TOM DAVIS

Personal experience

I have the privilege of serving as the CEO of Children’s HopeChest since 2008, but my orphan ministry began much earlier. In fact, the roots were sown in my own troubled childhood. I grew up in a broken home. Moving with my mom from town to town and sometimes living for extended periods with my grandfather, Herb.

I remember one weekend I was told my dad was coming to visit me at my grandfather’s house. I looked forward to that all week, and when Saturday came I woke up extra early and sat on the curb waiting for my daddy. He never came. Despite my grandfather’s pleas, I didn’t come inside. I fell asleep right there on the curb, and had to be carried into the house.

I think of this story every time I reflect on my experience with orphans. As a child I had such a profound sense of longing and attachment for my father. I wanted his love more than just about anything.

God leading me to work with orphans

Since 1997, I’ve worked amongst the orphans of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. I recognize so many of their emotions. On my very first trip to Russia I brought a group of 50 high school students to run a summer camp for orphans.

During that trip, I felt God working directly through me to love these kids. That’s when I knew I’d been spending the rest of my life amongst the fields of the fatherless.

I came home and immediately opened my Bible to find out what God had to say about orphans. Although I had graduated from Criswell College with a Masters in Theology, and served as a youth pastor in Dallas–I couldn’t believe I had missed such a large part of God’s heart. The more I looked, the more I found God’s heart for the orphans spilling off the pages of the Bible.

Writing about orphans

About a year later, we took out a second mortgage on our home, and I used the proceeds to self-publish my first book Fields of the Fatherless. That was about the same time I came on staff at HopeChest to help expand the church sponsorship program.

Over the course of those next years, I wrote a few more books about orphans and global poverty (Red Letters, Scared) and began speaking and writing more on my blog about orphan issues.

At Children’s HopeChest

Today, HopeChest is a thriving international ministry to orphans, connecting them to the life transforming power of community-based relationships with Christians in the U.S. It’s my passion to inspire others to find their place in orphan ministry and give themselves to the poor and impoverished children of the world.

You can always reach me through my blog, and I’d love to come speak at your church, business, or book club.

For the Fatherless,
Tom Davis
CEO, HopeChest