CAFO Volunteers Needed

Willow Creek Community Church will be hosting The Christian Alliance For Orphans Summit this week. Events like this don't just happen they ultimately rely on volunteers from the community. Volunteers are needed to fill the times below and if you volunteer both Thursday and Friday, you can attend the conference for FREE!!!www.cafo2014.org

Volunteer Times
 

Wednesday, 4/30/2014 

• 3:00pm - 7:00pm

Thursday 5/1/2014 

• 7:00am - 9:30am
• 11:00am - 1:00pm
• 3:00pm - 4:00pm

 Friday 5/2/2014

• 11:00am - 1:00pm
•  3:00pm - 4:00pm  

To volunteer contact: 
Lindsay Wagner
CAFO Volunteer Coordinator
lwagner@willowcreek.org

 WARNING:
Attending The CAFO conference could be LIFE TRANSFORMING! Additionally, side effects of volunteering often include but are not limited to: fun, learning something new about yourself, making someone's day, feeling good about yourself, feeling alive, and a deep satisfaction that you've made a difference in this world. 

Adventure

It's been almost a year now since God spoke to me and encouraged me to start telling my story on a blog. If I could use one word to describe what this last year has been like I would say....... ADVENTURE!
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure. 
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

I didn't know I was going on an adventure but that's where I've been and my husband tells me that's what makes a story. So here I am. It's a new year, a new day, a new beginning.

If you've been following my blog it's probably been pretty easy. I discovered that I don't do blog posts when I'm on an adventure. Now I'm hoping for a season of quietness so I can recount the adventure God has written on my life.

He's given me a story to tell and it looks a lot like a mountain that needs to be moved.

My approach for moving this mountain.
1. Pray to God for his will to be done, and for faith.
2. One step at a time.......

He replied, “...Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

 

 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, Psalm 107:2

 

False Start

 

 

 

I have a plaque I keep in my home which reads. "If You Can't Be A Good Example You'll just have to serve as a horrible warning!" by, Catherine Aird 

 

I laughed when I saw it and knew I had to have it. It's been the story of my life.

 

I wish I could write in this blog about all of the mess ups I've been through and how God pulled me out of them.....OH WAIT!!! I am doing that! I wish I could sit here today and say it's all good, my problems are in the past. 

 

The truth is as long as I'm on planet earth

Called to Speak

I am inviting you on a journey. Walk with me as I share how God has been transforming my life. When I found myself overcome by this world ready to give up I turned to the one true God. I surrendered my life to his son Jesus Christ and there I found redemption. Today, I am an overcomer not because of what I've done but rather what Jesus Christ did on the cross. My life is not easy

The Global Leadership Summit

The Global Leadership Summit exists to transform Christian leaders around the world with an injection of vision, skill development and inspiration for the sake of the local church.

I'm headed off to the Summit tomorrow. I'm so excited. A friend of mine posted this on her face book "Nighty-night! When we wake up it will be Leadership time!  It's like the night before Christmas"....Oh my goodness, I've never been able to sleep on Christmas Eve and now I find myself blogging in the wee hours of the morning....Summit Eve.

I tried to buy a ticket to the GLS and they were SOLD OUT. I tried to win a ticket to GLS....nope. I finally settled that God had closed the door. Low and behold I received a phone call from a dear friend a few days ago asking me if I could use a ticket to the Summit. What?! How awesome is that!

More and more these days I find myself saying "ONLY GOD!"

The Lord has set me on a path to do his work. I never know what my day is going to be like when I wake up in the morning. But I do declare on this Summit Eve....I LOVE THE LORD!

CAFO SUMMIT10 to be hosted at Willow Creek Community Church

On May 1-2, 2014 the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ annual Summit will be hosted at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago!

I went to Summit9 this past May with the leadership team for The Vulnerable Children's Ministry for Willow Creek Community Church. It was Awesome! Summit was started nine years ago by the Christian Alliance for Orphans with only 39 people in attendance. Summit9 had over 2600 people from 49 states and 25 countries represented. All people who love God and have hearts for orphans.

For a woman like me who was once a girl in a children's home, it was amazing. I went to Summit to become better equipped to advocate for orphans and vulnerable children, what I got was a healing balm on my heart. We prayed, praised and sat through deep intensives...then we praised and prayed some more. The Holy Spirit was on the move. What I saw at Summit9 could only be exclaimed ONLY GOD!

Teri Altpeter, Jedd Medefind, Alison Strutz (Me), Dina Ackermann

Summit9

 





Jedd Medefind is the president of Christian Alliance for Orphans and the person who brought Orphan Sunday to America. When I saw Jedd I had to meet him and tell him what a miracle the Summit was.

According to the CAFO website, "The Christian Alliance for Orphans unites more than 100 respected Christian organizations and a national network of churches. Working together, our joint initiatives inspire, equip and connect Christians to “defend the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17).
Ultimately, we seek to stimulate and help grow Christian communities committed to adoption, foster care and global orphan care in the local church. Our united efforts include the national Summit, the Orphan Sunday campaign, monthly webinars, and an array of other initiatives.
As the Alliance helps Christians understand God’s call to care for the orphan and equips them for effective response, the impact reaches far beyond a single program or met need. Rather, an ever-expanding army of passionate advocates invest time, talent and treasure in a personal and sustained commitment to caring for orphans in the name of Christ."



SIGN UP below for more Summit details as they become available and claim your $10 off DISCOUNT when registration opens in early 2014!

Summit 10 Sign Up!

• Name*
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• Email*
  
  
• Are You, Your Church or Your Organization members of CAFO?*
  • Yes!
  • No.
  • No, please send me information on joining CAFO for further reduced member registration rate.

Stuff and the Language of Letting Go

I like stuff. But I've noticed the more stuff I have, the more it attracts more stuff. The bible tells me to run a worthy race, I am to throw off anything that hinders me. It occurred to me yet again today that my "stuff" is hindering me.

What do I mean by stuff? Anything physical, spiritual or emotional that serves no purpose in my life right now. Anything that is not helping me further the Kingdom of God.

While I was cleaning out my kitchen this morning I found many non-electric appliances. I went through a time period when I was fascinated with these devices. I was frustrated with my fixer-upper house. I was frustrated with my astronomical electric bills. So I started fixating on living off the land and getting off the grid.

I didn't want all the gadgets that I couldn't afford or even fit into my house so I started living in a Little House On The Prairie dream world. I wanted to escape from my present reality so I just started collecting stuff.

My Quiet Place

Quiet Place....This is the place I go when I'm undone, when I need to restore. God gives me peace, He helps me to recalibrate. God's kingdom is counter intuitive. I was brought up to try harder, push through and do more.  This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...Isaiah 30:15  When every fiber of my being is in an uproar God tells me to be still. The world says do. God says trust. When I discover I've wandered far from God, his word tells me to draw close to Him and He will draw close to me. Whoever seeks Him will find him. I run to my Lord for solitude. Shutting out the world I spend time with my Savior. I pray, I read His word, I sit quietly while he restores my soul. Thank you Jesus.

Why The Local Church Should Start At Home

When it comes to orphans the local church needs to start at home. Unfortunately this is something that many people in the church are unaware of. We see orphans in third world countries living in poverty and feel compelled to act. What we don't see is the tragedy and brokenness happening right here.  We feel safe and so we believe that we are. My child has two parents. I love my husband, we go to church, we live in a good neighborhood. We look for proof of tomorrow. But honestly, we don't know what tomorrow holds.

God is Sufficient

I was up a lot last night. Insomnia again. My mind cycling through the tiring thoughts I wish so desperately to be free from. It began with thoughts of the people God has placed in my life. Remembering I take myself back.............

Blogging Fear

I've come again to my blog to write. Writing comes quite easy for me. I dare to say I do it most days, sometimes several times a day. I like to write out my prayers to God. He listens to me with love and kindness always absorbing anything and everything I have to say.

I don't have to spell right or even finish my sentences, because God already knows what I'm going to say. I wasn't particularly receptive when God started impressing it on me to share my inner thoughts and life with the world. People can be judgemental and down right mean. I feel pressure to perform to be better than I am.

Jumping for Jesus

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and

that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16

 

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians2:13                                         

God's Call on My Life

When I was nine years old my mom died from breast cancer. The world I knew was blown away like a tornado ravaged city.

I spent seven years in a children's home. No one tucked me in at night. Gone were hugs & kisses that proved my worth. During those years I came to know God as my Father. Physically I was well cared for but my heart was grieved.

When I was 17 I graduated from high school and set out into the world. Tucked inside my heart I had wisdom that my mother left with me before she died.

"Alison, Love God with all your heart and soul. Don't have sex before you are married and when you get married stay married forever."

I did not heed my mothers wisdom. I had sex before I was married which resulted in two abortions. I've been married three times and divorced twice. The one thing that I did get right was

The Illinois Masonic Children's Home

 

 

This photo hangs in the foyer of the dining hall at the Illinois Masonic Children's Home.I am sitting top and left.

 

  This is the cover of a small pamphlet from during the time I lived in the home.

 

 

 

 

More pictures from the pamphlet above. I sit center page "Alison." I also am the girl wearing the airbrush shirt which interestingly enough has my name again:) God is Funny!

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my three youngest kids last year on my 39th Birthday.

The day God gave me his vision for my life.

 

 

 

 This is the first cottage I lived in. I was 10 years old at the time.  I remember climbing out the window in the middle of the night. I would climb up the jungle gym and look at the stars. I just couldn't wrap my mind around why I was all alone.

 

 

 

 

I am writing this post as part of the Summit 9 Blogger Giveaway!

Write a post about why you want to go to Summit 9 in Nashville on May 2-3, 2013

It is a struggle to know exactly how to begin. I feel like a woman in labor pregnant with what I must say. I cannot craft this post, I can simply be a vessel.

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and exactly one year ago from yesterday God gave me a vision for my life.  I haven't shared His vision with many people until today.  At first it may seem this story is be about me.  This story is far grander than that of a local orphan. This is God's story.

Summit 9 Blogger Contest

Summit 9 Blogger Contest!

There’s no denying it, Bloggers for Orphans love Summit! Whether you’re there to learn about adoption, foster care, global orphan initiatives or to make meaningful connections with other advocates and families, Summit 9 has something for everyone.

This year we are pleased to announce our first Summit Conference package giveaway just for bloggers!

And we have not one, not two, but THREE prizes to giveaway! How’s that for a grand giveaway?

Contest is NOW OPEN until the close of day on Friday, March 29. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 2!

Now here’s the scoop and be sure to read carefully because there is a lot involved.

• GRAND Prize: 1 Full Conference Registration, Pre-Summit Intensive, and blog will be featured on the CAFO blog

• FIRST Prize: 1 Full Conference Registration

• SECOND Prize: 1 Half Price Registration

(1) Like Us on Facebook OR Follow Us on Twitter

(2) AND Become a Blogger for Orphans (click here to fill out a simple form)

(Eligibility requirements will be verified before prizes are awarded.)

(1) WRITE A BLOG POST: Write a post on your blog about why you want to go to Summit 9. There are SO many reasons, but we want to you why YOU want to be in Nashville on May 2-3, 2013!

(2) Blog Post must include the words: “I am writing this post as part of the Summit 9 Blogger Giveaway. Check out all the details at www.summit9.org”.

(3) Come back here and leave a comment on this post with the URL to your post so that we can find it and include it in the contest.

…

Contest will open on the morning of Monday, March 25 until the close of day on Friday, March 29. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 2!

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....Ok God but first let me get past the skydiving.   Also did you happen to notice that most of my blog posts are in draft form?

Life

Do you know the purpose of your ONE LIFE?

One Parent's Promise

I've spent the majority of my life listening to my peers complain about their parents. On and on the grumbling and complaining goes.

How many, many times have I felt the tears well up and my chest constrict as I've quietly thought...I wish I had parents to complain about.

Signing I LOVE YOU

 

 

[ Love Fulfills the Law ] Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.Romans 13:8

 

Father's Love Letter