Welcome to the defender podcast, a resource to help mobilize and equip the body of Christ to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, and I'm your host, Herbie Newell.

Alright. Welcome again to the Defender Podcast. This is Rick Morton, and today is May 22, 2000 24. Excited today to be, to be talking about a program that we're really excited about here at Lifeline called Heritage Builders. And so, in this episode, we're going to we're going to look at LifeLion's program, Heritage Builders, with our guests, Sean and Jenny Miller.

The Millers are going to share their story about their experience with Heritage Builders, on their personal connection and commitment to serving folks through the the foster care community. And so we're gonna talk together. We're gonna talk about the the holistic approach of Heritage Builders, which really focuses on teaching life skills and job skills to older youth in foster care that are they're going to age out with or without the permanency of a family. And so, Sean and Ginny are going to discuss the challenges that they face. They're going to talk about the transition to independence.

And we're going to talk about the way that Lifeline partners with local churches in order to be able to minister to these kiddos. And so we're really excited that the Millers are here. Sean and Jenny are US missionary chaplains to foster care through the Assemblies of God. They have 5 amazing children: Jordan, Eli, Arianna, Aviana, and Thomas. Did I get that right?

Yeah. No. That I I

don't pronounce the numbers

right? No. That's right.

Okay. Good. Alright. I I like I was I worked on them. So I wanted to make sure.

But, and and we we love the fact that the that the Lord has has built their family and called them, as US missionaries. And so their mission is to to resource and equip local churches, to care for kids in the foster care system as well as their birth, their foster, and their adopted families. And so one of the things we share is that we all believe that the church is the answer to the orphan care crisis and ultimately the foster care crisis in America. And we really believe that the church has the ability to be able to take back child welfare in America because it's our God given responsibility. And so we hope you'll join with us in this conversation.

We're gonna and today, as always, we have a promo. And so today, we're gonna talk about Heritage Builders. And so, you know, wow. Like, the marketing team's on it, y'all. We're we're aligning what we're talking about with, with actually, the the thing that we're promoting to you.

But really, Heritage builders is is really a thing because, there are incredible challenges for kids that are in the US foster system. Particularly those kids that are that are moving toward independent living. And so we know that without intervention, that these these young people often leave the foster care system with a sense of relational poverty, with a limited knowledge of life skills and and few resources. And so in these situations, kids often experience high rates of unplanned pregnancy school dropouts, becoming victims of child trafficking abuse, in their families and chronic home homelessness through Heritage Builders. Lifeline wants to equip churches to invest in the lives of these kids and your church can actually do something to engage.

And so we want to encourage you to go to lifelinechild.org/heritage. Or you can check out our show notes for more information and to learn a little bit more about what I have the privilege of being able to talk to the Millers about today. And so, Jenny, Shawn, welcome to the Defender Podcast. Thanks for thanks for being along with us.

Yeah. Thank you for having us.

So maybe, you know, I think let's just start at the beginning and and a little bit about your journey into the foster care system and what has the Lord done to bring you to the point of being called as missionaries to bring the gospel to bear in the foster care system?

Well, so, let's, go back, I guess. So we've been married for 16 years

k.

And, we couldn't have kids of our own. And we just, really just prayed about it and, just God just really started dealing with us about to adopt and foster. And so we became foster parents, and we have had several kids come through our home. We've now the 5 kids that we have, they're all adopted. And just through that process, we have just had our eyes just really open to the need in our nation, in in our hometown, for the kids that are out there that just they need love.

And, God has just really dealt with our hearts about that. He's birthed, just a extreme passion for us to go out and and do what we can to reach these kids, these families, and just try to help out in any way that we can.

And so one of the one of the ways that we're all trying to engage in this is to really look holistically at ways that every person in the body of Christ can find a way to be engaged. And one of those ways that you all have been become connected with is through Heritage Builders. And so maybe talk a little bit about how why you were motivated to engage with Heritage Builders and why that's become a meaningful connection for you?

So one of the young ladies that came to our home as one of our foster kiddos was a 16 year old girl, and she knew absolutely nothing about what her life would look like after she became an adult. She thought she knew all the answers. She thought she knew what she was doing. But, like, we were trying to help her with things, like, just simple things, like, like, even doing laundry. Like, she's like, oh, I know how to do laundry.

And so the first time I let her do laundry by herself. And she was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I need help. I remember being at one of our other sons. We were at his baseball game, and she looked at me.

And she's like, hey, miss Jenny. How do I build credit? And I was like, okay. I would love to talk to you about this. Maybe not in the middle of a baseball game, but, let's talk about this.

And, so whenever she left our home, she just man, she still just didn't she was lacking in so many areas, and our hearts really go out for her and for the other kids like her that do not have a support system as they exit the foster care system?

Yeah. The phrase that we use a lot when we talk about that is relational poverty. And the fact is that we all have an understanding of physical poverty and what a lack of resources can do. But I think it's less obvious many times how deeply relational poverty affects kids that are in the foster care system. And I think we see the statistics that kids that age out of the US foster care system, their outcomes are not really different than kids around the world that are they're aging out of orphanage systems or those sorts of things.

And so while I think I think we have some things that are that are better in the foster care system, one of the one of the realities that we that we understand is that the system itself is not really designed to meet those needs of kids that God designed the family to be and to teach. And so when you add those extra factors, it can be it can be really complicated for a child to learn and kind of have the consistency and be ready for adulthood. And so like, from your perspective, as you walk through Heritage Builders, could you just help us to understand a little bit about what does the program look like? What's the experience like of a church engaging in Heritage Builders? And then about like how would a church actually step in and begin to experience, engaging in the foster care system in this way?

Okay. So one of the things that I like about it, we were we were youth pastors also for 12 years. And the setup of the way the classes work, is very similar to what a youth service would be. You know, you you come in, you're connecting with these students as they're coming in. It's just a good time to just kind of fellowship.

And then we start off with just a what we call, like, a big group, where all of us are together, and, we get to talk. We get to do our lesson and share a little bit of the gospel with them and have this huge, you know, a big group, discussion, have a little bit of icebreaker, games. And then when we're done with that, we get to dismiss them to the back area, and we have a time where we can gather around and, have, food together. And we break up into small groups, and we kinda break down what we've discussed in big group and, just bring it down to a little bit smaller level and, just kind of dive into that lesson a little bit more in small groups. And then at the end, we break down to a 1 on 1, to where the students is paired with an advocate to where they can talk and build relationship with that advocate that they have in their life.

And they can pray together, and they can just walk through life with them together. And then at the very end, we just kind of dismiss in a big group prayer at the end and, come back the next time and repeat it. And, so it's it's very in our lives, it was set up just almost like a a youth service. And so when I'm talking to churches, you know, I kinda tell them that, like, it's it's very similar, scale to that. So that was very comfortable for us as being youth pastors for so many years.

Yeah. And I think I think it also speaks to the fact that while there may be some unique special needs that kids have because of the circumstance of them being in care, that there's also a great commonality that on some level, kids are just kids. And so what you've experienced and what you've walked through as youth pastors is incredibly relevant to the lives of the kids that you're encountering through Heritage Builders. I think for somebody out there that's trying to get their mind around the kinds of things that you dive into with these kids and maybe some of the places where you're standing in a gap for them in things that their experience in the system may not be preparing them well for. Just kind of unpack.

What does that look like in making that investment with regard to life skills and helping them to form those needed skills that they're going to need for independent living?

I think, the majority of the lessons are just really good practical lessons that every teenager needs to hear. So, you know, you're talking about, like, how to cook, talking about how to take care of daily living, how to take care of yourself, But I do love how inserted in these lessons are also some things that are more unique to the types of circumstances that our kids in care are gonna face when they age out. So actually last month, the lesson that we taught was how to find resources for yourself. And so, like, we had to cover some of those things. Like these are the websites that you find.

Like we had to talk to them about, you know, when if you find yourself out there and you don't have a cell phone and you don't have Internet access, you can always go to a library and gave them some keywords. Like, these are the types of words that you can type in a Google search that are gonna start giving you some of the resources that you need. And we also covered a lot, like, very heavily with, like, relationships and how not to be manipulated in relationships. Whereas every teenager needs that. Yes.

But these kids specifically because of those statistics that we talked about about the risk of them being in human trafficking and things like that. Like, we hit heavy on those things as well.

Yeah. It's it's and it you know, I I think at the end of the day, it's you're right. Like, it's just it's very it's very practical kinds of things that we're investing in the lives you know of kids that, quite frankly, just may lack other context and other other life experiences for for an adult that is experienced and living life well to really be able to invest those things into them. I think so I'm in a church where we're doing Heritage Builders. But I'm not a part of Heritage Builders in our church.

That's That's not one of the ministries I'm invested in. But one of the experiences that I've had along the way is I'm in a Sunday school class of people like me. And so it's people kind of in their late 40s and in their 50s and, a big group of adults that are meeting together. And one Sunday, this has probably been about a year ago, there was a young lady who joined us in our Sunday school class. And she's 16, I know that now.

I didn't really know. She just was really out of place. Because she didn't fit in at all with the other people that were there. But she was immediately comfortable with the people that were around. And so I had a little bit of a clue of who she might have been and why she might have been there.

And so she after class, I just kind of made my way over and joined in a conversation that she was a part of. And I just kind of said to her, hey, this is this is really cool that, you know, that you came to join us this morning. And and her her answer was just it was precious. She just said, well, yeah, this is where my friends are. And so I couldn't resist.

Like, I had to I had to kind of peer into that a little bit. I'm like, well, you know, like, tell me about that. Like, who and and literally, it was it was some of the adults that are that are journeying with her through Heritage Builders are part of our Sunday school class. And so when she came to church and was there for Bible study and for worship on Sunday, she gravitated to the people that she had a relationship with. And so she was there with us.

And she's continued to be there with us for about a year now and is having this incredible experience of just adults in the church that are just loving on her and pouring into her and have become a part of her life. And so she's not living in relational poverty anymore because she's got a network of adults who know her and are connected to her And who are doing life with her. And that's like that's kind of what we want to see, right? Is the opportunity for kids you know, to be known and and to be to be loved in a in a way that that sets them up for success in the future. Right?

It's so funny that you mentioned that she called them her friends because we've had that. That's what our kids refer to their advocates as. We had one night where, one of our small group leaders couldn't be there, so we had to kinda divvy the group up into the other small groups. And one young man was like, I want my friend to come sit with me. So the small group leader thought she met he met one of the other kids from his group home, but he was, like, no, my friend.

And he was talking about his advocate. He was upset. He wanted his advocate to be there in his small group.

I love it. And that's and that's what we want. Right? We just want genuine connections and and, the opportunity to be able to know and love on these kids. And I think the other part of that is that we don't want to just invest in them in practical life skills.

We don't want to just invest in them in relationships. But we want to like we wanna do that with the gospel at the forefront of what we do. And so there's a faith component to making these connections. And so maybe unpack that a little bit about about what does it look like to, you know, to bring the gospel to bear into these opportunities that you, you know, that you have with kids?

So we have kids that come in on different levels spiritually. And so some of them are already believers. They already like, they're receptive to hearing the the gospel message that are always intertwined in the lessons. And we also have some kids that are more resistant to it as well. And so we try not to be, like, overly, I guess, preachy in it.

We start every night with prayer. There's always, like, a scripture reference that we share at the beginning of the lessons. And then where we leave a lot of the spiritual transformation is when it comes to their advocates. Because me and my husband, we teach the large group lesson, but we found that the best part of this is, like you said, the relationships they're building with those advocates. And so they're able to spend time every night with their advocate as well as be in touch with them in between the meetings.

Like, they still have that relationship with their advocates. And, that's where we give them that space. And some of the kids, like, originally were like, no. I don't wanna pray with you.

Yeah.

But as they built relationships with these people and, you know, they're just being real with them too and sharing with them, like, hey, this is what I face when I deal with depression, anxiety. Like, I pray. And so they've just been able to kinda do life with them. And so now we see where some of them are more receptive to, like, not necessarily wanna pray, like, in the big group Yeah.

But when we

get that one on one time, they're they're more open to hearing that. So a lot of that really relies on our advocates is the spiritual transformation that we're seeing.

Tell them about the our student with their pastor friend.

So it was so much fun, like because obviously, we don't know the kids when they first come in. We just get a list of names.

Sure.

And so I'm like, okay. Like, we just prayed. We're like, okay. We're gonna pray over this, and then we're just gonna start matching mentors to, to students. And so the senior pastor at our church is mentored with a young man who is an die hard atheist.

He does not believe in God, didn't wanna come to the program at all, and so, like, there is a little bit of hesitation there. But now this young man, he says that I come back every month because I love my mentor. Because I love him. And he's the senior pastor. And so he has built this really amazing connection, to the senior pastor there there at the church.

And so he's still not, like, there yet. Like, we've been planting the seeds and just waiting on him, you know, because that's what it is. We're gonna continue to love him no matter what.

Sure.

But we see that he's been opening up. At first, he was like, the pastor told him he was like, well, I'm gonna call you and check on you in between meetings. And he was like, I don't text. I don't do that. But now he's getting where he's texting him back, and their their relationship's just so awesome to see how that's kind of built.

And it's funny that it's the pastor and an atheist, you know, that we paired together, not knowing anything about, you know, these students. And, it's just it's crazy, but amazing at the same time to see how God is working through the lives of these these mentors and the students as well. Just, it's it's awesome to see.

I love that so much. And I, you know, and I think there's there's a, you know, there's a scriptural principle I think in that that as, you know, as parents, we we think about Deuteronomy 6 and, you know, in the way that the Lord talked about passing the faith 1 generation to the next. And, you know, what did he tell Israel to do? He said, like, talk about it when you rise up and when you sit down and when you go out and when you come back and, you know, all these really practical things to do, like paint it over the, you know, the doorpost of their house and and and, you know, tying it on their wrist and things like that. And and and so God was God just wanted them to make their faith part of part of their everyday life.

And I think what Heritage Builders really gives an opportunity to do is in the midst of some of these programmed elements where, you know, there's a lesson and you're teaching and there's, you know, there's intentionality there, it really creates room for adults in the church just to get to know these kids and to love on them and to kinda teach as we go. And and so it's it's yes, it may be applying something that is said in the lesson, but a lot of it is just is just showing them how, you know, how we as people who follow Jesus, how we how we do that and and how it's practical and how it relates relates to our lives. And so, I think, you know, based on so I'd love to just kind of delve into for a second. So based on the experience that you've had, like practically, what does it look like for a church to engage with Lifeline in order to to be able to, you know, to do this ministry as, you know, as a as a church?

Well, we went to the Lifeline Training, the Heritage Builders Training, and, we had to send me and my husband, we teach the classes, and then we had another ministry partner that went with us as well and she does a lot of the coordinating between the, the group homes and all of the backside of the program. And so the 3 of us were trained by Lifeline, and they gave us the lessons. They gave us the training for ourselves as well as the materials that we would need to train our workers that are coming into the program as advocates. Because a lot of people do not understand, like, they they wanna help with these kids but it's like, well, I helped 1 week and it kinda like the young band with a senior pastor. They were like they they said no.

And so they just wanna kinda give up if they've never dealt with kids in the foster care system. And so the material that they gave us to train our workers was amazing to talk about like, hey, like these kids don't trust anybody. It's gonna take, you know, several weeks, several months before you're able to really truly start making those connections. And so, they trained us personally and then they gave us everything that we needed to go back to train our team to make sure they were equipped to really pull off this ministry well.

Yeah. And I think, you know, it it's important, I think, for folks to know that, like, there's not a big there's not like a lot of special scale to this. Right? Like it's just it's it's just people, that bring who they are and what they have to to engaging with kids that are in circumstances that are just probably different than than what most of us have have experienced. But that's what the training is for.

It's to help you to understand where these kids may may be coming from. To help you understand maybe some of the hurts and some of the, you know, some of the the difficulties that they may be carrying. And and to know how to approach them in ways that you're able to build a relationship with them. But the biggest thing you need is you just need to be there. It's not, you know, there's there's no special certification.

There's no it's it's really, you know, just a commitment to to be in there for these kids. And I think in a world where we, you know, we think about what what foster parents do or we think about what adoptive parents do. And there's so many folks in the church that just honestly say, like, I I can't see myself doing that. Like, that's not a commitment that I'm, you know, that I'm called to or something that I feel like I'm capable of. But honestly, what what folks are doing through Heritage Builders and and serving in that way as advocates for kids, is a is a really, really powerful thing that just practically anybody in the church can do.

Absolutely.

Yeah. One one night a month, you know, typically is what we do, just one night a month for 2:2a half hours. You know, you come in and you just, like I said, just build relationship and just level these students and, just talk to them and befriend them. And, you know, hopefully, you do build that relationship. So in between meetings, you're able to to connect with them if they have a way to talk or text or, and then when these classes end, you know, you've got that continuing relationship with them to where it's not just a relationship at the meeting.

It's a relationship ongoing outside of those doors.

Yeah. I love that. And I think the other special thing that we're able to do to come alongside churches to help is that invariably this means a relationship with CPS. It's like there's some difficulty in some red tape and that. But, but that's really not it's not huge.

Like, it's not a, you know, and I think sometimes we're intimidated by, you know, coming alongside kids that are in state custody and and like what it takes for us as the church to be able to to to work with them. And and the truth is that there's a there's a pretty easy, predictable pathway to to being able to you know being able to engage in the lives of these kids. And and it is is really predicated on the fact, and I I think a lot of folks don't know this, but part of the responsibility that the government takes in child welfare is creating an independent living plan for kids that are in the foster care system. And so there's the state's accountable for having this goal that they're preparing kids for independence. And the the really awesome thing about Heritage Builders is is is the church is really kind of offering a free gift to the state to say, hey, we wanna step in and we wanna help you meet that goal that, you know, that you're responsible for.

And and so how's that been in just in your relationships with the group home and CPS and things like that and being able to see you know, gospel fruit even, you know, even in those kind of relationships.

Yeah. So we actually approached the director for our independent living program here in our area and was telling him about this program that Heritage Builders, we wanted to start it. And he literally said, like, this is an answer to my prayers. I he said if, you know, all because all of that was on him as a single and how am I gonna teach all of these kids, make sure that they're learning the right stuff, they're learning the same stuff. And so it was just perfect timing for us to come and partner with them.

I will say at first, like, they're a little hesitant. Like, they wanted to be at all the meetings, which, of course, like, we're, like, absolutely, please come. And, so at first, like, they're a little bit more, like, hand holding type of thing. They wanted to see how it was gonna go. They were worried about like if the kids would like to come, would like to participate.

And then I honestly think in the back of their mind, their thing was how long are they gonna do this before they back out. Yeah. Lots of churches and lots of people are like, oh, I wanna help foster kids. Let me come in. But then they do it for a couple months and it gets hard, you know, because you're not building those relationships with the kids right away.

And so a lot of ministries have backed out. So that's what we said from the get go is we're gonna be here every single month. We have one night that we have 3 primary group homes that we work with. All 3 homes, something came up, none of them showed up to meeting. But we came back the next month and month after that and the month after that.

And so just improving ourselves to CPS and the group homes, Like, we are gonna continue to be here. We're gonna continue to show up. We're not gonna give up. When things get messy or things get hard, we're gonna keep showing up month after month. So now it's one of those things.

They love us. Like, they call in, check on us, but they've kinda let their hands go. They're like, okay. You guys are doing this. This is awesome.

They encourage their kids to come, but they don't even come to the meetings as much anymore because they just trust what we're

doing. Yeah. I love that so much because I because I think and, you know, and it's and it's kind of both and. I mean, we we get the privilege of being able to encourage believers that are in the system because because there are a lot of them that are, you know, this is what they do and they may be even vocationally precluded from being able to share the gospel in what they do and live out that part of who they are. But it's an incredible encouragement to them when the church comes alongside and and we're we're shouldering up and doing that work.

And then on the other side, you have you have folks that are not believers, that are working in the system, that are seeing, you know, they're seeing the gospel put on display right there in front of them by by the way people are engaging and that, you know, that faithfulness week after week after week, month after month after month is is really an incredible testimony to the truth of the gospel. And so it's awesome to see that and to see what the Lord's doing. I think maybe as we close today, what would you say if there's a church that's out there and they've heard this interview or they've seen something on the internet about heritage builders and and they're like they're sort of leaning in and and saying maybe I you know maybe the Lord's calling me to this. What would you tell them?

It's it's one of those things. There's a need. And if there's ever a time for it, it's now. You know? And and I'm not gonna sit here and try to say that it's not hard sometimes.

Well, what in ministry, what in the church? You know? There's you can nitpick and do that all day long. But these kids, they need they need the love of God in their lives. They need to see that from the church.

Mhmm. And that's what the church is here for. We're here to be that for them. And, if there's anything that's you thinking, you know, maybe this is something we need to do or something we need to try, do it. Maybe if if it's something to where, you're you're not a 100% sure and maybe there's a church that's close by that's doing these classes, maybe you can just connect with that church and say, hey.

Is it is it possible that I can come and sit in on one of the classes? Let me get that, you know, bird's eye view kind of thing. Let me see how it works from beginning to end. Let me see if this is gonna be something that genuinely our church can handle. Don't just think about it, be about it.

You know, really really take it in. If there's a church in your area, I'm sure that any church will let you come in and and sit in on that and see see how it's how it's ran.

You know, I know that there are a couple of AG missionaries that I've met that probably would love to talk to people and encourage them in this. And so we might be able to get you in touch with them. But but honestly, I think, you know, what I what I've seen and heard over and over and over again is the the people that, you know that have opened their hearts and opened their opportunity in their lives to be engaged in this ministry. That the Lord just produces incredible stories of transformation in the lives of kids, you know, and the opportunity to to be able to, you know, show and tell the gospel and and and there's just a ton of faithfulness that we see in that.

Is it okay if I share my my favorite Heritage Builder story real quick?

100%. I wouldn't wanna finish this without you sharing it.

So, we kicked off our Heritage Realtors program with, like, just, like, a fun night. Like, we rented out the skating rink and, just had, like, a really fun informal night. But the very first night that we done our actual lesson, our boys group home had already been there. They were kinda hanging out in the sanctuary and we had a girls group home come in. And I was standing at the door just kinda welcoming the kids very first night in the church, very first lesson night.

And there is this young lady that's seen somebody in the sanctuary. She ran right past me, ran to this young man, and they were, like, bear hugging and just crying. And I was, like, what in the world is going on? They were siblings that were separated into 2 different group homes in our local area. He was in the boys group home, she was in the girls group home, and they hadn't seen each other.

They hadn't done a sibling visit in 3 months. And so that has been, like, the coolest thing. And we have multiple siblings that are like that in our group and they use Heritage builders every month as, like, their sibling visit time. And they are able to see each other every single month.

They had no Jenny, that wasn't even fair. I'm just gonna tell you. Like, I'm over here tearing up. That wasn't even fair.

They had no clue that they were gonna see each other that night. Had no clue. And, and so every month now that they've been able to come and they they're able to connect and see each other and

They chose to be in each other small groups so they can spend time even after large groups. We did a game, where, you know, like, what are you thankful for? And everybody's shamed, And they were thankful for each other and thankful for Hairitage Brothers. They get to see each other every month.

That's awesome. Janie, Shawn Miller, thank you so much. Just may the Lord bless you in in what you continue to do and the way you continue to serve. And and and and may the Lord grow churches that have a heart for, you know, for this ministry and and are, you know, building the next generation of disciples, making disciples through, engaging kids that are that are in a really tough place. And so thank you so much.

We'll put all the information in the show notes. We're glad that you have joined us today. And, and we just want this week to encourage you to to find something, some way to live out James 127. To to to open your life and and open what the Lord has given you to the opportunity to be able to to make an investment, to pastor as the as the scriptures really say orphan and vulnerable children and and vulnerable families. And so, thanks again for joining us on the Defender Podcast.

And we we will we will be right back here again next week.

Thanks for listening to the Defender podcast. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Podcast to make it easier for more people to find. For more information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, visit us at lifelinechild.org. If you want to connect with me, please visit herbynewell.com. Follow us at Lifeline on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child.

You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org. Beloved, will you allow god to use the gospel to you to impact the life of a child? Please contact us because we are here to defend the fatherless. We'll see you again next week for the Defender podcast.