Adoption as a Picture of the Gospel

What can adoption teach us about the Gospel? In this episode of the Radically Christian Bible Study podcast Kyle and Leah Beard join Wes McAdams to share their story of building their family through adoption. They share how their faith motivated their decision and what it has taught them about God.

Kyle and Leah open up about the emotional journey of foster care and adoption. They discuss having to surrender their own desires and trust God’s plan for each child. Adoption gave them a deeper understanding of God’s unconditional love for all people. It also showed the redemptive power of God turning broken situations into beautiful stories.

This is a moving episode sharing an intimate adoption journey and the lessons it teaches about God’s redeeming love.

Links and Resources

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Transcript (Credit: Beth Tabor)

WES: Welcome to the Radically Christian Bible Study podcast. I’m your host, Wes McAdams. Here we have one goal: Learn to love like Jesus. I want to begin today by reading from Ephesians 1, starting in verse 3. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” 

Today we’re going to talk with Kyle and Leah Beard about adoption and what they’ve learned about God and about the gospel because of their experience with adoption. I hope that you enjoy this conversation, and, as always, I hope this conversation helps all of us learn to love like Jesus. 

Well, Kyle and Leah Beard, welcome to the podcast.

Kyle: Thank you for having us.

LEAH: Thank you.

WES: Thank you guys for joining me. I’m pretty sure that Kyle has probably been on the podcast before, but I’m confident this is Leah’s first time, so I’m excited to have the entire Beard team. Well, not the entire Beard team, but the mom and dad of the Beard team.

Kyle: Yeah, yeah.

WES: Fantastic. Well, why don’t we start by just having y’all introduce yourselves and tell us about yourselves and your kids and introduce us to who are the Beards.

Kyle: So I’m Kyle Beard. I have the privilege of working with Wes at the church of Christ on McDermott Road, working with middle school and high school students, and I have to say it, I’m from California, so that’s usually part of my first introduction.  

WES: You always have to get that in there.

Kyle: I always have to. It’s just ‑‑ that’s just who I am. And we’ve been married to Leah ‑‑ I’ve been married to Leah for 14 years.