Lakeland
A heart of devotion and a willingness to serve.
These are the words others use to describe the Wernsing family! The couple has been licensed since 2015 and provided care for 27 children, adopting five.
The doors to their 15-passenger van swing open, and their foster children pile out. They often get weird looks, but for Brent and Christine, having a big family is a privilege. The Wernsings were sitting in adoption classes several years ago when they heard about the need for foster care parents. They knew without hesitation that foster care was where God was calling them.
“We felt like it was a great ministry opportunity to provide care and support to children and their families.”
Relationships are essential to the family, and each of their foster children’s biological parents are vitally important to the Wersings. Becoming foster parents has allowed them to establish a bond with children and their parents. “Our hearts have grown to love the entire family, not just the child in our home,” the Wernsings said.
When they are not running errands with the children, the couple is active in foster care ministries.
They lead a foster and adoptive support group every month, and they are in the process of starting an ECHO (Everyday Christians Helping Orphans) ministry location, which is a ministry that provides free household items and clothing for children in foster and adoptive care. The couple also just opened the ECHO Coffee Shop where the proceeds go to foster care support.
God has given them the strength to keep saying “yes” as He continues to prepare the family for the next season of placements and the inevitable trials that will come with it. “He [God] prepares us and gives us the tools to minister to the next family we welcome to our home. He continues to bless our ‘yes’ over and over.”
As the seats to their van fill up with more and more children, God continues opening the doors (literally and figuratively) for the Wernsings to share with others about their foster care adventure and the love of Christ!
Vote the Wernsing family for Foster Parents of the Year!
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on May 15.