 up and nobody wants. I'm going to be honest with you, 778 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,200 I'm here this morning because I never got over that first phone 779 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,560 call that in a state with 20,000 churches and 10,000 kids and we 780 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:07,840 don't have enough homes for kids. 781 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:13,960 And so we bring her home and. For a year we have trips to. 782 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:18,480 Chowa and seizures and detox and courts and court. 783 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:20,720 We go sit in court all day and the next day judge will come out 784 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:22,040 and we'll see y'all tomorrow morning. 785 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,000 And so we go sit in court all day the next day. 786 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,040 And for a year we did all this stuff with this little girl and 787 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,560 visits and it was tough. It was tough on my family. 788 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:31,560 And so here's the picture. That first little girl we 789 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:36,600 brought in her home. By the way, there's. 12,000 kids 790 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:42,880 like that some of them are older, some are younger so 791 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,880 that's her and after a. Year goes by 53. 792 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:50,600 Weeks later, the phone rings. And they're like, hey, would 793 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,720 y'all like a baby? And I'm like, no, we still have 794 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:59,560 the first one, remember? And they said, well, mom's had 795 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,280 another child. By the way, mom aged out of 796 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,040 foster care at 18 years old because she never had a family. 797 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,880 I have lots of opinions on that and. 798 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:11,240 So they said, would y'all like another? 799 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:13,960 Little girl. And we immediately said yes. 800 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,880 And so here's a picture of our next little girl. 801 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:20,720 That's Ashley. Ashley has what they call 802 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:22,520 absence corpus callosum. Her left side of her brain 803 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:23,640 doesn't talk to the right side of her brain. 804 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,120 She's in a special needs class. Ashley will probably never leave 805 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:29,600 home. So we have Ashley for a year. 806 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,840 Phone rings again. I'm like honey, don't answer the 807 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,080 phone. It's not a. 808 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:39,360 Law that says we have to answer it. 809 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,800 Once you answer it, now we're kind of on the hook, but we're 810 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:44,160 in the car. This time on speakerphone. 811 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,560 And all my kids are in there. And this was the phone call I 812 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:50,080 got. And I still can hear Miss Sarah 813 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:54,120 Moton's voice in Fulton County. And this is what she said, She 814 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:57,520 said. We have looked for mom, dad, 815 00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:59,720 brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. 816 00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:04,600 We have exhausted all family members and nobody wants those 817 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,680 girls. Nobody wants them. 818 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,080 How do you live in a state like Georgia as a child and nobody 819 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:18,320 wants you? There's a website you can go to 820 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,640 called My Turn Now. And look at 3 or 400 kids and 821 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:24,440 nobody wants and really. What we're saying is our life is 822 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:25,440 more. Important than their life. 823 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:33,080 And so we said yes. And on April 8th, 2014, going to 824 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,440 the next picture there, the only picture on the last April 8th, 825 00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:39,280 2014, we adopted both those little girls. 826 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:48,760 We celebrated their gotcha day. We celebrated their gotcha day 827 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,360 on Wednesday. I was supposed to be meeting 828 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,960 with some candidate that's running for something. 829 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,600 I won't go into all that, but I stayed home because my girls 830 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,560 want to have all the little friends over there. 12 and 13, 831 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:03,520 getting ready to be 13 and 14. May 6th and May 15th. 832 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,040 And as adoptive dad, people ask me. 833 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,600 A lot of questions. They asked me questions like, do 834 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:12,440 you love those? Kids like they're your own kids. 835 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,200 Those are my kids. They got an Ogle birth 836 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,040 certificates and they. Asked me. 837 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:21,560 Like, do you ever worry? About, like, generational sin, 838 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:24,120 like what they're going to do when they can become teenagers. 839 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:26,720 Can I tell you something? I'm worried about what my own 840 00:42:26,720 --> 00:42:29,800 kids were going to do when they were teenagers. 841 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:32,680 And my favorite? Question people ask me. 842 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,320 And I know we live in a culturally sensitive world. 843 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:37,960 They say, are you going to tell those girls they're adopted? 844 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:45,800 Yeah, conversations come up. In fact, my. 845 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,160 Oldest daughter who's 13. Got in an argument with my 20 846 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,160 year old bio daughter and she said and my adopted daughter 847 00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:56,640 said well dad chose me. I'm like, don't say that, but 848 00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,200 that's well. Played and let me tell you. 849 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,040 Something you. Know people tell me they're 850 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,440 like, you know, you know those kids. 851 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:07,480 Don't look like you. And I'm like, yeah, and this is 852 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,160 usually mean, people telling me this stuff. 853 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,360 And I'm not like Kenneth Aycock. I'm not as nice as he is. 854 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:17,680 But you know what I want to say? You don't look like God. 855 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,640 In most days, you don't act like God, and God let you and his 856 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,840 family. And when you came to Jesus in 857 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:28,880 vacation Bible school when you were eight years old, He knew 858 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:30,760 what you were going to do at your freshman year in college, 859 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:32,280 and He still let you and his family. 860 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:35,000 He knew what? Your life was going to look 861 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:38,040 like. And adoption in foster care, 862 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:43,040 it's the work of the family, has nothing to do with the behaviors 863 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:47,320 of the child. And God's love for you is the 864 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:48,880 work of him. Nothing to do with your 865 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:53,080 behavior, has nothing to do with your behavior. 866 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:57,760 And I'm glad because I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. 867 00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:04,120 I made a lot of mistakes. One reason I started Families 868 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:05,920 for Families, I interviewed with three different foster care 869 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:07,080 agencies. I just want to come recruit 870 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:08,000 families. They all said I wasn't 871 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,560 qualified. I started my own thing. 872 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:16,560 Let me show you a last picture here. 873 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,400 This my whole family, my daughter on the. 874 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:20,400 End over there on the right hand. 875 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:21,560 Side, she was pregnant with twins. 876 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,360 They're six months old now. My other son and daughter on the 877 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,160 other side, she's pregnant now with our fifth grandchild. 878 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:29,800 And the Ezra, the little girl he's holding Ezra was born in 879 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,640 October 21st of 2014. She was born blind and she has a 880 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,760 feeding tube and she gets a shot every day for growth hormones. 881 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,040 And so she is what if she was in foster care? 882 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,680 She would be considered medically fragile and last year 883 00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:45,840 we started a project called the Ezra project with families for 884 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,360 families and we we we intentionally go after specialty 885 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,360 medically fragile. Watch for oversight SMFWO we 886 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,560 have 12 kids in our Care now that are medically fragile. 887 00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:58,600 We have. Two kids that the doctor gave 888 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:00,560 them. A year to live and they're one 889 00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:04,200 of our families down in South of Atlanta, so we're intentionally 890 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:06,520 going after children like my granddaughter. 891 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,600 And I've told my son, I said, Kayla may be the reason God had 892 00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,280 her born in her family so that we could use her story all over 893 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,920 the state of Georgia to help kids all over our state. 894 00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:20,800 And so you say, what do you want us to do with all this? 895 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:24,160 Information like this is a lot and I just, I want you to say 896 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,040 this. You can't change the whole 897 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,000 world, but you can change the whole world for one child. 898 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:32,560 You can do that. It's a let me give you your next 899 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:34,080 step. This is just, this is the next 900 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:35,960 step. I'm not asking you to do 901 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,240 anything crazy. Just I, I want you to consider 902 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:42,080 taking one step this morning, April 26th at 5:00 in the 903 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:43,320 Chapel. Kenneth's going to be back. 904 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,960 I'll watch to be in Albany. Kenneth's going to be back and 905 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:48,120 we're going to do what we call an information session. 906 00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:50,120 We don't bring kids with us and say, do you want to take these 907 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:51,800 home? That's not the way it works. 908 00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:54,920 But we want you to come that day and we'll talk to you about what 909 00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,200 it looks like to cook a meal. And we'll also be a babysitter 910 00:45:57,200 --> 00:45:59,080 and a rested family and a foster parent. 911 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,480 We call them partnership parents and a foster parent. 912 00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:03,560 We'll talk about what it was like to do a date night and be 913 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:07,040 in just everything that you can do on April 6th at 5:00 PM. 914 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,160 If for some reason you can't make it, you can scan that QR 915 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,680 code and we do 2 online information sessions every 916 00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:14,320 month. It's better to come because you 917 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,600 can ask questions If you're like Wayne, I got some more 918 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,960 questions. I'm not sure I'm. 919 00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:21,760 Ready to take a step? Yet that is my cell phone number 920 00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,440 and my e-mail. You guys can get a hold of me 921 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,000 easier than my staff can, and I want you to know that. 922 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,400 If you need something, I'd love to give me a call. 923 00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:34,040 I'd love to talk to you. I would love to share with you 924 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,080 about what you can do for a child and that you could be the 925 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:41,840 answer to a child's prayer. Hey, there's two of my friends 926 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:43,520 this morning I want to introduce that are here. 927 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,000 And I told you guys, I believe in partnering with the state and 928 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,560 partnering with our legislators. And I believe that families for 929 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,800 families that none of us can do this work alone, but we could 930 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:56,080 all accomplish it together. And I want to introduce them to 931 00:46:56,080 --> 00:46:57,120 you. And then we're going to pray for 932 00:46:57,120 --> 00:46:58,400 them and then we'll turn it back over. 933 00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:00,040 So Candace, you and Katie, y'all come up here. 934 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:01,840 They didn't know I was going to do this. 935 00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:04,360 So if I don't have a job tomorrow morning, you'll know 936 00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:07,480 why. This is Miss Katie Dempsey, and 937 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:11,640 she is the chairman of the Department of Human Services for 938 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:13,720 on the subcommittee on the House side. 939 00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:16,120 I say the budget. She's in charge of the budget 940 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:18,320 and the money. And so we work with her and her 941 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:21,600 committee a lot, and they really have an impossible job to do. 942 00:47:22,240 --> 00:47:23,840 And so, and this is Candace, bro. 943 00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:26,640 She is the commissioner of the Department of Family and Child 944 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:29,240 Services. And so we work with Candace and 945 00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:31,000 her team a lot. And I want to, I want to share 946 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,560 something. Listen, there's no way they can 947 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:36,400 watch what goes on everywhere and they have a tough job. 948 00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:39,400 And I want you to remember these two names, Katie Dempsey and 949 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:41,400 Candace Bruce. And y'all pray for them. 950 00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:44,120 Y'all pray that God will give them wisdom. 951 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:47,200 Pray that God will give them wisdom to see what they need to 952 00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:48,320 see. And I'm going to pray for them 953 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:49,600 and I'm going to turn it back over. 954 00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:51,440 We'll all three be in the lobby when it's over. 955 00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:53,200 And thank you guys for letting me share. 956 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:54,280 Thank you all for letting me go over. 957 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:56,880 That clock's been red for about 15 minutes, so I know I'm way 958 00:47:56,880 --> 00:47:58,880 over. So thank you guys. 959 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:00,360 Let's pray and I will turn it back over your church. 960 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:04,600 Lord, thank you for today. And God, I thank you for for 961 00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,880 Candace and for Katie and for the work that they do and for 962 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:09,520 the work they do for kids in our state. 963 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,080 And I know sometimes when you work with kids, only thing 964 00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:14,520 people remember is what you did wrong. 965 00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:17,960 It's I pray this morning's encouragement as we hear about 966 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:19,680 kids being fostered in this church. 967 00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:21,280 We hear kids about being adopted. 968 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,160 Well, I know families are going to be here on April 26th. 969 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:28,320 And God, I pray you help us to just put in front of us this is 970 00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:31,840 about today, but this is about seeing these kids saved and 971 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:33,440 spending eternity with us in heaven. 972 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:35,880 So God, I pray you give this church a passion. 973 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,960 I pray you speak to families as they go to lunch, as they lay in 974 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:41,680 bed and couples talk tonight and they talked this week. 975 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,240 And God, I pray that your Holy Spirit, we'll just pursue them 976 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:49,240 and bring them back on the 26th. God help us to lay our life down 977 00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,480 for a child, just like you laid your life down for us. 978 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:54,760 It's a God, we thank you for what you're doing here. 979 00:48:55,120 --> 00:48:57,240 Thank you for this church in Jesus name, Amen.