Texas Couple to Orphans: 'Hang on, Help is Coming, Somebody Does Love You'

SAN ANTONIO – For far too many kids across America, having a family is only a dream. Each day, the state takes custody of more and more children because their parents either can't or won't take care of them. Now a Texas couple is working to rescue those children from a life of neglect.

It Starts With Prayer 

Every Monday at a church in San Antonio men and women meet to pray for kids they've never met. 
 
"For Father we need fathers and we need mothers Lord God with a heart for children Lord God. With a heart for you Lord Father," prays Mark Lugo.
 
He and his wife Veronica are working to restore the lives of forgotten children in their community.

The Reality of Foster Care
 
"A child in foster care goes from five to seven homes in their lifetime by the time they're 18. By the age of nine, if they're not adopted, they go into a 5% bracket of ever being adopted. So, you have unwanted children," Mark explains.
 
After ministering to children for years, a ministry that began with a calling and a basketball, the Lugos are now working to create Liv Village San Antonio.
 
"So, it's not an institution that we're looking to build, it's a family," Mark explains.
 
It's a place where unwanted children can enjoy a family atmosphere with foster parents and, most importantly, learn of God's love and purpose for their lives.
 
"The vision is to rescue a child, restore a life, raise a leader and release a star," Mark says.

"Crying in Corners"
 
One of the Lugo's prayer warriors prayed for the children crying in corners because they know they're not wanted. It's an image that breaks the Lugo's hearts.

"It breaks you. I don't know how it can't to think that they're out there crying, waiting for somebody to step up, waiting for somebody to do something," Veronica says.

The Back Story
 
What Mark and Veronica are trying to achieve is revolutionary in the United States, but the idea didn't start here in San Antonio. It was birthed some ten thousand miles away near Durbin, South Africa. 
 
A place where the lives of thousands of South African children are being transformed, the original Liv Village.
 
It started when Tich Smith, a former professional athlete, hit rock bottom and got a vision from God.
 
"He said, 'build a village for the orphan children that they would come to know him as their father, create jobs for rural communities so that they can sustain their families and the government will come to see what works and we can point them to the cross,'" Tich explains.
 
His wife Joanne thought he'd lost his mind.
 
"We'd never given the poor a thought in our lives, we'd never given the orphan a thought in our lives and now this vision," Joanne remembers.

Recreating Family Life
  
The model for the village is unique.
  
"It's all to do with recreating family life," Tich explains.
 
Small groups of orphans in homes with a mother living, praying, eating together.
 
They're also taught about God's love and learn marketable skills to ensure a better future.
 
"We import welders into the country so now we have a welding school, we train machinists, we train farmers, we've got computer courses," Tich explains.
 
However, unlike most institutions, the children at Liv Village never have to leave. If they want, it's their home for life.
 
"These children are being transformed by the love of Jesus, by the spirit of God," Tich says through tears. "We can't do anything, but if we can create an environment where they come to know the Father, that they have a Father in heaven that loves them- We watch in awe as He transforms these broken lives."
 
Tich says if every church adopted one orphan there wouldn't be any orphans left in the world.
 
Following God's Lead

Tich and Joanne stopped by CBN's Washington studio while they were in the US two summers ago.
 
A visit to San Antonio wasn't on their itinerary, but they ended up there.
 
After meeting Mark and Veronica Lugo, getting to know them, and learning about the need in the region they commissioned them to start Liv Village San Antonio.

Love in Action
 
The Lugos were astounded when they traveled to South Africa to see the original Liv Village for themselves. 

"Walking the grounds and seeing the kids in person, it was amazing," says Joseph Lugo, Mark and Veronica's youngest son.

"You know that Jesus loves you a lot, but once you see how powerful Jesus' love is it touches you," Benjamin Lugo, the couple's eldest son told CBN News.

"Joy radiates out of them. Joy. You would not think that they had experienced trauma in their life - completely 100% restored," Mark explains.
 
"The Need is Huge"

In San Antonio, like other cities and towns across the US, kids need help.
 
"So, the need is huge," says Hope Shelton with a sigh.
 
She's one of 14 faith liaisons with Texas Child Protective Services. 
 
Her job is to connect kids in state custody with churches and other houses of faith that want to help.
 
She's like an angel.
 
"The goal is to empower them and to show them God's love and ultimately – I think the best people to do that are going to be our faith community to pour into these kids and to show them that they're important and they're worthy," she explains.
 
The Vision

The big dream for Liv San Antonio is to find 100 acres where Mark and Veronica can build the village. They already have a developer.
 
One of their prayer warriors says God doesn't choose the qualified, He qualifies the chosen.
 
"That gets me emotional because sometimes I feel unqualified to do what I'm doing," Mark says, holding back tears.
 
Their spiritual mentors, Rune and Berta Brannstrom lead the Liv San Antonio board and cover the project in prayer.
 
"They know they have to be 100% dependent on the Holy Spirit and on the Lord. They're not coming with 'oh, we know what we're doing.' No. it's the other way around," Berta explains.
 
For now, the Lugos are praying, laying the groundwork and mentoring young people at an existing facility.
 
And to those kids Mark and Veronica know are crying in corners, desperate for love - they have a message.

"We want to tell them that help is coming, help is coming so hang on, hang on cause somebody does love you, somebody does care about you and somebody knows that you're crying out," Veronica says with a smile.