Should a Parent of a Child With Special Needs Run For President?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Dr. G

Note: Any comments or opinions expressed in this blog post reflect my personal viewpoints and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Key Ministry or its’ Board of Directors.

I’d learned for the first time that Rick Santorum has a daughter with special needs while watching the election returns from Iowa last night. The Santorums’ three year old daughter (Bella) has Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability in the small percentage of kids with the condition who survive for longer than a year.

When I started using Google to learn more, I came across an interview from last month with Senator Santorum. One question (around the 3:35 mark of the interview) jumped out at me…

“As a mother, I just wonder how you can keep going and justify this (running for President) with so much personal toll at home, given the polls.”

I’n my practice and in my volunteer work with Key Ministry, I’ve talked to too many mothers and fathers of kids with special emotional or behavioral needs whose parenting decisions and practices have been harshly judged by those who have never walked in their shoes or sought to understand the challenges they face.

I was serving on a church board where we considered a candidate for senior pastor who had been very open in discussing his son with autism during his preaching and teaching. The position involves lots of evening and weekend meetings and lends itself to a highly unpredictable schedule, none of which is necessarily helpful when one has a child who doesn’t respond well to changes in routine. The candidate was hired by the Board…I’d argue that the impact of his ministry has been enhanced by his experiences as a parent. All too often, I suspect that churches and other organizations make assumptions about how parents of kids with special needs should be spending their time that result in those parents missing out on opportunities for meaningful service.

I’m not expressing an opinion about Mr. Santorum’s candidacy one way or another. But he and his family deserve the respect to make decisions about how best to serve while raising a child with special needs, and we shouldn’t presume that we know what’s best for his children and his family, or any other family in which a child has a special emotional, behavioral, developmental or physical need. He deserves to be judged by the voters on the basis of his leadership ability, character, judgment and ideas and not by uninformed perceptions of how parents of kids with special needs should be spending their time.

Check out this video clip from an earlier debate…I don’t often see fathers of kids with special needs share from their experiences as openly as Senator Santorum did here…

Pajama Conference is able to support FREE ministry training and conferences such as Inclusion Fusion through selling advertising on their websites and conference recordings. Your purchase of the videos from Inclusion Fusion will help to support the costs involved with producing Inclusion Fusion, but other valuable training events including the 2012 Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Youth Ministry Web Summit. Click here to order the complete 2011 Inclusion Fusion DVD collection!

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Church4EveryChild…2011 in Review

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Dr. G

Some interesting stats from 2011…

Readers from at least 27 different countries accessed the blog in 2011.

Every continent was represented, except for Antarctica.

Blog traffic for the fourth quarter in 2011 was increased 377% compared to the same quarter in 2010. Thanks for your support!

The most viewed post was Special Needs and Divorce…What Does the Data Say? The page views for this post were nearly double that of the second most-viewed post.

The fourth most viewed post was actually published in 2010…Part Two of Harmony Hensley’s post on Welcoming Ministry Environments for Kids With ADHD. Easy to see why Harmony now has a position with our core ministry team, along with her own blog.

The most-viewed series originating in 2011 was our book study, Thinking Orange, in which we looked at applications of Reggie Joiner’s popular family ministry book with families of kids with disabilities. The most viewed series overall in 2011 was the 2010 series on ADHD and Spiritual Development.

Our three most popular guest bloggers were Colleen Swindoll-Thompson, Libby Peterson  and Michael Woods, closely followed by Shannon Dingle.

Here were the top posts of 2011:

#1. Special Needs and Divorce…What Does the Data Say?

#2. Inclusion Fusion 2011…Speaker Handouts

#3. Inclusion Fusion 2011…Speakers and Topics

#4.  Harmony Hensley: Welcoming Ministry Environments for Kids With ADHD (Part Two)

#5.  The Pros and Cons of Medication for Kids

Honorable Mention:  The relationship between ADHD and autism

Pajama Conference is able to support FREE ministry training and conferences such as Inclusion Fusion through selling advertising on their websites and conference recordings. Your purchase of the videos from Inclusion Fusion will help to support the costs involved with producing Inclusion Fusion, but other valuable training events including the 2012 Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Youth Ministry Web Summit. Click here to order the complete 2011 Inclusion Fusion DVD collection!
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Another New Resource…My “Professional” Facebook Page

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Dr. G

With the beginning of the New Year, I’m launching a new Facebook page to serve as an educational resource for families served by our practice, educators, my professional colleagues and anyone with interest in mental health and developmental disorders impacting children, adolescents and families.

In order to receive these updates on your Facebook “wall,” click here or enter Stephen Grcevich MD in the search box at the top of your Facebook page.

On another note, if you haven’t checked out SlideShare, handouts from eight of my Key Ministry presentations are available, along with handouts for several professional lectures. We had over 1,000 “views” in the first four days of the site. Feel free to share with your friends and colleagues.

Pajama Conference is able to support FREE ministry training and conferences such as Inclusion Fusion through selling advertising on their websites and conference recordings. Your purchase of the videos from Inclusion Fusion will help to support the costs involved with producing Inclusion Fusion, but other valuable training events including the 2012 Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Youth Ministry Web Summit. Click here to order the complete 2011 Inclusion Fusion DVD collection!

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The Game Plan for 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Dr. G

Best Wishes to friends of Key Ministry everywhere for a blessed, joyous and fruitful New Year!

I’m excited for the opportunity awaiting our ministry team to build upon the incredible gains of 2011, especially with Harmony Hensley joining our core ministry team, serving alongside Rebecca Hamilton, Katie Wetherbee and myself.

Unlike our pitiful, hometown excuse for an NFL team, our team has a solid game plan for the year ahead…not to mention an infinitely better Coach. Here’s a peek at our goals for 2012-goals worthy of a tenth anniversary celebration next December!

Developing a model for expanding a “boots on the ground” ministry presence into other major cities. We’re planning to launch pilot projects to put systems and people and funding to allow us to offer training, consultation, resources and support to churches throughout the U.S. and beyond with a relational presence.  We want churches undertaking ministry to families of kids with disabilities to have a person (or people) in their area who they can turn to for help and support…someone they can build a relationship with as they connect with and build relationships with families attracted by their ministry.

Building upon Inclusion Fusion. We’re looking forward to presenting several topical events in anticipation of this year’s conference, scheduled for November 8-12, 2012. We’re also anticipating major progress toward our long-term goal of offering a FREE, online video training library for churches seeking to minister with children and adults with a broad range of special needs and their families through the Inclusion Fusion website.

Implement prototypes for ministry to families of kids with disabilities through online church campuses. Thanks to technology, families who live in communities without churches equipped to fully welcome and include them may have access to worship experiences, excellent Biblical teaching, small group experiences and opportunities to be discipled. Web-based ministry may also be a useful tool for reaching kids with emotional, behavioral or social disabilities that have served as barriers to church participation.

Free Respite website. We’ll be operationalizing a website as early as possible in 2012 to help churches promote and manage free respite events, and help families of kids with special needs to locate churches offering free respite.

Ministry resources to help churches serve teens and young adults with disabilities in transition. With more and more churches launching inclusive ministries for children with disabilities, there’s a need to help support and transition kids from children’s programming to middle and high school ministry. We’ve also seen kids with anxiety disorders fall away during the transition because of discomfort in large group environments with unfamiliar peers and kids with Asperger’s Disorder struggle because of difficulties with peer relationships when ministry is done in small groups.

Any of these initiatives float your boat? Call or e-mail us if you’d like to join the fun.

Pajama Conference is able to support FREE ministry training and conferences such as Inclusion Fusion through selling advertising on their websites and conference recordings. Your purchase of the videos from Inclusion Fusion will help to support the costs involved with producing Inclusion Fusion, but other valuable training events including the 2012 Children’s Ministry Web Summit and Youth Ministry Web Summit. Click here to order the complete 2011 Inclusion Fusion DVD collection!


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The Gifts I’d Like to Give…Encouragement

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Dr. G

Parenting a child with a disability is hard work. So is leading a ministry organization.

For parents of children with disabilities, optimism can be elusive. The path to progress in school and in treatment often seem like three steps forward and two steps backward. It’s easy for parents to lose hope when new doctors, new therapies and new intervention plans don’t pan out.

Ministry leaders often face significant discouragement as well. Lately it seems as if a number of our like-minded colleagues are experiencing significant adversity. Since becoming involved in Key Ministry, I’ve become much more aware of the reality of spiritual warfare. Christians seeking to be of much usefulness in building the Kingdom can anticipate obstacles and resistance…the enemy doesn’t play by the rules. One common strategy employed by the “other team” is to play mind games with Christ-followers…to convince them that their ministry involvement won’t make a difference.

When I’ve faced times of great discouragement over this past year, one of the first places I turn to is my old church. There are a number of people there with the gift of saying the right thing at the right time…to remind me of past successes, of teaching from the Bible that I’ve forgotten in the heat of the moment or willing to share lessons learned from their past experiences. A big reason why we do what we do at Key Ministry is that I want all families, especially families struggling with the challenges of a child with a significant disability, to have a place to go where they’ll experience encouragement.

Can you take the time in the New Year to share genuine words of encouragement with families struggling with the challenges of a child with a disability? Our friends Barb Dittrich and Shannon Dingle have been through a lot this year. I’m sure they’d appreciate your prayers and encouragement as they continue to do great work in spite of the challenges placed in their paths.

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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Key Ministry Presentations on Slideshare

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Dr. G

I’ve established a page on slideshare to house Power Point presentations I’ve done for Key Ministry, and presentations for professional conferences. You can access the presentations I’ve posted by clicking here.

I’ve started by posting handouts for eight presentations…

Kids With “Issues”…The Mission Field Next Door, presented during Inclusion Fusion 2011.

Children and Youth Who Demonstrate Aggressive Behavior at Church…What to Do?, presented at the 2011 Bioethics Conference and Through The Roof Summit, Cedarville University, September 17, 2011.

The Impact of the “Three A’s” (ADHD, Anxiety and Autism) Upon Spiritual Development in Kids, presented at the 2011 Children’s Ministry Telesummit, April 5, 2011

Raising Spiritual Champions…What Does the Data Say?, updated 12/27/11.

Hidden Disabilities 101…Presented at Cuyahoga Valley Church, Broadview Heights, OH, October 17, 2010.

Tips and Tools for Including Children With Hidden Disabilities and Their Families at Church, prepared for volunteers at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, September, 2010.

Hidden Disabilities and Church…Cause of Irregular Attendance, Presented at Northland, A Church Distributed, October 3, 2009.

Embracing Children With Special Emotional/Behavioral Needs and Their Families…Responding to God’s Call, Fall 2009.

With one click, you can choose to “follow” my account on Slideshare, and receive notification when future presentations are added.

Our team at Key Ministry is pleased to offer another free resource to church staff, volunteers and parents.

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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The Gifts I’d Like to Give…Camaraderie

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Dr. G

We’re doing a series of posts to finish the year examining gifts that our team can “pay forward” to the churches and leaders we serve, so they in turn can help the families they serve to have an exceptional church experience. Today’s gift is the gift of camaraderie.

God created us to be in community with one another. Jesus repeatedly refers to His followers as brothers and sisters in His family. We were designed to be interdependent upon one another…nobody gets to have all the gifts. We were meant to have a place where we feel we belong…a place where we’re accepted, encouraged and challenged at the same time. The church is intended to be that community here on Earth.

I used the term camaraderie as opposed to community because camaraderie conveys a sense of trust and connection that forms when engaged in a mutual effort against a common obstacle or enemy. While we certainly experience a “peace that transcends all understanding” through faith in Jesus, our significance is fulfilled when we’re able to fully use our God-given gifts and talents for the purpose of re-establishing His Kingdom. We want the families connecting with the churches we serve to share in that opportunity.

I very much appreciate the camaraderie that’s present within our ministry team, and with other like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ in other ministry organizations. But I don’t think camaraderie occurs by accident. Our team was very intentional in seeking out wisdom from Scripture and respected leaders in creating a culture in which camaraderie could take root. There were three very intentional decisions our team made that I believe promoted the culture our Key Ministry team enjoys…

We were purposeful in avoiding the “cult of personality” in developing our organizational culture. Lots of Christian organizations derive their identities from their founder, or in the case of churches, the Senior Pastor. That never seemed especially healthy to me. It’s too easy for organizations to be defined by their leader as opposed to their cause…in our case, helping churches reach families affected by disabilities. Our cause is too big to be served by any one person. We always want our team to be able to accommodate highly talented people with a passion for advancing the mission.

We’re intentional in seeking opportunities for all of our key leaders to “shine.” Providing “platform time” for each of our team members at major conferences and proactively seeking out opportunities for every person to use his or her gifts and talents to optimal effect helps promote the culture of trust necessary to promote camaraderie and helps to make our team far stronger. In my day job, the best teaching and research centers have multiple thought leaders who are recognized for their unique areas of expertise. Why should ministry be different? Imagine what our churches would look like if they truly tapped into the gifts and talents of their people and provided them with opportunities to put their gifts on display?

We also seek to be intentional in affording others outside of our team the opportunity to “shine.”  We don’t have all the answers to the needs of the churches we serve or the families they serve. When we afford other like minded leaders the opportunity to serve, we make new friends and become better by learning from their wisdom and experience.

One aspect of my ministry gig I most enjoy is offering new volunteers opportunities to “get in the game” through using their gifts and talents to advance the Kingdom. One of our team members gave me a framed photo (below) of Abby Hamilton and Annie Wetherbee from their appearance at the Through The Roof Summit at Cedarville University this past September. Imagine what God will be able to accomplish through the two of them with such an early start.

I suspect few things please God as much as when we enjoy one another’s company working together to serve His purposes!

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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Entrepreneurs for Christ…Key Ministry Birthday Wishes

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Dr. G

Key Ministry was officially “born” on the evening of December 24th, 2002 in the office of Hu Auburn, founding Board Member and (at that time) Senior Pastor of Bay Presbyterian Church, between the 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM Christmas Eve services. I’d like to thank Hu and all of the people of Bay Presbyterian Church for the encouragement, prayer and support they have offered on my behalf and on behalf of our entire ministry team. I hope that the people of BPC, but especially our Father in Heaven are pleased with the return on investment they’ve received for their time, talent and treasure invested in Key Ministry.

Entrepreneurs for Christ.

I came across this paragraph from Bay Presbyterian’s website the other day during a Google search on an unrelated topic…

  • Nearly 100 years after its founding, BPC remains a unified, energized and highly focused congregation. Unlike many large churches, BPC is rarely concerned with preserving its past or avoiding change. Instead it has thrived year after year by teaching, equipping and inspiring highly qualified and visionary individuals among its staff and membership—people who have seen Christ at work first-hand within the church’s walls and who have responded in faith by initiating their own ministries both inside and outside BPC, often with the active support of the church itself. This is truly an empowered congregation.

I’m honored that Key Ministry is part of the Kingdom legacy of the people, past and present, of BPC. My hope is that we’ll still be around at Christ’s return, serving to extend the work He performed within the walls of Bay Pres by helping other churches everywhere minister to families of kids with disabilities.

My Christmas wish is for the Holy Spirit to be at work in other churches to provide the teaching, equipping and inspiration of “highly qualified and visionary individuals among their staff and membership” and unleash them to be about the work of the Kingdom.

Best Wishes for a very Merry Christmas 2011 from the Board of Directors, staff and volunteers of Key Ministry, and a Blessed and Joyous New Year!

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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The Gifts I’d Like to Give…Affirmation

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Dr. G

And now to Him, who through His power at work within us is able to do infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or imagine, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus today, tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day and for all eternity, Amen!

Ephesians 3:20-21

We’re doing a series of  posts to finish  the year examining gifts that our team can “pay forward” to the churches and leaders we serve, so they in turn can help the families they serve to have an experience of church similar to mine. Today’s gift is the gift of affirmation.

All too often, we as Christians fail to remind one another of the value each of us represents to the work of the Kingdom and to recognize and encourage one another in our daily work.

There are no second class citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven, or in the Kingdom Christ is building here on Earth. It’s pretty incredible that God doesn’t just want desire a relationship with all of us, but “through His power at work within us” He offers us the opportunity to partner with Him as He reestablishes His Kingdom here. We’re incredibly encouraged when we see other Christ-followers doing the work of the Kingdom and we’re pleased to have the opportunity to call attention to their work through the resources available to us.

Affirmation of those doing God’s work is also important because of the resistance to change they encounter in the course of doing their work. One thing that hasn’t changed about human nature since Jesus’ day is the tendency for some religious leaders to feel very threatened when new movements question long established patterns of thinking and behavior, especially when the leaders of those movements don’t have the “proper” training or credentials.

When I first saw this video, I thought of Jesus and the apostles, even though there’s nothing about the video that’s “Christian.” Jesus gives us the power to change the world. His followers who believe in His promises to the point they’re crazy enough to try will be the ones He’ll use to change the world. Our team will seek to affirm them.

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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Key Ministry in Pictures…2011

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Dr. G

Our Key Ministry team had quite a year in 2011. Here are some of the highlights…

January: Steve met for the first time in person with Jeremy Collins from Pajama Media. Jeremy was instrumental in helping us launch our video training initiatives, inviting us to participate in the Children’s Ministry Websummit, and partnering with us to develop Inclusion Fusion. Katie Wetherbee was hard at work in developing our Key Ring Binder, a resource kit for church staff and volunteers seeking  to launch an inclusive ministry for families of kids with special needs.

February: Our team provides training for Directors of Religious Education from Catholic churches located in the southeast region of the Cleveland Diocese. We filmed our first video training, to be presented at the Children’s Ministry Websummit.

March: Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati hosted our first ever JAM (Jumpstarting All-Inclusive Ministry) Session on March 18. We hosted ministry leaders from churches in four states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina), including our new friend Angie, who drove 11 hours one way for the training.

April: Our team was very busy in April. During the first ten days of the month, Harmony Hensley and Libby Peterson presented at the McLean Bible Church Accessibility Summit, Katie, Harmony and myself presented for the Children’s Ministry Telesummit and I had an opportunity to preach on the topic “Blessed by Brokenness” at Martindale Christian Fellowship in Canton, Ohio.

Later in April, Harmony had the opportunity to present two breakout sessions (How to Pan Special Needs Space and How to Recruit Special Needs Volunteers) at the Orange Conference in Atlanta. She was also interviewed for CMConnect Radio on the topics she presented at the Orange Conference in April and in May.

May: Our team began the process of training leaders interested in providing church-based free respite in Northwest Pennsylvania. Steve was interviewed by Mike Woods on Blog Talk Radio on the topic of Family-Focused Special Needs Ministry. Katie and Steve helped launch a new web site for leaders in the field of special needs ministry.

June: Rebecca Hamilton, Jolene Philo and Katie presented our second JAM Session in Des Moines, Iowa. We trained twelve leaders from eight churches located throughout Iowa, including a representative of the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, representing 68 parishes.

July: Steve and Katie were interviewed by Bob West for the Need Project podcast.

August: Plans for Inclusion Fusion, Key Ministry’s First Annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit were announced.

September: First free church-based respite offered in Northwest Pennsylvania. Training offered to expand Northeast Ohio respite network. Steve, Katie, Rebecca and Cara Daily presented training at Cedarville University as a part of the Bioethics Conference and Through The Roof Summit, sponsored by Joni and Friends, featuring Joni Earickson Tada as the Keynote Speaker.

Chuck Swindoll agreed to serve as Keynote Speaker for Inclusion Fusion.

October: Largest JAM Session to date held in suburban Cleveland. Rebecca, Katie and Amanda Mooney trained over twenty leaders from ten different churches in Northeast Ohio. Katie and Steve traveled to Insight for Living to film interviews with Chuck Swindoll and his family for Inclusion Fusion.

Steve begins to serve as a contributing author to the children’s ministry website Kidmin Leaders.

November: Inclusion Fusion attracted over 1,000 pastors, ministry leaders, volunteers and family members for our first Annual Special Needs Ministry Web Summit. Steve, Katie, Rebecca, Harmony, Libby, Amanda and Rhonda Martin from our ministry were among the 25 presenters offering training during the conference.

Harmony Hensley accepts a newly created position of Director of Ministry Advancement. Harmony is charged with the task of building an organization to deliver personalized consultation and support to church staff and volunteers in dozens of major cities to accompany our rapidly expanding training resources.

December: Key Ministry announces plans to develop a permanent, free special needs ministry training library that will reflect best practices for churches seeking to minister with children and adults with a broad range of special needs and their families.

Here’s Chuck’s Keynote Address from the Special Needs Ministry Web Summit:

Please consider including Key Ministry in your year-end giving plans. Your gifts to our Annual Fund Campaign make possible the provision of all the training, consultation, resources and support at no charge to the churches we serve. Online contributions can be made through our ministry website. We are also seeking friends to serve as advocates for Key Ministry with the Missions Board or Stewardship Committee of their local churches. Please contact Rebecca Hamilton at rebecca@keyministry.org for more information.

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