april 2015—idc mckinney

APR 2015 | IDCMCKINNEY.COM | LEAD PASTOR: JORDAN STONE

IMAGO DEIGospel Partner Spotlight: the Kendricks

“… learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

IsaIah 1:17

“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

As we continue in our series of taking an in-depth look at each of our Gospel Partners, we are

excited to share about Bruce and Denise Kendrick, who serve with Embrace. We hope this

Question & Answer format will spur our Body into deeper relationship with the Kendricks as

well as deeper prayer for their family.

Bruce and Denise Kendrick have nine children, one daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

Bruce and Denise lead Embrace, a ministry serving at-risk, foster and adopted children,

and their families. Founded in 2007, Embrace not only works in Dallas/Ft. Worth, but equips

churches across the country to meet the needs of children and families in their communities in

order to fulfill the biblical mandates of caring for orphans.

Family photo, from left to right: Brandan (with wife Morgan and son Jackson), Kate, Bruce holding Chapel, Denise, Macy, Shepherd, Genet, Reuben, Mattie Rose, Ellen



1) At what point in your lives did God put it on your hearts to get involved in foster, adoption, and orphan-care ministry?

We had been foster parents for over five years with three biological kids at the time, plus a number of children who had come in and returned to their biological families through foster care. At that time, it was just a ministry of our family. We didn’t see it as anything more than that. Then, one of the moms of a couple of our students in the church let her curios-ity get the best of her, and she started asking questions and imposing help on us — which we welcomed. After a few months of that, she asked if we would help her get an orphan care ministry started at our church. We thought, “An orphan care ministry? What a great idea!… but what is that?” She was an interior decorator with an accounting degree. She had no experience or connection to foster care or adoption. God simply put it in her heart and it ignited ours.

2) Can you share a brief description of all the services that Embrace provides to at-risk youth, foster & ad-opted children and families, as well as for churches?

We provide a handful of services for at-risk youth, children, and families here in Collin County and then really try to focus on multiply-ing our efforts and other best practices to other churches across Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas and the United States. We are continually piloting programs here in Collin County to test what best meets needs of these children and families, which is usually how we determine what to multiply.

Some of the ways Embrace serves on a regu-lar basis include:

• Providing basic household items for chil-dren aging-out of foster care in Dallas/Ft. Worth as they transition into independence and lack those primary staples to setup their first apartment or dorm room.

• Facilitating a couple of foster and adop-tive small groups to encourage and sustain those families who are on the frontline in caring for these children. Our two groups meet at La Madeleine in Frisco (2nd Thurs at 6:30pm) and Fuzzy’s in McKinney (3rd Thurs at 8pm).

• Hosting events that normalize foster and adoptive families experiences with one another throughout the year, plus hosting respite opportunities to give parents a break and let children have fun.

Denise and Lindsey raising awareness for youth aging-out of foster care at Targets for Christ at Elm Fork Shooting Park in Dallas

last September.



3) What is the most rewarding aspect of seeing how God uses Embrace to serve children, families, and churches?

Knowing this wasn’t our plan and watch-ing it multiply! While we try and think about where God is directing us in order to be the most effective we can be, this wasn’t our plan. Our plan was to have a few kids, be involved in student ministry, teach art and history, and coach basketball. 15 years, 30+ children in foster care, five adopted children, four biological children, two grandchildren, and a growing orphan care ministry later, we like to say God’s plan has been and con-tinues to be decidedly better than ours. It’s also an incredible privilege to equip leaders in other parts of the state and country who are multiplying efforts themselves to reclaim the care of the children and families in their own communities.

4) One of your major efforts right now is launch-ing "Second Story." Can you share more about this program and your vision for how God will use it to serve orphans and foster children in our area?

We started meeting last year with the other ministry leaders at churches here in Collin County. The major question we tossed out was, “What can we do together that we can’t accomplish separately?” We began talking about the children waiting to be adopted from Collin County, specifically how this population of children is often the most dif-ficult to care for because they are traditional-ly older and have been in foster care or have had failed adoptive placements. Also, most of them are placed in other parts of the state due to the very few open homes in our communities willing to care for teenagers or children with special medical needs. So, the Second Story is an initiative to engage small groups in churches to pray for one of these kids and accept the challenge of helping find a family for them. We’re still ironing out the details of that process, but we hope to have this opportunity ready before summer.

Bruce playing Santa at a respite event last year where foster and adoptive parents get a chance to reinvest in their marriages.



5) Embrace serves the community in so many ways! Can you share about upcoming/ ongoing volunteer opportunities and instructions for how people can get involved?

Embrace uses volunteers from both within our organization and outside it, including:• Prayer Teams for Waiting Children – We are currently developing prayer

teams for children who are waiting to be adopted from Collin County. We look forward to rolling that effort out in more detail later this Spring.

• CASA Volunteer - CASA workers visit children from our community in foster care and represent them in court. You can email Debi Williams ([email protected]) about this.

• Safe Families Ministry - This program leads Christian families to provide safe childcare for at-risk families and also mentor those parents as they work to escape the poverty, homelessness and addiction that prevents them from caring for their children well. Tiffany Porter ([email protected]) is the point person for Safe Families here in Collin County.

There are lots of other ways to volunteer, but the most impactful way is opening your home to a child who needs safety, consistency, love, and Christ-centered examples from which to learn.

A group of moms and daughters from Collin County who helped reorganize our storage of basic household items for youth who age-out of foster care.

mailto:[email protected]




6) Can you describe the purpose of your upcoming “Hometown Tour” trip that your family is taking from June 2015 through May 2016? And can you share of any needs you have regarding the planning or actual trip that IDC could help with?

The purpose is to multiply orphan care min-istry to other areas of the country where ef-forts are either nonexistent or need some more help and expertise. The foundational compo-nent of any orphan care ministry is support-ing the families who are caring for children through small groups. So, we will be focusing on that specifically to help families sustain the care of those children. We also want to pro-vide the cornerstone for an orphan care minis-try so the church can continue to build on and serve vulnerable children and families.

Regarding support for this trip, we’re orga-nizing a prayer team to lift us up as well as the leaders of each of the 20+ cities we’re work-ing in. We’re putting together a platform to communicate needs throughout the Tour and

to allow people to stay informed of how God is using us. If you want to join, then contact us [email protected].

7) What are each of your favorite Bible passages and why?

Bruce — Hebrews 10:39. We have lived a life that has required a measure of faith, and we work in an area of ministry that has no end to it. Meaning only when Jesus returns will the biblical mandates to care for orphans cease. So while we have been exhausted and felt hopeless at times, either about the needs of children in our own home or the millions of orphans across the planet, this passage holds me fast as a battle cry to persevere and prevail in the grace and power of our Lord.

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” – Hebrews 10:39

Denise — Matthew 6:25-27. This verse reminds me that everything God brings into my life (both bitter and good) is intentional. I may come across as

Ellen and Shannon Ireland, Executive Director of the Texas Council of Child Welfare Boards, in Austin

at Child Protection Day at the Capitol in 2013 advocating for vulnerable children and families.




a laid-back person but, in truth, I am a bit of a “worrier.” Sometimes, when my wor-ries build up, I realize they are “calling the shots.” I begin to make decisions from a place of fear instead of trust. God doesn’t need me to create a contingency plan. This false sense of self-reliance can keep me from relying on Him. Whatever I am “stor-ing away in barns” cannot compare with the abundance He has for me.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of

you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” – Matthew 6:25-27

8) What are some ways that your family has fun together?

We love camping, we love competing… usually in sports or board games, we love nachos, and we love Texas! So you might say, if we are camping in Texas while playing Monopoly and eating nachos, we’re having a pretty good time. On occasion, we’ll also play hide-n-go-seek in the dark in our house or bring home a movie to watch together. If things get dull, the kids like to put on impromptu plays or make things out of the items in our recycle bin. Unless we’re in the routine of chores and homework, you can

usually find us doing something or in the planning stages of an elaborate shenani-gan—almost always instigated by Denise.

9) What are some specific ways the IDC family can help and intercede for you?

We need someone to rent our home while we’re on the road this year. That is really the last major barrier for us to be able to leave in June. Apart from that, pray for our children. There are a number of variables involved in our lives and ministry, and while they get to come along for the ride many times, we also want to ensure they’re not the collateral damage of a mom and dad who exhaust themselves in ministry with little leftover to disciple and nurture them. Pray for their salvation and the development of their character. We love that IDC is a group full of maturing believers who exemplify the love of Christ to our kids when we gather together.

A group of volunteers from McKinney taking part in Volunteer Day at the Embrace office on the Historic Square of McKinney.

We are thankful for how the Lord has allowed IDC to partner with several

incredible individuals, couples, and families who are diligently working

to share Christ, help plant churches, and care for the needs of orphans.

Here are recent updates and prayer requests from some of our Gospel

Partners. If you are interested in biographies and contact info for all of

IDC’s Gospel Partners, please visit idcmckinney.com/go.


IMAGO DEIGospel Partner Prayer Requests

Kyle & Carrie WileyNeXT Worldwide

NEXT Worldwide is committed to planting churches through evangelism and discipleship in areas with little or no Gospel witness. The Wileys ask IDC to PRaY for God to further His Kingdom locally here in the DFW area, specifically in Hurst. Kyle recently led a team of high school students in Allen to serve alongside a young church plant called MyChurch at Westdale Hills. They shared the message of the Gospel with residents who live in apartment complexes, most of whom are Hindu, Buddist, Muslim, Tao and Atheists. Pray for the seeds that were planted to take root in the lives of those who heard the Gospel and for those people to build relationships with the MyChurch members. Also, please pray that the faith of the Allen students to be strengthened from their experience.

Gospel Partners in AsiaDue to security reasons, this

partner’s name remains confidential. However, they are based in a remote area of Asia for the purpose of reaching an unengaged people group with the Gospel. They want to share how thankful they are that the Lord has allowed them to pick up the language with ease. They celebrate God for this accomplishment so far and ask for Him to continue equipping them in this way. They ask that we PRaY for a local Believer who is being persecuted by her family because of her faith in Christ; the father has made her move out of their home and she is on her own now. Pray for great endurance over this young woman and for God to provide for her needs and a new place to live.


IMAGO DEIGospel Partner Prayer Requests

JoannaCrossover Communications International

Crossover is a sending agency that brings access

to the Gospel to unreached nations, and Crossover’s primary pursuit is “Vision 2020,” where they plan to plant 2000 reproducing churches by the year 2020. Joanna’s role at Crossover is both the Care Coordinator and Prayer Coordinator of all of Crossover’s field staff throughout the world. Please PRaY for protection and strength among the Crossover field staff in Turkey (whom Joanna serves), as they are experiencing pressure and potential threats regarding current violence in that region.

John & Kristen MurphyVeritas Church

John is the Lead Pastor of Veritas Church, planted in Fayetteville, NC in 2013. Veritas’ desire is that through the local church in Fayetteville the knowledge of the rule and reign of Christ would increase in Fayetteville, on Ft. Bragg and to the ends of the earth. John and Kristen would appreciate for IDC to PRaY for the individual discipleship he is doing with a few men in order to prepare them for elder training and eventual local elder leadership.

Upcoming Missions Events embrace Picnic Pool Party

We have the wonderful opportunity to serve Embrace’s foster and adoptive families again this summer at their annual picnic pool party! (date and location TBD). IDC will provide a meal to serve at this event, and we are looking for 1-2 people to coordinate the food and volunteers. If you are interested in coordinating or helping with food, please contact Mindi at [email protected].

IDC missions ConferenceOn the morning of Sunday May 3rd,

IDC is hosting our first Missions Conference. This half-day gathering will be packed with teaching about God’s heart for missions, and we will have time to discuss the practical ways we can apply this teaching within our church, families, and personal lives. More details coming soon!

mark Your CalendarsSunday 4/12 Men’s Upper Room

Tuesday 4/14 Women Discipling Women

“Behold Our God” study

Monday 4/20 Church Prayer Night

Sunday 5/3IDC Missions Conference


april 2015—idc mckinney

Documents