Morning Wire - Sound of Hope: The Inspiring Journey to Transform Foster Care | 7.3.24

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

The real life heroes of “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” join Morning Wire to share their incredible and inspiring journey. Bishop and First Lady Martin and their community adopted 77 difficult-to-place children from the foster care system, proving the transformational power of love and faith. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Black Rifle Coffee: Drink America's coffee at https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inspired by a powerful true story, the new film Sound of Hope, the story of Possum Trot, follows Donna and Reverend Martin, who along with 22 families from their church in a small Texas town, adopt 77 of the most difficult to place kids in the foster system. The Daily Wire has partnered with Angel Studios to bring the film to theaters on July 4th, and ahead of that, Donna and Reverend Martin join me in our Nashville studio to discuss their real-life experience. with taking in and raising these children. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, July 3rd, and this is a special edition of Morning Wire. Hey, guys, producer Brandon here. Black Rifle Coffee is a veteran-founded company that's doing their part to honor both current and former military personnel, as well as first responders.

They support such organizations as the Wounded Warrior Project, adopt a cop, BJJ, and the Burn Institute. Right now, you can get 25% off your first subscription order when you verify your military ID online. Just go to black riflecoffee.com, create an account, and verify your ID. Visit black riflecoffee.com to learn more. Before we get started here, a behind the scenes disclosure, we did not start off intending to release the following interview in full. I was just supposed to sit down with the Martins and get a few quotes for a larger episode. But what took place moved us all so much that we just felt that we needed to release the full exchange as a standalone special episode. With that said, we hope you get as much

out of this as we did. Joining me in studio is the remarkable couple behind Sound of Hope, the story of possum trot, Donna and Reverend Martin. First, thank you so much for being here with me now to discuss the film and you and your community's experiences with fostering children. We're glad to be here. We're definitely glad to be here. Absolutely.

I want to hear from your perspective, the personal experience of going through this process. Not a lot of people have had this kind of thing. happen, which is you start a movement and then you also see this made into a film and probably never thought this would go this direction. So what were the initial seeds of this? This push to take action and foster these at-risk children. Where did that come from? What drove that initially? Why did this become a priority for you? I don't know if it became a priority other than we would just because of the vision that the Lord showed my wife

through the death of her mother, we just started doing something that he spoke the word and we obeyed the word. And I don't know if there was so much of something that we was looking for any big thing to come out of. We were just doing what we thought people do. We didn't even know all this was going on

in this area at all. But then once we got into it, involved and we found out that it was a worldwide problem, a worldwide situation. Because we in Possumtrop, who can imagine in Possumtrop, here we are embarked about a worldwide. Who would have thought of that? I mean, I didn't, I mean, I can't speak for nobody, but I never would have dreamed that we'll be in this position today. But what we did, I guess out of obedience to God's will, he opened up doors and God is faithful to do what he says.

And that's the thing that I keep looking at. I keep focusing on my eyes on God and knowing that if you do His will, if you trust him and believe in him, he's going to do the rest. Are there some particular scriptures that came back to you or it really helped send him? enter you during this whole process. She felt like this is the heartbeat of what we're trying to do. Two of my favorite pastor of scriptures in the Bible is Roman 8 and 28. And we know that all things work together for the good, working according to his purpose for those who love the Lord.

And then I love this one. Yay, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? I will feel no evil for the Lord. It's with me. If you were in this battle of problems and situations and setbacks and heartaches and pain, it's working for our good because God has a greater purpose. This was something that I feel that God, and it was prophesied in our church that we was in a little small village.

One night, one Friday night, this woman came in and prophesied to everything that went on, and it had to happen just like that. we had members in that say, yeah, right back in these woods. You tell me your TV's going to come back in these woods. Ain't no way. But now they see something tangible that they know that if it had not been for the Lord, we wouldn't be right here. Now, my wife may have a different scripted on her mind that she loved,

but these are my two. And now I keep those in my spirit at all time because I know in this world you're going to go through some stuff. Whether it's one day it's going to be one thing, But you're going to have some problem. I want to ask you about that in particular. One of the standout elements of this film is that it does not shy away from how hard this is, the kinds of struggles that are going to come if you make this kind of commitment

and steer your life in this direction. You open your arms to people that are initially strangers. That's no small matter. How has it been for you in the community? Has this been a hard process? Do you feel like you went in with eyes wide open? Or have you been surprised by it? Winning and blind, not knowing the ends and the pros and the pros and the cause,

because the children themselves, they have a new demeanor on life. And I often say this, why does a child know what love is all about when no one never taught them love? I do a child understand the beauty of a mother and a father that nobody never spent the time to teach them. How do they know how to love God with no wife? So these are struggles. They have all kind of baggage, lines stealing, just whatever you can name. They come in with that mindset.

I thank God for my wife. I thank God for Benny Chapel Church and the community as a whole. Because in the midst of all those struggles, in the midst of all them setbacks and all the crying and all the tears and all the heartaches, all I can say, but God. But God was right there. And he helped us through the whole process. And have you seen a transformation with these children? First lady, you want to answer that? I'm amazed.

It just goes back to the scripture that says, now and to him who's able to do exceedingly abundant. Above all that you can accident, according to the power that works on the inside of us, I'm amazed with these kids. I'm amazed with their struggle have turned into triumph. I am just grateful for the opportunity that the Lord allowed us, that they came past our lives.

and I'm amazed with the pain that I suffered through the loss of my mother at the age of 35, 36 years old. I'm saying to the Lord, three or four months after she passed transition, rather, that no child should lose a mother. Through my pain, I was just crying out to the Lord saying God, no child should lose a mother. And when he spoke to me, say, I've heard you, but she's with me. Think about, all I was thinking about those months was myself. All I was thinking about when I was alone that I couldn't go any further. So I looked up to the Lord one day, and I said, okay, God, today's today. Either you heal me or let me die.

Literally, I thought I was going to die. I thought my husband would come home and find me in the kitchen floor. But God move up on my heart and I stepped out the back door and he said, I've hurt you. Think about those children that's out there.

It did not and will not have what you had in a mother false and adopt gift back. And he didn't say get just kids that their parents, you know, left them and they got some away in the system. But get those hard to place kids

that wouldn't fit into a home. And we wanted those children. Our community wanted those kids. Because we understand struggle. Possum tried to understand struggle. We understand not having the luxury of life, but the most important thing is the love of Christ and loving one another, accepting one another.

We understand that. So I'm amazed. I look at them now, and no matter what, you know, challenge that they're yet dealing with, because they're always going to be, how can you get healed from that that rejected you? That never leaves you. Don't miss the devil wears product too in theaters.

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Sound of hope. So he's preparing a people. He's preparing a nation to take these kids. because as my husband say, they didn't know what to give. They could only give out what was given to them. Some of them had grown and got children and they're still hurting. But we knew and we've done what the Lord asks for us to do. And it was hell in our water, if you will. It was things that, no, we didn't know because I came up in a time, I'm a 61 baby, and I came up in the time when if mama said it, you did it.

Whether you like it or not, you didn't question it. If Mother said, you show some love, Mother said you give that shirt, you turn the other cheek, you did it. You know, so I'm just amazed. And I believe that really that's not about us. It's not about Bishop W.C. and Donna. It's not about Bennett Chapel. It's about that God so loved the word.

that he gave its only begotten son, that son gave his life, that he may have other sons and daughters. So we gave our life. We gave up our gender through our hurt, our pain, and our brokenness. And we suffered and tall through. And I'm sitting on this side right now and saying, God, nobody but you could nobody. could nobody do this but you. I am excited that this message is being known. Anyone that see it and hear it.

They hear the sound. They hear the cry. They know, we know even us, those that haven't even thought about adoption. If you don't hear this sound of those children's that's out there that haven't had a chance, in life in what you give your very on, then it's going to contaminate the good. That's why God say, forget about yourself. Let's reach out of ourselves.

And I'm so grateful. If I ever been grateful for anything in my life, this is it. I am grateful that the Lord allowed a people to go through the struggle and the pain and give a voice to this nasty enemy that comes to rob, steal, and kill, John 10 and 10, that Jesus said I came.

I prayed for you. I'm amazed. I'm amazed. And you know, one of the things that I want to share also, adoption is nothing new. I mean, God himself, allowed and showed us even in the Old Testament that adoption were held the only way we was able to get back to God

but through adoption. Anybody that believing in God, whether they like it or not, they've been adopted. It's kind of like God call a people to utilize and to demonstrate what I've done for you, you can do it for another. the doors that I opened up for you because I brought you out of the Muckiehury

I brought you out of pain and hurting sorrow you can do it for another and this is the thing that we are missing the only thing we see is a whole lot of the bad hard-headed children you expect that you look for that because why

if no one teach them and show them and love them through their hurting pain like God he did the same thing thankful. He loved us through our hurts, our pain, because we all been just messed up. But it had not been for the Lord on our side, we'll

still be jacked up, messed up, and tore up from the floor. But God saw fit to give us another chance. Why can't we, as a people, give a child that never had a chance?

Why can we give them a chance? I can barely speak. we have to wrap up. That was amazing. Thank you guys so much for sharing this. Thank you. God bless you guys. You're doing amazing stuff. I hope millions of people watch this movie. It's already impacted all of our TV. We believe it. Thank you so much. That was Donna and Reverend Martin speaking about their real-life experiences that inspired the new film Sound of Hope, and this has been a special edition of Morning Wire.