Honduras Fashion Shoot
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Monday, 11 May 09 - 09:07 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I guess I've had blogger's block. I decided tonight that I would post a few pictures from one of our orphan camps last month. One of our crafts was making tie dyed t-shirts. It was my first time making tie dyed t-shirts, and we had lots of fun! We decided to take our group photo in our shirts and while we were waiting on everyone to get ready I decided to do an impromtu sibling group photo shoot. These are a few from that shoot. Enjoy . . .
The Orphan Guy?
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Sunday, 23 November 08 - 11:48 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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I received a comment this morning at church that was weird and encouraging at the same time! One of my friends said, "I thought about you a couple times this week." To which I replied, "Was it good or bad?" He said, "No, it was good. I thought about you a couple times because the programming on Christian radio this week was about orphans."
Wow, so I'm the orphan guy now? I'm OK with that. Last Sunday, we launched our orphan care ministry at Bethlehem Church and we went to the Parkwood Baptist orphan care ministry banquet last night. It's been an orphan care week for us. I'm OK with that.
I'm excited and looking forward to what God is going to do in Gaston Co. with caring for orphans . . . here in our county and around the world. The Church is rising up and taking God's commandments to care for orphans seriously. That's exciting for me!
Update on Jessica
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Tuesday, 11 November 08 - 10:19 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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For years I've been fond of saying, "specific prayer gets specific answers." I wanted to give an update on Jessica's situation and say thanks for praying. Many of you have been praying for little Jessica and the way it looks now is that the "adoption" will not go through. There are lots of issues with the "adoptive parent".
I feel like God has answered our prayers on Jessica's behalf. Thanks for your intercession for this precious child of God. I know she and her "family" at the orphanage would say thank you as well. Praise be to God for his incredible grace and mercy and for his love and care for little children.
Please Pray for Jessica
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Monday, 03 November 08 - 01:23 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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Most of the time I write on this blog it's with a happy heart. This is not one of those times. Often times I write on this blog about things I've thought through and have been contemplating for a while. This is not one of those times.
Today's entry is from my heart . . . a heavy heart. I got a phone call from Honduras today and it's sent me into a sad depressed state. I'm typing this with tears rolling down my face. Why . . . because "one of my kids needs your prayers!"
I don't even know what to say, but the best thing I can say is PLEASE PRAY FOR JESSICA (the little girl on the left in the picture above). The news I got about her from Honduras is that someone is trying to adopt her. I should be excited about that, but for several reasons I am not. I'll list my reasons:
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It's a "forced" adoption from a foreign diplomat
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Her papers were forged to make it look like she has no living parents (thus making her "adoptable")
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She has a little sister (biological) at the orphanage, but the person doesn't want the sister
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None of her "sisters" at the orphanage want this to happen
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Jessica doesn't want to be adopted
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If my information is correct, she'll be going to a non-Christian home from a Chrsitian orphanage.
Those are some of my reasons. I know many of you who read this blog are praying people and I ask you to lift Jessica Carolina up to our Father in Heaven. Please pray that somehow the government agency that deals with orphans in Honduras will work from the truth and not a lie to please a diplomat. Pray that something will be found to stop the process. Pray that the child's desires will be taken into account. Pray that God's will for Jessica to be accomplished.
PLEASE PRAY!
143 Million
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Thursday, 29 May 08 - 03:43 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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I wanted to share a slideshow I made for Sunday worship. We're intronjducing an orphan care ministry to our church this coming Sunday. The video will be played just before the Pastor Dickie interviews Amy and I about this new ministry. Enjoy . . . .
When the change began . . .
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Monday, 12 May 08 - 11:00 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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07.27.2006 . . . it's a date that began a change in my life and ministry. I didn't realize the magnitude of the change that day. I knew that for me it was the best hour of our summer ministry in Honduras. I knew then that it had a big impact on my life and on several of our Honduran staff. What I didn't know at the time was that it would be the beginning of something that would have such a proufound, far reaching effect.
What was so special about it? Nothing really overwhelming, but it was my first real contact with a group of orphans. It was my first contact with someone with HIV. No, it wasn't the HIV, but it was the fact that they were "normal". They just didn't have parents they lived with. On the outside they didn't look different than any of the other Hondurans we had ministered to that summer, but on the inside they had stuff I was unfamiliar with . . . abandonment, rejection, a deadly disease.
When I returned that summer, I wrote these words . . .
"To be honest it wasn’t all that exciting, but it was one of those watershed moments for many. Especially some of our Honduran staff. We did our usually Bible story and games and Baha Thompson, our summer assistant told a testimony of how she grew up in an orphanage in Kazakhstan.
Maybe it was Baha’s testimony that triggered it for many of us. These kids will not get adopted from this orphanage. The grim reality that hit us was that they had come there to die.
Yet for these children, living with HIV/AIDS, the orphanage has become a place of rescue and hope. I still have a picture in my mind (the one picture I missed with my camera) of two 3 year old boys kicking a soccer ball in the front yard of the orphanage. One was light skinned, the other dark. One spoke English, the other Spanish, One is healthy, the other sick. Both are going to die one day. And the Good News is Jesus died for my David and little Jose."
As you can tell from those words, I didn't realize the affect that day had on MY LIFE. I thought it was for those with me. Yes, it had an affect on me, but I wasn't expecting lasting, residual impact on my life.
I don't know what it's going to look like in the days and years to come, but as I told several people this past week, "I'm 44 yrs. young, approaching 20 years in ministry and I feel like I'm finally figuring out my purpose in life - to be a voice for the orphan."
Ok, that's plenty for one post . . . I promise I'll write something funny next time . . . I know some of you are saying "enough of this orphan stuff".
Thinking From My Heart about Orphans . . .
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Wednesday, 07 May 08 - 12:48 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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This picture is my computer desktop background. Her name is Carolina. She's lives in an orphanage in Tegucigalpa. She's my friend. I love Carolina. God loves her more!
How many orphans do you know? I mean personally. How many orphans do you know by name? I must admit that 2 years ago I don't know if I knew any orphans by name. Honestly, I didn't want to know any orphans! I know that sounds bad, but I didn't want to deal with the emotional pain that came from "personally" knowing an orphan.
That all changed between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. on July 27th, 2006. That's an important day for me (I'll write more about that this week). As I sit here and type these words if I raise my gaze from my computer screen I see a picture frame sitting on the end table in front of me. It contains pictures of kids. They are not my biological kids, but kids who live in an orphanage - a 18 year old, a 10 year old and a 3 year old. They live in an institutional environment. They live with 20 other kids. They live without a Mom and a Dad to tuck them into bed at night.
Are they loved? Yes! God loves them immensely. Many of the orphans I know realize that and take comfort in fact that God loves them and cares for them. Yet, millions of orphans all over the world don't know that anyone loves them - including the God of the universe. In the eyes of God, something is wrong with that picture. A child is not supposed to grow up in an institution! As I write these words my eyes are filled with tears just thinking about the kids all over the world (143 million) that share that kind of story.
What is the church going to do? What am I going to do? What are you going to do? What I'm going to do is - DREAM BIG, take one step at a time, and TRUST GOD for direction.
One of the baby steps I am taking is to step out and try to help start an orphan care ministry in our church. To be honest, I'm a little scared about that. I don't know what it's going to look like, but if we trust God then it's going to look like Him. If we trust ourselves it's going to look like us. My desire is that God be the hero and it look like him.
I'll close this post with a prayer that's on my heart. If you've read this far, would you make this simple prayer to God your own prayer?
God, I know you love children. I know you especially love orphans. I am realizing that it's Your church's responsibility to care for orphans. Help me do my part to make a difference in the world orphan crisis. God, help Mark and Amy do their part to make a difference in the world orphan crisis. Oh, God, help Your church to wake up from it's slumber to make a difference in the world orphan crisis because our response is a reflection on your reputation! I love you God. Thank you for adopting me, an orphan, into your family and giving me a purpose in this world and an eternal home in heaven. Amen.
Orphan Overload . . .
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Sunday, 04 May 08 - 11:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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What an emotional weekend. It all began with this little orphan group singing How Great Is our God. I thought I was going to end up on the floor sobbing uncontrollably. The last time that happened to me was in the shower a couple months ago when I turned on the little shower radio only to hear "Stealing Cinderella". I don't know who sings it because I rarely listen to country music, but as I heard this guy singing about his daughter getting married and describing it as "stealing Cinderella" I lost it! Honestly, I can't believe I writing it here, but I lost it in the shower . . . sobbing uncontrollably as I thought of some guys stealing my Cinderella (s)!
That's how I felt as I listen to these orphans sing praises to our God on Thursday night. I thought someone was going to have to pick me up off the floor. It was the most awesome, profound, gut wrenching experiences I've had in a long time.
I'm sure I'll write more about it this week, but Amy and I were able to attend Summit IV of the Christian Alliance for Orphans this weekend at Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale. Like the orphan camp we did in Honduras a couple weeks ago, it's hard to put into words.
For now I'll close with a line I heard over an over at the conference - "There are 143 million orphans in the world today and what is the church going to do about this crisis?" What am I going to do about the global orphan crisis? What are YOU going to do about the global orphan crisis?
... More items are available in my News Archive
