A Record In Need of Breaking!

I almost have no words. For me, this is a milestone, but I will give it my best efforts:
For those of you following my life here, you will know that I have been harassing my church leadership to sign on with Children's HopeChest to sponsor a village of 600 orphans in Ngariam, Uganda since May of this year. I have been carrying these precious faces in my heart since May and this last weekend, I actually saw their faces in my living room. My friends Amy and Ben and Dan and Sarah flew in on Friday from Cincinnati, Ohio. My friend Brandi, flew in from Orlando. And a REALLY big deal from HopeChest, Vince flew in from Colorado. I had been fervently praying that my church would step it up. Everyone kept telling me that one church sponsoring 600 kids is close to impossible, that you couldn't ask one congregation to handle sponsoring that many children. But I knew that God had clearly set Ngariam aside for my church. We couldn't do this, but HE could. And I knew He would.

Friday night we opened up the profiles of 483 children. Reading their stories and hearing their heartbreaking setbacks that these children face, through no fault of their own. The seven of us sat in my living room and lovingly prayed over each face and asked God to provide for them.

Saturday we spent the day decorating the church and spending a precious time of prayer as a group simply asking God to move through our congregation.

Sunday came in a whirlwind. Vince and Brandi spoke about their experiences and God opened the floodgates of heaven and dumped it all over a church in Oklahoma City. We were broken as a group and walked out knowing that those kids belonged to us and we WERE going to take care of them. People were grabbing profiles and saying "this is my new family member". Parents were getting their children involved and engaging them in the process. We heard story after story of people stepping out in faith and sponsoring one, two, three even as many as SIX kids! But the most amazing part was watching people stand around after services "introducing" people to their newest family members! People talking about their "sons" and "daughters", praying for them and asking TONS of questions about how to do something ELSE for these precious kids. At the end of the day 396 kids had found sponsors! That is 82% of the profiles we had on hand! It was truly amazing to be a part of and I couldn't be more in love with my church. We also got word that we had the largest launch EVER at HopeChest! While it is not about winning or numbers, this is one record that I cannot wait to have broken. I am still confused as to why God lets me be a part of something so cool. He could easily do all this by himself, but allowing me to play even a small part is such a special gift.

While Westmoore Community Church is confident that all of Ngariam will be sponsored in the next couple of weeks, please keep us in your prayers. Especially those precious faces on my dining room table who are yet to be sponsored. We believe that we will have another 100 profiles within the next couple of weeks so we have a little bit to go, but what an amazing weekend. A culmination of dreaming, praying and love that only flows from my heavenly Father.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child and providing them food, love, prayer and a relationship with someone who is thinking about them, there are several women who are searching for sponsors for a group of children who are in Swaziland, Africa. Go HERE and change a life that needs you. Or go HERE and contact HopeChest about having your church, business, social group or online network sponsor an entire village, or just advocate among your friends for one or two children who need a sponsor. Come on folks, I am holding a record and it NEEDS to be broken.