Stories tagged with: adoption

• Journey Church & adoption: 'It is in our DNA'

  by Sarah Davis/Arkansas Baptist News, posted Monday, January 14, 2019 (one year ago)

  

  iStock photo

  Jan. 20 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday in the Southern Baptist Convention.

  JONESBORO, Ark. (BP) -- In 2011, Dan Reeves began his first sermon series from the book of James as lead pastor of the newly launched Journey Church. At that time, he knew the future ministries of the young congregation were still unclear -- that is until he read from James 1:27: "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

  Reeves' wife Veronica noted, "As a brand new, closely knit body of believers, we were ... Read More

• Foster care & adoption infused into church plant

  by Chris Forbes, posted Monday, January 14, 2019 (one year ago)

  

  Photo provided

  MUSTANG, Okla. (BP) -- From a church planting perspective, The Well is averaging approximately 100 in weekly attendance, recently baptizing several new believers.

  Meanwhile, the planters -- Stephen Myers and Steven Giblet -- have worked to cultivate a culture within the church conducive to foster care and adoption.

  Now in its second year, the church plant of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma currently is meeting at Canyon Ridge Intermediate School in the Mustang school district. Read More

• Cooperative Program, foster care link church & heaven

  by Karen L. Willoughby, posted Thursday, January 03, 2019 (one year ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  MOORCROFT, Wyo. (BP) -- Mike Ellis is a homeschooling dad who serves bivocationally in rural Wyoming as pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Moorcroft.

  His wife Tera is a full-time teacher of gifted and talented youngsters.

  "It's like the Cooperative Program," Ellis said of their family -- Christian, 13, adoptive brothers Joshua, 9, and Thomas, 6, and foster sister Dolly, 5, until more join.

  "Different people, coming from different places," he said, "working together as one family to do something for the Kingdom of God."

  First Southern gives 10 percent of its undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists' longstanding method of providing for God's work in the United States and throughout the world. Read More

• Lilly receives special Christmas gift from Chitwoods

  by Roger Alford/Kentucky Today , posted Friday, December 07, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  Photo by Robin Cornetet/Kentucky Today

  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Sure, 6-year-old Lilly has the typical wish list for Christmas, including Barbie dolls and a dollhouse. But it was something much more meaningful that she longed for most: a family of her own.

  For the past three years, Lilly had been in foster care through Sunrise Children's Services, a Kentucky Baptist organization that ministers to abused and neglected kids. Her story is one that has become all too familiar to Kentucky authorities in a culture where drug addiction is rampant.

  As a toddler, Lilly faced tough times and was well acquainted with hunger while she was in the care of a drug-addicted birth mother. Read More

• Robinsons touched 65 lives by fostering, adoption

  by Katelyn Goodwin/Missouri Pathway, posted Monday, October 22, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  Photo submitted

  VAN BUREN, Mo. (BP) -- Few people have hearts as big as Ron and Terri Robinson. In 40 years of marriage, Ron followed his calling to ministry and pastored several Baptist churches with Terri at his right hand, opening their hearts to the communities they served.

  Then they opened their hearts to a new calling from God as foster parents. But their life and their marriage didn't begin with that in mind.

  Ron and Terri always wanted children, so they were beyond excited when Terri ... Read More

• Couple with 10 kids joins adoption/foster care reform

  by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today , posted Friday, August 03, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  Submitted photo from Gov. Bevin's office

  FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- A former Florida pastor and his wife have been named by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to help implement reforms to the state's adoption and foster care system under legislation approved by the 2018 General Assembly.

  Chris and Alicia Johnson will work closely with the Department for Community Based Services, part of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, to support the department's ongoing adoption and foster care initiatives, including the transformative efforts required under House Bill 1. See related Baptist Press story. Read More

• Adoption agency protection moves forward in Congress

  by Tom Strode, posted Friday, July 20, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  iStock

  WASHINGTON (BP) -- Legislation to prohibit government from discriminating against adoption and foster care agencies over their religious or moral convictions has taken an initial step toward potential passage in Congress.

  The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee included the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (CWPIA) in a spending bill it approved July 11. The committee first passed the measure as an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education funding bill in a 29-23 vote. The panel then forwarded the amended version of the bill in a 30-22 roll call. Read More

• Okla., Kan. adoption bills guard religious liberty

  by David Roach, posted Tuesday, May 15, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  iStock

  OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Legislation passed in Oklahoma and Kansas to protect the religious liberty of adoption agencies has drawn praise from Baptist leaders in those states and criticism from homosexual activist groups.

  In Oklahoma, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed Senate Bill 1140 on May 11. The measure protects private organizations from being required to take part in the placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the action would violate their "written religious or moral convictions or policies." The law permits faith-based adoption agencies to abide by their religious convictions in refusing to place children with same-sex couples. Read More

• Vulnerable children, foster care & what you can do

  by David Melber, posted Monday, May 14, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  Photo by Greta High

  ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Thirteen-year-old Mary wakes up early on a Monday morning. Entering the kitchen, she begins making lunches for her 10-year-old brother and her 5-year-old sister.

  Peanut butter again. Stale bread. She brushes her sister's hair, grabs book bags and heads out the door. Mom didn't come home again last night. It's the third night in a row. "Keep moving forward," she says to herself.

  Mary is doing the best she can. The opioid crisis is her reality. Read More

• Ky. lawmakers pass adoption, foster care bill

  by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today, posted Tuesday, April 03, 2018 (one year ago)

  

  Photo by Peter Fitzgerald, via Wikimedia Commons

  FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- The Kentucky Senate unanimously passed the top House priority, a comprehensive adoption and foster care reform bill that changes the way foster care and adoption are handled in the state to better benefit children.

  Later Monday night (April 2), the House concurred on a 90-1 vote to send the measure to the desk of Gov. Matt Bevin for his signature to make it law. Read More