SN Church Network Meeting

In the Network Meeting

Thursday, August 4

2:00

Bannockburn Baptist Church
Austin, Texas

Abington Center Room 306

 Dear Friends,

I just wanted to give you the information for a meeting that will be held at Bannockburn Baptist Church. They are making great efforts to network churches offering special needs ministry as well as getting more churches to start offering this vital ministry.  Please join us if you can!

Hello Everyone,

I am excited to get the fall started and in doing so we are hosting a meeting with Joni and Friends on Thursday, August 4 at 2:00 at Bannockburn Baptist Church.  Most of you have a Special Needs Ministry at your church already but we thought it would be great for all of us to get together to swap ideas and to support each other in this awesome ministry.  So please try to join us.  We will meet in Room 306 of the Abington Center.  Kay from Joni and friends would also like to meet with any churches in our area that may want to start up a ministry.  If you know of other churches, please forward this email to them.  Looking forward to it!  Please call me if you have any questions.

Blessings,
Amy Louis
Special Needs Director
Bannockburn Baptist Church
892-2703 x237
amyl@bbcfamily.com

Great Reads and Views!

     I just posted some great books that Bill and I have read and used under the "Resource" section of my blog.  Exceptional Teaching by Jim Pierson has been a regular resource in our special needs library.  It is full of helpful information regarding a variety of disabilities.
    I also highly recommend the DVD, "How Difficult Can This Be?"  In it, Richard Lavoie simulates a variety of learning disabilities and it truly helps you be more understanding and empathetic towards children with learning challenges.  He shares one of the best explanations of "fairness" I have ever heard.  It has impacted me as a teacher, as a mom and as a friend.
  

Recognizing Heroes

     Since I was a young woman I have enjoyed reading biographies and autobiographies.  It has always been fascinating to me to read about people's lives and how their experiences shaped them.  One of the heroes from my youth was Joni Eareckson Tada.  A simple dive into a lake changed the course of her life.  I cannot imagine enduring everything that she did, nor waking up to the reality of her new life.  What an amazing woman though.  In the midst of her trials, God gave her a platform to reach the nations and share her love for Jesus Christ.  If you are not familiar with Joni's life and ministry, I encourage you to learn about her.  Her testimony of faith will be a blessing to you.
     Quotes are like gifts to me and I wanted to share one of my favorite ones from Joni.
"In a way I wish I could take to heaven my old, tattered Everest & Jennings wheelchair.  I would point to the empty seat and say, 'Lord, for decades I was paralyzed in this chair.  But it showed me how paralyzed You must have felt to be nailed to Your Cross.  My limitations taught me something about the limitations You endured when You laid aside your robes of state and put on the indignity of human flesh.'  At that point, with my strong and glorified body, I might sit in it, rub the armrests with my hands, look up at Jesus, and add, 'the weaker I felt in this chair, the harder I leaned on You.  And the harder I leaned, the more I discovered how strong You are.  Thank you, Jesus, for learning obedience in your suffering... You gave me grace to learn obedience in mine."  Joni Eareckson Tada

"Immeasurably More"

     I have had writer's block for weeks now....ugh!  For the last four hours, however, God has let the words flow through my fingers as I worked on my book.  It felt good!
     In those four hours, God continually reminded me of how incredibly blessed I am and how He has prepared the path before me for whatever He has asked me to do.  I have gone through great trials and sorrows through the years, but I have also been incredibly blessed.  I want to encourage you to look back over your life and chronicle the trials and joys God has taken you through.  If you look closely, you will see a plan and a purpose emerge.  If you don't see it tonight, look again tomorrow.
     In Ephesians 3:20 it says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen."
     God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. WOW!  With that thought, just imagine what God can do in the special needs community, in the church, and in our own hearts!