A week an a half ago, I was walking my pal Rachel home one night.  (Don’t read anything into that, it’s a safety thing)  The conversation turned to “Ultimate Vision.”  You know, the whole “I’m doing this right now, but what I really want to do is this,” conversation.  
     I told her that I loved working with orphans, but what we can do as missionaries is so limited.  Ultimately, I want to speak to churches about embracing the orphanages of their communities.  I would love to invest into the kid’s ministries of churches, who are willing to invest in their orphanages.  
That’s the only way we could reach all of them.  The Bible says, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”  He never said, “I will build my missions organization…”  God’s plan is to use the church.  The main need of orphans is a home, not a foreign visitor.  Local churches can provide for the kids in their village a spiritual home, if orphans choose to receive it.  
     God is amazing.  Within a week of this conversation, Sergey approached me and said, “How would you like to come with me.  I’m speaking to about forty Baptist pastors about the AIDS problem and the orphan system in Ukraine, and maybe you could speak for a little while and do a presentation.”
     God is so cool.  The very thing that was on my heart quickly turned into an open door.  I found myself traveling four hours southward, through beautiful Ukrainian country side to a little country church where there was an annual meeting of area Baptist pastors.  And the pastors were very open.
      There are exciting things happening for orphans in Ukraine.  The government would like to end the orphanage system in favor of a foster care system.  This would take children out of the institution and into family settings.  But it requires finding people who will care for children.  And the government is willing to pay families to do so.
     This is a great opportunity for the church.  There are 100 thousand orphans in the system with very bad statistics in the horizon.  What if even a quarter of these were raised by loving, Christian families?  That would be 25 thousand lives eternally changed, and equipped to face life’s challenges.  This could change the tide of suicide, prostitution, crime and alcoholism on a much grander scale.  But it’s in the hands of Ukrainians, not Americans.  As it really should be.
     Pray for me, that as God opens these doors to speak to churches and pastors, God will open eyes and hearts to His plan.  Orphans and adoption are at the heart of the gospel.  If only we would listen.

¶ 6:12 AM

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