If you turn your radio dial to WLQV-AM in metro Detroit, you are likely to hear Pastor Christopher Brooks hosting his shows Equipped for Life or Christ and the City. If you stay tuned for a while, you’ll hear him talk about prolife issues like abortion or adoption.
Throughout Black History Month in February, Right to Life of Michigan hosted a Life Speaker’s Series. The committee organizing the event was counting on strong prolife voices from WLQV-AM like Pastor Chris to kick it off with a live radio broadcast at the Right to Life of Michigan Wayne County Educational Resource Center.
When it came time on February 1 to host his show, however, Pastor Chris had somewhere better to be. A week before the broadcast he discovered he would have to miss it to finalize the adoption of his son Cameron in court.
“It was tough but it was for a good cause,” Pastor Chris said.
Far from being an annoying legal hurdle, Pastor Chris and his wife Yodit said adoption finalizations were more like ceremonies or celebrations. They had been looking forward to the date for months. Pastor Chris said the hearing went well and even ended in time for him to fulfill his prolife radio obligations. He called into his own show to talk about Cameron’s adoption with his guest hosts Rabbi Loren Jacobs and Rabbi Glenn Harris.
Cameron is 19 months old and came to them after spending the first six months after birth with foster parents. Change can be hard for an infant but Pastor Chris said they were surprised with how smoothly Cameron’s transition has been. He said everything has been going well since the finalization.
“Cameron has always had a wonderful personality,” he said. “His adjustment has been ideal.”
The issue of adoption is very special to the Brooks’. They met as students at Michigan State University and had talked about adoption before getting married. They have served as foster parents for other children and have another son and daughter, Christopher and Zewditu, both adopted.
Yodit said adoption was a constant presence in her life. She had many childhood friends in foster care and her family’s closest friends had adopted seven children from Southeast Asia.
“I’ve really had a passion for adoption since I was a child,” Yodit said. “It was something I was committed to from the very beginning.”
Pastor Chris cites James 1:27 as his inspiration for taking care of orphans and his commitment to adoption and fostering children. Cameron’s middle name is James.
“It’s an awesome way of transforming the life of a child,” Pastor Chris said.
For Pastor Chris, it’s important that prolife people be in two places at once, talking about both the life of the unborn child and alternatives for women facing untimely pregnancies. As the senior pastor of Evangel Ministries, he encourages his church members to put their faith into practice.
“Christians who are prolife should be pro-adoption and pro-foster parenting,” he said.
Those who support abortion sometimes argue that prolifers are focused on politics and don’t care about babies after they are born. Even though there are more than 150 prolife pregnancy centers and adoption agencies in Michigan, and the Brooks’ passion for adoption is so evident, Pastor Chris said he stills hears that argument.
“That’s been the number one criticism, as a pastor, that I hear of prolife people,” he said.
Yodit’s organization Infinite Love works directly to offer positive options to abortion. She said they help families facilitate adoptions, work with prolife pregnancy centers and strive to be a voice in the African-American community. Infinite Love helped sponsor the Life Speaker’s Series for Black History Month.
Pastor Chris is optimistic about the future of adoption in Michigan. He said he will continue to challenge others to increase their efforts and personal commitment to helping children.
“There is a great need for adoption and fostering,” Pastor Chris said. “Our government is not equipped to raise children. I’d like Michigan to be known as the model state for adoption.”
The Brooks’ said they realize that there are hurdles and costs to adoption. Pastor Chris said an adoption can take as long as a pregnancy to work through the legal steps and there is uncertainty with how the adoptee and new family will adjust together. But the Brooks’ will always be there ready to help, in word and deed.
“There are so many question marks in life, but there is always help,” Yodit said. “There isn’t any reason to be afraid, but you can be prepared.”
For more information about adoption or a listing of centers that provide adoption services or referrals, click here.