How can your church use Exceptional Teaching Online to enrich the training experience? Read this month’s Connections to see how ministries of different sizes and structures are benefitting from Exceptional Teaching Online.

Click to read Connections March 2009.

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Jim has met and learned from a lot of parents with children disabilities.  One of the most memorable was a father in Russia that carried his son to school to learn the lessons he was being taught so he could teach them to him later.  He wanted him to achieve.

While the letter is addressed to parents of children with disabilities, the advice serves well for all age groups.

Click this link - letter_to_parents - to read the letter. It is in pdf format so that you may easily print it to share with others.

Jim Pierson shares his plans for continuing to develop resources for disability ministry.

We gratefully announce the newest addition to our resources, The Importance of Good Social Skills: A Bible Study for Persons with Developmental Disabilities.

Please click to Read Connections January 2009.

An Open Letter to the Friends of CCFH Ministries:

Pictured above are the first and second presidents of CCFH Ministries.  I was the first and founding president.  Gary Spangler becomes the second president on January 1, 2009.

Today it seems like a long time since 1981. Yet, here we are 27 years from our first planning meeting and we have had some great success. We have built Riverwood Christian Community and operate an independent living program for adults with developmental disabilities. We supply people and churches all over the world with the educational material they need to reach those with disabilities. We partner with churches and individuals to reach out to our friends, brothers and sisters, who have special needs.

Even with our successes, we have not accomplished all we wanted to.  Now with a firm organization in place, we are ready to move to the next phase of this recognized disability ministry. 

So, I have decided to reduce my time to concentrate on developing materials and manage the educational piece of CCFH. All of the other duties will be the responsibility of the second president:  Gary Wayne Spangler.  A long-time member of the board of directors, Gary is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended the Okolona Christian Church where his father was pastor for 18 years. Gary is currently an elder at the McDonough Christian Church in McDonough, Georgia.  He has over 30 years of experience in the airline industry. Gary and his wife Becky see this venture in their lives as a real ministry.  I am happy for them and excited about the future of CCFH.   By the way, he has a wonderful voice (I don’t like to stand with him in church while we’re singing).

Pray for Gary and for CCFH and this time of transition.

Most sincerely,

Jim Pierson

President

In this issue Jim Pierson shares his thoughts in an article entitled “Training a Buddy for Disability Ministry is Easy”. He also addresses a question about participation in communion.

We are looking for your feedback. After reading, send us an email with your comments, questions, suggestions, or information about your ministry.

Check out our Nov 2008 Connections Newsletter.

Laura West has a story to share. She is the mother of a little girl, Maleka, adopted at 15 months old. Her daughter was born blind and then scalded by her birth mother. Let Laura West tell you about her journey. Visit the website at www.mymaleka.com and be inspired by how God continues to bless them to be a blessing to others.

In this issue of Connections, Jim Pierson will tell you about the first Disability Ministry Certificate being granted through the Johnson Bible College distance learning program. Also, learn about a new resource that will enhance your ministry training and read our thought provoking question and reply for this period.

Please click this link to view: Connections_Sept_081.pdf 

D. J. Svoboda sent us an email telling about his website www.myimagiville.com. D. J. is an artist with autism who has created characters based on his own personal experiences. Please visit the site today and be encouraged by how this young man is using his abilities.

If you are looking for a resource to help, establish or strengthen your respite care ministry, it is here! Our latest resource is strengthen by the contributions of seasoned disability ministry leaders who have first-hand experience providing respite care to families.

Go to our Online Store to order.

To Our Readers:

There is an old adage that goes if the teacher does not learn from his students, his students have not learned either. In my tenure of teaching college students, I find a lot of truth in the adage. Over the years, I have learned facts, new ways of thinking about a subject, insights and the like from my students.

These days, a special joy I have comes from my distance learning students who are working on the Disability Ministry Certificate through Johnson Bible College near Knoxville, Tennessee.

One of my current students is Sharon Post. She lives in Ripley, New York and is mother to a son with severe congenital hydrocephalus. When he moved to a group home where he receives total care, Sharon returned to college (at age 50). In July, she will receive her bachelors degree. Concurrently, she has worked on the Certificate in Disability Ministry.

One assignment in the first course toward the Certificate requires the student to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to note Jesus encounters with people with disabilities, and then to write an essay about His ministry methods with people with disabilities.

Sharon did the assignment in fine style. The last paragraph of the essay, The Ministry of Jesus to People with Disabilities, especially moved me. Sharon’s words remind us to practice doing what Jesus did when ministering with our friends with disabilities. Then she makes a poignant statement. It is important that while, like Jesus, we touch people with disabilities, we must let them touch us.

I pray you will be blessed by my student’s words as they blessed me.

Click to read Sharon’s essay: The_Ministry_of_Jesus_to_People_with_Disabilities.pdf.

Jim Pierson

July, 2008