Rescue CDs Helps Compassion International Make Dreams Come True

Some people talk about making dreams come true, critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter Peder Eide, is following his passion and helping Compassion International make a children’s dreams come true.

Eide’s  is donating a portion of the proceeds of the sale of his newest recording release entitled Rescue to the Highly Vulnerable Children’s Fund via Compassion International.  The fund is specifically for children who have been orphaned or have severely ill parents, as well as for kids who are at high risk for exploitation or abuse.  Eide has been a Compassion artist for over 14 years, acquiring thousands of sponsors for the non-profit organization  and is an adoption advocate, having adopted two orphans into his own family from overseas.  The Eides are clear that their decision to adopt was one of the “best decisions” they ever made.

I was fourteen years old when my mom died.  My oldest son is now that same age and I look at him and think of how very young I was to lose someone so integral in my life.  When I became a dad to two kids who started their lives as orphans, I began to understand that I had learned to be a survivor at an early age, which led me to have an orphan spirit.  When you have that orphan spirit, it’s like having a crack in your cup.  God keeps pouring His love into the cup, but it is always leaking.  It never fills to overflowing.  The crack represents fear of something.  The crack in my own life was fear of abandonment and of being invaluable.  But loving Makenzie and Teshome has brought alive the Scripture in Ephesians 1 that says God takes great pleasure in adopting us.  As an adoptive father, I can honestly understand God’s love on a whole new level.  Adoption has made our biological kids more enriched and given them a worldview that few kids their age have achieved.  Our biological kids have always been involved in the adoption process, from helping us set up the kids’ rooms before they came to live with us to helping us choose the country from which we would adopt, and by involving them in the process, they have had a greater bonding experience with their adopted siblings.

I hope we can encourage people to consider adoption, but if they cannot do that, at least reach out to hurting children who have live in such distress and poverty.  We need less spectators to point out the fire and more firemen to run into the building. We’ve got to stop talking about how we can change the world and just do it.  God took a risk by loving us.  We need to do the same.  Our generation needs to become reacquainted with Jesus and one of the best ways to do that is to spend time with and invest in the poor, the ailing, and the outcast among us.  That’s how we all start out in life, but when we enter into God’s grace, we become His adopted sons and daughters.  And He rescues us from our sins, our fears and our deepest sorrows.  Makenzie and Teshome are Eides now.  They are MY kids.  No one can take them away from me.

Many people considering adoption have asked us what steps we took to make the adoption process as smooth as possible.  First, we began integrating our adopted kids with our three biological children long before we brought them home from their birth countries.  We diligently researched the countries and cultures in which they were born.  We would eat some of the foods from their countries.  Sherri involved our biological kids in painting their rooms and deciding what themes the rooms would have.  In adopting Teshome, God actually used our son Taylor to guide us to Ethiopia.  Taylor had a heart for the Ethiopian people and was always concerned about the number of orphans in that country. We would let our kids read the referral information and we would all pray together as a family as we prepared to say “yes” to each child.  The more involved they were in the process of choosing their future brother and sister, the more excited they became.  After bringing each child home, we carefully introduced them to our children, making sure the first experience with them was bonding.  Our kids were always allowed to ask questions about anything.  As we have moved along in the journey, we make it a point to teach them about possible prejudices they may encounter and questions other people may ask them.  Adopting orphans has changed our family tree in ways my wife and I would have never imagined.

The “Live Like Christmas” tour will take Eide and his band to seven different states, including Wisconsin, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Michigan and culminating Christmas Eve in Colorado.  Eide will be singing songs from his two critically-acclaimed Christmas CDs, Perfect Surprise and Christmas: Come On In.  When it was released two years ago, Perfect Surprise was chosen as a favorite Christmas CD by USA Today.

Peder will be joined by special guest, comedian Daren Streblow, at the December 14 concert in Fargo, North Dakota.  Eide and Streblow recently teamed up to record a parody tune called “The Donut Song” set to the music of “Sleigh Ride.”  Eide will join Streblow on his new syndicated radio show releasing in late December. 

Peder Eide regularly performs for over 100,000 people each year and has shared the stage with artists such as the MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, TobyMac, Hawk Nelson, Third Day, among others. Eide has been featured on national television shows and radio programs including The 700 Club program on CBN, FamilyNet, Daystar network, LeSeanetwork, Cornerstone television, and Focus on the Family’s Weekend Magazine radio show. 

For more information and a complete list of tour dates, visit www.PederEide.com.