The ENGAGE Conference…Downloads Available

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Dr. G

I’m looking forward to a little trip to Pennsylvania later this week during which I’ll present three workshops at the ENGAGE Children’s Ministry Training Event, graciously hosted by the Central Pennsylvania Children’s Ministry Network at West Shore Evangelical Church in Mechanicsburg (near Harrisburg) PA, on Friday, November 9th and Saturday, November 10th.

The Keynote speaker at the conference is Sue Miller, renowned children’s ministry leader, former director of the Promiseland Children’s Ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, IL, and current employee of the reThink Group in Atlanta, where she leads the team developing the First Look curriculum.

Over 50 workshops will be offered at the conference, including a series of workshops led by Wayne Stocks, founder of Divorce Ministry 4 Kids.

Here are the titles and summaries of the workshops I’ll be presenting at the ENGAGE conference-Click the presentation title in order to download a .pdf file of the slides…

Hidden Disabilities 101

A majority of children with disabilities that negatively impact church attendance and participation suffer from “hidden disabilities”…serious emotional, behavioral, developmental and neurologic conditions with no outwardly apparent symptoms. Most can be successfully included in children’s ministry activities and served through a family ministry approach without the need for “buddies” or the creation of a “special needs ministry.” In this workshop, participants will identify strategies to overcome common barriers to inclusion of kids in children’s ministry with conditions including ADHD, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, mood disorders, learning disabilities and trauma, and apply family ministry principles to promoting spiritual growth among children with hidden disabilities and their siblings.

Including the Child With Aggressive Behavior at Church

Kids with a history of aggressive behavior can generally be included in children’s ministry programming with appropriate forethought and training. In this workshop, participants will identify church environments and activities associated with increased risk for aggression, receive tools for disrupting patterns of behavior in children with the potential to lead to aggression, review communication strategies with parents after an act of aggressive behavior has occurred and discuss ministry alternatives when a child with a history of aggression can’t safely be included at church.

Impact of the 3 A’s”…ADHD, Anxiety Disorders and Asperger’s Disorder on Spiritual Development in Kids

Over 9% of children ages 5-17 in the U.S. have received a prescription for ADHD medication. 8-20% meet criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. The majority of kids diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders are of average or above average intelligence. This workshop will help equip children’s ministry staff and volunteers to recognize obstacles to spiritual growth for kids with at least one of the “3 A’s”… ADHD, Anxiety Disorders and Asperger’s Disorder. Strategies will be presented for promoting spiritual growth in kids with the “3 A’s”, partnering effectively with their parents or caregivers and identifying gifts and talents present in kids with the “3 A’s” that might be shaped and molded for Kingdom purposes.

Registration for the two day conference is very modestly priced at $20.00 prior to October 31st, available through this link and includes:

  • 3 main sessions with Sue Miller as our keynote speaker
  • 5 workshops
  • Saturday lunch + snacks throughout the conference
  • A Resource Room packed with curriculum, books and lots of information on camps and non profit organizations.

I’m looking forward to meeting personally friends of Key Ministry from Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, as well as children’s ministry leaders from across the mid-Atlantic region at the Engage Conference next month.

Oh yeah…there’s this other little event that our crew from Key Ministry is putting together on the Internet for a couple thousand of our closest friends around the world from November 12-16. For an up to date list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and a link for FREE registration for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s Second Annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit, click here.

Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Autism, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Resources, Training Events | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Faces of the Movement: Ben Conner (Part Two)

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Dr. G

We’re back for the second part of our interview with Ben Conner, author of the new book, Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities. Today, Ben discusses the role of parents, imaginative ministry strategies and compares advantages of full inclusion vs. stand alone ministry for teens and young adults with developmental disabilities.

C4EC: How can the church serve better serve parents and caregivers of teens with developmental disabilities? How can the church best partner with parents in promoting the spiritual development of teens with developmental disabilities?

BC: Parents need to be heard and connected to other parents who share their particular struggles.  They also need respite.

Try having a regularly scheduled parents night out where the church provides a fun and spiritually meaningful time for their kids and I bet you will have a growing response.

C4EC: I liked the statement you made in the book… “The problem is not that adolescents with developmental disabilities have cognitive impairments; the problem is a lack of imagination and an incomplete understanding of prayer on my part.” What are some of the most imaginative strategies you’ve encountered for ministering effectively to youth with developmental disabilities that you weren’t able to include in the book?

BC: Recently I have hired a Staff Associate who has gifts in art. She has been using art to communicate things about the image of God, our interconnectedness as part of Christ’s body, our unique giftedness and contribution to the community.  For example, she has a blank puzzle (you can purchase at any craft store) and she is putting images of our kids on each of the puzzle and letting each kid see themselves connected and then is giving them their piece.

The puzzle is not complete unless everyone is represented. She is also talented enough to take ideas from our group and paint an image that incorporates everyone’s input.  The students play a part in creating something in an image that they imagine.  She then ties our creation to the idea that we are a creation of God, created in His image.  Finally, and more simply, we were talking more about being in God’s image and not letting the world “squeeze you into its mold” (Romans 12:1-2, J B Phillips).  We found cross-shaped stepping stone molds at a craft store (Ben Franklin, Michaels and others) and in groups with the kids made the stepping stones together.  The compound was formless until it was poured into the mold, but the cross-shaped mold gave it definition.  Kids were given beautiful stones to decorate the crosses with their leaders.

The stepping stones now live outside on of our regular meeting places so the kids see them every time the come and are reminded to be shaped like Christ.  I will be working on a companion book to Amplifying Our Witness that includes many of these ideas in detail.

C4EC: Throughout the book, you make a compelling argument for full inclusion in the church of kids with disabilities. You’re also an influential leader within Young Life Capernaum, which serves teens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Why is there a need for Young Life Capernaum? Wouldn’t it be more effective to include teens and young adults with developmental disabilities into existing Young Life groups?

BC: This might sound hypocritical, given all that I have been saying so far, but sometimes it is best to have events that are “reverse mainstreamed” events and sometimes it is simply fine to have events that only partially include people with developmental disabilities for their own sake.  Reverse mainstreaming means that the event prepared with the persons with developmental disabilities in mind and the typically developing peers come around them. This is most of our Capernaum events.  But, sometimes, you want a wild, busy, strobe-light filled, fast-moving ministry to reach different kids–I would not want to take many of my Capernaum kids to such a club, but I see the value in them.   This is why we have separate summer camping strategies with the option for taking kids with dev. dis. to typical summer camps.  On another level, I love to share in Bible study and prayer with kids with disabilities and I think they should all be included in the major weekly event of our congregations, Sunday worship.  At the same time, I also love to read hard-core academic theology and discuss it with friends who are much more cerebrally gifted than I–to be “included” in such a group in a significant way is simply not possible for my friends with intellectual disabilities.  At the same time, their presence in the life and community of people who are our theologians is an absolute necessity.  For example, I rewrote my dissertation in light of the lessons I was learning from my friends with disabilities.

Ben’s book, Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities is available through Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Ben will be serving alongside 35 other leaders representing the breadth and depth of interests throughout the field of disability ministry 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: Ben Conner

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Dr. G

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to share a review of Ben Conner’s new book, Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities. Ben has graciously agreed to discuss his book with us in a two-part interview.

Ben has worked with adolescents for twenty years and currently runs a ministry to adolescents with developmental disabilities in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has taught courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary and at Memphis Theological Seminary through the Center for Youth Ministry Training. He’ll also be serving as a faculty member for Inclusion Fusion 2012, speaking on the topic Amplifying Our Witness: From Inclusion to Partnership. In Ben’s Inclusion Fusion talk, he’ll challenge congregations to take seriously the seventeen percent of adolescents with developmental disabilities by offering a practice-centered approach to ministry that accounts for their perspectives, faith responses and contribution to the church’s witness. Here’s our interview with Ben…

C4EC: In your book, you make a connection between the doctrine of election and the importance of pursuing relationships with kids who have disabilities. What strategies would you recommend to churches seeking to pursue kids with developmental disabilities and their families?

BC: I was reading books written by John Elder Robison, a well known self-advocate for people with Asperger’s when I noticed that his solution to the problem of being disconnected was to make yourself more “choosable”.  For him, this meant to discern emotions and proper responses outside of feelings.  To learn when sarcasm might be used even if he can’t pick up on it.  To avoid certain verbal responses to situations even if they seem merited. His plan worked for him, but is not feasible for many of the kids I work with who don’t share his intellectual capacity.  Instead,  I suggest, these kids need to be chosen as friends.  In order to choose them as friends, people from our churches need to be where they are.  So my strategy is to go where kids with developmental disabilities gather or are gathered: Buddy sports programs, help out at a local school, volunteer at a therapeutic horse riding facility, get involved in Special Olympics, or even have someone from your church start a program, like an assisted art program, that supports that community.   When you reach out in love to kids with developmental disabilities you will also being serving their families.

C4EC: You cite the statistic that nearly 20% of youth are diagnosed with a developmental disability in emphasizing the need for inclusive ministry for teens, but much of your book focuses on the relatively small subgroup of kids with intellectual disabilities. What suggestions do you have for serving teens with developmental disabilities without intellectual disabilities? Teens with anxiety or ADHD? Teens who have been traumatized or suffer from attachment issues? Teens with Asperger’s Disorder who are often very sensitive to being lumped together with kids who have intellectual disabilities?

BC: Most of the kids who are involved in our ministry who have Asperger’s without an intellectual disability are given some sort of leadership role so that they can contribute to the ministry.  We will make them responsible for either an individual or some aspect of our event or program.

C4EC: You claim in the book that “it is our culture that disables.” What do you see as the role of the church in transforming the disabling culture?

BC: Clearly it is not culture that his given/caused the developmental disorder or intellectual disability, but it is our culture that makes it difficult for such people a place to exercise their gifts, participate in social life in meaningful ways or feel like they belong.   Church youth groups are strategically placed to transform our disabling culture, beginning in the lunchroom at school.  Youth groups can prepare students to befriend their peers with developmental disabilities, to share in life with them and to give kids with disabilities activities to look forward to.

Tomorrow: Ben discusses the role of parents, imaginative ministry strategies and compares advantages of full inclusion vs. stand alone ministry for teens and young adults with developmental disabilities

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 Autism, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Resources, Strategies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus doesn’t want anybody left by the side of the road!

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Dr. G

Mike Woods deserves the credit for this year’s theme for Inclusion Fusion…“Why?” Why is it so important for churches to welcome kids and adults with disabilities and their families?

Mike has graciously shared with us his video response to the question “Why?” As usual, he doesn’t disappoint! We’re all looking forward to Mike’s Inclusion Fusion presentation, Partnering With Parents.

Jesus doesn’t want anybody left by the side of the road!

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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Blessed to be scandalously generous

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Dr. G

While reading my e-mail yesterday in the parking lot of the McDonald’s across from my office (an all too common occurrence), I came across a message promoting a ticket giveaway for a very cool ministry conference. I’m sure that the conference organizers received FAR more applications for free tickets than they were able to accommodate.

I felt very thankful sitting in the drive-thru line that I serve with a Board and staff team at Key Ministry that doesn’t have to turn away any pastor, ministry leader, volunteer or individual seeking resources to help connect kids with special needs and their families with a local church. I don’t know how I’d tell a leader interested in the resources we offer without the means to pay for them that they couldn’t come to our conference. And thanks to the generosity of our ministry supporters, I’m blessed that I don’t have to.

We put on Inclusion Fusion, a web-based Special Needs Ministry summit for the first time last November that we were able to give away to over 1,300 leaders who were registered. We recently made available all of the video presentations from last year’s Web Summit as on-demand video on our ministry website. By the time our speaker roster is finalized for this year, we’ll have somewhere between 35-40 ministry leaders donating their time so that we can “give away” what I hope will be in excess of 2,000 conference registrations this year.

Most churches, and all too many families of kids with disabilities, struggle to make ends meet financially. Registration fees for major ministry conferences, not to mention the costs involved with travel make attendance impossible for too many churches with a heart for serving kids with special needs in their communities. While I wish we had the opportunity to offer in-person networking opportunities at Inclusion Fusion, I’m blessed (and our team is blessed) by the opportunity to be scandalously generous with the resources God has entrusted to us.

Help us to be scandalously generous! Spread the word about Inclusion Fusion 2012 so that any church or leader seeking to learn more about serving families impacted by disabilities without the resources to attend any of the other excellent conferences would be able to join with us from November 12-16.

Check out this video from Harmony Hensley on inclusive ministry environments from last year’s Inclusion Fusion…

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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Connect with Katie and Harmony at the Group Kidmin Conference

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Dr. G

If you plan to attend this weekend’s Group Kidmin children’s ministry extravaganza in Chicago, make a point of connecting with Katie Wetherbee and Harmony Hensley from our Key Ministry team.

Katie will be presenting a “Half-Track” session at the Group KidMin Conference, to be held in Chicago September 28-October 1. “Half-Tracks” are composed of two, two-hour sessions for a total of four hours focused on learning, discussion and application. Katie’s half-track will be Special Needs-A Church For Every Child, and is scheduled for Saturday the 29th. Her morning session is Understanding Special Needs, while in the afternoon she’ll cover Strategies For Including Families With Special Needs. Here’s the summary of Katie’s “Half-Track” session:

Families affected by special needs are significantly less likely to attend church on a regular basis. This half-track will help you turn that around. Discover how common disabilities affect faith development and cause obstacles for church attendance. Delve into family dynamics and discuss ways to communicate effectively with parents of children with special needs. Practice easy-to-implement strategies for welcoming and teaching kids with special needs; behavior management, classroom culture and modifying curriculum.

Harmony will be attending the conference and available for networking. Both of them would be delighted to help you in answering any questions you may have about ministry to kids with disabilities and their families. If you’re going to be at the conference, make a point of connecting with them. We have lots of great resources to share, but the resource we most want to share with our ministry colleagues is relationship.

For those who’ve never had the opportunity to see Katie present, here’s an interview she did for last year’s Inclusion Fusion on the topic of Advocating For Your Child at Church.

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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Book Review: Amplifying Our Witness by Ben Conner

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Dr. G

When our Program Committee for Inclusion Fusion was soliciting recommendations for this year’s Web Summit, Ben Conner’s name was submitted by more than one source. He’s a theologian (a graduate of Princeton Seminary) who has worked with adolescents for twenty years and currently runs a ministry to adolescents with developmental disabilities in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has taught courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary and at Memphis Theological Seminary through the Center for Youth Ministry Training. After reading Ben’s recently released book Amplifying Our Witness: Giving Voice to Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities I’m very much looking forward to his video presentation for this year’s Web Summit.

In Ben’s book, he advocates for a “practice-centered” approach to discipleship of teens and young adults with developmental disabilities. Through including adolescents with developmental disabilities in traditional Christian practices (worship, hospitality, prayer, friendship) involving participation in a community of faith, a transformative effect on spiritual development can occur based upon intuition and impression that doesn’t necessarily correspond to our understanding of intellectual or psychosocial development. In Ben’s words…

Christian practices have a transformational quality related to a spiritual reality such that participating in Christian practices puts one in a position to recognize, experience and participate in God’s active presence for the world.

Ben asserts that the spiritual practices create “spaces” or “arenas” that put us into a position where we can be formed spiritually, and are particularly suited for the spiritual nature of persons with developmental disabilities, because there’s no intellectual capacity threshold necessary for participation in Christian practices. When I read Ben’s book, the thought that came to mind was the notion of “missional community” in which churches are purposeful and intentional about establishing environments in which all members can experience spiritual growth while using their gifts and talents in expanding the reach of the Kingdom.

I thought Ben did an excellent job of of communicating the theological foundation supporting inclusion of kids with developmental disabilities in the life of the church and the blessings that result from inclusive ministry. He brings both many years of experience as a Young Life Capernaum leader and his depth of knowledge as a theology professor to a discussion of the needs of a population long underserved within the church. He offers a number of practical strategies for serving teens with developmental disabilities within the church without becoming overly prescriptive.

Ben’s book explains WHY the church is called to serve kids with developmental disabilities while leaving the HOW to our God-given imagination and the working of the Holy Spirit. One of my favorite quotes in his book…

“The problem is not that adolescents with developmental disabilities have cognitive impairments; the problem is a lack of imagination and an incomplete understanding of prayer on my part.”

Given the explosion of kids diagnosed with developmental disabilities, Amplifying Our witness is a worthwhile read for any church leader interested in the spiritual development of our youth. The book is concise and well-written…I read it over two late summer afternoons by the pool after our kids were back in school.

Amplifying Our Witness can be ordered through Ben’s Amazon author page, or through many fine Christian bookstores.

Ben, along with over 30 other leaders in the field of disability ministry will be serving as faculty for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s second annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Inclusion Fusion 2012 will be made available FREE OF CHARGE to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere from November 12th-16th. For an updated list of speakers, topics, links to speaker blogs and free registration, click here.

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The Inclusion Fusion Disability Ministry Video Library

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Dr. G

I’m very pleased to announce that Key Ministry is making available the Inclusion Fusion Disability Ministry Video Library free of charge to pastors, church staff, volunteers and families everywhere.

When our team launched the initial Inclusion Fusion Web Summit last year, our intent was to develop over a period of years a comprehensive library of videos covering topics of interest to churches engaged in ministry to families impacted by disabilities. We’ve made available all of the videos featured in last year’s Web Summit, and we’ll add the videos made by Key Ministry staff and volunteers following the conclusion of this year’s Inclusion Fusion.

To access all of the video content from last year’s Inclusion Fusion, go to the Key Ministry website, hover the mouse over the resources box in the toolbar at the top of the page, and click on “resource kit.” If you haven’t yet registered for the website, you’ll create a user name and a password that will give you full access to all the resources housed on the site. Once you enter the resource kit, click on the Inclusion Fusion Library icon, and you’re free to access any of last year’s presentations at your leisure.

Here are links to presenter handouts (in .pdf format) where available to accompany last year’s presentations…

Dr. Cara Daily: Autism Spectrum Disorders: Practical Tips For the Church

Shannon Dingle: Common Misperceptions About Special Needs Ministry

Shannon Dingle: Disability, the Sanctity of Life and the Church

Barb Dittrich: Bathing in the Healing of Forgiveness

Amy Dolan: Customizing Your Curriculum

Joe and Cindi Ferrini: The Unexpected Journey of Relationships-When Special Needs Change Our Course

David Glover: The P.U.R.E. Ministry Project-What, Why, Where and When?

Dr. Steve Grcevich: Kids With “Issues”…The Mission Field Next Door

Rebecca Hamilton: Starting a Respite Outreach at Your Church

Rebecca Hamilton/Katie Wetherbee: Got the Keys? Starting Your Ministry

Harmony Hensley: Welcoming Ministry Environments

Amanda Mooney: We Know We Should…But How? Student Information Form, Student Planning Form and 9 Types of Adaptations

Jolene Philo: Ten Ways Churches Can Support Parents of Kids With Special Needs

Bob West: Where is My Heart?

Katie Wetherbee: How to Advocate For Your Child at Church

Laura Lee Wright: For Kingdom’s Sake…Creating Service Opportunities

Last year’s Inclusion Fusion presentations are also available as a DVD box set available by our partners at Pajama Conference at a cost of $49.00. The proceeds help to support the availability of free training events, including Inclusion Fusion and the Children’s Ministry Websummit.

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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Ten Ways Churches Can Support Parents of Kids With Special Needs

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Dr. G

This coming Sunday, I’ll have what I think is a pretty special free resource to share with church staff, volunteers and family members who make up the disability ministry community. To tide your over until then, I’d like to share with you one of our most outstanding presentations from last year’s inaugural Inclusion Fusion Special Needs Ministry Web Summit.

One of our presenters returning for Inclusion Fusion 2012 is Jolene Philo. Jolene’s first child was born with a life-threatening birth defect that required immediate surgery and six more surgeries over the next 15 years. She worked with students with special needs s in a variety of settings during her 25 years as a classroom teacher. She also served for four years as Director of Discipleship and Assimilation at her church. Her book, A Different Dream for My Child: Meditations for Parents of Critically and Chronically Ill Children was released by Discovery House Publishers in 2009. Her newest book, Different Dream Parenting: A Practical Guide to Raising a Child with Special Needs is now available.

Jolene did a wonderful talk on the topic Ten Ways Churches Can Support Parents of Kids With Special Needs for last year’s Web Summit (click on the link above to download her slides). Feel free to share this talk with others, and if you’re interested in more resources like Jolene’s presentation, click the link in the last paragraph for FREE registration to this year’s Inclusion Fusion 2012, scheduled from November 12th-16th.

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 fromNovember 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…Aaron Scheffler

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Dr. G

Leading up to this year’s Inclusion Fusion, our team wants to introduce you to some of the people God has called to serve as leaders in the movement among local congregations to more effectively serve, welcome and include kids with disabilities and their families into the life of the church. Today, we’d like to start by introducing you to Aaron Scheffler, one of our speakers for Inclusion Fusion 2012, and a first-year member of the Program Committee responsible for assembling the speakers and content for this year’s Web Summit.

Aaron serves as the Executive Director for Mark 2 Ministries, an organization that works with churches around the globe to equip them to be able to show Jesus’ love to people with disabilities and to integrate these same people into their congregations. He is a life-long learner in the areas of Scripture, Business, Leadership, Disability, and Education. Aaron is a native of the north side of Indianapolis Indiana. He now lives in the Indy north suburban area with his wife, Debra where he enjoys cycling and reading in his spare time. Aaron’s Inclusion Fusion presentation is on the topic…Networking: For Ministry.

Mark 2 has served a vital role in pulling together a diverse group of churches from throughout the state of Indiana for training and mutual support as individual churches pursue active disability ministry initiatives. Many believe that networking is a business activity that is used solely by businesses. Mark 2 has demonstrated how networking is now a vital part of church life and ministry as well. Aaron will spend time in his presentation discussing how to develop networking groups to facilitate churches talking to one another to share experiences – good and bad – to further the Kingdom. He’ll also discuss how networking groups help to propel ministry while avoiding pitfalls.

Aaron will be inviting over 100 churches from across Indiana for an Inclusion Fusion “watch party” on Thursday, November 15th. Staff and volunteers from churches served by Mark 2 will gather and watch some of the video presentations of greatest interest. Members of our Key Ministry team can be available to video conference for other church groups planning watch parties for Inclusion Fusion week (November 12-16).

Here’s a brief video Aaron shared with us explaining “Why” he thinks the topic of including persons with disabilities and their families is of great importance to the church…

To contact Aaron directly, or for more information on the services provided by Mark 2 Ministries, e-mail Aaron at: aaron@mark2ministries.org, check out their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. Here’s a blog post Aaron did last year on the Disability Ministry Connection (DMC) that he has put together in Indiana through his work with Mark 2.

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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