Join us as we explore the complex challenge of caring for God’s precious children through foster care. We will learn from experienced leaders and caregivers about obstacles and opportunities facing foster care families in the United States.

Among the questions we will address are: How does the foster care system impact our youth and families? How have faith communities engaged well with this process and those impacted? How are faith communities challenged when engaging with the process and those impacted? How can the Church support or equip its members through foster care?

In the process, we hope to better understand what it looks like to emulate Jesus in our care for these children and the families who serve them.  

Event Details

Date: Thursday, September 26, 2024
Time:  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (MST)
Location: Zoom

About the Panelists

Dr. Eric C. Basye

Executive Director of Child Bridge

Dr. Eric Basye has devoted more than two decades to mobilizing churches, non-profits, and Christian leaders to tackle the challenges faced by a broken and hurting world. With extensive experience in both national and international settings, he has crafted and implemented strategies to uplift marginalized and vulnerable populations, driven by a deep passion for transformative community development.

Currently, Eric serves as the Executive Director of Child Bridge, a statewide organization dedicated to providing a family for every child across Montana. Under his leadership, Child Bridge has focused on recruiting and equipping families to say “yes” to fostering, offering robust support, education, and empowerment throughout their fostering journey.

For over twenty years, Eric has led and consulted with non-profit organizations, particularly in Christian community development within low-income areas and church planting. His innovative initiatives in impoverished neighborhoods have fostered a Kingdom vision for diverse communities. This work includes establishing and directing internship programs that have equipped leaders who now serve as missionaries, teachers, and community leaders worldwide. Eric’s expertise in non-profit sustainability is further demonstrated through his successful oversight of multi-million dollar development projects and consultancy work with like-minded organizations.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Wyoming and a Master’s in Youth and Family Ministry from Denver Seminary, with additional studies from Fuller Theological Seminary and the Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. He earned a Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives from George Fox University, where his dissertation focused on promoting the flourishing of vulnerable populations.

Residing in the South Side of Billings, Montana, Eric, his wife Shelly, and their four children are deeply invested in their community, where they live out their commitment to service and transformation.

John Gillespie

Outcomes Director, The Send

Johnny has served on staff with Youth With A Mission for 18 years, training and sending young people into Christian missions, primarily based out of Kona, Hawaii. Since 2018, he has worked as the Outcomes Director of The Send, a global missions mobilization movement that launches thousands of people into missional exploits. Johnny and his wife Jenni have been married for 15 years and have six beautiful children, three of which are adopted. They have been involved locally, nationally, and internationally in advocacy and action in the foster care and adoption field. 

Moderated by Dr. Mark Young
President of Denver Seminary

Dr. Mark Young, president of Denver Seminary, is a theological educator and pastoral leader with over 40 years of global ministry experience. Prior to joining Denver Seminary in 2009, he served as professor of world missions and intercultural studies at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1995–2009 and was the founding academic dean of the Biblical Theological Seminary in Wroclaw, Poland.

Mark has authored several publications, including The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022), One True Story, One True God: What the Bible Is All About (Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2021), “Marriage and the Mission of God,” published in Marriage: Its Foundation, Theology and Mission in a Changing World (Moody Press, 2018), and “Recapturing Evangelical Identity and Mission” published in Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning (InterVarsity Press, 2018). He has also presented on issues in theological education and mission for numerous international symposia and conferences.

Mark holds a PhD in Educational Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a ThM in New Testament Literature and Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary. He has served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Theological Schools and is a member of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education, Evangelical Theological Society, OMSC Missions Leaders Forum, and several other organizations.

Mark has been married to Priscilla Young for nearly forty years, has three children, and eight grandchildren.