Welcome to "On The Level" the blog for Jabez Ministries!

Greetings!

As the title suggests, this is a blog of Jabez Ministries. Jabez Ministries, to put it simply, is a ministry to persons with disabilities. 

Currently this ministry is focusing its efforts towards the pastoral care of students with disabilities as they realize goals in higher education.

Theologically, Jabez Ministries has it sights on going beyond the college or university campus and addressing the broader issues of disabilities and theology, disabilities and the Church, and what does the Scripture say about disabilities and the people who have them.

This blog is a forum intended  for that discussion.

I suppose the first question should be: "Why the name 'Jabez Ministries'?"

Here is a brief answer to that question, starting with a reference from God's Word:

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez saying

“I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh that you would

bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm

so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. I Chronicles 4: 9-10 (NIV)

The Biblical account of Jabez is the story of a person who wants to live with honor and

dignity as a child of God not according to the preconceptions or the circumstances of

life, nor to be a burden to others, but to have a meaningful existence in God’s kingdom.

To persons with disabilities who are living lives of faith, the goal is to live that life and

worship God on the same terms as persons who are temporarily able bodied, a “level

playing field” if you will. This is no less true for students with disabilities, in colleges and

universities, as it is for people with disabilities of faith who are in society at large,

working towards having a meaningful life and worshipping God. God gives us each

other, in community with Christ, to live, work, and worship as one body.

Please read the next two blogs, as further introduction to Jabez Ministries, and see how God has defined this ministry in the lives of people involved.

Meeting Friends



In September 2012 I had the pleasure of starting to work as a Campus Pastor for a small community college in downtown Grand Rapids. I was invited by Rev Harry Lew of Campus Directions to see how his ministry works and how I might find my own niche in campus ministry as a pastor and as a campus pastor to students with disabilities.


There was some reluctance at first because a ministry to students with disabilities was a rather new approach to doing ministry. The first order of business in any proposed ministry is to establish need for that ministry.  Second, was my desire to learn how to be the best campus pastor I needed to be. Along those lines Harry graciously asked me to observe and work alongside him, and Nancy Janisch of True North campus ministries of the PCUSA, 


The need for a ministry to students with disabilities became apparent almost immediately when I was introduced to some of the members of the group. Along with that introduction the campus ministry I was called to do was also introduced.  When that happened some students began to come forward with their stories of living with their disabilities. I also have met students who are studying for careers in which they will work with those with disabilities. There quickly developed a momentum in the work I came to do. I became very certain of Gods calling for me.


Something we began to do early on was set up information tables to recruit new members and to reach out to the college students, staff, and faculty in a public way to engage in conversations about the faith. Along with this came the usual bible studies, service projects, and social events that the group there did as part of its regular activities. From all of this I have met several students that have helped shape my approach and growth as a camps pastor. 

I have met students studying to be ASL interpreters, I have met a hearing impaired student who is studying music, and I have met students with physical disabilities. I have met people with varying degrees of ADHD, ADD, Asperger’s Syndrome, and others with conditions along the autism spectrum. I have met students with speech impediments, learning disabilities of all kinds as well as those with different kinds of mental illnesses and the list goes on.


The meeting that stood out most to me was when I was introduced to a young woman who happens to be visually impaired. In early October, we had an information table set up near the student cafe. We had a brisk flow of people engaging in great conversations. One of the other students had brought this person to speak with me. We began talking. It was clear from the beginning that she found the idea of having a campus ministry to students with disabilities very important.


She asked me why I was there repeatedly as if she wanted to make no mistake. I began by explaining that as a person with disabilities myself, I felt I could understand pastorally the unique needs and challenges those students with disabilities, who have faith, face spiritually. Again she asked why I was there. I responded that I was there for students with disabilities .We continued to talk and I explained that one of other goals was to also minister to those without disabilities. She asked me why I was there again and I said I was there for them as well. 

Pursuing that line of thought further, I explained that I was hoping for persons with disabilities to share their stories with those without disabilities and for those without to express themselves concerning disabilities. The hope was to encourage community.
She asked me again why I was there.
I said that I was here for us. She responded "you here for us?" 
I said I here for all of us.
It was a rather emotional moment for both of us.


Later the young student explained to me that she was taken by the fact that I never once mentioned her visual impairment. That her blindness had not become a topic of conversation with someone she just met.
She explained it doesn't always happen but happens enough to be at best annoying, at worst embarrassing. Here we had a whole conversation about a ministry to those with disabilities and it didn't come up once. She was happy that she was seen as a person who just happened to blind.
This something all persons, disabled or not, ask for.

The Story of the Briefcase

Sometimes God takes us on a journey that we are often not aware of. This past fall my wife and I were cleaning out parts of our basement. Under the stairway we found my old briefcase that I used during my first of two tenures as a student at Calvin Seminary.
The first time I was a student was in 1987. I had a very difficult time. There were no accommodations possible in higher institutions of learning and little was done to help the students with disabilities to succeed in learning.
In most of my experience, learning in school took place in Special Ed. classes, later in academic support in college. Such classes were remedial and often without earning credits. The goal was to help you to move forward, but you were already far behind.
It didn't help matters when the seminary, as well as the college I attended before, put me on academic probation. The fact that the admissions board at the seminary had serious doubts that I could uphold the
standards of seminary without being a drain on the professors. I had the same concerns.
I am as aware as anyone that educating a person with disabilities is a challenge. A few professors were up to the challenge and some were not. I had hoped to study towards a degree in church history. That path was closed to me. It was decided as such due to concerns that the necessary accommodations were not possible.
I was admitted as an unclassified student on academic probation. Did I also mention the initial attempts to apply to the seminary were rejected? I took three appeals before the seminary conceded to let me try and try I did. I knew I was wildly out of my league on so many levels, but I never doubted my call to be there and I worked as hard as I could to stay for the time I was there. I always felt I belonged there, but never felt welcomed.
Eventually I was permitted to pursue masters in church education, a two year degree. It was thought that if I could handle it then I would be allowed another chance at working towards a degree in church history and we would discuss accommodations at that time.
It took me four years to complete a two year degree. A four year uphill battle.
Back to the story of the briefcase. My wife and I were just married a year when I applied to the seminary. It was also around my 27th birthday and my wife gave me the briefcase as a gift. It was brown vinyl with gold hardware. The locking mechanism was also gold and I had set the combination at 927(our anniversary date is 9-27).
The interior of the briefcase had deep pockets and ample space for books and papers. She was proud of me and I used the case everyday while I was at the school and on my field assignments.
Four years was a long time. It seemed a lot longer than it probably was. By the time my studies were through I had no prospects for employment and was very tired. I was ready to leave the life of seminary.
On the last day of seminary, I cleaned out my mailbox, took the letters and tuition bills, and stuffed them into an academic book catalog, also in the mailbox, and put them in the pocket of my briefcase. The briefcase went home with me, sat next to my desk and began its twenty-two year task of gathering dust.
The briefcase moved with us over the years and eventually ended up in the basement of our current home. As I brought the briefcase upstairs, its usefulness was apparent. It was dirty, ripped, and rusted in its hardware. It was destined to go in the trash.
I noticed that it still had something inside. I decided to open it and go through the contents.
It was stuffed with old blue books, rejection letters from churches, old book catalogs, and tuition bills. I also found the acceptance letter I had received in 1978 telling me that I had been accepted to Calvin College for the '79-'80 school year. This was after my parents were told by my high school guidance counselor to discourage me from thoughts of attending college. It would be a "waste of money".
I kept the letter with me all though my schooling to always remind me that it was always possible.
At the bottom of the case was the book catalog. Inside, among the other papers from my mail box on that last day, was a letter from the field coordinator of the seminary with his response to the exit interview I had given a month before graduating.
Most of the letter was me telling him stuff I thought he wanted to hear. A skill I got very good at, much to my shame today, as a coping mechanism to survive the hard reality of seminary where I never quite felt able to completely fit in.
But it was the first sentence of the last paragraph that hit home in the way that only grace could. The words were:

      "It appears that Peter's strongest gifts are in the direction of ministry to the disabled."

I had only a passing interest in disability ministries at best. I was just beginning to accept my own disabilities at the time. Whatever I had planned with working with those with disabilities was minimal at best. Certainly at the time the Church was not ready for it. Any attempts to bring attention to it were muted by other concerns of the time.
Someone else saw something in me that I did not yet see. Here in this letter, through the unread word of all those years I had not yet begun to see the path God was taking me on until this moment.

The rejections from churches, the odd jobs, subsequently spend eighteen years working as a direct care provider for disability network and, my eventual dismissal from that network at the age of 50.
When it came time to reevaluate my life and decide on a new course my pastor had come to me to encourage me in going to seminary again. My response was a loud and hearty "NO!"
He persisted, seeing something I did not, and I relented. Mainly just to satisfy him. I went and saw a Professor of Pastoral Care who introduced me to program regarding pastoral care and its MA degree. This time they had policies for persons with disabilities in place.
Suffice it to say by the end of the visit I had begun the process of applying for the seminary. Again I was a student.
This time not only did I know I belonged there, but I was also welcomed there.
Again I was a student and this time having the time of my life.
I graduated last May with a degree in pastoral care and now work as a campus pastor with an emphasis on pastoral care to students with disabilities and I have never been more certain of my calling as I am now.