Philip Hayden Foundation

A friend recently brought a website to my attention and I have since been in contact with the organization. It is the Philip Hayden Foundation.

It is a China Orphan Outreach. Here is what their site says about the org's history:

The Philip Hayden Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization, established for the purpose of helping China’s orphaned and special needs children. PHF was named after Philip Hayden, an American teacher who went to China in 1991 and began volunteering his spare time and efforts to help China's orphans. Philip Hayden's love for China's orphans had a big impact on his teammates in China, Tim and Pam Baker, who joined him in volunteering in orphanages. The Bakers soon took in their first orphaned baby, Esther, who they later adopted. Phil had a special love for Esther and was Tim’s assistant and partner in reaching out to the people of China.

Phil died unexpectedly at the young age of 28 as a result of a rare heart defect. Phil’s death and the adoption of Esther had a profound impact on the Bakers. They couldn’t help thinking about the orphans who slept to the right and left of Esther. They were still in the orphanage. The Bakers could not adopt them all, but they nonetheless wanted to help them as Phil had. This led them to establish the foundation in his memory in 1995.

The website includes photos and bios for about 50 children who still need sponsors. It looks like many of the children have cleft palates and other medical needs in addition to the daily food and clothing needs. There are also children in the program who are up for adoption.

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty

Log onto one of Dove soap's newest websites and you will read this opening promo:

For too long
Beauty has been defined by narrow, stifling stereotypes.
You've told us it's time to change all that.
We agree.
Because we believe real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes, and ages.
It is why we stared the campagin for Real Beauty.
And why we hope you'll take part.

The website includes trailers for recent TV commercials, adolescent self-esteem writing contests, a photo gallery, t-shirts, news alerts, and other various ways to get involved in the campaign.

While I have no idea, apart from Christ, how a soap company expects to single-handedly break century-old cultural definitions, I at least applaud their efforts to swim against the raging media tide.

Put Hope in Motion

I have blogged previously about Bethany Hamilton - a young surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack. Bethany has now teamed up with World Vision to raise support for disabled children around the world. Her mission is called Put Hope in Motion.

Here is an excerpt from her website:

Aloha, and thanks for visiting my fundraising page!

I'm so excited to be able to use my surfing to help children in crisis through World Vision. I've chosen to focus on the needs of disabled children around the world, and I hope you'll join me by making a donation that will help provide them care, support, and hope.

Did you know that there are 120 million disabled children worldwide, and less than 2% of them have access to education? Worse yet, many of these kids are abandoned or neglected by family or society. When I heard that World Vision has programs around the world designed to help release the potential that God has given each one of these children, I knew I had to take part.

Here are some ways your donation can help special needs children:

$25 helps pay for a prosthetic limb for a child
$50 helps pay for the building of a therapeutic rehabilitation center
$75 helps pay for mine clearance in rural areas
$160 provides a pediatric surgery
$250 provides a wheelchair for a child

One of my favorite Bible verses is Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Won't you help me show the world's children that this is true for them also -- no matter what challenge they face? Thank you for joining me in this effort!

Mahalo, Bethany

Disability Ministry Education

Two programs have come to my attention. If anyone knows of others, please drop a comment and let me know about them, I would be interested in knowing if there are more programs like this.


Reformed Theological Seminary

Disability Ministry Certificate
Available via correspondence through RTS Virtual Campus

Click here for information specific to the certificate.
There is also a "Disabilities and the Church" PDF file (the link is located on the same page as the link posted above along with the information specific to the certificate).

RTS also has seminaries located in Atlanta, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Charlotte, NC; Jackson, MS; Orlando, FL; and Washington D.C.

Click here for Admissions information.

Program blurb and Course Requirements:
here is an immediate and significant need for evangelism, edification and leadership training for those who have significant physical, mental, and sensory disabilities. People with such weakness are an indispensable part of the church. The Certificate for Disability Ministry is an instructional program for effective practical ministry with a thoroughly biblical theological foundation.

COURSE	INSTRUCTOR	CREDIT HOURS
Systematic Theology I	Dr. Douglas Kelly	3
Pauline Epistles	Dr. Knox Chamblin	4
Pastoral and Social Ethics	Dr. Harold O. J. Brown	3
Disabilities and the Church	Dr. Andrew Peterson	2
History of Missions	Samuel H. Larsen	3
		TOTAL 15

Johnson Bible College

Disability Ministry (undergraduate Minor). Click here for details.
Click here to view the PDF file of the 2004-2006 Course Catalog.
Page 58 & 59 of the catalog outline the Disability Ministry courses.
Click here for Admissions information.

I have been given information that the Disability Ministry courses will be available via correspondence course format in January 2006. You will want to contact an admissions advisor for more information.

Course Blurb:

Do you enjoy helping those with special needs? If working with the mentally and physically handicapped is a gift of yours, then we encourage you to check out our Disability Ministry Program.

Our Disability Ministry program is designed to help you better understand the needs of the disabled and develop skills which will help to incorporate them into the life of the church. You will also learn the "ins" and "outs" of the services provided to those with disabilities by federal, state, and local agencies.

Along with a specialty in disability ministry, you will receive a bachelor's degree in Bible.

I Saw Joni Dance

The following article was written by Sam Storm of Enjoying God Ministries. Sam was at the Desiring God national conference with us a couple of weekend ago. Sam, like myself, and hundreds others, no doubt, saw Joni "dancing" in her wheelchair as the choir sang, "We Are Marching in the Light of God." It was truly a very moving sight to behold.

I Saw Joni Dance
Sam Storms
October 10, 2005
One of the highlights of the Desiring God National Conference this past weekend was the appearance of Joni Eareckson Tada on Saturday night. As most of you know, Joni, a quadriplegic, was paralyzed 38 years ago in a diving accident. She is going to turn 56 years of age next week.

Joni, together with her husband Ken, and a team from Joni and Friends Ministries, were on their way to England and then to Africa, but arranged to stop over in Minneapolis at John Piper's request and address the conference on the theme of Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Needless to say, it is doubtful that anyone present, whether those of us in the audience or any of the speakers, has suffered the way Joni has. And few understand its relation to the sovereignty of God with the biblical clarity and wisdom that she does.

She delivered a stunningly great message. That in itself isn't news, for Joni has been speaking on this theme for many years and the clarity of her convictions remains strong and articulate. I first met Joni in 1991 when we were speakers at a Ligonier Conference hosted by R. C. Sproul in Orlando, Florida. I felt so honored to meet her and even more so when she agreed to write the Foreword to my book, "To Love Mercy: Becoming a Person of Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness" (NavPress; now out of print).

But this past Saturday night I saw something that was as impressive, if not more so, than anything I heard. The worship that night began with the rousing song, "We are Marching in the Light of God" (at least, I think that's the title). It was great to hear so many Reformed folk singing and, yes, actually moving (ever so slightly!) while they sang! But nothing could compare with what was happening on the right hand side of the stage.

Joni handles her wheelchair as deftly as any Nascar driver on a racetrack. No sooner had the music begun than Joni began to "dance". As much as a quadriplegic can dance, she danced. Joni has just enough movement and strength in her hands and shoulders to grip the controls on her chair and maneuver herself without the aid of others. Suddenly the chair began to move with the music. She thrust forward, then backwards, then forwards again, then backwards. Smoothly, and yet with obvious passion, she turned to the right, then the left, then the right again.

I can't prove it, but my guess is that 2,500 pairs of eyes in that auditorium were fixed on the dancing quadriplegic! Suddenly, the forward and backward and side to side movements gave way to spinning. Well, as much as a paralyzed person can spin. Joni began to turn her chair in circles, first clockwise, then back again. If she ceased her movements, it was only so that she could lift her contorted hands as high as her paralysis would allow. It wasn't very high, but who's measuring!

How Joni moved and "danced" is secondary. What's amazing is THAT she did. What struck me, as I trust it struck others, was that a woman who has suffered so horribly and painfully and persistently for 38 years so loves her God and finds him so utterly worthy of her trust and hope that she WANTED to dance.

Joni shared in her message how she struggled spiritually in the early days and months after her accident. She wrestled with bitterness and self-pity and anger at God and longed to die rather than live in that condition. But here she was, 38 years later, celebrating God, enjoying God, honoring and glorifying God. Not simply in her mind or her spirit but with her body as best that body could worship.

I was standing, as were most of the others. All of us could choose when to sit down, were we to tire of being on our feet. We could easily clap or shove our hands into our pockets. Throughout the conference, up till that night, I had taken for granted that I could walk out of the auditorium under my own power and feed myself and tie my shoes and bathe and run and go to the bathroom without anyone's help. Joni, and others like her, don't take that for granted, because they can't do any of those things. Yet, there she was, "dancing" in joy and delight and singing, "We are Marching in the Light of God"! Marching indeed.

I thought to myself, "What she wouldn't give to do what you and I can but won't." I'm talking about worshiping God with her body. She longs to praise and celebrate her God, not simply in spirit and mind and soul, but with her arms and legs and hands as well. That comes easily for the rest of us, at least it does in the physical sense. Yet, many Christians are terrified of raising their hands or kneeling or clapping or, dare I say it, dancing?

I'm not saying that everyone has to worship in the same way. I'm not saying that you and I are obligated to any particular physical expression when we praise our glorious God. But perhaps we need to think a bit more than we do about how to worship as holistic beings, men and women whose bodies have been bought with a price and are now the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I don't want to put thoughts in Joni's mind or words in her mouth. But I can't help but wonder if every once in a while she looks out on an audience, and says: "Do they have any idea what a glorious gift and privilege it is to be able to celebrate and thank God and honor him with their bodies? I don't understand why they stand there like vertical cadavers." Actually, I don't think Joni would ever say anything like that. I think she's far too humble, too mature and obsessed with her God than to use precious energy to criticize the rest of us for how we do or don't worship the Lord.

So, let me put those words in my mouth and speak them to myself (and to you, if you think they apply). Sam, do you have any idea what a glorious gift and privilege it is to be able to celebrate and thank God and honor him with your body? There are many others who would give almost anything to be able to do what you can, but often won't. Yes, of course, worship is first and fundamentally an issue of the heart. It is the attitude of our minds and the passion of our souls and the commitment of our wills that we bring to God as we declare his majesty and proclaim his mighty works. But as I said, we are more than minds. We are bodies. We will always be bodies. So let us honor God with them, however that may seem fitting to you as you consider the magnitude of divine grace and mercy and love and beauty.

I know how self-conscious people can be in a crowd, especially a Christian crowd. What will others think? What will they say? Will I look like a fool? A weakling? An overly emotional, theological lightweight? I don't think Joni cared what any of us thought. Perhaps if the time comes when she is supposed to worship us, she'll give it some consideration. Until then (which is never, of course), she's only concerned with what God thinks.

Finally, the greatest thing in all this is what it tells us, not about Joni, but about her God. What kind of God is this who can inspire such freedom and joy in one who, from a human point of view, would appear to have every reason to hate him? What kind of God is this who can evoke such confidence and trust in a person who is so horribly disabled? What kind of God is this who has the qualities and characteristics and attributes and beauty and glory that he can be found worthy of the praise and gratitude and "dancing" of a woman who's spent the last 38 years in a wheelchair? Wow! Now that's some God!

---

Self-Evident Truth

A friend of mine has just launched the website for her ministry: Self-Evident Truth. She is still adding the finishing touches to the site, but it is up and running. Please go and take a look!

From the website:

Abortion hurts. Education empowers.

SET’s motto is: “The humanity of the unborn is evident.” It is our goal to help others understand the horror of abortion, and to equip pro-lifers to help others understand that as well. The reason that abortion is so horrible is because the unborn are fully human. Abortion kills that human life.

SET focuses on:

Education. People aren’t able to make a wise decision about anything without first learning the facts about the decision facing them. Our goal is to open the eyes and minds of young and old alike to the facts surrounding abortion. How can we possibly do that?

We’ve developed an educational display focusing on little known, yet vitally important, facts about abortion. We believe that if people are open-minded enough to accept the facts, then they will choose what is best for them and their baby, namely, not aborting.

Joni Camp

I have been home from Joni Camp for four days now and am still struggling to find a way to put the experience into words. It is an experience I would definitely recommend and strongly urge you to check out the Joni and Friends website and start thinking and praying towards volunteering at a camp near you.

It was wonderful, but also a lot of hard work. The days were jam-packed with activity. We were up early and in bed late, and yet, the energy seemed to always be there when I needed it, which I presume to be nothing but the grace of God and the answer to the many prayers people were praying on my behalf.

I spent the week with an adorable six year old girl with OHDO Blepharophimosis Syndrome. I instantly fell in love with this little girl - as well as her mom, dad, grandmother, and brother (who were all at the camp also).

Being put with a six year old carried with it many benefits. First being, that I got to spend time with a wonderful little girl! Secondly, the six year old team had all sorts of fun stuff planned for them. I think I had just as much fun as the kids did. We had puppet shows, games, a moon walk, a carnival, cartoons, train rides, swimming, boat rides, tubing, treats, singing, crafts - you name it. It was a blast! Another blessing to being put with the six year olds is that I had a wonderful team leader who is going to be a life-long friend.

I met many wonderful people there -- fellow volunteers, families of disabled kids, not to mention the kids themselves. It was great being in an atmosphere where everyone was friendly and kind and the rude staring and probing questions were nowhere to be found.

I am only touching on my week. Like I said before, I am still struggling for words to put this whole experience down. I am sure I will blog more as things get processed.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me while I was gone. God went exceedingly beyond my wildest expectations and I had a wonderful time.

Attention Scrapbookers!

I stumbled across an advertisement in a scrapbooking magazine this weekend for stickers and scrapbooking products specifically tailored towards diversity: namely, the elderly, various ages and races, and those with disabilities.

I just checked out their website: www.same-differences.com. Same-Differences is a company started in 2004 by Kim Lundy. To read more about her, see the products, and to see where to purchase and how to order items, visit the website.

Here is a bit of information from the "About Us" section of their website:

All our products are printed on 100% acid and lignin free cardstock and/or sticker paper. The images can be used in scrapbooks, backed with magnetic tape for magnets, or laminated for educational use.

The inspiration for Same Differences grew from realizing that the scrapbooking industry is lacking "diversity" products - populations such as the disabled, the elderly, and those who have different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. Scrapbooking is growing exponentially and products are becoming more accessible to people other than those who look for and visit their local scrapbooking store, if they even have scrapbooking stores in their area. Although the "big chain" craft stores certainly are catching up in offering scrapbooking products, it is impossible for them to offer such customized products.

Our product line shows characters with different "diversities" conducting typical life activities in a positive fashion. We treat the diversity issue as "no big deal", just a part of life. We hope that this company will meet the needs of these populations in a creative way.
Additionally, we hope that our products are used in educational settings in order to promote positive awareness of differences between people in a positive manner.

Save a Special-Needs Baby!

Currently America is debating whether to have government funding of abortions of disabled babies. I am reminded of Proverbs 12:10b: "Even the compassion of the wicked is cruel."

To read three inspiring stories about special-needs babies saved from abortion:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327538/posts

CHASK (Christian Homes and Special Kids) is an organization that specifically designed to find homes for special-needs babies. Their mission statement (as posted on their website) is:

To encourage families with special needs children, in ways that glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. To find Christian homes for children with special needs.

For more information about their service, to download an adoption application, or contact info, visit their website at: http://www.chask.org/