On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Key Ministry, I’d like to extend our Best Wishes to all of our friends and supporters for a Blessed and Joyous New Year! We’re looking forward to a year of unprecedented movement toward our vision of a future in which every church is intentional and effective in efforts to connect with and include families of children impacted by mental illness, trauma or developmental disabilities in their local communities.

I’m honored to announce that our Board has offered me the opportunity to serve the ministry in a 25 hour/week volunteer staff position as Director of Strategic Initiatives in the year ahead, while maintaining my current role as Board Chairman of Key Ministry.

Exactly one month ago, I shared four “Key Initiatives” identified by our Board that will shape our work in 2014 and the years ahead. Our Board has graciously allowed me the opportunity to join with our staff in the “hands-on” implementation of what I believe will be an incredibly impactful strategy for connecting churches to families of kids with disabilities.

In my new position, I’ll be responsible for overseeing the development of new ministry content. Our Board has discerned that we have a unique knowledge base to offer to churches and other like-minded organizations within the overall disability ministry movement as an outgrowth of the professionals who have been drawn to our team. The content I’ll be responsible for will include…

• Inclusion Fusion…stay tuned for an announcement in the next two to three weeks.
• This blog
• Online ministry training events and resources…offered by Key Ministry and other like-minded organizations
• New Products (including books and videos)

I’ll also be responsible for initiating and developing strategic relationships with other leaders and organizations inside and beyond the church. Specifically, I’ve been charged with…

• Establishing and nurturing relationships within the mental health field
• Initiating new relationships and growing existing relationships within the disability ministry community

Finally, I’ll be responsible for overseeing the launch of our online ministry presence in 2014. In addition to Inclusion Fusion, there will be two new components to our online presence…

• An online platform to greatly expand the ability of church staff and volunteers to participate in Key Ministry training events…as well as training from other like-minded ministries.
• An online church platform. Here’s an idea of what an online church platform serving families of kids with disabilities might look like.

I’m thankful to be joining a very wise and experienced team. Hu Auburn will be serving as our Staff Director. Hu brings 33 years of experience as Senior Pastor of one of the largest evangelical churches in greater Cleveland to his new role. Hu served as one of our founding Board members and has been an incredible advocate for inclusion of families of special needs.

Rebecca Hamilton will be entering her eighth year with our team as our ministry’s Operations Director. Rebecca is overseeing the development of our Free Respite network, serving as our “first responder” to requests for assistance from local churches, managing the logistics of our live training events and continuing to serve as a conference speaker. Rebecca will also be managing communications with individuals and churches who support our ministry.

We anticipate more additions to our ministry team in the first quarter of 2014.

I very much appreciate your prayers and support as our team embarks upon these new ministry adventures. I’m strangely reassured that I don’t have all the answers to the challenges we’re going to face in the months and years ahead, and I’m not at all certain how I’m going to manage this commitment while maintaining the level of excellence I expect from myself in my child and adolescent psychiatry practice. After all there are a few changes going into effect today that might have a slight impact upon the medical field. Your  ideas, support, encouragement and friendship are much appreciated.

GAME ON!

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Thanks to all of our readers for making this blog such a success in 2013! Our team at Key Ministry very much appreciates your willingness to share our resources with others interested in the things we care about. Here are our ten most popular blog posts in 2013…help us get the word out to churches interested in sharing Christ’s love with families of children with mental illness, trauma or developmental disabilities in 2014!

Photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net