{"id":302354,"date":"2011-09-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/becoming-a-visible-gospel\/"},"modified":"2011-09-01T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T15:00:00","slug":"becoming-a-visible-gospel","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-visible-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a Visible Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul and Robin Pennington know something about adoption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2011-09-01.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"26.05M","filesize_raw":"27313158","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2818],"tags":[2712,4911],"podcast_series":[7822],"cwp_profile":[9240],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-302354","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adoption-and-orphans","tag-adoption","tag-orphan","podcast_series-helping-orphans-with-special-needs","cwp_profile-paul-and-robin-pennington","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/302354\/becoming-a-visible-gospel","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/302354\/becoming-a-visible-gospel","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"qdvLxGFh7R\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-visible-gospel\/\">Becoming a Visible Gospel<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-visible-gospel\/embed\/#?secret=qdvLxGFh7R\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Becoming a Visible Gospel&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"qdvLxGFh7R\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"spectra_custom_meta":{"_wp_page_template":["default"],"transcript_url":["https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2011-09-01.pdf"],"audio_file":["https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2011-09-01.mp3"],"transcript_content":["<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Paul and Robin Pennington have been tireless advocates for the orphan and proponents of adoption.\u00a0 They themselves are adoptive parents.\u00a0 Robin says that along the way she\u2019s had an opportunity to encourage some parents who had found themselves very discouraged.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Somehow the Lord has had my path cross with families that have struggled with their adoptions, I guess probably because that\u2019s what we have experienced personally.\u00a0 When we went through that experience, there was nowhere to turn, and our local church didn\u2019t know how to help.\u00a0 As we were in that place, we saw that this is a need that the church can meet that is not being met, and families who are struggling have to have somewhere to go when the wheels fall off.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is <em>FamilyLife Today\u00ae<\/em> for Thursday, September 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u00a0 Our host is the President of FamilyLife\u00ae, Dennis Rainey, and I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We\u2019ll talk today about what churches can do to come alongside families that are struggling after an adoption; how they can offer some real help and hope.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\u00a0 Thanks for joining us.\u00a0 You know, I go way back with our guest today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You do.\u00a0 You do. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 In fact, I go back before you do with these folks.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You do.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Back in, what was it? 19- I think - 87; I was living in San Antonio, Texas, hosting a daily call-in program on KSLR, AM 630.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You were enjoying the salsa that Paul Pennington was selling around the country.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You know, actually I like somebody else\u2019s salsa a little better than what he was selling.\u00a0 But, somebody told me \u201cYou ought to have Robin Pennington on Cross Currents, on your radio program, because she\u2019d be a great guest.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember who told me.\u00a0 Do you remember who told me?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember.\u00a0 I know Paul was with me, though.\u00a0 He was on too.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Did you come?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I got to come.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember you being there.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I just remember the hair, Bob.\u00a0 That\u2019s all I remember.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did have a little Greg Brady look, didn\u2019t I?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 But we talked about at that time a special needs adoption that had just taken place in your family.\u00a0 What was that story?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 We had adopted our third child.\u00a0 It was Seth, and he was black and he was an infant, and at that time that was unusual.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we spent a whole hour taking phone calls talking about mixed-race adoption back in 1987.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And we\u2019ve been talking about adoption ever since.\u00a0 Paul and Robin joined FamilyLife back in 2003, headed up a new venture called Hope for Orphans\u00ae.\u00a0 You guys have six children of your own, eleven grandchildren.\u00a0 Out of those 17, how many are adopted?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Oh, give me a minute just to think about it.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Do the math.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, how many of your six are adopted?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Five of our six are adopted, and then our daughter Kit has a child from Kazakhstan and our daughter Elizabeth had a son, Ben, who is in heaven from Korea, and then a little girl from China.\u00a0 So \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 So that sounds like \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 That sounds like eight to me.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Eight, sounds like eight.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I want our listeners to know.\u00a0 This couple is a remarkable pair.\u00a0 I mean, Bob believes this as well \u2013 you guys have been used by God in who knows how many different ways to just behind the scenes help connect families to orphans, help connect foundations and money and organizations and \u2013 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou know, some people are sticky?\u00a0 Paul and Robin are like oil.\u00a0 They reduce friction, they enable things to happen.\u00a0 You guys have made it happen in the orphan care, foster care and adoption area of the world.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a great need for that today, isn\u2019t there, Paul?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 There really is, but I have to tell you.\u00a0 If we\u2019re anything, we\u2019re a demonstration that God uses the weak things to demonstrate who He is, for His glory.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 We haven\u2019t done one thing for the Lord.\u00a0 We have experienced what it means to join God where He is working.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 It is an interesting story, though, because Paul, you showed up at our offices back in, what was it \u2013 2002 that you came up here?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you came with an agenda.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 You know, I was a sales and marketing guy and we had been used in our church to give people a vision for God\u2019s love for orphans, and at that stage mainly just adoption education.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never forget, one day Robin and I were in the kitchen, and we listened to <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\u00a0 We were listeners.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd Dennis started talking about adoption with Barbara.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI think that Christians should be available \u2013 how God could use them in the life of a child.\u201d\u00a0 We just were so thrilled, and that led to an opportunity to have lunch with Dennis and Barbara.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 An opportunity because you called and said \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got to have lunch with this guy,\u201d right.\u00a0 I mean you just bullied your way in.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I was commandeered.\u00a0 It was a hijack the whole way.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 It was a persistent salesman who wanted to come talk to you about adoption, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 He did.\u00a0 He did.\u00a0 And we sat in our office and, well, Paul, tell them what happened.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well I\u2019m going to tell you what happened.\u00a0 This is the real truth.\u00a0 I was a guy who had called at some of the largest companies in the United States.\u00a0 I\u2019ve dealt with every kind of buyer you can imagine.\u00a0 And I felt pretty confident when I walked into Dennis\u2019 office.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You know how to overcome objections, don\u2019t you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I really felt like I did.\u00a0 And then I walked into an office one day in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I met someone like no one I had ever met before in any place, anywhere, anytime in America.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Bill \u2013 Was that Bill Clinton?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that was \u2013 no it was not Bill Clinton.\u00a0 That was Dennis Rainey.\u00a0 And after I got finished with my little feature and benefit presentation, which was very skinny at that point, this guy on my right looks at me and he says, \u201cWell, I have one question for you.\u201d\u00a0 I thought, \u201cThis is interesting.\u201d\u00a0 He goes, \u201cHow long are you going to keep selling salsa before you do what God\u2019s called you to do?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI had never felt like that in my life.\u00a0 I was speechless.\u00a0 We got home and Elizabeth looked at Mom and she said, \u201cWhen Mr. Rainey asked Daddy that question, you know that look he gets when he\u2019s going to throw up?\u00a0 That\u2019s how he looked.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You had been coming to FamilyLife to say, \u201cHere\u2019s what you guys need to be doing.\u00a0 If you really want to help make adoption happen, here\u2019s what you need to do.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, maybe we can help you.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t expect to get closed on.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And then Dennis turns around and says, \u201cCome make it happen.\u201d\u00a0 But the great news is, you dropped your salsa and came and made it happen back in 2003.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 We did.\u00a0 And our vision was so limited at that point, but we shared what we felt like God had put on our heart, and Dennis and Barbara listened, and then the SLT listened, and I\u2019ll always remember at the end of that meeting \u2013 I can\u2019t remember who it was \u2013 maybe it was you, Dennis \u2013 but somebody looked at us and said, \u201cWell, maybe we should adopt you,\u201d and that was day one.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, what has occurred is really pretty cool.\u00a0 It really is.\u00a0 In fact, it wasn\u2019t long after that that Paul, you and I were talking, and you told me that in the history of Christian adoption and orphanages and foster care, that the providers of those services had never, ever met together under the same roof.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 It was amazing.\u00a0 You asked me \u2013 you said, \u201cIsn\u2019t there an association for Christian adoption agencies, orphan care ministries, advocates?\u201d\u00a0 And the truth was, there was not.\u00a0 And you looked right at me and you said, \u201cWell then maybe we should do something about that.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you led the way and convened a meeting here in Little Rock of forty folks.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Actually, I think at the end of the day we had about 33 presidents, vice-presidents, and leaders of ministries throughout the United States.\u00a0 One of the things that I\u2019ll never forget that day \u2013 one guy stood up and he said, \u201cI\u2019ve known most of those in this room for years, but today was the first day we could ever say the name of Jesus Christ in the meeting.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Because they were going to secular meetings.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\u00a0 They had never met together as believers until that day at FamilyLife.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And there was this emerging global crisis of orphans because of AIDS, HIV, civil war, of literally tens of millions of orphans, whose needs had to be addressed.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 That first morning, at the end of your talk, one of the last things you said was that if we\u2019re going to really be serious about serving God, with a problem this big, with this many kids, we\u2019ve got to leave our egos and logos at the door.\u00a0 And that was the phrase that everybody remembered, and out of that God gave birth to what eventually became the Christian Alliance for Orphans.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that was the first of what has now been seven summits, seven meetings where folks get together to put their heads together and their hearts together and say how can we address this orphan issue?\u00a0 Except the last one had a few more than 33 people in the room, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Last May we met in Louisville, Kentucky at Southeast Christian Church, and we had over 1500 leaders in adoption, orphan care, foster care and advocacy,\u00a0 not just from the United States but from all over the world, sharing best practices and linking arms in the name of Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And Paul, those 1500 \u2013 are those ministries that existed eight years ago but they had just never gotten together, or are those ministries that have sprung up over the last decade?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s a really great question.\u00a0 In the beginning, it was all leaders of basically parachurch ministries and a few local church leaders.\u00a0 Now, when we get together to meet for the Summit, I\u2019d say maybe 200 to 300 of them represent organizations, but everyone else pretty much represents a local church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s what excites me, is that the ministry is being pushed out where it belongs in the hands of lay men and women, couples who have a passion for the orphan, and who want to make a difference by connecting the resources of their local church, perhaps to foster care in their state, perhaps to orphans in a foreign country, maybe getting engaged in adoption and calling church members to adopt.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut there are all kinds of ministries, to Bob\u2019s point, that are now springing up.\u00a0 It\u2019s really cool.\u00a0 This is the Body of Christ in action.\u00a0 This is really, I believe, a genuine movement of God addressing an urgent humanitarian crisis.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Hope for Orphans exists to try to catalyze these movements in local churches.\u00a0 You stop and you think \u2013 ten years ago there wasn\u2019t much happening in local churches, and now hundreds of churches around the country have made a commitment to helping the orphan.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tRobin, I know you over the last eight or nine years as this ministry has been going on, you\u2019ve connected with hundreds of people who are involved personally, either in their own adoption or their own foster care or their own orphan care ministry, or they\u2019re helping at their local church to make things happen.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got to be looking back and saying, \u201cI didn\u2019t see any of this on the horizon when we first came to FamilyLife and said \u2018You guys ought to be doing something to help the orphans.\u2019\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think at the very beginning we knew that we needed to have orphan care as part of this ministry, because people call it an adoption ministry, and it\u2019s really not an adoption ministry.\u00a0 It\u2019s really about caring for orphans.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen through the years it moved from totally an emphasis on adoption to the emphasis on orphan care throughout the world, whatever that looks like.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think that somehow the Lord has had my path cross with families that have struggled with their adoptions, I guess probably because that\u2019s what we have experienced personally.\u00a0 When we went through that experience there was nowhere to turn, and our local church didn\u2019t know how to help.\u00a0 As we were in that place, we saw that this is a need that the church can meet, that it\u2019s not being met, and families who are struggling have to have somewhere to go when the wheels fall off.\u00a0 And that\u2019s happening more and more, because families are adopting children who are at risk and older children.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I remember speaking at Covenant Seminary in Saint Louis not long after Hope for Orphans had gotten going.\u00a0 We were talking about Christians need to care for the orphan and need to look at adoption.\u00a0 You need to be asking the question-- not \u201cShould we adopt?\u201d but \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t we adopt?\u201d\u00a0 We were talking about that, and I\u2019ll never forget a young seminary student coming up to me that morning and pulling me aside.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHe said, \u201cAre you going to tell people the truth, the hard truth about adoption, that it\u2019s not always easy, that there\u2019s struggle and there\u2019s pain and there\u2019s challenge?\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI remember kind of being taken aback because you could tell this guy had lived some of that, and he wanted to make sure that if we were going to be out exhorting believers to open up their hearts and homes to the orphan, that we were going to tell them that that assignment was not a fairy tale and they would all live happily ever after.\u00a0 There was going to be some challenge associated with that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, you want to make sure somebody goes into this with their eyes wide open, understanding \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 -- that this is not a cookie cutter deal.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to just absorb this new child into your family, whether it\u2019s a foster care child or an adopted child, and they\u2019re going to become instantly one of your own and instantly like all the other kids.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 You\u2019re exactly right.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what families are not prepared for.\u00a0 One of the concerning things in the movement that has taken place that we\u2019ve watched in the last eight years has been wonderful but at the same time it\u2019s concerning, because there\u2019s almost become a pep rally for adoption, and if you want to get on the band wagon with serving God, you go adopt a child.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd that is so dangerous, because there are so many families who really, we believe after watching them; they\u2019re not called to this.\u00a0 Many families who will tell you after they\u2019ve brought a child home, especially women will tell me they talked their husband into it, and we hear that probably more than any other one thing is \u201cWell, my husband really didn\u2019t want to do this, but I\u2019ve always wanted to adopt.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt doesn\u2019t work, if you both are not on the same page coming in to it, and believing that you\u2019re going into this, not for what you\u2019re going to receive from it, but for what this child is going to receive from your family \u2013 and being able to love that child unconditionally when they may never be able to function in the way that your biological children are functioning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere may be past hurt, past abuse, and even abuse in a birth mother who drank, where a child can look totally normal but you\u2019re dealing with an impulsive child who struggles with consequences, and parenting that child is going to be totally different from your other children.\u00a0 If families go into this with anything other than eyes wide open, it can be disastrous.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd our concern is that the enemy is using this, and we see it.\u00a0 We see family after family that are going into it thinking, \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to love them so much and tell them about Jesus,\u201d and yes, those things you do need, but that\u2019s not all there is to it.\u00a0 I think that it is truly a work of the Holy Spirit for us to bond and to love a child that didn\u2019t come from us.\u00a0 There is a natural set-up that God has in us, that when we birth a child and there is that love that\u2019s just from the beginning.\u00a0 And that is not necessarily true, especially with a child that\u2019s older or a child that has struggles and issues and has been institutionalized for the first few years of their life.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a totally different thing.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFor families that go into it knowing that it can be wonderful, but for families going into it thinking it\u2019s going to be just like us giving birth, it can be disastrous.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where we feel like the church has a real place to help those families on the front end, before they bring that child home in being prepared for what the reality of it is.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 From the very beginning of Hope for Orphans we\u2019ve wanted to present a picture of God\u2019s heart for orphans, whether it be in adoption or orphan care that\u2019s realistic, and not sensationalize or romanticize.\u00a0 Like it says in Hebrews, God calls people to join Christ in his suffering.\u00a0 This is about us being conformed to the image of Christ, not getting something we want, something that will make us feel good.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDespite the fact that entering into adoption and orphan care involves entering into a lot of pain, frankly, this movement has grown beyond anything that we could have imagined eight years ago.\u00a0 There are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of churches that who have launched orphan\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhat I like to tell people is I think that what\u2019s really wonderful is that churches engage across denominational lines in partnership, in being available to love kids, whether through adoption or foster care or mentoring, through vacation Bible school \u2013 whatever it may be \u2013 is that it really is becoming the visible Gospel.\u00a0 It is a reconnecting to the essentials of what we believe when we see the church loving these kids who have nothing to give back.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m just thinking of my daughter, Ashley and her husband Michael who live in a small town in north central Arkansas, and they decided to become foster parents.\u00a0 They already have five boys 12 and under, but they decided they wanted to care for foster children.\u00a0 So they got a baby right off the start, a little boy 12 months old.\u00a0 And then they got a 12-year-old.\u00a0 Ashley was able to lead this 12-year-old boy to faith in Christ.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell the other day I hear about Ashley getting a little girl that she\u2019s caring for right now, and in between that I also heard that she was caring for a 2-year-old boy that she had just for a few days.\u00a0 She took the little boy to Walmart, and the little boy spit on her and then slapped Ashley in the face.\u00a0 Now what you have to understand as foster care parents, you can\u2019t spank.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you really understand why, because some of these kids have come from very difficult backgrounds.\u00a0 And yet, here\u2019s Ashley, the mother of five boys 12 and under, but she cares enough about the plight of the orphan to go near.\u00a0 I want to tell you, I\u2019ve watched you guys do this.\u00a0 You guys have gone near the orphan in your own lives; you have five adopted children yourselves.\u00a0 When you call other people to go near, they\u2019re going near the heart of God, aren\u2019t they?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 One of the things we\u2019ve told people from the very beginning \u2013 if you really want to be blessed, then be concerned about the things that concern the heart of God.\u00a0 There\u2019s no doubt in my mind, the reason that there\u2019s a movement that\u2019s happened in the United States and there are thousands and thousands of churches now engaging around the world around loving orphans, is because it is on God\u2019s heart.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t agree more.\u00a0 I appreciate the balance you guys have brought to this dialogue that\u2019s occurring nationwide.\u00a0 Paul, undoubtedly there is a listener right now who is hearing us talk about the plight of the orphan, foster care, adoption issues.\u00a0 They\u2019re going, \u201cI\u2019d like to kind of find out what it would be like to maybe start one of these ministries and outreaches in our local church.\u201d\u00a0 Where should they start?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 A good place to start, Dennis, would be to read <em>Launching an Orphan Ministry in Your Church.<\/em>\u00a0 Most churches we\u2019ve worked with there\u2019s a couple or an individual who has had this on their heart, and this is a good resource to begin with.\u00a0 We also provide an event called <em>Your Church and the Orphan,<\/em> where we also train teams from churches through the eight steps of launching an orphan ministry in your church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo if you go to HopeforOrphans.org, you\u2019ll see some great resources about launching a ministry in your church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 There is actually a video resource that can help them do this too, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 As a part of the <em>Launching an Orphan Ministry in Your Church,<\/em> there\u2019s actually a video that you can show to your elders, your pastors, your leadership to give them a vision for what we\u2019re talking about and what this really looks like.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Paul, tell folks about this event that\u2019s coming up here in a couple of weeks that you put together to address some of the issues Robin\u2019s been talking about here.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 One of the new initiatives from Hope for Orphans is called the Hope for Orphans Institute.\u00a0 As we have seen God grow the number of orphan ministries across the United States, we\u2019ve realized that there\u2019s a need for training \u2013 kind of a train-the-trainer opportunity \u2013 for those that are leading an orphan ministry.\u00a0 The Institute will address certain subjects from time to time that are critical.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe first Hope for Orphans Institute will be on the subject of the local church serving at risk children and the families that adopt them.\u00a0 We will be bringing together a best in class speaker team so that folks can be involved in understanding how their church can be intentional about receiving parents of special needs kids, at risk children, as well as being that support for them when the wheels come off, like Robin said.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s a great thing to have compassion, but compassion needs to be linked with knowledge.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the church can provide if we begin to provide that training to the leaders.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you can provide the accountability in dealing with the ups and downs of raising an adopted child or an orphan to adulthood, whether it be foster care or otherwise.\u00a0 Those families need the support of other families coming alongside them.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This event that is coming up here in a couple of weeks \u2013 it\u2019s September 16<sup>th<\/sup> and 17<sup>th<\/sup> in Plano, Texas.\u00a0 There is still opportunity for folks to register for the Hope for Orphans Institute.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be talking about special needs issues and all kinds of adoption-related topics.\u00a0 Really the folks that you\u2019re hoping will attend the Institute are pastors or lay leaders, those who have a heart for orphans and want their church to be the kind of place that we\u2019ve talked about it being today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s more information available online at FamilyLifeToday.com about the Hope for Orphans Institute September 16<sup>th<\/sup> and 17<sup>th<\/sup> in Plano, Texas.\u00a0 It\u2019s at the Hope Center there, and you can get more information, again, when you go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s also information there about the resource that we produce called <em>Launching an Orphan\u2019s Ministry in Your Church.<\/em>\u00a0 Again, go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about that resource, or call us toll-free at 1-800-FLTODAY, 1-800-358-6329;\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tthat's 1-800 \u201cF\u201d as in Family, \u201cL\u201d as in Life, and then the word \u201cToday,\u201d and ask about the resources that we have available on starting orphans ministry in your church.\u00a0 We have adoption-oriented resources available as well.\u00a0 Get more information when you call or go online at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSpeaking of conferences, we are getting ready to launch our fall season of <em>Weekend to Remember \u00ae <\/em>marriage getaways for couples.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be starting that here in a couple of weeks, and those events will continue throughout the fall.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd our friends at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation are hosting their national conference in Louisville, Kentucky in October.\u00a0 The conference is focusing on psychiatric disorders this year.\u00a0 They\u2019re going to be talking about complex problems and how we approach those compassionately.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI mention that because last year I had an opportunity to attend the CCEF National Conference and actually spoke at that conference.\u00a0 One of the subjects I spoke on was what it is that makes marriage distinctively Christian.\u00a0 When two followers of Christ are married, how should that marriage look different than two other people getting married?\u00a0 What should be different about your marriage?\u00a0 The message was well-received; it was very encouraging some of the feedback that I got to the message.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re making a CD of that message available this month when you make a donation to help support <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\u00a0 All you have to do is go online at FamilyLifeToday.com and make an online donation.\u00a0 When you do, type the word \u201cMARRIAGE\u201d in the key code box and we\u2019ll send you a copy of this CD.\u00a0 Or call 1-800-FLTODAY, make a donation over the phone, and ask for the CD on What Makes a Marriage Distinctively Christian.\u00a0 Again, we\u2019re happy to send that out to you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tLet me just say how much we appreciate your support of the ministry.\u00a0 We\u2019re listener-supported, so those donations are what make it possible for us to continue this daily program.\u00a0 Again, thanks for your support and we appreciate hearing from you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow tomorrow Paul and Robin Pennington are going to be back with us, and we\u2019re going to continue our conversation about orphan care and adoption, and what churches can do to help those families who are reaching out to care for the needs of orphans.\u00a0 I hope you can join us for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We will see you back next time for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHelp for today.\u00a0 Hope for tomorrow.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 2011 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>"],"_seopress_titles_title":[""],"_seopress_titles_desc":[""],"_seopress_robots_index":[""],"duration":["00:"],"show_notes":[""],"_thumbnail_id":["294104"],"filesize":["26.05M"],"filesize_raw":["27313158"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-302354.css"],"_uag_js_file_name":["uag-js-302354.js"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:82560:\".wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape-top svg{width: calc( 100% + 1.3px );}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape.uagb-container__shape-top .uagb-container__shape-fill{fill: rgba(51,51,51,1);}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape-bottom 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and Robin Pennington know something about adoption.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2011-09-01.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Paul and Robin Pennington have been tireless advocates for the orphan and proponents of adoption.\u00a0 They themselves are adoptive parents.\u00a0 Robin says that along the way she\u2019s had an opportunity to encourage some parents who had found themselves very discouraged.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Somehow the Lord has had my path cross with families that have struggled with their adoptions, I guess probably because that\u2019s what we have experienced personally.\u00a0 When we went through that experience, there was nowhere to turn, and our local church didn\u2019t know how to help.\u00a0 As we were in that place, we saw that this is a need that the church can meet that is not being met, and families who are struggling have to have somewhere to go when the wheels fall off.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is <em>FamilyLife Today\u00ae<\/em> for Thursday, September 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u00a0 Our host is the President of FamilyLife\u00ae, Dennis Rainey, and I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We\u2019ll talk today about what churches can do to come alongside families that are struggling after an adoption; how they can offer some real help and hope.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\u00a0 Thanks for joining us.\u00a0 You know, I go way back with our guest today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You do.\u00a0 You do. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 In fact, I go back before you do with these folks.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You do.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Back in, what was it? 19- I think - 87; I was living in San Antonio, Texas, hosting a daily call-in program on KSLR, AM 630.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 You were enjoying the salsa that Paul Pennington was selling around the country.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You know, actually I like somebody else\u2019s salsa a little better than what he was selling.\u00a0 But, somebody told me \u201cYou ought to have Robin Pennington on Cross Currents, on your radio program, because she\u2019d be a great guest.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember who told me.\u00a0 Do you remember who told me?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember.\u00a0 I know Paul was with me, though.\u00a0 He was on too.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Did you come?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I got to come.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember you being there.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I just remember the hair, Bob.\u00a0 That\u2019s all I remember.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did have a little Greg Brady look, didn\u2019t I?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 But we talked about at that time a special needs adoption that had just taken place in your family.\u00a0 What was that story?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 We had adopted our third child.\u00a0 It was Seth, and he was black and he was an infant, and at that time that was unusual.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we spent a whole hour taking phone calls talking about mixed-race adoption back in 1987.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And we\u2019ve been talking about adoption ever since.\u00a0 Paul and Robin joined FamilyLife back in 2003, headed up a new venture called Hope for Orphans\u00ae.\u00a0 You guys have six children of your own, eleven grandchildren.\u00a0 Out of those 17, how many are adopted?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Oh, give me a minute just to think about it.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Do the math.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, how many of your six are adopted?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Five of our six are adopted, and then our daughter Kit has a child from Kazakhstan and our daughter Elizabeth had a son, Ben, who is in heaven from Korea, and then a little girl from China.\u00a0 So \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 So that sounds like \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 That sounds like eight to me.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Eight, sounds like eight.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I want our listeners to know.\u00a0 This couple is a remarkable pair.\u00a0 I mean, Bob believes this as well \u2013 you guys have been used by God in who knows how many different ways to just behind the scenes help connect families to orphans, help connect foundations and money and organizations and \u2013 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou know, some people are sticky?\u00a0 Paul and Robin are like oil.\u00a0 They reduce friction, they enable things to happen.\u00a0 You guys have made it happen in the orphan care, foster care and adoption area of the world.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a great need for that today, isn\u2019t there, Paul?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 There really is, but I have to tell you.\u00a0 If we\u2019re anything, we\u2019re a demonstration that God uses the weak things to demonstrate who He is, for His glory.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 We haven\u2019t done one thing for the Lord.\u00a0 We have experienced what it means to join God where He is working.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 It is an interesting story, though, because Paul, you showed up at our offices back in, what was it \u2013 2002 that you came up here?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you came with an agenda.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 You know, I was a sales and marketing guy and we had been used in our church to give people a vision for God\u2019s love for orphans, and at that stage mainly just adoption education.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never forget, one day Robin and I were in the kitchen, and we listened to <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\u00a0 We were listeners.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd Dennis started talking about adoption with Barbara.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI think that Christians should be available \u2013 how God could use them in the life of a child.\u201d\u00a0 We just were so thrilled, and that led to an opportunity to have lunch with Dennis and Barbara.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 An opportunity because you called and said \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got to have lunch with this guy,\u201d right.\u00a0 I mean you just bullied your way in.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I was commandeered.\u00a0 It was a hijack the whole way.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 It was a persistent salesman who wanted to come talk to you about adoption, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 He did.\u00a0 He did.\u00a0 And we sat in our office and, well, Paul, tell them what happened.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well I\u2019m going to tell you what happened.\u00a0 This is the real truth.\u00a0 I was a guy who had called at some of the largest companies in the United States.\u00a0 I\u2019ve dealt with every kind of buyer you can imagine.\u00a0 And I felt pretty confident when I walked into Dennis\u2019 office.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You know how to overcome objections, don\u2019t you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 I really felt like I did.\u00a0 And then I walked into an office one day in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I met someone like no one I had ever met before in any place, anywhere, anytime in America.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Bill \u2013 Was that Bill Clinton?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that was \u2013 no it was not Bill Clinton.\u00a0 That was Dennis Rainey.\u00a0 And after I got finished with my little feature and benefit presentation, which was very skinny at that point, this guy on my right looks at me and he says, \u201cWell, I have one question for you.\u201d\u00a0 I thought, \u201cThis is interesting.\u201d\u00a0 He goes, \u201cHow long are you going to keep selling salsa before you do what God\u2019s called you to do?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI had never felt like that in my life.\u00a0 I was speechless.\u00a0 We got home and Elizabeth looked at Mom and she said, \u201cWhen Mr. Rainey asked Daddy that question, you know that look he gets when he\u2019s going to throw up?\u00a0 That\u2019s how he looked.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t(laughter)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 You had been coming to FamilyLife to say, \u201cHere\u2019s what you guys need to be doing.\u00a0 If you really want to help make adoption happen, here\u2019s what you need to do.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, maybe we can help you.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t expect to get closed on.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And then Dennis turns around and says, \u201cCome make it happen.\u201d\u00a0 But the great news is, you dropped your salsa and came and made it happen back in 2003.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 We did.\u00a0 And our vision was so limited at that point, but we shared what we felt like God had put on our heart, and Dennis and Barbara listened, and then the SLT listened, and I\u2019ll always remember at the end of that meeting \u2013 I can\u2019t remember who it was \u2013 maybe it was you, Dennis \u2013 but somebody looked at us and said, \u201cWell, maybe we should adopt you,\u201d and that was day one.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, what has occurred is really pretty cool.\u00a0 It really is.\u00a0 In fact, it wasn\u2019t long after that that Paul, you and I were talking, and you told me that in the history of Christian adoption and orphanages and foster care, that the providers of those services had never, ever met together under the same roof.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 It was amazing.\u00a0 You asked me \u2013 you said, \u201cIsn\u2019t there an association for Christian adoption agencies, orphan care ministries, advocates?\u201d\u00a0 And the truth was, there was not.\u00a0 And you looked right at me and you said, \u201cWell then maybe we should do something about that.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you led the way and convened a meeting here in Little Rock of forty folks.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Actually, I think at the end of the day we had about 33 presidents, vice-presidents, and leaders of ministries throughout the United States.\u00a0 One of the things that I\u2019ll never forget that day \u2013 one guy stood up and he said, \u201cI\u2019ve known most of those in this room for years, but today was the first day we could ever say the name of Jesus Christ in the meeting.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Because they were going to secular meetings.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\u00a0 They had never met together as believers until that day at FamilyLife.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And there was this emerging global crisis of orphans because of AIDS, HIV, civil war, of literally tens of millions of orphans, whose needs had to be addressed.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 That first morning, at the end of your talk, one of the last things you said was that if we\u2019re going to really be serious about serving God, with a problem this big, with this many kids, we\u2019ve got to leave our egos and logos at the door.\u00a0 And that was the phrase that everybody remembered, and out of that God gave birth to what eventually became the Christian Alliance for Orphans.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that was the first of what has now been seven summits, seven meetings where folks get together to put their heads together and their hearts together and say how can we address this orphan issue?\u00a0 Except the last one had a few more than 33 people in the room, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Last May we met in Louisville, Kentucky at Southeast Christian Church, and we had over 1500 leaders in adoption, orphan care, foster care and advocacy,\u00a0 not just from the United States but from all over the world, sharing best practices and linking arms in the name of Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And Paul, those 1500 \u2013 are those ministries that existed eight years ago but they had just never gotten together, or are those ministries that have sprung up over the last decade?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s a really great question.\u00a0 In the beginning, it was all leaders of basically parachurch ministries and a few local church leaders.\u00a0 Now, when we get together to meet for the Summit, I\u2019d say maybe 200 to 300 of them represent organizations, but everyone else pretty much represents a local church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s what excites me, is that the ministry is being pushed out where it belongs in the hands of lay men and women, couples who have a passion for the orphan, and who want to make a difference by connecting the resources of their local church, perhaps to foster care in their state, perhaps to orphans in a foreign country, maybe getting engaged in adoption and calling church members to adopt.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut there are all kinds of ministries, to Bob\u2019s point, that are now springing up.\u00a0 It\u2019s really cool.\u00a0 This is the Body of Christ in action.\u00a0 This is really, I believe, a genuine movement of God addressing an urgent humanitarian crisis.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Hope for Orphans exists to try to catalyze these movements in local churches.\u00a0 You stop and you think \u2013 ten years ago there wasn\u2019t much happening in local churches, and now hundreds of churches around the country have made a commitment to helping the orphan.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tRobin, I know you over the last eight or nine years as this ministry has been going on, you\u2019ve connected with hundreds of people who are involved personally, either in their own adoption or their own foster care or their own orphan care ministry, or they\u2019re helping at their local church to make things happen.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve got to be looking back and saying, \u201cI didn\u2019t see any of this on the horizon when we first came to FamilyLife and said \u2018You guys ought to be doing something to help the orphans.\u2019\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think at the very beginning we knew that we needed to have orphan care as part of this ministry, because people call it an adoption ministry, and it\u2019s really not an adoption ministry.\u00a0 It\u2019s really about caring for orphans.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen through the years it moved from totally an emphasis on adoption to the emphasis on orphan care throughout the world, whatever that looks like.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think that somehow the Lord has had my path cross with families that have struggled with their adoptions, I guess probably because that\u2019s what we have experienced personally.\u00a0 When we went through that experience there was nowhere to turn, and our local church didn\u2019t know how to help.\u00a0 As we were in that place, we saw that this is a need that the church can meet, that it\u2019s not being met, and families who are struggling have to have somewhere to go when the wheels fall off.\u00a0 And that\u2019s happening more and more, because families are adopting children who are at risk and older children.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 I remember speaking at Covenant Seminary in Saint Louis not long after Hope for Orphans had gotten going.\u00a0 We were talking about Christians need to care for the orphan and need to look at adoption.\u00a0 You need to be asking the question-- not \u201cShould we adopt?\u201d but \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t we adopt?\u201d\u00a0 We were talking about that, and I\u2019ll never forget a young seminary student coming up to me that morning and pulling me aside.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHe said, \u201cAre you going to tell people the truth, the hard truth about adoption, that it\u2019s not always easy, that there\u2019s struggle and there\u2019s pain and there\u2019s challenge?\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI remember kind of being taken aback because you could tell this guy had lived some of that, and he wanted to make sure that if we were going to be out exhorting believers to open up their hearts and homes to the orphan, that we were going to tell them that that assignment was not a fairy tale and they would all live happily ever after.\u00a0 There was going to be some challenge associated with that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, you want to make sure somebody goes into this with their eyes wide open, understanding \u2013\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 -- that this is not a cookie cutter deal.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to just absorb this new child into your family, whether it\u2019s a foster care child or an adopted child, and they\u2019re going to become instantly one of your own and instantly like all the other kids.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 You\u2019re exactly right.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what families are not prepared for.\u00a0 One of the concerning things in the movement that has taken place that we\u2019ve watched in the last eight years has been wonderful but at the same time it\u2019s concerning, because there\u2019s almost become a pep rally for adoption, and if you want to get on the band wagon with serving God, you go adopt a child.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd that is so dangerous, because there are so many families who really, we believe after watching them; they\u2019re not called to this.\u00a0 Many families who will tell you after they\u2019ve brought a child home, especially women will tell me they talked their husband into it, and we hear that probably more than any other one thing is \u201cWell, my husband really didn\u2019t want to do this, but I\u2019ve always wanted to adopt.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt doesn\u2019t work, if you both are not on the same page coming in to it, and believing that you\u2019re going into this, not for what you\u2019re going to receive from it, but for what this child is going to receive from your family \u2013 and being able to love that child unconditionally when they may never be able to function in the way that your biological children are functioning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere may be past hurt, past abuse, and even abuse in a birth mother who drank, where a child can look totally normal but you\u2019re dealing with an impulsive child who struggles with consequences, and parenting that child is going to be totally different from your other children.\u00a0 If families go into this with anything other than eyes wide open, it can be disastrous.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd our concern is that the enemy is using this, and we see it.\u00a0 We see family after family that are going into it thinking, \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to love them so much and tell them about Jesus,\u201d and yes, those things you do need, but that\u2019s not all there is to it.\u00a0 I think that it is truly a work of the Holy Spirit for us to bond and to love a child that didn\u2019t come from us.\u00a0 There is a natural set-up that God has in us, that when we birth a child and there is that love that\u2019s just from the beginning.\u00a0 And that is not necessarily true, especially with a child that\u2019s older or a child that has struggles and issues and has been institutionalized for the first few years of their life.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a totally different thing.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFor families that go into it knowing that it can be wonderful, but for families going into it thinking it\u2019s going to be just like us giving birth, it can be disastrous.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where we feel like the church has a real place to help those families on the front end, before they bring that child home in being prepared for what the reality of it is.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly right.\u00a0 From the very beginning of Hope for Orphans we\u2019ve wanted to present a picture of God\u2019s heart for orphans, whether it be in adoption or orphan care that\u2019s realistic, and not sensationalize or romanticize.\u00a0 Like it says in Hebrews, God calls people to join Christ in his suffering.\u00a0 This is about us being conformed to the image of Christ, not getting something we want, something that will make us feel good.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tDespite the fact that entering into adoption and orphan care involves entering into a lot of pain, frankly, this movement has grown beyond anything that we could have imagined eight years ago.\u00a0 There are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of churches that who have launched orphan\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhat I like to tell people is I think that what\u2019s really wonderful is that churches engage across denominational lines in partnership, in being available to love kids, whether through adoption or foster care or mentoring, through vacation Bible school \u2013 whatever it may be \u2013 is that it really is becoming the visible Gospel.\u00a0 It is a reconnecting to the essentials of what we believe when we see the church loving these kids who have nothing to give back.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m just thinking of my daughter, Ashley and her husband Michael who live in a small town in north central Arkansas, and they decided to become foster parents.\u00a0 They already have five boys 12 and under, but they decided they wanted to care for foster children.\u00a0 So they got a baby right off the start, a little boy 12 months old.\u00a0 And then they got a 12-year-old.\u00a0 Ashley was able to lead this 12-year-old boy to faith in Christ.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell the other day I hear about Ashley getting a little girl that she\u2019s caring for right now, and in between that I also heard that she was caring for a 2-year-old boy that she had just for a few days.\u00a0 She took the little boy to Walmart, and the little boy spit on her and then slapped Ashley in the face.\u00a0 Now what you have to understand as foster care parents, you can\u2019t spank.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Robin:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you really understand why, because some of these kids have come from very difficult backgrounds.\u00a0 And yet, here\u2019s Ashley, the mother of five boys 12 and under, but she cares enough about the plight of the orphan to go near.\u00a0 I want to tell you, I\u2019ve watched you guys do this.\u00a0 You guys have gone near the orphan in your own lives; you have five adopted children yourselves.\u00a0 When you call other people to go near, they\u2019re going near the heart of God, aren\u2019t they?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 One of the things we\u2019ve told people from the very beginning \u2013 if you really want to be blessed, then be concerned about the things that concern the heart of God.\u00a0 There\u2019s no doubt in my mind, the reason that there\u2019s a movement that\u2019s happened in the United States and there are thousands and thousands of churches now engaging around the world around loving orphans, is because it is on God\u2019s heart.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t agree more.\u00a0 I appreciate the balance you guys have brought to this dialogue that\u2019s occurring nationwide.\u00a0 Paul, undoubtedly there is a listener right now who is hearing us talk about the plight of the orphan, foster care, adoption issues.\u00a0 They\u2019re going, \u201cI\u2019d like to kind of find out what it would be like to maybe start one of these ministries and outreaches in our local church.\u201d\u00a0 Where should they start?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 A good place to start, Dennis, would be to read <em>Launching an Orphan Ministry in Your Church.<\/em>\u00a0 Most churches we\u2019ve worked with there\u2019s a couple or an individual who has had this on their heart, and this is a good resource to begin with.\u00a0 We also provide an event called <em>Your Church and the Orphan,<\/em> where we also train teams from churches through the eight steps of launching an orphan ministry in your church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo if you go to HopeforOrphans.org, you\u2019ll see some great resources about launching a ministry in your church.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 There is actually a video resource that can help them do this too, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 As a part of the <em>Launching an Orphan Ministry in Your Church,<\/em> there\u2019s actually a video that you can show to your elders, your pastors, your leadership to give them a vision for what we\u2019re talking about and what this really looks like.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Paul, tell folks about this event that\u2019s coming up here in a couple of weeks that you put together to address some of the issues Robin\u2019s been talking about here.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 One of the new initiatives from Hope for Orphans is called the Hope for Orphans Institute.\u00a0 As we have seen God grow the number of orphan ministries across the United States, we\u2019ve realized that there\u2019s a need for training \u2013 kind of a train-the-trainer opportunity \u2013 for those that are leading an orphan ministry.\u00a0 The Institute will address certain subjects from time to time that are critical.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe first Hope for Orphans Institute will be on the subject of the local church serving at risk children and the families that adopt them.\u00a0 We will be bringing together a best in class speaker team so that folks can be involved in understanding how their church can be intentional about receiving parents of special needs kids, at risk children, as well as being that support for them when the wheels come off, like Robin said.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s a great thing to have compassion, but compassion needs to be linked with knowledge.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the church can provide if we begin to provide that training to the leaders.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 And you can provide the accountability in dealing with the ups and downs of raising an adopted child or an orphan to adulthood, whether it be foster care or otherwise.\u00a0 Those families need the support of other families coming alongside them.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Paul:<\/strong>\u00a0 Exactly.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This event that is coming up here in a couple of weeks \u2013 it\u2019s September 16<sup>th<\/sup> and 17<sup>th<\/sup> in Plano, Texas.\u00a0 There is still opportunity for folks to register for the Hope for Orphans Institute.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be talking about special needs issues and all kinds of adoption-related topics.\u00a0 Really the folks that you\u2019re hoping will attend the Institute are pastors or lay leaders, those who have a heart for orphans and want their church to be the kind of place that we\u2019ve talked about it being today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s more information available online at FamilyLifeToday.com about the Hope for Orphans Institute September 16<sup>th<\/sup> and 17<sup>th<\/sup> in Plano, Texas.\u00a0 It\u2019s at the Hope Center there, and you can get more information, again, when you go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere\u2019s also information there about the resource that we produce called <em>Launching an Orphan\u2019s Ministry in Your Church.<\/em>\u00a0 Again, go to FamilyLifeToday.com for more information about that resource, or call us toll-free at 1-800-FLTODAY, 1-800-358-6329;\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tthat's 1-800 \u201cF\u201d as in Family, \u201cL\u201d as in Life, and then the word \u201cToday,\u201d and ask about the resources that we have available on starting orphans ministry in your church.\u00a0 We have adoption-oriented resources available as well.\u00a0 Get more information when you call or go online at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSpeaking of conferences, we are getting ready to launch our fall season of <em>Weekend to Remember \u00ae <\/em>marriage getaways for couples.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be starting that here in a couple of weeks, and those events will continue throughout the fall.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd our friends at the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation are hosting their national conference in Louisville, Kentucky in October.\u00a0 The conference is focusing on psychiatric disorders this year.\u00a0 They\u2019re going to be talking about complex problems and how we approach those compassionately.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI mention that because last year I had an opportunity to attend the CCEF National Conference and actually spoke at that conference.\u00a0 One of the subjects I spoke on was what it is that makes marriage distinctively Christian.\u00a0 When two followers of Christ are married, how should that marriage look different than two other people getting married?\u00a0 What should be different about your marriage?\u00a0 The message was well-received; it was very encouraging some of the feedback that I got to the message.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re making a CD of that message available this month when you make a donation to help support <em>FamilyLife Today.<\/em>\u00a0 All you have to do is go online at FamilyLifeToday.com and make an online donation.\u00a0 When you do, type the word \u201cMARRIAGE\u201d in the key code box and we\u2019ll send you a copy of this CD.\u00a0 Or call 1-800-FLTODAY, make a donation over the phone, and ask for the CD on What Makes a Marriage Distinctively Christian.\u00a0 Again, we\u2019re happy to send that out to you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tLet me just say how much we appreciate your support of the ministry.\u00a0 We\u2019re listener-supported, so those donations are what make it possible for us to continue this daily program.\u00a0 Again, thanks for your support and we appreciate hearing from you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow tomorrow Paul and Robin Pennington are going to be back with us, and we\u2019re going to continue our conversation about orphan care and adoption, and what churches can do to help those families who are reaching out to care for the needs of orphans.\u00a0 I hope you can join us for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We will see you back next time for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHelp for today.\u00a0 Hope for tomorrow.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 2011 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0 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