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2012 National Foster Care Prayer Vigil
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012, from 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Founders Room A
Wexford Campus
North Way Christian Community

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8 NASB

Children come into the United States foster care system for various reasons, including neglect, abuse, abandonment, and substance abuse by their primary caretakers. Historically the church has cared for children such as these out of obedience to God’s repeated mandate to care for the marginalized. However, many Christians today are simply unsure of what they can do to make a difference. Perhaps the best place to start is on our knees, crying out to a Holy God on behalf of these children, their birth families, their foster families, and their social workers.

The National Foster Care Prayer Vigil was created to call followers of Christ wherever they are to ask the God of the Universe to do great and mighty things on their behalf. He hears our prayers, and we know He will answer our plea for these precious children and for the people who love and care for them.

Chad & Kristin Himmler’s Adoption Testimony

God led us to adopt through my wife, Kristin. God placed a calling to adopt in my wife’s heart about eight years ago. We discussed it some then, but always kind of assumed it was something for years down the road, if at all. I always liked the idea of adopting, but never went any deeper with the thought because of the financial challenges adoption presented. I was a young beginning teacher, with a beginner teacher salary, planning on raising a family with one salary, all the while severely in debt with student loans. To me, we could not afford to adopt, pure and simple. We began having our own kids and the idea of adopting completely left my mind, although it never left Kristin’s heart and mind. Even after three of our own kids, the adoption calling was still heavy on my wife’s’ heart! I continued to use the excuse that we couldn’t afford, it. I began to feel God challenging me through my wife, but kept making excuses. Then we heard a sermon at church titled “Ruined for the Ordinary”, Pastor Kent asked, “ Are there certain things in your life you know specifically God has spoken to you and you’re choosing to ignore it? Are you waiting for God to give you just one more sign to help make His will clear to you? Why do you pray for things that the Bible clearly states? STOP PRAYING and jump! Kent said, let's turn this around...what if God is waiting for YOU....what if He has laid out everything in front of you over the years and now He's waiting for you to jump in, walk with Him and trust Him on this journey?

Chad and Kristin have four children - Breckin(8), Braylee(7), Branson(4) and Bryzick(1). They both serve as family-to-one LAMP mentors and serve in the East End Kidz Ministry. Chad is a highschool band director at Hampton High School and Kristin is a stay-at-home mom that teaches private clarinet lessons in the evenings. Over the past year, God has been calling them to move to the city. In the summer of 2012 they will be moving to the city's east end to better serve their church community.

I felt like that message was being spoken straight to me. I began making myself open to the idea of adoption. I was still scared about the finances, but I began exploring the idea in my mind. A few weeks later, Kristin and I were talking and she shared with me her feeling that God desired for us to have a fourth child. I couldn’t believe what was about to come out of my mouth. I said, “I don’t think you should birth another baby, due to health issues, but I would be open to adopting.” That was totally a response from God and a testimony to Gods’ unfailing commitment to each one of us. And so it began from there. We began doing deeper research into adoption and found many answers to my financial worries that very next day. We learned about the adoption tax credit and the partnership our church has with a ministry called Lifesong, offering matching grants and interest free loans to offset the cost of adoption. It was as if God was waiting for me to step out on faith, as a test, before showing us how He was going to work it out.

In August of 2008 we decided to adopt an infant from Ethiopia. Our dossier was submitted January 2009 and then we waited for about 20 months. On October 25th, 2010 we got the call from our agency saying that they had a little boy, with big eyes for us to see! They sent all of his information and a picture and it was love at first sight! He was almost 4 months old and very malnourished. We couldn’t wait to go to Ethiopia to meet him. In January 2011 we both traveled to Ethiopia to meet our new son and appear in court. We had to leave Bryzick in Ethiopia for about 2 more months until U.S. Embassy paperwork was finalized. In late March, Kristin traveled to Ethiopia to bring Bryzick home. He met his new family on April 2nd, 2011! After two long years of waiting we will forever remember this special family day. He has now been home for almost a year and it is amazing to see how much he’s grown. We give God ALL the glory in Bryzick’s adoption. The love, encouragement, support and prayers from our church family have been amazing! Our family will be forever grateful for all of these blessings!

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act. - Proverbs 24:12

Safe Families and a New program called Safe Families Plus (a program designed for those young-adult children who are aging out of the foster case system)

For more information visit: OrphanCare or Bethany Christian Services.

OrphanCare is a ministry of North Way Christian Community, a multisite church with campuses in Sewickley, Oakland and Wexford, Pa. Because we as a church are called by God to “defend the cause of the Fatherless (Isaiah 1:17) our purpose is to raise awareness of the 147 million orphaned and abandoned children in our world and then educate and equip people with the resources and support they need to care for these at risk children.

Having a heart that is tender towards children without a family is a test of our love for God. If we say we love God but do nothing on the behalf of the world’s vulnerable children, we’re kidding ourselves. You simply cannot love God without developing a passion for orphans.

Kay Warren