Experience and Alignment Definitely Helps

Sometimes, all it takes is hearing about the mission of Orphan Care Alliance. For Tim Bollenbecker, the call to help raise up Christian foster parents and equip churches to rise to the challenge in support vulnerable children resonated deeply. He knew this was where God was leading him.

Today, Tim serves as OCA’s Regional Ministry Leader for western Kentucky. He spends his days helping churches utilize current ministries to come alongside foster, adoptive, and kinship families, equipping them to provide lasting support and care.

His encouragement for vulnerable children and families is rooted in personal experience. Tim and his wife have fostered over 80 children and adopted six over the past 20 years. He knows firsthand the challenges and the blessings of this work, and he carries that empathy into every conversation with foster parents and with church leaders.

Breaking Through the Noise

One of the myths Tim hears most often is that fostering requires taking in large sibling groups or parenting multiple children at once. While there is a need in this area – his response is gentle but clear: that’s not true.

“Caring for one or two kids meets just as much of the need as larger groups,” Tim says. “If we had enough foster families, more children would receive the attention they need.”

For Tim, it’s simple: every family, every church, can make a difference.

One story that sticks with him is of a kinship family he helped train. At first, the family expected the children to stay long-term, but eventually the kids returned to relatives. Instead of giving up, the family chose to continue fostering. “Through the support OCA was able to give them, they decided to continue their journey,” Tim recalls.

Stories like this remind Tim why his work matters. “Pray that I can encounter churches that want to make a difference,” he says, “that they would be open to taking risks and networking with faith communities with a similar heart for these families.”