I'll Take Anyone': Orphan's Heartbreaking Plea to Church Congregation (And No One's Taken Him up on It)

One can imagine the nervousness Davion Navar Henry Only, a 15-year-old orphan, felt when he humbled himself and boldly stood before the St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church congregation in St. Petersburg, Fla., last month.

''My name is Davion and I've been in foster care since I was born ... I know God hasn't given up on me," he said after the Rev. Brian Brown invited him to the pulpit. "So I'm not giving up either."

That was the beginning of Davion's desperate plea during a sermon one Sunday to local Christians.

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Davion turned to the house of worship after consulting with his caseworker, Connie Going, in hopes that he would be able to find a permanent home among the hundreds of congregants.

His decision to step out in faith comes as the teen attempts to make changes in his own troubled life. For years, Davion's situation left him harboring anger, which resulted in struggles in school and emotional outbursts.

He hoped so fervently that his birth mother, whom he had never met, would one day come back to retrieve him, but his outlook changed when he finally learned that this would no longer be possible.

Davion's mother passed away in June -- a detail he learned after stumbling upon her obituary. After that tragic revelation -- one that shattered his dreams of reuniting with her -- the teen decided to change his ways.

The tenth-grader lost 40 pounds, tempered his rage and began earning A's in school, The Tampa Bay Times reports. Now, he's hoping to bring about yet another change: A permanent placement in a loving home.

"He's come a long way," said Floyd Watkins, the program manager at the Carlton Manor residential group home where Davion lives. "He's starting to put himself out there, which is hard when you've been rejected so many times."

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Davion is desperate to leave the group home where he resides. Like other children, he wants a family to care for him, love him and tell him that he's worth something.