It’s been a couple of weeks since I wrote something original for the blog. This particular holiday season was exhausting…kids and teens with anxiety don’t do well over breaks because they have too much time to obsess and worry without the busyness of school as a distraction.

It’s also been a trying time because our year-end Annual Fund campaign for Key Ministry fell far short of expectations and far short of what we’d budgeted. I’ll be spending my afternoon with a couple of our Board members making some very difficult decisions about what we need to cut. Most of our budget pays for people. We don’t want to provide resources without relationship…Rebecca, Katie and Harmony all do an excellent job serving churches seeking to welcome kids with disabilities and their families. We need MORE of their time…not less. In any event, I’d very much appreciate your prayers…for wisdom for our leadership, and for God to provide the financial resources we need to carry out the mission He has for our team.

On the infrequent occasions that I’ve been available recently to hang out online, I’m reminded of the incredible progress the disability ministry movement is having in influencing churches to become more intentional in welcoming kids and families with a wide range of conditions who weren’t previously able to “do” church.

In addition to all of the neat things we hope to do in the next year, some of our friends have made significant headway in developing resources and influence in the church…

• Marie Kuck from Nathaniel’s Hope is doing a preconference training at next week’s Children’s Pastors Conference in Orlando together with Craig Johnson.
• Many of our friends from the world of disability ministry are launching a new website today to provide faith-based encouragement and support for parents raising kids with special needs. Check out Not Alone.
• Organizations such as 99 Balloons are building church-based respite care networks serving families in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Missouri.

Most of the disability ministry leaders I know are tired, underfunded and apprehensive about the future…like most of the families we serve. But the progress being made by the disability movement is unmistakable and real. It’s gratifying to see the ways in which God is mobilizing our colleagues to do great things on behalf of His Kingdom!