BP EDITOR’S NOTE: Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is Jan. 19 in the Southern Baptist Convention.
By Tobin Perry
Baptist Press
Shaq Hardy preaches during a youth gathering at Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. Abandoned by his mother not long after birth, Hardy often leans on his experience in foster care to minister to hurting kids. — Photo courtesy of Shaq Hardy
CHATTANOOGA — Much of Shaq Hardy’s childhood is a blur. For the first 10 years of his life, he moved from foster home to foster home, never able to put down roots.
Hardy longed for a sense of home, a place where he belonged.
But what Hardy does remember during that frantic decade in foster care is where he learned John 3:16 and how much Jesus loved him. Although he wouldn’t come to faith in Christ until five years after he left his last foster home, this last family introduced him to Jesus. For the last several years he was in foster care, the family took him to church just about every week and even involved him in Awana. That’s where he learned John 3:16.
“It was them having me in church that made me realize that the only thing that would last is Jesus,” Hardy said. “I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew I needed to find Jesus.” [Read more…]
