Speaking Up in Illinois!!

All I can say is "Wow, I was blessed by the folks in Illinois this past weekend!! "

I flew in Friday night and was blessed by a group of women from Journey Family Fellowship  
in Bloomington, IL. We had a wonderful time together just sharing that evening, and then they blessed me by praying over me and my ministry. The next morning I spoke at their Women's Retreat, getting them all excited to serve in their local community as well as internationally through missions and adoption. Here I am below with Nancy. Her husband, Jason, is the Pastor at Journey Family Fellowship. This church served me, blessed me, prayed for me. They have a true heart for the Lord and the orphan, as do many families within their church who have adopted. Nancy and her husband have adopted from China and are in the process of another international adoption. They have three biological children as well. If you live in the Bloomington area, check out Journey Family Fellowship. You will be blessed! Thank you Nancy, Jason, Lisa and girls, and the list could go on, for blessing me during my time with all of you this past weekend.

I then moved on to Morton, IL Saturday evening to Cornerstone Baptist Church, where they are kicking off their Called 2 Care Orphan Ministry at their Light the Fire event. Again, I was totally blessed by this church and the beautiful families that serve within it. They did a great job of spreading the word and had many families come out from around the community who feel called to help the orphan. Everything was done with excellence and their love for God, Family, and the Orphan impacted me greatly. Pastor Steve Hauter is the father of Rachel, who traveled to Ethiopia with us in July and she will be returning again this next July.

Pastor Steve preached with such passion and love for God, his family, and this Orphan ministry that I literally left in tears after Sunday morning's message. I spoke at their Light the Fire event Sat evening as well as to a Sunday School class and briefly to the congregation on Sunday morning. I LOVE this church and the families within it. They have several families within their church who have adopted and now have a few more who will be beginning the process after this weekend's event :-) Yay! If you are in the Morton, IL area be sure to check out Cornerstone Baptist Church and you will be blessed. Here is the group in charge of putting on this great event.

 They had the alter lined with shoes for orphans which showed a great visual of all the little feet we will be putting in those shoes of orphans from Ethiopia in July.

 They even had the OH cookie with a message of inspiration to be an "Ordinary Hero" attached to each one......very creative!!

Here is a video with some pics from the event. Silence my music on right sidebar to watch or CLICK HERE to go to direct link. Thanks, Cornerstone, for blessing me on my visit to your church.