Hometown Brandon - Winter 2015

ight and have their kids returned, then that’s where the kids should
be long-term. That is the goal of foster care—to help families fix what
needs to be fixed and reunify. When a family is able to do that, it’s a
good thing. And sadly, sometimes they’re not able.”
“You don’t have any idea what you’re getting into if you haven’t
been exposed to it,” said Scott. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of energy, a lot
of sacrifice. But at the end of the day, you have to look at what you’re
sacrificing for. We all take for granted the luxuries in our lives. There
are so many people who don’t have those. If you educate yourself and
get exposed to it, it’s hard to turn away. Once you’re aware, it takes a
pretty hard heart to back away from it. I went into it thinking these
must be some bad kids. I don’t know why I thought that. But once you
get into it, you realize that these children have done nothing. They
don’t deserve the hand they’ve been dealt in life. It breaks your heart
because they didn’t ask to be born into these situations or handed
disabilities, diseases, or whatever. But here they are, and a lot of times
they just have no chance. I think we should all do something to help.”
“At one point, we wrote down verses that jumped out at us,” said
April. “We were filling up books with verses. If God puts something
in the Bible over and over, clearly it’s very important to Him. Isaiah
1:17 tells us to bring justice to the fatherless. Ephesians 5:1 says to be
imitators of God. That’s so simple. If you’re going to imitate God and
He’s commanding us over and over to care for children, then we ought
to care for children.”
“At some point, Christians abdicated compassion to the government.
I think it is up to us as the church to pull it back,” said Scott. “The
story from Biblical times is that if Romans had a child that they didn’t
want, they would set that child beside the road or outside at night and
it would die. It was the Christians that would pick these children up,
care for them, and show value for them. I think that’s what we are
called to do today. There are a lot of children that are being cast aside
by society. It’s up to us to show compassion and take them in.”
Jonathan Nason, the Next Generation pastor for Crossgates
Baptist Church in Brandon, shares the view that the church should
step up to the plate. Nason has two biological siblings and one
adopted brother. His parents have been foster parents since before he
was born. Some of Nason’s foster siblings were with his family for just
a weekend, but most were with them for one to six months. Many of
the children became like family, and a couple of sibling groups were
with the Nasons for up to three years. By the time Nason moved out
of the house as an adult, he had been a brother to 73 children who
had been placed in his family through foster care. His parents
continue to foster children to this day.
“Foster care has been my family’s ministry for my whole life,” said
Nason. My brother who was adopted is my best friend. I can’t imagine
not having him as well as other foster brothers and sisters growing up.
It’s highly affected my wife and me because we want to do the same
thing. I don’t believe the church has done a very good job of taking
care of orphans and widows in the state of Mississippi. My wife and
I want to make a statement of taking care of orphans and widows.”
Nason and his wife plan to become a foster family when they
become fully eligible. “My wife and I haven’t spoken on foster care
here because we haven’t led by example on that. We fully intend to do
so, but you can’t ask people to do something that tangible that you
haven’t done, yourselves. We see ourselves as advocates for orphans
and widows, but in order to advocate for that as a pastor, we have to
model that. We want our kids to have what I had—to see the nations
in our home. It changed my life.”
“Kids who are adopted or in foster care go through a season of
realizing: ‘Yes, I was adopted, and I’m thankful for that, but in order
to be adopted, I was rejected at one point by my parents.’ For kids to
be in a gospel-centered home when they’re going through an identity
crisis is extremely important. We can explain that we were all like that
in our sin, but Christ adopted us. As the church, we should model the
gospel of adoption. My wife and I are passionate about that.”
“Christ gave his life so we could be adopted. We should be willing
to give our lives, our time, our money, our energy, our complacency,
whatever it may be, for the sake of adoption. It’s about taking one more
that doesn’t have a home or family and giving them something that they
could never earn or get on their own. People’s lives are at stake, and
you have the opportunity to change someone’s future in an extremely
tangible way. That’s pretty rewarding in and of itself,” said Nason.
The Selmans cited a number of ways that we can help foster
families. Clothing and school supplies donations are great when a
new placement arrives. Meadow Grove Baptist Church in Brandon
accepts brand new clothing and hygiene items to have on hand for
foster children. The church also accepts duffle bags to put the items
in so children do not have to carry a trash bag or grocery bag. Families
can also become licensed to provide respite, allowing foster families
to have a safe home to temporarily keep the children when the foster
parents, themselves, must go away overnight. Or just delivering
meals, mowing the grass, and visiting the children. The possibilities
for lending a hand are endless.
“Not everyone is called to full time foster care, but we are
commanded to care for orphans and widows,” said Scott. “There’s
not more clarity than that.” n
12 • Winter 2015