Full Transcript for Everyone Can Do Something!

get started and uh go ahead, man. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:25.599 Introduce myself? 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:26.000 Go ahead. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:29.280 I'm the director of church engagement. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:30.639 So I'm the new guy on staff. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:33.039 I started seven months ago in March. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:38.479 I left uh ministry in a local church, so I've been serving in a local church setting for 20 plus years. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:46.479 I was on the board at Connie Maxwell for two years, and then just paid attention to the leadership and the vision and said, I think I might want to be a part of that. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:52.400 So my job is to travel the state, uh, meet with pastors, meet with ministry leaders, to do that reintroduction. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.719 Hey, we're Connie Maxwell, we're not a bank in Greenwood, we're actually a children's home. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:57.759 I've had that said. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.599 But that's good, that's job security for me. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:09.759 Um, to say, here's who we are, here's what we've done for 131 years, and here's what we're going to continue to do as we partner with the local church. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:11.599 And so it's a great gig. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:17.120 I love it, and I get to work with this guy and Sheila and uh many others, and uh excited to be here this morning. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:19.280 Phil's been a gift our ministry. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:26.240 Uh I grew up the son of a pastor, and uh my brother was a church planner now, is on staff at a church in Greenville. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:44.639 But I've never been a pastor, I've never been on staff like many of you in here, and so it's been a gift to have someone with a pastor's heart who's been on staff in different church settings because he's gonna have insights that I that I may not, and so it's been great, and of course, it leads right to where we want to drive at the heart of how do we strengthen church partnerships. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:54.000 Um, this video kind of helps uh paint a picture of what we believe, what I've seen is real after 15 years of being in the nonprofit space. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:55.520 I've worked for three organizations. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.639 I kind of skipped my intro, uh, but it's not that important. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.400 The thing that that um I grew up on a campus basically. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:09.919 My mom worked for an organization, my dad was a youth pastor, and they were deeply involved at a campus uh for with Florida Baptist Children's Homes. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.240 So my whole childhood, I was watching my parents do ministry to kids from hard places. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:23.839 Spent if I wasn't at the church uh gym on on you know all week after school, I was at the uh I was at the Florida Baptist Children's Homes, Tallahassee Campus. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:26.079 My first job was there when I was 17. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:27.360 I was on payroll. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:32.399 Um I've now this is our fourth, the fourth organization, hopefully the last uh will work for. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.399 So in seminary, God called me. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.040 I was in Louisville and pursuing church ministry. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:52.000 I've been under David Platt's teaching when I was in college in Birmingham years ago, and you can't listen to David Platt for long, and I feel called to ministry, and so God worked in my life in that way, but knew that he was knew that the next step was seminary. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.959 Um, but always assumed it was pastoral ministry, right? 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.000 You just kind of assume that's the case, and so kind of came full circle. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:04.800 And while I was in seminary, God called me and opened my eyes to how I can be an advocate on behalf of children in a ministry context. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:11.040 And so it kind of wed my love for the local church and my my heart and concern for kids from hard places. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.560 So it's been a beautiful gift. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:18.560 But this video right here uh is what helps uh I think people see that this can happen in your church. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.360 I've seen it happen, it can happen in any church. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.040 Are we really ready for this? 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:37.759 I don't know. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:09:30.480 Hey, you don't need anything seriously like it that gives you a picture as to what can happen when uh families wrap around families, and we'll talk more about that as the day goes on. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:32.240 I wanted to start with this slide. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.039 Why emphasize foster care and adoption? 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:47.440 And certainly, if you're in this room right now, uh you're interested in it and you want to emphasize it, or you're already emphasizing it, and we're driven by the fact that Jesus moves towards brokenness. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:10:00.240 And I read a quote, I did as much reading as I as I could when I came on staff at Connecting Maxwell to try to get a grasp as to what foster care is, what are we what are we asking churches to do? 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:10.320 Um and this quote comes from Jamie Finn, maybe it's a familiar name to you, but she says this, and I think this presents a good picture of what we're trying to get at at point one. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.480 The system is broken. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:17.519 But we must remember that before the broken system comes the broken family. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.240 And families are broken because people are broken. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:22.879 You and me, them, all of us. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:29.039 The bad news must precede the good news, the best news, that Jesus came to save broken people. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:34.000 Jesus loves broken people, and we

mirror this Jesus when we love them too. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:38.080 We mirror this Jesus when we leave our comfort to step into another's brokenness. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:44.559 We mirror this Jesus when we see brokenness and we are moved to compassion and action because this is what Jesus has done for us. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:49.919 The fact that the system and its people are broken is the very reason we engage it. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:54.720 Following Jesus will always lead us to the broken because that's who he came for. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.440 He came for them, he came for us. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:05.919 And I have found a better explanation as to why we engage in a tough ministry like foster gear. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:13.360 It's the very fact that we who are created in the image of God understand what brokenness is. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:18.559 Uh, we understand what darkness is, we understand that Jesus ran towards us, right? 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.039 He put on flesh and he came and he ran towards us. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.519 And so now, as uh these people who are God's handiwork, right? 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.000 Paul talks about that in Ephesians, I believe. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:31.519 Now we we know the work that is uh uh we're called to. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:33.759 We know the path that he has paved for us, right? 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:37.519 So he's created us, we know what we're supposed to do, and now we run to it. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:47.919 And so there's no better reason uh to engage in foster care or to emphasize foster care, but then the fact that we know that Jesus moves towards brokenness. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.639 So I think this is this is more pragmatic. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:02.720 Y'all, you can find the challenges of foster care and the hardship that that will bring into families or into your church is is pretty obvious, probably the most. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.759 Uh, but there's so much joy that can come from it. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:11.360 And our goal oftentimes by nature in our in our flesh is we want to isolate and insulate. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:32.559 And uh, I will not speak as a foster parent, I'm not, but I will say that our family is regularly seeing that, and and um my kids go to public school, my wife's side of the family is very uh they're not in church, and so there's conversations we've had to have with our children at an early age that maybe most of us would have rather not had. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:43.120 And uh the last night I took two of our boys hunting, uh a very kind, generous landowner who owns property near Greenwood, invited some of our kids to go hunting. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:48.399 So my daughter, my nine-year-old little girl, and I went and picked up two of our boys on campus and took them hunting. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:49.919 It was a great afternoon. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:59.759 But during that, right, there's some things said, and

there's some there's there's two teenage boys, uh, one who I know doesn't know Jesus, who's not been on our campus very long. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:05.840 Um, and there's things said that lead me to have to have a conversation with my daughter, and I'm able to navigate that carefully. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.759 But my point is that's not comfortable. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:13.679 It's not comfortable to have my nine-year-old little girl there with two teenage boys and me have to, you know, mitigate that. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:21.200 And so I just know there's joy though, like the joy we found in the afternoon hunting with these boys, inviting them, being a part of their life. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:29.519 It wasn't easy necessarily, it came with some mess in the middle, but there was joy to be found, and I know my kids are learning the way I the way I learned growing up too. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:36.559 So uh there's joy to be found there in the midst of mess, and it the joy supersedes the mess, and it's worth it. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:38.559 Um, the second thing is the need is great. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.480 Y'all, there's 4,000 kids in the foster care system in our state. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:46.240 Um, I could go to any county, and we if we had time, we would say, What county are you in? 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:47.360 What county are you in? 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.919 But here's what I know to be true because I've done this long enough. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:55.679 Every county, no matter what the number is, if you're in a very rural tech context, there may be 50 kids in foster care. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:01.360 If you're in the Richland County or some of these big city counties, there's hundreds of kids in foster care. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:08.399 But here's the point there's this many kids in foster care in every county, and there's this many foster families, and so there's a gap there. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.440 The the good news in that is that there's this many churches. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:17.759 And in many of the presentations we've led when we've really tried to contextualize it to that specific county, which is what we try to do, right? 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.679 It's just smart marketing, scale it. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:25.120 Instead of talking about 4,000 people or 6 billion people in the world, you talk about right in your neighborhood. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:36.399 But here's what I know to be true: in every neighborhood I've looked at in South Carolina, there's as many evangelical churches, oftentimes, sometimes even as many just Southern Baptist SCBC churches as there are families. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:47.600 So if we look at ourselves not as trying to tackle this issue as an individual church, but trying to think of how we can work together with churches around us, if the the thing does not seem that overwhelming. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:53.039 It really looks like this is something we can get our hands around, um, but we've got to put it in front of our people. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:54.879 We've got to put it in front of our people. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.679 So uh what's holding us back, um, we're gonna move through this kind of quickly. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.759 I think this is the slide we debated. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:03.039 Do you keep this slide? 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:04.799 I'm just being honest with you. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.080 And I think we landed in words, yes, let's keep this slide. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:16.240 I'm gonna take these first three because I think this, if we can get past this stuff, I think it's I think there's a lot of momentum that can come. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:17.759 But here's the first issue, right? 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:19.039 It's out of sight, out of mind. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:30.159 You're not gonna oftentimes, unless you're a teacher and a in a in public school teachers see it a lot, but unless you're in a very specific field, police officers see what's going on in homes. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.399 Um, unless you're in that field, oftentimes we're in isolate insulate mode, right? 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:42.000 Our daily rhythms, my own family's daily rhythms, if it wasn't for where I worked, I would never come into contact with kids in foster care. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:43.519 And that's most of us. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:48.639 Our daily rhythms, whether you're in a pastor on staff, most of us do not see this need. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:49.600 It's not laid bare. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:55.039 Like when you go to a foreign country and you've worked in an orphanage, the needs are just laid bare. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:01.519 You drive in Tegucigalpa, Guatemala, and there's just kids literally living on a trash mountain. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:11.759 And because we live in an infrastructure in America where there's there's a little bit more, you know, economy and there's growth, we don't quite see these needs laid bare. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.720 We're kind of on an island, oftentimes of ease. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.279 Um, but they're there, they're all around us. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:20.240 The second thing is it feels known, but it's overwhelming. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:21.360 We kind of spoke to that earlier. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.519 It this feels like, which leads to the third thing. 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:29.919 So when we feel like the need's overwhelming, uh sometimes the bystander syndrome uh happens. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:34.080 It's there's this is social psychologists have studied this effect. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:46.080 In 1964, it became more widely studied, but like at the scene of an accident, about 10 years ago, I was on the interstate uh uh out of Birmingham where we live, and there's a pretty serious accident right in front of me. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:51.039 And I'm only a couple lanes of cars behind, but everybody just pauses, and it

felt like for third. 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.440 Now, I'm not the closest to it, but I'm close. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:17:01.679 This man runs across a median and gets here from the other side of the interstate, going the opposite direction to help the people who were closest to me. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:04.160 And it caused me to think, like, why did I freeze? 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.039 Well, I froze because there was cars closer to me. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:08.960 And then I'm thinking, well, why did they freeze? 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.160 Well, the same reason they thought, well, there's cars all around me, right? 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:21.039 It's you feel like someone's gonna jump in, and what happens is the more people uh that are around, the less likely people are to respond. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.400 And so we feel like someone else is gonna jump in and tackle this issue. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.240 Or oh, that's the thing that other church does. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.519 They've got younger families, they they are better suited for that. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:34.559 And the truth is um we've got to get past that and realize we all can have a role uh to play here. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:37.519 Well, that's just the this fear of being a hypocrite. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.440 I tell the story all the time before I go. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:42.079 When Sally is my youngest daughter, she's 12. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.559 I've got two older boys, 14 and 16. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:52.559 When Sally found out that I was gonna be traveling the state talking about foster care in churches, she said, Dad, don't you think you'd be more legitimate if you had a foster daughter? 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.720 And then I said, Well, uh, be quiet, you know, pass me another role, right? 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:04.799 But there's this, there's this, this, you gotta look in the mirror and say, Well, what am I asking people to do something that I'm not doing myself, right? 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:17.279 And we'll talk about this idea that just because, and so it doesn't just excuse the Turner family from engaging in foster care, but rather that while they're waiting on dad to pull the trigger, it is what are the Turns doing, right? 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.000 So it's not that, and I think that's a scheme of the enemy. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:25.759 The enemy says, if you're if you're not willing to do this as your show, how can you call your people to do it, right? 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:32.160 So there's this fear of being a hypocrite, and then the last thing is that pastors are busy, ministry leaders are busy. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.160 A lot of us serve in churches that are just program-driven churches. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:41.440 And so there's always Wednesday, there's always Sunday, there's always the Thursday Bible study. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.079 There's all kinds of our calendars are full. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:51.519 And so before we know it, there could be 12 months that goes by before we've actually acted on something that we know we we really want to act on. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.119 We just haven't had the time to do it. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:57.680 And so we want to get, we'll talk about fuel and friction, we want to move some of the friction out of the way. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.000 Um, and I think these are some of the things. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:13.759 So here's the good news: every church, I think sometimes we put ourselves in a box, we put churches in a box and think you've got to have a certain makeup or style or be in a certain setting to start talking about these topics with your people. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:19.440 And I would just say, y'all, I haven't done this uh almost 15 years and done it in a couple different states. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:25.119 Uh, I promise you, I've seen rural, smaller churches do a really good job of this. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.960 I've seen big churches do a really good job of this, and vice versa. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:30.720 Um, it's something that so get past. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:35.440 If there's any of that in your head thinking, I don't know that that really fits us, I just would say it's it's you can. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:39.279 Yeah, I promise you can do it, and we want to help be a part of how thinking through those things. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.640 So some of the starting points, I'll take the first couple here. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:48.480 Um, there's these are kind of four things we just feel like is gonna have to happen, right, in your church. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:51.440 We want to create custom action plans. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.160 That's part of Philip's job, that's why God called him here. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.279 We want to create a plan that works for your church in your context. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:06.480 One of the things that drives me crazy is, and it's it's good marketing, and I have a marketing mind, so I get why we do it, but we try to say, do these three things, and then we try to apply it across the board. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:11.759 Um, and the truth is every church is different, but there are a few things that every church is gonna have to have. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:14.720 And so education and awareness is gotta happen. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:21.119 If your people don't know that there is a need and don't know how they can respond, um, they just can't do it. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:22.160 And there's some natural ways. 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:27.440 We'll give some examples of how this can come up throughout the year in your context. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:30.960 Uh, the second thing is transformational, authentic relationship. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:44.400 Um, we really feel like, and this is we've put resources here, Connie Maxwell is serious about creating and forging strong partnerships with churches, hence Philip Turner's role, because I

was trying to do it as much as I can still love it, but I can't do it. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.559 We're trying to we're trying to do more of it, and we believe that it's gonna be relational. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:55.039 I don't think we can just send you to a link and let you follow some three-step plan, and then you feel like you're ready to go do this. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:56.240 It's harder than that. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:02.400 It's it's not easy, people feel ill-equipped for it, which is probably why maybe you even came today is what how do we even start? 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:19.119 We want to help you learn how you can start, but we believe it's through relationships, uh, not just with Connie Maxwell, the licensing partner, um, but with other churches, and we want to be the connector that connects you to maybe other churches in your area because God is doing stuff through churches in your area, no matter where you are, I guarantee you. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.559 And if he's not, you might be the first church, and then it can build from there. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.400 So we really want to come alongside and customize a plan of action. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.720 And I think this comes just being strategic. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:35.200 We've heard stories of churches who have who have gone from the pulpit and said, hey, here's the need, here's what we're gonna do, and they weren't ready. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:37.359 They weren't ready to meet that need. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:43.759 And so I think it's very wise for us to say, okay, foster care in and of itself is a a crock pot ministry. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:45.599 Nothing happens quickly, right? 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.440 Especially when we're dealing with churches. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:52.480 We want to we want to uh create pavers or build a solid foundation. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.880 And the what I've said is is we've used this language of just what's the next baby step? 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.759 How can we we don't want you to go from zero to sixty. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.319 Oh, you can, but you're going to burn out, right? 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:04.160 We want you to go from zero to one. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.559 And then when we're comfortable with one, we want to move to step two, step three, and so on and so forth. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.559 And so we're going to develop a customized plan of action. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.519 I think the next slide shows a picture of that. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:14.960 And this is an example. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:16.960 We blurred out the name protect answer, right? 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.400 Of a church that we protect uh that we created a plan for. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:22.960 And it was this this church had a conference. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.920 And so when you see rollout there, this was pre-conference. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:32.400 Here's some of the things that we think you need to do

before your conference because we knew the conference was going to highlight foster care. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:33.920 So here's a couple of things. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:36.880 We want to identify and equip lay leadership for foster parenting. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.160 We want to identify families who are foster parenting fostering in the church. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:44.240 How can we come alongside them and encourage them, support them, and love on these families? 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:47.920 You skip on down to now at the before the conference even uh starts. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:55.200 Then we're gonna roll it out. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:59.519 And then after the rollout, we're gonna examine what we've done, we're gonna make the tweaks we need to do. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:04.559 The point is this that everything matters, your context matters, right? 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:17.119 So if you've got a pastor who is passionate about foster care, and you've got people who are engaged in foster care, you've got a missions pastor or a layperson who is like banging the drum for foster care, that's three for three. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:19.279 We're gonna hit a home run every single time. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:25.759 And that plan is gonna look different than a plan for a church who's like the pastor's kind of putting his toe in the water. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:31.920 I know we need to do something, we've never really done anything about it, or maybe you've got a missions pastor who's beaten the drum and the pastor's not quite ready, right? 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:33.519 So that plan is gonna look different. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:37.119 The point is, everything, your context matters in that. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.720 And back to the the next of the previous slide, this clear pathway. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:50.400 So there's this idea, Jason Johnson, who's with um uh KFO, gives us this uh illustration of fuel and friction and what he talks about, and I'll butcher this. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:52.960 Uh so email him and tell him I did a terrible job. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:58.960 There was a company that was designing um uh customized customized sofas, right? 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:04.000 And and as they as they did, so you could pick the legs, you could pick the factory, do everything you wanted to do. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:09.920 Um, and they found that the people were going all the way through the process and they weren't clicking by. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.680 And they tried to figure out why aren't why are people taking the time to build their sofa and not clicking by? 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:20.000 The reason was because they didn't know how to get rid of their old couch. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:20.720 Right? 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:26.240 And so they went ahead and said, okay, well, we we've we've figured out that this is the friction. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:28.160 Now what can we do about that? 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.200 And

it's now we're gonna provide a service to get rid of your old couch. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:38.640 So if you buy a couch from us, we're gonna deliver your couch, we're gonna take your couch off of your hands and donate it to a minister, whatever. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:44.400 The idea is that what are we doing as ministry leaders to make the pathways clear? 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:50.480 What is the friction, and then how can we add fuel to help get rid of that friction? 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:51.200 Does that make sense? 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:54.480 So the friction is gonna be different in every setting as well. 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:56.960 So we want to help with clear pathways. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.319 So uh, Philip, you got this one. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:00.880 This is me. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:01.359 You got it. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:06.880 So here's here's some of the things that we have found um to be very, very helpful as we come in. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:10.079 So a lot of this happens as I talk, and I'll use David as an example. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.079 David and I met a few months ago. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:22.880 He's at Everett's Road, and um and uh just said, all right, hey, here's here's uh some of the conversations that we feel like we need to have, and maybe we'll come back to what Everett Road has done, which is fantastic. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:25.279 But it's what can we do a lunch and learn? 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.559 Like can we just come in and we'll gather some people? 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:36.000 We did that at Everage Road, 15 people um in a small setting, and just say, all right, is there any fuel here, right? 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:41.359 Is there any people, are there any people here they're they're interested in or engaged in foster care already? 00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.880 Or maybe it's just a Sunday school class. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.960 Can we come in and talk to a small group? 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.920 Can we have a uh just 15 minutes with a Sunday school class or a small group or a life group? 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:56.160 Maybe it's in someone's home, perhaps it's even uh during the Sunday school hour at the church, some small group conversations. 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:00.400 And then some other things to talk about just to add fuel is maybe, you know what? 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.279 We just start with having prayer partners. 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:06.319 Uh I uh spoke last night at Concord Baptist Church. 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:12.480 I said this that there's absolutely no way we can do what we need to do without praying. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:14.160 The enemy is crafty, right? 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:18.640 Talks about being a roaring lion sneaking around seeking uh to devour. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:22.640 And so if he's crafty and strategic, then we better be a praying people. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.079 And so we need prayer partners. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:26.799 We want you all to pray for us, we're gonna pray for you. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:35.920 But maybe within the in the context of your local church, there's some people that we're just gonna ask God to start moving in their hearts and their lives and their minds to be able to do that. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.000 So these are just some ideas and some clear pathways as we talk about fuel versus friction. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:52.960 And there's a number of things we didn't put on here, y'all, that what we're gonna walk through is kind of an example of when we do a launch, but but for some churches, doing a launch right now would probably feel a little bit ambitious. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:58.240 And so um the idea that education awareness piece comes back to the slide earlier. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:05.519 Part of how you educate, you know, we Philip and I over the last year and a half, you know, it started with me and Philip's had a whole lot more in the last six months. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:19.200 But when we're trying to kind of assess, kind of going back to what this the speaker said this morning out of Romans, uh, when we're trying to assess, like based on what the pastor's telling us or the ministry leader we're having a meeting with, it literally starts over coffee or meeting. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:27.680 Everything we've done that has led to a launch started with a person in that church who has some level of influence or trust to make things happen. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:30.079 And so it starts very relationally. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:35.200 Um, and then it might be that that and that nobody knows that church better than than you all, right? 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.480 Like you know your church, and so we're not coming with answers as experts, we're just giving you ideas because we've seen stuff done. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:46.480 But one of those things that we've watched uh work is sometimes a church just needs to come and serve. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:28:03.359 And so this is where it could sound like a commercial, but I'm telling you, if if doing a launch and calling people to fostering is so far beyond right now what the heartbeat of the church really is aware of, um then it might be better to, hey, there's we've got serve days on our website right now lined up for the whole year. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:12.640 Uh we put them up at the end of this year for the whole next year, and on a Saturday, you could bring your team of people and just see which is education awareness. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:21.039 Yeah, you're serving on our campus in Greenwood, but you're also becoming aware of uh the fact that there's kids from hard places that need a home. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.079 Um, and then it starts asking, you start asking questions, right? 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:48.640 That while they're there serving, there's things that are happening, and people are starting to become aware of something, and then they go back and they tell their

Sunday school class or they tell their small group and they say, Hey, could our small, I mean, y'all, this last year I've watched this happen in a handful of churches, and it started with one person in the church and it and it leaked out and it snowballed, and now there's that church, it's starting to take over the church, so it doesn't always have to come from the top either. 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:55.920 And so just the ideas, but when we get to a place where uh the education and awareness piece, the church is ready for it. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.480 Um, here's some things uh that we try to do and and make clear. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:04.079 Um, and so one of those is we we cat, we do a little bit of what we've done here today. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:09.119 We want the church to know that we're coming at this from a biblical perspective that God gave the command to the church. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:11.440 We're just the arm that helps facilitate things. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.039 We have to do licensing, we have to uh do home studies. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:17.440 There's a whole government process involved in this. 00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:18.960 We're licensed by the state. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.160 The government owns this process, and we're a partner in that with them. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:27.359 Um but we start from with a biblical precedence. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:32.000 We go through local statistics, we try to contextualize it as clearly as we can. 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:43.839 There's the they do put out DSS does put out numbers, so you can really get a pretty clear picture of how many kids in this county need to be cared for, how many families are there already are, what's the what's the difference look like? 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:47.119 Really try to paint a need that's specific to that context. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:52.160 Uh the third thing we try to do is just do basic, frequently asked questions about foster care. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:57.359 When there's a team of people who've gathered, um, so I'll use Lake Murray Baptist as an example last year. 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:00.960 Uh they created a they did it around a sermon series. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:04.400 Um, they did a great job of doing the biblical precedence. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:16.720 They had a brief panel discussion in the service, and for several weeks they've been marketing the idea to their people hey, stick around for a lunch after church on Sunday in three weeks, and then two weeks, and then one week, and then it was came to that day. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:19.279 We showed up, a few of our staff were there. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:21.599 We did a brief panel after a sermon. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.359 They shortened the sermon that day. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:26.480 About 30 people stuck around for lunch afterwards. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:29.680 The church uh fit the bill for the lunch. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.039 Again, eliminating friction. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:35.440 They also had volunteers provide child care so that people interested wouldn't have to work. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.799 That wouldn't be a hindrance again. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:41.920 Eliminating friction so that the more people providing you meal and providing you child care. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:48.559 So they eliminated a lot of the friction that would be an immediate you know thing, and then they did a good job of getting the word out several weeks in advance. 00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:50.720 And David Bennett, I give him a ton of credit for that. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:53.519 He has a heart for this, um, so he made it a lot easier. 00:30:53.680 --> 00:31:03.200 But uh, so this is what we did is we we go into basic, frequently asked questions uh about foster care to that group of people who were saying I'm I might be interested in this. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.359 And then we uh we give a framework and examples of how a church can support foster parents. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:08.640 You saw our video earlier. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:17.440 We really try to paint that uh to say, hey, regardless of of where you are in the journey, not everyone in here is maybe called or ready to foster. 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:20.480 Maybe, maybe that's not at all what God would have for your family. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:30.079 Um, but I've seen some of I mean you saw in that video um the man mowing the grass, uh, we've got a gentleman that shows up to Connie Maxwell every all the time and fixes bikes. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:42.480 And so there's usually some people, and that's the big thing is when we're promoting this to the church, we want people to see themselves as being able to be in the process and not thinking, oh well, I'm out, I'm not, I'm not looking to be a foster parent. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:49.039 It's really trying to break down that barrier, and then of course making the clear steps um really clear. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:32:02.079 Uh Philip, this is a great example that uh um a lot of people think, I think again, another scheme of the enemy that alright, I'm not willing to open up my home yet because we're not ready or we're not even we don't even know if we're called. 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:04.640 Um, so I don't need to do anything with foster fear. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:13.680 And that's just what I love about the video that we showed you earlier because I think it gives a clear example of what it looks like to wrap around families who are doing it, right? 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:16.240 So um what is it, what does it look like? 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:19.680 Maybe I I'm just gonna become a prayer partner with this family, right? 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:22.480 Um I'm gonna do some house cleaning, I'm gonna do groceries. 00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:36.640 You can read, I'm not gonna read all of them, but the point is this are there people in your community, so this is like this is an evangelistic

opportunity if you've got uh families who are fostering that aren't even involved in your church or in church in general, right? 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:46.880 So I'm gonna create a care community for these people, or perhaps, and more likely, there are people in your church who are exploring the opportunity of foster care or already engaged in it. 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:51.119 So, what we want to do is I'll call the pastor and I'll pick on David again. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:58.400 Hey, David, did you know that the Henries have gone through the licensing or going through the licensing process through Kanye Maxwell? 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:00.799 Yeah, Philip, I knew that because I told him to do it. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:01.680 Great, fantastic. 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:03.200 Or no, Philip, I didn't know that. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:03.759 Well, great. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:06.400 So, David, here's a couple of things that we would encourage you to do. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:16.720 We want to help you develop a small group that's gonna wrap around, so it's like a Sunday school class, basically, that's gonna wrap around this family for as long as they are in the process. 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:18.400 This is not a one-and-done, right? 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:24.240 It's not okay, we're gonna show up on their doorstep with groceries one time, but we're gonna do this regularly. 00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:29.440 We're gonna create rhythms in this family's life so that we are now supporting them. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:41.200 Statistics say this, and I think this is right, that families who have wraparound a ministry around them are 90% more likely to continue in foster care because they have such great support. 00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:49.839 And then the other thing that's fascinating to me is that if I'm part of that wraparound ministry, I'm 90% more likely to engage in foster care myself. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:56.319 Because I see, well, golly, if I had the support that I'm giving somebody else, then maybe I can do this, right? 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:57.759 Um, and so it's anything. 00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:02.720 We we've got a friend down in Charleston who says this that people are always asking, what can I do? 00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:03.279 What can I do? 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:03.839 What can I do? 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.559 And I think we struggle with this as Christians, especially in the South. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.079 We don't want to impose, right? 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:17.280 But she said someone showed up at their doorstep on a Tuesday night with uh let's just say it was Mo's, and she looked at her husband, looked at her kid, said, Well, I guess we're having Mexican tonight, right? 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:18.639 Um, and so that's that's it. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:19.679 So they just showed up. 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:21.440 Stop asking, what can we do? 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:22.960 Just show up and do. 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:24.000 So like

be Mr. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:28.079 Larry, show up and cut the grass, be the mom who showed up with groceries unannounced. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:28.639 Imagine that. 00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:32.639 That we went back to pre whatever, ring doorbells, right? 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:35.360 But we just actually showed up and we didn't know who was at the door. 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:39.039 And we opened the door and we're surprised by Moe's or by someone who's doing yard work. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:48.239 So the idea is this wrapping around fosterman and doctor families that made it easier for them, but then it's also exposing our people to different opportunities for certs. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:49.199 So that's that. 00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:51.599 And this can be done in the context of your church. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:34:56.000 I've seen small churches do this almost as a church, do this, wrap around families. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:00.480 I've seen big churches who said, hey, we don't want to create a whole separate foster care program over here. 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:03.599 A lot of our families in foster care are already in small groups. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:05.519 This is a church we're working with down in Charleston. 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:13.599 And we say, great, this can work, but your small group leader in that small group that that foster family's in, they don't have a clue how to love on that foster family. 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:25.280 And that foster family, by nature, most people who say yes to foster parenting, one, they're Uber givers, and two, uh, they don't like asking for help because they live with this feeling of, well, I signed up for this mess. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.760 I can't ask all my friends to join us in the journey. 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:29.119 They're just not gonna do it. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:30.559 It feels self-serving. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:38.480 Uh, we've got a family who's who is a foster parent, who's on staff at a church, and he's like, man, the hardest thing, he goes, I feel like Connie Maxwell's my buffer. 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:42.639 Like, if we're drowning, I can ask y'all to say stuff that I just I can't say. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:46.400 It would feel like I'm saying, hey, bless us, bless us. 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:52.320 And so we get to be that kind of third party that comes in, right, and says, hey, here's what y'all need to do for this family. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:55.679 They're not gonna ask you for it, but I promise they won't, they won't turn it down. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:58.320 And so it kind of works in that way too. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:00.320 Um, kind of three ways. 00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:08.079 We've we've we've stole this from Jason straight from a presentation last year, so I'll give him total credit, Jason Johnson, who um Philip quoted earlier. 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:14.000 But here's ways uh that this is part of again the example of what we share in our presentation. 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:21.519 So at our launch, we show this slide and we tell people, hey, you know, here's here's tier one, the greatest need, highest reward. 00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:23.360 It's simple yet significant. 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:35.679 You can provide, so it's kind of getting deeper into some of the stuff we've already talked about, but it really lets people see, hey, you don't have to jump all the way into the deep end of the pool if this is not been if this is a new concept for you. 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:45.920 Uh feel really comfortable and good about having your family or or you as a single person be involved with tier one, maybe tier two, a little higher level commitment, right? 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:53.280 But a sincere, um a sincerely helpful thing, uh babysitting, transporting, uh child to therapy. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:58.159 Um we've put tier and Connie Maxwell takes on trying to match this up. 00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:03.440 We do have about 45 families that we've licensed that are across the Midlands and upstate. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:10.719 We've recently started licensing uh licensing the low country, and we've actually got someone coming on staff full time down in the low country. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:16.400 I just say that because we've got someone I know for sure who's in the low country, um, and that could happen very soon. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:22.400 And so, um, but we're you know, yes, it all comes back to we're we're gonna try to match that up. 00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:28.960 If your church is like we want to do something, um, we don't have a family yet, but we want to move to that process. 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:35.599 We've we've seen that happen where we're matching stuff up so that your church can go ahead and jump in and be engaged and hopefully move to that place. 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:38.719 Third thing, obviously, full-time fostering, respite care. 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:49.280 We put those together because respite care, uh, which allows a family to uh take in children overnight for extended periods of time, um, you're gonna have to go through the licensing process. 00:37:49.360 --> 00:38:01.599 So it is a little higher commitment, um, and it does certainly lead to more people end up who end up doing full-time fostering, and and the switch to do that is really simple because you've already gone through the process, but it's a huge help. 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:11.280 If we had trusted respite care, our families would tell you the the difference it makes when they know there's a family who's gone through some of the training and all had all the background checks. 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:23.679 If they know that like they're a family with us, that they're a Christian family who's in church, um they've been through respite care training, they're that much more likely to feel like they can uh get away for a couple nights if they had someone there that they could trust. 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:33.599 And

sometimes, like if they're going through DSS to find that match, they're not gonna feel great about leaving the child that they feel responsible for with a stranger, and so it's a huge help. 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:36.800 Um, and so we put all this out there when we do our launches. 00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:43.119 Uh here's an example of just something that is again comes back to that clear pathways. 00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:46.320 We try to make that really clear at the end of our presentation. 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:50.159 We show a QR code, and and then what it will show you is this. 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:56.480 Now, this isn't something we're asking any of you in here to do because this is just to show you an example of check all that apply. 00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:03.119 And so, this is that when we did the info launch, when we've done those at at churches where there's been education awareness. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:04.960 Now, this is that point of response. 00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:12.480 And so there's people in the room, maybe it's the the little old lady who makes really good food, but she's not looking to take a child in, but she wants to help. 00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:16.639 Um, she could you know do that in the room, click any of these that apply. 00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:18.159 Some of those for y'all who can't see it. 00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:20.079 I'm interested in becoming a foster parent. 00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:22.400 I'm interested in being licensed for respite care. 00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:26.800 I'm interested in supporting foster parents, I'm interested in providing landscaping or lawn care. 00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:31.119 We've got all these different menus of items, and just so and we give that to the church. 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:35.440 In fact, some churches have said, hey, can you just get that to come straight to us so we've got the information? 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:38.480 We're like, great, yes, the church is the one gonna be the one doing it. 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:40.960 We just want them to know that we're a partner in that. 00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:44.159 Um you want to start this slide? 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:48.960 Yeah, so you know, a lot of a lot of the thing, the thing that we're talking about is okay, what what can we do? 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:51.199 What can we do in the next 60 days? 00:39:51.360 --> 00:40:00.480 And it's hard because we're bumping up against Thanksgiving and Christmas, but here's some ideas we thought through that could be some good tangible uh takeaways. 00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:07.840 It's this idea, just to begin the conversation, as we talked about this um uh last week, is form and function. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:18.880 And it kind of goes back to the whole contextual contextualizing uh things for the local church, where they're at, but it is this that Connie Maxwell wants to do the heavy lifting. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:30.159 Um we we want to help with the form of foster care, the form of engagement in foster care, and uh to be able to equip you uh to do that. 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:36.000 Understanding that the function, excuse me as I whistle, the function is the local churches. 00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:47.360 I thought to Jay, I said, I don't want to come be a part of Connie Maxwell if if we're gonna function like in a lot of other parishurch organizations, and that, hey, here's the need, give us money, and we'll go meet the need. 00:40:47.760 --> 00:40:54.000 Rather, it is that we understand that the local church is God's redemptive vehicle for mankind, and the function is up to the local church. 00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:59.440 So here's the need, here's how we want to come alongside you, and then we're gonna let you meet that need. 00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:09.440 But we also understand because pastors are busy, because bandwidth is limited, that we want to do a lot of the form stuff for you so that you can go and do the function, right? 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:13.280 So some of those, it looks like this, exposing your people to the need. 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:14.159 We talked about this. 00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:19.199 Um, one of the things that I'm passionate about is raising awareness and education, right? 00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:22.400 So our people aren't going to respond to a need if they don't know about the need. 00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:37.199 So maybe there's some ways that you can uh put this before your people over the next 60 days as you're trying to think through, all right, as we're soft pedaling our way towards uh a meeting or towards exposing even more uh in foster care, what are some low-hanging fruit? 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:39.920 Share what Kanye Maxwell is doing on social media. 00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:51.519 Um golly, we're in such a social media driven age right now, where if it doesn't happen on Instagram or Facebook or X, Twitter, I still call it Twitter, then it's not happening, right? 00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:53.519 And so how how can we expose it? 00:41:53.679 --> 00:42:00.480 Maybe it's just you from your desk sharing to all your followers opposed to Connie Maxwell's done. 00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:02.000 And so people see it, right? 00:42:02.079 --> 00:42:06.159 And they say, oh, well, I didn't know, I didn't know Connie Maxwell did this or that or the other. 00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:08.639 So it's exposing um them to the need in a different way. 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:17.840 Um Jay mentioned the serve days in uh in uh we got a serve day coming up in February, so once a month we invite people onto our campus to come and expose them to the need, right? 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:18.639 So it's a survey. 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:27.119 And maybe you you look at my I just missed Orphan Care Sunday um yesterday, but maybe there's something that we can do as a church for sanctity of life Sunday. 00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:30.559 It's not an example, it's not a um an um accident. 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:32.000 I was on campus when

Roe v. 00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:40.719 Wade was overturned, and I was in the car with Danny, our president, and he said, Phil, um, this just means that our job became even greater, right? 00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:44.239 Because the need is going to grow up. 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:49.599 So as we talk about sanctity of life, and we've had a great conversation with Southern Baptist recently, right? 00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:50.960 It is whole life, right? 00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:56.400 So it's not just what happens in the womb, what happens, what happens after the child is born. 00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:59.519 So if we believe in sanctity of life, it's a whole life thing. 00:42:59.599 --> 00:43:03.360 So maybe there's something that you can do in it's January, I believe, sanctity of life. 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:06.639 So just some ideas of some things that you can do in the next 60 days. 00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:07.599 That's good. 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:14.320 So and then the last thing is um is we want, is this me? 00:43:14.480 --> 00:43:15.119 Yeah, you got it. 00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:18.000 Yeah, this is um uh this QR code does work. 00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:23.519 And so I would encourage you um to use this code uh to set up a meeting. 00:43:23.599 --> 00:43:24.400 I'd love to come. 00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:32.960 My job is to travel, um, and I'd love to come and sit down with you, or sit down with one of your pastors, or sit down with some some key lay leaders. 00:43:33.039 --> 00:43:43.119 Um, and so if if you would like to uh set up a meeting uh with me, stand this and then I'll come to you and we'll figure out what we can do in the days ahead. 00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:44.960 So uh we appreciate that opportunity. 00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:56.719 And this is us trying to eliminate friction because all of you, uh my hunch is some of you feel like uh you're limited in the authority decision maker for your church, perhaps, if you're not the senior pastor and you're here. 00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.760 But my my hunch is you probably got a lot more influence, maybe even than you. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.199 Realize and know this we this is not committing. 00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:04.719 You you leave in your name and email. 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:06.320 This is only asking about four things. 00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:08.800 It's you can do it in less than 60 seconds. 00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:10.880 But a lot of it is it puts the burden on us. 00:44:11.039 --> 00:44:18.079 One of the most profound things I heard a few years ago, one of my close friends, Buck Poole, uh back in Alabama, came on staff. 00:44:18.159 --> 00:44:20.800 He'd been in the he'd been a CPA for years. 00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:28.800 He left a very good career, went to Beast and Divinity School, God called him into ministry, then he ended up on staff at the church, and he now we're buddies. 00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:31.440 And he said, I said, What's the biggest thing you've learned in the last year? 00:44:31.599 --> 00:44:33.760 Because he now is the one meeting with people like me. 00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:38.000 He's he's the guy, the decision maker about ministry partners and next steps. 00:44:38.239 --> 00:44:41.199 He said, Man, though I say, What can I learn from you, Bob? 00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:42.239 Like, give me an inside. 00:44:42.320 --> 00:44:43.679 What do I need to do differently? 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:46.079 Maybe that you've seen people do well or not well. 00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:48.719 He said, Honestly, Jay, he talked about friction. 00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:56.719 He said, I feel like oftentimes the nonprofit comes, they share all their things, and then they leave, and then it's on me to like do a whole lot of the follow-up. 00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:04.079 This is us trying to say, all you gotta do is scan this, leave us your information, and we'll do the follow-up because you're gonna be busy, you're on to the next thing. 00:45:04.239 --> 00:45:08.639 And so um that's this is our attempt to say, hey, we want to we want to build a relationship. 00:45:08.800 --> 00:45:10.559 We got maybe a few minutes for questions. 00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:11.360 It's 12. 00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:12.079 Yes, sir. 00:45:12.239 --> 00:45:16.159 Yeah, I question how do you be on the DFS with DSS? 00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:22.320 Yeah, they are our so DSS a few years ago privatized the foster care system. 00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:26.400 This was a change for me coming from Alabama where DSS licensed families. 00:45:26.559 --> 00:45:37.840 A few years ago, uh the state passed laws, and basically, if you want to license, if you want to be a licensed foster family, you've gotta you've gotta seek out an agency like County Maxwell. 00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:39.840 There's dozens of these agencies. 00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:59.119 Um I will say, knowing the landscape, there's a handful of us, and I mean a handful, like three that I'm aware of, who are unapologetically Christ-centered in how we see uh and how we view biblical manhood and womanhood, and how we think of through things like gender and sexuality and what we think that families should look like. 00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:08.559 And so our relationship with DSS is uh we do the licensing, they have to there's there's stuff that they do at the state level, but um, so we are dependent. 00:46:08.639 --> 00:46:15.440 They they do every family is assigned a case worker for the child, and we're more working with the families. 00:46:15.599 --> 00:46:17.599 And so, does that answer your question at all? 00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:21.679 Uh yes, so uh uh I have to pay another step now. 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:52.800 Sometimes these tell the uh children from the family because number one is miscommunication, language barrier, and then the family money back, how can you build the BSS to get the children back to the parent because we safe, you know, because especially our oriental community, you know, like Cambodia, Laos,

Southeast Asia, you know, children you have that you know, misunderstanding, you know, the culture, different cultural, different perspective. 00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:55.599 How can we find it back and get back to the family? 00:46:57.440 --> 00:47:08.800 One thing our foster families do, it sounds like you're more speaking to the other side of it, is when there's a family and the child's been removed from their home, um, and and of course the goal is reunification. 00:47:08.880 --> 00:47:10.480 That's the whole point of foster care. 00:47:10.639 --> 00:47:16.400 Our our position in that is really more blessing the family who's caring for that child in that temporary uh situation. 00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:20.239 Our view on it is we want kids to go back to healthier homes. 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:23.599 To be honest with you, we have very little say in that. 00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:26.320 We will leverage our voice as often as we can. 00:47:26.400 --> 00:47:32.559 Um, and our foster families, along with the caseworkers, usually have a read on how those visits are going. 00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:38.079 And so if if there's a good a good family, and the only reason a child's been removed is because of a language barrier. 00:47:38.159 --> 00:47:48.639 Usually there's probably other things going on, but if it is, if if it is that, uh, I mean, just we're our goal right now is really just to focus on the family who's providing that temporary care. 00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:57.440 I do know uh Lifeline has a curriculum called Families Count, and they do some really good stuff through churches. 00:47:57.599 --> 00:48:00.159 Um, I think they work with where are you located at? 00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:01.760 Uh in Spartanburg. 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:02.960 In Spartanburg. 00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:08.960 I I know that they've put out a curriculum that is so they're trying to minister to families who are in that position. 00:48:09.119 --> 00:48:13.840 And so I would say check check in, look up Families Count Lifeline. 00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:16.559 Um, there's it's it's a lot to do at a church. 00:48:16.639 --> 00:48:17.920 I know some churches who've done it. 00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:27.679 It does a church has to basically they can train and they can do a curriculum that's been approved to help families go through that um and get their children back, and it's court approved. 00:48:27.760 --> 00:48:30.000 Um, it's from a Christian perspective. 00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:38.639 Uh, but again, that's more just trying to help that family get their kids back and go through the steps required that the the court has said uh that you got to do this. 00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:45.039 So I need to let's talk afterwards because I'm more curious about the situations you're dealing with. 00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:47.599 What other what other questions? 00:48:48.480 --> 00:48:52.639 It's 1204, so I know we're bumping into lunch, ready to eat. 00:48:52.719 --> 00:48:57.840 Philip and I are glad if y'all have got quite conversations you'd love to have, we're gonna stick around. 00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:01.920 So we can you can either even catch us during lunch, we can sit together if that would be helpful. 00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:05.039 So um thank y'all very much. 00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:08.639 Thanks for listening to the SC Baptist Podcast. 00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:14.400 This podcast is available because of the cooperative giving of South Carolina Baptist Churches. 00:49:14.719 --> 00:49:20.800 For more information about the South Carolina Baptist Convention, visit sebaptist.org.