SPECIAL FRIENDS MINISTRY

One of the primary outcomes for each team member in our Special Friends Ministry is to develop relationships with each and every child and adult with special needs that we minister to. The process that we use to develop a relationship is called C3 (Comfort, Confirm, Challenge) and is derived from the many interactions between […]

Finding more people to serve in a special needs ministry is an on-going endeavor. If you serve in special needs ministry and you’re reading this I’m sure your response to my very enlightening opening statement is: “duh!” I wanted to share a new idea that I’m implementing in order to create opportunities for more people […]

Teaching a child with special needs to memorize Scripture is in many ways like teaching a child any other skill or craft. It often requires an individualized approach. Sometimes hearing a few helpful hints will be enough to support and motivate parents who want to begin teaching their child how to memorize Scripture! Our podcast […]

My wife had just returned from the grocery store with $300 of food items stuffed in easy-to-carry plastic bags piled in the minivan.  She did the shopping, my job was to carry them in.  Determined to make as few trips as possible from the minivan to the kitchen, I grabbed as many plastic bags as […]

Teaching a child with special needs to memorize Scripture is in many ways like teaching a child any other skill or craft. It often requires an individualized approach. Sometimes hearing a few helpful hints will be enough to support and motivate parents who want to begin teaching their child how to memorize Scripture! Our podcast […]

Jesus told the story of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  One of the reasons Jesus taught this parable was in order to get people to think for themselves, there but for the grace of God, go I.  The point is that kindness and compassion come from the heart, and it is the heart where the seat of God […]

What’s Our Story? Nathan was diagnosed with ASD at the age of 7. For years he had many medical issues and challenges that caused him to be in the hospital. At that time, it seemed to be our main focus. We knew things that he did were just not right. When he was diagnosed with […]

In order to partner with parents and support them in teaching their child to pray, we’re providing the exact prayer template that we’re using in our Special Friends classroom.  This will allow parents to use the exact same learning materials at home that we are using in the classroom to nurture a child’s prayer life.  […]

Often we lose control when we don’t get things our own way. By nature we want what we want and we want it now! And, if we don’t get what we want we let everyone know just how unhappy it makes us. To be self-controlled means to have power over your reactions to people and […]

You tell your nine year old to eat all his alphabet soup. He leaves the table and you notice he failed to eat seven letter-shaped noodles. Do you call him back to the table to finish, saying, “I thought I told you to eat ALL of your noodles!” You tell your fourteen year old, “Pick […]