Lifeline Adoption Agency’s “One” Banquet 2011

If you weren’t at this year’s Lifeline “One” Banquet, then you missed out.  Herbie Newell gave a ministry update.  Lifeline has now established a presence in Kansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Lifeline was privileged to counsel approximately 150 women over the last year with unplanned pregnancies.  Lifeline is now considered the fastest growing adoption agency in the county.

 

 

 

 

 

I had the privilege of speaking personally with the International Director, Dave Wood.  According to Dave, Lifeline has now been given charge of four orphanages in China after almost emptying out one entire orphanage.  This may be one reason why the wait time for a family adopting from China with Lifeline is, on average, 11 months, while other agencies apparently have waiting periods of over three to five years.

The theme of the conference was, “One:  No One Can Do Everything But We All Can Do One Thing … On Behalf of the Fatherless.  (James 1:27)”

The ministry update was followed by a Parade of Families where nine families, with adopted children, shared thirty second snippets relating to the “One” theme.  The McLure family had the privilege of participating in the Parade of Families and their snippet went something like this:

 “One Date:  I love to talk about my first date with my wife.  I fell in love with my wife at a Starbucks in Montgomery, AL as we played Scrabble and she shared her heart to care for the fatherless.  One year later we were married and three years later we were coming home from Hungary with our first son, Samuel Jacob McLure, II.

“Over the coming months we would come to experiential knowledge of how unchanging our place is at the table in God’s family.  Just as there is nothing my son could ever to do change his relationship to me as my son, so there is nothing we can ever do to change our Heavenly Father’s love toward us.  The effect on our lives, of adopting our son, has been to help us understand that nothing … in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:39 … nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’”

The Parade of Families was followed by a musical interlude by the Redeemer Worship Band.  David Nasser then gave a charge for financial giving towards the mission of Lifeline.

David Platt was the Keynote Speaker.  Unfortunately, our family had to leave before his talk.  Hopefully, Lifeline will post his talk on the website:  lifelineadoption.org

Photo from Lifeline Children’s Services:  Defend.