The Mississippi Baptist Convention emphasis for The Baptist Children's Village Annual Offering is scheduled around Mother's Day each year. As Southern Baptist Churches focus on family between Mother's Day and Father's Day, we encourage them to pray for BCV families who are struggling, and for the children who are in our care. We also appreciate their continued support and generous gifts to the ministry.
Order Mother's Day Offering Materials
Debbie Hawes will never forget Brian.
“It was late one Sunday night, one of our boys came, and knocked on our bedroom door. Brian was crying and upset. He had gone on a home visit that weekend. He was heartbroken because he knew he couldn’t stay with his parents,” Debbie said. “We sat on the couch, and I gently explained that God wants us to trust him and he knows what’s best for us.”
“A few weeks later I also had the honor of praying the sinner’s prayer with this wonderful young man as he gave his life to Christ. Brian will always be one of my special memories.”
Debbie is one of 18 housemothers who fills the void in the lives of your children at The Baptist Children’s Village. Many housemothers have their own children that are now grown and have answered God’s calling to be a “mother” at one of your seven campuses across Mississippi.
“You build a relationship with them and you have a bond just like we might with our own kids. You see them accept Christ and then you have an eternal bond with them. You know many times you are just sowing seeds but when you get to be a part of the harvest, that’s really sweet,” said housemother Stephanie Sandridge.
Your housemother’s day generally begins every morning at 5 a.m. cooking breakfast and perhaps putting another load of clothes in the washer. She and her husband start to wake the children. A devotion and Bible reading at the breakfast table starts the children’s day, and then it is someone’s turn to say the blessing.
Scenes such as this one play out daily in each of your cottages. Mother’s Day at The Baptist Children’s Village, however, can be bittersweet. Many of the precious children you support do not have their own mothers close by to immediately care for them and love them.
Your housemothers fill that void in their lives.
God uses your prayers and support, through your housemothers and housefathers, to make a difference in the lives of our children--children who have been homeless; told they are worthless or not wanted; or who were slapped and punished for not putting the dishes away correctly at six years old.
“So many of these babies have been hurt so badly both emotionally and physically,”said Debbie. “I want these children to know that as much as I love them, God loves them more. It’s not at all about what I do as a housemother. It’s all about God.”
This Mother’s Day, thank you for partnering with us to help clothe, feed, and shelter hurting and abandoned children. Most of all, we are grateful for your support that allows us to share the gospel of Christ with them. He is the only one who can truly change a child’s life for now and for eternity.
Your financial donation will give your houseparents the supplies and means necessary to provide for the children in their care. Please consider a gift that will help continue the BCV ministry begun 123 years ago. May God bless you and your family this special time of year.
Give a Mother's Day gift here. You may also give a Mother's Day Tribute gift in honor or memory of a special mother in your life.
