Encouraging more people in your church to get involved in foster care can feel daunting. The opportunities are endless, the need is massive and sometimes it feels like the response from those around  you is less than enthusiastic. So, how do you as a church leader help motivate people with a sense of calling and purpose? What processes can  you put in place that help shepherd them along their journey as they take steps forward in what God is calling them to do? Are there differences between “recruiting” people to meet a need and “discipling” them to obey whatever God has asked them to do?  Questions like these, among others, are important ones for us as church leaders to consider as we take steps towards becoming more actively engaged in foster care. 

In Episode 2  of The Fostering Church Podcast, the Jasons talk with Gabe Forsyth, the Mission Pastor at Mosaic Church, a dynamic church in Orlando, FL.  Gabe  gets to lead a team of staff and volunteers committed to equipping and mobilizing their church to live on mission and making the gospel known through acts of justice and mercy with a significant emphasis on addressing the needs of the foster care community in their city.

Gabe joins us to help provide a framework of recruitment and discipleship they have found to be foundational in their work at Mosaic and we believe you will find to be helpful in your church as well. 

Additional Resources

Key Quote

“He calls us to follow Him… to take on hard things, to be willing to step into hard stories and hard realities in our world, to be a part of partnering with Him in rescuing, redeeming and restoring people and their stories. Foster care is one way we get to live that out as a church.” – Gabe Forsyth

Meet Our Guest

Gabe Forsyth has  been involved in missional living for most of his life, starting at seven-years-old-when his family moved to Guatemala, where his parents served as missionaries for five years. In 2001, he worked for three years at a para-church ministry in their Global Mission department. Then, in 2007 he moved to Florida and got involved at Mosaic, coming on staff in 2010. He currently serves as the Mission Pastor. He gets  to lead a team of staff and volunteers committed to equipping and mobilizing our church to live on mission, making the gospel known through acts of justice and mercy as well as church planting.

He and his  wife Tiffany met at Mosaic and have been married since 2008. They are adoptive parents to two awesome boys, Adonias and Judah. Gabe  appreciates a good cup of coffee, used bookstores, exploring new places, experiencing new cultures, and spending time with family and friends as they enjoy one another and stir each other up towards love and good deeds.

Gabe is the Mission Pastor at MOSAIC Church: https://thisismosaic.org

Meet Our Hosts

Jason Weber and his wife, Trisha, have been speaking up on behalf of the marginalized for the past 24 years. Jason has written and helped to produce several books and other tools, including Farmer Herman and the Flooding Barn, a 2018 ECPA Christian Book Award finalist and the newly released Until There’s More Than Enough. Jason writes a regular column for Fostering Families Today magazine and is the host of the More Than Enough Podcast, which highlights the work of national foster care advocates. Jason serves with the Christian Alliance for Orphans and helps lead More Than Enough, a collaborative movement facilitated by the CAFO community. Jason and his family live in Plano, Texas.

Jason Johnson  is a writer and speaker who encourages families and equips churches in their foster care and adoption journeys. After 14 years of church-based ministry and church planting, Jason currently serves as the Director of Church Ministry Initiatives with Christian Alliance for Orphans. In his work he speaks and teaches at churches, conferences, forums and workshops on church-based ministry strategies and best practices as well as encouraging families that are in the trenches and those that are considering getting involved. He has authored 3 books: Reframing Foster Care, Everyone Can do Something, and ALL IN Orphan Care and he blogs regularly at www.jasonjohnsonblog.com. Jason and his wife, Emily live in Texas with their daughters.