Orphan Summit - Lessons Learned

So I already rambled incessantly about the feeling of being at the Orphan Summit. 

Here is the meat of it. Well...at least part of the meat...I took 16 pages of notes, people! If you want to hear the rest, take me to coffee. 

Frances Chan

• If 1 out of every 4 churches found ONE family to adopt domestically, there would be no orphan crisis in the U.S.
• Your faith means little if it's not demonstrated. 
• Don't only pray about something - DO something. 
• The U.S. spends more on Black Friday than the gross domestic product (GDP) of both Haiti and Liberia combined for the entire year. 
• Does your life make sense in LIGHT of scripture? If you believe the Gospel, you should do what it says. Plain and simple. 
• We don't have to cram our passion, ideas, cause down people's throat...let the spirit move people. PRAY that he moves people. 
• The largest predictor or incarceration is growing up without a family. 80% of mid-20 males who age out of the foster care program will go to jail.  
• We need to rally around foster and adoptive families. 
• Success is not measured by the $ given, but by family involvement.
• There are 2.4 BILLION Christians and 168 MILLION orphans. The goal is to END the orphan crisis and the only way to end it is through adoption. 
• Saddleback's goal for their church is 500 domestic adoptions and 500 international adoptions. What is Charity's number? 
• If we are anti-abortion we need to be pro-adoption. It's estimated that 93% of couples who find out their child has down syndrome abort. We must prepare for a whole new level of adoption and involvement when Roe vs. Wade is overturned. 
• The churches finest hour is yet to come! 

Rick Warren gave a great talk the second day on eight reasons while global problems can't be solved without the church. I think it's worth sharing.

THE CHURCH HAS...

Rick Warren

1) The largest participation - 1/3 of the world's population attend church. More people attend church in one weekend, than all sporting events for the entire year. 

2) The widest distribution - Africa tribes might not have anything, but they do have a church. Churches in rural and remote areas are used for social gatherings. The church IS the volunteer base of the world. 

3) The longest track record - For 2000 years the church has done global missions. 2,000 years from now Google, Apple and the U.S. won't exist, but the church will. 

4) The fastest growth - 6,000 people come to know Jesus every day.

5) The highest motivation - and that is LOVE. The gospel tells us to love. Love outlasts, love never fails. 

6)The strongest authorization - We are authorized by Jesus himself. When God sponsors something, he doesn't sponsor flops. 

7) The most simple administration - It's the "your it" principle...you see a need and you fill it. 

8) And finally...We know how it ends - WE WIN.