Pure Religion:
The Call from the Courthouse Steps

"Church, I stand before you today not just as your pastor, but as living proof of a broken system and a perfect God. I know what it feels like to carry everything you own in a black plastic trash bag. I know what it feels like to be a number, a 'ward of the state,' shuffling between group homes while waiting for the government to figure out my future.

We have gotten too comfortable waiting on '.gov' to do what God explicitly commanded His Church to do. Look at James 1:27. God doesn’t stutter. He says pure religion is this: to visit the fatherless in their affliction. Right now, there are 424,000 children in the United States foster system. 114,000 of them have had their parental rights legally severed. They are orphans waiting on the courthouse steps. The state can provide physical containment, but only the Body of Christ can provide permanent, spiritual roots.

We have 380,000 churches in America. If just one family from every three churches steps up, that waiting list of 114,000 drops to zero. Zero! We have the mathematical miracle sitting right here in these pews. You might be thinking, 'Pastor, I can't take a child into my home right now.' That is fine. But you can cook a meal. You can babysit. You can fund the families who do foster so they don't burn out. We are forming Wrap-Around Teams today. We are not leaving these kids in the wilderness."

"Isaiah 1:17 is a battle cry. 'Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless.' God doesn’t ask us to feel sorry for the fatherless; He commands us to take up their cause. To fight for them.

Do you know what happens when a child 'ages out' of the foster system? On their 18th birthday, the state hands them a meager check, points to the door, and wishes them luck. 22,000 kids age out every single year into an absolute wilderness. The predators know this. They sit at the exits of these group homes. The data is terrifying: 60% of human trafficking victims come straight out of the child welfare system.

We are going to intercept them. We are building mentorship teams. We are going to teach these young men and women financial literacy, job readiness, and the love of Jesus Christ before the streets get ahold of them. We are going to be the family they never had."

"Every single one of us was born a spiritual orphan. We were alienated, broken, and carrying the baggage of our sin. But Romans 8:15 changes the entire trajectory of human history. It says we did not receive a spirit of bondage to fall back into fear, but we received the Spirit of adoption!

When you accept Christ, God doesn't just forgive your sins—He takes you into the courtroom of Heaven, the gavel drops, and He legally claims you as His own heir. You get a new name. You get a seat at the table.

If the ultimate design of the Gospel is adoption, how can we ignore the 114,000 kids waiting for someone to claim them right now? God is calling families in this room to replicate His divine grace. He is calling you to open your homes. And for those who cannot open their homes, you are called to stand right behind the families who do, so they never carry the financial or emotional burden alone."