Easter egg hunt!

Six days after our wedding, Lee and I were blessed to be able to join a fantastic group of young married couples who meet together to study the Bible every Sunday morning. Two years ago we left that class to teach the 9th grade class and then to coordinate special needs ministry, but we still have wonderful friends in the class. Knowing that we're not in an adult Sunday school class, the leaders in that class are sweet to invite us to be engaged in non-Sunday events ... like the class Easter egg hunt on Sunday afternoon!

Jocelyn was so proud of her pink glittery egg!

But Robs didn't care for the wait to dye eggs. He started several, only to walk away when he realized that he didn't get a colorful egg back immediately. (You know that delayed gratification experiment? I think Robs is the kid who would only get one marshmallow.)

The lineup begins (complete with a streamer starting line!)

Philip was obviously making a very important point, given the big gestures.

And I'm not quite sure that Shannon agrees with Kevin about the bucket hat concept for Caleb.

 

Almost ready!

I wish this wasn't so blurry. I just love the smiles between Will and Becca!

Caitlin did a superb job coordinating everything! I think she was explaining where the kiddos could find the eggs. From the looks of the kiddos, I think they were all scoping out eggs rather than paying attention.

Actually, Camden was attentive! He's such a good kid. (And he was the oldest there, so I suppose it makes sense that he has the best attention span!)

I was trying to get a good shot of Becca and Anna-Kate or Jenelle and Leiana. I ended up with a good one of Jenelle and Becca. The little girls were too interested in everything else!

Doesn't it look like Lee and David are laying out a strategy for Robbie and John David?  "Okay, boys, here's how we're gonna run this play..."

And the line breaks! (And, by the way, I promise I just took a lot of pictures in a short time period - they weren't waiting all that long!)

And they're off, with the big kids in the lead...

...while the little kids still don't quite understand what's happening.

Yep, I don't think Jocelyn or Camden needed much instruction, huh? (Though it does look like sweet Cam is looking back to see how Anderson is doing. Meanwhile, Jocelyn isn't concerned at all about Robs.)

The rest slowly get it, with help from moms and dads.

And because Jocelyn is big enough to do it all on her own (the clever gal ran off to the backyard to hunt from those eggs while everyone else was still out front!) and because my wonderful man was helping Robs, I could just be the momma with a camera. I did get some funny looks from the kids who don't know me as well, but it was fun to document all their fun, like Jenn helping JD here:

Lee pointed out an egg to Leiana and Robs...

...and they both ignored him. Poor Lee!

And, of course, I wasn't the only one with a camera, as evidenced by all these shots of other cameras in action or in hand!

Once Robs realized that there were snacks or candy in each egg, he saw no need to continue hunting. He would find an egg and eat the contents before moving on!

And now since the pictures are more interesting than my words, I'll just let them do the talking...

 

(And why yes, in case you were wondering, Leiana can stuff an entire Easter cake from Little Debbie in her mouth.)

 

what stood out at our last special needs ministry training

 After a recent leadership training, I got an email from one of our volunteers who serves as a one-on-one buddy with a child with special needs each Sunday. She also works in the field of special education. (And she's wonderful. Just saying.)

At our training, we focused on confidentiality and a new sub system and strategies for working with individuals with limited verbal communication skills. What part did she thank me specifically for? None of those things.

Loved the verses you gave us as to why we serve these precious children.  Helps me in my job as well!

Whenever I talk about special needs ministry, I always begin with prayer and a passage of Scripture. It's not just for the benefit of those I'm speaking to - it's for me. I'm a task-driven person who can easily dive into the doing without grounding myself in the reason. The Reason. God.

If you're involved with special needs ministry, if you're invested in a different ministry area, if you're a parent to a child with special needs, if you have some sort of disability yourself, if you work in special education...simply if you're a believer, then I urge you to do the same. Start with prayer and the Word of God; anything else is secondary.

Furthermore, this is a big week of activity for many ministries and churches and families, but all the activity is worthless if we overlook Christ in the busy-ness. Don't just focus on what you need to do each week; focus on why you're doing it.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
{1 Corinthians 12:21-26}

~+~
Also, here are a couple articles online you might want to check out:

• Worshiping with a Special Needs Child - A Mother's Viewpoint from the What's In The Bible blog
• John Knight's post about thinking biblically in light of disability and embryonic stem cells, as well as his follow-up post here (both of which I'll be writing a follow-up about over here in the next few days)
• If God loves me, why doesn't He heal me? from Becky about her son's difficulty understanding why God doesn't immediately answer his prayers in an affirmative way. (And, if you're prone to tears, you might want a tissue handy. Both the story itself and her writing are powerful.)
• An article from the San Angelo Standard-Times, Wanted: A Place to Worship, about finding a church home when you have a child with special needs

what parents are saying about the church on the web

I'm surprised to be saying this, as a Twitter newbie, but I love Twitter. I've found so many great resources through Twitter, and I'm always looking for more. (And, on that note, please point me toward any resources you've found valuable, particularly any statistics and research you've found - numbers not just anecdotes - about special needs ministry and/or people with disabilities and faith/religion/church!)

These are a few women who I've found via Twitter, moms who can help us all understand why special needs ministry matters.

First up, Sarah who blogs here but guest-posted here about the church & autism:

I would also suggest to parents that they do everything they can to integrate their child into “normal” youth activities as much as possible.  Obviously, sometimes that just won’t work, depending on the child’s needs.  But when it will — go for it.  Allowing typical children to interact with a person of special needs is an experience that will stick with them far longer than childhood.  And you may be surprised at the benefits to your own child.  Again, ask for help.  Seek the input of other parents and see what can be done to provide a mutually beneficial experience for all the children of the church. {To read the rest of the post, click here.}

Next, Amanda who blogs here but guest-posted here at my one of my favorite autism blogs, The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism (and who will be guest-posting on this blog in the near future - and can I just say how excited I am about that?!?)

There was a time when I took going to church for granted. I grew up in church with a tight-knit group of friends who went on trips together, put on plays, occasionally behaved badly and yet, were ultimately baptized into a family that was more than the sum of its parts. Church was fun -- and yes, uplifting and spiritually rewarding -- but when you're a kid, the fun is what gets you there. I always wanted my children to have the same opportunity. {To read the rest of "Church with the Special Needs Child," click here!}

And, finally, at 5MinutesforSpecialNeeds, this week Heather wrote about the public humiliation she's experienced at church:

Why can’t we take our child to church? My mother is convinced of my eternal damnation because we don’t take the children to church. I keep asking her if she can find me a church that will “allow” Jack to sit there and be loud. Sure, they’ll “allow” it, but no one will speak to us, and eventually, after enough death stares, we’ll quit going again. {Read more here.}

Please pray for your church and other churches, that we wouldn't miss the opportunity to show love to all people, including those with disabilities. And pray for Heather's family to find a welcoming church, because they are still searching for one.

If it's about Jesus, why are some of the best resources outside of the church?

Yesterday I replied to an email from a new friend at The International Baptist Church in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, He is interested in disability ministry, and he wanted some suggestions about where to start exploring this ministry area. My first piece of advice might surprise you.

Yes, as I wrote yesterday, this ministry - any ministry - is about Jesus.

But, in many cases, the church has failed to love people with disabilities as we should. And those outside of the church have done a far better job.

Therefore, my first suggestion to him was this:

My first recommendation would be to research what non-religious groups are doing to help people with disabilities in Santo Domingo and the rest of the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, the church hasn't typically done a good job caring about people with disabilities, so this is an area in which we can learn a lot from what public schools and other groups are doing well.

I pray that a day might come when my advice can be different. I pray that the ministry at our church and in your church and in other Gospel-centered churches will so clearly demonstrate our love for others and our desire to serve rather than exclude that those outside the church will say, "You want to learn about working with people with disabilities? Then you need to check out what these Christians are doing. We may not believe what they believe, but what they're doing and the way they're doing it is excellent. We can learn from them."

This isn't a ridiculous hope, because it's not our excellence that they would be seeing. It's His.

Which, once again, is why it's crucial to not only talk about the practicalities of special needs ministry, but also the reasons, the Reason. Him. The Gospel.

If we seek our own best, we'll fail. We'll continue to be in a place in which non-Christian resources for serving individuals with special needs are the first place we recommend because the Christian resources are limited (and, in some cases, simply not excellent).

If we seek His best and do it for His glory, though, our ministry can reflect an excellence that can only comes from God. Isn't that what we ultimately want?


(Quick disclaimer: Please, please, please do not misinterpret my words to mean that I think that every resources related to special needs ministry is terrible or lacking in excellence. If you've read any other posts here, you know that isn't true. However, if you examine almost any other ministry area, you'll find more resources than what's out there right now for special needs ministry. There is good stuff, just not as much as there should be; there are churches doing special needs ministry well, just not as many as there should be.)

What's it all about?

Special needs ministry isn't primarily about civil rights or political correctness or pity or awareness or education.

It's about Jesus.

For example, it's Autism Awareness Month. Given that the current estimate is that 1 in 110 children have an autism spectrum disorder (source: CDC, among others) - and about 1 in 70 boys - we all need to be aware of what autism is, what it means for families, and ways that we can minister to and with people with autism. There are fantastic posts on ministry- and disability-related sites about those things this month. And there are some coming here in the near future as well.

However, if every church leader learns about autism and if every person in the pew (or, at my current church, chairs) learns about autism, that wouldn't be sufficient. We can become like Bart Ehrman, religious studies professor who teaches New Testament at my alma mater, who knows lots of facts about the Bible and church history but rejects it all as false and identifies himself as an agnostic. 

Simply learning about disabilities and special needs isn't enough. Knowledge doesn't change us. Loving people, as Jesus did and does, changes us and others. 

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. {1 Corinthians 13:2, ESV}

If I can convince leaders in my church to remove every mountain that serves as a barrier to ministry to and with people with special needs, that won't be enough. Changes could be made out of duty or obligation or even just a desire to get me to stop bugging them.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. {John 13:34-35}

The new commandment Christ gives isn't "create programs." It isn't "remove barriers." It's not even "include one another."

Love one another.

And while effective special needs ministry does bring awareness and education, that's not the hallmark of what we do or the end goal. It's about the gospel. It's about love.

It's about Jesus.