Ryan Wolfe is unique among the speakers for this year’s Inclusion Fusion in that our team discovered Ryan and his ministry through a news story this past Spring on local Cleveland television.

Ryan serves as Pastor to the Developmentally Disabled community of Stark County through his staff position at First Christian Church in Canton, OH. Ryan is married to his best friend and is father to two amazing children. His family clings to two Bible verses. Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Proverbs 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.”. These verses have propelled Ryan and his family into outreach to persons with developmental disabilities and their families in his surrounding community. Ryan’s church hosts a day treatment program funded by the county’s developmental disabilities Board, puts on a Prom for over 400 adults, and is involved with outreach through sports. These ministry efforts have been blessed by God because they are near to His heart.

Ryan’s video for Inclusion Fusion was If You Build It, They Will Come. Here’s a brief introduction to Ryan’s presentation, followed by his video for Inclusion Fusion…

Several years ago I read a book “The Present Future” by Reggie McNeal that challenged me to look at ministry in a way I had never considered before. For the first time I saw myself as a missionary in my own community. My wife and I began coaching as volunteers in our local Challenger Baseball League. This is a division of Little League baseball for children with disabilities. As our relationships continues to develop our eyes were opened to so many possibilities. One of those possibilities was the fact that the league had grown so much that they did not have enough fields to play on. Our church like most others has underutilized space. We had the space, there was a need, and we met that need! We raised over $50,000 in less than a year and built a top notch baseball facility for the children of our community with disabilities. This effort cost the church ZERO dollars! We now have during baseball season at least two teams on the field every night of the week. We have also seen several families from the league start to attend our church. Edgewood Field is not only used by the Challenger League but it is also now the home field of two of our local Special Olympics softball teams. We can’t wait to share with you ideas on how to not only see the needs of your community but also to meet the needs of your community.

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Thanks to the generosity of our partners at Pajama Conference, Inclusion Fusion is going to be available online through next weekend. All of the presentations will remain available through Sunday, December 2nd. Feel free to go back onto the site and check out any presentations you weren’t able to view this past week. Invite your friends to register so they might check out presentations they might appreciate! If you were registered for Inclusion Fusion, your existing password will continue to work for the site. New registrants will get their own unique password to use on the site.

Pajama Conference is making available for sale a boxed set of DVDs containing all of the video presentations and downloads from Inclusion Fusion 2012. The complete set of conference videos is available for $49.99. The boxed set is a great gift for churches desirous of a resource for training staff and volunteers, as well as for families caring for a child or adult with special needs. Pajama Conference uses the proceeds from the video sale to fund free ministry training, including the Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Inclusion Fusion. Click here to order…