August 13, 2024 • 47 mins
Broadcasting Love: The Impact of Foster Care Ministry
Welcome to Broadcast His Love, the podcast where we explore what life looks like when we decrease our name and increase God's name. In this inspiring episode, host Rikki welcomes Amy Floyd, volunteer leader of the Foster and Adoptive Ministry at First Baptist Church of Pensacola. Amy shares her heartfelt journey from pharmaceutical sales to leading a transformative foster care ministry.
Amy dives into the powerful impact of Royal Family Kids Camp, an international program dedicated to providing foster children with a unique camp experience. Hear touching stories of children finding joy, connection, and hope through this ministry. Amy also discusses the importance of wraparound support for foster families and the many ways we can all contribute without becoming foster parents ourselves.
Discover how small acts of love and support can make a significant difference in the lives of foster children and their caregivers. Amy's passion and dedication are a testament to the power of showing up and being part of God's supply chain. Tune in for an uplifting conversation that will inspire you to broadcast His love in your community.
Royal Family Kids Camp: https://www.forthechildren.org/about-us/camps
Wrap Around Support: https://nwi.pdx.edu/wraparound-basics/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey y'all, this is Ginger DeVries, guest number 56 of the podcast encouraging
you today to use your position to broadcast God's love.
God's word says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
We pray this episode is an encouragement
(00:22):
to you to go out and use your position to broadcast His Love.
From Scotto Albritton Studios, here's your host, Rikki. Hey,
everyone, and welcome to Broadcast His Love.
This is a podcast where we talk about what life looks like when we decrease
our name and increase God's name, because it's all about Jesus living life on purpose with Him.
(00:45):
And I don't know if you forgot, but God is with you, and He's in all things. He's with you right now.
It's something that we We can easily forget when we get into rushing,
busyness, agendas, things to do.
But even at the grocery store, even in the car, even while parenting our lovely
children, God is in all things, okay?
(01:08):
He's with you right now. Crank up the worship music after this.
We always want you to continue the worship in whatever you're doing.
But you're going to get a real treat today. and you're gonna learn a lot about
foster care ministries here in Pensacola through First Baptist Church of Pensacola.
Amy Floyd is here. She's a volunteer leader of the Foster and Adoptive Ministry
(01:31):
at First Baptist of Pensacola.
Hey, Amy. Hey, baby. Thanks for having me. I love you. I love your sweet voice. Oh, goodness.
Well, I'm glad you do. I mean, do you just love people so much?
I'm definitely a people person, for sure. I mean, I love to be around people.
I love to encourage people. And I love to connect people.
(01:52):
Yes. So yeah, I'm so thankful that I get to do all those things through this foster ministry.
And you're an Auburn fan. Oh, diehard Auburn fan.
So, okay, I've known Amy for the last couple months through Erica Carr.
Thank you, Erica Carr. Hey, Erica. Like, love you.
And your voice and your sincerity and your sweetness is like a breath of fresh air.
(02:16):
I love it. Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you so much.
You're welcome. I appreciate that. You're very cheerful too.
And I love that about you.
I try. Today I'm trying because so our kids, my kids are here and they're out
of school for a couple of weeks.
And I, we prayed before this podcast that God would make them be silent.
(02:38):
So if you do hear a kid here or there, we're sorry. But we did pray about it beforehand.
Okay, so I really want to dive in to children. Like, why children?
Because foster care ministry is, from every person I've spoken to,
like, you have to be really passionate about children and, like,
(03:00):
loving children through God's love.
Like not your own love because you burn out, but like through the love of Christ
to children, the next generation, it has to be something you're really passionate about.
So how did God first spark this in you to want to work with children?
So I did pharmaceutical sales for my whole career, and I was in our small group on a Sunday.
(03:23):
And Lauren Fain, who is a therapist, I would say play therapist,
but she does other aspects of that as well.
And she came into our small group on Sunday and told us about a camp that she
wanted to host for children in foster care.
And it's called Royal Family Kids Camp. And I was like, well,
(03:43):
I don't think I have any skills for that.
I mean, I had never even thought about fostering. It was not something in my
wheelhouse, but I'm pretty good at organizing.
And so I thought, well, maybe I could bring my skill to that.
And I was like, well, I'll take vacation.
I don't really We know about all the things. It's probably not for me,
but it would never go away.
I kept having that feeling in my gut, like, well, maybe I should.
(04:06):
Well, there's no reason. I have plenty of vacation. I can do these things.
So the day before we had to turn in our applications to go to training for Royal
Family Kids Camp, I stopped by her mom's house. She lives on Cervantes.
It was really convenient.
And I filled it all out, and the rest was history. So that was in 2013,
and we went to training in North Alabama, and we had to shadow another camp.
(04:31):
So Royal Family Kids Camp is an international program that a children's minister,
youth minister maybe, in California, he and his wife developed because he took...
Children to summer camp one year, and I guess they had a big group of foster
children in their church.
And he noticed that the kids that were in foster care were like,
(04:52):
oh, yeah, my dad did this. And oh, yeah, we went on this vacation.
And he knew none of those were true. He knew that their dad was not present,
that they were in foster care, but they were trying to keep up with the rest
of the kids who are from traditional families.
And he said, next year, we're going to do it different.
And we're going to take kids that are in foster care to their own camp where
they can experience things for the first time with children who have experienced the same thing.
(05:16):
I think that for those of us who were raised with our family,
even if it was, you know, by an aunt or a single parent, we still had that family connection.
And for these children, I think that people would say probably the number one
trauma for a child is to be removed from their family. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. Regardless of if it was a family that didn't take care of them well,
(05:38):
if they hurt them or did things, they still want to be with their families.
So when Wayne took these children to camp and they were told that they were
all in foster care, it was so freeing for them. They were able to just relax.
And not that we focus on that, like we don't line them up and say,
tell us your story of removal or anything like that.
But just the fact that they know that they've all had that experience and they
(06:03):
have that in common and they don't have to act like there's something that they're not.
In fact, it was really interesting. Probably five years ago,
we had the kids come in on a Monday morning, and their foster parents bring
them, and we register and get all their medicines.
And we have volunteers down in the gym to keep eyes on them. Yeah.
And one of our volunteers was down there, and they were all playing.
(06:25):
And another little girl came down, and she ran straight across the gym to another little girl.
And this volunteer thought maybe they were siblings. We do have children that
don't live in the same home and we've had children that haven't seen their siblings
in a year, but they come to camp and they get to experience that.
They get to see each other?
Yeah, because they both get to come to camp even though. Oh my goodness,
so they get reunified at camp. For the week.
(06:46):
Yes, for the week. Oh my goodness. It's really sweet. Sometimes it's challenging.
Amy. I know, but because they haven't seen each other. I know, that's huge.
But so we were like, oh my goodness. So what Brenda found out was that they
were not siblings but they had both been removed the same night.
Three in the morning. A lot of times their removals happen at night,
(07:08):
which makes it even more traumatic.
But they had been like in the crisis stabilization area at the same time and
they hadn't seen each other since.
They both went different ways that night, but they were able to see each other
there. It was really cool.
I mean, it's a big lift, but it's a huge need.
Yeah. And it's really been cool to see how our team, so it's been 10 years.
(07:31):
So we just went and And shadowed was a bunch of training.
And we shadowed this camp that had been in existence for a while.
And then we came back and had our first camp. I think we had about 30 campers,
maybe 32, probably about that many volunteers as well.
And 10 years later, this past year, this past summer, we had 48 campers and about 65 volunteers.
(07:58):
Oh, my goodness.
I know. No. So for those of y'all that are familiar with like kids camp through
church, you know, you might take 30 kids and about six volunteers,
not for royal family kids.
It's their policy is that you have two children for every adult.
And so that we probably, and actually this year was the first year that we had
(08:18):
some one-on-ones, some children that we knew were going to need some additional attention.
And we had one-on-one. We also have an RN that goes with us.
So many of these children take medication.
We have, you know, people that do drama, people that do art.
We have grandparents because it's a family model.
So we have grandparents and aunts and uncles.
(08:39):
So it really is super cool. We have a therapist that goes, that's her job professionally,
you know, when she's not at camp, but also at camp.
And that's there for the children as well as the volunteers,
because some of the things that we see and hear are really hard.
And, you know, I feel like sometimes when we talk about these things,
like with other people, just trying to make them aware of the foster system
(09:02):
and the scars that go with these children because of the abuse that they've
been through. It almost seems like.
Were like embellishing. Because like, how could that be? How could somebody
do that? Yeah. How could that be?
Especially someone who God put on this earth to take care of you.
Yeah. And I think that's probably the hard thing. One thing that Lauren told
(09:23):
me was that like children who live like in a war-torn country,
when there's gunshots, there's bombs, there's everything, and that's super traumatic for them.
But typically their mom or their dad or their aunt or their siblings are they're
holding them in a protective manner, trying to protect them.
With child abuse and all the things that go on with that, the people that should
(09:46):
be protecting you are actually the ones either harming you or allowing you to be harmed.
And that's just, I know you think about that. I think about safety,
think about security and growing up in somewhere where you're like,
God, comfort me. God, protect me. God, help me.
They're really young. So our kids are seven to 11.
And I think that hope is really super important.
(10:09):
And it's also sometimes the only thing they do have.
And one thing about camp, and we've branched out, camp is where we started,
but we branched out so much. And I'll talk to you about that.
But yeah, one thing that's really cool about camp is for some of these children,
it's the first time, most of them are in good foster homes.
I will say that it's before they were removed.
So I don't want, I mean, foster care does have some, some dark sides as well.
(10:32):
But when we refer to it, mostly it's about before they were removed.
And, you know, we think, oh, my gosh, all the adults in their lives have not
done well by them. They've done harmful things.
And I also want to say, because we forget this, is it's not only the bad things
that have happened to children that are in foster care because they've been
(10:53):
removed from a situation, but it's also they missed out on all the good things.
You know, and to me, that's almost, I mean, it's up there.
And we can't forget that we have kids every single year at camp that have never
had a birthday party. Wow.
Nine years old. They don't know when their birthday is. It's never been celebrated.
I think one thing when the children leave camp and go back home,
(11:13):
and like I said, they're going to a foster home.
And we know that when they leave, regardless of what they're going home to and
regardless of what's happened to them, they had a week where they were around
loving and caring adults that love Jesus.
And, you know, they have to care about them. Yeah. And their aunts and uncles.
And then they look forward to it the next year. Absolutely.
They're all sad when they graduate. Yeah. And it really is super cool.
(11:36):
And one thing that we do that I think is so cool is we have a photographer.
Who is amazing. And throughout the week, she takes pictures.
And we have to be really careful because you can't have other kids in the pictures,
you know, for the safety of them.
But they go home with a photo album that has about 25 pictures of them catching
a fish or the birthday party.
(11:56):
And they love it. I mean, a lot of people nowadays don't have pictures,
but a lot of these kids have never had pictures of themselves.
And if they have, they didn't get to the next house.
But probably three or four years ago, I had a foster mom call me and probably
like in March and she said, Hey, I have a new little girl and she just got here
yesterday and she came with her bag of clothes.
(12:18):
She didn't have her glasses. She didn't have any of her school stuff,
but she had her RFK photo album.
And she said, can I please go back to camp? So, I mean, she had lost so many
things, but she had that.
And we've gone to other houses and homes and like for kids that couldn't come
for whatever reason the next year of camp.
(12:38):
And And they always come out with their photo albums that they had.
And for them to be able to keep up with those, some of these children move three
or four or five or six times a year. Wow. A year.
Yeah. To keep up with that item shows you how special it is.
Yeah. And you wouldn't think that a photo, you know, would be something that
(13:00):
somebody would treasure.
But like, that is something that they treasure.
You know, I mean, think of like what we treasure compared to what this child is treasuring.
Childlike faith is what just keeps coming back into my head.
And it's Matthew 18, verses two through four.
It says, he called a little child to him and placed the child among them.
(13:22):
And he said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Heaven therefore whoever takes the lowly position
of this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven does that verse ever flash up
for you i do think that you know obviously when jesus was on earth he treasured
(13:43):
the children their innocence and their belief and that they weren't tainted
in their views and i think that that is so important and i do think that you
know these These children have been through so much.
And one thing that we, and they do grow up, and then they become adults in our society.
And we have a really active prison ministry at our church as well.
(14:06):
And so I always say to them, RFK is trying to put the prison ministry out of business.
Because about, I don't know if the stat is still the same, but several years
ago, the The statistic was that 90% of people on death row went through the
foster system and about 70% of people incarcerated went through the foster system. What?
(14:28):
It's astounding, isn't it? And then majority of them don't go to college.
A lot of them that age out are pregnant within less than a year.
I mean, the statistics. 90% death row?
That's what it was. Oh my goodness. I need to check that again, but that's what it was.
It doesn't surprise me though, now that I've been in it for so long.
John and I, my husband, always say to each other, like when we hear the news
(14:52):
of a 16-year-old, you know, that was involved in a really bad crime.
Yeah. And it used to shock us. And now we're not shocked at all because we have
seen what these children have been through.
And we know that, you know, a lot of these children are in homes that they're
seeing exposed to a lot of things.
(15:13):
And so we're not surprised anymore. We're saddened, but it doesn't surprise us anymore.
And if you could tackle on a 16-year-old as a convicted felon,
you're like, oh, no, like we know these homes and where they've grown up.
And it's just really sad to see. Scambia County is just inundated.
Ricky, our families are falling apart. I mean, really?
(15:36):
Yes. It's just amazing that our families are falling apart and that's the devil's work.
And he knows that if he can get to our family and disrupt our families. Yeah. He has a chance.
And like raising kids is hard. It's hard. And then so I have a girlfriend who
hurt both of her kids. Well, one's graduating. It's the last one.
(15:58):
This was like two years ago. And I'm like, man, my marriage just feels like stressed out.
She looks at me like didn't smile, didn't nothing. She's just like, it's the children.
And like the most sincere, but just like don't give yourself such a hard time. Like it is hard.
(16:18):
First of all, it's hard to just like do the monthly stuff, you know,
the house, the cars, whatever.
But like, add children on it who you want to be loving, caring,
like good members of society.
That brings a lot of stress on. And so, I mean, first of all,
it's expensive to live here.
(16:39):
You know, so when I hear the families here are like not doing well,
I'm just like, I don't know if it's going to get better. You know, so like, what do we do?
What do we do You, as a Christian generation who love the Lord and want what's
best for, like that scripture said,
(17:00):
for the lowly, you know, lowly position of this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Like, what do we do?
So I know the verse in James where it talks about caring for orphans and widows,
that's probably the one that's the most often recited for orphan care.
And they don't call it orphans or orphanage anymore. They're children in care.
(17:21):
I think that one thing we can do is show up.
Yeah. You know, I think that a lot of people as Christians are like,
yes, I believe in God. Yes, I believe he came and died for our sins.
And we sit in the pew on Sundays and we go home and go back to work.
Yeah. And I think that we need to show up for these families.
And if you were to ask me, do I see myself being a foster parent?
(17:43):
I would say probably not.
Yeah. And I think that that is one thing that we need to be really careful of.
And I think we should raise awareness.
There are so many ways to help foster children and foster families.
Without fostering. Okay, tell us more. Yes. So what we provide through our LEAF
ministry, Loving and Empowering Adoptive and Foster Families, is wraparound support.
(18:05):
And I think the ticket is we are losing foster families for a number of reasons.
And so we might not be able to foster, but we can provide support to the ones
that are currently fostering to keep them fostering. Okay.
So they don't get discouraged. They don't get overwhelmed. They don't get burned out.
Yeah, we definitely don't want that. No. And that's what our foster ministry does.
(18:26):
And actually it came about, we had a foster ministry that was more like a closet,
which actually is not like my love. I didn't like clothes.
We're like, but it kind of went away. And then through COVID,
we couldn't do camp that year.
And so we're like, well, let's just do a drive-through. Well,
so we had the families come and drive through, but through that,
(18:46):
we were made aware of people needing food and people needing all these things
that we really had not heard of.
I mean, we should have known, but we hadn't really heard the need.
And it just really rebirthed our foster ministry.
So through wraparound support, you can make a meal, you can send a card, you can bring diapers.
(19:08):
We go through a national platform called Care Portal.
And if anybody's interested in that. We can get that information to them.
It's through churches and caseworkers, Hope Florida.
There's other ways that these people put in requests.
They don't have to just be foster or adoptive families that can be birth families.
(19:29):
There's some high risk families out there that really need our help.
And if we can help them, maybe their children will stay out of foster care.
Maybe their family will stay intact.
Yeah. Because we kind of have focused on that after the fact,
which is super important.
But if we could do something to help the families ahead of time.
But the request goes something like.
Non-relative or a relative. So either like an aunt or an uncle or school teacher
(19:52):
where I'm getting ready to drop off some stuff right now to a school teacher
and her husband who took in four children.
That was the only connection. And it was like overnight.
So we're helping them with school uniforms.
We've, one of the little boys had never had a birthday party.
So we were able, we have birthday buddies.
We were able to get a birthday cake, balloons, napkins, and a $25 gift card
(20:12):
from Target and Walmart and a card. And the family can give it to them from them.
It's But I do think it's important for these children and our foster parents.
That's really what they need. They need a network. The children need to see.
I always tell the story that when my kids were little, like history is not my thing.
So if the history project came up, I'd send them down the street to Wanda,
(20:32):
who was better at that. Yeah. These kids don't have that.
And they've moved so much that they don't even have a network.
We can break that chain somehow and show them if one, if just one can break
the chain in their family. Yeah. And somehow get out.
And they can. you know, through God's grace and all the healing that he does.
But I think that wraparound support is really what we need to do.
(20:56):
Of course, we need foster parents. And don't automatically think when people
mention foster care, they actually mean you being a foster parent.
I mean, if you want to do that, that's really awesome. But there's so many ways you can provide.
So we were surprised with a grant from Hope Florida in May, I think.
And one thing that, so we have, you know, we have a fund and people donate to
(21:18):
and sometimes cash, sometimes it's diapers, beds, bedding, all those things
like, you know, Ricky, every week. I mean, I could pull up my phone right now
and show you all the requests.
I mean, there's so many teenage teenagers that need clothes, groceries.
I mean, so many things.
But what we're hoping to do with this year.
Money that we got unexpectedly is extracurricular things, because I really,
(21:44):
really feel led to do that.
I feel like that we're doing a fairly good job of meeting the needs of these
families that are in crisis.
I mean, that's really the only way to say it. And Jesus is the only answer for that.
But we're good. We've gotten pretty good. I mean, we're not perfect,
but we kind of know what to do there. And we kind of have the assets to do that.
But I have been really thinking about this for a a couple of months since we got the grant.
(22:08):
And I was listening to something recently about Simone Biles.
And I knew Simone Biles had been through the foster system. Really?
Yes, I knew that part. So from three to six, she was in the foster system and
her grandparents were intermittently involved.
And then they ended up adopting her and her two siblings, I believe.
(22:30):
I think that's correct. her for sure.
And she, I don't know if it was right when she was getting out of foster care
or while she was in foster care, but she visited a gym and she was like,
Hey, maybe this is something I want to do at six.
So I've been thinking about, we've got to provide extracurricular opportunities for our children.
(22:50):
And then when I was like, okay, thank you, God. Like I love a burning bush.
Like, cause I really did the Olympics.
Yes. Yes. Yes. If you know me, you know, I love a burning bush.
Like when I'm not sure what to do, like after a while, I'm like,
okay, can you just like put a burning bush out there? God, I feel like I really need a sign.
And so I was like, oh my goodness.
That's a beautiful prayer, by the way.
Lord, show me your burning bush, like light it up, God, and speak to me,
(23:15):
you know, whatever it is, your will, your way, your bush, like light it up and
show it to me. That is a really powerful prayer.
And he's like, it sounds like he delivers every time. Yeah, that's good.
And I think we, you know, everybody laughs and teases, like,
be careful when you pray, Lord, break your heart for what breaks your heart,
break my heart for what breaks yours, because you got to be prepared.
(23:35):
You know, because I mean, this definitely breaks his heart, seeing our families
in such crisis, We know it breaks his heart, but we were able to,
through our team of about 50 people that are in our church and outside of our
church, this summer we had one of our RFK kids,
Royal Family Kids campers that had graduated, and she was very sad.
And she's the oldest of seven, living with her grandparents.
(23:57):
All of them unexpectedly.
The grandparents had just retired two weeks before they got the call,
your children, your grandchildren are being removed.
Can you take all seven of them? Yeah, so She was really sad that the the next
three older kids were going and she was oh,
I can't miss amy I can't believe that i'm not going to be able to go to camp
She loves to sing and dance and she's really talented in that way So we found
(24:20):
out about performing arts camp.
We put our money together and she went and It's life-changing like I can already
tell that it's when I called her.
I said, how is it going on the first miss amy? I love it.
Yeah, and her grandmother just said she's like a new person because what happens
with a lot of these children Especially the older ones is they become parentified
(24:41):
And because their parents are no show or unable To care for them or abusive.
They usually are the ones that take care of their siblings And
so they're used to calling the shots They have
a plan they they do a lot of the things we've had children in camp
who paid the bills who got the kids On the bus who did all the
things and they're nine you know so imagine about that
(25:02):
goodness so she kind of had that and while that
while now that they are in a really safe home i mean that's kind of that's not
if i'm in a home so it's a little you know chaotic but now the grandparents
are calling the shots they're very well trained capable parents they raised
other adult children and so that's really hard for the older children
(25:25):
because they, they're like, no, no, I'm the boss.
And they're like, no, no, no, the grand, the grandparent, you don't have to be anymore.
You don't have to be, but that's hard for them to let go of that.
Like a lot of times at camp, they have to come and make sure their,
their little siblings are safe in their beds and all the things that you wouldn't think that.
I mean, a lot of times siblings are like, I'm glad I don't have to see him for
a week. You know, I need a break.
(25:46):
I need a break. And they do need a break. They just have not,
they can't break that, that responsibility.
Yeah. You can imagine like at eight or nine or whatever, ever. So.
I just think, you know, like I said, wraparound support is where it's at.
If you want to be a foster parent, there's respite care. There's many ways.
But for us, we feel like we are meeting the needs through emergent care,
(26:09):
you know, just like beds and stuff.
But then we're really excited about being able to provide, you know,
basketball camp, performing arts camp. I believe God gave you that extracurricular activities idea.
Oh, definitely. We had been thinking, I mean, I had been thinking about how
can we do this? And then we just got this check.
Like, I was like, oh, my goodness, we didn't even know. That's so God.
(26:30):
It's so God. Yeah. And so I'm really excited about how we can do it.
I've talked to several families and some of them have ideas or one of them wants
to do some kind of little cooking class.
And I really think that, you know, not only is it good for them,
it builds their self-esteem, it gives them an opportunity to explore things,
but it also gives them an opportunity to be with other peers who are very different
(26:57):
than them. Yeah. And they get very, yeah.
And so they get to hear about different things and yeah.
And sometimes they get invited over to a friend's house that they would have
never been invited over to.
And a lot of children have never, like one of our ones that the granddad just
took in five, she had, she's 11.
She had never had a friend over.
(27:18):
Can you imagine? I can't. 11. Like that's what you do.
You have your little friends over. That's one of the ones that,
you know, the good things that they didn't get to experience.
And so I'm really, really excited about that.
We've met with like a little group from not just our church,
but other churches trying to navigate what that looks like. Yeah.
But I know that's going to be life changing. I was talking to one of the caregivers
(27:39):
yesterday about this, and she said, Amy, I took one of our.
Boys he's 12 to the airport to pick
someone up he had never been to the airport oh it's
right here right here she said we didn't even get out of the car he just could
not believe that there was a thing as an airport oh my goodness that's wild
and it's because and it's in the city like the city's not big yeah it's because
(28:02):
they just don't do things like that and i know one of the first couple years
at camp we thought oh this will be great we'll have a little baseball camp for the boys.
And we had some kids from UWF baseball team come over. Which would be huge.
Which would be huge and fun. Yeah. But they almost all died because none of them could catch.
None of them could run. I mean, it was like, oh my gosh, we're going to have
a broken nose. I know. Yeah. Especially with boys.
(28:25):
Yeah. Because, well, nobody had spent time with them. A lot of it really does take a village.
And that's one thing that we're working hard to be is the village for these these families.
And I know you've asked me about kind of what verses kind of drive me.
So one of my favorites, and I've led a Bible study for probably about 10 years, women's Bible study.
(28:47):
And I'll just say I was saved as a little girl, probably seven or eight.
I don't even remember. I know I should.
But it wasn't until someone asked me, a friend asked me to lead this Bible study.
It's been more than 10 years.
And I remember the first thing I thought, there's no way I can't pray out loud.
But that changed my life forever. That's really where, like,
(29:08):
I don't have a story where I went down the wrong road.
I mean, I'm not perfect, but I didn't come back from something.
But that changed my life and that plugged me in and that got me involved in
other things. And I really think as Christians.
And we're put on this earth for that. You know, we're not put on the earth just to go to church.
So 2 Corinthians 1 through 4, and it's shown up in many of the Bible studies that I've led.
(29:31):
And it's basically, He comes alongside us during hard times.
And the next thing you know, and some of the translations say that the next
thing you know, you're walking beside someone else through a hard time.
And I just love that. I mean, I think that that is so important.
And maybe that's why we go through struggles. Maybe that's why we've had hard
times, so that we can be sympathetic and empathetic and supportive of others
(29:56):
as they go through hard times, which might be very different than yours. Yeah, yeah.
I really do like that. And another one is, I mean, I put this on a lot of our
emails that we send out to our team, and that's John 1335.
And others will know we are His disciples by the love we have for others.
And I think that's important, too.
And, you know, there's so many people, I think, can wonder, like, why are you doing this?
(30:21):
Like, why are you showing up? Why are you coming? And it's because we love Jesus.
Yeah. Okay. That is such a big deal, y'all, because Christians have a bad rap
for like things that Christianity is not about, you know?
And like, if you want to know if somebody's a believer, watch how they love others.
Because it's because we've been loved so much by God and have had so much grace,
(30:46):
oh my goodness, and love and compassion and comfort,
like what you were mentioning, comfort from God, that we can't help but send
that out to others because of what we've received.
What we've downloaded from God is what we're putting back out there.
And that's not something we have to strive for. It's just, I mean,
(31:06):
loving one another because God loved us, like, you know, grabbed you at seven
years old and said, hey, I love you. I made you, Amy.
I think that's really beautiful because I was like, man, maybe you'll come in
with a verse about like fostering, you know, orphans and widows kind of thing.
But I just think it's really beautiful how you went to the God of all comfort.
(31:28):
Oh, yes, that's it. And really, we're called to help others and comfort others
and show up. I really think that's one of the big things that as Christians we can do is just show up.
Do we know how to do everything when we show up? No. And we're going to be perfect? No.
But when we show up for others, they notice.
(31:48):
They do. And that's what they need us to do. Some of these families,
many of our kinship caregivers are so in the weeds, they can't even raise their
hand to say they need help.
They don't even know how much help they need. And, you know,
we have had so many times where we've brought beds and all the diapers and all
the things and then like we'll check on them.
We've gotten a lot better about checking on them and they're go,
(32:10):
oh, my gosh, we don't even have underwear.
Well, they were so in the weeds. I didn't even, you know, I mean,
they're just kind of like going through the motions. Yeah. And surviving sounds like.
Yep. And so many of these children are children that come from hard places and
their behaviors show it.
And so you can imagine in bringing in four children.
And, you know, another thing that we kind of I don't want to say joke about.
(32:33):
That's not really the right word, but we do comment on is, you know,
you've got your sweet little family, Rikki and your two little boys and Riley.
Y'all have a great little family. And you're like, oh, well,
we have another little like a two-year-old that has all the things.
He's in foster care. He needs a home. And you're like, oh, okay.
Well, everybody, maybe even including you, think, well, we'll just bring him
(32:54):
in to our little house and we're going to shut the door and we're going to give
him his Legos. Yeah. And we're going to have video games to play with.
Not the kids. He's going to be perfect. Perfect. And what happens is that little
two-year-old wrecks your home.
Oh, yeah. Because they're like, this is great.
Well, they're just, they bring all those behaviors with them. Yes.
That a sweet home with loving, caring Christians does not change what all they've been through.
(33:18):
It doesn't. So while you think, oh, this is great. Yeah. It's like, oh, no.
What happened to our house? But see, that's the whole love one another thing. Absolutely.
And like, that's the thing is like, being a Christian is hard.
Like, if you aren't a believer, and you're listening to this,
and you're listening to like foster care, and you you have compassion,
(33:41):
you have a heart and you want to like help kids.
Loving one another is the hardest part, because it is challenging when someone
doesn't do what you want them to do or act the way you want them to act,
you know. But that's the whole dying to self.
Absolutely. That we have to do every day. But even in the hard,
(34:03):
even in the ministry, even in the daily stuff that just comes up in ministry
and in life, it goes back to loving one another.
Absolutely. And that's so important. And honestly, sometimes we've done deliveries
and the families have been not
as excited as I thought they would be about what we were bringing. Yeah.
(34:24):
And so but I've said to myself, it's it's they're just overwhelmed.
It's not that they don't appreciate what we're doing. It's they're completely overwhelmed.
And, you know, I really 100 percent believe that they are overwhelmed.
One of my friends who is a foster parent who I believe, you know. Yeah.
Said that on average, one foster child has 14 appointments per month.
(34:48):
OK, so I've heard this about the appointments thing. Yeah.
Which is another. How do you do that? How would you take your two sweet babies
to 14, 28 appointments in one month?
Oh, yeah. And they're all like mandatory, I think. Pretty much.
Yeah. You know, it's caseworkers, parents, siblings.
Phone calls. Doctor. I mean, it's all the things. Yeah. 14. And some of our
(35:10):
families, a lot of our families have five, six, seven kids.
And they're trying to work. Yeah. And they have birth children themselves.
Yeah. And it's a lot. So as wraparound support, Christ followers,
we can, you know, try to help with some of those things. There's training that's involved.
If you would like to babysit, we do a program called Ignite,
(35:31):
which kind of came to me during one of our Bible studies.
We've been trying to think of what could be the name. It's a tutoring program
that we also mentor and we mentor the family as well.
So many of our kids are so far behind in school. We have children that are in
sixth grade that read on a first grade level.
I mean, every time they move schools, they lose six months of their education.
(35:51):
And some of these children move three times a year.
So that's a huge thing. But we were talking in one of my Bible studies and one
of the girls in our class, in our group, I should say, has a young daughter who's like three.
And she said, she, my little girl, loves this little song. We sing it on the
way to Wednesday night service.
(36:13):
And it's about a light bulb dance. And you might know it. But it's this little
light of mine. I'm going to let it. Yeah.
Is it a comic thing where they're just a little light? And I was like,
oh, my gosh, we have been thinking about Ignite and the thing that they had
through Canva or whatever. You probably know those things. I'm not very creative.
It was a light bulb. And I was like, that's it.
(36:33):
Because as they learn, the light bulb comes on.
So as we tutor them, but who's the who's the light of our lives? Jesus. Jesus. OK.
Yes. So I was like, oh, my gosh, that is it. That's it. That's it.
And it is it. We do it. We did it this. We did it September through May.
We're getting ready to kick it off again.
Yeah. We had, I think, 19 students and about probably that many volunteers.
(36:57):
You don't have to be a teacher. But what a way to bless the families.
And every month we gave a family gift. Sometimes it was a gas card.
Sometimes it was pizza gift cards, you know, filet. I mean, yeah, homemade cookies.
So we try to bless the families as well. Well, is there anything else you wanted to share, Amy?
Well, I did want to say we were out of town in Auburn this past weekend,
(37:17):
and we always go to church when we're up there.
And we went to the Church of the Highlands this time.
And the topic, the name of it was Miracles in the Marketplace.
And the speaker was a guest speaker. They had just had like their student motion week or something.
Oh, which was huge. Yes, huge. And he said during, he said it a couple of times
(37:38):
and he said, Christians are God's,
supply chain. And I thought, you know what, we are.
And he went through like a scenario of a coworker talking to her coworker about coming to church.
And actually, it was a personal story to him. He knew the coworker and that
(38:01):
coworker was really sweet.
And she would go out and, you know, the coworker that he was trying to get to
church would go out partying on Saturday nights. And on On Sunday, she was too tired to go.
And on Monday, you know, she would say, I'm so, so sorry.
And she said, that's okay. You know, maybe you can come next Sunday.
It wasn't like hammering her or making her feel bad.
And she finally came and someone at the door was really sweet to welcome her.
(38:23):
The lady that sat next to her in church was really nice.
The person that was leading the small group was obedient to that calling and
actually led the small group because we can all be busy and not have time for those things.
But God put all those people in place, the lady at the door,
the lady in the seat, the co-worker, the small group leader,
(38:45):
all those in place for salvation.
Wow. And I never have. Have you ever thought about us being part of God's supply
chain? I like the visual I'm getting in my brain.
Because it's unity of the spirit through the bond of peace and that we all have
different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. and you.
(39:07):
If we are obedient, we have to be obedient to that nudging.
Yes. To be in that place, in the supply chain. And the thing that you're,
so like God is not burdensome.
And so all these things that you're saying about in the supply chain,
like all the, there was just a door greeter.
There was just somebody with an invitation, the openness, the willingness.
(39:30):
It wasn't burdensome. It was actually really nice.
Oh, yes. Welcoming. Yes. But we all have to be obedient. Radiant.
So I think that when we have nudgings, like when Lauren came and talked about
camp and I couldn't find a reason to not go.
Yeah. You know, I was thinking, well, I mean, I just kept my tummy kept burning.
I was like, I just need to, I just couldn't get rid of it. And I said,
(39:50):
I'm just going to go. I'll figure it out.
And then it changed me. I mean, I really think we've made a huge impact on all
the children. Our team is unbelievable.
65. Yes. Volunteers. And we have CITs that come that are 16 and 17 and sometimes 18-year-olds.
And sometimes the moms will be like, well, can they get service hours for this? And I'm like, yes.
(40:14):
But if that's the only reason why they're coming, they need to go do something
easy. Because camp is hard.
And it's interesting. The first year, you know, we'll see our guys that are
lacrosse players and our pitchers on the baseball team and the outstanding women's,
you know, volunteers that are young. And they're crying on Friday when their little camper leaves.
(40:34):
And they're so changed.
It's just, I mean, one of our friends who doesn't go to First Baptist,
who volunteers, said, and I will never forget this, I have never seen the church
deployed like it is at camp.
And because we're all there for only the kids. They're not our children.
(40:54):
We don't know most of them. It's a really hard week.
It's a huge challenge. and the church is deployed, loving these children and loving each other.
Like the cool thing is, is that's not in a church because we are the church,
you know? The big C church. The big C church.
And I love your church, by the way. They're so sweet to us. Oh, good.
(41:16):
We're going to come back. I think the next week or the next week,
we're going to be at your church recording another episode. Oh, good.
With some kids, some high schoolers. Oh, they're doing a ministry on the beach
and it's like for girls. It's like, it's really awesome.
How about I know some of them? Yeah, I bet. I mean, it's huge too.
Like it's capital C church. Like they're doing this, not just like one church. It's like churches.
(41:39):
Oh my goodness. I love this community. Like what?
A beautiful place to be a Christian.
I love it. And our community needs
us. And, you know, we're focused on our foster and adoptive ministry.
I mean, our church has a bunch of ministries, but like the one that we're talking
about today is our foster and adoptive ministry.
And there's just so many, there's so many things you can do.
(42:02):
You can donate gift cards.
You can, like, we just started a thing, you know, laundry pods.
We'll just take them to some of the big families. I mean, those are expensive. They are.
Laundry detergent. I just picked up a laundry turgid for a friend and it was $15. Oh, yeah.
So think about it. And then they don't have to go shopping for it either.
But meals and birthday buddies and Ignite, our tutoring mentoring program, camp.
(42:26):
There's just so many ways. So don't tell yourself, I can't be a foster parent and say that.
So I can't help in this space because there's lots of work to be done and you
can do it. Yeah, absolutely.
I want to wrap this podcast. We always pray at the very end.
Is there anything else you wanted to share?
I think that's it. I mean, so many things that we can do, but yeah,
(42:48):
that's it. Okay. That was beautiful.
Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for your patience for like my children.
I've edited out so much of what actually went down through a couple breaks through this episode.
So she's like, thank you, Amy. God bless you. I'm so glad that you work in foster
care and my children were here today.
Like this couldn't have been a more perfect person. Oh gosh.
(43:10):
It's all good, sister. Thank you for your supply chain of Christ through you today.
But I'm just going to pray Matthew 18 verse that we talked about a little bit
earlier and just pray that it blesses you to be like little children today.
So let's just pray. Father God, thank you for today.
(43:32):
Decrease us and increase you. And Lord, let your light shine through us in whatever
ministry that you've called us to be a part of, that you've asked us to be a
part of, that you've just put on our hearts to be a part of.
And I just pray for whoever's listening to take the lowly position of a child
and to seek your face, to humble themselves and become like little children.
(43:56):
And I just pray for whoever's listening
if they don't know you To accept you
jesus into their heart as their lord and savior And to
get saved to cut to confess that you are our lord You're you are our savior
and to go to a bible believing church first baptist church of pensacola is great
Always welcome at upper room church And gulf breeze and pensacola beach other
(44:20):
great christian churches here in the area,
but don't be quiet about this Don't be silent about this.
If God put something on your heart, even as a child, and he's bringing that
back up to you here today as your order to just put your faith in Jesus,
do it now and then walk with the Lord.
And we're not going to say that it's going to be easier. It's going to be harder,
but you're not going to be alone and you're going to do it with the Lord.
(44:44):
And he's going to provide, protect and comfort you all the days of your life.
And he's not going to let you fall.
And so Jesus, thank you for Amy. Bless her and her ministry.
And just thank you so much. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.
Hey, this is Dustin, one of the pastors at Grace Bible Church in Sebring, Florida.
Thanks for tuning in to listen to Broadcast His Love with Ricky Van Stewart.
(45:06):
I hope you also consider joining us on our podcast as well.
Our hope is to encourage you, inspire you and compel you towards a closer walk
with Jesus and one another.
You can find us on every platform where podcasts are offered by simply searching
for Grace Bible Church Sebring.
Again, this is Pastor Dustin, and I hope to get to connect with you very soon.
(45:26):
Hey, this is Mark Stockland, pastor and CEO for Haiti Bible Mission in Jeremy, Haiti.
If you'd like to follow along with what we're doing in Jeremy,
Haiti, you can check us out at HaitiBibleMission.org.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
We'd love to get you guys connected with what we're doing in Jeremy,
Haiti, and how you can partner with us to live the difference,
to help empower leaders, to transform communities.
(45:48):
God bless you guys and have a great day. Hey everyone, it's Erica with Glassy
Day Studio where we believe every broken, discarded and disrupted thing will
be reclaimed, restored and redeemed by the one who created and calms the waves.
Glassy Day jewelry is shaped from recycled surfboard resin and each design is
named after a woman in the Bible.
And 10% of every purchase supports foster care ministries. Check it out.
(46:13):
At glassydaystudio.com. And thanks for listening.
And if this episode has drawn you closer to Christ, please share it with your
friends and family or even one person that might find encouragement in the message
and a deeper relationship with Christ. God bless and have a great week.
Hey there, Asha Juno here. I am an imperfect girl with imperfect faith in the
(46:33):
perfectly faithful God.
And that has changed everything for me.
My journey of getting to know God looked like God taking what I thought would
surely kill me and using it to bring me all the way to life.
You can read or listen to the whole story in my book, This Hope,
(46:55):
A Journey of Getting to Know God, available right now on Amazon,
Audible, and Apple Books.
Hey y'all, this is Ginger DeVries, guest number 56 of the podcast encouraging
you today to use your position to broadcast God's love.
God's word says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
We pray this episode is an encouragement
(00:22):
to you to go out and use your position to broadcast His Love.
From Scotto Albritton Studios, here's your host, Rikki. Hey,
everyone, and welcome to Broadcast His Love.
This is a podcast where we talk about what life looks like when we decrease
our name and increase God's name, because it's all about Jesus living life on purpose with Him.
(00:45):
And I don't know if you forgot, but God is with you, and He's in all things. He's with you right now.
It's something that we We can easily forget when we get into rushing,
busyness, agendas, things to do.
But even at the grocery store, even in the car, even while parenting our lovely
children, God is in all things, okay?
(01:08):
He's with you right now. Crank up the worship music after this.
We always want you to continue the worship in whatever you're doing.
But you're going to get a real treat today. and you're gonna learn a lot about
foster care ministries here in Pensacola through First Baptist Church of Pensacola.
Amy Floyd is here. She's a volunteer leader of the Foster and Adoptive Ministry
(01:31):
at First Baptist of Pensacola.
Hey, Amy. Hey, baby. Thanks for having me. I love you. I love your sweet voice. Oh, goodness.
Well, I'm glad you do. I mean, do you just love people so much?
I'm definitely a people person, for sure. I mean, I love to be around people.
I love to encourage people. And I love to connect people.
(01:52):
Yes. So yeah, I'm so thankful that I get to do all those things through this foster ministry.
And you're an Auburn fan. Oh, diehard Auburn fan.
So, okay, I've known Amy for the last couple months through Erica Carr.
Thank you, Erica Carr. Hey, Erica. Like, love you.
And your voice and your sincerity and your sweetness is like a breath of fresh air.
(02:16):
I love it. Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you so much.
You're welcome. I appreciate that. You're very cheerful too.
And I love that about you.
I try. Today I'm trying because so our kids, my kids are here and they're out
of school for a couple of weeks.
And I, we prayed before this podcast that God would make them be silent.
(02:38):
So if you do hear a kid here or there, we're sorry. But we did pray about it beforehand.
Okay, so I really want to dive in to children. Like, why children?
Because foster care ministry is, from every person I've spoken to,
like, you have to be really passionate about children and, like,
(03:00):
loving children through God's love.
Like not your own love because you burn out, but like through the love of Christ
to children, the next generation, it has to be something you're really passionate about.
So how did God first spark this in you to want to work with children?
So I did pharmaceutical sales for my whole career, and I was in our small group on a Sunday.
(03:23):
And Lauren Fain, who is a therapist, I would say play therapist,
but she does other aspects of that as well.
And she came into our small group on Sunday and told us about a camp that she
wanted to host for children in foster care.
And it's called Royal Family Kids Camp. And I was like, well,
(03:43):
I don't think I have any skills for that.
I mean, I had never even thought about fostering. It was not something in my
wheelhouse, but I'm pretty good at organizing.
And so I thought, well, maybe I could bring my skill to that.
And I was like, well, I'll take vacation.
I don't really We know about all the things. It's probably not for me,
but it would never go away.
I kept having that feeling in my gut, like, well, maybe I should.
(04:06):
Well, there's no reason. I have plenty of vacation. I can do these things.
So the day before we had to turn in our applications to go to training for Royal
Family Kids Camp, I stopped by her mom's house. She lives on Cervantes.
It was really convenient.
And I filled it all out, and the rest was history. So that was in 2013,
and we went to training in North Alabama, and we had to shadow another camp.
(04:31):
So Royal Family Kids Camp is an international program that a children's minister,
youth minister maybe, in California, he and his wife developed because he took...
Children to summer camp one year, and I guess they had a big group of foster
children in their church.
And he noticed that the kids that were in foster care were like,
(04:52):
oh, yeah, my dad did this. And oh, yeah, we went on this vacation.
And he knew none of those were true. He knew that their dad was not present,
that they were in foster care, but they were trying to keep up with the rest
of the kids who are from traditional families.
And he said, next year, we're going to do it different.
And we're going to take kids that are in foster care to their own camp where
they can experience things for the first time with children who have experienced the same thing.
(05:16):
I think that for those of us who were raised with our family,
even if it was, you know, by an aunt or a single parent, we still had that family connection.
And for these children, I think that people would say probably the number one
trauma for a child is to be removed from their family. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. Regardless of if it was a family that didn't take care of them well,
(05:38):
if they hurt them or did things, they still want to be with their families.
So when Wayne took these children to camp and they were told that they were
all in foster care, it was so freeing for them. They were able to just relax.
And not that we focus on that, like we don't line them up and say,
tell us your story of removal or anything like that.
But just the fact that they know that they've all had that experience and they
(06:03):
have that in common and they don't have to act like there's something that they're not.
In fact, it was really interesting. Probably five years ago,
we had the kids come in on a Monday morning, and their foster parents bring
them, and we register and get all their medicines.
And we have volunteers down in the gym to keep eyes on them. Yeah.
And one of our volunteers was down there, and they were all playing.
(06:25):
And another little girl came down, and she ran straight across the gym to another little girl.
And this volunteer thought maybe they were siblings. We do have children that
don't live in the same home and we've had children that haven't seen their siblings
in a year, but they come to camp and they get to experience that.
They get to see each other?
Yeah, because they both get to come to camp even though. Oh my goodness,
so they get reunified at camp. For the week.
(06:46):
Yes, for the week. Oh my goodness. It's really sweet. Sometimes it's challenging.
Amy. I know, but because they haven't seen each other. I know, that's huge.
But so we were like, oh my goodness. So what Brenda found out was that they
were not siblings but they had both been removed the same night.
Three in the morning. A lot of times their removals happen at night,
(07:08):
which makes it even more traumatic.
But they had been like in the crisis stabilization area at the same time and
they hadn't seen each other since.
They both went different ways that night, but they were able to see each other
there. It was really cool.
I mean, it's a big lift, but it's a huge need.
Yeah. And it's really been cool to see how our team, so it's been 10 years.
(07:31):
So we just went and And shadowed was a bunch of training.
And we shadowed this camp that had been in existence for a while.
And then we came back and had our first camp. I think we had about 30 campers,
maybe 32, probably about that many volunteers as well.
And 10 years later, this past year, this past summer, we had 48 campers and about 65 volunteers.
(07:58):
Oh, my goodness.
I know. No. So for those of y'all that are familiar with like kids camp through
church, you know, you might take 30 kids and about six volunteers,
not for royal family kids.
It's their policy is that you have two children for every adult.
And so that we probably, and actually this year was the first year that we had
(08:18):
some one-on-ones, some children that we knew were going to need some additional attention.
And we had one-on-one. We also have an RN that goes with us.
So many of these children take medication.
We have, you know, people that do drama, people that do art.
We have grandparents because it's a family model.
So we have grandparents and aunts and uncles.
(08:39):
So it really is super cool. We have a therapist that goes, that's her job professionally,
you know, when she's not at camp, but also at camp.
And that's there for the children as well as the volunteers,
because some of the things that we see and hear are really hard.
And, you know, I feel like sometimes when we talk about these things,
like with other people, just trying to make them aware of the foster system
(09:02):
and the scars that go with these children because of the abuse that they've
been through. It almost seems like.
Were like embellishing. Because like, how could that be? How could somebody
do that? Yeah. How could that be?
Especially someone who God put on this earth to take care of you.
Yeah. And I think that's probably the hard thing. One thing that Lauren told
(09:23):
me was that like children who live like in a war-torn country,
when there's gunshots, there's bombs, there's everything, and that's super traumatic for them.
But typically their mom or their dad or their aunt or their siblings are they're
holding them in a protective manner, trying to protect them.
With child abuse and all the things that go on with that, the people that should
(09:46):
be protecting you are actually the ones either harming you or allowing you to be harmed.
And that's just, I know you think about that. I think about safety,
think about security and growing up in somewhere where you're like,
God, comfort me. God, protect me. God, help me.
They're really young. So our kids are seven to 11.
And I think that hope is really super important.
(10:09):
And it's also sometimes the only thing they do have.
And one thing about camp, and we've branched out, camp is where we started,
but we branched out so much. And I'll talk to you about that.
But yeah, one thing that's really cool about camp is for some of these children,
it's the first time, most of them are in good foster homes.
I will say that it's before they were removed.
So I don't want, I mean, foster care does have some, some dark sides as well.
(10:32):
But when we refer to it, mostly it's about before they were removed.
And, you know, we think, oh, my gosh, all the adults in their lives have not
done well by them. They've done harmful things.
And I also want to say, because we forget this, is it's not only the bad things
that have happened to children that are in foster care because they've been
(10:53):
removed from a situation, but it's also they missed out on all the good things.
You know, and to me, that's almost, I mean, it's up there.
And we can't forget that we have kids every single year at camp that have never
had a birthday party. Wow.
Nine years old. They don't know when their birthday is. It's never been celebrated.
I think one thing when the children leave camp and go back home,
(11:13):
and like I said, they're going to a foster home.
And we know that when they leave, regardless of what they're going home to and
regardless of what's happened to them, they had a week where they were around
loving and caring adults that love Jesus.
And, you know, they have to care about them. Yeah. And their aunts and uncles.
And then they look forward to it the next year. Absolutely.
They're all sad when they graduate. Yeah. And it really is super cool.
(11:36):
And one thing that we do that I think is so cool is we have a photographer.
Who is amazing. And throughout the week, she takes pictures.
And we have to be really careful because you can't have other kids in the pictures,
you know, for the safety of them.
But they go home with a photo album that has about 25 pictures of them catching
a fish or the birthday party.
(11:56):
And they love it. I mean, a lot of people nowadays don't have pictures,
but a lot of these kids have never had pictures of themselves.
And if they have, they didn't get to the next house.
But probably three or four years ago, I had a foster mom call me and probably
like in March and she said, Hey, I have a new little girl and she just got here
yesterday and she came with her bag of clothes.
(12:18):
She didn't have her glasses. She didn't have any of her school stuff,
but she had her RFK photo album.
And she said, can I please go back to camp? So, I mean, she had lost so many
things, but she had that.
And we've gone to other houses and homes and like for kids that couldn't come
for whatever reason the next year of camp.
(12:38):
And And they always come out with their photo albums that they had.
And for them to be able to keep up with those, some of these children move three
or four or five or six times a year. Wow. A year.
Yeah. To keep up with that item shows you how special it is.
Yeah. And you wouldn't think that a photo, you know, would be something that
(13:00):
somebody would treasure.
But like, that is something that they treasure.
You know, I mean, think of like what we treasure compared to what this child is treasuring.
Childlike faith is what just keeps coming back into my head.
And it's Matthew 18, verses two through four.
It says, he called a little child to him and placed the child among them.
(13:22):
And he said, truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Heaven therefore whoever takes the lowly position
of this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven does that verse ever flash up
for you i do think that you know obviously when jesus was on earth he treasured
(13:43):
the children their innocence and their belief and that they weren't tainted
in their views and i think that that is so important and i do think that you
know these These children have been through so much.
And one thing that we, and they do grow up, and then they become adults in our society.
And we have a really active prison ministry at our church as well.
(14:06):
And so I always say to them, RFK is trying to put the prison ministry out of business.
Because about, I don't know if the stat is still the same, but several years
ago, the The statistic was that 90% of people on death row went through the
foster system and about 70% of people incarcerated went through the foster system. What?
(14:28):
It's astounding, isn't it? And then majority of them don't go to college.
A lot of them that age out are pregnant within less than a year.
I mean, the statistics. 90% death row?
That's what it was. Oh my goodness. I need to check that again, but that's what it was.
It doesn't surprise me though, now that I've been in it for so long.
John and I, my husband, always say to each other, like when we hear the news
(14:52):
of a 16-year-old, you know, that was involved in a really bad crime.
Yeah. And it used to shock us. And now we're not shocked at all because we have
seen what these children have been through.
And we know that, you know, a lot of these children are in homes that they're
seeing exposed to a lot of things.
(15:13):
And so we're not surprised anymore. We're saddened, but it doesn't surprise us anymore.
And if you could tackle on a 16-year-old as a convicted felon,
you're like, oh, no, like we know these homes and where they've grown up.
And it's just really sad to see. Scambia County is just inundated.
Ricky, our families are falling apart. I mean, really?
(15:36):
Yes. It's just amazing that our families are falling apart and that's the devil's work.
And he knows that if he can get to our family and disrupt our families. Yeah. He has a chance.
And like raising kids is hard. It's hard. And then so I have a girlfriend who
hurt both of her kids. Well, one's graduating. It's the last one.
(15:58):
This was like two years ago. And I'm like, man, my marriage just feels like stressed out.
She looks at me like didn't smile, didn't nothing. She's just like, it's the children.
And like the most sincere, but just like don't give yourself such a hard time. Like it is hard.
(16:18):
First of all, it's hard to just like do the monthly stuff, you know,
the house, the cars, whatever.
But like, add children on it who you want to be loving, caring,
like good members of society.
That brings a lot of stress on. And so, I mean, first of all,
it's expensive to live here.
(16:39):
You know, so when I hear the families here are like not doing well,
I'm just like, I don't know if it's going to get better. You know, so like, what do we do?
What do we do You, as a Christian generation who love the Lord and want what's
best for, like that scripture said,
(17:00):
for the lowly, you know, lowly position of this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Like, what do we do?
So I know the verse in James where it talks about caring for orphans and widows,
that's probably the one that's the most often recited for orphan care.
And they don't call it orphans or orphanage anymore. They're children in care.
(17:21):
I think that one thing we can do is show up.
Yeah. You know, I think that a lot of people as Christians are like,
yes, I believe in God. Yes, I believe he came and died for our sins.
And we sit in the pew on Sundays and we go home and go back to work.
Yeah. And I think that we need to show up for these families.
And if you were to ask me, do I see myself being a foster parent?
(17:43):
I would say probably not.
Yeah. And I think that that is one thing that we need to be really careful of.
And I think we should raise awareness.
There are so many ways to help foster children and foster families.
Without fostering. Okay, tell us more. Yes. So what we provide through our LEAF
ministry, Loving and Empowering Adoptive and Foster Families, is wraparound support.
(18:05):
And I think the ticket is we are losing foster families for a number of reasons.
And so we might not be able to foster, but we can provide support to the ones
that are currently fostering to keep them fostering. Okay.
So they don't get discouraged. They don't get overwhelmed. They don't get burned out.
Yeah, we definitely don't want that. No. And that's what our foster ministry does.
(18:26):
And actually it came about, we had a foster ministry that was more like a closet,
which actually is not like my love. I didn't like clothes.
We're like, but it kind of went away. And then through COVID,
we couldn't do camp that year.
And so we're like, well, let's just do a drive-through. Well,
so we had the families come and drive through, but through that,
(18:46):
we were made aware of people needing food and people needing all these things
that we really had not heard of.
I mean, we should have known, but we hadn't really heard the need.
And it just really rebirthed our foster ministry.
So through wraparound support, you can make a meal, you can send a card, you can bring diapers.
(19:08):
We go through a national platform called Care Portal.
And if anybody's interested in that. We can get that information to them.
It's through churches and caseworkers, Hope Florida.
There's other ways that these people put in requests.
They don't have to just be foster or adoptive families that can be birth families.
(19:29):
There's some high risk families out there that really need our help.
And if we can help them, maybe their children will stay out of foster care.
Maybe their family will stay intact.
Yeah. Because we kind of have focused on that after the fact,
which is super important.
But if we could do something to help the families ahead of time.
But the request goes something like.
Non-relative or a relative. So either like an aunt or an uncle or school teacher
(19:52):
where I'm getting ready to drop off some stuff right now to a school teacher
and her husband who took in four children.
That was the only connection. And it was like overnight.
So we're helping them with school uniforms.
We've, one of the little boys had never had a birthday party.
So we were able, we have birthday buddies.
We were able to get a birthday cake, balloons, napkins, and a $25 gift card
(20:12):
from Target and Walmart and a card. And the family can give it to them from them.
It's But I do think it's important for these children and our foster parents.
That's really what they need. They need a network. The children need to see.
I always tell the story that when my kids were little, like history is not my thing.
So if the history project came up, I'd send them down the street to Wanda,
(20:32):
who was better at that. Yeah. These kids don't have that.
And they've moved so much that they don't even have a network.
We can break that chain somehow and show them if one, if just one can break
the chain in their family. Yeah. And somehow get out.
And they can. you know, through God's grace and all the healing that he does.
But I think that wraparound support is really what we need to do.
(20:56):
Of course, we need foster parents. And don't automatically think when people
mention foster care, they actually mean you being a foster parent.
I mean, if you want to do that, that's really awesome. But there's so many ways you can provide.
So we were surprised with a grant from Hope Florida in May, I think.
And one thing that, so we have, you know, we have a fund and people donate to
(21:18):
and sometimes cash, sometimes it's diapers, beds, bedding, all those things
like, you know, Ricky, every week. I mean, I could pull up my phone right now
and show you all the requests.
I mean, there's so many teenage teenagers that need clothes, groceries.
I mean, so many things.
But what we're hoping to do with this year.
Money that we got unexpectedly is extracurricular things, because I really,
(21:44):
really feel led to do that.
I feel like that we're doing a fairly good job of meeting the needs of these
families that are in crisis.
I mean, that's really the only way to say it. And Jesus is the only answer for that.
But we're good. We've gotten pretty good. I mean, we're not perfect,
but we kind of know what to do there. And we kind of have the assets to do that.
But I have been really thinking about this for a a couple of months since we got the grant.
(22:08):
And I was listening to something recently about Simone Biles.
And I knew Simone Biles had been through the foster system. Really?
Yes, I knew that part. So from three to six, she was in the foster system and
her grandparents were intermittently involved.
And then they ended up adopting her and her two siblings, I believe.
(22:30):
I think that's correct. her for sure.
And she, I don't know if it was right when she was getting out of foster care
or while she was in foster care, but she visited a gym and she was like,
Hey, maybe this is something I want to do at six.
So I've been thinking about, we've got to provide extracurricular opportunities for our children.
(22:50):
And then when I was like, okay, thank you, God. Like I love a burning bush.
Like, cause I really did the Olympics.
Yes. Yes. Yes. If you know me, you know, I love a burning bush.
Like when I'm not sure what to do, like after a while, I'm like,
okay, can you just like put a burning bush out there? God, I feel like I really need a sign.
And so I was like, oh my goodness.
That's a beautiful prayer, by the way.
Lord, show me your burning bush, like light it up, God, and speak to me,
(23:15):
you know, whatever it is, your will, your way, your bush, like light it up and
show it to me. That is a really powerful prayer.
And he's like, it sounds like he delivers every time. Yeah, that's good.
And I think we, you know, everybody laughs and teases, like,
be careful when you pray, Lord, break your heart for what breaks your heart,
break my heart for what breaks yours, because you got to be prepared.
(23:35):
You know, because I mean, this definitely breaks his heart, seeing our families
in such crisis, We know it breaks his heart, but we were able to,
through our team of about 50 people that are in our church and outside of our
church, this summer we had one of our RFK kids,
Royal Family Kids campers that had graduated, and she was very sad.
And she's the oldest of seven, living with her grandparents.
(23:57):
All of them unexpectedly.
The grandparents had just retired two weeks before they got the call,
your children, your grandchildren are being removed.
Can you take all seven of them? Yeah, so She was really sad that the the next
three older kids were going and she was oh,
I can't miss amy I can't believe that i'm not going to be able to go to camp
She loves to sing and dance and she's really talented in that way So we found
(24:20):
out about performing arts camp.
We put our money together and she went and It's life-changing like I can already
tell that it's when I called her.
I said, how is it going on the first miss amy? I love it.
Yeah, and her grandmother just said she's like a new person because what happens
with a lot of these children Especially the older ones is they become parentified
(24:41):
And because their parents are no show or unable To care for them or abusive.
They usually are the ones that take care of their siblings And
so they're used to calling the shots They have
a plan they they do a lot of the things we've had children in camp
who paid the bills who got the kids On the bus who did all the
things and they're nine you know so imagine about that
(25:02):
goodness so she kind of had that and while that
while now that they are in a really safe home i mean that's kind of that's not
if i'm in a home so it's a little you know chaotic but now the grandparents
are calling the shots they're very well trained capable parents they raised
other adult children and so that's really hard for the older children
(25:25):
because they, they're like, no, no, I'm the boss.
And they're like, no, no, no, the grand, the grandparent, you don't have to be anymore.
You don't have to be, but that's hard for them to let go of that.
Like a lot of times at camp, they have to come and make sure their,
their little siblings are safe in their beds and all the things that you wouldn't think that.
I mean, a lot of times siblings are like, I'm glad I don't have to see him for
a week. You know, I need a break.
(25:46):
I need a break. And they do need a break. They just have not,
they can't break that, that responsibility.
Yeah. You can imagine like at eight or nine or whatever, ever. So.
I just think, you know, like I said, wraparound support is where it's at.
If you want to be a foster parent, there's respite care. There's many ways.
But for us, we feel like we are meeting the needs through emergent care,
(26:09):
you know, just like beds and stuff.
But then we're really excited about being able to provide, you know,
basketball camp, performing arts camp. I believe God gave you that extracurricular activities idea.
Oh, definitely. We had been thinking, I mean, I had been thinking about how
can we do this? And then we just got this check.
Like, I was like, oh, my goodness, we didn't even know. That's so God.
(26:30):
It's so God. Yeah. And so I'm really excited about how we can do it.
I've talked to several families and some of them have ideas or one of them wants
to do some kind of little cooking class.
And I really think that, you know, not only is it good for them,
it builds their self-esteem, it gives them an opportunity to explore things,
but it also gives them an opportunity to be with other peers who are very different
(26:57):
than them. Yeah. And they get very, yeah.
And so they get to hear about different things and yeah.
And sometimes they get invited over to a friend's house that they would have
never been invited over to.
And a lot of children have never, like one of our ones that the granddad just
took in five, she had, she's 11.
She had never had a friend over.
(27:18):
Can you imagine? I can't. 11. Like that's what you do.
You have your little friends over. That's one of the ones that,
you know, the good things that they didn't get to experience.
And so I'm really, really excited about that.
We've met with like a little group from not just our church,
but other churches trying to navigate what that looks like. Yeah.
But I know that's going to be life changing. I was talking to one of the caregivers
(27:39):
yesterday about this, and she said, Amy, I took one of our.
Boys he's 12 to the airport to pick
someone up he had never been to the airport oh it's
right here right here she said we didn't even get out of the car he just could
not believe that there was a thing as an airport oh my goodness that's wild
and it's because and it's in the city like the city's not big yeah it's because
(28:02):
they just don't do things like that and i know one of the first couple years
at camp we thought oh this will be great we'll have a little baseball camp for the boys.
And we had some kids from UWF baseball team come over. Which would be huge.
Which would be huge and fun. Yeah. But they almost all died because none of them could catch.
None of them could run. I mean, it was like, oh my gosh, we're going to have
a broken nose. I know. Yeah. Especially with boys.
(28:25):
Yeah. Because, well, nobody had spent time with them. A lot of it really does take a village.
And that's one thing that we're working hard to be is the village for these these families.
And I know you've asked me about kind of what verses kind of drive me.
So one of my favorites, and I've led a Bible study for probably about 10 years, women's Bible study.
(28:47):
And I'll just say I was saved as a little girl, probably seven or eight.
I don't even remember. I know I should.
But it wasn't until someone asked me, a friend asked me to lead this Bible study.
It's been more than 10 years.
And I remember the first thing I thought, there's no way I can't pray out loud.
But that changed my life forever. That's really where, like,
(29:08):
I don't have a story where I went down the wrong road.
I mean, I'm not perfect, but I didn't come back from something.
But that changed my life and that plugged me in and that got me involved in
other things. And I really think as Christians.
And we're put on this earth for that. You know, we're not put on the earth just to go to church.
So 2 Corinthians 1 through 4, and it's shown up in many of the Bible studies that I've led.
(29:31):
And it's basically, He comes alongside us during hard times.
And the next thing you know, and some of the translations say that the next
thing you know, you're walking beside someone else through a hard time.
And I just love that. I mean, I think that that is so important.
And maybe that's why we go through struggles. Maybe that's why we've had hard
times, so that we can be sympathetic and empathetic and supportive of others
(29:56):
as they go through hard times, which might be very different than yours. Yeah, yeah.
I really do like that. And another one is, I mean, I put this on a lot of our
emails that we send out to our team, and that's John 1335.
And others will know we are His disciples by the love we have for others.
And I think that's important, too.
And, you know, there's so many people, I think, can wonder, like, why are you doing this?
(30:21):
Like, why are you showing up? Why are you coming? And it's because we love Jesus.
Yeah. Okay. That is such a big deal, y'all, because Christians have a bad rap
for like things that Christianity is not about, you know?
And like, if you want to know if somebody's a believer, watch how they love others.
Because it's because we've been loved so much by God and have had so much grace,
(30:46):
oh my goodness, and love and compassion and comfort,
like what you were mentioning, comfort from God, that we can't help but send
that out to others because of what we've received.
What we've downloaded from God is what we're putting back out there.
And that's not something we have to strive for. It's just, I mean,
(31:06):
loving one another because God loved us, like, you know, grabbed you at seven
years old and said, hey, I love you. I made you, Amy.
I think that's really beautiful because I was like, man, maybe you'll come in
with a verse about like fostering, you know, orphans and widows kind of thing.
But I just think it's really beautiful how you went to the God of all comfort.
(31:28):
Oh, yes, that's it. And really, we're called to help others and comfort others
and show up. I really think that's one of the big things that as Christians we can do is just show up.
Do we know how to do everything when we show up? No. And we're going to be perfect? No.
But when we show up for others, they notice.
(31:48):
They do. And that's what they need us to do. Some of these families,
many of our kinship caregivers are so in the weeds, they can't even raise their
hand to say they need help.
They don't even know how much help they need. And, you know,
we have had so many times where we've brought beds and all the diapers and all
the things and then like we'll check on them.
We've gotten a lot better about checking on them and they're go,
(32:10):
oh, my gosh, we don't even have underwear.
Well, they were so in the weeds. I didn't even, you know, I mean,
they're just kind of like going through the motions. Yeah. And surviving sounds like.
Yep. And so many of these children are children that come from hard places and
their behaviors show it.
And so you can imagine in bringing in four children.
And, you know, another thing that we kind of I don't want to say joke about.
(32:33):
That's not really the right word, but we do comment on is, you know,
you've got your sweet little family, Rikki and your two little boys and Riley.
Y'all have a great little family. And you're like, oh, well,
we have another little like a two-year-old that has all the things.
He's in foster care. He needs a home. And you're like, oh, okay.
Well, everybody, maybe even including you, think, well, we'll just bring him
(32:54):
in to our little house and we're going to shut the door and we're going to give
him his Legos. Yeah. And we're going to have video games to play with.
Not the kids. He's going to be perfect. Perfect. And what happens is that little
two-year-old wrecks your home.
Oh, yeah. Because they're like, this is great.
Well, they're just, they bring all those behaviors with them. Yes.
That a sweet home with loving, caring Christians does not change what all they've been through.
(33:18):
It doesn't. So while you think, oh, this is great. Yeah. It's like, oh, no.
What happened to our house? But see, that's the whole love one another thing. Absolutely.
And like, that's the thing is like, being a Christian is hard.
Like, if you aren't a believer, and you're listening to this,
and you're listening to like foster care, and you you have compassion,
(33:41):
you have a heart and you want to like help kids.
Loving one another is the hardest part, because it is challenging when someone
doesn't do what you want them to do or act the way you want them to act,
you know. But that's the whole dying to self.
Absolutely. That we have to do every day. But even in the hard,
(34:03):
even in the ministry, even in the daily stuff that just comes up in ministry
and in life, it goes back to loving one another.
Absolutely. And that's so important. And honestly, sometimes we've done deliveries
and the families have been not
as excited as I thought they would be about what we were bringing. Yeah.
(34:24):
And so but I've said to myself, it's it's they're just overwhelmed.
It's not that they don't appreciate what we're doing. It's they're completely overwhelmed.
And, you know, I really 100 percent believe that they are overwhelmed.
One of my friends who is a foster parent who I believe, you know. Yeah.
Said that on average, one foster child has 14 appointments per month.
(34:48):
OK, so I've heard this about the appointments thing. Yeah.
Which is another. How do you do that? How would you take your two sweet babies
to 14, 28 appointments in one month?
Oh, yeah. And they're all like mandatory, I think. Pretty much.
Yeah. You know, it's caseworkers, parents, siblings.
Phone calls. Doctor. I mean, it's all the things. Yeah. 14. And some of our
(35:10):
families, a lot of our families have five, six, seven kids.
And they're trying to work. Yeah. And they have birth children themselves.
Yeah. And it's a lot. So as wraparound support, Christ followers,
we can, you know, try to help with some of those things. There's training that's involved.
If you would like to babysit, we do a program called Ignite,
(35:31):
which kind of came to me during one of our Bible studies.
We've been trying to think of what could be the name. It's a tutoring program
that we also mentor and we mentor the family as well.
So many of our kids are so far behind in school. We have children that are in
sixth grade that read on a first grade level.
I mean, every time they move schools, they lose six months of their education.
(35:51):
And some of these children move three times a year.
So that's a huge thing. But we were talking in one of my Bible studies and one
of the girls in our class, in our group, I should say, has a young daughter who's like three.
And she said, she, my little girl, loves this little song. We sing it on the
way to Wednesday night service.
(36:13):
And it's about a light bulb dance. And you might know it. But it's this little
light of mine. I'm going to let it. Yeah.
Is it a comic thing where they're just a little light? And I was like,
oh, my gosh, we have been thinking about Ignite and the thing that they had
through Canva or whatever. You probably know those things. I'm not very creative.
It was a light bulb. And I was like, that's it.
(36:33):
Because as they learn, the light bulb comes on.
So as we tutor them, but who's the who's the light of our lives? Jesus. Jesus. OK.
Yes. So I was like, oh, my gosh, that is it. That's it. That's it.
And it is it. We do it. We did it this. We did it September through May.
We're getting ready to kick it off again.
Yeah. We had, I think, 19 students and about probably that many volunteers.
(36:57):
You don't have to be a teacher. But what a way to bless the families.
And every month we gave a family gift. Sometimes it was a gas card.
Sometimes it was pizza gift cards, you know, filet. I mean, yeah, homemade cookies.
So we try to bless the families as well. Well, is there anything else you wanted to share, Amy?
Well, I did want to say we were out of town in Auburn this past weekend,
(37:17):
and we always go to church when we're up there.
And we went to the Church of the Highlands this time.
And the topic, the name of it was Miracles in the Marketplace.
And the speaker was a guest speaker. They had just had like their student motion week or something.
Oh, which was huge. Yes, huge. And he said during, he said it a couple of times
(37:38):
and he said, Christians are God's,
supply chain. And I thought, you know what, we are.
And he went through like a scenario of a coworker talking to her coworker about coming to church.
And actually, it was a personal story to him. He knew the coworker and that
(38:01):
coworker was really sweet.
And she would go out and, you know, the coworker that he was trying to get to
church would go out partying on Saturday nights. And on On Sunday, she was too tired to go.
And on Monday, you know, she would say, I'm so, so sorry.
And she said, that's okay. You know, maybe you can come next Sunday.
It wasn't like hammering her or making her feel bad.
And she finally came and someone at the door was really sweet to welcome her.
(38:23):
The lady that sat next to her in church was really nice.
The person that was leading the small group was obedient to that calling and
actually led the small group because we can all be busy and not have time for those things.
But God put all those people in place, the lady at the door,
the lady in the seat, the co-worker, the small group leader,
(38:45):
all those in place for salvation.
Wow. And I never have. Have you ever thought about us being part of God's supply
chain? I like the visual I'm getting in my brain.
Because it's unity of the spirit through the bond of peace and that we all have
different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. and you.
(39:07):
If we are obedient, we have to be obedient to that nudging.
Yes. To be in that place, in the supply chain. And the thing that you're,
so like God is not burdensome.
And so all these things that you're saying about in the supply chain,
like all the, there was just a door greeter.
There was just somebody with an invitation, the openness, the willingness.
(39:30):
It wasn't burdensome. It was actually really nice.
Oh, yes. Welcoming. Yes. But we all have to be obedient. Radiant.
So I think that when we have nudgings, like when Lauren came and talked about
camp and I couldn't find a reason to not go.
Yeah. You know, I was thinking, well, I mean, I just kept my tummy kept burning.
I was like, I just need to, I just couldn't get rid of it. And I said,
(39:50):
I'm just going to go. I'll figure it out.
And then it changed me. I mean, I really think we've made a huge impact on all
the children. Our team is unbelievable.
65. Yes. Volunteers. And we have CITs that come that are 16 and 17 and sometimes 18-year-olds.
And sometimes the moms will be like, well, can they get service hours for this? And I'm like, yes.
(40:14):
But if that's the only reason why they're coming, they need to go do something
easy. Because camp is hard.
And it's interesting. The first year, you know, we'll see our guys that are
lacrosse players and our pitchers on the baseball team and the outstanding women's,
you know, volunteers that are young. And they're crying on Friday when their little camper leaves.
(40:34):
And they're so changed.
It's just, I mean, one of our friends who doesn't go to First Baptist,
who volunteers, said, and I will never forget this, I have never seen the church
deployed like it is at camp.
And because we're all there for only the kids. They're not our children.
(40:54):
We don't know most of them. It's a really hard week.
It's a huge challenge. and the church is deployed, loving these children and loving each other.
Like the cool thing is, is that's not in a church because we are the church,
you know? The big C church. The big C church.
And I love your church, by the way. They're so sweet to us. Oh, good.
(41:16):
We're going to come back. I think the next week or the next week,
we're going to be at your church recording another episode. Oh, good.
With some kids, some high schoolers. Oh, they're doing a ministry on the beach
and it's like for girls. It's like, it's really awesome.
How about I know some of them? Yeah, I bet. I mean, it's huge too.
Like it's capital C church. Like they're doing this, not just like one church. It's like churches.
(41:39):
Oh my goodness. I love this community. Like what?
A beautiful place to be a Christian.
I love it. And our community needs
us. And, you know, we're focused on our foster and adoptive ministry.
I mean, our church has a bunch of ministries, but like the one that we're talking
about today is our foster and adoptive ministry.
And there's just so many, there's so many things you can do.
(42:02):
You can donate gift cards.
You can, like, we just started a thing, you know, laundry pods.
We'll just take them to some of the big families. I mean, those are expensive. They are.
Laundry detergent. I just picked up a laundry turgid for a friend and it was $15. Oh, yeah.
So think about it. And then they don't have to go shopping for it either.
But meals and birthday buddies and Ignite, our tutoring mentoring program, camp.
(42:26):
There's just so many ways. So don't tell yourself, I can't be a foster parent and say that.
So I can't help in this space because there's lots of work to be done and you
can do it. Yeah, absolutely.
I want to wrap this podcast. We always pray at the very end.
Is there anything else you wanted to share?
I think that's it. I mean, so many things that we can do, but yeah,
(42:48):
that's it. Okay. That was beautiful.
Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for your patience for like my children.
I've edited out so much of what actually went down through a couple breaks through this episode.
So she's like, thank you, Amy. God bless you. I'm so glad that you work in foster
care and my children were here today.
Like this couldn't have been a more perfect person. Oh gosh.
(43:10):
It's all good, sister. Thank you for your supply chain of Christ through you today.
But I'm just going to pray Matthew 18 verse that we talked about a little bit
earlier and just pray that it blesses you to be like little children today.
So let's just pray. Father God, thank you for today.
(43:32):
Decrease us and increase you. And Lord, let your light shine through us in whatever
ministry that you've called us to be a part of, that you've asked us to be a
part of, that you've just put on our hearts to be a part of.
And I just pray for whoever's listening to take the lowly position of a child
and to seek your face, to humble themselves and become like little children.
(43:56):
And I just pray for whoever's listening
if they don't know you To accept you
jesus into their heart as their lord and savior And to
get saved to cut to confess that you are our lord You're you are our savior
and to go to a bible believing church first baptist church of pensacola is great
Always welcome at upper room church And gulf breeze and pensacola beach other
(44:20):
great christian churches here in the area,
but don't be quiet about this Don't be silent about this.
If God put something on your heart, even as a child, and he's bringing that
back up to you here today as your order to just put your faith in Jesus,
do it now and then walk with the Lord.
And we're not going to say that it's going to be easier. It's going to be harder,
but you're not going to be alone and you're going to do it with the Lord.
(44:44):
And he's going to provide, protect and comfort you all the days of your life.
And he's not going to let you fall.
And so Jesus, thank you for Amy. Bless her and her ministry.
And just thank you so much. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.
Hey, this is Dustin, one of the pastors at Grace Bible Church in Sebring, Florida.
Thanks for tuning in to listen to Broadcast His Love with Ricky Van Stewart.
(45:06):
I hope you also consider joining us on our podcast as well.
Our hope is to encourage you, inspire you and compel you towards a closer walk
with Jesus and one another.
You can find us on every platform where podcasts are offered by simply searching
for Grace Bible Church Sebring.
Again, this is Pastor Dustin, and I hope to get to connect with you very soon.
(45:26):
Hey, this is Mark Stockland, pastor and CEO for Haiti Bible Mission in Jeremy, Haiti.
If you'd like to follow along with what we're doing in Jeremy,
Haiti, you can check us out at HaitiBibleMission.org.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
We'd love to get you guys connected with what we're doing in Jeremy,
Haiti, and how you can partner with us to live the difference,
to help empower leaders, to transform communities.
(45:48):
God bless you guys and have a great day. Hey everyone, it's Erica with Glassy
Day Studio where we believe every broken, discarded and disrupted thing will
be reclaimed, restored and redeemed by the one who created and calms the waves.
Glassy Day jewelry is shaped from recycled surfboard resin and each design is
named after a woman in the Bible.
And 10% of every purchase supports foster care ministries. Check it out.
(46:13):
At glassydaystudio.com. And thanks for listening.
And if this episode has drawn you closer to Christ, please share it with your
friends and family or even one person that might find encouragement in the message
and a deeper relationship with Christ. God bless and have a great week.
Hey there, Asha Juno here. I am an imperfect girl with imperfect faith in the
(46:33):
perfectly faithful God.
And that has changed everything for me.
My journey of getting to know God looked like God taking what I thought would
surely kill me and using it to bring me all the way to life.
You can read or listen to the whole story in my book, This Hope,
(46:55):
A Journey of Getting to Know God, available right now on Amazon,
Audible, and Apple Books.
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