The Glory of Story and the Gift of Perspective.
Sarah Jo Land’s love for story was ignited as she sat in her high school Literature class. Ms. Doner, as zany as she was beloved, lectured from behind her podium that was adorned with a miniature stonehenge, and she wore a horned viking helmet as she passionately taught her class the ins and outs of ancient literature. Sarah Jo became enthralled that year with stories of all kinds. Little did she know this budding fascination with narrative was a foreshadowing of both the stories that would unfold in her life and the ones she would coauthor with others.
Sarah Jo has the unique and valuable ability to read the stories of her own and others’ lives as they are being written, and like a masterful editor she finds ways to enrich them through humbly offered wisdom and a hopeful, grounded perspective.
After graduating from UCF with a degree in English Literature, Sarah Jo began teaching in a public middle school. Her love for kids blossomed there, but over the years she also came to a stronger understanding of the public education system’s shortcomings. She realized that though her work was exceptionally meaningful, the system was broken.
In pondering this troubling reality, she started to see a link between the institution of public education and that of adoption, something that had been on her heart since she was a child. Both systems are noble and vital for the wellbeing of children, she thought, but both are near irreparably flawed. She continued to wrestle with this reality and her place within it, and one Sunday, a new chapter in Sarah Jo’s story began.
It was a Sunday morning at Summit Church, where she and her husband Jacob attend. An announcement was made that her church community would be focusing that year on two particular mission fields within their community: public education and foster care and adoption. They introduced the congregation to Commission 127 and explained that they would be launching a Family Advocacy Ministry and recruiting team members for their first Care Community to wrap around a local adoptive family.With her head spinning from the realization that God had clearly orchestrated this with her in mind, Sarah Jo immediately signed up to serve.
Within just the first few weeks of serving the family, she witnessed the momentous impact that her Care Community had, bolstering the adoptive family’s ability to care for their kids. But another, more perplexing observation Sarah Jo made, revealed how hard it was for the parents of the family to receive and accept help. Despite having knowledge that the Care Community wanted to support them, there just seemed to be a barrier preventing them from receiving that support. On the surface, it seemed clear that the Care Community was there to serve both because they believed in adoption, and because caring for vulnerable children is not a journey that can be walked alone. But, Sarah Jo saw something in the parents’ faces. She saw clearly the natural human instinct to value self sufficiency above accepting aid; there was something almost shameful about being helped in the eyes of those who needed it. Like any true story lover, she took note of this puzzling detail, but she could not predict how this theme would later be paralleled in her own story.
Since childhood, Sarah Jo had known she wanted to adopt, so when she married her husband Jacob and he had the same calling, it became clear that God had made His will known to them. Several years after they were married and just one year after they started serving on a Care Community, Sarah Jo and Jacob welcomed twelve year old Nick into their home. It was during their first year as Nick’s parents that she and Jacob began to experience the same feelings of loneliness and isolation that they had witnessed in other adoptive parents while serving on Summit Church’s Care Community, and with those feelings came a natural pull toward resisting help. That familiar voice was whispering in their ears now, sowing the lie that needing help is a sign of weakness. But because they had already experienced the other side of the equation, Sarah Jo and Jacob were well equipped to fight back against that deceptive idea. They remembered why they had wanted to serve in the first place; they believed in the work that was being done for the kids.
They wanted to participate in the noble calling of protecting vulnerable children. That was the reason they signed up to support adoptive families through serving on a Care Community, and it was the same reason that they themselves adopted.
When the new family of three was wrapped around by their own Care Community, Jacob and Sarah Jo made the decision to embrace their service. They welcomed their friends, grateful for their help and understanding that it takes a whole community; the crucial work of caring for vulnerable children cannot be done in isolation. Their Care Community made a world of difference for their family. Sarah Jo recalled that they were “like [her family’s] daily bread during that season.” They provided consistent support and friendship that kept them going and energized during this beautiful and challenging time in their family’s history. She explained that “God used them to keep us encouraged as we navigated how to become a family of three.”
It’s one thing to say you believe in something, but it’s something else to demonstrate it, and what better way than by joining the team? Just this June, Sarah Jo was hired onto the Commission 127 team as Program Assistant, assisting with the implementation of CarePortal and the Socialight program, alongside Ashley Turton, C127 Program Coordinator.
Sarah Jo is passionate about the vision of C127, and she has the special insight that comes from experiencing both sides of the work we do. She said, “I believe in the FAM model because I’ve seen it work in my own family and in families around me.” In addition to the impactful service C127 brings to families and vulnerable children through direct support and wraparound care, Sarah Jo emphasized the power of our platform as a witness for the gospel of Christ. She has experienced the reality that so many people of so many different backgrounds care deeply about vulnerable children. Although the Church has a tainted reputation in the eyes of many, “they are moved when they see all that the Church does to support families and kids.” She explains that “For all the wrongs that people see the church doing on the news, Care Communities show that the Church truly cares about their local communities and caring for the vulnerable.”
Sarah Jo is committed to using her own story and the rich insights she has gained along the way to encourage others in the same position she once was in. When asked for one piece of wisdom for other foster or adoptive parents, she said, “It can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be.” She has experienced that the reality of caring for kids from hard places entails many challenges to community. There are things as an adoptive or foster parent that are not even allowed to be shared or discussed with others, and time, energy, and availability to lean into friendships can be scarce. However, Sarah Jo emphasized that there is still nourishing fellowship to be had with friends and families even when they cannot fully understand the reality of foster and adoptive parents. Furthermore, she explained that “C127 has done so much to help us get connected with other foster/adoptive families who do understand.” She wants parents to know that the road to finding community as a foster/adoptive parent is challenging but far from impossible, and the support of friends is much too valuable to give up on.
Sarah Jo shows no signs of slowing down in her passion for story both in the lives of foster/adoptive families and in literature. In her free time she enjoys a steady diet from her “book buffet,” a rotation of five or six books that she simultaneously reads bits at a time. Sarah Jo made sure to point out how excited she is to be a part of our staff, and we are just as excited to have her working with us.
Welcome to the C127 team, Sarah Jo!