What is Chosen Ministry? How did it come to be?

I am so glad you asked!

Chosen...a ministry of adoption was born in my heart a long time ago. It was like knowing I was pregnant...but not quite sure what I was pregnant with. A boy or a girl? With my first child...though we wanted to know the sex of the baby, we were unable to tell for sure until 8 weeks before HE was born! I wanted to be fully prepared...but the lack of knowledge meant that every purchase had to work with either a boy or girl. This was so frustrating irritating. So goes the story with Chosen.

Several years ago, I felt the undeniable call on my life to speak. I was sure the ministry I had settled into quite comfortably was the correct trajectory of my life. I was confident there...ministry to women had become my heart's desire. Did I mention I was comfortable there? I knew how to lead women. It seemed that everywhere I turned hurting women needed someone to talk to. I enjoyed being that person.

...but things life wasn't falling into line as I had planned. Every time I thought, "YES! I have arrived!" I was sadly mistaken. At the age of 15...when I was called into the ministry, I thought I had it all figured out. I was called to MISSIONS! And I knew that looked like two lovebirds and their 2.4 kids selling everything they had and move across the WORLD to plant churches in Mexico...or India...or BOTH! That was it! But, THAT wasn't it! Surely the Lord would show my husband that our TRUE calling was to a FOREIGN mission field. Not Winfield, KS!

Process was a word I didn't like. AT ALL! Along with the word: journey. I just could not figure out why God would plant a dream and a call deep within my heart...and not have it come to fruition. At some point in the process journey...at some point in my life, I finally decided to quit looking at the BIG picture. (I didn't even know what that was...but it had sure consumed most of the past 11 years of my life.) I asked God to show me "what next?" He said, "school." Through my time in seminary, God began to show me His plan for my life. It included stepping out of my comfy zone...you know...that place you don't really want to leave?! Instead...he wanted me to step into the unknown. He was changing my perception of missions!

My husband and I had adopted several years earlier. But NEVER, EVER, in a MILLION years did I EVER see myself starting a ministry to promote orphan care and adoption!

God did!

And so...this new journey began. (I've finally come to enjoy the journey...the process! It's actually quite exciting to sit back and watch God's dream unfold!)

Chosen was born!

Even since it's inception, Chosen has continued to develop as God opens new doors. So, as I write about what Chosen is...please understand this is "written in pencil."  It will change over time. But for now...

Chosen exists to bring orphans of the world into relationship with Christ. 

Through adoption and orphan care we will encourage the body of Christ to 

practice God's command to care for His children. 

Chosen Ministry has a 3-fold vision: 

1.) To Establish Ministries of Adoption and Orphan Care in the Local Church; Working with the Local Church Leadership to Establish an Effective Ministry within their Church and Community.

2.) To Promote Adoption and Orphan Care Nationwide; Working with Local Pastors and Lay Leaders to Teach Adoption Theology and the Mandate of Orphan Care. 

3.) To Promote Adoption and Orphan Care Internationally; Working with Missionaries to Teach the International Church to Care for the Orphans within Their Borders. 

This.Is.Huge!

You may even think...How.In.The.World!? How can 1 ministry do all of that? 

Again...Glad you asked!

I.Have.NO.Idea!!!  Actually... I DO know! It's a God thing! We have asked for open doors and God is already providing them! We believe that God will continue as we move forward in His timing and according to His plan.

Pray With Us! 

Specific Prayer Needs:
*Direction
*Establish Non-Profit Status
*Financial Backing (We're Trusting God Here!)
*Health & Protection for our families!! (Since August, both of our families have been under intense Spiritual Warfare as we have moved forward to establish this! God is bigger than the boogie man!)

Partner With Us! 

If you would like to partner with us $financially$, you can go here to give online! Choose the Chosen icon. There are a lot of costs associated with the start-up of a ministry, and so far...God is showing us that He is faithful! We are excited to see Him work on our behalf!


Pursue God's Plan For You! 

What is YOUR part in this? Does God want you to adopt? Become a foster parent? Start a ministry in your local church? I dare you to ask Him! And when He answers...just say YES! He'll blow your socks off!! I promise!

Chosen

Recently, Kristi shared her heart and gave us a glimpse at the beginnings of a fire that our Father God lit in her that would eventually become Chosen. 

Walking the halls of the sterile orphanage, I gripped tightly to my daughter. Instincts to run overwhelmed me; the reality of her first year of life, devastating. The orphanage director led our sheltered Kansas family to the infant nursery where she introduced us to twenty of the newest members of the Social Welfare Institute. Babies, only weeks old, most with severe heart or other medical conditions, abandoned by their birth parents. Many would never know the love of an earthly mother and father, nor experience the loving care they so desperately needed. Some would not make it to their first birthday. Tears fell as our eyes took in their tiny faces and we prayed over each one. All we could think was,“Thank you, God! For sparing our daughter!” Our three sons wandered the rooms in stunned silence, quietly internalizing all they observed, speechless. What an inconceivable moment, an earth shattering reality; our family, changed by God in a moment, forever. 

Through orphan care and adoption, the church fulfills the gospel commandment to care for orphans, and mimics the characteristic of Father God by setting the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:6) For too long, adoption has been taboo in society and churches alike. Adoptive parents and children, afraid to speak of their experience for fear of judgment or pain, remain silent in their quest for normalcy. The thought that adopted children are somehow less than real children or our own children, skews the individual’s view of redemption. Timothy Paul Jones, contributor to A Guide to Adoption and Orphan Care, shares his thoughts on what he calls “the Pinocchio syndrome.”, “Do you know who your daughter’s ‘real parents’ were?", "We’re interested in adoption, but we want to have our ‘own children’ first.", "Those three are their ‘real kids’ then they adopted the others later.” He goes on to say, “These patterns tell us as much about our perception of the gospel as they do about our perception of adoption. If my daughters are not my ‘real’ daughters because they’re adopted, you and I are not quite God’s ‘real’ children; you are not quite God’s ‘own’ child; Jesus is not quite your ‘real’ brother. If you are not God’s real child and if Jesus is not my real brother, you and I are still lost in our sins.”

Christians have the perfect model of adoption painted in Scripture, through the redemption of the people who become Children of God and inherit all rights to God the Father. “Adoption is, on the one hand, gospel. In this, adoption tells us who we are as children of the Father. Adoption as gospel tells us about our identity, our inheritance, and our mission as sons of God. Adoption is also defined as mission. In this, adoption tells us our purpose in this age as the people of Christ. Missional adoption spurs us to join Christ in advocating for the helpless and the abandoned.” God commands His people to care for the orphan throughout His Word. the world has witnessed the decline of the family unit. This structure, when damaged, wreaks havoc in lives, homes, churches, communities, and etc. “The protection of children isn’t charity. It isn’t part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service corps. It’s spiritual warfare.” (I would like to add, this is not a fad or a trend.) More children than ever experience abandonment, abuse, and neglect. This generation has come against the powers of darkness in unfathomable ways. God has never retracted His command for the church to oversee the care of the orphan. The need for this ministry grows daily. People accomplish orphan care through a variety of means, such as sponsorship of orphans, funding orphanages, mission opportunities, adoption, and adoption support.