C A F O S U M M I T M E D I A K I T 2 0 1 8 cafo2018.org
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“Across America and all over the globe, Christians are doing something peculiar. They’re opening their homes and hearts to children who’ve known great hurt, from US foster care to orphans worldwide. No matter where you are, that’s difficult, even countercultural. But it is a vibrant expression of the faith they claim. And there’s no better place to get a sense of it all than at the CAFO Summit.” - Jedd Medefind
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TA B L E O F CO N T E NT S + ABOUT CAFO
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+ CAFO SUMMIT 2018
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+ SAMPLE NEWS STORY
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+ APPROVED QUOTES FOR USE
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+ APPROVED IMAGES
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+ K E Y S TAT I S T I C S
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+ C O N TA C T
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A BOUT CAFO The Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) powerfully connects more than 675 member churches and unites over 190 respected organizations through joint initiatives that inspire and equip Christians to effectively live out the Bible’s call to care for orphans and vulnerable children. It is through several key initiatives that these members are connected, empowered, inspired and equipped.
cafo.org
CAFO Initiatives CAFO’s National Church Ministry Initiative exists to motivate, equip
CAFO’s OVC Research and Best Practice works to elevate the quality
Orphan Sunday is a catalyst for
and connect local churches nationwide,
of care for children worldwide through
U.S. and in 85 countries worldwide.
in their efforts to grow effective,
the annual OVC Research Symposium,
Orphan Sunday is the chance to grow
sustainable orphan, foster care and
webinars, issue white papers and other
hearts for orphans in you church and
adoption ministries.
resources, we help CAFO members
home through free resources, ideas,
apply the best available research and
videos and more to grow each church’s
models to their daily service to children.
Orphan Sunday event.
CAFO’s National Foster Care Initiative works toward the day when there are more Christian families
CAFO’s Student Initiative is a
waiting to receive foster children than
one-of-a-kind experience for students
children waiting for a family. The NFCI
to embed themselves into, learn
not only inspires involvement – it also
from, and make connections in the
connects emerging church ministries,
CAFO community of organizations
networks and families with the best
and individuals, with distinctive and
models and resources nationwide.
specially crafted elements intended
CAFO’s Global Networks invests in
only for our college audience.
emerging leaders worldwide, providing
CAFO Summit is an annual global
technical support, leadership training
conference that inspires and equips
and more to ultimately allow the local
Christians to care for orphans and
church in every nation to be known
vulnerable children with wisdom-guided
as the primary answer for the global
love by convening 2,000+ attendees
orphan crisis.
from all 50 states and from 30 nations to collaborate, learn and restore.
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awareness and action across the
Jedd Medefind Pre sid e nt,
Christian Alliance for Orphans
Jedd believes that love for orphans
reentry to global AIDS. As described
transforms. Both personally and
by the Harvard Political Review, these
through the example of countless
reforms “fundamentally changed the
others, he’s seen that lives are turned
government’s strategy for improving
upside-down when Christians reflect
the lives of the downtrodden…”
God’s heart for orphans through adoption, foster care and global orphan care. This kind of love transforms not only orphans, but also those who open hearts and homes to them. Churches can be transformed as well, moving the entire community beyond self-focused religion to self-giving faith. Finally, when a watching world sees the Gospel embodied in this way, onlookers are transformed as well. Desiring to spur this kind of transformation through the
Previously, Jedd held a range of posts in the California State Legislature. He also helped establish the California Community Renewal Project, which strengthens nonprofits in some of the state’s most challenged communities. He has worked, studied and served in more than thirty countries, with organizations ranging from PriceWaterhouse in Moscow to Christian Life Bangladesh.
Church, Jedd serves as President of the
Jedd has written many articles and four
Christian Alliance for Orphans.
books, including Upended and Four
Prior to his this role, Jedd served in the White House as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, leading the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. In this post, he oversaw reform efforts across the government to make community- and faith-based groups central partners in all Federal efforts to aid the needy, from prisoner
Souls. His most recent book, Becoming Home, offers a short yet meaningful exploration of how families and communities can embrace vulnerable children with wisdom and love through adoption, foster care, mentoring and more. Jedd Medefind and his wife, Rachel, live in central California with their five children.
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C A FO S UMM IT 2 0 1 8 CAFO2018 is a Global Summit focused on Foster Care, Adoption, Advocacy, and Engagement for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Thousands of foster and adoptive parents, orphan advocates, students, pastors and leaders from every U.S. state and more than thirty nations will converge at the 2018 Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit, hosted this year at Stonebriar Community Church in Dallas, TX. Their ultimate goal: to see Christians rise as the answer for kids in foster care and orphans worldwide.
cafo2018.org
Host Church Location:
2018 Speakers
Stonebriar Community Church
• Sara Hagerty
4801 Legendary Dr.
• Lisa Harper
• Advocacy & Communications
Frisco, TX 75034
• Beth Guckenberger
• Building Church Orphan Ministries
• Eugene Cho
• CAFO Global Network Recommendation
Schedule:
• Jim Daly
• Child Welfare and Adoption
CAFO2018 is three days, Wednesday, May 9 to Friday, May 11 with pre-event intensives on Wednesday, May 9.
• Russell Moore
Registration: Full Registration March 1 - April 8 Members – $160 Non-Members – $210 Groups of 10+ $200 (Non-member) or $150 (Member) Late Registration: April 9 - On-site Registration Members – $195 Non-Members – $245 Groups of 10+ $235 (Non-member) or $185 (Member) 6
110+ Workshops in the following tracks
Professionals
• Curt Thompson
• Engaging Effectively for Foster Youth
• Jedd Medefind
• Engaging Effectively for Orphans
• Kyle Ray
Worldwide
• Carlos Whittaker
• Family Preservation & Reintegration
• Aixa de López
• Help for Adoptive & Foster Families
• Diego Fuller
• Just Getting Started
• Charity Katongo
• Leadership Forums & Roundtables –
• Stephen Miller
CAFO Organization Members Only
• Dennis Rainey
• Loving Children with Special Needs • Maximizing the Impact of Your Ministry • Serving Children Aging Out • The Soul of Sustainable Service • Your Part in a Vibrant Continuum of Care
Group Coaching
Kids Summit
New to 2018 is the Coaching Table,
At the KIDS Summit, children ages
where small groups will engage around
4-10 will go through The One Who
a table on one of these highly-specific
Loves curriculum from Orbie for
topics. Examples include:
Orphans. The One Who Loves uses
• Leading a Ministry When You’re
multiple ways to teach children that
Not in Charge • How to Customize an Orphan Care Plan for Your Church • Building Support Groups for Adoptive and Foster Families • Orphan Sunday Coaching Table
God has a deep love for each of them, and this great love was proven once and for all at the cross. Each session, children will participate in worship, prayer, activities, interactive games, crafts, and a snack.
• Importance of Personality Profiles in OVC Excellence • Tips for Harnessing Business
• Living the Realities of Open Adoption Day to day • Special Needs Care Solutions in Developing Nations • What’s the Secret to Getting Along with my Kids?
Special Features Summit also features concerts, special resources for adoptive and foster families, booths and exhibits, a marketplace of global arts and crafts and bookstore, and a host of other opportunities. Ultimately, all of this is designed to inspire, connect and equip families and churches to become communities known for adoption, foster care and global orphan initiatives.
Vi ce Pres i d ent for Engagem e nt
$75 (1-2 Children) $60 each additional child
Elizabeth Wiebe is the Vice President of Engagement for the Christian Alliance
Leaders to Engage with Your Ministry
Elizabeth Wiebe
All children must be potty-trained and
for Orphans where she loves to watch
a parent must be registered at the
families and the local church transform
CAFO Summit for the child to attend.
as they show God’s unfailing love to
Space is limited for each age
orphans and vulnerable children in
Deep Dive Intensives
their communities. Elizabeth works to provide connection and collaboration
For the complete CAFO Summit
among Christians and child advocates
experience, attendees may join a day
around the world through a variety of
early for a pre-conference Intensive
best-practice initiatives and the annual
Session. These day-long interactive
CAFO Summit.
workshops are designed to help you dig deep with experts in the field. • Becoming a Trauma Competent Caregiver • OVC Research & Best Practice Symposium • Free to Lead - A One-Day Leadership Inventory Experience for People Passionate About Kids & Families • Connected Parenting Intensive • Collaborate, a forum for Global
Prior to this role Elizabeth served in the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush where she spearheaded outreach and organized trainings for faith-based organizations nationwide. She received her BS in English Education and Masters of Music Education and thoroughly enjoyed teaching junior high and high school for a short season before moving to Washington, DC.
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What Matters Most? A CAFO2018 Manifesto
February 06, 2018 By: Jedd Medefind The great blessing of our era is also its great curse: boundless
Even weighty matters overwhelm us with possibilities. Whom
choices.
to marry? Where to live? What job to seek?
We feel it almost always, that tug and yank every-which-
The old Arco slogan depicts our way of life, too much good
way. Sometimes the possibilities sparkle: Great new app for
stuff.
my phone? New restaurant? New fitness plan? At others, they overwhelm. Which school is best for the kids? Would a different church be better? Should we add another program at work? And beneath it all, anxiety whispers of all we might miss if ever we say no. From supermarket shelves to the Internet, youth sports to evening entertainment, we live awash in options. These opportunities do not just wait for us to find them. They pursue us with relentless beeps, bling, and billboards. Forty years ago, the average city dweller encountered between 500 and 2,000 advertisements a day; that number now tops 5,000.
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In the face of all this, our attention splinters. Our lives grow fractionalized. Our energies dissipate in every direction, like mercury poured on a tabletop. Work we value receives partial focus. People we love receive partial attention. Distraction reigns. Living in this state corrodes all that is good. It destroys intimacy. It robs gratitude. It renders us ineffective. To love and lead well requires the very opposite of this fragmentation. Truly good life springs from wholeheartedness. It demands focus. It insists that we be fully present.
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All this begins with a single question: “What matters most?” If we cannot answer this question, we will hold onto every possibility. We grasp and clutch. Fear of regret will keep us from closing any door. But when we cultivate a sense of what matters most – even imperfectly – we begin to release our grip. We can choose one thing and not others. We can prune without remorse. “…Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful.” –John 15:3 This is the only way to simplify our overloaded lives. It is the only means of focusing overtaxed organizations. It is our only hope of trading anxiety for attentiveness and distraction for calm. This is not only a practice for annual retreats and strategic plans. It is a stance that shapes each day. When we grasp what matters most for this moment, we can give ourselves to that one task, one conversation, one experience. And in time, it is not only our soul that grows more tranquil and glad.
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• In healing the mind and heart a child who’s faced trauma? • In raising funds and communicating our story? • In nurturing a multi-racial family that thrives? • In building a church ministry that will last? • In keeping a vibrant soul amidst the ache we encounter daily? • In partnering with the local church around the globe? These questions, and many like them, we will ask and seek to answer together at CAFO2018. Every session at CAFO2018 will help us toward this great question…and to the small choices that make the biggest difference amidst our daily work. And our prayer is that what we discover will give freedom. Freedom to prune with no regret. Freedom to lead and love very differently. Freedom to live wholeheartedly…with greater focus…more fully present. For eternity, and for today.
We see greater consequence from our leadership, more good fruit in the lives of others, too. To seek what matters most is first a question of our ultimate purpose. We consider what we will value when we look back on this life from the end. What matters most for eternity? But that question will change us little if we cannot answer it for today – amidst our regular rhythms and daily work. Of all the things I could do, which is most important now? What small choices will make the biggest difference…
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“There is tremendous value to a Summit like this, as people gather together to say, ‘How can we best show God’s love to orphans here and around the world through our lives, our families and our churches.’” - David Platt
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APPROV ED Q U OTES Please feel free to use any of the following quotes in your coverage for Summit.
“It is also worth noting that the field of
“If we hope to persevere in long
“The Summit is an amazing experience.
orphan care, foster care and adoption
journeys of justice and mercy, we must
A place of enthusiasm, of information
enjoys a rare unity and strategic
grow down before we grow upward.”
- it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant -
leadership – led by the Christian
- Jedd Medefind
there is so much information.”
Alliance for Orphans (CAFO). CAFO
President, Christian Alliance for Orphans
- Kay Warren
field, all working together to inspire and
“It is thrilling to see Christians come
“I’m high on the Summit...Mutual
equip Christians for effective response
together in such a powerful way.
encouragement, input, inspiration, hope
for vulnerable children. Unified efforts
Throughout history, Christians at their
and ideas.”
like that bring far greater impact than
best have been known for the ‘pure
- Crawford Lorrits
when organizations work in isolation or
and faultless religion’ that cares for the
competition.”
orphan in distress, We join at Summit
- Evangelical Council for Financial
to learn how to live out this call wisely
Accountability (ECFA)
and well.”
facilitates shared initiatives involving many of the best organizations in the
- Jedd Medefind President, Christian Alliance for Orphans “Scripture tells us that God is a Father to the fatherless and loves to set the lonely in families. The Gospel says that’s
“How can you not look at Summit and
exactly what He did for us, too. So
see there’s definitely a movement of
when Christians embrace an orphan or
God going on?”
child in foster care, we’re just giving a
- Steven Curtis Chapman
small, humble reflection to the way God
5-time Grammy Award winning musician
first loved us. When that happens, no one is left unchanged.” - Jedd Medefind President, Christian Alliance for Orphans
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APPROV ED IM AG ES Any or all of these images are available for media and press use. For full-resolution images, please contact Karl Dinkler at karl@cafo.org.
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K E Y S TATIS T IC S If we are to communicate with humility, credibility, and integrity, Christian orphan advocates must both accurately understand and carefully present orphan-related statistics. Failure to do so undermines the strength of our advocacy and can misguide the actions that organizations, churches and individuals take on behalf of orphans. Meanwhile, an accurate grasp and communication of the true nature of the need provides a strong foundation for an effective, wellfocused response. One of the greatest weaknesses in the global orphan estimates is that they include only orphans that are currently living in homes. They do not count the estimated 2 to 8+ million children living in institutions. Nor do current estimates include the cast number of children who are living on the streets, exploited for labor, victims of trafficking, or participating in an armed conflict.
To learn more go to cafo.org/ovc/statistics
Key Statistics Total estimated number of orphans worldwide: 140 Million Estimated # of “double orphans�: 15.1 million Estimated # of children in orphanages: 2-8 Million Number of U.S. Children awaiting adoption: 111,820 Number of U.S. Children adopted 2015 (with public child welfare agency involvement): 53,549 Average age of U.S. children awaiting adoption: 7 years, 7 months
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Over the past decade, more than 100,000 children from around the world were welcomed into families in the U.S. through inter-country adoption. Number of caring adults it takes to make a life-long difference for an orphan: 1
ALL IT TAKES IS ONE
Follow the Conversation #CAFO2018 #WHATMATTERSMOST
CO N TACT For more information, resources or to schedule an interview with Jedd Medefind, President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, please contact:
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@christianalliancefororphans
Karl Dinkler Christian Alliance for Orphans karl@cafo.org 407.496.3885
9,247+
@orphanalliance
cafo.org cafo2018.org
1,942+
@orphanalliance
@orphanalliance
Interviews available with CAFO President Jedd Medefind. Medefind formerly led the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives for President George W. Bush. His most recent book is Becoming Home: Adoption, Foster Care and Mentoring – Living God’s Heart for Orphans
@orphanalliance
@ChristianAllianceForOrphans
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cafo2018.org