The Gospel Made Visible: Foster Care, Adoption and the Local Church

Scripture is clear: God loves orphans and vulnerable children and he calls his people to do the same. Throughout history, answering this call to welcome children the world disregards has been a defining mark of God’s people. Today, across America and beyond, Christians are again earning this reputation in vibrant ways. In this workshop, we’ll touch briefly on this history: the compelling Scriptural vision beneath it, and inspiring examples of churches living it today. Most of all, we’ll provide key tools to start an orphan/adoption/foster care ministry in your church that wraps around adoptive and foster families, nurtures deeper community and discipleship, and ultimately helps make the Gospel visible to a watching world.

Jedd Medefind serves as President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). Through CAFO, more than 190 respected faith-based organizations and a national network of churches unite in coordinated action, working together to inspire and equip people of faith to effectively serve vulnerable children and families. Prior to this role, Jedd led the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, overseeing reform efforts across the government to harness the full strengths of community-based organizations and faith-based groups as full partners in all Federal efforts to aid people in need, from prisoner reentry to global AIDS. Jedd has written many articles and four books, most recently Becoming Home (Zondervan). Jedd and his wife Rachel live near Washington, DC with their five children and are members of The Falls Church Anglican.

Johnston (John) Moore and his wife Terri are the proud and happy parents of seven children that the Lord brought to them through adoption from the Los Angeles County Foster Care System. John is an award-winning writer, consultant and speaker who, after leaving a career in Hollywood (film and tv production and writing), dedicated his family to be used by God to promote adoption, foster care, and orphan care to the Church. Since that time, John has worked and partnered with such ministries as the Christian Alliance for Orphans, Focus on the Family, Hope for Orphans, Show Hope and more. He has written ministry-related materials for such leaders as First Lady Laura Bush, Francis Chan, Steven Curtis Chapman, and more. John is also a regular speaker at foster care and adoption conferences around the country, including the Focus on the Family “Wait No More” events. A strong believer in collaboration, John has spent the past two and a half years helping ministry leaders throughout Virginia start orphan care alliances in their local communities. The Moore family live in the Richmond, Virginia area, where they are members of Redeemer Anglican Church.