In the foster care community, we often encounter stories full of pain, hardship, trauma, and difficulties. With each story, we can’t help but consider that this isn’t how God intended life to be. Even so, God is faithful, just like He has been in the life of today’s guest, Sean Myers.
Sean, a pastor in Peoria, AZ, had a tough childhood. His parents struggled with drug addiction, and he experienced homelessness, foster care, instability, and more. In the midst of all the difficulty, God had a greater plan for him that included salvation, adoption, community, and a future full of hope.
In this episode, you’ll hear why the safety of what’s familiar is often more desirable for children in foster care, why the Church needs to be even more involved in supporting the foster care community, the importance of community in discipleship and growth, and so much more. This is one you don’t want to miss!
TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S CONVERSATION:
1. The unknown can be scarier than what’s comfortable for a child in foster care.
Foster children often feel out of place and confused when arriving at a foster family’s home for the first time. It’s normal for them to feel that they would prefer to be with their biological parents. In fact, if we believe that families are meant to be together, that’s a good thing! As foster parents, we need to be sure that we are approaching these emotions with understanding and grace, focusing on simply reminding the child in our care that they are safe.
“The reality is I would have preferred at 13 years old to still be in my broken situation with my parents because that was all I knew.”
2. We need people around us to become who God meant for us to be.
There are some things that you can only learn in a community with other people. God meant for us to be a part of a family (whatever that looks like) and to learn things from those who care about us. In Sean’s life, he greatly benefitted from his adoptive parents and the men and women in the church family he was part of.
“No one had ever made me do my homework before and I remember feeling so loved—confused and frustrated too—by that whole interaction. There are things you don’t learn without parents.”
3. Being pro-life for Christians has to mean more than pro-birth.
This issue has been brought to the forefront recently and we need to face the reality that there will be many more children entering foster care in the coming years. God entrusted the Church with the role of caretaker to orphans and widows and it’s a role that we should take seriously. In Arizona, where Sean lives, 4 new foster families are licensed each day, but 33 new kids come into the system on average. There are many roles in the foster care community, and it’s crucial that the Church takes up the call to see and serve these children.
“At some level, we have to acknowledge that nobody in the church can say, ‘That’s not my job.’ No, it is your job. At some level, you have to partake and get involved with the orphan because God calls us to see the orphan.”
Meet Our Guest
Sean Myers is a pastor, husband, father, and foster parent. He helped start and serves at Pella Communities, a multi-generational church family that was founded in 2020. Sean’s childhood was marked by instability, homelessness, and foster care. It was in high school that God got a hold of his heart and his life. Sean holds an M.A. in Missional Theology from Covenant Theological Seminary and lives in south Peoria, AZ with his wife, Candace, and their four children (soon to be six, Lord willing!).
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