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<\/a>A fostering and adoptive family is not especially unique. And a church planting family is not especially unique. What makes Josh and Beth Glymph so uncommon is this: four years ago, God told them to simultaneously do the two hardest things they\u2019d ever done. \u201cFoster care and church planting,\u201d says Beth. \u201cI thought there was no way He\u2019d ask us to do both at the same time. But that\u2019s just what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Glymphs would come to learn that God had his reasons.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Josh Glymph was serving on staff at Fruit Cove Baptist Church<\/a> in Jacksonville, Florida. He was content, and yet strangely restless.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been there ten years, and we loved it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut God just began to do something in our hearts that made us say, \u2018Alright Lord, what\u2019s next?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The leaders at Fruit Cove had a ready answer for that \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d question\u2014Ortega.<\/p>\n \u201cOrtega was a community in Jacksonville that was very unreached,\u201d Josh says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got hipsters, you\u2019ve got military, you have wealthy people and then you also have a lower socioeconomic area. It really is a melting pot. And, there were a handful of churches in the area, but some of them were dying, and some others had faded into no longer being what you\u2019d call Christian, and all of us at Fruit Cove saw the need and got really excited about what the Lord might do if we planted a church there.\u201d<\/p>\n When Fruit Cove decided to send the Glymphs to Ortega to plant a church, Josh and Beth were excited. And stressed. The timing felt overwhelming, especially to Beth, because the call to plant came at the same time their family of five was expanding to a family of seven.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had actually just set out on our foster care journey, and some of our kids had special needs,\u201d she says. \u201cFoster care is so hard because anytime a child is removed from their biological family, there\u2019s deep suffering that comes with that, and as a foster parent, you\u2019re asked to step into that suffering with them. I knew the Lord was asking us to plant this church and to foster, but the timing of it all was just hard for me to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n As Josh and Beth began to meet, then invite and then gather people together in Ortega, God\u2019s grand plan for what would become Refuge Church<\/a> began to take shape. The Glymphs discovered that Ortega, just like almost every other community, had families that were fostering and adopting. Josh and Beth\u2019s biggest and most visible concern became Refuge Church\u2019s biggest draw.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople here who were fostering and adopting said, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s a family that\u2019s doing what we\u2019re doing. That pastor\u2019s family looks just like ours,\u2019\u201d Josh says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how the Lord began to build this church.\u201d<\/p>\n When Refuge Church launched in 2020, one of the first things they did was start a ministry called Seek Refuge. Seek Refuge provides just about everything a fostering or adoptive family in Ortega might need: diapers, car seats, baby toys and even date night childcare.<\/p>\n \u201cFostering and adoptive families found out that here\u2019s a pastor and a family who\u2019s joining them in the fight,\u201d Josh says. \u201cThey saw that, and they came here to get a need met, and through that we built relationships. Next thing we know, they\u2019re in our church on a Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n A significant percentage of the more than 200 people who now attend Refuge Church are from fostering or adoptive families. The Glymphs never expected to plant a church like this, but now that they\u2019ve done so, they recognize how God had this whole thing planned out from the very beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t set out to plant a church for foster and adoptive families,\u201d says Beth. \u201cThe Lord just did it. And now that it\u2019s happened, we get to see Him working right in front of our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n Southern Baptist\u2019s gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering helped the Glymphs get Refuge Church up and running. Now in Ortega, where not too long ago churches were few and far between, Josh and Beth are making Jesus known.<\/p>\n \u201cI think about the number of children who come to our church who, if families didn\u2019t say yes to foster care and adoption, those children would never hear about Jesus,\u201d says Josh. \u201cI believe there\u2019s no greater opportunity than this to share the gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>