SUMMIT VI

Last week, I attended a conference in Eden Prairie called SUMMIT VI. It was put on by an organization called the Christian Alliance for Orphans. It takes place once a year in different parts of the country and I thought I should check it out while it was in the Twin Cities. Who knows where it will be next year? I might not have another chance. It was such a good decision to go. This year was the 6th consecutive year of the conference. There were 38 registrations at their first conference while this year, the number was well over 1000. (I thought I heard 1300)! It was exciting to hear that so many people are passionate and/or at least interested in the plight of the millions of orphans around the world. It is a HUGE, HUGE problem in our world and many people are making an effort to do something about it. The church should be at the forefront of this crisis and more and more, I believe that Christians are waking up to the fact that we need to do something about it. The focus of this particular conference was to ignite and equip Christians for adoption, foster care and global orphan ministry. There were many workshops of interest ranging from how kids and businesses can help the orphan, to adoption and foster care issues, to current legislation issues, etc...) I do not believe that everyone is called to adopt or take in orphaned children. But I do believe that EVERYONE should be doing something to help the 143,000,000 children who do not have a family. I believe that everything about God's love is grounded in the idea of adoption. It seems pretty clear to me that God wants us to take care of widows and orphans of the world. I simply believe the God commands us to do it.

On Thursday night, Mary Beth Chapman and Steven Curtis Chapman were the guest presenters. Steven Curtis sang and Mary Beth talked about their journey of adopting three Chinese girls and the devastation resulting from the accident that killed their youngest daughter. I was very proud of Mary Beth. She has obviously been through the fire and would no doubt rather be sitting at home away from all the attention. She is not a polished speaker by any means, but she spoke from her heart. She understands that her voice and honesty can help the cause of many, many orphans and orphan care-givers. She is a very courageous woman. It was sweet to see how supportive her husband was.

Some things that I learned...

The number of children in the world that have lost their mother or father, are parentless, or have been abandoned...now exceeds 143 million. This staggering number is almost equivalent to one-half of the total population of the United States.

Out of the 143 million orphaned children, only 1% will ever have a family.

Only 5% of children who go into foster care graduate from college. Wow!

I was introduced to Karyn B. Purvis Ph.D. an expert in the area of orphaned and wounded children. Look her up. She is excellent.

I have access to a number of great resources that I wasn't aware of. One of my favorite workshop sessions was on Supporting Families in the Post-Placement Journey. Very interesting and very helpful. These websites looked most promising to me. I plan on taking some time to look more into them...

*www.empoweredtoconnect.org
*www.tapestryministry.org
*www.kidscaring4kids.org
*www.adoptivedads.org (this one is for Allen!)

Another thing worth mentioning about this conference was the chance to connect with other adoptive parents. We are a bit of a rare breed and it was fun to have so many like-minded people together. Lots to talk about!

Lastly, the MOST EXCITING THING happened at one of my workshop sessions. As I was getting ready to leave for the next breakout session, I heard (right behind me) "Hi, I'm Mary Beth Chapman."...followed by "Hi, I'm Steven Curtis Chapman." They weren't talking to me, but they were in the row right behind me!!! I am embarrassed to say that my heart started to pound and I was paralyzed. Should I turn around and introduce myself??? or just leave them alone??? Should I even look??? Because if I look, they will know that I am gawking!!! Meanwhile, they were making small talk with the people in their row. I knew that I needed to make a move because my chance was going to be gone very soon. So...I (very naturally) picked up my stuff, put on my jacket (I don't know why, because I wasn't going outside!!) and ever so SMOOTHLY, turned around to take a little look-see. There they were! There was NO way I could say anything. I smiled and turned toward the door. My heart was still pounding! Pathetic. Without being too obvious, I must admit that I glanced their way a few times as I SLOWLY left the room. Subtle stalking at it's best. I have always wanted to meet this couple. I know that they are just regular people like Allen and me... but somehow, their fame makes them unreachable. Well, that was my moment. My most exciting moment for the week.

I will consider going to this conference next year. If you are interested at all in this ministry, or the conference, google Christian Alliance for Orphans. You'll probably find some interesting things...