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700 Club Interactive - June 18, 2021

Julian McCray's fatherless quest for affirmation led him down a destructive path of drug addiction, but God called him out of darkness into new life. Read Transcript


(upbeat music)

- Welcome to the show,thanks for joining us.

Well, we've got some news for you.

The woke movement has nowinvaded the adoption process.

One leading adoption agencywants race to be a factor

in placing children with parents,

despite a law that prohibits it.

- So what's really at stake here?

And how could it backfireon the very children

it's claiming to protect?

Caitlin Burke has the story.

- There's a federal law on the books

that prohibits race frombeing a factor in an adoption.

The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act or MEPA

is intended to remove barriers

to adopting children of color.

Now, one major evangelical adoption agency

wants the law changed.

Bethany Christian Servicessays the law limits

proper education of parentsbefore a transracial adoption.

That's because under the law,

all adoptions must be treated the same,

whether white parents areadopting white children

or children of color.

Following the death of George Floyd,

there was an outcry from Bethany Families

who wanted help talking aboutrace with their children.

For now parents who want more resources

can attend optionaltrainings put on by Bethany

or outside organizationslike Be The Bridge.

- From the very beginning, from jump,

a white parent should have the tools

and they should have the language

and the understanding abouthow to help a child of color

grow into a healthy racial identity,

grow into a healthy senseof who God made them to be

and all God made them to be.

- [Caitlin] Tiffany Henness helps provide

transracial adoptiontraining at Be The Bridge.

She's also Asian-American,

and was adopted by a white family.

- What really strikes me whenI think back over my life

is that my parents tried to encourage me

to have a positive identity,but they didn't know

some of the things that werein the environment around us

that was teaching me to hate the Chinese

or Asian part of myself,

because that's what made me different,

that's what made medifferent from my family.

- [Caitlin] Henness says that

while her family did their best,

she feels their colorblindphilosophy was short-sighted.

- I could not educatethem at four years old

or eight years old or 16 years old,

I only knew, you know,I only knew so much.

So if my parents had had some training,

if they had had relationshipswith Asian Americans

who were helping themunderstand the context

of some of the commentsor the jokes or the,

they would have been ableto be proactive as parents

to help guide me through those things.

- Still, not everyone inthe adoption community

agrees this kind of specialtraining should be required.

- You want to learn more.

So that's kind of the natural thing.

You don't need an agencyto force you into this.

This is like, it's the natural curiosity

because you wanna know howbest to parent that child.

- [Caitlin] Ryan Bomberger,

co-founder of The Radiance Foundation

was also raised in a transracial home.

Adopted in 1971, hisparents defied restrictions

about black children beingplaced with white families.

- They understood thatthey were called to love,

first and foremost.

They didn't set out toadopt a black child,

a Vietnamese child, a native American,

they just wanted to adopt thosethat the world said would be

unwanted and unloved.

- [Caitlin] Statistically,there are more black children

languishing in foster care

than there are black familiesvolunteering to adopt them.

Bomberger is concerned Bethany's desire

to not only consider race in adoption,

but also assess prospective parents

will act as a barrier to white families,

which he says could makeit nearly impossible

for them to adopt children of color.

- I have a lot of parentswho have come up to me

in all the events that

the Radiance Foundationdoes across the country,

and they have been dissuaded from adopting

simply because they're white

or because they don't have acertain quota of black friends

or certain quota of Asian friends

and that to me is really destructive.

- Other critics claim Bethany

is bowing to the woke movement,

being influenced by critical race theory

and shifting towards the left.

In a statement to CBN News,

Bethany said it will continue to celebrate

transracial adoptions.

And that what they'retrying to do is quote,

equip families who areadopting transracially

to understand their adoptive children

and support them as theydevelop a sense of who they are.

Henness says she's focused on those

who want to listen and learn,

because she knows alltoo well what's at stake.

- You can discredit ornot listen or whatever,

because it's a woke movement thing, but

I'm a person who is trying to understand

who God made me to be,

and how come I experiencethe world this way,

and what my place is here,

and that's really what it comes down to.

- Bethany is calling for allUS child welfare policies

to be updated, to ensureall children in the system

reach an equal outcome.

Caitlin Burke, CBN News.

- Well, what do you think about this Ash?

- I'm slightly confused, to be honest.

So I'm just not well-versed

in terms when it comes to adoption law,

so what is the law?

How is the law being involved in this?

- Well, the law is designed to make sure

race never enters into the equation.

So it's designed to be equal,

but in practice it lookslike it's breaking down.

And then in practice,

it looks like there'sactive discouragement

for multiracial adoption,across racial adoption.

- Which is unfortunate.

- Which is unfortunate, that'san unfortunate side effect.

And I don't think was everpart of the intent of the law.

If you're adopting child of another race,

you absolutely need to get educated

in what they're going to go through

and prepare them for that?

This isn't something whereyou just go into it blindly,

you have to be very smart.

But I do like to remind everybody,

there's only one race andit's called the human race.

God has made of one bloodall nations to dwell.

We make a big deal out of our differences,

but at the end of the day,we all have the same blood,

we all have the same bone,we all have the same flesh.

- Yeah.

- And if we can just love one another,

that would be really wonderful.

That seems to break down in practice.

And so now we have to educate ourselves

out of that breakdown

to say, how do we restore back?

But the big thing, andit is the big thing,

it always needs to be about that child.

How does a child grow?

How does a child find a family?

How does a family find a child to love?

All of these things need to be wide open

so anyone who wants to can be involved.

- Absolutely and if it's, if God says

if you feel the Lordsay this is your child,

it shouldn't matter ifit's Black, white, Asian,

it's your child.

God has given you thischild, so be courageous.

- Okay.

Well you can always getthe latest news and more

by downloading the CBN Newschannel app today, Ashley.

- All right, well, up next, a young man

loses his job and hisapartment because of addiction.

And then his life gets even worse.

(upbeat music)

- Heroin took everythingI had but my life.

Walking down the street,

knowing you have nowhere tolay your head down at night

is the worst feeling.

(upbeat music)

- See how he finds a wayof escape behind bars,

after this.

(upbeat music)

- Julian McCray never knew his father,

but he missed him every day.

Julian's longing to fillthe void in his life

led him down a path ofcocaine and then Oxycontin,

and then eventually heroin.

One night he uttered a desperate prayer

and 20 minutes later, hislife was changed forever.

- I felt dirty, I felt broken, lost,

just in utter despair.

- [Narrator] Julian McCraygrew up just outside of Detroit

and was raised by his lovingmom and Christian grandmother

who taught him about Jesus.

But he didn't know his father.

- And growing up, Iwanted to know my father,

and a more father-son relationship,

you know, wanting toknow you know, who he was

and know things about him,

but I never had that opportunity.

- [Narrator] Despitebeing raised in church,

as Julian grew older,

he began searching for his own identity.

- I used to listen to alot of heavy hip hop music.

I would just listen for hours every day.

And I would ingest these negative quotes,

negative lyrics andthoughts into my heart.

I used to idolize these rappers,

and I used to think bad was good.

I used to think drug dealing was cool.

- [Narrator] He startedimitating what he listened to

and before long, Julianbegan dealing drugs.

- Got a batch of marijuana,

and I bagged it all up.

It went and I did it again

and that continued for a while,

and then I was into drug dealing.

- [Narrator] As his drugdealing intensified,

so did his own drug abuse.

- Cocaine was my first like addiction,

like I would seek it.

I would spend money on it,

I would do it all by myself in my room.

The cocaine had a elevating buzz,

but quickly it droppedand you were depressed

and you had to keep doingmore and more and more

to get that literally a 30 second fix.

But after that, you werein complete depression,

it was so bad.

And you just kept going forthat next one and next one,

and it went so fast, you hadto keep going, keep going.

And it was just, you get burnt out.

- [Narrator] While attemptinga fresh start in Florida,

Julian got hooked on Oxycontin,

which cost him his job and his apartment.

He then moved back to Michigan

where his pill addiction led to heroin.

- Heroin took everythingI had, but my life.

Any kind of relationship thatwas good for me, it destroyed.

Any opportunity for good,for a job, it destroyed.

I eventually went fromliving with a friend,

to hopping hotels, to homeless shelter

to homeless shelter,

and then from a homelessshelter to the street.

Walking down the street,

knowing you have nowhere tolay your head down at night,

is the worst feeling.

I remember just wanting tobreak down and weep and cry,

you know, from just walking,exhausted from walking,

wanted to lay down, youknow, but I had no bed,

I had no home.

I wouldn't even look atmyself in the mirror.

I would use a lot in bathroomsand I would avoid the mirror.

I knew the person I was lookingat wasn't me, I knew it.

And I didn't wanna lookat that person because

I was ashamed,

I was just discouraged ofwhat I let myself become.

- [Narrator] At the height ofhis addiction and hardships,

Julian remembered what his grandmother

taught him about Jesus.

- I had this feeling within me,

this knowing that myonly way out was Jesus.

I knew it,

because I tried to get myself out.

I tried to, you know

when I came to the pointwhere I wanted help,

I would try and go lower and lower.

And I was in utter despair so

one night I was in a hotelroom with some very bad people

and I laid down betweenthe bed and the wall

and I cried out to God.

I said, God, please take mefrom the cesspool of sin.

I need you, please help me.

And 20 minutes later, I was in handcuffs.

- Julian was arrested onold shoplifting warrants.

During his time in jail,

he participated in Bible studiesand was eventually released

to a program called Teen Challenge.

- We were at a church service,

it was an evening church service.

And after the service they had table talk.

The gentleman leading the table,

he was just, you know,speaking these scriptures

and all these things,

and I was so thirstyfor what he was saying.

I couldn't get enoughof what he was saying,

I was leaning forward,just drinking it out.

On the way home from that service,

I looked up to the sky andI said, God I am all in.

I said, forgive me.

I said, let's do this.

From that moment on, I was born again.

For the next three months,

I was in my word every day, all day.

In second Corinthians 5,

it says all who belong to the Lord

have become a new creation.

The old life is gone.

Behold, a new life has begun.

And that's my life.

I have a complete brand new life.

God didn't just set me freefrom poverty and drugs,

God set me free from me.

- [Narrator] Today Julianis married with a son

and is part of a thrivingchurch community.

He now sees God's love for him

through the way he loves his own son.

- Now that I'm a father,it's drawn me closer to God,

in my understanding andin my intimacy with him.

When I'm alone with God,

it feels like when I likehug my son, you know.

God uses fatherhood to strengthen us.

He also uses marriage to strengthen us

because for me to be a goodfather, I have to be selfless,

I have to serve my son,

and that's what love is,

love is selflessness.

I need to serve another andlay down my life for another

and love doesn't seek its own,

and that's what we're calledto do as Christians, to love.

I'm living a life that I don't deserve.

And I definitely did not earn,

but my life reveals thenature and character of God.

He's so good,

He is so merciful,

He's so patient.

When you give your life to Jesus,

it doesn't matter where you are,

it doesn't matter what you've done,

He's coming for you,

and he's going to bring you home,

there's nothing he can't do,

He'll make a way out of no way.

He did it for me andHe'll do it for anyone.

He really will.

- And He'll do it for you.

You've seen Julian's story,

you've seeing the process he went through.

But most importantly,

you've seen the life thathas been given to him.

And that's what Jesus came to do.

And he said it very clearly,

I came that you might have lifeand have it more abundantly.

The life that he intendedfor his children all along,

that he created good thingsfor you to walk into.

For Julian, he put him in a family,

he's got his own child now,

wonderful things happening to him,

all because he said to God,very simple words, I'm all in.

Now you can do that too.

If you're suffering from addiction,

you know that you're suffering,

you also know that you're chasing,

and you also know thatthe end of that road

is death, or some kind ofinstitution, or some kind of jail.

You already know all these things.

You're seeing it all around you.

And even though you knowall of these things,

even though you alreadyknow it doesn't satisfy,

even though you're alwayschasing and you're never finding,

even though you know allof that, you can't stop.

Do what Julian did.

Turn to God and say, God, I'm all in,

I can't do this on myown, I can't break free,

but with your help, I can.

Realize half measures never work.

You can't have one foot in the world

and one foot in the kingdom of heaven.

You can't say God, pleaseget me out of this mess,

so that you can turn aroundand go back to the mess,

you already know these things.

Say yes to him, surrender to him,

say, God, I wanna be all in.

Don't think that you're losing anything,

what you're doing is gaining everything.

You're trading a life ofof sadness, of heartbreak,

of destruction, you're trading all of that

for a life of abundance,

where you can have life andthat life more abundantly.

If this is for you, bow your head with me,

let's say the sameprayer that Julian prayed

and if you pray it with all ofyour heart, you'll find him.

He'll come to you,

He'll deliver you,

He'll set you free from you.

And that's a wonderful thing.

He's a wonderful savior.

Let's pray,

Jesus, that's right, just sayhis name, say it out loud,

Jesus, I come to you

and Lord you know thethings I've done wrong,

you know, the number oftimes I went my own way.

Lord, I turn from allof that, I turn to you,

and I tell you rightnow, I'm all in with you,

I want whatever you have for me.

So I open the door

and I ask that youwould come into my life,

come into my heart,

come into my innermost being, change me,

transform me to whatyou originally intended.

Give me the life that you want for me.

Jesus, if you'll do this,

I want to follow youall the days of my life.

Hear my prayer.

Come into my heart,

deliver me from everythingthat has a hold of my heart.

Deliver me,

for I ask it

in Jesus' name.

Father, for those who just prayed,

I ask for a baptism in your love.

I ask that this day wouldbe their day of change,

that they would becomea new creation in you.

Fill them to overflowingwith your spirit, your love,

your righteousness,your peace and your joy.

We ask all of it in thename above all names,

Jesus, the anointed one,

we ask it in his name.

Amen and amen.

If you prayed with me,

there's one more thing I want you to do.

The Bible says that ifyou believe in your heart

and then confess with yourmouth, you shall be saved.

What I want you to do istell somebody I just prayed,

I just asked Jesus to come into my heart.

We've made it easy for you.

All you gotta do iscall us, 1-800-700-7000.

Now when you call, we'vegot a free packet for you,

it's called "A New Day" andyes for you, it's a new day.

In that packet is a CD teaching,

you can also downloadit as a streaming file.

There's also a bookletfilled with Bible verses.

I encourage you to get it.

All you gotta do is call us,no financial obligation at all.

All you have to do iscall and say, I prayed,

I'd like to get this.

1-800-700-7000 Ashley.

- Well coming up, do you knowhow to cook the perfect steak?

Join us in the kitchen,

you'll get a sneak peekat my first attempt

at this Father's day meal.

Plus what is the number one thing

Gordon's learned from being a father?

You'll find out right after this.

(upbeat music)

Well, Father's day is this weekend

and you can celebratewith us on CBN Family.

You'll find comedy specialsfrom "Thou Shalt Laugh",

plus exclusive features from Michael Jr

and Kristen and Danny Adams.

And if you're looking for adelicious meal to cook for dad,

join us in the kitchen.

Gordon shares his secretsfor a perfectly cooked steak.

Here's a sneak peek.

- [Narrator] Cooking WithGordon on CBN Family.

- [Gordon] One other tip,

don't put pepper on it beforeyou put it in the cast iron,

'cause pepper will just burn.

Salt won't burn, salt's a rock,

but pepper will burn.

It'll give it a burnt flavor.

Add pepper after.

- Okay, immediately afteror wait a little bit?

- We'll get to that,

I have this thing called maitre d butter

that I made up two days ago.

- You're gonna have to,

what is maitre d butterin the first place?

- It's an old trickrestaurants used to do.

You don't see it anymore,

but it's a flavor enhancer.

And so the maitre d atthe front of the house

serving you, would make up this butter

and it was a final finish for a steak

would add maitre d butter.

Lemon juice, parsley, softened butter,

you whip all that together, alittle salt, a little pepper

and then you roll it up in cellophane.

- [Narrator] To see Gordon's full recipe,

go to CBN Family.com.

- Maitre d butter was delicious.

And if you want to see howmy first steak turned out,

and you want to cook theperfect steak that dad will love

all you have to do is go to CBNFamily.com

or download the CBN Family appto any of your smart devices.

Do it today as we celebrateand honor dads this weekend.

And that is our Q and A topic for today.

Gordon, I learned a lot about you

and what your dad has taught you

and some of the thingsthat you've learned.

- Are you making the steak for your dad?

- Maybe.

- That would be no,

that's Ashleyspeak for no.

- I might, you know,

I just feel like mydad's a really good cook,

so I feel like.

- She's intimidated.

- I am, I'm slightly intimidated.

- And she doesn't want to.

- But we'll see.

- Take it from me, he will love it.

- Okay, all right.

I need to be more courageous.

- Yes.

- All right.- Step up boldly.

- Yes, amen, I will.

All right, well let's,

we're gonna talk about fatherhood.

- It's an easy recipe.

- It is an easy recipe.

- And it was good.

- Yeah.

- I heard Terry madeit and she enjoyed it.

So that gives me some courage.

- Yeah.

- Women can grill.

Women can cook a steak.

- It's a cast iron pan.

You can do it.

- Yes, that's true.

Okay, fatherhood,

what have you learned through being a dad,

about our heavenly father?

Cause I've heard a lot of times that

once you have your own child,

whether you're a mother or a father,

you learn a lot about God's love for us.

- You finally understandunconditional love.

Until you have children,

you're kind of on the outside of that.

I mean, you can receive it from God,

but you coming to the point of giving it,

you know, maybe in romantic relationships,

husbands and wives, youcan find it, but that just,

there is nothing thatinfant can ever do for you.

There's no transaction here,

it's not reciprocal,

but at the same time you realize,I will die for that child.

And there is nothing I will withhold,

I will do anything.

You know, I'm not going to, you know,

give 'em a Ferrari whenthey're 16, you know,

I wanna raise them smart andI wanna be a good father,

and you know, I'm not gonnahave spoiled children,

but at the same time, thereis nothing you won't do.

And I learned that the firsttime I looked in Evelyn's eyes,

it was wow.

I am all in.

This is you and me.

- That's awesome,

I love that.

Well for those who, okayyeah that's you and Evelyn,

that's literally adorable.

- That's my eldest.

- So cute.

- She just got married, I justgave her away, which was, oh.

- Oh my gosh.

Happy, happy moments.

Okay so, I'm sure a lot ofpeople are watching though.

and sometimes Father's daymay be a trigger for people

because they didn't have a dad like you

who spoke those kind words.

- I'm not the perfect dad,

I don't think any dad is the perfect dad.

- Yeah.

- There's no manual for it,

the only perfect oneis our heavenly father.

And sometimes when youhave issues with dad,

either being absent or being overbearing,

or not always being there for you,

all of these things,

I encourage people,you can get reparented.

You can go to your heavenly father,

and ask him to heal that wound

and to come in and showyou how you can forgive.

'Cause that's part ofthis transaction here,

you have to forgive your earthly father.

How you can forgive, but also,

and this will really help you to say,

God, I need you to showhow you were loving me

during that moment.

And he will.

He wants to reveal himself to you,

he doesn't wanna be distant,

he wants to be that close father

with all of your emotionalneeds, whatever they are,

so go into your prayercloset, it's a great one.

Get reparented by our heavenly father.

Here's a word from Jeremiah,

and this goes along with this.

When you seek me and find me,

when you search for mewith all of your heart.

Do that now,

God bless, happy Father's day.

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