Coming up this week (October 25-28) is Morning Star’s annual missions conference. Dan and Lyn Sehested will be with us (ministry workers we support in Romania), along with two new visiting deputee couples and their families. Dan and Angela Huffstutler (Kenya) and Joel and Shelley C. (Central Asia) will be directing the conference this year. On Wednesday evening, Dr. David Hesselgrave will return again to Morning Star. He will be participating that evening in a panel discussion.

Pastor Bixby and the other men will all be speaking on the theme of God’s glory as our preeminent priority in any and all missionary undertakings: “For the Sake of His Name.” Here is the nightly schedule:

Sunday evening ~ 5pm meeting
Monday evening ~ soup supper Stockholm Inn - 6:30pm
Tuesday evening ~ 7pm meeting
Wednesday evening ~ 7pm meeting

Please continue to pray for Jeremy and Anouk Scott. Their referral for the adoption of Alex and Elvin (a.k.a., “Josiah”) had been a hope and expectation for the last 15 months, and for much of that time, according to Liberian court rulings, the boys were legally “Scott” sons. However, the moratorium on Liberian adoptions over the past year or so (for the government to be able to make reforms to the system) has put a significant strain on the waiting process. Jeremy and Anouk were loving and supporting the boys from afar, wanting them home, and praying for clear direction and provision from God about how/whether to continue pursuing them. As of yesterday, October 19th, God appears to have answered their prayers in an unmistakable way. This below is from the Scotts’ adoption journal entry today:

The wait is over….

October 20, 2009

Yesterday I received a phone call from our adoption agency. The birth mother of Alex and Elvin has come back asking to take her two boys out of the orphanage and to live with her. The wait has been long. The boys have been there for two years. Their mother gave them up because she felt she could not take care of them and wished for a better life for them. Now, she feels she is in a better place to care for them and she does not wish for them to stay in an orphanage until the country decides to reopen adoptions. Frankly, I don’t blame her.

As you can imagine, we are disappointed. We hurt. But one of the reasons we wanted to adopt was because it reminds us of God’s Sovereignty. God is sovereign in this as He is with every other situation. Anouk described how we feel right now like one of those days when it is raining, but the sun comes out at the same time. There is a mixture of grief at the loss and relief at the closure, especially since the closure involves them being back with their mother.

We are thankful for the journey. Many people have partnered with us through prayer, encouragement and financial giving. We thank you. Your support to us throughout the last two and a half years has been so appreciated.

We are not sure what the Lord has for us or even why He led us down this road. But right now, our adoptive Father and our adoptive brother, Jesus are comforting us.

Blessings to all. Please pray for us…it is a struggle for us right now.

With much love and appreciation,

Jeremy & Anouk

Jeremy and Anouk Scott were thrilled last week when a friend working with the orphanage in Liberia sent them new photos of Alex and Josiah. The Scotts had hoped to be able to bring the boys home by Christmas, but God has arranged things differently. The Liberian government has been regulating the adoption process and investigating allegations of abuse in the country’s orphanages, so those efforts have necessarily hindered the completion of the Scott boys’ adoption, as well.

God has been answering prayer, giving grace and wisdom to the Scotts and the orphanage staff, keeping the boys safe, restoring Josiah’s health and continuing to help him grow stronger (they learned that he started walking last month!), and bringing them back together into the orphanage (they had been separated during investigations). Financial gifts have been coming in — about $8,000 has come in of the Scotts’ anticipated $12,000 remaining costs, and that in addition to the $18,000 or so the Scotts had already raised and seen provided to cover their expenses earlier on. Please prayerfully consider giving toward the Scotts’ needs.

Visit the Scotts’ adoption journal to read more news and see more photos!

Joy McCarnan is planning and hoping to join a mission trip* through Together for Adoption and Carolina Hope Adoption Agency this June 10-19 with a number of folks from likeminded USA churches to serve orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Here is some footage of some of the orphans the team will encounter this summer: [editorial note: Video had to be removed temporarily due to concerns unrelated to the Orphans Refuge team’s trip to Addis Ababa.]
As you view this video, please pray about the Orphans Refuge trip, and please pray about your own involvement in the lives of orphans, foster children, and adoptive families.

DONATION DETAILS:
* If you would like to give toward deferring Joy’s trip costs, here are specifics:
Checks can be made payable to Morning Star Baptist Ministries (or to Global Grace, Inc.), and mailed to this address:

Morning Star Baptist Church
3426 Colony Bay Drive
Rockford, IL 61109

Any funds that are given in excess of Joy’s trip costs will be put into the Hannah’s Heart fund, Morning Star’s orphan care and adoption-financing effort. The current Hannah’s Heart project is helping Jeremy and Anouk Scott bring their sons Alex and Josiah home from Liberia.

Jeremy and Anouk Scott are praying for a Christmas miracle. It really would be a miracle for God to arrange all the details for the Scotts’ two little boys to make it to Rockford, Illinois, USA — by Christmas. But maybe He will be pleased to do just that!

Alex and Josiah have been living in an orphanage in Liberia for about a year now. It’s a good orphanage, where good people are trying to take good care of them. But it isn’t home.The Scotts have seen many, many direct answers to prayer and evidence that God is paying attention to their sons’ situation, even though they are across the ocean from them. There are still some things that must be worked out with the boys’ case histories and other details. As convinced as we are that it would take a miracle to get the boys home by Christmas, we are just as confident that God could and will do that if He wants to.
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There are several ways we can encourage the Scotts while they wait for God to reveal what’s next:
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1. If you are willing and able to give toward covering the Scotts’ remaining adoption expenses (anticipating about another $11,500), that would be wonderful.
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2. When they go to Liberia to pick up the boys, the Scotts hope to take some needed humanitarian supplies for the orphanage. It’s very possible that some of the supplies the Berrymans took when they picked up Rhianna and Baylee from the same orphanage last February would’ve directly benefited Alex and Josiah, who were living there at the time but had not yet been referred to Jeremy and Anouk. Please email Anouk about how to add efficiently to what she’s collecting to take over.
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3. If you have questions or innovative ideas, or if you would like to contribute clothes or other items that the Scotts still need for Alex and Josiah, please email Joy McCarnan for “wish lists” and details.
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4. Subscribe to the Scotts’ online adoption journal if you haven’t already. You can read and respond to their updates there.
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5. Most importantly, please be praying that God will glorify Himself by clearing the way for Alex and Josiah to come HOME as soon as possible, maybe even by Christmas!
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There were certainly a number of Morning Star people who would’ve liked to attend the first annual conference put on by Together for Adoption (Nov. 1 in Greenville, SC), including several adoptive dads who were prevented by work obligations and other developments in the weeks before the conference. I was able to go and help the volunteer staff. It was a privilege to meet some more brothers and sisters in the family of God who are even more passionate about “vertical adoption” (God’s adoption of His children) than they are about “horizontal adoption” (and they are pretty passionate about that, too).

We are commanded again and again in God’s Word to meditate on the Gospel, to interact with people on the basis of the Gospel’s effects on us and the Gospel’s effects on them, to be motivated by the Gospel, to be enabled by the Gospel, and to exult in it. The T4A conference was, essentially, an entire day devoted to glorying in the story of what Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection has done and continues to do. The residual and continual effects of that story should be dazzlingly evident in the lives of God’s redeemed sons and daughters. And that living-out of the Gospel is described in its purest form in James 1:27—helping widows and orphans in their trouble and keeping unstained from the world’s anti-Godness.

Sadly, many believers are marked up by remnants of worldly thinking. We do not think of ourselves in light of God’s Gospel, what He has taken us out of and what He is making of us. We do not think of others the way God would, nor do we respond to them the way He would have us do. God has adopted transracially, drawing children to Himself from every tribe, tongue, nation. (Talk about a “conspicuous family”–what a beautiful picture adoption is of what heaven will one day be like!) But many believers think less of people of other cultures and other colors, thinking less of their capacities (including their spiritual capacities). And in general, we are constantly sinning against the Giver of the Gospel by the way we leave it out of everything we do, when in fact, it ought to permeate our thoughts and become the fundamental rationale and compassionate power behind everything we do.

One thing I took away from the conference was that adoption itself is not a “ministry” the way we sometimes think of it. Adoption is a serious family choice to parent a child; it’s a lifelong commitment, and it isn’t for everybody. Being passionate about adoption does not equal fulfilling the implied mandate of James 1:27. There is an orphan crisis (143+million!), and there are countless ways for individuals and churches to be actively engaged in ministering Gospel-glorifying love to needy children in accordance with God’s Word to us.

The audio recordings from the conference are available online now as downloads from here. All of the sessions were good for different reasons.
I would especially recommend these two:

“Adoption in God’s Story of Redemption” by Dan Cruver of T4A

“Adoption and the Multi-Ethnic Family of God”* by Carl Robbins
(pastor of Woodruff Road Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC)
* This is a Bible-based case against doubting the legitimacy and wisdom of transracial adoption.

Dan also shared some great excerpts and notes from Carl’s sermon. I hope you will take the time to check them out:
“Adoption and the Multi-Ethnic Family of God” [part 1]
“Adoption and the Multi-Ethnic Family of God” [part 2]

In August 2008, 18 adults and teens from Morning Star (Rockford, IL) joined Pastor Joel Tetreau of Southeast Valley Baptist Church (Gilbert, AZ) and Dr. Jack and Jenny Mitchell of Grace Dental Mission for about two weeks of deliberately-varied ministry in Jamaica.

By God’s grace, they were able to put on a Gospel-preaching Bible conference for the training of area pastors, a Christian day camp for local youngsters, and an open free clinic (with Gospel preaching and counseling) for anyone needing dental attention.

Before coming home, many of the team members found themselves joining the islanders in preparing for and enduring the pre-hurricane stages of the incoming storm Gustav. Even though they did not suffer through a full-force hurricane, it was unique to be “in others’ shoes” for once and get a small glimpse of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of such potentially-devastating natural disaster.

Today Ed, Robin and Alex (Losha) arrived home. Some friends and family threw them a “welcome home” party. Although tired from the long travels and change in time zones, they had enough energy to eat lasagna and cake. They took the opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support.

We rejoice with them as God has proven His faithfulness and graciousness to them during this long journey.

God be praised.

Ed sent a quick note and included some pictures.

We are well, submitted paperwork today for Alex’s Passport which we hope will be issued tomorrow, (Friday). Am sending some pics. Hope you can pick them up. We look forward to being home. God has been so good and thank everyone for all the prayers!

Ed

Joel just sent me a quick update for me to pass on to you.

Good News!
There is officially a new Foster Kid!
Mom and Dad and Alex just made it through the Russian Court.
God has bountifully blessed us and answered our prayers.
I will send a fuller update later when I get the details. Just wanted to let everyone know.
Praise the Lord!
Thanks,
Joel