Download or read book We Were Not Orphans written by Sherry Matthews and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We were not orphans. Our parents were living; they just couldn't take care of us." This poignant remark captures the heartbreaking reality faced by thousands of Texas children from the 1920s through the 1970s. The Waco State Home provided housing and education for "dependent and neglected" children, but residents paid a price in physical and sexual abuse, military discipline, and plantation-style labor. Even so, the institution was the only home they had, and it rescued many children from an even worse fate. Now for the first time, oral histories and newly unearthed documents reveal what went on behind the gates of the Waco State Home. Sherry Matthews has tracked down former residents and uncovered criminal abuse that went unpunished and unpublicized. She first became aware of the Waco State Home at age three, when her three brothers were taken there to live. Years later, she attended a reunion at the Home and began collecting the alumni stories with assistance from author Jesse Sublett. We Were Not Orphans gathers riveting recollections from nearly sixty alumni who share the horror of abuse as well as their triumphs of spirit and ingenuity. Some alumni recall only the positive—bountiful food, caring teachers, victorious sports teams, and friendships and values that have lasted a lifetime. Others recount bloody beatings and sexual molestation that have left physical and emotional scars. These personal narratives and Matthews's relentless pursuit of the truth show how much can go wrong when a government-run institution operates without adequate public oversight. The Waco State Home finally closed after a landmark federal court decision and a courageous superintendent stopped the abuse and helped shepherd the children out of institutionalized care.
Download or read book How Not to Start an Orphanage written by Tara Winkler and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2016-04-27 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How could it be wrong to save the children by starting an orphanage? Oh, in so many ways . . . Tara Winkler first arrived in Cambodia to join a tour group in 2005 and was taken to visit a small orphanage in Battambang. The children were living in extreme poverty, and Tara was determined to raise money to help them. Two years later, after fundraising in Australia, Tara returned to Battambang only to discover that the same children were in deep trouble. Her spontaneous response was to find them a new, safe, home. With a team of committed locals and support from friends, she established the Cambodian Children's Trust (CCT). With an instant family of fourteen children and three dogs, Tara had to learn a lot, very fast. And, along the way, she realised that many of the actions she took with good intentions were not at all what the children needed - or indeed, what any child needs. CCT now helps vulnerable children to escape poverty and be cared for within their families. In this compelling, poignant and funny memoir, Tara shares the many joys and the terrible lows of her journey thus far with honesty and passion. Written with co-writer, Lynda Delacey, How (Not) to Start an Orphanage is a book that will keep you thinking long after you turn the final page.
Download or read book Sparkling Gems from the Greek written by Rick Renner and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rick Renner unearths a rich treasure trove of truths in his remarkable devotional. Drawing from an extensive study of both the English Bible and New Testament Greek, Rick illuminates 365 passages with more than 1,285 in-depth Greek word studies. Far from intellectualizing, he blends his solid instruction with practical applications and refreshing insights. Find challenge, reassurance, comfort, and reminders of God's abiding love and healing every day of the year.
Download or read book Radical written by David Platt and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.
Download or read book Orphan Justice written by Johnny Carr and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians are clearly called to care for orphans, a group so close to the heart of Jesus. In reality, most of the 153 million orphaned and vulnerable children in the world do not need to be adopted, and not everyone needs to become an adoptive parent. However, there are other very important ways to help beyond adoption. Indeed, caring for orphaned and vulnerable children requires us to care about related issues from child trafficking and HIV/AIDS to racism and poverty. Too often, we only discuss or theologize the issues, relegating the responsibility to governments. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Based on his own personal journey toward pure religion, Johnny Carr moves readers from talking about global orphan care to actually doing something about it in Orphan Justice. Combining biblical truth with the latest research, this inspiring book: • investigates the orphan care and adoption movement in the U.S. today • examines new data on the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children • connects “liberal issues” together as critical aspects or orphan care • discovers the role of the church worldwide in meeting these needs • develops a tangible, sustainable action plan using worldwide partnerships • fleshes out the why, what, and how of global orphan care • offers practical steps to getting involved and making a difference
Download or read book When We Were Orphans written by Kazuo Ishiguro and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2001-01-16 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day comes this stunning work of soaring imagination. Born in early twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition—and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him. Masterful, suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one’s past.
Download or read book A Spirituality of Living written by Henri J. M. Nouwen and published by Upper Room Books. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's the secret to living a spiritual life? So much is happening in our world that we often get distracted and listen to voices other than the voice of God. "If we want to be disciples of Jesus, we have to live a disciplined life," Nouwen asserts. In the spiritual life, discipline requires conscious effort to keep every area in life from being filled up. It means creating space in our life for God to act and speak. Nouwen identifies 3 essential disciplines for maintaining a life of discipleship: solitude, community, and ministry. In solitude we learn to listen to God through prayer. We realize that we are beloved sons and daughters of God. In community we learn to celebrate, as well as to practice vulnerability and forgiveness. After we have experienced solitude and community, we feel God's call to minister to a hurting world. God empowers us to do amazing things. This encouraging, insightful book will inspire you to practice solitude, community, and ministry. The result, Nouwen promises, is a fruitful, Spirit-filled life.
Download or read book Reciprocal Missions written by D. J. Schuetze and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-08 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can we go on short-term missions that don't do damage and in fact serves everyone? Too often the only people who receive the benefit of a short-term missions trip are the trip participants. Many books and critics have expressed their opinion about the damage done by many short-term missions groups on local communities. Reciprocal Missions provides a healthy path forward. A path that will guide us into short-term missions that will be mutually beneficial for everyone involved, both ministry host and mission trip goer. Reciprocal Missions covers cultural sensitivity, building on the ground relationships with hosting organizations, and the nuts and bolts of both facilitating and hosting short-term mission teams. If we want to do short-term missions with excellence, then we must be willing to do the hard work of relationships. With a combined 45 years of experience, DJ Schuetze, who hosts hundreds of short-term mission groups a year and Phil Steiner who leads hundreds of people on short-term mission trips a year have collaborated to bring their experiences and expertise to this book, Reciprocal Missions: Short-Term Missions that Serve Everyone.
Download or read book Searching for Spring written by Christine Hoover and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible says that God makes all things beautiful in their time, but when we look around today we see a broken and marred world. Our reality is so often the "not beautiful" that it's hard to trust that God can make our mess into something good. So how do we live with hope for a future redemption of all things? In Searching for Spring, Christine Hoover takes readers on a treasure hunt for beauty in both familiar and unexpected places. Framed by the changing seasons, this journey will heighten readers' senses and awaken their affections for the creator of it all. For all who are in the midst of suffering, who find their faith withering, who are questioning whether God is at work--or even present--as they wait for something in their lives to become beautiful, this book will be a welcome reminder that God never stops his redemptive work and that there is a time for everything under heaven.
Download or read book Orphan Island written by Laurel Snyder and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A National Book Award Longlist title! "A wondrous book, wise and wild and deeply true." —Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon "This is one of those books that haunts you long after you read it. Thought-provoking and magical." —Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series In the tradition of modern-day classics like Sara Pennypacker's Pax and Lois Lowry's The Giver comes a deep, compelling, heartbreaking, and completely one-of-a-kind novel about nine children who live on a mysterious island. On the island, everything is perfect. The sun rises in a sky filled with dancing shapes; the wind, water, and trees shelter and protect those who live there; when the nine children go to sleep in their cabins, it is with full stomachs and joy in their hearts. And only one thing ever changes: on that day, each year, when a boat appears from the mist upon the ocean carrying one young child to join them—and taking the eldest one away, never to be seen again. Today’s Changing is no different. The boat arrives, taking away Jinny’s best friend, Deen, replacing him with a new little girl named Ess, and leaving Jinny as the new Elder. Jinny knows her responsibility now—to teach Ess everything she needs to know about the island, to keep things as they’ve always been. But will she be ready for the inevitable day when the boat will come back—and take her away forever from the only home she’s known? "A unique and compelling story about nine children who live with no adults on a mysterious island. Anyone who has ever been scared of leaving their family will love this book" (from the Brightly.com review, which named Orphan Island a best book of 2017).
Download or read book Adopted into God s Family written by Trevor J. Burke and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2006-10-24 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, Trevor Burke argues that the scripture phrase "adopted as sons," while a key theological metaphor, has been misunderstood, misrepresented or neglected. He redresses the balance in this comprehensive study of the phrase. "This volume not only probes a neglected theme; it also edifies," says D. A. Carson.
Download or read book Mental Health and the Church written by Stephen Grcevich, MD and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church across North America has struggled to minister effectively with children, teens, and adults with common mental health conditions and their families. One reason for the lack of ministry is the absence of a widely accepted model for mental health outreach and inclusion. In Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions, Dr. Stephen Grcevich presents a simple and flexible model for mental health inclusion ministry for implementation by churches of all sizes, denominations, and organizational styles. The model is based upon recognition of seven barriers to church attendance and assimilation resulting from mental illness: stigma, anxiety, self-control, differences in social communication and sensory processing, social isolation and past experiences of church. Seven broad inclusion strategies are presented for helping persons of all ages with common mental health conditions and their families to fully participate in all of the ministries offered by the local church. The book is also designed to be a useful resource for parents, grandparents and spouses interested in promoting the spiritual growth of loved ones with mental illness.
Download or read book Orphanology Awakening to Gospel Centered Adoption and Orphan Care Awakening to Gospel Centered Adoption and Orphan Care written by Tony Merida and published by New Hope Publishers (AL). This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Orphanology unveils the grassroots movement that's engaged in a comprehensive response to serve hundreds of millions of orphans and "functionally parentless" children.You'll see a breadth of ways to care with biblical perspective and reasons why we must. Heartwarming, personal stories and vivid illustrations from a growing network of families, churches, and organizations that cross culture show how to respond to God's mandate. The book empowers:- churches--to plan preaching, teaching, ministering, missions, funding adoption, supporting orphans;- individuals and families--to overcome challenges and uncertainties;- every believer--to gain insights to help orphans in numerous ways. Discover how to - adopt;- assist orphans in transition;- engage in foster care;- partner with faith-based fostering agencies;- become orphan hosts.Along with their families' adoption stories, Merida and Morton give steps for action and features on churches doing orphan ministry, faith-based children's homes, orphan-hosting groups, and other resources.
Download or read book No More Faking Fine written by Esther Fleece Allen and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scripture reveals a God who meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. No More Faking Fine is your invitation to get honest with God through the life-giving language of lament. If you've ever been given empty clichés during challenging times, you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by well-meaning people. When life hurts, we often feel pressure--from others and ourselves--to keep it together, suck it up, or pray it away. But Scripture reveals a God who lovingly invites us to give honest voice to our emotions when life hits hard. For most of her life, Esther Fleece Allen believed she could bypass the painful emotions of her broken past by shutting them down altogether. She was known as an achiever and an overcomer on the fast track to success. But in silencing her pain, she robbed herself of the opportunity to be healed. Maybe you've done the same. Esther's journey into healing began when she discovered that God has given us a real-world way to deal with raw emotions and an alternative to the coping mechanisms that end up causing more pain. It's called lament--the gut-level, honest prayer that God never ignores, never silences, and never wastes. No More Faking Fine is your permission to lament, taking you on a journey down the unexpected pathway to true intimacy with God. Drawing from careful biblical study and hard-won insight, Esther reveals how to use God's own language to come closer to him as he leads us through our pain to the light on the other side, teaching you that: We are robbing ourselves of a divine mystery and a divine intimacy when we pretend to have it all together God does not expect us to be perfect; instead, he meets us where we are There is hope beyond your heartache, disappointment, and grief Like Esther, you'll soon find that when one person stops faking fine, it gives everyone else permission to do the same.
Download or read book Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit written by Thomas Keating and published by Lantern Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Keating has spent more than fifty years in sustained practice and devotion to the spiritual life. The results of this creative, humble activity are now summarized in this remarkable book, Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit. As Father Keating says, the spiritual journey is a gradual process of enlarging our emotional, mental, and physical relationship with the divine reality that is present in us, but one not ordinarily accessible to our emotions or concepts. The spiritual journey teaches us, first, to believe in the Divine Indwelling within us, fully present and energizing every level of our being; second, to recognize that this energy is benign, healing, and transforming; and third, to enjoy its gradual unfolding step-by-step both in prayer and action.
Download or read book The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ written by and published by . This book was released on 1851 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Song of the Orphans written by Daniel Price and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-07-04 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling second novel in the category-defying Silvers trilogy—melding X-Men and the novels of Blake Crouch—about six extraordinary people who become unwitting refugees on an unfamiliar Earth, and their epic quest to find out why. The end of the world was just the beginning for Hannah and Amanda Given. Saved from apocalypse by three mysterious beings, the sisters, along with four other refugees from their world, were each marked with a silver bracelet and transported to an entirely different Earth: a place where restaurants move through the air like flying saucers and the fabric of time is manipulated by common household appliances, as well as by their very own hands—and a place where terrifying new adversaries seem to be around every corner. Now, after six months in this alt-America and a tumultuous cross-country journey that landed them in New York City, the Silvers find themselves in more trouble than ever. Their new world is dying, and a clan of powerful time benders believes that killing them is the only way to stop it. To make matters worse, the U.S. government has sent its most ruthless covert spy agency to track and capture them. But the biggest threat of all comes from the three god-like beings who first saved them. They had a reason for bringing the Givens and their friends to this world. And when the Silvers learn the awful truth, nothing will ever be the same.
