By Bradley A Mattrisch
One of the marks of a good leader is the ability to engage the people he/she is leading. Nancy and her staff at the Beaver Dam Chapter have done just that. Their Chapter is a shining light in their community, because they enable people with disabilities to serve and use their gifts.

The Chapter Officers motivate the attendees by creating opportunities for them. “Tina operates the sound system and has blessed the group with human videos that she performs, ” Nancy shares. “Connie loves to give cards, so she hands out the birthday cards while we sing happy birthday. Alice helps lead worship and always has encouraging words to share. She is visually impaired as well Debbie is willing to help clean up after meetings and washing the table leaving the room neater than when we started.”

Recently, the Chapter sponsored a Community Disability Awareness Event. The day was filled with opportunities for people with disabilities to serve the community. The Chapter bell choir performed for the public at this event. The Chapter also provided awareness for people in the community to see how the blind would negotiate with a cane. There was even the opportunity to experience an obstacle course in a wheelchair. It was a great day of serving the community.

If you’re a leader where people with disabilities are under your leadership, I encourage you to look beyond their limitations and see their God-given potential. As you learn their strengths, you’ll be able to more readily engage them in serving. Like in Beaver Dam, amazing things will happen as they serve using their gifts.

For families impacted by disability, the opportunity for recreation is greatly diminished. Many of them want to get away from the pressures of life, including disability. Special Touch has a track at Summer Get Away where the entire family can attend. This past year, Wayne and his family attended the Wisconsin Summer Get Away for the first time. Each person had a blast!

Gayle, his wife, enjoyed sharing with the other moms to learn how their families overcame challenges. God brought several people across her path during the week that inspired her.

Spencer who has disabilities just loved the freedom he had at Summer Get Away to run and play. Wayne’s other children also enjoyed taking a break from their routine. It gave them an opportunity to relax and have fun as a family.

Wayne had a wonderful experience at the beach as he paused to take a break from the week’s activities. He shared what happened:

At the point of exhaustion from the week, I took some time for me, just to lay on the beach, half in the lake and half out. The waves would go in and out and I would feel the cool water followed by the hot sun. As I was lying there with my eyes closed, I could hear everyone playing around me. I was so relaxed. All my cares seemed to have vanished for a few minutes. I was no longer burdened by being Spencer’s dad, being unemployed, having a mother-in-law in her last months here on earth, having a wife with stress, anxiety, and panic attacks. For that moment there were no bills that needed to be paid, schedule’s that needed to be kept, no chores needing to be done. It was easily the best 30 minutes I have had in a very long time.

Special Touch is excited to provide opportunities for family members to connect with each other and with God. Summer Get Away was an opportunity for Wayne’s family to ‘recharge their batteries’ and find rest from an incredible amount of stress. Throughout the year, remember to take time away from your stress and enjoy each other’s fellowship.

As Director of STREAM (Special Touch Ready Emergency Assistance Mission), Thomas Carpenter brings hope to families suddenly confronted with disability. The risk of disability increases as people age. Al, who was near retirement age, had a stroke that left him with a disability.

Al’s wife, Sallie says, “The hardest thing for me to accept was the severity of his condition – it took me time to accept that he’d never talk and that he was disabled.” Tasks such as: home health, buying equipment, and making doctor appointments all fell on her shoulders. They seem overwhelming for anyone confronted by them for the first time.

STREAM is here to help families, like Sallie and Al, cope with their unfortunate circumstances and offer assistance. This ministry is all about expressing God’s love in a tangible way.

Recently, Thomas presented Scotty Jones, a man who is challenged by Cerebral Palsy, with the title to a van. He was, to say, a “little beside himself” literally. The van is setup for Scotty to drive.

Thomas loves to make the lives of people with disabilities easier in tangible ways. If you have a project for him or want to help, please call us today!

Special Touch Ministry has been blessed with an incredible resource in the Tech Truck. It travels across the nation to support the Summer Get Away Program. The Truck is supplied with everything from store merchandise to the sound system to medical resources used by nurses.

The Tech Team, directed by Rev. Carl Hespe, is a group of unselfish servants who are committed to working behind the scenes to ensure each Summer Get Away runs smoothly. The team specializes in removing barriers and designing new inventions greatly assisting staff in caring for people with disabilities. One caregiver said, “Wow, is there anything the team can’t do? They always find the resources I need.”

These supports enhance the opportunity for people with disabilities to embrace God’s love and let go of those things that keep them from reaching higher. The reward for Carl’s team is simply watching God touch hearts as people with disabilities give their anger and resentment to God. Changed lives are exactly what Tech is ALL about!

Carl is always looking for candidates with tech skills to join his team. Contact Carl today to find out how you can serve on his team at an upcoming Summer Get Away! It will be a life-changing experience!

Thank you, Tech Team, for making a huge difference!

Are you motivated by a leader who demands strict compliance or demonstrates excellence through serving? The Special Touch family is incredibly blessed with several gifted leaders who inspire us by triumphing over adversity.

Geographically, Jacksonville, FL is one of the largest cities in the United States. It has a huge population of people impacted by disability with over a hundred group homes to serve them.

In February, I had the privilege of speaking at the First Coast Chapter that meets on the west side of Jacksonville. Roger, Chapter President, introduced me to Lori who plays a key role in the Chapter’s community outreach to people impacted by disability. She also serves as the Chapter secretary. Lori has Spinal Muscular Atrophy and uses a power wheelchair to get around. She hopes to develop a “coffeehouse-like” meeting within her Chapter where people with physical disabilities can receive support. Also, Lori is very diligent in making sure the Chapter’s reports are filed accurately and on time with the Ministry Office. This is a great blessing to us!!! Lori not only demonstrates excellence in her Officer responsibilities but is always a joy to be around.

Lori has proven that a disability isn’t a valid excuse for a person not to hold a position in leadership. In fact, Roger, says:

“Lori does an AMAZING job. I completely forget that she has a severe disability. Nothing holds her back. Her work ethic is an absolute inspiration to all of us. If I need something done, I know I can always account on Lori. I thank God for letting her be a vital part of the First Coast Chapter.”

Lori’s condition takes a toll on her, like the times where her arms feel “as weak as dishrags”. She says the smiling faces of the Chapter attendees inspire her to do more to make them feel special and have a good time. Some of Lori’s co-workers get worried about her doing too much, but there’s no stopping her from serving.

What keeps you from serving as a leader? With God’s help, like Lori, you can be an incredible leader as well!

While walking in bare feet is routine for many, people with physical disabilities, rarely, if ever, have the experience. Many wear leg braces to stand or walk. The thought of standing without them, in their overly sensitive, bare feet, is frightening to them.

Due to Spasticity, my feet always had difficulty relaxing. After recently learning the benefits of walking barefoot, I decided to take a shoeless stroll in the grass with my walker, FOR THE FIRST TIME! My experience was amazing! Each step in the soft grass was like receiving a foot massage, causing the tension to leave. I never dreamed walking, without my restrictive brace, would feel so good!

People with disabilities are often confronted with limitations when trying something new, like walking barefoot in the grass. Special Touch Ministry facilitates many experiences for people with disabilities, giving them a sense of freedom from their limitations. Over the years, the Special Touch Summer Get Away is just one of the programs that have provided some of these opportunities.

Sergio experienced freedom from his walker and wheelchair, at a Special Touch Summer Get Away, by climbing a 50 foot wall. He loved every second of it. Leah, who also uses a wheelchair, forgets about her limitations while playing miniature golf. We were surprised to hear it was her first time, even though she is in her mid twenties.

Sergio, Leah, and many others with disabilities get to participate in fun activities at Special Touch Summer Get Away. Tubing down the Crystal River in Wisconsin, horseback riding in Arizona, painting, playing in a bell choir and singing in public just to name a few. Our guests say they rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to do these activities, apart from Special Touch programs.

The theme of the 2010 Special Touch Summer Get Away season was FREE and that’s exactly how our guests felt. Much of their world is focused on disability. They seldom have the opportunity to be just people. The week was all about giving them freedom to be people who aren’t defined by limitation. At the end of the Arizona Summer Get Away, one guest said, “I don’t want to go back to my group home. However, with the encouragement and teaching, I received this week; I will overcome my challenges with God’s help.” We heard many stories how God touched lives as they were free to focus on Him.

A Disability Awareness Sunday can be a milestone in the life and vitality of the local church. Unfortunately, this event too often becomes a token offering to fulfill an obligatory date on the annual church calendar and appease a few vocal constituents with disability ministry concerns. This would include Disability Ministry coordinators, special needs Sunday school teachers, and those individuals and families directly impacted by physical or mental disability on a daily basis. These two groups of people, one with a lonely ministry call and the other with a daily cross to bear, are often disenfranchised from the body. They feel unnoticed and unwanted because they ride an unpopular “hobby horse” that makes others uncomfortable. They are rarely included or considered in the overall planning of the church.

For some reason, reaching people with disabilities is the unwanted stepchild of church ministries. Here are some facts for consideration:

• When building renovations are made, the building committee or architectural team rarely consults with Disability Ministry leaders or gets the input of those affected by disability. They don’t realize that blindly following state specifications can lead to costly do-overs. (A Christian camp in Illinois had to re-do all the “accessible” bathrooms in their new lodge because no one thought to test the specs with real people in real wheelchairs. The state specs did not take into account needed “turn around” room.)
• Major churches sometimes isolate and lose contact with their ministry to people with disabilities. The disability ministry becomes a church within the church that is never visited by the church leadership or the congregation at-large. Workers within the ministry are seldom encouraged.
• Members of the disability community within the church are generally overlooked as active participants in church life and ministry. Even though these connections are absolutely vital for people with disabilities, they are virtually ignored when people are recruited for activities such as teaching a Sunday school class, working in the nursery, participating in church dramas and musicals, Sunday school picnics, fellowship, and even work days. Since many people with disabilities have the desire and the skills to perform these functions, this lack of consideration sends silent signals that they are perceived as useless.
• When people feel disenfranchised, two things occur. Individuals and families affected by disability react by becoming very private and retreating even further into their own world. Some may appear self-involved, strange, indifferent, unfriendly, and unwilling to fit into the church family. Others will become manipulative, abrupt, and ungrateful, marking themselves as undesirable to be around.

At the same time, disability ministry workers in the church tend to become vocal advocates on behalf of those they serve. They become warriors for their people who are sometimes more than willing to risk being perceived as offensive or belligerent in pursuit of their righteous cause. There is nothing wrong with being an advocate or a warrior, but constant extreme behavior accompanied by continual “harping” can cause one to appear angry, single-minded, deaf, indifferent to the needs and concerns of others, and insubordinate. Such attitudes and tactics will never win the heart of church leadership. They only alienate good people, pushing them away instead of drawing them into supporting the ministry.

If disability ministry workers become lobbyists, using political muscle within the church to manipulate the pastor into supporting their agenda, then disability ministry ceases to be a worthy outreach and is reduced to a token gesture of political expedience. That kind of pressure leaves a bad taste in the pastor’s mouth and triggers a negative emotional response towards ministry to people with disabilities.

It is important to understand that ministry to people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities must be geared to their level. When they can understand and participate in it, everyone profits from the service.

People with low-functioning intellectual disabilities are real people with the same basic needs all of us have. They need love, acceptance, and understanding to experience accomplishment. Because of sin, they need the message of the gospel. They can learn spiritual truths when taught on a concrete level and within their mental functioning range. Learning takes place very, very slowly for people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities.

• They cannot keep pace with their peers without disabilities because their response time is so much slower. Some pastors and worship leaders may not understand this because they see people with low-functioning intellectual disabilities dancing, clapping, and loving the fast, syncopated rhythms, beats, and the speed of modern worship songs. They love the energy, but their minds cannot process the information fast enough to participate in the worship.
• They have short attention spans, and they cannot grasp abstract ideas well. Leaders must use concrete words, examples, and various types of audio-visual materials such as overhead projectors, slides, costumes, puppets, and drama to help them understand the message.
• Repeat simple truths over, and over, and over again, in many different ways.
• People with low-functioning intellectual disabilities do not have a normal curiosity to learn. Therefore, they are not motivated by normal internal and external motivators. However, they quickly form strong attachments to people, so significant individuals in their immediate environment may become the chief motivational forces in their lives and in the learning process.

Also available for purchase through the Special Touch Ministry office is Principles For Life, a one-year Christian Education Curriculum published by Special Touch Ministry, Inc. in cooperation with Life Publishers.

Principles for Life is a series of simple Bible lessons designed to assist Christian education leaders and churches in reaching people with intellectual disabilities with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Twenty weekly lessons cover basic biblical principles and characters from the Old and twenty from the New Testament. Also included are eight extra lessons for special occasions.

Principles for Life Excerpt

Available for only $99.95 plus S & H

Call 715-258-2713 today to order!

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine being born into permanent darkness. Continue the journey. Your eyes see but your ears don’t hear. You are born into a sub-culture that largely rejects both the label of disability and the remedies for your condition.

In this next vignette you are traveling to meet your fiancée when in the space of ninety seconds while adjusting for an oncoming truck you roll your car over three times down an embankment. After regaining consciousness you find that you are paralyzed from the chest down. In the instant it took for your vertebrae to puncture the spinal cord you have been suddenly and violently transformed into a stranger you do not know.

These are just a few of the ways that millions of people are impacted by disabilities. This book will take you into the isolated and painful world of physical and intellectual disability and show you and your church how to touch lives for Christ in this vastly neglected community.

Available for only $29.95 plus S & H

Call 715-258-2713 today to order!

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If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.

Chuck Champeau is a man in his sixties with high functioning mental disabilities. He lives in a group home in Green Bay, WI. He has no family. Chuck works in a sheltered workshop and earns a meager amount from his work. Chuck could choose to spend that money on most anything that would please him. But Chuck made a decision, years ago, to ask one of his caregivers in his group home to call Christian Children’s Fund. They chose a young boy in the Philippines named Ryan. Chuck has been sending money to support Ryan each month. Periodically, Chuck receives a letter from Ryan. He received a letter yesterday telling him that Ryan is ready to graduate from high school. Because of Chuck’s support, Ryan’s schooling, food, and medicine was paid for and the boy is doing very well.

A few years ago, Chuck was privileged to record a CD of him playing hymns on a grand piano. It was the dream of his life. He was so grateful to the Lord for this dream come true. One of the things he wanted us to know was that if he ever made any money from selling copies of this CD, he wanted to send more money to help Ryan in the Philippines.

Chuck belongs to the culture of disabilities and the culture of the poor, among others. He is not expected to pay for too many things. The government provides SSI that covers most all of his living needs. So why should Chuck be giving money to other poor people? Chuck serves the Lord with all of his heart. He reads his Bible, prays and plays the piano for the glory of God.

Chuck has found the joy of giving. God’s promises apply to everyone who gives with the right attitude and motive. The amount given doesn’t matter.

Why should we deprive people with disabilities of the blessings of giving? We can find ways for those who want to give to be blessed. Who will help?