Mars Hill Church in Bellevue, WA. is just one of the churches that has recently set up an adoption fund. The following is just one story of a family at Mars Hill and how they’ve benefited from the fund.

Babies often come from “fireworks”, but this time it wasn’t a metaphor.

In our recent sermon on Luke 10 Pastor Mark talked about an incredible story of adoption and how God is a loving Father who adopts us into his family. It made me think about another one of our amazing families in Mars Hill who share this amazing heart.
Andrew and Amber Weiseth raised money they needed for adoption by operating two fireworks stands, one in Lake Stevens and one in Black Diamond. They asked their community group to help and raised $6,000.00, helping them to bring Levi – an infant from Ethiopia – home in July 2009. “God completely opened our eyes to this calling,” Amber shared. “We always dismissed verses on orphans, thinking someone else with more time and money should be adopting, not us. God put adoption on our hearts and we knew that we were called to obey Him in this.”

Josh and Sarah, the Weiseths’ Community Group leaders, felt compelled to start a fund for adoption through The ABBA Fund. The ABBA Fund offers interest-free loans for families to help finance adoption. They cast vision to their Lynnwood Community Group, asking them to get involved raising money to put in the fund. After helping the Weiseths with their fireworks stand two years ago, they recognized a good way to raise a lot of money in a short period of time. They approached Mars Hill Shoreline’s micro-mission fund and asked them to match what they raised, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000.

Partnering with TNT Fireworks and setting up a stand in Lynnwood, people in the Community Group worked for three days shifts – selling fireworks, running the cash register, setting up, tearing down, and watching the kids. They raised approximately $5,500.00 worth of fireworks and with the matching grant, the Mars Hill ABBA fund will have about $11,000.00 available for families to borrow.

Andrew and Amber also operated another fireworks stand this summer and raised $4,500.00 to help with the expenses they need to bring home their daughter from Ghana in the near future.

This is just the beginning of what Josh, Sarah, Andrew and Amber hope to see happen. They have dreams of many more fundraisers, and hope that many Mars Hill families will have a heart for adoption and benefit from the ABBA Fund. Your ideas, help and hands are welcome to help fulfill this vision.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

by Lisa Stucky