As God’s people, we seek to share the gospel and glorify Him –being salt and light in a lost and dark world.

One way that the Holy Spirit seems to be increasingly working through His Church is through movies and television shows, including those produced by Angel Studios such as The Chosen, Sound of Freedom, and now Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.

Sound of Hope begins by introducing its audience to the Reverend W.C. and Donna Martin family. W.C. is a Jesus-loving, dynamic pastor of a modest church in Possum Trot, a small town in rural East Texas.

In the mid-1990’s, the Martins had two teenage children, including their son who has special needs. They were content ministering to their community –until Donna’s mother unexpectedly died from a heart attack. This devasted Donna and sent her into a deep depression. One day as she was praying and earnestly begging the Lord to rescue her, the Holy Spirit revealed that she must love and rescue abused and neglected children by adopting them.

However, when she mentioned this to W.C., he resisted and didn’t believe they were called to adoption –especially when their hands were full taking care of their son who needed extra attention. Yet, Donna did not give up: she and her sister, Diann, attended foster care licensing classes through their local adoption agency.

Diann soon adopted two needy children. When Reverend Martin saw the love and transforming impact that Diann had on these children, he was deeply moved and inspired to adopt other abused and neglected children –loving them as Jesus loves them.

Yet not only did he want to adopt them himself –he passionately pleaded with his congregation to rescue children as well. Eventually, 22 families from their church adopted 77 children who were the most difficult to adopt!

Yet, Sound of Hope does not gloss over the difficulty that these families endured as they suddenly had to learn how to raise these children who suffered so much trauma and pain. At first, each family, including the Martins, tried to fix their problems on their own, but they became deeply discouraged and weary.

Then Reverend Martin preached to his congregation,

“I don’t see where [the Lord] says life will be easy. He says to count it all joy!”

The Holy Spirit moved the people of Bennett Chapel Missionary Baptist Church to go to each other, be vulnerable, and carry each other through their hardships.

At the conclusion of the movie, W.C. called their social worker, Donna Ramsey, asking her to send more kids their way because more families were ready to adopt. Ramsey then movingly revealed that there simply were no more children within 100 miles of them that were in the foster care system.

The families in Possum Trot had provided families for all needy children in their nearby communities!

W.C. and Donna Martin continue to share their story, pleading with Christians across America to adopt children and provide them with loving families. W.C. explains,

“We got a church on every corner. There shouldn’t be a child without a family.”

He tells his brothers and sisters in Christ,

“Show them that their life is as important as any others.’”

Angel Studios informs us,

“There are almost 400,000 children in the U.S. foster system. 100,000 of these kids are waiting to be adopted. Each year, child protection agencies are alerted to 7 million kids who have experienced maltreatment. We need to strengthen vulnerable families so they don’t lose their kids, and we should help children who need to find a new, loving home. You can be the game changer in their lives.”

“Whether it’s becoming a foster or adoptive parent, supporting families in need to keep them together, or even getting more involved in your church to give care, there is so much each of us can do.”

You can visit possumtrotimpact.com to learn how you can help.