Will You Bear Witness?

Have you ever witnessed a car accident and stayed on the scene to share what you saw? It is never convenient, but your eyewitness account can help police officers determine how the accident happened and how best to submit a report about it.

As we prepare for Orphan Care Weekend at Timberline Church—a weekend set aside to advocate for the needs of the most vulnerable people in our community and around the world: children and teens—I want to ask if you are willing to bear witness on their behalf.

In Tyler Staton’s book The Familiar Stranger, he states, “Witness literally means someone who sees or experiences something important for others to know about. We can trace every expression of witness back to three primary expressions: spoken love, supernatural love, and sacrificial love.”

I have seen all three of these expressions lived out here at Timberline Church.

Spoken love looks like a CASA (court-appointed special advocate) taking time off work to go to court to “speak up” for the foster youth they have been assigned to. The judge deeply values the time and effort this CASA has spent with their foster youth, and their word carries a lot of weight in court.

Supernatural love looks like going through classes to be approved to open your home to a teenager who has entered the United States from a bordering country with no family to call their own.

Sacrificial love looks like using your vacation time to be a guide, nurse, worship leader, etc., for our Royal Family Kids Camp every year. In fact, an average of 120 volunteers sacrificially give their time each year to serve 48 foster youth in Northern Colorado.

I could share so many other examples, and each one of these individuals would tell you that they received so much more back than they ever gave.

God’s economy works like that. When we are faithful to be obedient to what God puts before us, He equips us, provides for us, and guides us every step of the way.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. — Proverbs 31:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” — Isaiah 6:8

Like other communities, ours struggles to have enough resources to provide much-needed care and support for our foster, adoptive, and kinship children, teens, and families. As a church, our desire is to work with other churches and local organizations to ensure that there is “More Than Enough” in resources and support.

Please join us in ensuring that there is “More Than Enough” for our foster, adoptive, and kinship families by asking yourself two questions:

1. What is my role?

2. How do I actively engage?

We are blessed to have speakers at each of our campuses who have said “yes” to God’s call to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. They are foster/adoptive parents, they are advocates, and they are fully dependent on God for their next steps in their “yes” to Him.

To learn more about all that is happening during Orphan Care Weekend, go here.

We have to position ourselves to “bear witness.” I am praying for you as you seek God’s will in how you are to respond to this call and would be happy to meet with anyone who would like to learn more.