No excuses…

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Dr. G

One of my primary takeaways from last week’s Inclusion Fusion is the idea that the church no longer has any excuses for not proactively including kids with disabilities and their families into the life of the church.

I’ve had considerable sympathy for the position that churches avoid responding to kids with disabilities because they don’t have the necessary training and education available to them to understand how to respond to their needs. But clearly, the unprecedented available of high-quality training, resources and support (often free of charge, as is the case with resources from Key Ministry) has eliminated that excuse. We could have easily invited another 32 ministry leaders to participate in this year’s Web Summit. God has raised up many skillful and experienced leaders and organizations to spearhead the charge to open our churches to kids with special needs and their families.

For that, everyone who contributed to this year’s Inclusion Fusion, and everyone who supports the many fine churches and organizations that are part of the movement can take satisfaction!

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Thanks to the generosity of our partners at Pajama Conference, Inclusion Fusion is going to be available online for two extra weeks. All of the presentations will remain availablethrough 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 to 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…

Posted in Families, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Two Inclusion Fusion Bonuses

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Dr. G

 

Our Key Ministry team is very appreciative of everyone’s comments and kind words about Inclusion Fusion 2012. We had a remarkable faculty lineup share presentations addressing an unprecedented breadth and depth of topics related to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the life of the local church. Participants had opportunities to chat online with over twenty of our speakers. Our nightly Tweetchats provided a venue for discussions related to the overall direction of the larger disability ministry movement.

Thanks to the generosity of our partners at Pajama Conference, Inclusion Fusion is going to be available online for two extra weeks. 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 to 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. Use this link to register.

Our second bonus involves a presentation from one of our most highly sought after faculty members, Mike Woods of First Baptist Orlando. Due to technical issues, Mike’s presentation wasn’t available until Inclusion Fusion had nearly ended. Here’s a preview of Mike’s presentation, Partnering With Parents.

What matters more than anything else is that kids with special needs have an authentic relationship with God. Scripture reminds us that God chooses to use family as the primary place to nurture a child’s faith. Mike’s presentation will share some proven ideas on how your church/ministry can help parents actively participate in the spiritual formation of their own child (or children) with special needs. Here’s Mike’s video…

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The free magazine is 51 pages long, and contains biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with a number of our speakers, including an interview with Mike about First Baptist’s special needs ministry app.

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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…

Posted in Families, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Parents, Resources | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Final Day of Inclusion Fusion 2012! Chairman’s Choices…

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Dr. G

Our team at Key Ministry is grateful for all of the kind words and encouragement we’ve received about this year’s Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. We’re grateful for the passion and commitment demonstrated by our thirty-three faculty speakers who produced what I think we can all agree are fabulous videos that beautifully articulate “Why” inclusive ministry to kids and adults with disabilities is so important!

On Sunday, I’ll be doing a wrap-up of the conference and share some thoughts about “next steps” in light of what’s been shared and learned this week. Today, I want to highlight some presentations that address a personal cause of mine…the inclusion of kids and families at church who struggle with mental illness.

Cara Daily (Inner Health Ministries, Key Ministry): Do I Have to Have Surgery to Open My Heart to Jesus? Cara’s video is a fabulous resource on communicating abstract faith concepts in ministry with kids with autism spectrum disorders.

Jolene Philo (Different Dream Parenting): It’s Not Just For Soldiers Anymore: PTSD and Kids With Special Needs. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is an all too common condition experienced by children and teens as a result of abuse, neglect, or on occasion, the need to repeatedly undergo painful or intrusive medical procedures. Jolene’s presentation addresses six common misconceptions about PTSD in children.

Rhett Smith (Auxano Counseling): Reframing Anxiety: The Inclusion of Anxiety in Our Church Communities. Rhett did a fabulous interview in the Inclusion Fusion magazine on his new book, The Anxious Christian. His presentation touches on the ways in which God might use our anxiety for good, and offers practical suggestions for helping others with anxiety to be more fully included in our church communities.

Matthew Stanford (Mental Health Grace Alliance): Viewing Mental Illness Through the Eyes of Faith. Dr. Stanford’s presentation provides a Biblical and a clinical perspective on mental illness and how Christians are called to respond to persons with mental illness. In addition, he discusses the essential role of the church in supporting those recovering from mental illness, strategies for creating resources for mental health supportive care within the church, and resources to help families impacted by the mental health system to navigate the challenges of the healthcare system and everyday life.

Friday’s schedule for Live Chat…

12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Beth Guckenberger

1:00 PM-2:00 PM: Mike Beates

2:00 PM-3:00 PM: Jim Hukill

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The free magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with a number of our speakers.

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The free magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with a number of our speakers.

Finally, the folks from Pajama Conference are making available for sale a boxed set of DVDs containing all of the video presentations and downloads from the conference. Boxed sets will be available through the Inclusion Fusion website as well as the Pajama Conference website. The complete set of conference videos is available for the reduced  price of $39.99 during the Web Summit, increasing to $49.99 upon completion of Inclusion Fusion.  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 money to fund free ministry training, including the Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Inclusion Fusion. Click here to order…

Posted in Anxiety Disorders, Autism, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Parents, Resources | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chairman’s Choices-Inclusion Fusion Day Four…Being Missional

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Dr. G

I’ll jump right in to my viewing recommendations for today, with an emphasis on developing relationships with families of kids with disabilities who aren’t currently a part  of our churches…

Libby Peterson made a great video on the theme of how we can move from being “with” to “one of” in the way we connect with families impacted by disabilities in her presentation Inclusion: An idea, an event or a lifestyle? Libby’s church began their ministry for families of kids with special needs through respite events and weekend worship inclusion. Libby discusses their efforts to move from ministry through programs to ministry through lifestyle. . .from asking families to come and be with us – to going to be one of them. Libby’s church has “left the building” to share Christ’s love through forming relationships with families of kids with special needs…on their own turf.

Barb Dittrich discussed the benefits of mentors for parents of kids with special needs in her video Making the Case for Mentoring. Barb describes the components required to create a strong special needs mentoring program and healthy mentoring relationships. She also provides an overview of SNAPPIN’ Ministries’ new mentor training curriculum, mentoring program, and ongoing support system for mentors and mentorees…developed with the assistance of another of our Inclusion Fusion faculty…Jolene Philo. Barb’s presentation is a useful introduction  to churches and organizations interested in launching mentoring initiatives to families of kids with special needs.

Marie Kuck of Nathaniel’s Hope discusses creative strategies to help the most fearful and inexperienced individuals begin to reach out to kids with special needs and their families through using fun and meaningful outreach opportunities in her presentation… Bridging the Gap Can Be Fun And Not So Scary. Nathaniel’s Hope has engaged thousands of “green” volunteers thru their annual Make ‘m Smile festival, Christmas Outreach and respite care programming.

Harmony Hensley and Rebecca Hamilton put together companion videos introducing Key Ministry’s FREERESPITE initiative. Would you like your church to join with Christ-honoring churches across the U.S. in providing high quality, church-based respite care for children with disabilities and their “typical” siblings? Harmony and Rebecca would like to help you take the next steps.

We had a little snafu with the live chat technology on the website yesterday afternoon that lasted from the end of Dr. Cara Daily’s chat through much of John Knight’s chat. We have a new chat window today. You’ll see a bar on the top of the page saying “Click Here for Live Chat.” Click on those words, enter any user name you’d like, then click on the “Connect” button…you’re in.

Today’s Live Chat schedule…

10:00 AM-11:00 AM: Cindi Ferrini

12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Jolene Philo

1:00 PM-2:00 PM: Aaron Scheffler

3:00 PM-4:00 PM: Ann Holmes

Beth Guckenberger has been added to the Live Chat schedule for Thursday at 12:00 PM.

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The free magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with a number of our speakers.

Finally, the folks from Pajama Conference are making available for sale a boxed set of DVDs containing all of the video presentations and downloads from the conference. Boxed sets will be available through the Inclusion Fusion website as well as the Pajama Conference website. The complete set of conference videos is available for the reduced  price of $39.99 during the Web Summit, increasing to $49.99 upon completion of Inclusion Fusion.  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 money to fund free ministry training, including the Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Inclusion Fusion. Click here to order…

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Advocacy, Families, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Parents, Resources, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hey Kidmin Friends! Join Us For Inclusion Fusion 2012!

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Dr. G

I want to personally invite all of our friends in Children’s Ministry…pastors, staff and volunteers to join us for Inclusion Fusion 2012…the Special Needs Ministry Web Summit, brought to you by Key Ministry in partnership with our friends at Pajama Conference.

We hope to bring leaders together from across the church…senior pastors, children’s pastors, church staff members, disability ministry professionals, volunteers, parents  and  caregivers to brainstorm ways of welcoming and including including more kids with disabilities and their families into our local churches.

All of our video presentations are “on demand”…watch whenever you want, wherever you want during this week’s Web Summit. Most of our speakers are available for live chat sessions during the week…the most recent schedule can be found here. We also have a nightly “Tweetchat” roundup with many of our faculty members…here’s how to join…

Some talks of interest to our Kidmin friends…

Cara Daily (Inner Health Ministries, Key Ministry): Do I Have to Have Surgery to Open My Heart to Jesus?

Amy Dolan (Lemon-Lime Kids): The Intersection of Calling and Opportunity

Beth Guckenberger (Back2Back Ministries): Holistically Serving the Adopted/Foster Child

Rebecca Hamilton (Key Ministry): FREERESPITE Training Info

Harmony Hensley (Key Ministry): FREERESPITE: Join the Movement!

Amy Jacober (Youth Ministry Architects, Young Life Capernaum): Good for All: How Serving in Ministry With People With Disabilities Strengthens Your Faith

Marie Kuck (Nathaniel’s Hope): Bridging the Gap Can Be Fun And Not So Scary

Gillian Marchenko (Christian Fellowship Church, Chicago, IL): Loss and Grief in Parenting Children With Special Needs

Nick Palermo (Young Life Capernaum): Including Kids With Special Needs in Your Youth Ministry

Libby Peterson (Bay Presbyterian Church, Key Ministry): Inclusion: An Idea, an Event, or a Lifestyle?

Jolene Philo (Different Dream Parenting): It’s Not Just For Soldiers Anymore: PTSD and Kids With Special Needs

Katie Wetherbee (Key Ministry): Sticks and Stones, Clicks and Phones: Solutions for Preventing Bullying at Church 

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with Mike Beates, Ben Conner, Barb Dittrich, Ann and John Holmes, Bryan Roe, Rhett Smith and Mike Woods.  The magazine contains contact information for all of our speakers and is a useful resource for connecting with others in the disability ministry community. Forward the magazine to pastors, church staff members, volunteers, parents and caregivers who you’d like to be part of Inclusion Fusion this year!

Welcome Kidmins to the Special Needs Ministry Web Summit! Help us spread the word about Inclusion Fusion to friends and colleagues who need to join the discussion!

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Adoption, Autism, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Parents, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to Do Live Chat…and Chairman’s Choices for Day Three of Inclusion Fusion

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Dr. G

We have some great speakers available for Live Chat sessions throughout the day today, but I fear folks have been missing out because the directions to participate haven’t been clear…let’s address that because I don’t want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to connect with our faculty.

To join us in our live chat room throughout the day…

When you log onto the Inclusion Fusion site and click on one of the video presentations, you’ll see on the bottom bar of the computer window a small box labeled “Shout Box Pro”…when you click on the box, you’ll be prompted to enter your user name and gender. Click Login…you’ll be in the chat room. That’s all you have to do for the live chat.

Here’s today’s Live Chat schedule…

9:00 AM-10:00 AM: Marie Kuck

11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Amy Dolan

12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Nella Uitvlugt

1:00 PM-2:00 PM: Libby Peterson

2:00 PM-3:00 PM: Cara Daily

4:00 PM-5:00 PM: John Knight

5:00 PM-6:00 PM: Shannon Dingle

Join us tonight at 9:00 for our nightly Tweetchat…we’re going to to send out a special invite for leaders outside the disability ministry community to enter the conversation. Discussion during the Tweetchats often centers around strategies for growing the number of churches seeking to welcome kids and adults with disabilities and their families. Here’s how to join us…

For our “Chairman’s Choices” today, I want to call your attention to four videos of special interest to our friends in the world of children’s and family ministry…

Gillian Marchenko shared an amazing video in which she describes both her emotional reactions and the impact upon her spiritual life from her experience as the mother of two daughters with special needs (Polly and Evangeline)… Loss and Grief in Parenting Children With Special Needs. Her story provides insight to those seeking to minister to families with struggles similar to those experienced by the Marchenko’s.

Amy Dolan is a very prominent figure in the world of Children’s Ministry who experienced a call to serving kids with special needs during a church consulting assignment. Amy’s presentation…The Intersection of Calling and Opportunity…is very much recommended to those participating in this year’s Web Summit with an inkling that God might be calling them to use their gifts and talents to help include families impacted by disabilities at church.

Katie Wetherbee and Rebecca Hamilton from our Key Ministry team made a wonderful video for children’s and youth ministry pastors and volunteers on the topic of bullying that occurs at church…Sticks and Stones, Clicks and Phones: Solutions for Preventing Bullying at Church. Katie shares some great advice on helping church to be a great experience for all kids and teens and creating a ministry culture that results in all kids feeling welcomed.

Finally, Dr. Cara Daily is a pediatric psychologist who has developed evidence-based social skills training incorporating Biblically-based principles for kids and teens with autism spectrum disorders. Cara’s presentation…Do I Have to Have Surgery to Open My Heart to Jesus? offers practical advice to church staff, volunteers and parents seeking to communicate important faith concepts to kids and teens who often struggle with abstract concepts.

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with Mike Beates, Ben Conner, Barb Dittrich, Ann and John Holmes, Bryan Roe, Rhett Smithand Mike Woods.  The magazine contains contact information for all of our speakers and is a useful resource for connecting with others in the disability ministry community. Forward the magazine to pastors, church staff members, volunteers, parents and caregivers who you’d like to be part of Inclusion Fusion this year!

Enjoy the Web Summit today. And spread the word about Inclusion Fusion to friends and colleagues who need to join the discussion!

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Autism, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Parents, Resources, Spiritual Development, Training Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chairman’s Choices/Updates for Inclusion Fusion Day Two

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Dr. G

I’m encouraged by all the positive comments and feedback our team received after the first day of this year’s Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. I think it’s also safe to say that the church can’t use the excuse anymore that there’s no one or no resources to help them understand how to effectively serve and minister to families impacted by disabilities.

If you find the number of speakers and video presentations a bit overwhelming, allow me to make a few suggestions…I’ll focus today on several videos from first-time Inclusion Fusion speakers addressing our conference theme of “Why” from different angles…

Beth Guckenberger shared an incredible video in which she communicates her passion for orphans and kids in foster care and makes an undeniably compelling case for why churches need to prioritize caring for them from a Gospel perspective. Check out her presentation…Holistically Serving the Adopted/Foster Child.

Amy Jacober of Youth Ministry Architects and Young Life Capernaum shared a very touching story of her experience as a member of the first grade choir at her church in her video presentation…Good for All: How Serving in Ministry With People With Disabilities Strengthens Your Faith.

Finally, John Knight from Desiring God made a brief, but very powerful video explaining “Why” your church would want to seek out and include families like his in his presentation…For the Sake of Your Own Joy! Why Your Church Should Want Families Like Mine.

We shared yesterday afternoon that the Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download. The magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with Mike Beates, Ben Conner, Barb Dittrich, Ann and John Holmes, Bryan Roe, Rhett Smithand Mike Woods.  The magazine contains contact information for all of our speakers and is a useful resource for connecting with others in the disability ministry community. Forward the magazine to pastors, church staff members, volunteers, parents and caregivers who you’d like to be part of Inclusion Fusion this year!

We made some additions to the video library during the day yesterday. Videos from Marie Kuck, Rhett Smith and Barb Dittrich are now available, along with the download to accompany Ryan Wolfe’s “If You Build It, They Will Come” video.

Today’s live chat schedule…

9:00 AM-10:00 AM: Matthew Stanford

10:00 AM-11:00 AM: Bryan Roe

11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Rhett Smith

12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Katie Wetherbee

1:00 PM-2:00 PM: Aaron Scheffler

2:00 PM-3:00 PM: Amy Jacober

4:00 PM-5:00 PM: Jeff Davidson

Shannon Dingle and her husband recently adopted their daughter Zoe…Shannon wasn’t able to submit a video, but will be joining us for an hour of chat Wednesday at 5:00 PM Eastern.

If you like hanging out in a chat room with a lot of our faculty, join us tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern for our Inclusion Fusion Tweetchat, hosted by Barb Dittrich. Here are directions for those who would like to join…

Finally, help us “grow the movement.” Invite at least one person today to join the conference who might have a heart for helping the church welcome more kids with disabilities and their families.

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Training Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Inclusion Fusion 2012 Magazine Now Available

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Dr. G

The Inclusion Fusion 2012 Special Needs Ministry Web Summit Magazine is now available for download here. The magazine is 51 pages long, and contains schedules for live chat sessions and Tweetchats, instructions for participating in interactive sessions, biographies of all of our faculty, and in-depth interviews with Mike Beates, Ben Conner, Barb Dittrich, Ann and John Holmes, Bryan Roe, Rhett Smith and Mike Woods.  The magazine contains contact information for all of our speakers and is a useful resource for connecting with others in the disability ministry community. Forward the magazine to pastors, church staff members, volunteers, parents and caregivers who want to be part of Inclusion Fusion this year!

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Resources, Training Events | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How Inclusion Fusion 2012 will work…

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Dr. G

Inclusion Fusion incorporates advancements in technology to be different…and hopefully, better than any other ministry conference you’ve ever done, either over the web or in person.

We’ve partnered with the folks from Pajama Conference to put on Inclusion Fusion. Pajama Conference is a very appropriate name for their organization…if you so choose you can literally attend this entire conference in your pajamas.

All of the presentations for Inclusion Fusion are available “on-demand.” Anyone who registers for the Web Summit will be able to access any presentation during Inclusion Fusion at any time during the conference. Each of the presentations has been pre-recorded. While most of our faculty will be available at designated times during the conference for live chats (schedule here), every presentation will be available 24-7 during the entire Websummit. The advantages to such an approach are obvious…

You can get whatever content you want whenever you’re available. If you want to see Amy Dolan’s or Katie Wetherbee’s presentations, but have a ministry staff meeting at 10 AM on Tuesday, no big deal. Watch them on your lunch hour, after dinner, or after you’ve put your kids to bed. Families of kids with disabilities often have little control over their schedules. Flexible scheduling enabled many parents to be part of last year’s Inclusion Fusion too!

You can watch ALL of the presentations offered through the conference if you choose to do so. I often attend medical conferences where I miss out on lectures I’d like to attend when I’m presenting myself, or when two or three breakouts I’d like to see are occurring concurrently. Not a problem with Inclusion Fusion.

Ever go to a conference and wish your teammates or friends could share the experience? You can agree to watch any presentation together at any time of YOUR choosing. You can e-mail the link to the conference to colleagues, families or friends and send them your suggestions for “must see” videos. We’ve heard of a group in Indianapolis planning a “watch party” for Inclusion Fusion 2012.

We’ll be putting together a conference magazine with detailed descriptions of each presentation and biographies of our speakers, but if you’d like to start planning ahead, you can check out this link to our current speaker lineup.

Because of the volume of traffic we’re anticipating on the website during Inclusion Fusion, we’d strongly encourage you to preregister for the conference at www.inclusionfusion.org. As an inducement to register in advance, several of  our speakers and sponsors have graciously donated books and resources that we’ll be giving away to participants who preregister. Our Key Ministry team likes giving away free stuff.

In addition to our chat room, we’ll have a nightly Tweetchat (9:00 PM Eastern) during which any of our registrants and speakers can get together online to discuss any topic related to special needs ministry. Here’s how you can participate in our Tweetchats…

Did we mention that the entire conference is FREE? We don’t want money to be a barrier for any church desiring to become more effective at serving families of kids with disabilities, or any parent or family member wanting to be more effective in shepherding their child in the faith.

We hope and pray that Inclusion Fusion will be a blessing to churches and families everywhere…may thousands of kids and their families come to know Jesus as a result of the ideas planted here!

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INCLUSION FUSION IS HERE! Join over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Resources | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Faces of the Movement…Katie Wetherbee

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Dr. G

Katie Wetherbee is a former special education teacher who now serves as Director of Education for Key Ministry. In this role, Katie works with pastors and volunteers to help them understand and include families affected by disabilities. She also enjoys writing about parenting, teaching and ministry for a variety of publications. Most of all, Katie loves being a wife and mom, and is proud to be known as the mom who makes the best chocolate chip cookies.

Here’s a guest blog from Katie previewing her talk for this year’s Inclusion Fusion…

It has become a national public health crisis keeping over 160,000 children home from school every day.*

Adults need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of this issue:

  • Sudden changes in appetite
  • Gastrointestinal distress
  • Chronic headaches
  • Loss of eye contact
  • Poor posture
  • Decreased communication with parents and peers
  • Increase of nervous habits such as tics or nail biting

It’s not autism. It’s not a virus or an environmental issue. So what is this insidious threat?

Bullying.

And unfortunately, bullying is not only happening in schools, but in neighborhoods and extracurricular activities as well. Sadly, children with special needs are often targeted by bullies at a much higher rate than their typically developing peers. This causes a great impediment to their learning and their opportunities to make and keep friends. Students report that often, adults don’t know about the instances of bullying. In addition, peers join in or ignore the bullying as it occurs.

Research tells us that bullying is largely about social power…attaining it and keeping it. While we might think of a bully as a large, tough caricature, children who engage in this behavior are very likely to look just like anyone else. Many times, these individuals are in the middle of the social power structure and are trying to gain more recognition from those they perceive as having more control. To accomplish this, children who bully others exclude, start rumors or tease their targets. When others join in or laugh, the “bully” has been recognized as a leader and therefore, has power. This cycle can be difficult to break, both for the child who is bullied AND for the child who is bullying others.

As we look forward to Inclusion Fusion, we are going to tackle this issue of bullying…and more importantly, focus on bullying prevention. Pastors, KidMin leaders and volunteers need to know how to proactively prevent bullying, because sadly, this kind of behavior can—and does—occur in churches, too. We hope you will join us to learn some practical strategies that can change the social culture of Sunday mornings. And, as we focus on kindness and community in our programs, wouldn’t it be wonderful if what we accomplish at church could change the culture of schools and neighborhoods as well?

*National Education Association data

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TWO DAYS TO GO! Join Katie and over 30 leaders from children’s, family, youth and disability ministry serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion is made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th, 2012. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for free registration, click here.

Posted in Controversies, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Resources, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment