“We bought the shirt, we bought the coffee, but we want to help more,” people keep saying, “We don’t have money to give… isn’t there anything else we can do?”

So glad you asked.

We’ve actually been brainstorming about ideas. I got to thinking about how we raised money back in the day… like elementary school back in the day. We took home the order form for the popcorn, chocolate, candles, wrapping paper or whatever it was that the school thought was a good idea to sell.

And then, what did we do? We had our parents take us door to door in our neighborhood, and then take those order forms to their work and sell our goodies to all their co-workers. And our parents did it for us because we wanted so badly to win the Tootsie Roll money bank.

Well let’s just say that coffee is the fundraiser, and you’re the parents and the Tootsie Roll Bank is actually a child from Ethiopia.

What would you think about the idea of taking orders for coffee bags at your work, in your neighborhood, etc.?

If this idea interests you, or you have any other ideas that you’d like to share, please email adoption@stephen-miller.com. We are humbly asking for your help. We cannot do this alone.

Grace and peace,
Stephen & Amanda Miller

I wake up every single morning to the perfect example of mercy and justice and compassion in the person of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel.

The God who, though He was rich, for our sake became poor so that we might be rich in every way: The perfect example of generosity.

Who, though He was righteousness, for our sake became sin, so we could become the righteousness of God: The perfect example of sacrifice.

Who, though was by very nature God, for our sake became obedient even to death on a cross: The perfect example of obedience.

Who laid down His life for me: The perfect example of love.

Yeah, He’s the one. God with us, living in us! And every day I wake up to His loving challenge to meet the needs of the people He has created in His image and loves. The impoverished…the orphan…He is passionate about people like this, you know, so I really can’t help but be passionate too because He’s living in me. In fact, I’m really starting to obsess. I want my life to be a reflection of His and the world to see Him for who He is through me.

I know there are people out there who feel this way – who want to be a tangible, visible demonstration of Christ’s love and reflection of His character. Many are just waiting for the opportunity to be presented. I hear them talk about it, much like I do.

But no one ever left a legacy by talking about what they WANTED to do, or even what they were GOING to do. A legacy is left because you stopped talking and did something. So putting wheels to our words is what the Mercy Justice Compassion Campaign is about.

Our goal is quite simple, actually. 150 children sponsored with Compassion International, $5000 raised to support a village in Ethiopia through Compassion’s “Complementary Intervention Program,” and an additional $5000 raised to help support the adoption of our little boy there in Ethiopia. Sounds simple, right? Absolutely, because there are literally millions of people in the church across this nation who know that this is what Jesus has called them to be about. They just need the opportunity.

This is where you come in to play; here is how you can be a part. The MJC Campaign will consist of a series of concerts for the months of September, October, November and early December. We are willing to travel anywhere, but would like to focus on weeknights in the Midwest (Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Illinois) or basically anything 5-8 hours away from Saint Louis. We need churches and colleges that are passionate about this mission of rescuing children out of poverty in Jesus name to host and promote these concerts.

In these concerts, we will simply focus on the need, the example of Christ to meet the need, and the call we have to follow Christ’s example. Our hope is to not pressure people with statistics or guilt trips, but rather point to Jesus and the gospel as our motivation for generosity, obedience, sacrifice, love and worship.

Would you considering partnering with us on this mission? If you are interested, please email booking@stephen-miller.com

I remember sitting in the dark in our little duplex in Austin, TX back in 1999. I was a sophomore in High School and my dad had just left my mom to pursue another woman who he assumed would make him happier. Mom wanted us to still have a relationship with dad, so we moved to Austin to follow him as he followed her. I love Austin, but at that point, I was just mad.

We started going to this church called Bannockburn Baptist Church. “Cool,” I thought, “We’re going to a church named after the field that Scotland won their freedom in the Academy Award winning movie, Braveheart.” Yeah, I was a dork, but that’s neither here nor there.

My youth pastor, Charlie Harrisberger, was quite the God-send. He took me under his wing and really became a father figure to me. I can honestly say that his influence shaped me more than any other man in my life. He began to give me books by Piper, Tozer, Sproul, Edwards, etc. and really challenging me to pursue Christ, and it was in the midst of that that our story picks up.

I sat alone in that dark duplex, 10:30 at night, reading a Piper sermon called The Depths of Christ’s Love: It’s Lavish Benefits, that changed my life forever. It was about 2 warring tribes in Rwanda, and a man losing His son in the process of trying to save the life of a child from the enemy tribe. In the wake of the disaster, he clothes, feeds, rescues, adopts and gives everything He owns (which is surprisingly substantial) to this enemy child.

It was illustrating that the power of the gospel for us is in our adoption. I woke up this morning thinking about this and the profound impact it made on me as a 16 year old boy. Now 11 years later, I have often thought about this obscure sermon that Piper preached so many years ago. How it impacted me then, and still impacts me now. How it was really the first front that the Lord used to move my heart to displaying the gospel through adoption… to follow His example.

I don’t know a whole ton of 16 year old boys who want to adopt. I think that can tend to be a girl thing. My 6 year old wants to adopt. It’s not unique to girls, but for a boy, that’s pretty weird. But I distinctly remember thinking, “I can not be the same. I want to adopt.” And I began praying that the Lord would send me a wife when the time was right who would have a heart for adoption as well. I’m so glad He did.

I’m so glad that God had given Amanda a heart for children and orphans and to respond to the call to take care of the fatherless through adoption before we ever met.

I’m so glad for that night in 2005 at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin, TX when Steven Curtis Chapman challenged an auditorium full of people who called themselves Christians to actually live out their faith through adoption, and all the conversations that sparked then. The passion it ignited in us as a married couple. And the journey it got back on track.

I’m so glad for meeting Aaron Ivey back in 2008. How he has become such a dear friend and fellow worship pastor, and reminds me what it means to be a man of God. Who displays the gospel with his life and reminds others to do the same. Who does the hard work of obedience, not for the sake of legalism, but out of a righteous heart to see the glory of Jesus Christ known in all the Earth. And who challenges me to do that through adoption.

I am so glad for moments that I can look back at and see time and time again how the Lord has been bringing us to this moment for the last 11 years and reminded that it is He who will carry it through to completion. And He will… for His name’s sake.