Faces of the Movement…Jeff McNair

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Dr. G

Jeff McNair serves as Professor of Special Education and Director of the Disability Studies MA program at California Baptist University.  One of the few programs of its kind offered by a Christian university, the Master of Arts in Disability Studies is a distance learning degree program designed to develop expertise in human differences. Beyond preparing professionals to lead, establish and shape disability programs, ministries and policies, CBU’s M.A. in Disability Studies prepares graduates to challenge and change the way society and organizations relate to people with disabilities.

We’re pleased to announce Jeff will be presenting for Inclusion Fusion on the topic of Maturity in Ministry.

Jeff’s presentation will look at movement toward maturity in disability ministry. If someone is involved in ministry, even for a long time, that doesn’t necessarily imply that what they are doing is best. So how can one move toward maturity? What might one aspire to in ministry? This presentation will provide more of a road map than a destination in assisting those in ministry to evaluate what they are currently doing such that they might continue to innovate and move forward.

Jeff has written several books, including The Church and Disability: The Weblog disabledChristianity, a compilation of selected blog entries from the first five years of the weblog Disabled Christianity.  It was written in response to requests to have the weblog material in a more accessible form.  Entries are grouped into several categories including, the church, ministry, and people with disabilities.

Jeff and his wife Kathi have personally been involved in local church ministry to adults with intellectual disabilities for over 30 years. We’re honored to have someone of Jeff’s credentials joining us for Inclusion Fusion.

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THREE DAYS TO GO! Join Jeff 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.

 

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Faces of the movement…Jeff Davidson

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Dr. G

In putting together Inclusion Fusion, our team very much enjoys the opportunity to connect with other individuals or ministries sharing our passion for including kids with disabilities and their families in the life of the local church. Jeff Davidson certainly falls into that category.

Jeff is the Founder and CEO of Rising Above Ministries, a pastor and communicator- a father of a child with special needs who was called by God to be a missionary to the special needs community based on his own experiences.  Jeff’s topic for Inclusion Fusion will be “Two-Gether.” He’ll talk about the differences in men and women as it relates to being parents of a child with special needs. He’ll discuss how men and women are wired differently, think differently, and react differently to being a parent of a child with special needs. Once parents understand one another’s differences and makeup we can take their relationships to a whole new level and be better equipped to serving the needs of their families.

The vision for Rising Above Ministries was birthed through the life of Jon Alex Davidson and the Davidson’s own experiences raising their son with special needs. In the fall of 2005, Jeff and Becky Davidson launched a monthly worship service for families of individuals with special needs in their hometown of Cookeville Tennessee. Soon the local ministry was providing faith-based support groups, weekly Bible studies, and regular family outings and activities as well.

The following year Rising Above held its first Easter “Eggstravaganza” for the special needs community in a local park and hundreds turned out from all over Middle Tennessee. With 12 egg hunts all modified for various special needs, games activities, and entertainment for all ages, the event demonstrated the overwhelming need to reach out to those with special needs.

As the ministry grew, more and more ambitious projects followed. Other signature events include the annual Hero’s Ball, special needs vacation Bible schools, sock hops, fall festivals, family movie nights, and other monthly family activities all specifically designed for special needs children and their families.

In 2010 God gave Jeff a clear vision and calling to expand Rising Above into a national ministry. Jeff and Becky stepped out to devote themselves full-time to the ministry. Since then, in addition to Cookeville, chapters and affiliates have been established in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Atlanta, and Birmingham. The chapters and affiliates all now minister in the same way as the original chapter in Cookeville.

This year the ministry conducted three Easter “Eggstravaganzas” in Cookeville, Nashville, and Murfreesboro the same day serving hundreds of middle Tennessee families.

In addition, the ministry now hosts national retreats and events such as “By The Brook” retreats for moms raising children with special needs, the Brookside one-day women’s events for moms of children with special needs, the “SOAR” men’s weekend experiences for dads of children with special needs, and the new “Two-gether” marriage retreats for couples raising a child with special needs.

Jeff’s blog is available here. Check out “The Razor”, posted on August 28th of this year.

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THREE DAYS TO GO! Join Jeff 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.

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Barb Dittrich to host NIGHTLY Tweetchats during Inclusion Fusion 2012!

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Dr. G

Barb Dittrich is returning again as hostess for this year’s Inclusion Fusion Tweetchats. Because the Tweetchats were such a popular component of last  year’s Inclusion Fusion, we’ll be doing a wrap-up Tweetchat EVERY NIGHT throughout the Web Summit from 9:00-10:00 PM Eastern…longer if everyone is having a good time. You’ll have the opportunity to connect and share ideas with many of our Inclusion Fusion Faculty, and interact with other pastors, church staff, volunteers and family members from anywhere in the world.

What’s a Tweetchat you ask? Barb is happy to explain the process…

Like to connect with others?  Ask questions and get immediate answers?  Find new, helpful links on the web?  Then TweetChat is for YOU!

While it may seem daunting to those unfamiliar, this real-time group conversation is a fabulous, easy tool.  Here’s how it works.  First, you must have a Twitter account established.  If you don’t already have one, simply go to Twitter.com and set your account up at no cost.  Once you have your Twitter account set up, you are ready to go to your preferred chat  (in our case, #inclusionfusion12 Chat) at the designated time.  To attend the chat, simply go to http://tweetchat.com/room/inclusionfusion12.  You will be prompted through an easy three-step process.

  1. When you click “Sign In”, you will then be asked to “Authorize an Application” through your Twitter account.  To attend, you will have to click the blue “Authorize App” button.
  2. Once you have done so, merely type in the “Hashtag” or name of your chat that you wish to attend at the top of the page, and click go.  In our case, type in inclusionfusion12.  Now you’re in the chat room!  But you’re not finished yet.
  3. To keep most current with the conversation, go to the upper left hand side of the screen and click on “Refresh Speed”.  Slide the tab down to 5 seconds.  This will keep you up-to-date with the scrolling conversation.  Remember, just like on Twitter, you are limited to only so many spaces for your comments…in this case 120.  You do not need to write in #inclusionfusion12 after every post.  Merely being in the chat room will add that to each of your posts.

Of course, if this is too complicated for you, a person can always follow the conversation on regular Twitter by typing in that #inclusionfusion12 in your searches.  This will avail you of much of the conversation.  However, there is nothing like being in that TweetChat room with the live, scrolling conversation that you need not continually refresh.  The discussions with people who share a common passion or interest from anywhere in the world is truly amazing!

I pray that you find this information helpful to you!  I encourage you to try this out prior to our first chat on November 12th at 9:00 PM EST.  We look forward to chatting with you and all of the participants in the Inclusion Fusion Special Needs Ministry Web Summit every night at 9:00 PM during this year’s Web Summit!  This is definitely a mission field worth discussing!

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FOUR DAYS TO GO! Join Barb 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.

 

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Faces of the Movement…Beth Guckenberger

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Dr. G

Our team at Key Ministry is encouraged by the intentional efforts of so many churches to provide homes for kids in foster care and children available for adoption. Our ministry was birthed out of an initiative by a local church in the late 1990’s to support families within the church I attended who had adopted kids from orphanages in Russia and Bulgaria. We wanted to draw attention to the spiritual needs of kids who have been adopted and there families. We’re pleased Beth Guckenberger will be joining us for Inclusion Fusion 2012 to help address the topic.

Beth and her husband, Todd, live with their family in Monterrey, Mexico where they serve with Back2Back Ministries, an international orphan care ministry headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Both Beth and Todd graduated from Indiana University with degrees in education and between biological, foster, and adopted, are raising nine children. Currently the ministry has operations on three different continents (Mexico, India, and Nigeria). The Guckenberger’s have lived in Monterrey since 1997 and in that time have hosted thousands of guests on the ministry campus.

Beth is the author of Reckless Faith (Zondervan, 2008), Relentless Hope (Standard Publishing, 2010), and Tales of the Not Forgotten (Standard Publishing, 2012). She travels and speaks regularly at women’s and missions conferences, youth gatherings and church services. Her topics include, but are not limited to, orphan care, missions, parenting, marriage/intimacy, and general faith. Her style is story-telling and she draws from her field experience as a missionary and parent of nine children for illustrations to biblical concepts.

Beth will be speaking on the topic…Holistically Serving the Adopted/Foster Child. Here’s a summary of her presentation:

Blending the needs of foster and adopted kids can be challenging and with scriptural and practical examples Beth will share some of her experiences of how she has had to foster/adopt a child right where they are and how to help them enter into a community.

Check out Beth’s website to learn more about the impact of her ministry.

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FIVE DAYS TO GO! Join Beth 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 Adoption, Advocacy, Families, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Faces of the movement…John Knight

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Dr. G

We’re blessed to have John Knight be a part of Inclusion Fusion next week. John has a little event of his own coming up next week, but we’re grateful he’s found the time to be part of this year’s Special Needs Ministry Web Summit.

John serves as Director of Donor Partnerships at Desiring God. He is married to Dianne and together they parent their four children: Paul, Hannah, Daniel, and Johnny. Paul lives with multiple disabilities including blindness, autism, cognitive impairments and a seizure disorder. John blogs on issues of disability, the Bible, and the church at The Works of God. His presentation for Inclusion Fusion is For the Sake of Your Own Joy! Why Your Church Should Want Families Like Mine. Here’s a brief summary of his presentation…

As a leader you know you should ‘do something’ about all those people with disabilities around you – but what? If you’ve been stuck about what to do, maybe it’s because you don’t have the proper motivation. It isn’t really about them, but about your pursuing your own joy in God!

John did a fabulous video promoting his Inclusion Fusion appearance on the topic of “Why” inclusive ministry to families of kids with disabilities is so important…

I mentioned above that John is fairly busy this week. His team is putting on the Desiring God Disability Conference on Thursday morning, November 8th at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mounds View, MN. Featured speakers include Nancy Guthrie, Greg Lucas, Matt Talbot and John Piper. Here’s a link for in-person registration, but John and the good folks at Desiring God are livestreaming the event for free. (We like free.) To watch, click on www.desiringgod.org/live beginning at 8:30 a.m. (Central) on Thursday.

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SIX DAYS TO GO! Join John 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.

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Libby Peterson: The Church Has Left the Building

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Dr. G

If our Key Ministry team had to identify our “founding mother,” she would be Libby Peterson.

Libby has served Bay Presbyterian Church for 20 years – as Director of Children’s Ministry and most recently as Family Ministry Director. She was instrumental in helping begin the church’s Special Needs Ministry which serves over 30 children and their families. Libby also serves as Vice-President of Key Ministry, where her wisdom, patience and common sense serve as a welcome counterbalance to some of the rougher edges of our Board President.

Libby’s talk for Inclusion Fusion is entitled Inclusion: An idea, an event or a lifestyle? Libby has graciously shared a preview of her talk for this year in the form of a blog post, The Church Has Left the Building…

What if the church left the building?

“So, you mean that we can invite the child we just met at the respite event to our house for my son’s birthday party?”

The question was asked at a gathering we held following a respite event at our church. We invited volunteers who served at the event to my house to debrief the respite and talk about connections they had made with the kids.

My answer to that question was an unreserved and totally enthusiastic: “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!”

We held this gathering to begin to cast a vision for a next step in ministry that took ministry outside the walls of the church. I believe ministry happens best when real relationships develop – and we wanted to encourage our families to people to begin building relationships/friendships with the families they served. Our hope is that through these relationships not only will these families be drawn closer to Christ, but that through these relationships we’d be able to develop relationships with families they know who we don’t know or ever see at one of our events.  And some real friendships have emerged.. ..and we’ve learned AGAIN just how much we need each other. Once real friendships emerge, the depths of some of the real needs surface too. One family might not have all it takes to really love and serve another. We need each other.

So we started asking: What if several families from the church who care about reaching families with children with special needs began to get together  in community and as a community they were intentional about doing ministry outside the walls of the church – to love and serve and reach families with children with special needs?

And what if – through these friendships over time, the families with children with special needs were invited to be part of these communities?  After all  – belonging to a community of Christ – followers is the best way to learn to follow Christ!

We are challenging ourselves to take that next step in ministry – 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.

What if we woke up one day and discovered – as one of my pastors, Carol Rettew, recently put it –

The church has left the building!!!!!!

How exciting to envision the church on mission to families with children with special needs – on their turf!

For an additional sample of what you might expect from Libby’s presentation this year, here’s her video from Inclusion Fusion 2011 on Relational Respite…

Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit 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 Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry, Resources, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Faces of the Movement…Jim Hukill

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Dr. G

Jim Hukill has been a leader in the disability ministry movement before I became aware that there was a disability ministry movement…a true “founding father.” For the past fifteen years Jim has served as Executive Director of Lift Disability Network, the successor organization to the Christian Council on Persons With Disabilities. He was one of the first speakers to sign on for our inaugural Inclusion Fusion.  He’s back this year to speak on the topic Exchange of Presence.

Before the age of two, Jim was diagnosed with a neuro-muscular disease, a form of Muscular Dystrophy, a disease that has steadily weakened the muscles of his body and has left him dependent on the use of a wheelchair. However, the limitation of Jim’s physical body has not dictated the limits of his life. Jim says, “If you dream big dreams, you will live bigger realities”. With a life expectancy of less than ten years and a diagnosis of life-long respiratory problems, Jim has experienced living well beyond this early prognosis. Today he celebrates more than five decades of “life-miracles” and bigger realities.

What does it mean for Jesus to have come and dwelt among us? What does abide have to do with His physical presence in the human experience? Does Christ’s example of being present in the world set a precedent for us as his followers in regards to how important presence is as an exchange of life with each other? In this discussion on the Exchange of Presence, Jim will discuss the importance of presence in each other’s lives and, in particular, the ministry of presence within the disability communities’ exchange of life with the church. Finally, he will look briefly at a practical example of what an exchange of presence looks like in the inclusive church.

Here’s a video from Jim in which he shares his take on “Why” it’s so important for churches to be intentional about welcoming persons with disabilities and their families…

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ONE WEEK TO GO! Join Jim 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.

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Faces of the Movement…Chris Nelson

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Dr. G

Technology is everywhere. Technology makes events such as Inclusion Fusion possible. Leaders in the disability community are beginning to explore the use of available technologies to minster to more individuals and more families more effectively. Chris Nelson will be providing a primer in the use of technology in inclusion ministry in his upcoming presentation  Technology and Special Needs Ministry.

Whether you’re still trying to figure out how to  justify the cost of an iPad for your ministry, or you’re an old pro looking for new apps for existing mobile devices: it’s Chris’ goal to help you use technology to reach kiddos with the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Chris is a consistent volunteer who for the past three years has run the Special Needs Ministry at Traders Point Christian Church. He is also the Director of Operations at Delivra, a Software as a Service company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He lives in the small town of Pittsboro with his wife and two children. Chris is an active board member on the CIO Advisory Council for NPower Indiana, sits on the Strategy Advisory Committee for Techpoint Foundation For Youth, and serves on the Industrial Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program for the IUPUI School of Engineering and Technology.

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Join Chris 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.

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Faces of the Movement…Amy Jacober

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Dr. G

Pastors and church leaders who minister with teens and young adults are essential to the disability ministry movement. Our Program Committee for Inclusion Fusion was intentional this year about seeking out leaders in youth ministry who are passionate about seeing the church become more effective in serving teens with disabilities. We’re very fortunate to have a nationally recognized youth ministry leader of Amy Jacober‘s status join us for this year’s Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Amy will be speaking on the topic of Good For All: how serving in ministry with people with disabilities strengthens your faith.

Amy (Ph.D., Fuller Theological Seminary) is a youth ministry veteran with ministry and teaching experience. She is a lead consultant with Youth Ministry Architects and serves on the Young Life Capernaum national board. Most recently she she wrote The Adolescent Journey (IVP, 2011) with a book on theology and disability in process. In her free time she can be found playing with her two girls, husband and oversized dog.

In Amy’s presentation, she’ll expound upon her observation that many people find after volunteering with people with disabilities that their own faith not only is strengthened but flourishes. What may begin as a hesitant agreement to “serve others” becomes a life changing experience for all involved. This is good news for those recruiting leaders who may be reluctant thinking that they either not qualified or fearful of what it may do to their faith.

Amy shared a wonderful invitation to followers of her blog earlier this week entitled Invitation to Inclusion about why including adolescents with disabilities and their families into the life of the church is so important. Our Key Ministry team hopes to have you join us for Inclusion Fusion to learn more from Amy during the week of November 12th-16th.

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Join Amy 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.

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Guest Blogger: Amy Dolan

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Dr. G

I vividly recall a time early in my career when I was giving a presentation at a major scientific meeting and looked down to see four of the top ten guys in the world in the topic I was discussing seated in the front row. After the talk, one of the guys took me aside, asked lots of questions, made some suggestions about other presentations that I needed to see and generally made me feel welcome as a member of “the club.” As Key Ministry has sought to become part of the “Kidmin” world, Amy Dolan has been for Key Ministry what my distinguished colleague had been for me…a person of considerable stature and influence who has made our team feel welcome. Amy currently serves as Lead Consultant, Founder, Speaker and Blogger for Lemon Lime Kids located in Chicago, IL. We’re honored to have Amy join us for Inclusion Fusion 2012. The title of her presentation is The Intersection of Calling and Opportunity.

Amy brings previous children’s ministry experience from Willow Creek Community Church where she served as Promiseland’s Age 4-5 Curriculum Writer and Teacher, Willow Creek Association where she led as Executive Director of Children’s Ministries, Head Start where she worked as Lead Preschool Teacher, and The Chapel as Children’s Ministry Director.

In addition to leading Lemon Lime Kids, Amy also develops curriculum for What’s in the Bible?, Directs the What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Project, and is listed among the top 100 Children’s Ministry Blogs. 

Amy serves as a Board Member for Pathways to Global Literacy, a not-for profit organization aimed at promoting literacy in developing countries.

Amy believes the church fully empowered, combined with the commitment of the family, and the compassion of the community has the power to inspire children’s faith for a lifetime.

Amy is thrilled to be presenting at the upcoming Inclusion Fusion on the topic of Opportunity and Calling. Here’s a guest blog from Amy in which she reflects on the idea of calling intersecting with opportunity as a powerful and crucial force in a child’s spiritual life…

For the sake of children’s spiritual formation, we must absolutely recognize our calling {that specific unique call that God gives to each of us} and then match that call with an opportunity {a place in which our calling can be lived out}. Children need us to be serving out of our calling.

And yet, discovering our calling requires that we listen to God’s voice, receive feedback from others, and take note of the patterns in our lives. For Amy, her calling is to care for church leaders who lead children in the church. She’s continually heard God’s voice on this, even on the days she most doubts herself and feels tempted to pursue a new career path. God doesn’t let this her calling go, ever, instead asking her to accept opportunities to live this out.

And yet, mtching a calling with opportunity can often be the difficult part. Finding an opportunity {whether as a paid staff member or as a volunteer} is where your calling comes to life. God calls for a reason. Your opportunity often is that reason. And for us, matching our calling with opportunity is key for the spiritual formation of children. Whether it’s teaching, leading, singing, creating, writing, administrating, or managing, your opportunity is where you affect the lives of children. Don’t miss out. Find your opportunity.

Join Amy at Inclusion Fusion 2012 to discover your unique calling and how to best match it with opportunity for the sake of the children in your church.

Here’s Amy’s presentation from last year’s Inclusion Fusion on Customizing Your Curriculum.

Join Amy and 35 other leaders serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit 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.

 

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