The CALL that's Awakening a Sleeping Giant

"The Awakening" Statue in Washington D.C.

There's a sleeping giant that's awakening in our midst.

That giant is the Church. The issues that it's waking up over is caring for orphans. The signs are all around. I think we are starting to get it.

Anyone who knows me knows my heart for adoption and orphan care. You know that my husband Anthony and I adopted two of our four children. You know that I talk about adoption as long as anyone will listen.

So needless to say, I love when Adoption Awareness Month rolls around. During the month of November I have the perfect excuse to talk a lot about... well, adoption.

For the past few months I have been a part of an organization called The CALL, or Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime. The CALL was founded by Mary Carol Pederson, an Arkansas resident with a big heart for children, and especially children in foster care. Mary Carol knows it's impossible to alleviate the need for foster care, but her vision for the The CALL is "to have no waiting children in Arkansas foster care, but instead to have waiting, Christian families ready to take them in."

Having recently joined the statewide board for The CALL, I have bought into this vision one hundred percent. Not only do we want foster children placed in healthy, loving homes. We want them in spiritually healthy, Christ-loving homes.

This past Tuesday the CALL hosted its second annual fundraising dinner. I loved the words of foster/adoptive father Michael Delon, "The Church has been great about being pro-life, but the Church has been horrible about being pro-adoption."

I wholeheartedly agree. Just think about this: how many times have you heard someone say they vote "pro-life" in political races? I've heard it too many times to count. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I spotted a bumper sticker on a car that read, "I vote pro-life."

Now, while I certainly don't disagree with supporting candidates with a pro-life stance, I tend to support candidates that support life from the "womb to the tomb." We need to fight for unborn children. They deserve a chance at life like we've had. However, we've got to fight as adamantly for children that aren't aborted, but enter life in dismal circumstances. Many of these children find their way into the foster care system at no fault of their own.

We must fight for them too.

Mary Carol, alongside "Team CALL," which includes executive director Lauri Currier, other staff members and hundreds of volunteers and donors, fights for these often-forgotten children daily. But we need the entire Body of Christ to join us in this fight.

"We're all called to care for the orphan," said Mary Carol. "We all have a part to play in this. The Church has stepped back too long. It's time for us to step in and help."

I'll end with the words of Dennis Rainey, founder of Family Life Ministries. If you get a chance, check out Coffee with Dennis Rainey, where I shared about Dennis' entire speech at The CALL's Pastors Summit.

"God is pro-life and pro-orphan," Dennis said with great conviction. And I wholeheartedly agree.

I see signs that we're waking up, Brothers and Sisters. Let's keep it moving, y'all. We're called to be pro-life and pro-orphan, just like our Heavenly Father.

Fighting for Orphans Everywhere,

Carla