The True Story of Possum Trot | Bishop W. C. Martin

Jonathon Van Maren sits down with Bishop W.C. Martin, as he shares the incredible true story of Possum Trot, a small town in East Texas. Yes, the Sound of Hope is based on a true story!

They discuss how Bishop Martin's small congregation in East Texas sparked a nation-wide conversation about foster care and adoption, and led to the movie "The Sound of Freedom."

They talk about the beginnings of the Possum Trot story, the challenges faced by the community, and the extraordinary impact of their efforts. Bishop Martin shares his perspective on the power of faith, community, and love in addressing the needs of vulnerable children.

You can find “The Bridgehead with Jonathon Van Maren” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Rumble, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

#soundofhope #possumtrot #angelstudio #christian

Transcript

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Since June 24, 2022, when Roe v. Wade was overturned by the American Supreme Court, a discussion on unwanted children has begun in earnest. As part of the increasingly heightened abortion wars across the United States, people have asked, well, if so many children are born in crisis circumstances, and if so many people in the foster care system are unwanted by everybody, if there's so many children, that need loving homes who do not have loving parents, then what can be done, especially if in states where abortion is restricted, many more of these children are born, which in some states we're actually seeing. The answer to that, of course, is both very difficult. But also very simple. And that answer is adoption. Which is a far more complex, nuanced, and difficult issue than even many pro lifers have been willing to admit. On that subject, an incredible story is once again being discussed by the mainstream media. It's even being discussed by commentators across the political spectrum. And that's the story of Possum Trot. A new film called "Sound of Hope" on the Possum Trot story has been released by Angel Studios and is being promoted by a conservative media outlet, The Daily Wire. It is a truly phenomenal story. Beginning in 1996, the Reverend W.C. Martin and his wife, first lady Donna Martin, crusaded for members of the 100 member Bennett Chapel Missionary Church in Possum Trot, East Texas, to adopt the most difficult to place children in the overwhelmed local foster care system. The Martins, who already had two biological children, adopted four. And then spearheaded a miraculous 22 family congregational effort to adopt 77 children. This story and the docudrama telling that story are incredibly important in this particular cultural moment because they speak to us, not in maudlin ways, not in cheap ways to the reality that there are unwanted children and that these children have often suffered extreme trauma and come from incredibly difficult circumstances. But highlight that at the same time, these children can be rescued. In a little town called Possum Trot, 77 of these children were rescued. And we were privileged to have Reverend W.C. Martin come on our podcast and to tell that story from his own perspective: how it all came about, how he and his wife decided that they were called to adopt children out of the foster care system and how they convinced other families to join them in this crusade. And just so you know, he's in East Texas. His internet is really bad. He warned us ahead of time that his internet might cut out. It did. So we only have the video from the first bit of this conversation, but you'll be able to hear the audio all the way through. All right. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. Well, I'm I'm so excited about it. We finally got the, got the network together and and what a blessing it is cause uh, I, I love doing this and I thank God for it. And uh, and I want you all to know that, that this is my life. So I want it to go out great. I want it to go out, good. Fantastic. Want the hand of God on this at all times. So let's start at the beginning of this story. How did your family first decide to adopt children out of the foster care system. And what made you decide to ask for the children that nobody else wanted? What, what made us decided to, to do this um. Is uh, is because it was done through my wife, you know, because of her loss of her mother and she couldn't get, find peace nowhere. So she just said, Lord, if you can't take this burden off me, just let me die. And as a result of it, the Lord said, you talk about all the love that your mother gave you. Give it back to a child that does not know what love is all about. So she called up, uh, CPS. And, and they said, uh, come on. We want you in. So they started the class and during that time, we had to drive 120 miles round trip to take the CPS classes and uh, I was reluctant about it in the beginning because of my son. I got a son here who was born with severe brain damage and that's what I was most concerned about him. But everything adjusted all right. We, we, we, got involved and now I'm glad we did. So what was the first step? You drove down 120 miles round trip, you took classes and then how did they decide which children to place with you? Well, that was the state. We had such a remarkable case worker and she was such an awesome woman that she just knew how to place the right child in the right family at the right time. And this is what we've done because once we got our first two, at first she was reluctant about doing it. But then my wife said, "I know those are my children." And we went to talk to the Lord about it. She, we got ended up bringing the children, uh, in, in our home, Tyler and Mercedes. And uh, I'm not going to tell you no joke, they was a number. They, they was tough, but, um, you know, I just feel like there ain't no child going to outsmart me and get around me. So how did, so you were the, uh, the first one so, so going through your story, uh, it was your wife, she lost her mother, and then realized that she wanted to, she felt called by God to give that love on to another child. You got involved with fostering to adopt children. But how did your community collectively decide that this was something that they wanted to do? You're breaking up real bad and, um, I'm a, how do we, um, how do we get the church involved? Yeah. How did the community collectively decide? I'm thinking I'm answering the question correctly. Yes. Well, the, the the church we brought, when we got our two children, there was a little boy ahead of ours. His name was Nino. He was the first one. And then we got Tyler and Mercedes. My wife's sister got him 'cause she only wanted one child and we had one child, so she got him. And then we wanted two. So, when, when they brought our two, we went to the church and and we began to, the members saw the children and said, you know, we'd like to do this. But we don't want to drive and we don't know if we ought to do it or not. But then I found out and looked in the Bible and found all the scriptures concerning the adoption. And went to preach and start teaching what it meant to adopt. Because I found out that all of us who are children of God, are a child of God, we've been adopted into the royal family of God. So I got back in, it, I got in it, started preaching about it. And they said, we don't want to drive that far. So I went to the state. And asked them, you know, if, if, what they, can they come to our church and do the class? They said if I could find eight families that would be willing to adopt, they would do the classes at our church. And we ended up finding 13 families the first go around. That was the first time they came down there, they had 13 families that they was teaching and, um, and it, it it, really put a heavy, heavy workload on, on those case workers. That's what I was going to ask as well because you, you pastor a relatively small church. So how did the community absorb and care for these children with all of the things these children had been through? Well, it was a difficult task. And my responsibility was since it started, through us, is to be there, to coach them, (of course I needed coaching myself) through every issue that came up. Our church was a kind of like a, we supported one another. That's one of the main, and that was one of the greatest things that we did. We supported each other. When one didn't have and the other hand, we shared, we we we all, I mean, it was just a big fellowship. I mean, we didn't, we didn't look at them as, as adopted children. Even the children themselves didn't feel like they was adopted children, they felt like they, they were biological children because they was right in the home and in the family, in the church, and we all worked together. We had one situation where my wife's sister, they brought down two children for her, where she couldn't handle two. And she couldn't handle but one. So what we've done, to keep both of them in the community just to show you how we worked together. We got the other one and we adopted him to keep both of them in the community. That's what we was able to succeed because we was there to help one another. So just for the viewers who don't understand what, what is the Possum Trot community like? So there's, there's your church, and then there's this community. What is this community like? is. It's a rural country area. Uh, people just, you know, they, they they, work. They try to, um, uh, maintain. They go to church. We don't have no street lights, and don't have no McDonald's. No, nothing like that down there. We don't have a, we don't have any recreational center down there. Which I would love to have one down there next to the church and praying one day that the Lord would plant one down there, where I could give the families and the children something to do uh, at all times. You know, playing basketball, volleyball, whatever you want to do. Uh, I got some land out there by the church that I would like to develop and put a park out there and do something like that, but of course, we, we hadn't gotten there yet. And I'm praying one day that some billionaire look at my heart and say, look, I can do that for you. But the thing of it is that the community is a very, very remote community. A lot of black, majority is out there is black. And we try to do everything to help everybody. Everybody know everybody, all the families out in there. It's just family. That's all it was. And every weekend we have, no telling who we got to deal with at the church. So those that come to church, they come, and those that don't, they don't. So in the film, there's a scene where a woman tells your wife that adopting troubled children can be inadvisable or a bad idea. How did the surrounding community respond to the mission that your church community embarked on. And get over some of the naysayers and those who thought that it couldn't be done or was too difficult? You know, I'm a, I'm a deal with the first part first. I'm hard headed and you don't tell me, "can't!" That was inbredded in me when I was a little bitty boy. I got whippings a many time because my brother told me, "you can't and I bet you won't do it." And my mama called me and then kind of tightened me up a little bit. And let me know that wasn't the right thing to do. But I don't I don't get off into what people feel or think. All I know - "if God be for us, who can be against us?" It wasn't it, and, and, and, it, no, it's not it's not, easy. This is not, this is not, an easy process. But It's such a rewarding process. It is such a uh, uh, uh, a great process. It is something that that you're doing, out of the norm. Uh, yeah, people were saying that we, uh, they don't know why we're doing this, and, and, and, all of that kind of stuff. But I don't pay that no attention because I know that what I'm doing, I'm doing it unto God, and I'm doing it to help children. One common denominator that all of us have, and that is children. So I will not, under no circumstances, change the way I'm doing things because of the fact that uh, my children, if they need me, they gonna get me and that's just the way it is. So I'm still advocating for all children, to make sure that all children have a right to live and a right to a great life. That's where I am about this whole thing. So that's that's, that's your attitude. And of course, your wife felt called to do this and you're the pastor of this church. How did you, how did you handle it when other members of your church who had embarked on the same mission, who had decided to share on this, to care for children and adopt children themselves, come to you and ask for help say, "this is so difficult.""How do we get through this?" How, what are some ways that you supported each other when things did get really tough? Well, what I've done as being a pastor, and see, everything started with my wife and I. So I felt like that it was my responsibility to be right there when the trouble come, when apart, when the heartache came, and we did that. We supported those families. For an example, if a family was going through a problem with one child, we would pick that child up and bring him into our home. And try to help to bring that child. Try to help that you know, quiet that child down and kind of get him or her in a place where then can go back home. That sometimes they may stay one week, sometimes two weeks sometimes three weeks. But however long they stayed we were there to support that family in whichever way we could, and I think this is what you call "involvement." Getting involved, helping these people, standing by their side because as a leader we are supposed to be strong. We're supposed to be the one that's going to span the gap. And we're supposed to be the one that's going to help these people. So that was my my idea and my, my whole demeanor. We need to make sure that we support every family, and do all we can to help each and every one of them. And that's what we've done. So, when did the story of what happened in Possum Trot start to spread outside your community? Because as you said, you're a small community in East Texas. It's very rural, not a lot of infrastructure. There's homes and churches, but what happened there was extraordinary and the story started to spread. How did that happen? Uh, the reason that all had begun, CPS was down at our church one Sunday. Children's Protective Services. They was down at our church. And they made a decision one day that they wanted to get the word out. So one of the workers called Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle came down and she just told them "hey, we got a, I've got a hot tip for you. We got a little church down here in the wood, that have adopted a lot of children." And that same week, the Houston Chronicle was at my house during getting that story. It's taken them for a while to get that story out. But eventually they got it out. And when they got it out, I think one of the first television entities that we went on was Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer. And uh, during that time, she sent her correspondent, they sent her television crew down and they got that story. And from there, it just went, it just went, wild. And so when the story went wild, this turned you into kind of a national advocate for adoption. What was, what was that like going from an adoptive father and the pastor of a community where lots of children were adopted into suddenly an advocate for foster care children and an advocate for adoption? know, I think it wasn't, it wasn't nothing easy about it. But I tell you, it literally wore my hips out because flying all over the country and then taking care of the children. And see I have ministers at the church. When I wasn't there, they were able to carry on the services, uh, when I wasn't there. And taking care of the children, it was, it was pretty difficult. We wasn't, it was something hard, but but we got through it. We did it. It was done. And, and today and I couldn't do that on my own strength. It had to be some... God had to give me the strength, and the power, and the mind to do what I did. Because I was traveling just like I am right now with this movie. Man, I'll tell you true, my schedule is getting spread widely and wider and wider. I'm so busy right now it's unreal. Uh, if it ain't one, it's another. So, and um, God enabled me to do it. And I'm so grateful to him that he keeping his strength in my body to be able to do what I'm done. And this is not an easy task. It's not something that you can jump up and down and shout about. But it is a, it is a rewarding task. It is a beautiful task because I love seeing children getting a good home, a good place, a place of stability. A place where they can feel the comfort and the love.

It should not be: 16:20

no child that does not know the love of a mother and a father. And this is the thing that warms my heart so. That I want to see, I want to see something happen. I want to see this, we don't call it a movie. We call it a movement. I want to see this movie go out, this movement go out and touch the hearts of churches, peoples all over this country. That they would just see what the trauma, that these children is in, and do everything they can to bring them out. That's what, it's yes, it's hard. It's hard right now. But, I don't look at it like that. I don't look at the difficult part of it. I look at the joy part of it. I look at the beautiful part of it. I look at the part where this can be done. Because if we did it in Possum Trot with nothing, surely, we got churches out there on every corner. They got everything they need. And I encourgage them to embark upon this great entity. Then you will find that God will reward you handsomely. So before this, this film came out telling the story and you were just traveling around the country, you were doing interviews, you were telling the story, did you find that a lot of people responded to your message and, and decided to do the same thing you were doing in Possum Trot? Yes, I found out. And that's, that was the one beautiful part about this. They responded. They did something. Many families, many children have came out of the system. Because I was an advocate and a voice for the children in many people's ears. And they started. That's one of the greatest things that they could do is to get involved and to reach out. And touch somebody else, just like Jesus reached out and touched us. It's great. It's a great thing.

And I would tell anybody: 18:13

don't look at how bad the child is. Look at what you can do to help that child. Stop thinking about that the children gonna be this and they're gonna be this. Now, don't look at it like that because all of us was bad one time. All of us done stuff that we shouldn't done in our lifetime. We still got some bad ones right now. So it's not just them that's bad. All of them got some stuff. So the thing of it here, we need to stop stereotyping what we looking at here and start doing something about it. Until we do something about it, we're going to deal with it two ways. We're going to deal with it now, or we're going to deal with it later when they get 18 years old and all they know is that abuse and all that kind of stuff. They get on the street and they're going to do the same identical thing. When they first approached you and asked if they could, if they could make a film, a docudrama about, about this story, about essentially the life of you and your wife and your family and also of your church community, were you nervous? What was your response to this? Because it is a lot of attention focused on your story and your church. Man, I almost fainted. You know, to say something like this. It's been to happen in Possum Trot? Come on, now let's be real! Back in them Wood? Aw, you gotta be kidding me. Somebody got to be yanking my leg or pulling my chain. It's no way in the world! So this was something that was, this was, this was one of the most amazing things in my life. Other than me being called into the ministry and start pastoring the church. This was so amazing that I, I'm telling you, I don't I don't have even have words to say.

All I know: 19:47

that God did it. He had a purpose for it. He had a reason for it. And I am excited about it. So what do you hope people are going to take away from this story? Cause obviously the story was already becoming more well known. It was covered on Good Morning America. It was covered by newspapers and TV networks. Now there's this sort of docudrama that's being pushed out. It's being promoted by the Daily Wire, all these other conservative outlets as well. What, what message do you hope that people take away from this story once they've seen it? I, I pray and hope

that they, number one: 20:21

Understand it's not going to be an easy road of hope. Number two. I hope that they understand it's going to be difficult, but they're going to make it. I pray and hope that they will see the trauma of a child. And would want to do something to help that child to have a better life. I pray and hope and I want to see that the entire system be emptied out. I pray and hope and want to see that it should never be a child waiting on parents, but parents waiting on a child. I want to see such a movement of children into loving homes. And the thing that I value the most is: how do we expect for a child to know what love is all about? When no one never taught them love? How do we expect for a child to know what a mother and a father is when they never had that? So I think now that we, we owe a lot to our children to try to do something about to help them. To understand their life have worth. We don't have a clue what's locked in that system. We could have preachers and teachers and missionary workers and, and pastors and, and presidents and, uh, and, we got all kinds of stuff locked in. These are some brilliant children, But they just need somebody to come along and help them and to guide them through the process. And to find and know for a fact that God has purpose for their life. Everything that God did. They are here, but everything that God did was good. So, I really pray and hope that we get this message and get it deep down in our bones. That there will be a expedient turnaround I pray that the system itself be fixed, that it won't give people such a hard time in getting children out of this system. If you got a good family, I'm not telling you to, I'm not telling them to put a child in a home of a thief or a robber or murderer, but if there's a good family, Let's get those children in those homes and love those children through the process and love them out of this stuff that they are in. That's what I hope and pray. The final question is in a lot of the interviews you've said that throughout this, this process, there's a lot of dark moments, a lot of hard moments, a lot of trauma that's dealt with, but there's also a lot of beautiful moments that make you realize it's all worth it. Would you share one of those moments with us? You know, if you look at, if you look at the movie, uh, "The Sound of Hope: The Possum Trot Story," there's a scene in there where all the families was going through harsh, there was a bunch of rough times. And the bishop got up and said, I know you all are hurting because I feel it too. He said, "but God never told us it's going to be easy. So everybody that's going to deal with something, I want you to get up and come on up here around this cross. And let's ask God." And they began to pray. And because of the prayer, and then way over at the end of the movie, you see the sun shining bright, all of the families is together, and they're just having a party. I mean, I mean, they enjoying themselves riding horses, uh, on four wheelers, they're just having a party out there. Eating barbecue ribs and chicken and filleted catfish and playing music. Those are the, those are when you see those joyful moments. It's joy at my heart when I see a child, We got one little girl. That, that she was determined to kill herself. But this little girl right now have got her bachelor's degree and she's going for a master's degree in child psychology. She said that, "I tried to, I want to help children and help those that's coming behind me, that they won't have to go through the same thing I did. That they know that they got purpose in his life." This little girl, she done found her purpose. And she's a beautiful young lady. She's doing a marvelous job. And we got others, you know, who have done great thing and doing great thing. They just didn't get away from, up and threw their life away. A lot of them got families and all that kind of stuff. I got, hah, I got more grand, I got grandchildren coming out of my ears. And still got some in layaway. But all of this, is, is my joy. That's my peace. To see my children doing something worthwhile with their life. They're not in jail. They not had been killed or murdered or anything. This is my, this is what I wanted to see all along. At least they got a stable life, got jobs and taking care of their family. That's my peace about it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share this story with us. God bless you, my brother. Y'all be blessed. And take care. And if I don't see you no more, I'll see you in the rapture. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us for this conversation. If you want to hear other conversations like it, you can subscribe. You can also find our content wherever you get your podcasts, or you can head over to thebridgehead.ca where we post both written commentary and video. Thanks so much for joining us.