Fewer Branches, Better Fruit: Our CAFO 2026 Recap
Every year, the Christian Alliance For Orphans (CAFO) Summit feels like a family reunion. We walk into the halls of First Baptist Atlanta and find familiar faces — friends we have prayed with, learned from, and served alongside across oceans and time zones.
It is also, every year, a classroom. We come to listen, to be corrected, and to bring home best practices that help us serve Filipino children and families better. CAFO 2026 was no different, and in many ways, it was the most personal one yet for our team.
We began with the pre-summit Core Elements Mastermind and Global Collaborate. These smaller rooms are where the real conversations happen — leaders from different countries comparing notes on what is working, what is not, and what we are still learning.
At the summit proper, I had the honor of representing the Philippines on the global panel (watch from 40:00). I shared how, for decades, the Philippines was known as a sending country, and domestic adoption was a footnote — even in the church. Today, that is shifting. Church youth are signing up to serve, pastors are preaching on adoption, and our seminars this year filled to capacity with families ready to step in.
Around the table, we got to tell our story too. At the Second Mothers Dinner, I shared about our GenHome moms, who have counted on each other for support and encouragement through every season. At the Lifesong dinner, Jonathan shared the personal story behind founding Generations Home and the work we do today.
Our team also spread out across workshops on AI for nonprofits, fundraising, youth and trauma, case management, and tending to the soul. We were proud to have our own Issa Tica teach a workshop too.
But the highlight was this year's theme: Less: Fewer branches, better fruit. In ministry, we are always tempted to add one more program, one more yes. CAFO president Jedd Medefind named the counterintuitive truth: "Sometimes the path to better fruit is fewer branches and less overgrown lives." Or, as CAFO put it plainly, "We must learn to prune."
For Generations Home, it is a timely word. God has grown this work from one adoption at a time to full seminar rooms and waking churches. As we keep growing, we want to keep asking what to prune, so the fruit is fuller and more enduring for every Filipino child waiting for a family.
Sources
Photos from Christian Alliance for Orphans and Ronnie Mosley
What is the theme for CAFO2026? — Christian Alliance for Orphans
Record 2,400 Christian leaders gather in Atlanta for CAFO2026 — Christian Daily International
Comments