My Taco Bell Moment

My name is Al Ainsworth, I'm a pastor at Colonial Hills Church in DeSoto County...and this is my Taco Bell moment. Sounds like a great advertising campaign, huh? For me, my Taco Bell moment came in the late summer of 2011, became a life-changing moment, and had very little to do with faux Mexican food.

A little backstory: in late February of 2011, I was preparing to go to a preaching conference in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (one of the greatest places on earth). I was familiar with a few of the pastors who would be speaking but not so much with some of the others.  One of the pastors that I was not familiar with was Dr. Russell Moore; I had, however, just downloaded a free audio book entitled Adopted for Life by Russell Moore.  On the four-and-a-half hour drive to Hattiesburg, I listened to the some of the book and was very taken by Dr. Moore's passion for adoption and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  At the conference I also began to hear of another book on adoption that would be coming out soon: Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.

In the months after my return from the conference, I bought several copies of both books and began to hand them out to several friends who had or were going through the adoption process.  I gave a copy of Orphanology to my friend Tobie, thinking she and her husband Tony would read it on the way to get their adopted daughter from China.  I had forgotten, though, what a voracious reader Tobie is.  Within a couple of weeks , Tobie came up to me, eyes wide open, and said, "We HAVE to do this!"  (I had not yet read the book at that point.)

Well, I figured I had better read this book and find out what it was that we HAD to do.  That brings me to Taco Bell.  In my price range, great customer service (props to the Church Road Taco Bell peeps!) -- it's a great place to fill up on food that's not good for you and reading material that is.  This was on -- my best guess -- August 9 or 10, 2011.  As I chomped on Value Meal #1 and a caramel empanada, I began to read the first couple of chapters of Orphanology.  Not much new that I hadn't heard listening to Adopted for Life.  Big picture stuff.  One difference: those brown Taco Bell napkins began to serve as Kleenex, and my eyes just wouldn't stop leaking.  I prayed, "Lord, are you calling me to adopt?  (Please tell my wife, too, if You are.)"  I didn't feel pulled in that direction, but He was definitely pulling me toward something.  I asked, "Lord, what are you calling me to do?"  Just as clearly as I have ever heard Him speak to my spirit, I sensed God saying, "I want you to be the champion of this on your staff."  Bam!  Taco Bell moment! 

There is part of my story that I have told only two or three people before now.  Years ago, when my small group was studying John Eldredge's Waking the Dead, we read how Eldredge asked God how He saw him (in Eldredge's case, William Wallace -- Braveheart).  Now, I'm not sure how Scriptural it is to ask God for His name for you, but I do know that God sees me differently than I see myself, so I began to ask, "God, how do you see me?  What name do you have for me?"  Just as clearly as that later August 2011 day in Taco Bell, I sensed a clear answer: Champion.  "Champion?" I asked.  "Champion," He said.

Champions train when everybody else is taking it easy.  Champions don't skip workouts or survive on junk food (yes, I get the irony of that statement in the setting of Taco Bell).  Champions pay the price.  As a former coach, I have had the privilege of winning several championships at different levels.  Not one of them came easily.  Every one of them came with a deep satisfaction that all the work put into it was worth it.

I knew that championing orphan care would come with a cost.  Honestly, I don't know what that cost is yet -- probably better that I don't.  I do know that God began to send people left and right to be a part of this work; you will get to meet many of them right here on this blog, and we'll add their blogs so that you can follow their stories.  I do know that there is a clear mandate in Scripture to care for orphans.  I do know that there is no lack of need.  I just don't know what that looks like for 4theVoiceless and Colonial Hills Church.  But I agree with Tobie: We HAVE to do this!"  It WILL be worth it.