Hey, this is Jim Graham from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explore relationship instead of religion every week. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together, we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits. Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Oh, my, do we have them lined up today that are pursuing the kingdom out here in Asheboro, North Carolina. We are live at the Invictus 5k run that is coming out of the Bicentennial Park here in Asheboro, North Carolina. So it's kind of wrapping up. People have walked and ran, as the case may be.
But if you want to come by and see us and you happen to be in Asheboro, by all means, we would love to come by and have you come by and see. But we've got guest after guest after guest after guest that God has given them a passion and he's used it to build a kingdom. And most of them have to do with children. And a lot of them have to do with not exploiting children.
But in one particular case with Mike already is right in front of me. Sometimes a passion is adoption. And so, Mike, tell us about N.C. Foster Adopt. So about seven years ago, my wife and I got an invitation. We had been fostering for, at the time, probably around eight, nine years and had adopted three.
So we got to invite to go to Washington, D.C. to speak with the AdoptUS Kids Speakers Bureau and be a part of that. And at the time, we were going through a bunch. You know, we had we had adopted three and our oldest daughter had the most trauma. So she was going through a lot and it was just a lot on us. And we were just about to throw in the towel.
And so the God had other plans for us. So we go to Washington, D.C. to talk with AdoptUS Kids. And when we got up there, we had met this young lady.
Her name is Sydney. And she really changed changed my life because at the time we were going with Randolph County DSS when they would try to recruit. And there really wasn't a whole lot of options. We would go out with them. You would have maybe one or two folks show up, one or two families. And of course, the kids that's coming into care outrun that by by a long shot. Most families like us at the time were full, could not take any more kids in. So we got up to D.C., met this girl named Sydney Martin, which coincidentally is about the same age as my older daughter and her and my younger daughter.
Their stories are pretty much the same. So Sydney had said something while we were sort of introducing ourselves and talking about our our travels along the way. And Sydney had said one thing that stuck with me. She she had said when she was 12 years old, she was about to turn 13 in foster care. And she was so angry and so mad to have a birthday. And I was thinking to myself, why would you be mad to have a birthday? You know, birthdays are good things, but she had said that she was having a hard time with it and was really angry because she was going to be a teenager. And she knew that when she become a teenager in foster care, she was going to age out of the system.
Nobody wanted teenagers. So that pretty much destroyed me, but in a good way, because we were going through so much. And so we come back to North Carolina and my wife and I talked about maybe just stepping away from foster and adoption the whole nine yards. And so I get to work the next morning and I'm like, you know, God, if this is what you want us to do, you need to you need to let me know because I'm on fire right now because of what Sydney said. But we're talking about this, shutting the whole thing down. And it was plain as day. He said, how in the world can you help others if you haven't been through it yourself?
So that was an eye opener for me. So I called my wife and I said, look, we're not done yet. We got some stuff we got to do. So out of that, we started the NC Foster Adopt mission as a way to not only be a spoke people for these kids that are in care that don't have a home to go to, but also the families that are standing in the gap for them already and are like us.
Just feel like you just been drugged through it. You know, there was no support system at the time. DSS is doing everything they could do to help and be a voice for you.
But their their load is is tremendous. So, you know, this movie comes out this year. Yeah. Sound of Hope.
Yes. And it sounds like the story of your life. Well, it sort of is. And it's funny because we were watching my wife and I went the day it came out. We were at the movie theater and we were like, holy cow, this is our life in a nutshell. This is the foster families.
This is the struggles. The movie is very spot on with the struggles that the families go through. And it was very spot on with the reactions from the kids. And the other part that, you know, is obviously going to be interested to our audience is here's what better opportunity would you have to show somebody Jesus? That's right.
And to impress their faith. Like so I'm taking you adopted this young lady who had the birthday. No, no, no, no. She she was already adopted. She got adopted from a lady that was her one of her school teachers. So she she ended up even though she thought she aged out. Reality was she did when she turned 16. She was adopted by this wonderful family since that time. She's graduated college with a nursing degree. And I just seen it.
And this is very funny. I just seen her post this morning. She's expecting her first child. So this is this is an awesome story for her.
And she's the reason really the reason we do what we do. I mean, because so many years ago was that that was. Let's see, we're doing our fifth event this year. So that was a six and a half years ago, I guess. Yeah.
So she's in her 20s now, graduated college on all these kids and obviously that are now a part of this organization, a chance to adopt. And so if people are out there right now, number one, you need to go see that movie. Sounds like if you have not seen it, it's like off the hook. Amazing. It is. But also and especially when you think about how that church came together as a community.
And and so what you guys are is a community for other people that are adopting children. Exactly right. There were so many. And it was funny. Looking back on it now, it's funny. But at the time it wasn't because we were really just you know, from the.
License, our house was full and it stayed that way until our last one went into the army a year and a half ago. So, you know, all these years we were full. And when you would see somebody else that went to the through the classes with you, become foster families, you could see them out in town and they look at your face and they're like, oh, my goodness, you know, he looks rough.
And we felt rough because there wasn't a whole lot of support. So my wife is very talented on that side. She finds all the resources. She did it for our kiddos and she does it for the other families. You know, we were doing monthly meetings where we would all get together and we would discuss any issues they have. And then collectively, as a whole, we would find solutions, you know, for those because people's already been through it, you know. So in a way, that was our way to help these families that are going through it and just feel like they because only look, you want the families to be successful because when they're successful, what they're doing, these kids thrive.
And so how can our listeners pray for you or get involved with what you're doing? You know, OK, so we do we do an event every year and is to raise awareness for these kids. Like I said, every every family is full. And it's not just Randolph County.
I'm sure it's Guilford County. I see the news where there's no place for these kids to go. But we do an event each year.
This is your number five at Victory Mountain Youth Camp, Wesleyan Camp in Sofia, North Carolina. And we book Christian artists to come and play. A lot of you here on the radio. We put them to come and play a show for us.
And they're merely to draw the people in because we feel like the more we can get, the more the church can get involved, the more. So how do people come to this event? It is a free event. It is September the 14th, like I said, at Victory Mountain Youth Camp in Sofia.
This year, we're having contemporary world is so in between here in Greensboro. That's what I know. I don't know. So I'm guessing most of our listeners don't know.
Yeah, it's actually just next door to Randleman. So, yeah, you can look them up online. They got a Web site and you can go to N.C. Foster Adopt Mission dot com or you can look us up on Facebook at standing in the gap.
All right. N.C. Foster Adopt Mission dot com. N.C. Foster Adopt Mission. Yes. Dot com. There you can find out about that.
How you can pray for them. Of course, we're loaded for bear. You wouldn't believe all the people lined up that are going to come share that if God has given them a passion during this Invictus run. It's been wild out here.
We'll be right back with a whole lot more. Kingdom Pursuits. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we take God where God gives you a passion and you use it to build a kingdom and have fun. We have been out here live at the Invictus rescue run all morning in Ashboro at the Bicentennial Park. The Invictus project is bringing awareness to the exploitation, especially sexual exploitation of our children. And so what we have here with us, Diana, with Guardian ad litem. And, you know, what an interesting passion to be a guardian ad litem.
But, you know, there's a lot to that whole idea. So so welcome, Diana. Thank you so much for having me.
I really appreciate it. Yeah. And so tell us what in the world is a guardian ad litem.
Sure. So our job is we are our court appointed advocate for a child who is involved with DSS care. So a child who has been found to be abused or neglected by DSS, we are their advocate or their voice in the court system. So each parent is awarded a an attorney. DSS, of course, has their own attorney. And so about 40 years ago in the state of North Carolina, they decided that not only that, but that the child deserved an attorney and a voice in court. And so we have three staff members here in Randolph County. We are through the entire state of North Carolina.
Every North Carolina county has guardian ad litems. And then we recruit and train volunteers who are actually the advocates. Wow. Wow. That's just a whole concept. Right. And so I find it fascinating that you're out here at this particular event. So tell us your affiliation with this.
Sure. So I'm not sure if you're aware, but foster children and children in DSS custody are one of the highest likelihoods of being trafficked. They're an easy target. They don't have a stable home life, a lot of them.
And so it's very easy for these predators to feed on these children's insecurity and need for love and convince them to run away from the foster home or from the group home or from the mental health facility. And then instead of being that 17 year old boy that they think is going to pick them up outside their high school, it's a grown man or grown woman who then instead enslaves them and uses them for either labor trafficking, working in a hotel as a cleaning person or into sex trafficking, which I think gets a lot more attention than the actual labor trafficking. And so that's going on in North Carolina. People are labor trafficking. That is absolutely going on in North Carolina. Really?
Yes. Hotels are a big one because the cleaning ladies or cleaning people don't have a lot of contact with the outside world. You know, they bus them in in the morning. They clean all day. They only have contact with each other. They pick them up at the end of the evening and they bus them out.
So, you know, there's not really a chance for them to break out of that. Also, they do use labor trafficking in large farm production rural area. There's a lot of vegetables and fruits that need to be picked. Those are picked by hand. And so that is also a way that they use labor trafficking. Wow. I am learning stuff.
Thank you. I find that mind blowing. But again, you know, the whole show today is is opening our eyes to how evil evil can be. And so they're going to pick on some kid that's in a foster kid. I guess one of the big problems always with them is they're always running away. It is, you know, they're not normally happy where they're at. A lot of kids are removed from homes that are dangerous homes. There may be drug abuse.
There may be domestic violence in the home. That's still those kids parents. They still love mom and dad. But DSS won't allow them to go back to them because it's a dangerous situation.
DSS is absolutely in the right to not allow them back in that unsafe environment. But the child in their processing and comprehension, all they know is that I love my mom and dad. I want to be with them. And so they're very angry, especially as teenagers.
And so they run. And again, it's very easy for somebody to I'm sure we've heard the term catfishing before, where they claim to be something that they're not online to trick that person into leaving with them. And so they may make a friend online and they think, hey, I really love this boy who's 15.
He's just like me. I'm going to run away with him and we're going to live happily ever after they run away. They get in the car and all of a sudden it's not a 15 year old boy. It's several grown adults who are only looking to make money off of that child. Wow. And so are you and yourself an actual guardian at Leiden?
So, yes. So we have three staff members here in the county, Meghan, Marcus and myself, Diana. And we cover the children who so we don't have enough volunteers. And so we have about one hundred and twenty children in our care and we have only about thirty five volunteers.
And so any child that does not have coverage from a volunteer is covered by our office. Wow. And so as you've obviously can't talk about any individual case, but I imagine you've learned amazing things from actually the stories of the children that. And so what what would you want our audience to know that really to be aware of as they're roaming around town and that kind of thing from things that you've experienced?
I think it's really just the same rules that apply. If you see something, say something. If you see something that doesn't look right, tell somebody. Alert the authorities. If you see a child who should be in school and isn't in school. Here in Randolph County, there was a instance of human trafficking and it was found because somebody walked in somewhere and said, hey, I see that girl here every day.
Why isn't she in school? And that's what busted it open. Wow.
Wow. Yeah, that is a pretty good rule. If you see something that doesn't look right, it chances are if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it may not be what you think. Right.
It's a duck. And, you know, worst case scenario, you let the cops know. The cops go. They say, no, everything's fine. Great. Everybody moves along with their day.
But if you see something and you don't say something, that child may be going home to a terrible situation. And so as you guys come out to an event like this, what were you hoping to communicate to folks as they came by your booth? Sure. We are always recruiting for volunteers. I don't think any county in the North Carolina has enough volunteers for our organization. This is not an easy volunteer job.
It's not just show up for a few hours, raise some money and then go home. This is really a long term volunteer position. So our volunteers are charged with seeing their child, whoever they're assigned to, once a month for the duration of their case. That may be only six months. That may be seven to eight years. Occasionally, we do have children who are never found to have a permanent to have permanency. So those children actually age out of DSS custody. So we have people who have been with their child following up with them once a month for four or five years to be attorneys to be.
Oh, absolutely not. We have people from all walks of life. We have people who have worked in manufacturing. We have people who are going to law school. We have college students. We have a retired dental hygienist. We have retired educators.
My background personally is I worked in the administrative side of behavioral health. It's really just a heart for children and knowing and having a good moral compass. And so.
Wow. So you're you're about let's say you become a volunteer and you you're assigned a child. And now you've got to see this child, as you said, twice a month, once a month, once a month. So when you go there, what do you do? You play games. You play basketball with them. You do. You heard you talk to a guardian ad litem. How do people get connected that garden?
Yeah, absolutely. If you're in North Carolina, it's volunteer for g a l dot org. It is quite an extensive application process. We want to make sure our children are safe. We got to go.
But it's volunteer for a g a l dot org dot org. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to keep the pursuits where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom. How fun today we've been out here live.
Apologize. We lost connection for a brief time, but we're back. Live at the Invictus Rescue Run, which was a five K took place this morning. And we've had so much fun at the Bicentennial Park in Ashboro, North Carolina.
We got Whitney Miller back with us. You know, certainly the major spokesman for the whole event and for Invictus. And so, you know, you found an interesting friend. I did.
I did. I'm so excited about this. So and yes, the event was incredible. We're so thankful Truth Network was out here. So I actually had an opportunity to meet Gary today.
And Gary, he actually lives out here at Bicentennial Park and he's from Long Island. And we've just spent some time talking and really just learning his story. And I'm excited to learn more about his story. So honestly, Robbie, I don't want that.
I don't want to take any more time with what has gone on today. I know people have heard a lot about it. I want to give Gary an opportunity to share his heart. And I told him a little bit about what Invictus Project does and how we work to rescue people that are children that are unfortunately sexually abused or exploited. And, you know, it just got us talking about some things.
And he has really had an opportunity to get to know a lot of people, a lot of our homeless population, you know, out here in Asheboro. And man, this is not like this is a problem that dwells underneath the service as well. You know, and I think it's important. I know. I know most of them, actually.
So, Gary, you're actually homeless. Oh, yeah, I am. Yeah. And so but you're young. I am.
Yeah. How young are you? I'm 19 right now. I'll I'll be 20 in November.
Right. So how do you end up homeless at 19, 20 in November? Well, you know, I was on and off coming down here for six years, like she said.
I'm from New York, Long Island, and it's cheaper down here. And I met a lot of great people. But there's also a lot of problems with drugs going on, specifically in Asheboro, because, you know, sometimes they get dropped off at Daymark. I don't know how they end up going there, but I guess they try getting some help.
But they come from maybe two hours away to get left at Daymark and they end up just traveling the town of Asheboro and they walk around. I've met a lot of new people and like they're still hooked on stuff. And then I try I try to show them the way. I know a lot of churches out here and I tell them to go there.
And, you know, sometimes sometimes they're stuck in their head and they don't listen. But, you know, I know a lot of good connections out here with churches and they I really appreciate them because they help me. How? Yeah, because I understand you have an amazing faith. And so I'm very interested in how that came about. How did you come to the Lord? No, Jesus. Well, it was a difficult life, you know, but, you know, when I put my faith in him, he definitely helped me.
Definitely does, you know. So it was a difficult life. Can you share a little bit about what that might felt like? Well, yeah, I'm young. I mean, I am young, but I was getting windy. It's all right. Yeah, that is hard. You are young.
Yeah, I know. I know a few I know a few towns out here, you know, like like random men I lived in for a while. I just I just been around, you know, so like my father, he was he was on a lot of drugs, like a lot.
So I it made him very violent and angry to me. So I ended up going out on my own, just, you know, that's how I first ended up meeting people out here. And I was like 16, 15 when I was like around Ashboro mainly. And I would skateboard out here in Bicentennial. I had a little skate group going on. We was, you know, it was some good times, but I also meet like the other homeless people out here even back then.
And there's still there's still some out here that I knew from then. And it's you know, it's interesting, Robbie, we were talking about, you know, these people have a story to tell, right? And I think sometimes we people just walk past and they don't want and they don't take the time to know the story. And I tell Gary, that's my heart in this is this is not, you know, share a little bit about who you are, your story, what you want out of this.
You know, I just I don't want the world to look. I understand you had an interesting prayer that you were talking about that he prayed. Oh, well, we just yeah, we just prayed over there as well. But you can tell a little bit about maybe one of the first time you first time. Yeah, there's a I was talking about the first time I ever prayed to God, like, you know, I was young, I was really young. It was my first nephew being born.
And I, you know, I wasn't raised to really, you know, have faith in God and all that, you know, Christianity or anything. But, you know, I ended up I knew about it and I ended up turning to that because my nephew was just my first nephew just being born. And the doctors were calling my mom and dad saying that they don't know if he's going to make it or what's going on.
There's a lot of stuff going on during his birth. And I was you know, I was very excited for it. And I was on the couch.
I remember. And I was really upset about it because my first nephew and I ended up rolling over on a couch, you know, tuck my head in there. And the couch and I started praying, you know, it was just the first time and I was praying to God, hoping he can, you know, be born. And did you sense God? Oh, I definitely did, because like 10 minutes later, like, so like, they're really, really worried about him being like coming to life. Like he thought they thought he was going to be dead, you know, and like 10 minutes later, they called back from the hospital and they said he was good. And I had faith all came in me. And I was like, wow, it was that that was going to happen. And I had a feeling it would, you know, like, and that that's something I wish everybody could see Gary's face like right this second. If you'd seen his eyes light up when he said he was filled with faith, I know that was absolutely true.
And so would you look at your life right this minute? What's what is your faith telling you? Well, my faith, I know I know that good is going to come soon.
That's what I know. That's my faith. I have faith in what's coming soon.
Good is coming. And certainly I thank you all for listening so much to Kingdom Pursuits today. Again, thank you, Gary, for being on sharing your story today.
Whitney, for all that's happened with Invictus. We want to thank Dario again, the Petty Family Foundation. We want to thank the equitable, equitable advisors and Carolina Custom Finishings and all of our sponsors. They've been incredible. Truth Network. Yeah, it was nice. And thank you for listening again. So much truth coming at you, encouraging prayer, followed by the masculine journey. And it's time to man up with Nikita Kolov. Stay tuned.
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