Heart Gallery Alabama October Exhibit at Shelton State College

There are no unwanted children. ONLY unfound families.

Did you know that there are children right here in Alabama who need families? Heart Gallery Alabama will exhibit portraits of waiting children during the month of October at Shelton State. A reception on October 21, 5-7:00, will feature families who have adopted. Support these children through your prayers and your attendance at the reception. Stay for the "Pay What You Can" performance of "The Secret Garden" at Shelton State Theater at 7:00. See www.HeartGalleryAlabama.com for photos, audio, and videos of the beautiful children who need parents.

Project 24

As you remember last summer Project 24, (a part of the Defend the Orphans ministry based on Deut. chapter 24 where God tells us, in my own words, not to save everything we have for ourselves but to leave a little for the widow, orphans and alien) collected school supplies for Big oak Ranch foster kids. We are beginning the same ministry to these children this summer by collecting school supplies from Sunday July 18th to Aug 1st. There are about 85 kids there we need to help. We are collecting loose leaf paper, 3X5 lined index cards, Kleenex, Hand sanitizer, pens, pencils and rulers. You can donate these items at Coaling Baptist Church in the Project 24 collection bins in the fellowship hall. If you wish to help but don't attend Coaling Baptist you can send a check to PO Box 32, Coaling, AL 35449 and we will purchase some of these items for you.  I can pick up any items you wish to purchase and donate. So when you go shopping in the next few weeks, remember the orphans and purchase a little extra for them in Christ's name. Faith is not measured by what you say you believe but in how well you demonstrate what you say you believe!

May is Foster Care Awareness Month

Praise the Lord for families who will make the daily sacrifice to open their homes and receive the little ones who have no one. You are showing them the love of Christ by receiving them into your home and caring for them. Defend the Orphans ministry wants to honor such families. We are joining Alabama Mentor Network and helping them with a picnic in May to show appreciation for the foster families in their program. For our part, we will help serve the food and drinks and we also want to present each family with a gift bag. We are asking for anyone who wants to help show appreciation to the foster parents to help by donating some type of item that will help fill the gift bags. Right now we are planning on doing 30 gift bags with such items as homemade bread, cookies, prepackaged cookies, crackers, and anything else you or your work place may want to donate. Other items could include insulated coffee/drink cups, sun visors, magnetized note pads to put on refrigerator, pens, Bibles, Tracts, small scented candles, books, and anything else you can think of that they might like. These are just ideas to get us going. I have contacted several businesses who will also be making donations of items. The picnic is May 10th so anyone who would like to donate items needs to get them to me by the end of next week. I will be packing the gift bags next weekend. You can call me if you have any questions. And again thank you to all who faithfully serve the Lord and obey His command to Defend the Orphans, Is 1:17

Walk This Way 2010 Success

Thank you to all who came and participated in the walk on Sat. March 2oth. We were blessed with beautiful weather. The people that came were so precious to support the cause for the orphans and to speak up for those with out a voice of their own. Thank you for showing you care and are taking a stand for the least of these as unto the Lord. Although the crowd was not as big as last year we were still blessed to make around $4,000 so far. The bake sale was great too! The moon walk, Fire Engine truck and face painting seemed to be a big hit with the kids too. Thank you to all our guest speakers, Connie Roberts, Randy Vaughn and Steve Sellers. Thank you also, John Merrill, for your words of encouragement. We still have T shirts and bracelets available to anyone who wishes to purchase them. All proceeds go to the help meet needs of local foster kids. I have posted allot of pics from the walk for you to enjoy and thanks again to all who helped make this possible this year. Also you can see more WTW pics on the Walk This Way Facebook Club Page. Donations or t shirt $12/ bracelet$3 orders can be mailed to Coaling Baptist
Church at P.O.Box 697, Coaling AL 35449.

Walk This Way 2010 Sat. March 20th

The walk to benefit local foster children and bring awareness to the need for more adoptive families is coming up soon. It is hosted by Coaling Baptist Church and the Defend the Orphans ministry. Everyone is invited to join us to walk for orphans. Just get your families, friends and co workers to sponsor you to walk laps around the track at the park. Ask your churches to get involved by bringing the youth groups. Ask your Sunday schools classes, ladies group and school groups to sponsor someone to walk. All money collected will go to help meet needs of local foster children and help families who want to adopt. Anyone interested can help with these areas: publicity, fund raising, dedication ceremony, set up and take down, bake sale or work the day of the walk. There will be a moon walk for the kids, drinks and popcorn, bake sale, entertainment, fire trucks and special guest speakers at the dedication ceremony at 10:00. The speakers will be Steve Sellers from the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes, Ken Swindle, retired chief of Tuscaloosa police department and Connie Rogers from DHR. Please come and walk with us to help provide for the needs of our local foster children. We have Walk this Way T shirts for sale for $12 and promotional bracelets for $3. You can see picture of them on this page. You may order ahead of time by calling 205-792-3515. Help us spread the word. If you would like to make a donation you can make a check out to Coaling Baptist Church for the orphan ministry walk a thon and mail it to Coaling Baptist Church at PO Box 697, Coaling AL 35449.  Put those walking shoes on and we will see you there!!!! Is. 1:17

Walk This Way 2010 Saturday March 20th 9-12 at Coaling Town Park

We had a great planning meeting last Sunday. Thank you to all who came and to all who called and wanted to help. Anyone interested can help with these areas: publicity, fund raising, dedication ceremony, set up and take down, bake sale or work the day of the walk. It will be Sat. March 20th from 9-12 at the Coaling Town Park. There will be a moon walk for the kids, drinks and popcorn, bake sale, entertainment, fire trucks and special guest speakers at the dedication ceremony. Please come and walk with us to help provide for the needs of our local foster children. The donations will also go to help families who wish to adopt but need financial assistance. Just get your families, friends and co workers to sponsor you to walk laps around the track at the park. Ask your churches to get involved by bringing the youth groups. Ask your Sunday schools classes to sponsor someone to walk. Help us spread the word. If you would like to make a donation you can make a check out to Coaling Baptist Church for the orphan ministry walk a thon and mail it to Coaling Baptist Church at PO Box 697, Coaling AL 35449.

Walk This Way 2010

Defend the Orphans ministry will hold the 1st planning meeting for Walk this Way 2010 on Jan 24th at Coaling Baptist Church in the new fellowship hall at 2:00pm. We will have coffee and cookies. You will have a chance to share your ideas, sign up for working on committees and to work the day of the walk. This is a great opportunity to really be a part of helping a child find a forever home. The planning meeting is open to all who are interested. Many churches were involved in the planning and the donations last year. This is a community wide effort. We will hold the Walk at Coaling Town Park tentatively Sat. March 20th from 9-12. The walk a thon will benefit local foster children and assist church families who want to adopt but may not have the money to meet all the adoption fees. God really blessed us last year with about $6,000 from the walk that has helped provide camp fees, dental work, field trips, personal items, etc. for many foster children. I believe this year will exceed the donations of last year but most of all we pray for God to receive all the Glory and His name be honored.

Christmas and Defend the Orphans future

Hello to all and Happy New year. I hope all are very Blessed this new year. Our project to fill the Christmas wish lists of 6 children at the Alabama Children Home was a tremendous success. Several wish lists were adopted outright by generous individuals in the church and others donated through the Dollar Drive in November. We were able to deliver the gifts to ABC Homes in the second week of Dec. so the children would have their gifts under their Christmas trees early. We were very blessed in this effort and once again Coaling Baptist has shown what a big heart they have to serve orphans. God bless you Coaling Baptist.

As Jan 2010 rolls in we will begin to focus on planning for Walk This Way 2010. Please Please be in prayer for us as we proceed that we will follow God and His heart for this event . We are looking forward to this tremendous chance to serve the local foster kids in our area and to help promote the need for adoptive families. With the proceeds from last year's walk we have been able to meet many needs of the local DHR kids such as braces, field trips and camp fees. What a blessing to serve the least of these in His name.