GOD PROVIDES AGAIN!
God has turned a major problem to an enormous praise! With hearts full of gratitude, we thank the Lord for His miraculous provision of staff members and children!
In mid-July, with the school year fast approaching, New Song had nearly 20 kids who wanted to enroll for the 2025-26 school year. But we had no houseparents to care for them and no teacher to lead our classroom.
On July 14th, Abby Lawrence came to the New Song campus to interview for the teaching position. What began as a discussion about teaching concluded with a conversation about houseparenting.
“Isaac and I have always had a heart for working with vulnerable kids,” shared Abby. “We see it as a biblical calling on our lives and had been talking about becoming foster parents.”
After discussing the possibility of houseparenting with her husband Isaac, she found that he was all in!
But Abby had some reservations. “I was concerned whether I could handle houseparenting as a young person with no children,” Abby admitted. “But a particular verse in the Bible really helped me, also the strength and conviction of Isaac.
“I began studying Proverbs 1:4 which is about how God will give knowledge and wisdom to those who are younger. That verse led me to be confident that the Lord would equip me to serve as a House Mom. And Isaac remained 100% confident—he was all gas no breaks,” Abby said, smiling.
There was one catch. Both Isaac and Abby felt like Isaac needed to keep his full-time job, which would require him to be away from the campus from 6am until sometimes 6pm.
In the past, New Song would not have even considered a house dad work full-time out of the home—houseparenting is too demanding.
“But Isaac and Abby’s hearts were definitely in the right place,” shared New Song’s Associate Director and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Lisa Schloss. “They are a strong Christian couple, but having just one person trying to manage 6-7 children alone for periods of time just wouldn’t have worked out well for her or for the kids.”
“It was difficult to do, but we shared our conclusion with Isaac and Abby, that it wasn’t going to work out, that is unless God would provide a third adult to be in the home supporting Abby and working with the kids,” said Lisa.
That’s when Abby called her good friend, Katie Hill.
“Katie has such a strong love for people and a solid spiritual walk that I felt right away she’d be a perfect fit in the home!” said Abby. “We’ve known each other since the 8th grade, and we’ve always gotten along great together.”
Katie had recently graduated from Bob Jones University with a Business degree and a minor in Marketing, and she was seeking the Lord’s direction in her life. When Abby and Katie talked about serving together in the home, Katie quickly became excited by the idea!
But we still needed a teacher for the classroom, and by faith, we knew that God can do all things, and no purpose of His can be thwarted. (Job 42:2, IS 14:27)
And in fact, the Lord was indeed working behind the scenes, bringing us Alex Shelton to serve as New Song’s teacher.
Alex grew up in Franklin, Indiana, he is a graduate of Crossroads Bible College and has been taking seminary classes. He, his wife and their two-year old son live in community near the New Song campus, and he found out about the teaching position online. After a solid interview on August 1st, Alex was offered the role of Academic Instructor.
Isaac, Abby, Katie, and Alex were all hired the first week of August, less than two weeks before school was to begin.
But what about the students? Would their moms wait on New Song?
Fortunately, the answer was “Yes!”
With our new staff members in place, and with our Social Worker/Tutor Bea Hoffman continuing to serve at New Song, six children enrolled and began living on campus on August 17th. They are:
KK (5)
DeMaria (8)
Amiri (11) (Amiri and DeMaria are returning from two years ago, and KK is their younger sister)
Brie (13) (Returning for a second year)
Melody (8) (Melody is the younger sister of Lilly, who was with us three years, and Tay, who was with us as well)
Amere (8) (Returning for a second year)
The kids are doing great in the home and at school, and our staff members are full of joy serving these precious little ones!
If you’d like to support these children and staff members, we truly need your help. Please consider a gift today.
The Lord has always made a way for New Song. His faithfulness “stretches to the sky,” (PS 36:5) and right down on earth in beautiful Brown County. May the glorious name of the Lord be forever praised!