When a Church says “Yes”…
One year ago, in the heat of a Missouri summer, Kas Long had a stirring in her heart for the hurting children and families in her community. As she dug deeper and discovered the needs in her own backyard, God absolutely broke her heart for the orphan. She knew her church had to do something but wasn’t sure what or how.
Several months later, in the fall of 2018, Kas had the privilege of meeting the orphan care director at Oaks Church in Red Oak, TX, a church who has seen hundreds of hurting children welcomed into their homes. She asked questions and found out how they developed their foster care, adoption, and support ministry. She couldn’t wait to get started, so she contacted Backyard Orphans to schedule a workshop!
Our team quickly fell in love with Bloom Church. Kas’ heart for her community was shared by the lead pastor and the whole staff. And the passion trickled down from there! They launched their new orphan care ministry, Bloom Beyond, just a few months ago on May 19. We couldn’t be more in awe of what God did!
- 1,000 people were in attendance,
- 27 families stood to acknowledge a calling on their life to foster or adopt,
- 80 people attended the dessert banquet to receive next steps,
- and countless signed up to provide wrap around support!
Since the launch of Bloom Beyond, four families have already received their foster care license and many more are getting ready to start the process. Because they recognize that these families cannot do it alone (a lack of support is the number one reason why foster parents quit), they have developed 7 support teams, with anywhere from 10-20 volunteers on each, to make sure that doesn’t happen!
- Family Advocate Team
- Prayer Team
- Resource Team
- Support Team
- Meals Team
- Events Team
- Childcare Team
While Bloom Church is excitedly waiting to welcome their first foster care placements, they are marveling at the story God is writing! He is raising up foster families from every walk of life! From no children to parents of little ones, from parents of teenagers to a set of grandparents! Kas says, “To me, this shows how God works in everyone when we are obedient to his call!”
We have seen this truth time and time again in the churches we serve. Orphan care is not about some of us doing it all, it is about all of us doing something.
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Eric Porter
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
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