Please Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman's Family

May 22, 2008 - Yesterday afternoon, Steven Curtis Chapman’s 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue was killed in a tragic accident when a sport utility vehicle struck her in the family’s driveway in Tennessee.

Maria was the family's youngest child. The car was driven by one of the Chapmans' teenage sons, who did not see his sister.

We at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association express our deepest condolences. Please pray with us that God will provide the Chapman family with His peace that passes all understanding as they mourn their loss.

Steven and Mary Beth Chapman have six children, the youngest of whom are three adopted daughters from China. Because of the family’s adoption experiences, they formed a ministry and foundation called Shaohannah’s Hope that assists other families who are in the process of adopting a child.

The Chapman family has served extensively in Chinese orphanages and helped more than 1,700 families adopt children.

On the Shaohannah’s Hope Web site, Steven and Mary Beth Chapman write:

“Adoption is a perfect picture of what God has done for each of us in making us His children through Christ. … Psalm 68:5-6 tells us that as the Father to the fatherless, God delights in setting the lonely in families. It has been our experience that the scriptural mandate of caring for orphans, such as the one found in James 1:27, is really a wonderful invitation to experience God in a profound way by being a part of His sovereign plan for His precious children.”

Steven Curtis Chapman is a well-known Christian singer and musician who has received 5 GRAMMY awards as well as 54 Dove awards from the Gospel Music Association.

His music has ministered to millions of people, and his example as a father and servant of God is a light to many. Please pray for the Chapman family over the coming months as they face this family tragedy.