Faith @ Work with Sam McLure

RRC: As an attorney, how does your faith allow you to have a servant’s heart within the community?

SM: The Lord Jesus set the example and gave the instructions for all of his people, no matter our vocation. He humbled himself and was patient in the face of weakness and foolishness. His Father’s glory was His unrelenting goal.

RRC: Was it a spiritual calling to establish an adoption law firm?

SM: I think so. All work is a spiritual calling. I may as well invoke the Apostle Paul again, this time from the book of Colossians: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” We often want to stratify vocation in a way the Lord doesn’t. Work done for the glory of God is spiritual work. Work done for the glory of self is not.

RRC: How did you and your wife become involved with cross-cultural missionaries, and how has it impacted your personal life?

SM: My wife grew up in a family and a church that always had eyes and hearts open to God’s work and people. She went on international mission trips from a young age, and her family housed missionaries around the world. My interest developed in college as I was drawn into Eastwood Presbyterian Church and started meeting missionaries from all over the world and realized how intensely Christians become persecuted across the globe. I wanted to run towards that and towards people who are so sure of Christ that they will lose their homes, jobs, families, and lives before they forsake Him.

RRC: You’re passionate about orphan care and adoption. How can the community become more involved in that sector?

SM: There are a lot of ways. We are each called to good works, but not all for adoption. The foster children in our communities need foster parents who will love them and will wrestle a bureaucracy for them. I call foster parents the Navy Seals of Orphan Care. Those foster families need support. They need meals, prayer, and help with their bio kids. Family mentoring programs are great ways to help children avoid foster care.

RRC: What advice would you give to someone potentially facing challenges with adoption?

SM: My advice to someone facing challenges in adoption is to get advice.
There is a lot of uncertainty in adoption. Some of that can be reduced or eliminated. Adoption isn’t war, but if wise guidance can win a military campaign, surely it can help with the challenges of an adoption plan.

RRC: You mentioned God says in his word how to resolve conflict. What can you share with someone struggling beyond the church walls?

SM: I would say there is a God who lovingly designed us, whether an individual believes in Him or not. This loving designer God both knows and has ordained how humans flourish. He understands us. He understands conflict and has given us some helpful instructions, particularly in the Proverbs and Matthew 18 and handling conflict righteously. The book of James offers some specific, timeless counsel that we are to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.” I can’t count the number of conflicts that I could have avoided by heeding that instruction more carefully!

RRC: How do you maintain and nurture a constant relationship with God?

SM: In our circles, we use the phrase “employing the means of grace.” An older way of saying that we take advantage of the food and water the Lord has ordained to grow us in maturity. Those means of grace are consistent personal Bible reading, prayer, public worship, the Lord’s Supper, and close friendships with people who love the Lord. These graces are best practiced daily not to check a box or make ourselves feel righteous but because, as with food and water, we start weakening after just a day without them.

RRC: Practicing law for over a decade, what has it taught you as a Christian?

SM: Practicing law for over a decade has taught me that I don’t know anything worth resting on. The profession of attorning (stepping into the pain of another and advocating for them to the seat of power – amid an adversarial system) necessitates humble learning. As a child welfare attorney, my firm steps into some of the most horrific evils perpetrated against children, and we advocate that suffering for justice and mercy. The Proverbs says, “By wise guidance, you can wage war, and in the abundance of counselors there is victory.”

Sam McLure is the Founder of The Adoption Law Firm and married to Mary Beth McLure, and they have four children. They are members of Eastwood Presbyterian Church.