Your Church and the Orphan: All-Day Workshop on Oct. 17

Your Church & the Orphan

Through our participation in the Carolina Christian Alliance for Orphans, Nightlight is helping to spearhead the all-day workshop “Your Church and the Orphan,” led by Hope for Orphans. The goal of the workshop is to provide church members with “the necessary information and tools to explore how your church can effectively minister to orphans and waiting children.” The workshop is being held on Saturday, October 17, from 9am to 4:30pm ET, at First Baptist Church of Simpsonville, in Simpsonville, SC (3 Hedge St).

The schedule includes:

  • Eight steps to launching an orphans ministry in your church
  • Creatively guided prayer and discussion times that will get your church well on its way to a plan for launching a church orphans ministry
  • An overview of key organizations that can help your church orphans ministry do what God calls you to do
  • Useful tools to help you take your next steps
  • Opportunities to interact with other churches in your area whose members share the same passions as you

More details can be found at the “Your Church and the Orphan” page (at the Hope for Orphans website). Register by calling 1-800-358-6329. You can also register online (note that the online form does not work for some browsers, such as Safari). The cost for attendance is $20/person. Lunch is included.

Posted in Events, General, Orphan Care / Adoption | 2 Comments

Together for Adoption: Conference and CD Giveaway

Don’t forget about Together for Adoption’s upcoming conference (I’ve posted about this previously). Our SC Director Laura Godwin will be teaching in one of the break-out sessions (read more in this Nightlight news item).

And . . . there’s a CD-giveaway going on over at Together for Adoption through September 14. The rules are simple. Check it out.

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Waiting families approved for adoption

A large part of Nightlight’s mission is to unite children in need of a home with families hoping to adopt. In our domestic adoption program, one way to do that is through “dear birthmother” letters and family profiles. Prospective adoptive families who have been screened (through an adoption homestudy) use words and photos to give expectant mothers considering placement a glimpse into their lives. In addition to sending physical copies of the profile to expectant mothers, we also feature these profiles on our website.

When Carolina Hope became part of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, our Waiting Family Profiles section expanded. Here’s a tiny snapshot of the page:

Picture 3

We encourage you to take a look at the adoptive family profiles section, link to it, and if you know someone considering an adoption, consider pointing her to theses profiles.

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Special Needs Adoptions from China and Taiwan

On September 9 (Wednesday) at noon ET, Nightlight is conducting an online educational webinar about special needs adoptions from Taiwan and China.

Previously scheduled for September 2, the webinar was moved to the 9th because we anticipate having a list of (agency-specific) special needs children from the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs at the beginning of September, and we would like to present webinar participants with information about the children available.

More details at the course page: China and Taiwan: Adopting the Child with Special Needs.

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Sept. 15 Pastors’ Luncheon: Mobilizing Your Church for Orphans

The Carolina Christian Alliance for Orphans is sponsoring a luncheon entitled “Mobilizing Your Church for the Orphan without Reinventing the Wheel” to inform pastors about the “Your Church and the Orphan” one-day program (coming to Simpsonville in October). At the luncheon you will learn about how this program can train and motivate your church leaders to create a church culture that helps Christians fulfill the call to “visit orphans in their affliction.”

A BBQ plate is included (free). More details are available in this brochure (pdf). Here are the essentials:

September 15, 2009 (Tuesday)
Noon to 1 p.m. (Arrive any time after 11:30 a.m.)
First Baptist Church of Simpsonville (Downtown Campus)
3 Hedge St.
Simpsonville, SC 29681

Contact Rhonda Littleton at 967-8591 ext 16 or rlittleton@fbcsimpsonville.org to reserve lunch.

The following write-up is by one of the organizers:

Orphan Care: Plan A

Every church has a mission: stated or not. Yet, in crafting a mission statement, how many churches are asking, “What is true religion? What does God command us to do?” The Bible tells us we are to care for the widow and the fatherless. This is not Plan B, C, or D. This is Plan A. It is a command. It is not a suggestion. Nor is it a nice extra project if there is enough money left in the budget.

The fatherless and orphans are not always starving children holding out rice bowls. They are our unborn children ready to be aborted, the children growing up in single-parent households, the children in foster care, and, yes, the more than 300 million orphaned children around the world — many warehoused in orphanages.

The burden can feel overwhelming. But the church must do something. Most churches do not even know where to begin.

We are here to help you face the challenge of caring for the fatherless. This no-cost luncheon is to give you, the churches’ leaders, the courage and vision to challenge your congregations to take part in an orphan ministry. With your encouragement, your members can attend the all-day workshop on Saturday, October 17th — to equip them to carry out Plan A.

Isaiah 1:23
James 1:27

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Together for Adoption Conference: just 2 and 1/2 months away!

Nightlight Christian Adoptions will be an exhibitor at the 2009 Together for Adoption Conference, held October 2-3 in Franklin, TN. The conference goal is to “further mobilize and equip Christians to care for orphans in the name of Jesus.”

conference-2009-button

Don’t delay! Register Now! (More details here.)

Posted in Events, Orphan Care / Adoption, Theology | 1 Comment

More from the Orphans Refuge team

Last week the mission team the Ethiopia returned home. You can read more about their trip (and see more photos) at these posts on team member Joy McCarnan’s blog:

jiggety-jig (Sat, June 20)

Azwachu enna chawo! (Thu, June 18)

Monday and Tuesday in Ethiopia (Mon & Tue, June 15-16)

weekend in Ethiopia (Sat & Sun, June 13-14)

Orphans Refuge is the mission trip arm of Together for Adoption. The June 10-19 Orphans Refuge trip was organized in partnership with Carlina Hope (which is now the SC branch office of Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

Posted in Ethiopia Adoption, Ethiopia Trip Pics, Events, Mission Trips | 1 Comment

Congratulations Alina! (5k Run/Walk under-19 winner)

Yesterday I wrote a short post about two recent Nightlight fundraisers, one of which was a 5k Run/Walk for Adoption Awareness. This morning Lisa, Assistant Director of the SC Nightlight office, passed something along to me about the 5k that I wanted to share with our readers (with the permission of the family, of course).

Our 5k had a competitive element, and the winner of our Under-19 category was Alina from North Carolina, a 13-year-old who came with her mother, Claire, to the event. Alina and her brother were adopted as infants through Nightlight’s Russia Adoption Program. Thank you, Alina, for helping us raise adoption awareness, and congratulations!

Here are a few photos sent by Alina’s mom (click for full image):

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Recent fundraisers: Jabez Cut-a-thon and 5k run/walk

Two weeks ago we announced our Jabez Cut-a-thon fundraiser in Southern California. We’re excited to announce that the event was very successful: $2,000 was raised to help bring the children out from Taiwan for our 2009 Summer Tour!

Way back in April we posted about a 5k run/walk for adoption awareness, held in Greenville, SC. We were very pleased by the number and enthusiasm of participants, and it was such a success that we hope to make it an annual event. We had about 47 runners/walkers and 10 volunteers. Here are a few photos from the event:

Nightlight Christian Adoptions would like to thank our corporate sponsors:

We would also like to thank our other contributors:

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Two families home after Ethiopia adoptions!

Nightlight is pleased to announce that our first two families to adopt from Ethiopia are home!

Rocky and Suzanne Clark are the proud parents of Bryson (pictured below). Rocky traveled to Ethiopia for the adoption proceedings, and he and Bryson arrived home on May 24, 2009. (Before the adoption, Bryson was Bekhabil.) Bryson came home as a 14-month-old.

Bryson (formerly Bekhabil) Clark

Tom and Paula Spears adopted 5-year-old twin girls, Candace and Sarah (Selam and Fikir), and they arrived home just four days ago on June 6. (Two photos below.)

The Spears with their two daughtersCandace and Sarah Spears

 

The staff at Nightlight join with the Clarks and Spears in thanking God for His provision and for His guidance in seeing the adoption process through to a successful completion, bringing these beautiful children into their forever homes.

(These families started their adoptions from Ethiopia under Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency and completed them after Carolina Hope had become the SC branch office of Nightlight Christian Adoptions. Our Ethiopia adoption program has progressed without significant changes during the transition, and we’re excited to continue offering hope to Ethiopian orphans and to adoptive couples.)

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June 7: Jabez Salon Cut-a-thon

Sunday, June 7, have your hair cut and styled while raising money for Nightlight’s 15th Annual Summer Tour! (Jabez Salon is in Yorba Linda, CA.)

More details here.

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Orphan Care Summer Tour

Every year Nightlight brings children to Southern California from orphanages overseas. In past years we have brought children from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. This summer we will be bringing children from Taiwan. Excited boys and girls from 6-11 years of age will be joining us for two weeks in July.

Find out more details of this year’s tour — and how you can help — at Nightlight’s Summer Tour page.

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Imagine: A pro-adoption video from CatholicVote.org

As part 2 of their “Life: Imagine the Potential” series, CatholicVote.org has put out the following very nicely produced pro-adoption, pro-life spot:

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Russell Moore’s proposed resolution on adoption and orphan care

Read the excellent resolution Russell Moore has submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Resolution Committee: “On Adoption and Orphan Care: A Proposed Resolution.”

(HT: Dan)

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Recent changes around here

As you probably noticed from the banner above, Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency has been acquired by Nightlight Chrisitian Adoptions of Califorinia. Our office is now the South Carolina branch office of Nightlight. We will continue to offer the same services to children and families.

We are slowly dismantlio our website as all the information becomes available at Nightlight’s beautiful new site. Our current plan is to keep the blog active, though the address will almost certainly change (but we’ll make it easy to find it).

Here the announcement that originally went out about the acquisition: Continue reading »

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