December 23, 2025
Grandma’s House
Trevor Littleton recalls Christmas visits to his grandma's house, how a child adopted his grandma's name, & how we have been adopted as God's children.
Articles for tag: Adoption
September 1, 2023
The Esther Project Shop Gives Hope to Artisans
By Laura McKillip Wood Stacy Hollingsworth grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee and lived in Senegal for several years as a missionary. She then returned to the United States and worked as a forensic psychologist on violent crimes. Doing that work with the state, she saw firsthand how hard life can be for people with traumatic backgrounds. As an adoptive parent of six children, she is invested in improving the lives of children in her South Carolina community. However, her vision for helping impoverished people who have experienced trauma expanded when she visited Kenya for the first time
November 1, 2022
Roe v. Wade Overturned . . . What Now for the Church?
By Tina Wilson, Guest Columnist The landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision from 1973 was overturned in June. For many, this was an answer to decades of prayer. For some, this was a repeal of freedom. For Christians, this should be a call to action. Proper response, though, demands proper understanding of what happened. Prior to 1973, abortion was a felony in most states, except in a few that had relaxed abortion restrictions in the years shortly preceding the ruling. “Jane Roe”—a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey—challenged Texas state law on abortion. To expedite the case’s hearing in the Supreme
June 25, 2022
Roe v. Wade Has Been Overturned . . . What Now?
With the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, the church has a lot to consider. How will we love people with whom we disagree? How can we say we love babies and we love women? How can we share Jesus? How can we best serve our communities?
May 9, 2022
Rekindling the Light: Reflections on a Trip to Romania
David Faust traveled to Romania with Remember the Children’s Andy Baker and others the last week of April. The group sought to encourage Romanian Christians who have been assisting the thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have flooded into their country since the war began in late February.
August 9, 2021
Aug. 15 | Which Inheritance?
In this week's Scripture text, Paul used several metaphors to drive home his point about being saved by faith in Christ as opposed to works of the law; the primary metaphor Paul used was inheritance.
The New World of Kids’ Ministry
What is the future of kids’ ministry and how can churches successfully adapt to meet the challenges?
September 22, 2020
Creswell Cares
By Crystal Kupper The word grandma used to be very scary for Jayme Walker Hill’s foster daughter. “Any time I would talk about my grandma,” said Hill, her foster daughter would share from her own life experience, saying, ‘My grandma was mean.’” “We would try to avoid that word, but she would still cry and be very fearful around older women.” Hill and her husband soon learned that their new foster daughter had been abused by her former adoptive parents, an older couple. The girl, now 19, operates at about the mental level of an 8-year-old. But this isn’t a
August 29, 2019
Single, Pregnant, and Heading Off to Christian College
Here’s a heartfelt, first-person essay that undoubtedly was the best-read and most-talked-about piece from the August 19, 1979, issue of Christian Standard. _ _ _ My Experience as an Unwed Mother By a Minister’s WifeAug. 19, 1979; p. 7 The article in your magazine about unwed mothers (March 18, “The Unwed Mother—A Dilemma”) prompted me finally to write of my experiences as an unwed mother. I was much more lucky than those described in the article. I was eighteen, had just graduated from high school, worked at a good job as a secretary, and was going to attend a Christian
September 17, 2018
Lesson for September 23, 2018 | Redemption: Christ Includes Me (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 10 (weeks 37–40; September 16—October 7, 2018) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ The Bible lessons now follow a scope and sequence prepared by Christian Standard Media. For more information, click here. ______ Lesson Aim: Give thanks to the Lord for the riches of his grace and a heavenly inheritance. ______ By Mark Scott Kenneth McFarland was the “Zig Ziglar” of the 1950s and 1960s. He
January 30, 2017
Lesson for February 5, 2017: Re-Created to Live in Harmony (Galatians 3:26″“4:7)
Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the January 29, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott Someone has rightly said, “You cannot be “˜revived” if you have never first been “˜vived.”” In last month”s lessons we focused on God creating the universe. This month”s lessons focus on God recreating the universe through redeeming his people for freedom to live in holiness. Our study takes us to Galatians, that Magna Carta of
January 29, 2017
Fostering the Good News
By Jon Hembree The county where I live has a serious problem. By all appearances, Barton County, a rural area that”s almost precisely the geographical center of Kansas, is a nice place to live. It”s population isn”t quite 30,000, and the people who live here are, in many ways, hardworking and kindhearted. This county, driven by agriculture and oil, offers quite a bit for the people who live here. The county enjoys a small zoo, a number of restaurants, a local water park, and, perhaps, the pièce de résistance: a 24-hour Walmart Supercenter! Woo-hoo! When digging beneath the surface of
October 15, 2016
American Christians, You Might Need to Start Living Like Missionaries
By Amy Medina “I”m moving to Canada.” Personally, Canada would be way too cold for me, but I understand the sentiment some have expressed. However, instead of fleeing for the hills””or tundra””maybe it”s time for American Christians to start living like missionaries in their own country. Before you get offended, let me assure you I am in no way belittling the millions of American Christians who are already living out gospel-centered lives in their communities. As you learned in Sunday school when you were 5, we all are missionaries. But I”m not talking about living as a proclaimer of the
September 19, 2016
Why I Quit Being a Pastor to Train Elephants
By Brian Mavis I”m calling on the church, government, arts, and business to work together for the sake of kids. “Our greatest dignity as creatures is not in initiative but in response.” “”C. S. Lewis “For we are God”s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” “”Paul, in Ephesians 2:10 It”s been a great 20-plus years, but God has called me to a new challenge””training elephants. People are pretty pumped about it, but allow me to tell you the backstory before I get to the elephants. My Wife, Orphans,
January 18, 2016
Finding Favour
By Justin Horey Kirk Bolen likes to run marathons. It”s a good thing he does, because his family”s adoption journey lasted four years and required more than 15,000 miles of international travel. Kirk and his wife, Amanda, didn”t plan to adopt. Kirk is a worship leader at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland, and the couple has two biological sons: Asher, 7, and Eamon, 4. Around the time their second son was born, Kirk went to Uganda on a short-term mission trip with World Vision. While there, he took note of all the needy children he saw. Kirk recalls, “Everywhere we went,
January 17, 2016
10 Ways to Support Orphans Without Adopting
By Danielle Hance We have all seen the dismal images of bellies bloated by malnourishment. We have cried at pictures of shoeless children and children who are smaller than healthy children half their age. According to UNICEF, there are more than 150 million orphans worldwide. What can we do to make a dent in such a large number? Some people respond by adopting an orphan. While that is a noble calling, not everyone can do this. But most of us can live out the call “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Here are 10 ways
January 16, 2016
Thanks to the Parents Who Chose Me
By Dick Alexander From my earliest memories, I”ve known I was adopted, and I”ve always been grateful. When I was turning a year old, the doctor who delivered me, and who also was my adoptive family”s doctor, told my mother-to-be that he knew of a baby in foster care needing a permanent home. Otherwise the child would likely be sent to an orphanage. My father-to-be was 41 at the time, and Mom was 37″”both considered old to be starting a family back in that day. When I was old enough to understand, Mom told me with a laugh how the adoption
January 15, 2016
Faithful Families of the Fatherless
By Justin Horey Hundreds of thousands of children in America are living away from their parents, desperately in need of a family to keep and care for them. Many Christians have seen the need. Here are some of their stories. Alone and afraid, seated on a chair in the unwelcoming waiting room of a government office, holding a small plastic bag filled with a few personal belongings (or, worse, holding nothing at all). This is not the picture of an international refugee; this is how life in America”s foster system begins for thousands of children every year. Tom and Peggy
November 7, 2015
November Ministry Ideas
By Michael C. Mack November 21: National Adoption Day. Held the Saturday before Thanksgiving in all 50 states. On this day a number of courts and communities work together to finalize the adoptions of thousands of children in foster care. Ideas: Work with agencies in your community to support adoptions. Plan with adoptive parents in your church to advocate for adoption in your community. Plan your weekend services around adoption, inviting adoptive families from the community. Speak about God adopting Christians as his children (Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5) in your sermon or Sunday school lessons. November 27: Black Friday.
August 30, 2013
Changing Who Waits
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27, English Standard Version). By Chris Barras I”ve read James 1:27 many times, and I”ve taught it on it a few occasions. I”ve always found it a difficult text to apply. James says we should care for widows and orphans, but in a young church like the one I serve, I just don”t know any widows. I”m not sure I know any orphans, either. And I don”t think I”m the only
