Latest / The Defender Podcast / Casey Stevens on Family, Faith, and Making a Difference with Stand for Orphans

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Casey Stevens on Family, Faith, and Making a Difference with Stand for Orphans · The Defender Podcast

• 0:03
  Herbie Newell: Welcome 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. Well, it's Wednesday, July 10, 2024, and doctor Rick and I are coming to you from Birmingham, Alabama. And today, we are honored to be joined by Casey Stevens, and we're gonna talk a little bit about Stand For Orphans, but not only Stand for Orphans as a campaign and how the Stephens family has participated in this campaign. But we're also gonna talk a little bit about the Stephens family inspiring journey from facing infertility and adopting their first son, Alex, from Kyrgyzstan in 2016, but also the blessing of their sons, Micah, Jude, and Elijah.
• 0:51
  And so what we're gonna be able to talk about today is just advice for how to participate in Stand For Orphan's family, how to lead our family, in caring for the hope of the gospel and caring for orphans, and and really having a conversation about being able to care for the vulnerable in a lot of different ways. Well, as we said, Casey Stevens is our guest, and his wife, Chesney, and he met at Mississippi College, and they married in 2013. After facing initial infertility, they adopted their first son, Alex, as we said, from Kyrgyzstan, and then later were blessed with 3 biological sons, Micah, Jude, and Elijah. Their home is lively and filled with love and committed to helping others. The Stevens family actively participates in Stand For Orphans, teaching their kids the importance of caring for others and community service.
• 1:38
  And before we do bring on the infamous doctor Rick and Casey, I do wanna remind you about Stand For Orphans. It's an incredible initiative created by kids for kids, allowing them to make a difference in the lives of others and in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. This program shows that you don't have to be an adult to make a difference. Stand For Orphans empowers children to use their resources and abilities to impact the world. Since its beginning, kids across multiple states have joined in raising significant funds for vulnerable children.
• 2:09
  Whether it's a lemonade stand or another creative idea, any child can host a stand. If you want to get involved with your family, you can always visit lifelinechild.org/stand. Again, that's lifelinechild.org/stan to learn more and sign up. Or as always, check our show notes. Well, it's that time in the podcast where we get to bring on the silver haired, silver tongued 1, doctor Rick, the infamous 1, the 1 that people line up in droves to get signatures from, the the promissure of our publicity and promotion here at Lifeline, the infamous Doctor.
• 2:48
  Rick. Doctor. Rick, great to be with you and and even more excited to have Casey here on to talk about Stand For Orphans and his family.
• 2:57
  Rick Morton: I'm over here feverishly working my way through a thesaurus right now trying to understand the introductions you made for me and whether that was kind or not. But I'm going to trust that it is because, because we're buddies. But no, Herbie, I'm really glad to be able to have this conversation with Casey today. You know, there are families that 1 of the I think 1 of the cool things that we get to do here at Lifeline and 1 of the ways the guys really, really blesses us are is the the number of, families that pass through our, you know, our community here, I guess, is what I would say. And the opportunity to meet people, really great people that love Jesus, that are kingdom minded.
• 3:40
  And but there are there are families along the way that you just meet and kind of connect with and, you know, your heart kind of resonates with. And, Casey and Chesney are 1 of those 1 of those families or 1 of those couples. And so when, you know, over the years as we've had the opportunity to see 1 another and and it's it's like you get back together with friends that you, that you see all the time, but, you know, people that you see occasionally because there's just that, that vibrance and that love for the Lord and that that commonality of purpose in, in in love for love for Jesus and love for the kingdom. And and so really, really love this couple. Love this guy.
• 4:23
  Casey, welcome to the podcast. And we are we are so thankful to have you, my friend.
• 4:29
  Casey Stevens: Well, thank you. I'm glad to be a part of it.
• 4:33
  Rick Morton: We are, we're kind of excited this morning to sit down with you and to just kind of, first of all, talk and maybe begin in the place of just talking a little bit about your family's journey, a little bit about your family story, and about the and just about how the Lord led you to adoption in in the first place.
• 5:01
  Casey Stevens: Okay. Well, like Herbie said in the introduction, my wife and I met at Mississippi College here in Clinton, Mississippi. And from those early moments of getting to know each other and talking, we both knew that we were gonna be with each other the rest of our lives, so we had big, hard conversations early on in our relationship. And 1 of the things we talked about is children. We both were committed to children.
• 5:30
  We wanted have to have lots of children. We were not afraid of children. Bring on the children. We were ready. So we talked about what that would look like.
• 5:40
  And even early on, we talked about adoption. We both agreed that 1 day we wanna do it. We didn't know where from or or when, but we knew we were committed to it at some point. The Lord had put that on our hearts. So, so then fast forward a few years and we get married, and we just assumed that we were just gonna start having lots of babies.
• 6:04
  And after a couple years of not getting pregnant, you know, we started seeing people about that and we're given some kind of scary news about, you know, this statistic and this percentage, all the numbers that you don't wanna hear as a young couple wanting to have children. So we tried not to fret, and we said, well, we know we want children. We know there are children who want a home, and we know that we both want to adopt. So there's no time like the present. So so we actually told ourselves that we, we were gonna give it a 2 year, you know, like, okay.
• 6:43
  We're gonna give ourselves 2 years. And to people that have gone through infertility, 2 years looking back does not seem like a long time because I know there are people struggling with infertility their entire marriage or 8 years, 9 years. So, you know, we gave ourselves 2 years, and then on our 2 year wedding anniversary to the day we call Lifeline. My wife, Chesney, had been reading Counter Culture. And in the book, it references adoption.
• 7:18
  So Jesse starts flipping through the pages and sees the, the the index referring to Lifeline Children Services. So she looked it up. She showed me the website, and she says, I think we have to use Lifeline. And so after looking at the website, we were both impressed. We knew that this was where we wanted to adopt from.
• 7:39
  This was a organization that not only cares about children, but cares about the gospel. And so we began that process. So as a young couple, my wife and I, we were both 25 years old. Mhmm. And there's not a whole lot of countries that allow you to adopt at 25 years old.
• 7:59
  We we had thought about domestic versus international. And for some reason, a few years before that, the Lord had just given us a heart for the nations that we did not have a few years before. So we were just committed, like, alright. This is a way that we can love the nations is to bring the nations into our living room. You know?
• 8:17
  And so, we began to look at all the different countries that we could adopt from. And I think there were 2 on a lifeline's list that we were eligible for mainly because we were so young. We had only been married 2 years. And so that canceled out a lot of countries. 1 of the countries that stood out initially was Kurdistan.
• 8:40
  Now most people can't find it on a map nor can they spell it. I'm I still have a hard time spelling it because there's 1 vowel. There's just 1 vowel. So but by God's grace, our church adopted an unreached people group many years ago, and it had involved Kyrgyzstan. So we knew Kyrgyzstan.
• 9:10
  We knew it well. We knew, you know, people that had gone. So we felt like that was, you know, the providence of God of saying, look, you've been praying for this people for years. You've been sending people to this country for years, and here's your chance to bring someone from this country here. You know?
• 9:32
  It's just like a continuation of this people group that we're praying for. So we get in contact with the people over that Eurasia program, and it was Jana Lombardo. And, you know, I know y'all heard me say this, but, you know, Jana Lombardo, you can't see past my screen here. She's way up here in our minds because she helped us so much as a young couple who had no idea what we were doing. We didn't know how to be parents, and we were adopting what we thought was a 0 to 3 year old from Kyrgyzstan.
• 10:07
  And so then
• 10:09
  Rick Morton: we in there. Understand that, bro. Like, we we we have the t shirt for
• 10:14
  Casey Stevens: that too. Right? Yeah. So we get in the process, and we're like, alright. 0 to 3.
• 10:18
  Here's all these things, all the paperwork. It was just so much to do. Right? And you have no idea what this is gonna look like. But then you get a phone call from Jana, and she's like, hey.
• 10:28
  Would y'all be willing to go 0 to 4? Because we're seeing some, you know, some 3, 4 year olds. And we talked about it, and we prayed about it, and we said, yeah. We'd be comfortable with that. You know, we we love children, have worked with children in our church.
• 10:42
  We had we had family members who were small children. You know? So we weren't afraid of toddlers. Right? So then she calls us again, and she says, okay.
• 10:53
  Would y'all be willing to do 0 to 5? Because there might be, like, 4a half year olds. There might. And so okay. Talked about it.
• 11:02
  Prayed about it. Sure. 0 to 5 sounds great. Then, we like I said, we called Lifeline our wedding anniversary in 2015. 2016, on the exact same day, our wedding anniversary, we're sitting at a restaurant.
• 11:20
  And, we get a phone call from Jenna about a 7 year old boy. So we went from 0 to 3 to 7. And of course, that just seemed tough. It just seemed like, what are we gonna do? We are a new couple, and how are we gonna raise a 7 year old?
• 11:36
  Yeah. But we trusted the Lord, and we just kept saying yes. You know, my wife will tell you that I said yes a lot quicker, not that she was afraid, but I'm in this real our relationship. I am always the accelerator, and she's always the brakes. So I'm like, yeah.
• 11:54
  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she's like, can we talk about this once again?
• 11:58
  So I remember coming home from work, shaking because we had finally gotten matched, going to a friend's house because my wife was nannying at the time, going to their back bedroom, and we're just sitting there crying and praying and looking at pictures and just trying to realize, is this it? Is our family officially starting here, you know, with a 7 year old? And so long story short, we traveled several times to Kyrgyzstan and we met a little boy named Alec, who was, you know, 7 years old, but all of £30 and tiny and wore 3 t clothes. But we knew this was ours, that this was our son, and we were gonna love him. And so we Kyrgyzstan's a 3 visit country.
• 12:46
  Went over there 3 times. Finally brought him home in October, the end of October. We'd come home on I think it was actually on Halloween. So we're like, please don't have any crazy people on the airplane. And this son even our son come to America, and there's people dressed like witches and stuff on the airplane.
• 13:05
  Thankfully, that was not the case, but, it was great. And Alec came home, and then my wife and I decided we were gonna foster too. Like, hey. One's not enough. Let's just keep this thing rolling while we're while we're on it.
• 13:22
  So we fostered, 2 little kids. And then during that time of, you know, Alec had just come home. We were fostering, and then we find out my wife is pregnant. And we just thought that this was not gonna happen. And it happened.
• 13:37
  So we went from 0 to 3 kids in our house and 1 kid in my wife's stomach. My stomach, womb. And, in a very short time period. And then the foster kids went back to family, and and then we brought home our first biological son, a a year after Alec had come home, just about. And then the Lord continued to bless us, and then 2 years later, here comes another 1.
• 14:09
  His name is Jude. And 2 years later, here comes another 1. His name's Elijah. So now we have 4 boys in our house. And Alec, I tell you, our adopted son is the best big brother you can imagine.
• 14:20
  Mhmm. He loves his little brothers, and he's now 15 years old. And, he is just a blessing all around.
• 14:29
  Rick Morton: And followed in the family footsteps now, headed out to VBS today to go, minister to kids.
• 14:36
  Casey Stevens: Yeah. Kids camp. It is kids camp because at our church, we have VBS, but then kids camp is like 5 energy levels higher.
• 14:45
  Rick Morton: Oh, wow.
• 14:48
  Casey Stevens: So, he is, been doing that and loving it. And, you know, the our children's director told me this week because you'd be so proud of how hard he's working this week. So we are very proud of him.
• 15:02
  Rick Morton: And that's the vision on display. Right, Herbie? Disciples make kids we bring home, disciples making disciples.
• 15:07
  Herbie Newell: 100%. And, you know, Casey, what I I got the opportunity to, obviously, hear you and Chesney speak last November, at an event we did in Jackson. And at first, I was blown away because I think it had been several years since I'd seen Alec. I remember when he and and several other little boys and and and 1 little girl came to Birmingham, right after all of you guys really had just brought these beautiful children home. And to see this young man now, standing up, with his parents and and and again, what Doctor.
• 15:42
  Rick said, your family has continued to serve. And even bringing Alec into your home, you really have taught him to serve, to serve his brothers, to serve in foster care, to serve in your church. And so really, the next iteration for you guys was so easy to teach your family but also to participate with your church and stand for orphans. I'd love to hear a little bit more about and you like you say, and I think in my family as well, I'm the gas. My sweet wife is the brakes.
• 16:09
  But when you first hear about Stand For Orphan and the opportunity to get your family engaged, talk about that journey. And and and how did you first learn about Stand For Orphans? And why did you go, yeah, this is something our church and our family needs to participate in?
• 16:22
  Casey Stevens: So, you know, early on when we adopted Alec, like I said, we we fell in love with Lifeline, and that that relationship didn't stop when Alec came home. We continue to utilize Lifeline for many things. We continue to stay in touch with Jana, and others and Brianna, others from Lifeline that we just felt like were part of our family. So in that, you know, we get publications, we see posts, all these things, and we're seeing all these things that they do. You know, and we we view Lush just about everything.
• 16:54
  We, you know, Alec did, Bridges tutoring program through Lifeline. My wife and I are involved with the Families Count program through Lifeline. So it just seemed natural that, oh, there's this other thing. Why not do it too? And, Alec is not our initiator.
• 17:15
  He he's gonna do whatever you ask him to do, but he's not gonna initiate. Our our 6 year old, however, has all the plans and dreams. He wants to do everything. So it just seemed natural for him to say, I want to do a lemonade stand. And so we had talked about, well there's different ways of doing lemonade stands.
• 17:36
  And we knew Lifeline had already had the stand for orthodontist thing set up. So we said, let's do this. Let's do a lemonade stand, but all the money go to help orphans, to help children come home or to care for orphans around the world. And of course, he was fine with that. He wanna do that.
• 17:55
  Alec wanted to do that. Everybody seemed excited about it because, you know, they just wanted a lemonade it. And so, you know, but, so thankfully, we have a a wonderful church, a great body that people are committed to, committed to God and committed to his people, committed to loving people, committed to each other. We have several Lifeline families in our church. We have several businesses and people in our church that give and donate and do for Lifeline.
• 18:28
  So where we live, it's kind of a quiet street. There's not a whole lot going on, and we kinda live on a hill. So there's not a great spot to put a lemonade stand unless you just want a lemonade tumbling over, you know, into the street, which we don't. So I had the idea of, well, what if we contact somebody in our church to help us that we could set up our lemonade stand at their business. So 1 of our members is the owner of the Rebel Ace Hardware stores, in our area.
• 19:05
  Another 1 of our elders at our church is, the general manager. So we just had a lot of, you know, great a good relationship with Rev Place Hardware. They they usually donate items for our Lifeline Banquet here in Mississippi for auction. So we knew that they were committed to Lifeline in helping. So we asked them, k.
• 19:25
  We wanna do a lemonade stand in the hottest month we could possibly imagine outside your store. Could we do that? And they said absolutely. And they didn't just let us set up outside. They basically helped us do the whole thing.
• 19:43
  I mean, they said helped us set up tents. They gave us fans. They let people come inside and outside. They gave us, you know, chairs and furniture and everything we needed for we did 2 Saturdays in a row. And, you know, I don't know if y'all's hardware stores do this in in Birmingham, but, you know, the Ace Hardware stores in Mississippi had or maybe just in Clinton have popcorn.
• 20:06
  So you got a popcorn machine right by the exit. So what do you need after a nice salty bag of popcorn? You need a nice cup of lemonade. Very strategic. So we did that 2 Saturdays in a row, and I'm telling you, it was the best decision we ever made was to partner with them on our on our lemonade stand.
• 20:30
  Rick Morton: You know, I love the the fact that in in the story and and how you guys, you know, did this, there was there were kind of all of the elements of of things that we hope to see in Stand For Orphans. There was there's community engagement. It was it was an advocacy opportunity. And so you're you're in a place and it doesn't matter whether you're on the street in front of your house, if it's not, you know, if you're not going to roll down a mountain, that's but but if you're, you know, or if if you do engage with a business owner or somebody in your community and go, you know, go to a place to to do that. I mean, Herbie's kids, when Stanford Orphan started and kind of the concept of where we began this was, his kids doing a fundraiser for Lifeline and selling dog biscuits and lemonade at a dog park.
• 21:18
  And so we've seen people that have done all kind of things. Doesn't have to be lemonade. It can be anything that kids can do. But but what an incredible way to be able to empower your kids, to be able to have a voice and for them to be able to do advocacy. And so, it's significant that that they're raising money and that they're doing something to benefit vulnerable kids around the world, kids that are in need of adoption, kids that are in need of, you know, care.
• 21:52
  But it also is significant that we are at the very, you know, in the very early stages of their life, giving them a voice and giving them an opportunity to be able to advocate for the gospel and be able to put, you know, Jesus on display out there, but also to be able to, to be able to talk about vulnerable kids because we want to raise them in a world, right, where they kind of never know that it's not their responsibility to to be doing, you know, doing that work. And so maybe, you know, Casey, go maybe just a little bit deeper about, you know, do you have a good story or something about 1 of your kids and an interaction or something that they were able to do where, you know, where the Lord just kind of used them and used their voice to be able to, you know, to be able to do that kind of advocacy.
• 22:46
  Casey Stevens: Yeah. Well, I will say, you know, you mentioned about, you know, getting the kids involved. And and 1 of the things is just getting them excited about it. Right? Excited about other people.
• 22:55
  It's you know, you have to teach little kids to not think about themselves all the time.
• 23:01
  Herbie Newell: That's right.
• 23:01
  Casey Stevens: So you know? And so, like, little kids You
• 23:03
  Rick Morton: have to teach big adults
• 23:06
  Casey Stevens: to do that, Bob. That is true. I'm still learning that as well. So, okay. So what can we do to get excited?
• 23:11
  So, you know, we go online, and Lifeline has tons of things of ways to make your lemonade stand even better. So we printed out the stickers. We put them on you know, the kids helped put the stickers on the cups. We, made t shirts. Right?
• 23:27
  The boys, we we went to Walmart, got us some iron on letters, and we made stand for orphan t shirts with we made little lemons. White foot like lemons. But we did our best artistic rendition of lemons on blue t shirts. And, and so just seeing them excited about it was, was fun. Right?
• 23:50
  When when they you know they don't quite understand what they're doing yet. Mhmm. But they're excited, and you know 1 day, lord willing, it'll the the heart will meet the the excitement of of what they're doing. But getting there, you know, we we said Alec is our setup and tear down guy. Right?
• 24:11
  I told you Alec is not our initiator. He's not big on words, and that's fine. So we are, you know, trying to find ways where he can find his niche and find where he is strong and helpful. And, Alec, every week we did it, he sets up the stand. He tears it all down.
• 24:32
  He make sure that we have everything. We have the Cougars. We have the Cubs. I mean, I I did not do a thing. Alec did all of that.
• 24:38
  Still to this day, if we go somewhere, we got a baseball tournament, Alec, you got everything packed? I mean, he just loves to do that kind of stuff. So we made sure that, you know, he had a place and that was that was his thing. And then he'd sit there and he'd help people, but he's not our he's not our words guy. Now the 6 year old, however, doesn't stop talking.
• 24:58
  So that was his forte. He wanted to stand in the front, holler you know, tell everybody come get lemonade and fill up their cup for them. And we we spent the day, you know, trying not to get 6 year old and 3 year old fingers in other people's joints. You know, we had to we learned some lessons on how to properly fill lemonade. But I will say 1 of the sweet moments was sitting back at 1 point and a man just did not know.
• 25:25
  You know, we live in a nice small community, so and I've been here my whole life. So you've said outside a hardware store. I know a lot of people going in in and out of the hardware store. If I don't know them personally, I know their kids. We went to school together, whatever.
• 25:38
  But there were some people I didn't know. And I'm talking to this guy, and I'm sitting back, and I'm watching my kids serve. And he's asking me, what is Lifeline? What is y'all's connection? Why, you know, why did y'all get involved in all these things?
• 25:52
  And and I said, see that boy right there? That's my oldest son, and he actually was once an orphan. And, you know, this is why we do this kind of thing because there might be some somebody very well was raising money and helping and advocating for my son before we ever knew it. And who's to know that, who we might be advocating that 1 day might come home to a family and then they're serving. I mean, it was just this beautiful moment of just trying to talk to this stranger while I'm trying to keep my eyes dry from just talking about it, because it was just a full circle moment for us at how good God is that we have, you know, we have a son through adoption, and he is now caring for other kids in this way that they too might experience the same love of a family that he did.
• 26:47
  So But
• 26:48
  Herbie Newell: I you know, even even just having this conversation and hearing what you're saying about Stand For Orphans, Casey, I it it does remind me of of that, you know, infamous night when my family had just spent my day in the sun trying to raise money for vulnerable children and decided to call the venerable doctor Rick, who was in Tennessee at the time. And, you know, he's he's always pretty loquacious, but that night, he was he was pretty silent as he heard my kids just talk about this vision. But that was the vision, to see other kids around the country to be able to have these opportunities and to be able to to really speak out on behalf of those who who can't speak out, to speak forth for those who can't speak forth and and ultimately to to disciple our children to do something bigger. And and and we've heard throughout this how you and Chesney have just really led your family to get engaged with Stand For Orphans, with FamilyScout, through adoption, through foster care, through engaging your church. I mean, your church is doing so many great things on behalf of the orphan and the vulnerable, and and the unreached.
• 27:58
  I I'd love for you now in a sense to give a pitch to that family that's that is sitting, listening to this podcast thinking, that's a great idea, but but the thoughts of of having to get all this stuff together. I don't have an Alec in my home who's gonna go gather all this stuff. You know? Talk to that family about why they need to get engaged, but also how they can get engaged. And just what advice would you give to that family who says, I want to do that.
• 28:26
  I just don't know how to take the next step.
• 28:28
  Casey Stevens: Yeah. Well, 1 thing that I do not lack is the ability to ask other people for help. I'm not afraid to ask for things. And people I get asked to be on all these boards. Hey, what do you want me to do?
• 28:41
  We want you to ask people for money. Because you don't mind asking people for stuff. I don't. I think that it's a beautiful thing when the body of Christ comes together, and sometimes people just need to know what they can do because they wanna do stuff. So what I would say is don't be afraid to ask for help because it sounds like we did a whole lot.
• 29:01
  But let me tell you, our lemonade stand came from Lifeline of Mississippi. We, the president here y'all call him presidents? Directed? Is that Director. Yeah.
• 29:12
  So John Novlin, you know, we have a relationship with him. Chesney serves on the board here in Mississippi, and he said, hey. Chesney said something about we're gonna do a lemonade stand. He was, oh, I have 1 at the office. And it was a problem from I think it was from Birmingham.
• 29:25
  I mean, it's literally a collapsible lemonade stand with a Velcro front. I mean, it couldn't get any easier than that. So we went and bought a few little banners to go on it to, you know, spruce it up. But, as far as we did not I did not sit in my garage and sweat all summer building a a lemonade stand. And it very well could have been done with a, you know, card table and a table cloth.
• 29:50
  So don't overthink this. And then again, just asking someone to help us. Can we set upside your store? I've there are so many people who want to do something, but they feel like they don't know what they can do. And if you say, well, look.
• 30:05
  If I can just offer you a spot in front of my store, that I would love to do that. So don't be afraid to ask for things and to ask for help. Rick mentioned it earlier, just the importance of teaching our kids things early so that they never know a time where they didn't do these kind of things. You know, there's there's a lot of things that we try to do from the beginning of having children. Like, look, this might not be the best thing.
• 30:35
  It might we might not succeed very well in some things that we wanna do, but we want our kids to never know a time where they didn't do these kind of things, whether that's, you know, family worship or caring for orphans or getting involved or going to church, being involved in the things. I mean, we just don't. We want them to know this is just who we are. And so my wife and I, we're gonna be involved in things. You know?
• 31:00
  Like, we feel like that's the the Lord has called us to be involved in things. So you could very well let your kids keep you from things, or you can just drag them with you. You know, like, of of course, they're not kicking and screaming. They get to do fun things too. But thankfully, our kids love people.
• 31:16
  And so when we go to, you know, whether it's a lemonade stand or families count meetings or, lifeline banquets, you know, they enjoy those things too because to them, this is just what our family does. So don't be afraid. You're not gonna mess them up by dragging them to things. You're only gonna open their eyes to the world around them in a way that, you know, they need they need to be they in a way that's needed. Yeah.
• 31:43
  So
• 31:44
  Herbie Newell: that's so important. I mean, our our children are not going to do more than than we model for them. And when we model these things for them, it really does give them a heart for for others. And that's so important. And and I would just say again, to any family that's just listening to this, please get engaged with Stand Forfins.
• 32:01
  And and even as Casey has said, you don't have to have the collapsible lemonade stand, that John Noblin, our state director stole from Birmingham. You can you can have a table and a table cloth. But the more important thing is to get your kids engaged in doing something that's bigger than themselves. Let them have a role and a and a part to play. And and Casey, I I love even what you've said that this is a family affair where you're even using the strengths of your family.
• 32:25
  I mean, even even a vision of the body of Christ being utilized in your family to put these things together and and being able to get your kids to participate. And no. No. My sweet wife, Ashley, just says, we've gotta teach kids to serve so the next generation, will will truly know what it means to serve and not to be served. And we live in even a time and a day and a generation where technology is king, independence is king.
• 32:51
  We have our own entertainment, our own screen, our own things. And and we need to be raising our children counter culturally and biblically, so that they will learn to to do things outside of themselves and to to do things for others. And and so we're just grateful for you and for Chastain, the way you're leading your family. And again, for anyone listening, we would just encourage you, go to lifelinechild.org/stan. It's a great opportunity for your family, for your church, for your small group, for your community groups to get engaged and truly not just do something practical during the summer that's fun and engaging for your children, but also that's making a difference for orphan and vulnerable children all across the world.
• 33:33
  Casey, as we close, I just love any last thoughts that you have.
• 33:38
  Casey Stevens: Yeah. Final words, man, I just thank you all so much for what y'all do. Of course, it means a lot to us. Our family has, you know, we became a family because of of Lifeline. So and we've been honored to to continue to be a part of it and will continue to be a part of it, and, we'd love to see how God is working in the lives of families through adoption and and all the different kinds of ways where Lifeline ministers to people.
• 34:06
  So we praise god for y'all. And, again, some of our favorite people at Lifeline, such as Jana Lombardo and Brianna. It was Lavela. What's Brianna's new last name? Thomas.
• 34:21
  That's it. So, you know, just wonderful people that we'll never forget because they they were with us from the beginning. So thank you.
• 34:31
  Herbie Newell: Casey, thank you, and we're so grateful for you and your family. And so on behalf of the silver tongued, silver tiered 1, the vulnerable doctor Rick, we're grateful for joining us for this Defender Podcast, so we look forward to seeing you, Lord willing, next week as well. 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 lifelinechilddot org.
• 35:05
  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.
• 35:26
  We'll see you again next week for the Defender Podcast.