Heights Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, will soon host a conference dedicated to pastors. Entitled ‘All Access Disability Ministry Conference,’ the event seeks to talk to pastors about disability ministries or have one in each church.
‘All Access Disability Ministry Conference’
According to its Eventbrite page, the ‘All Access Disability Ministry Conference’ will have 15 breakout sessions to tackle about church’s special needs ministries.
Those attending the event are expected to learn how to start a disability ministry. They would also get information on how to strengthen their current ministries.
In line with that, the conference also seeks to teach children ministry leaders how to welcome more children to their churches.
Sandra Peoples and Tiffany Crow will reportedly host the event.
According to her page, Peoples is a pastor’s wife and a special-needs mom herself. Over the past years, she has been one of the so-called “leading voices in the special-needs community.”
Other than that, Peoples have also written several books such as ‘Unexpected Blessings: The Joys and Possibilities of Life in a Special-Needs Family.’
Meanwhile, as per her Linkedin, Crow is an Independent Behavior Consultant at Intentional Actions: A Behavior Analytic Approach, LLC. Like Peoples, she has also established a relationship with people with special needs.
In 2012, she was an instructional specialist for the autism team at Clear Creek Independent School district. Three years later, Crow applied part-time at Brazos Pointe Fellowship in Lake Jackson as a special needs coordinator.
Since then, Crow has been part of Intentional Actions as a disability ministry consultant.
As mentioned on the Eventbrite page, the pair believes that “every family deserves access to the gospel, a church family, and community resources.” Due to that, both of them decided to proceed with the conference.
Aside from Peoples and Crow, the conference will also introduce another speaker, Beth Golik. According to the post, Golik is the operations director at Key Ministry.
In line with the event, she will also share experiences and challenges as the disability ministry director at Bay Presbyterian Church in Cleveland.
How to Join
Those interested in joining the All Access conference can go to their Eventbrite page. There, participants can purchase their tickets, ranging from $60 to $75, depending on discount offers.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, the conference will occur in Heights Baptist Church at 1591 County Road 144 Alvin, Texas.
Those participants looking to find sign language interpreters or mobility assistance can also send an email to the event organizers at sandra@heightschurch.org.
How to Start Special Needs Ministry?
According to the Vanderbloemen website, there are five ways on how anyone can start a special needs ministry inside their church.
Such ways can be done through implementing a buddy system for the special needs members, doing service for special needs families, creating outreach ideas for special needs, partnering with organizations, or having an exclusive classroom for special needs children.
As explained, there is “no perfect model” to create a special needs ministry inside any church. But, those ways can be done as first steps.
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