WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to the Unity Community Podcast.
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This is a place where our church family can hear real stories of life change and discover how God is working through our ministries and missionaries, both here and around the world.
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From conversations with our staff and leaders to testimonies from our people, we're pulling back the curtain on what God is doing in and through Unity Church.
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Thanks for listening.
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Let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
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Welcome, I'm your host, Tim DeCreesey.
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Thanks for taking a moment to listen.
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Today we're highlighting a ministry that reflects the heart of who we want to be as a church, a place where every individual is seen, valued, and included.
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Beyond Capernaum is a ministry designed to support families who have members that have either a cognitive or physical disability.
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This is more than a program.
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It's a space where belonging, faith, and community intersect in meaningful ways.
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Today we're going to spend time with Lisa Jordan, who heads up this ministry to learn how it began, what it provides, and the impact it is having on the families it's meant to serve.
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Well, welcome, Lisa.
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I'm glad you could join us today.
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Thank you.
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Well, why don't we I'm excited to hear more about uh Beyond Capernaum and the ministry you have.
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So why don't we begin with you just telling us a little bit about yourself?
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Alright.
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Uh so um Lisa Jordan, um some of the population calls me Lisa Pizza, um, and then others just call me Lisa Jordan.
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Um I am an artist here in town.
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I've been uh owning my own business since 1993.
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I have two children, um and I teach for the city part-time, teaching a day program for the adult special needs.
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I uh teach summer camps for typical and special needs uh population.
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I run my my business, Lisa Jordan Foe and more.
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I run Beyond Capernaum, the special needs ministry, and I sit on several boards uh for the special needs, so uh pretty active, and it depends on which avenue I met you in as to the one that you probably know me best as.
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And then sometimes when I sit in board meetings, some people are just like, I'm not sure what that lady does.
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Um it just depends on uh how you met me under under which of those hats.
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Well, how did you even get involved with special needs?
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So um I have a special needs, severe and profound child who is 27.
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Um, I also have um another child who um was born in '93, whatever that math is.
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Um and so between the two, um, I lost three pregnancies.
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Um it was very apparent uh with little Todd, who's also Todd Jr., um, who was my three-pound four-ounce child, that God was already at work in my life.
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And so um with handing me such a tiny baby and then taking three pregnancies away was truly the platform of him paving the road of what was to come.
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And so um I had uh Spencer um in 1999, and by the fall, uh he was already diagnosed, and um also uh one of my many testimonies was um just uh feeling like God was maybe gonna take Spencer away from me.
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I don't I can't explain the feeling other than it was just one of my testimonies.
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Um but I remember crying, um just pouring my heart out one night, really, really late.
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Everybody's asleep in the house.
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I'm downstairs trying to comfort Spencer.
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It's in the middle of the night, and I just had that feeling that God was gonna take them away.
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And so I just started crying and crying and crying, going, please, um, you know, don't don't take this one away.
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You um scared me with uh little Todd being three pounds, four ounces, and them telling me that he may not even survive the birth, and then taking three pregnancies away and then giving me Spencer.
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So I promised God at that very minute, that very moment, um, if you would let me keep him here on this earth, I promise please use me.
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Um it was my plea to the Lord to just say, you know what, whatever the avenues are, let people be a witness to us.
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Um use us in whatever way you will, and and I will be there.
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And so that's um kind of how all that began.
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And so from there it was life's journey.
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Um, every moment you could see God being reflected in every single thing.
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Um the special needs community opened my eyes to I think all the challenges, um, it makes you aware of your community, the surrounding, the church, the school, your family, your friends.
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And and then you start to see that you have two sets of friends.
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Um, you have friends that are your um neurotypical friends where uh life is about where are we eating, um, how does your how is your home decorated, what are the latest trends, and then you have your special needs families, and then that is the most wholesome group.
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I'm not saying that the neurotypical uh friends are not wholesome and and friendly and loving and all that, they are, but it's a whole nother kind of love.
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It's a non-judgment um platform of love where we can confide in each other because we're all on the same journey, walking the same path.
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We may have a different diagnosis, a different age child.
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Um, but we're all on the same journey and we can relate and we feed into each other and we inspire each other.
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Um, so uh I don't know.
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It's it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey um already, and I meet people all the time.
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I just met a lady the other day at Sharon Williams of all places because I'm there as an artist, I was getting paint, and um I look over and it was an old friend, and I went over and I thought, you know, I I could go to the counter, I could check out and and just throw up my hand, say hello, and be on my way.
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I don't know, something told me to go over there and talk to her.
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So I did, and um come to find out her grandchild had just been born just well, had been born two years ago, um, and been diagnosed recently with autism, and they were kind of devastated and just in a a cloud of like, I'm we're not sure where to go from here.
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And so I spent the next hour um counseling her and just showing her that this was gonna be a wonderful, wonderful journey.
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You you have to see it as more than just the diagnosis.
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You have to see that you know your daughter was chosen by God.
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Um, he could have chosen the neighbor beside of you uh or beside of her.
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Um he could have chosen someone else down the street, but he chose your daughter.
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How fortunate this is.
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Um, and so sometimes I tell parents, you know, uh this could be a voicemail from God.
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He's he's sending you a text and a voicemail, and he goes, you know what, I I need you to call me.
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And some of us are so quick to ignore the voicemails because we get too many or um shun off the text, you know, open it up, don't put it back as unread because we're not ready to answer it, and then we forget about it, gets lost in all the other texts that come in through the day.
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And you know, God is sitting there going, if you'll just call me back, I got some instructions for you.
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You know, I'm gonna help you, I'm gonna tell you what it is I need, I'm gonna tell you how I'm gonna provide for that.
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I just need you to call me back.
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Um, and so sometimes it's answering that call.
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Yeah, that's a good reminder for us to be more attentive to you know that kind of urging that we get.
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Well, you talked about on your journey.
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When did your journey begin with um with the Lord?
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I believe that night, you know.
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Um well I was always raised um to go to church every Sunday, um, and then go see grandma.
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Um, and then we get married, and you know, you come um to college, and I think sometimes that gets set aside for a moment because you get lost.
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You don't have your parents going, nope, we're going to church today.
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Um my grandfather served as a deacon in the church, um, very Christian, family brought up, went to private Christian school um through the elementary, and then from there uh became a city girl with the city um schools.
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Um and I don't know, I think the walk has been there the entire time.
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It's a it's a matter of um answering the call.
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Um and then reinforcing that when you have something trouble in your life.
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You know, a lot of people only seek the Lord when they're in trouble, but then they forget whenever they're good.
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They're like, Oh, I got I I I got this, I don't really need him right now.
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I'll call them back when I need them.
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You know, and that's he's not a a coin slot God.
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He's not like put the coin in when you need me, you know.
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Uh otherwise I'll I'll see you on the other side.
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Um so I think, you know, the whole time um realizing the Lord is working in my life, and of course we all sin, we all go astray, and then we all come back, and then we go, why did I go down that path?
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You know.
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Um and it also comes with the company that you keep.
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Um friends that um or co-workers that aren't really for the Lord can trick trick or trick you, you know.
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They can, I don't know, uh maybe forget for a minute.
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Um, and so sometimes it's just staying true to yourself and um having reminders in your life, whether it's um raising um children in general or raising a child with um special needs can always be that constant reminder.
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And I can remember along those similar lines um when our son, what when Terry was pregnant with our son, you know, we got the blood work back, and they said, Oh, there's a one in two hundred chance that he'll be born with Down syndrome.
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And so in my head, I'm thinking, I'm look I hear the doctor, he's sitting there, and I hear the word Down syndrome.
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I just graduated n with my special ed degree not too many years before that, and so I'm going through the filing camp, Down syndrome, down syndrome, what is that, what is that, and I kind of hit the folder, and I can remember the professor saying, When you tell a parent their child has uh a cognitive disability, you might as well stop talking because they're not listening.
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I thought, he's right, I'm not listening.
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I don't even know what this doctor's telling me right now.
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I am so down this other rabbit trail.
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And um so your mind just automatically goes into a fog.
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You know, I remember when we got diagnosed with Spencer, um, he he wasn't diagnosed at birth.
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Um he he was fine, everything.
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Um of course the pregnancy was always a a problem and had been from the very first one, and Spencer being the fifth pregnancy.
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Um and so we were already used to, you know, like, oh, this is you know, this the the fluid is low, you know, and then all of a sudden we're in the birthing stages of Spencer and the cord is wrapped around his head um a couple of times.
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Um, and so uh anyway, you fast forward, we have Spencer, and then um it's about seven months, he's about seven months old, and he starts having grandma seizures.
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Um so that was our first you know inclination that something is wrong.
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Otherwise, all the other months leading up to seven months was oh, he's just a little delayed.
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He's fine, you know, he he'll catch up.
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Just stop comparing him.
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Of course, I had a best friend who had had a child um a week before Spencer was born.
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And of course, what did I do?
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I called her.
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Hey, Sharon, what what's Grant doing?
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You know, oh he's crawling.
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Well, Spencer's not crawling.
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Okay, well, what's he doing this week?
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Oh, he's starting to talk.
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Yeah, Spencer's not talking yet.
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And so you compare, you know, and the doctors say, Don't do, don't do that.
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Well, by um seven months old he had a grandma's seizures, and we were like, okay, so he he had seizures, that's it.
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I would go every day into the neurologist, not every day, I would go when we were scheduled into the neurologist to try to figure it out.
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And um quickly we were sent over to the DEC, which was the developmental evaluation clinic.
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Um, I think it was Dr.
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Holcomb.
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And so we went there to be evaluated by all the specialists.
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You have uh sight, hearing, you have all the therapies, OTPT speech, um, you have the doctors, you have uh everyone's opinion, right?
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And so it was a long day we're being evaluated.
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And then at the end of the day, we sit at this long uh banquet table, uh office banquet table.
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And it's me and Spencer on one side and all the professionals on the other side who had just evaluated.
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And so we're sitting there and they're rambling off all this stuff, and I'm just thinking, okay, when do I when do I like stop the meeting and say, I think you got the wrong folder?
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Like this is Spencer Jordan.
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Can we can we check the the date of birth again?
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Because you're reading off the wrong folder.
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And they stopped and they looked at me and they kind of sat back in their chair and they said, Miss Jordan, it this is your child, Spencer, right?
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And I said, Yeah, I'm here to learn what you guys have figured out.
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And they said, We're reading from your folder.
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And I'm like, You're saying diagnoses that I've never heard about.
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And so that was my, you know, here's here's your sign.
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And I each one of them had their own little diagnosis to contribute.
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And I thought, what in the world?
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I came in here and he was a little slow and gonna be fine, quote unquote.
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And now you're telling me he's got microscephaly, how do you spell that again?
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And he's got um cerebral palsy, and he's uh visually impaired, and he's um mentally retarded, and he's um all these things.
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We get five diagnoses sitting there at a table, and I'm thinking, gee, what?
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What who was gonna like bring this to me softly?
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Uh these and and so you leave there uh just thinking, you know, is was that really our folder?
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You know, was that really us?
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Is that our is that my story now?
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Is this the one I I go and I call my friend up and say, oh, you know, he's not walking because X my Z.
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So Yeah, I mean, and we had that same experience.
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And I remember the doctors right after they made that, you know, one in two hundred when I kind of came back to what he was saying, it was, you know, your X amount of weeks along or whatever, you know, do you want to have an abortion?
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You know, Terry and I didn't have a chance to talk, but we both said no.
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We no, that's not an option.
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Like we knew that wasn't an option.
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So we left, we went out to the fountain by the hospital, and we were just kind of sitting there in a daze.
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And I remember we came home, we called Jimmy Garris, because he was our Sunday school teacher, and uh he came over and prayed with us.
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And I mean that's all we could do because we weren't gonna, because we thought, oh, there's a we could do this other test that would give us for sure, but then there was a one in 75 chance something would go wrong.
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We're like, oh that's worse odds.
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Like, no, we're just gonna have to ride it out.
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And um Jimmy prayed with us, and I remember waking up the next morning with such a peace, like it's all gonna, it's gonna be fine.
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You know, it is gonna be what it's gonna be, but it's gonna be fine.
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Yeah.
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And just I mean, that's one of the best feelings I've ever had from a like a roller coaster ride of being in a haze to the next morning.
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It's all good.
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Like total peace.
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And to your point of, you know, we don't want to throw prayer off to the side as a last resort.
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Like that should be front line.
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Yeah.
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Give me the strength and show me the way.
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And if this is how you choose to use me, make the most of it, you know.
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Uh but you know, there I I do have another friend in town who does not believe in God and and she's not shy about that at all.
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Um, but she told uh one of my staff, I'm I'm glad God but I'm glad Lisa has that God thing working out for her.
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Because we weren't supposed to get one of these children.
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You know, and that just makes you gasp for a minute.
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Like, really?
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Maybe you know, you ought to check your voicemail.
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He's probably left you a voicemail.
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You know, God is probably wanting to get a hold of you and He sends you someone uh that is so special, you know.
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A a lot of us, I tell a lot of people that a lot of us neurotypical people are the ones in therapy all the time.
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We we're all trying to wander around the earth trying to figure it out, you know, how to do life.
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And here these people are sent to us, these special, special angels are sent to us to care for that show us grace, they show us patience, they show us to stop using these big words that we can't even spell just to show off, you know, um, just to slow it down a little.
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And that is one of those hidden secrets.
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When I was teaching in the special ed classroom, just you know, yet there are challenges.
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I'm not gonna undermine the challenges that are there.
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But the joys kind of counterbalance that.
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And, you know, just seeing those kids smile.
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And I one of my students, she played on the, you know, the basketball team or whatever, and you know, it's her skill level was not where the other kids were.
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But um it I w went to one of the games and she scored a basket, and just seeing her face like, wow, that is she doesn't care about anything else.
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She is just so excited about what just happened, and it was just warms my heart right now, just thinking about I can see her right now, just with her hands.
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Well, if the audience knew anything about her, did you also witness that the audience cheered the smallest reward?
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You know, the just the smallest things that but yet we don't do that for the neurotypical people.
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We're just like, uh, so what?
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You you got a fancy car, I mean, you got a promotion at work, um whatever, you know.
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And we we we're envy, we're jealous, but then you turn it and it's the special needs that does it, and we're all clapping, we're all cheering.
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It's unbelievable to see the energy in the room.
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Um, why can't we be like that for everybody?
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You know?
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That's that's a good point.
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So they I think they bring out the best in us.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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So let's talk about.
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I mean, that's all good stuff right there.
00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.440
We could just we could just stop right there, and it would be a good podcast.
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:24.880
But let's get into um beyond Capernaum.
00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:25.359
Okay.
00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.000
And how did all that get started?
00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:38.640
So we're sitting in the car, uh, headed to a community outing, and I have one of my staff with me, and she uh her name is Katie, and she is in Young Life.
00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.119
And my son also, uh little Todd, was also in Young Life, and you know, at the time I didn't even know where he was going.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.279
He would be like, Mom, bye, I'm going to Young Life.
00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:48.160
We're like, okay.
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.720
And we're letting our child go to a stranger's house.
00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.319
We never ask questions.
00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:57.599
But yep, growing up, my parents were always like, Now, if you're gonna have a sleepover, I'm gonna need to talk to the mom and dad.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.559
And here I am raising a child, and I'm like, okay, bye.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.559
Hope you come back safely.
00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:08.880
Um, and so then fast forward a little bit more, and we have one of the staff helping me, and she's in the car.
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:20.079
We're at a stoplight, and she's going on and on and on about all these things that Young Life is doing, and these trips, and I pause for a second and I said, You know, I wish we had that for the special needs.
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:25.839
I wish the community could say that we had the same thing, whatever it is you're over there jabbering about.
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.200
I wish we had the same thing.
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:34.160
And she goes, Well, you know, I think there's a chapter that's never been open for Pitt County, and it's called Capernaum.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.720
Not beyond Capernaum, but hasn't been born yet.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.160
Uh Copernum.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.599
And I said, Do what?
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:44.079
And so basically turn the car around, you know, go up to the door, Young Life.
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.720
They're in the midst of getting a new uh Pit County leader, so we have to wait.
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.119
Waiting seems like forever.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:58.240
Uh it's I don't know, four months go by and finally we get a new guy uh in Pitt County for for Young Life Copernum.
00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.440
Oh, for Young Life.
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.319
So we go up to him and listen, my name is Lisa Jordan.
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.079
I I don't have time to explain because I'm like so excited about this.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.759
I just want you to say yes and and put me in a training immediately.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:17.519
And and so um within a couple of months, um I had opened up the the young life's version of Coperna.
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:29.279
Well, during my training with their headquarters people, uh, that train people, we found out quickly that there was gonna be this group was was age limited.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.680
Uh it was gonna be 14 to 21.
00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:36.480
And so I remember sitting there in the training going, Way, well, I have a question.
00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:43.279
Uh what happens to all my friends over 21 and they're like, Well, we encourage them to go find a new church.
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.400
And I said, Oh, see see, that's the problem.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.319
The problem is a lot of the churches they're not ready for us.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:59.119
They don't know, I mean, their hearts might be there, but they're not doing anything about it to change it, to find someone in the leadership role to run it.
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:02.079
Um I uh okay, I tell you what.
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.720
I I'm gonna we're we're gonna do this for about a year.
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:09.519
I'm gonna, you know, under study, I'm gonna I'm gonna figure all this out.
00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:11.680
But after about a year, I'm gonna break away.
00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:17.440
And I'm gonna go pick up the pieces because all those people, uh 14 to 21, guess what?
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:18.400
They're gonna age out.
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:19.519
And then what happens?
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:23.279
And I have more friends that are over 21 that are under 21.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.599
So I'm gonna go open up my own thing.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.759
I'm gonna I'm gonna call it beyond Capernaum.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:34.799
And so a lot of people um they go, you know, that Capernaum, no, it's not Capernaum, it's Capernaum.
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.759
And they go, yeah, I don't even know what that word means.
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:38.960
And I get that a lot.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:48.960
And so I love to pause and just remind people of the story in the uh New Testament when there was a paraplegic by the side of the road who couldn't reach Jesus.
00:22:49.039 --> 00:23:02.400
He desired, he wanted to just so badly go see him uh to to witness uh this miracle of a man that has been sent from God when four friends came along and said, Hey buddy, I gotcha.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.240
So they picked up the mat.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.480
You know, did they know the guy?
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:07.279
Possibly.
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.559
Small town, they probably have seen him on the side of the street.
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:11.920
Were they friends of his?
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:12.799
I don't know.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.079
They were just friends enough to say, I gotcha.
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:20.240
And so they pick up the guy on the mat and they start heading towards the line.
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:27.200
Yeah, and I'm imagining like some um Taylor Swift line, you know, and it's the line is like forever.
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.359
And they're thinking, Oh, this is not gonna work.
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:30.400
Well, what's plan B?
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:34.880
And so they're kind of getting together, scratching the head, and like, hey, I one of them's like, I got an idea.
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:36.720
We're gonna go on top top of the roof.
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.680
Top of the roof, dude, we can't even barely carry the guy.
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.519
No, no, no, this is what we're gonna do.
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.119
We're gonna go up in the top of the roof.
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:44.880
And they get up there and like, now what?
00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:46.160
This was a great idea.
00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:47.440
What's your next best idea?
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.720
And he's like, All right, hold on.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:58.960
And so they dig a hole in the roof, and I can imagine Jesus sitting there in a circle and he's talking to everyone, and and um all of a sudden this dirt and dust starts flying from the ceiling.
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:05.599
Jesus is like, what it gets a little interrupted, and then happens again, and he's like, What, what, what is going on here?
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:11.359
And then all of a sudden, this man is lowered down, and the man is healed and tells him to pick up his mat.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.759
You know, the guy's like so excited he's about I I in my imagination.
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:21.920
The guy's so excited he's about to run out of the house, and Jesus is like, No, no, no, wait, wait, pick up your mat, pick up your mat, and then go.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.359
You know, and the guy's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, that that mat I've been sitting on all my life.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:27.359
Um, and goes out and tells the story.
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.319
So that is the story of Capernaum.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:31.680
That is us.
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.640
This is where Jesus set up his um headquarters was in Capernaum.
00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:41.039
This is where he did his main most of his ministry based out of.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.200
So this is us.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:50.640
Beyond Capernaum, in my mind, when I made up the title, is what happens after Capernaum?
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.119
Do we take the guy to Jesus and then we all go back to our lives?
00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.799
Or do we stick with them?
00:24:57.119 --> 00:24:58.400
We walk beside of him.
00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.200
We always make sure that the path is is ready, is clear, and it's available.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.119
Where where are we gonna be beyond the story?
00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:09.599
Beyond the miracle.
00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:10.559
Then what?
00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.920
We need to stay with them for the rest of our lives.
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:18.319
We need to build a relationship that says, you know what, buddy, I'm here to the end.
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.079
And as a matter of fact, we're gonna be best buds forever.
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:28.720
That means all the world to them, to let them know that they belong, that they have a place, and that we see them.
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.839
Not just the one day of the miracle.
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.880
You know, I could I'm sure the uh Jerusalem Journal that day was like, oh, lame man gets healed, takes Matt, runs off.
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.000
End of story.
00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:43.519
What after that?
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.400
Is the journalist still writing about this man?
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:47.440
Is he following him?
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:48.799
Is he following his path?
00:25:48.880 --> 00:26:02.079
Is he is he encouraging him along the way every time a setback happens, whether he's sick or another diagnosis or uh whatever the obstacle is, where are we in that story?
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.640
And so that's beyond Copernaum.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:06.880
Okay, wow, that is that's good stuff.
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:08.319
That's good stuff.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:13.759
So what what do you do um with Beyond Capernaum?
00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:16.480
What what is what's happening?
00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:25.680
So every special needs uh family, you know, they want a place to go.
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.000
They want a place where their child is seen, valued.
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:47.200
Uh Capernaum is not about the numbers, and a lot of times we'll talk about like, oh my gosh, we just broke record, it was 154 people, um, which uh is really 254 and now uh we started out with 13 people and we've grown to 254.
00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:58.480
Um, but it's not always about the number, it's about providing a place for them, showing them that they are seen, that the church is ready, this church is ready.
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.480
I can't say that for all the churches.
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:13.359
Um, Julie and I both with Accessible Disciples, Julie and I both were part of another church where um she was getting the accessible disciples started, and it's not being seen.
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:26.720
And so here, when they walk in, not only are they learning about God and that he loves you as much as he loves me, I've learned more from them than I've tried to even teach them.
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:38.880
Um you provide a place for them, show them that they are seen, that they're loved, that they're welcomed, and when they walk in, they see people that recognize them, that say their name.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:47.680
So many times in the special needs community, um, you know, you you don't really know their name, and you're like, oh yeah, that that child over there with the downs.
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:48.960
That's not his name.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:50.480
His name's not Downs.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.559
You know, he has a name.
00:27:52.799 --> 00:28:05.039
Um, and I I honestly think that parents of uh families that have a child that's nonverbal, such as mine, my job is to make sure that everybody knows Spencer's name.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:19.440
My job as a facilitator of Copernum is to make sure that you know Nathan's name, Hannah's name, uh, Montrez's name, um, JLil's name.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:27.839
My job is to make sure that their name is spoken and that they are real people that are being seen.
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:42.480
And as a parent for someone that is blind, we have some blind people that attend Capernaum, and the job of the staff or the family or the caretaker or the guardian is to paint the world for them in words.
00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:47.519
Tell me what is the room like, tell me in color, not black and white.
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:54.160
Don't just tell me there's a girl named Lisa, she's standing at the front, and now she's about to give a lesson on Jesus.
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:54.799
No.
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.960
Tell me in in colorful words what is happening.
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:04.240
You know, um Jennifer that I spoke about that is blind, she is deaf and blind.
00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:09.039
So then how do you how how do you teach someone that is deaf and blind?
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:15.359
There is um love, there's affection, there's touch, there's um feeling something.
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:23.359
Um a lot of the times, no matter what the diagnosis is, music is the one thing they all have in common.
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:30.000
And they may be deaf, but they can hear beats of sounds that that like bump bum bump bump bump.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:31.839
They can they can feel that.
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:36.240
Uh just because they are deaf and blind doesn't mean they don't have feelings, you know.
00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:51.680
Um, but our population ranges anywhere from someone that drives themselves to Capernaum to someone that um is in a wheelchair, nonverbal, non-mobile, and maybe assisting with some kind of oxygen therapy.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:53.920
So we have everything in between.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.400
So do they meet once a week, once a month?
00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.799
I think I strayed from your original question.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:29:59.279
Sorry.
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:03.359
Um, yes, they meet once a week, um, every Thursday from 6 to 7 30.
00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:13.920
And I tell you, Capernaum is not just to be seen as a special needs ministry, it's a ministry for people, not with people with disabilities.
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:20.559
It's for people because I want people to start seeing them as real people.
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:28.079
They may have needs that are different from yours and mine, but uh they still need to hear about Jesus.
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:33.279
And they are here um to feel welcomed and remembered.
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:38.480
And when you walk by, I they just want you to simply say, Hey buddy, what's up?
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.000
and say their name.
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:46.880
They'll always remember how you made them feel, and you'll be the one having trouble remembering what their name is.
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.640
So does that meet here at Unity?
00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:54.160
At Unity, uh and you provide meals?
00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:01.599
Oh, I'm sure the meal is the carrot to get in here, but if you can get anyone into the Lord's house, uh you've already won, right?
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.920
But yes, we have uh dinner provided, and then we have a lesson.
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:11.680
Sometimes we'll have uh silly games or some music sing-along things.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:18.400
Uh we'll have a raffle, and then we end the night going, Well, see you next week, and we just break in the summer.
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:31.119
So it's um so it's every Thursday night, there's a meal, a lesson, games, and it's for all family members.
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.480
All family members.
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:35.759
Um, we have some that bring everyone in their family.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:43.039
We have caretakers um and guardians that come, as well as you know, the parent and the siblings themselves.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:53.359
So anyone is welcome, and I tell you, some of the um stories that have come out of Capernaum have been that of volunteers or staff.
00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:10.559
Uh, we have ECU volunteers, we have just community volunteers, we have people from our own church family that come to volunteer, and a lot of them have had some incredible stories come out of just sitting in the audience and um either listening to the lesson.
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.279
We had one staff say, You know what?
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:19.519
I've been to church all my life, and I just learned more about the Bible tonight than I have all my life.
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:24.720
Maybe it was the season that he was in, maybe it was the lesson that drove home in his heart.
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:25.680
I'm not sure.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:33.119
So the lessons aren't always just for the special needs population, even though that's what we see the name of the ministry called.
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.039
It's for anyone that's in the room.
00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:43.839
And we've had people that you I guess some would discount in their mind as to eh, I don't even know if they're paying attention.
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:49.359
I'm not even sure that they have ever even seen a Bible or much less can spell Bible.
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:59.839
All of a sudden, someone like Henry raises their hand one day, and when you're doing a QA, and um you're like, oh, okay, Henry, what you got?
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.240
He's repeating everything out of the Bible.
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:18.559
I'm like, oh my gosh, I did not know Henry knew that much about the Bible, and so it's giving them that safe place, and we're all of a sudden now we have a light bulb over Jacob, we have a light bulb over Henry, and they're spitting out facts that you can't even compete with.
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:31.920
You know, I'm feeling like I mean, I always say that I'm a beginner with the Bible, but wow, all of a sudden you feel you're on day one when Henry and Jacob start talking because they're saying stuff that you've already forgot.
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:33.920
You know, that makes my heart happy.
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:34.400
Yeah.
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:39.119
Um, so what are some of the challenges the families face?
00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:45.519
So I would say there are three um challenges.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.240
There is church, community, and just a personal level.
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:56.160
Uh the church, um, I would say most churches just aren't ready, like we talked about before.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:07.680
Um maybe their stats don't show that they have a need for an entire ministry when the people in the congregation say we don't really have anyone's special needs.
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:10.000
Maybe they've never really asked.
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:12.719
Um, but it's just not in their heart.
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:19.920
I know some churches um just have tried, it just didn't work out, and they're like, uh, we'll give up on that.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.039
We we can check the box.
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:22.079
We say we tried.
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.440
Um but here it works.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:33.199
Um, I would say you know, we we want our church family to again recognize us in the hallway.
00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:35.280
It's no different than them going to school.
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:41.760
Um, we want to be seen, noticed, um just feel like we belong.
00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:52.159
Uh in the community, I think we face uh challenges with um getting around our environments, uh, with changing stations.
00:34:52.480 --> 00:35:00.079
Um you know, no one ever thinks about a lot of the older people are still in incontinent supplies, such as my son.
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:08.000
Well, I can't put a hundred and twenty-five-pound son on a baby changing station in the community.
00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:10.400
It we're gonna break it off the wall.
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:16.159
Um, and unity has gone over and beyond to get something that is meant for adults.
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.360
That is meeting the needs of our population.
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:25.519
That is hearing what is out there, what the wish lists are, and then making that happen.
00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:33.039
Um so navigating in our community is sometimes rough.
00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:43.440
Um they don't accommodate, the wheelchair's not gonna fit, um, the floor plan's not right, lots of different issues, right?
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:49.360
Um, some restaurants don't always have a low top table, which sounds weird, but we do have one downtown.
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:51.920
There's only one low top, and the rest of them are high top.
00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:54.239
Well, how does that make a wheelchair person feel?
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:04.159
Whether they're cognitive or just in physically impaired, they're still got to roll up in that restaurant and make a decision, you know, maybe I'm just not that hungry and we should wait.
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:06.159
Because the setting's not right.
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:14.559
Um, and then personally I've seen, you know, the families, caretakers, guardians, we never get a a day off.
00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:16.000
There's never a break, right?
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:17.119
This is our life.
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:22.320
And sometimes there are challenges, you know, just coming here today.
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:30.239
He was already, Spencer was already having a choking spell, you know, and I was trying to navigate that with the staff so I could leave and come do the interview.
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:36.480
Some days before I get to work, he's already had three seizures, you know, before I can ever pack up the car and get to work.
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:42.639
And a lot of people don't realize the challenges, even just getting to church.
00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:56.320
You could have a defiant child who you're negotiating, you know, like some uh criminal case, you know, you're like, all right, so if you can just get in the car, we'll go get donuts after church, you know.
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:57.599
Can you get in the car?
00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:10.639
You know, or um or it's the medical side of it, you know, it's the seizures, it's um, I don't know, getting sick right before you walk out the door and you're already dressed, and you're like, oh, you know, I'm not gonna let the devil win.
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:16.559
We're gonna change the clothes as fast as I can and hope that our spot in the pew is still there when we get to church, you know.
00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:24.960
Um, so it's the it's the physical challenges, but I will tell you that the families are so um resilient.
00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:34.880
Um they are not asking for handouts, they're not asking for you to be like, oh, here she comes, everybody bow.
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:53.840
No, we're just asking to be seen, to be recognized, and to make it feel like this is also our family, our church family, that we have a home here, that we belong, that accommodations have already been set in place so that we're not tripped up on, well, that's just not gonna work, you know.
00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:03.199
Um I I remember uh going to our old church and and uh Julie was there, and this is another one of my testimonies.
00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:13.280
Um I remember, you know, trying to find when Spencer was born, I remember trying to find excuses uh for why we were not gonna do X, Y, and Z.
00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:16.480
And one of those was church because we had tried it.
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:26.400
Uh we had taken him into the infant room because I'm not sure like where he should fit, and he's like three or four, and he's not really an infant, but in his mind he's infant, so what room is appropriate?
00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:30.559
They don't have any equipment, no teachers are ready for it, they're volunteers.
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.280
I don't know.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:32.960
So we're gonna put him in the nursery room.
00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:43.360
And I go back to pick them up, and the kids are like crawling over him like he's a speed bump because he can't defend himself, he can't move, so they laid him on the floor and very late, you know, for the whole church hour.
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:45.519
And I thought, okay, this is not working.
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:51.039
So you go back home and you allow the devil to say, Yeah, I told you that church mess ain't gonna work.
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:52.239
Just stay home.
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:56.800
And uh then one day I said, you know what, we're we're gonna try this again.
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:02.400
And I had everything ready in my mind about why this wasn't gonna work.
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:03.679
Because I tried it before, right?
00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:04.800
I mean, why would it work now?
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:06.880
It's just a different day, a different year.
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:12.719
So we go in there and I get there a little early, and of course I walk in and there's no teacher there.
00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:15.119
And I think, oh, see, it's not gonna work.
00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:17.840
Probably somebody didn't even show up to to do this.
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:22.239
And I was negative Nancy already, and uh just coming up with everything.
00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:23.440
I mean, the devil was working.
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:26.079
I mean, he was he was doing it good, he was laying it on thick.
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:31.440
And then before right before I decided to give up, I thought I'm gonna give them two more minutes.
00:39:31.679 --> 00:39:41.199
And right before we decided to walk out the room, the volunteer for that day was a couple, and so the guy had arrived first.
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:44.719
And I thought, oh, geez, he's really not gonna know what to do now.
00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:52.800
And so um, I'm trying to scare him to death with everything, you know, giving them all of Spencer's diagnosis, and I mean I'm laying it on thick.
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:55.760
And I'm like, oh, he's probably gonna have a seizure and you're gonna have to call me.
00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:57.119
Yep, you're just gonna have to call me.
00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:58.000
Write down my number.
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:00.639
You're writing it down, just thinking of everything.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:06.320
And I'm thinking, you know, at some point he's gonna go, you know what, maybe you should just keep him with you today at church.
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:08.960
And I'm gonna I'm gonna be like, see, told you.
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:12.159
Oh, God is so funny in this moment.
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:18.960
So I'm I'm still trying to freak him out and I'm trying to head out and prove my point that we shouldn't be at church.
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:21.039
And in walks his wife.
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:26.639
And so, and she and he's like, Oh, you know what, you you can tell uh my wife everything you just told me.
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:28.960
I thought, ugh, like I gotta repeat it again.
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:30.719
So I try to scare her, right?
00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:32.000
Scare tactic.
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:39.679
You're not gonna want this child uh in your class because you're you're gonna you're gonna call me out, you know, and I'm never gonna be able to attend church.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:46.559
And after I get finished with my whole little dialogue, she leans in and she goes, It's gonna be okay.
00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:50.320
You know I'm a special ed teacher, and I teach severe and profound.
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:51.920
So I got this.
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:55.840
And I was like, Oh, well, I don't really have a comeback for that.
00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:07.039
I wasn't I wasn't thinking that God would actually put anyone in the room on the day that I'm testing him, that he would actually have the time to go, nope, let me rework this.
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:12.239
Um let me put some a couple in there that that is gonna shut her up, be the like the mic drop of the movie.
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:12.800
Right.
00:41:13.039 --> 00:41:14.880
Well, who do you think it was?
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:18.559
Julie and her husband were the ones in the room.
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:27.280
Uh and so I, you know, I I I walked out and I probably had tears in my eyes because I so badly wanted to be right.
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:29.679
And God was like, not this time, Lisa.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:35.679
You know, this is uh I I told you, I had you, and you put me to the test.
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:36.960
Here you go.
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:37.920
Now what you gotta say?
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.760
And I was like, Well, I guess I'm going to church now.
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:48.639
So anyway, uh I followed um Julie over here, and I tell you, it's been absolutely wonderful.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:57.119
Everything that Julie does, if I always tell people, um, if you ever wanted to duplicate or clone someone, the person you want to clone is Julie Brickhouse.
00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:04.079
And I will say to that point, for the people may think, well, Julie, what does she even do with Accessible Disciples?
00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:14.639
We've done that episode, so if you've not heard that podcast, just scroll on down and look for that one with Julie Brickhouse, and you can get caught up on that ministry as well.
00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:15.440
Yeah.
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:17.039
So we work really good.
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:33.920
I I think um she, you know, obviously she was my test uh for the Lord to see if he would actually provide in my moment of desperation, and he might drop me, and so I had nothing else to say, and so uh we work very well together.
00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:35.599
We are each other's testimonies.
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:36.239
Okay.
00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:44.239
Well, you mentioned something about you know, Unity is um, you know, provided some of the needs like the changing table.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:51.199
What are some other things that Unity has um done to support special needs students?
00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:56.159
Allowing Bianca Purnum to come in and take over Thursday nights.
00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:57.519
Um, that's huge.
00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:02.960
They have met the needs of our families by providing dinner at no cost to them.
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:06.480
Uh before Unity, we were stretched thin.
00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:14.960
Um, like I said, we had 13 people when we started and 24 when we left our old church, and our parents were worn out.
00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:16.880
I brought dinner last week.
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:18.639
I'm tired of bringing dinner.
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:20.880
Somebody else needs to step up to the plate.
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:23.039
And we thought 24 was stressful.
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:26.000
Try serving 254 now.
00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:35.119
You wouldn't have one parent that would raise their hand and say, you know what, I'll make spaghetti in my crop pot uh and and my neighbor's crop pot, their crop pot.
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:39.760
Um, so Unity has more than welcomed us.
00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:52.480
Um from the moment that I left the the other church uh and started shopping around about where could we go, it's actually a funny story because it's more than just about Capernaum.
00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:56.800
Uh it was COVID and COVID has shut down everything, of course.
00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:07.199
And um when I felt like our community was Was ready to get back together and needed to because they didn't comprehend the whole, you know, we're not getting together because of COVID.
00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:12.880
I had the special needs prom at one church and I had Bianca Purnum at another church.
00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:19.199
And so I called uh the church and was like, hey, we we should probably get ready for this next prom.
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:24.639
And they're like, Jeez, Lisa, um, I don't know how to break this to you, but it was a lot.
00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:28.239
Can can you maybe move the prom to another church?
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:31.360
And I'm like, Oh, okay.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:33.280
Okay, sure, yeah, sure.
00:44:34.159 --> 00:44:38.400
Same week I call the church that's hosting Bianca Pernam for us.
00:44:38.639 --> 00:44:41.199
And I say, uh, to that pastor.
00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:43.679
Pastor, um, so it's Lisa Jordan.
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.079
Uh, we ready to get this thing started again?
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:50.239
He goes, you know, let me talk to my people, to my congregation one more time.
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:52.719
And I'm like, well, that was a weird response, but whatever.
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:57.039
So he calls back and he goes, Yeah, I think it's about time to move Bianca Pernam.
00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:59.519
I I just don't think it fits with our church.
00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:08.400
And I thought, you know, and at that very moment I could have been in my car and hit the steering wheel and cried out and and then burst into tears.
00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:09.440
But I didn't.
00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:14.800
It was the same feeling I got the night that I was holding Spencer, and I begged the Lord to use me.
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:21.039
And I honestly 100% looked up to the sky and I started laughing and I said, What are you doing?
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:28.639
God, whatever you're doing, it kind of is not funny because where am I gonna move all these people for the prom?
00:45:28.800 --> 00:45:31.280
That's 800 people I've got to put somewhere in a prom.
00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:33.920
That's a whole lot of people for Capernaum.
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:36.000
What what did you really have in mind?
00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:42.800
And so I found a new home for the uh prom, which actually in 2027 will be will be moved again.
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:45.679
So God is on the move, just like the song says.
00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:55.920
Um, but when we landed at Unity, you know, I I told the pastors, it's as if you know how on Sunday morning you have the greeters and they're holding the door open.
00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:57.039
Okay, you know that feeling.
00:45:57.199 --> 00:45:58.639
They've been they've okay.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:07.760
That's how they were when we moved Bianca Pernam here, as if the greeters were outside going, sure did take you long enough to get here.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:10.639
Like they have been waiting for us the whole time.
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:22.480
And we grew from the 24 people to 75, and we were like, Wow, look at the number, and then it went to 150, and then it went to 178, and then it was 200.
00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:27.440
We're like, whoa, we just broke over 200, and now we're talking 250.
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:31.039
And I'm like, look at God on the move.
00:46:31.760 --> 00:46:43.760
But again, it I don't want to get caught up in the number um because it's easy to uh measure the ministry by its numbers, by by attendance.
00:46:44.079 --> 00:46:51.199
Um, but for me it's is the moments when someone walks in the door and they realize this is where I belong.
00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:52.960
This is me.
00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:54.960
This is my new family.
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:56.239
That is the moment.
00:46:56.800 --> 00:46:57.920
Yeah, that's good stuff.
00:46:58.159 --> 00:47:00.000
Well, what are the future plans?
00:47:00.159 --> 00:47:02.079
What do you see coming down the road?
00:47:03.039 --> 00:47:15.039
Well, um, you know, the impact that God has on everyone, um, sure, every you know, lots of people will be like, oh, we wanna we wanna now hit one uh two seventy-four.
00:47:15.119 --> 00:47:17.199
Uh or it's not about the number.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:22.480
Uh people will come and go, they'll float in and out um of their lives with Christ.
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:28.400
I hope that they don't, but new ones will will step in and lives will be changed.
00:47:28.880 --> 00:47:34.239
Um I accept volunteers from ECU and it's planting those small seeds.
00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:37.760
You know, I was once in a class at ECU.
00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:47.039
I go there every semester uh to talk as a guest speaker and I happen to mention, you know, d uh when you go to college campuses, it's it could be tricky.
00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:54.320
I mean, even with a professor, if you bring up G-O-D, you know, like, you know, but you gotta stay your ground, right?
00:47:54.559 --> 00:48:03.920
And so I thought, okay, I'm gonna look left, look right, and I'm gonna I'm gonna throw in something about God real quick, uh, towards the end of my speech, because what is she gonna do now?
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:04.800
Kick me out?
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.599
Not all professors are anti-God.
00:48:07.760 --> 00:48:11.519
I'm just saying, you know, um, that maybe some are.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:18.000
And so at the last minute I said, hey, if you guys ever want to volunteer, you're welcome to come on Thursday nights.
00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:22.159
Uh it'll count towards your volunteer hours that are required for your class.
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:29.199
Um and it's a ministry and um for the special needs population and their caregivers and all that.
00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:32.880
And so the professor said, Okay, anyone got any questions?
00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:34.400
You get points if you ask a question.
00:48:34.559 --> 00:48:36.880
So everybody's raising their hand, asking me the normal stuff.
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:40.480
And then this one guy towards the end raises his hand.
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:42.559
And I was like, Yeah, what's your question?
00:48:42.880 --> 00:48:45.119
And he goes, So I had a question.
00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:49.280
How do you teach the special needs about God?
00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:51.920
And I said, How about you come tonight?
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:52.719
Are you free tonight?
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:54.239
And he goes, Yeah.
00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:56.880
And I said, How about you show up tonight and I'll show you.
00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:02.880
I want you to know that from that moment he was all in.
00:49:03.119 --> 00:49:06.960
He has become one of our uh turn speakers.
00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:12.079
Um he couldn't decide between going into ministry and going to be a doctor.
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:19.360
He actually got a full ride to um medical school, so he's gonna be a doctor, but he wants to doctor with the gospel.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:25.199
So he wants to deliver God's word through his hands of medicine, which is incredible.
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:33.840
And we wouldn't have known him had we not dropped the G O D conversation in ECU, you know, a hot larger.
00:49:34.480 --> 00:49:35.599
I love when God works like that.
00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:39.679
Yes, and so other people that have come to get their volunteer hours.
00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:43.519
Um, it's seed planting, you know, we're all gardening.
00:49:44.079 --> 00:50:08.239
Um you won't ever know the fulfillment of where it lands in that person's life, but you hope that it was a moment that makes a little impression and they might be in their thirties or their twenties or whatever, and and they reflect back to that one day where they went and they volunteered uh at Capernaum and their lives were well their eyes were opened, but their lives were changed.
00:50:08.639 --> 00:50:13.440
Um and a lot of them see that our population is humorous.
00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:15.840
I mean, they got some jokes, you know.
00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:19.679
Um they're hilarious, they they call it right out, you know.
00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:28.639
Um Jamie and Jackie, they'll write right up walk right up to you and they'll stare at you for a minute and then kind of go to the side of you and they'll go, I think you need to wash your hair today.
00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:32.079
You know, and you're just sitting there going, I did wash my hair.
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:36.559
So um they're your true friends, they're the ones that make you humble.
00:50:36.719 --> 00:50:39.920
Um, and and just see the humor in life.
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:42.559
I love it, I love it, I love it.
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:48.559
Um, well, this has been uh very eye-opening, exciting, encouraging.
00:50:48.719 --> 00:50:57.360
I a lot of positive adjectives I could throw out there, and um definitely a pleasant surprise to learn all of that.
00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:06.480
So I appreciate your I appreciate your time, your dedication, and uh just the service to that pop that special population.
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:23.039
And uh Well I tell you, if no one has come out to just witness the ministry, I beg you, you are missing out on watching God's plan, watching uh how wonderful God works through these people and how He affects everyone's lives.
00:51:23.199 --> 00:51:30.960
So if you have never come to volunteer for Capernaum, I I I promise, just come out.
00:51:31.119 --> 00:51:34.480
You'll forget about all your worries, your stresses during the week.
00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:36.559
It all vanishes and goes away.
00:51:36.719 --> 00:51:39.360
Just looking into their eyes and just listening to talk.
00:51:39.599 --> 00:51:43.519
And who do they need to talk to about coming on a Thursday?
00:51:43.840 --> 00:51:44.159
Me.
00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:44.800
Okay.
00:51:44.960 --> 00:51:46.000
Yeah, Lisa Jordan.
00:51:46.400 --> 00:51:48.400
Okay, they just come find you on Sunday.
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:49.760
Just come find me, yep.
00:51:49.920 --> 00:51:54.880
Like I said, we break during the summer, but we're active during the fall and spring, just like a school year.
00:51:55.440 --> 00:52:02.239
Um so and if you can't, you know, find me there, you can come see Julie for Accessible Disciples.
00:52:02.400 --> 00:52:11.840
Um her people are my people, and we're all the same people, and so we're always uh dreaming up of the next event.
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:17.920
And of course, I have to put in a plug for the Bethlehem event that we'll have uh the first of December.
00:52:18.159 --> 00:52:20.559
So uh please get involved with that.
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:23.360
Um it is unbelievable.
00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:29.280
I I think our pastoral staff was shocked for those that were able to stop by right before the event happened.
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:31.679
They thought, you know, we heard you were having a little event.
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.679
We had no idea it was this big uh next time we need to call the media.
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:39.440
So um that's one way to get involved, you know.
00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:46.159
If you're too nervous to be one-on-one, because you're like, I just kind of want to feel it out, you know, we hear that.
00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:50.800
Uh come feel it out at one of our events, um, and then you'll be hooked for life.
00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:52.159
That's good stuff.
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:58.800
Well, before you go, I want to pray for you and um encourage you and um thank you for your time.
00:52:59.039 --> 00:52:59.760
Yes, thank you.
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:10.800
All right, well, dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for your goodness and for your grace, and I thank you that you love all your children no matter what their abilities or talents are.
00:53:10.880 --> 00:53:18.639
And uh, we're just so thankful for Lisa and um for the ministry that she is providing and that you are guiding.
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:34.000
And I said you continue to work through her as you lead and director in serving um the special needs population and just beyond Capernaum and continue to do great things and uh go before her and guide and direct her past Lord.
00:53:34.079 --> 00:53:36.079
And we just thank you for all that you do.
00:53:36.159 --> 00:53:37.280
In that name I pray.
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:38.079
Amen.
00:53:38.639 --> 00:53:40.960
Well, thank you, Lisa, so much for joining us.
00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:42.079
Thank you for listening.
00:53:42.159 --> 00:53:45.599
And as God is writing the story in your life, go and tell.
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:50.480
Thanks so much for listening to the Unity Community Podcast.
00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:56.480
If today's conversation encouraged you, we'd love for you to take one or more next steps.
00:53:56.719 --> 00:53:59.760
Join us this Sunday morning for worship at 9 or 10 30.
00:53:59.920 --> 00:54:03.440
Get connected to a live group andor find a place to work.
00:54:04.079 --> 00:54:09.360
You can learn more about Unity and how to get plugged in by visiting the links in the show notes.
00:54:09.519 --> 00:54:15.519
So until next time, let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.400
Hello and welcome to the Unity Community Podcast.
00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:23.280
This is a place where our church family can hear real stories of life change and discover how God is working through our ministries and missionaries, both here and around the world.
00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:32.560
From conversations with our staff and leaders to testimonies from our people, we're pulling back the curtain on what God is doing in and through Unity Church.
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:33.679
Thanks for listening.
00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.719
Let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
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Welcome, I'm your host, Tim DeCreesey.
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Thanks for taking a moment to listen.
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Today we're highlighting a ministry that reflects the heart of who we want to be as a church, a place where every individual is seen, valued, and included.
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Beyond Capernaum is a ministry designed to support families who have members that have either a cognitive or physical disability.
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This is more than a program.
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It's a space where belonging, faith, and community intersect in meaningful ways.
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Today we're going to spend time with Lisa Jordan, who heads up this ministry to learn how it began, what it provides, and the impact it is having on the families it's meant to serve.
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Well, welcome, Lisa.
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I'm glad you could join us today.
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Thank you.
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Well, why don't we I'm excited to hear more about uh Beyond Capernaum and the ministry you have.
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So why don't we begin with you just telling us a little bit about yourself?
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Alright.
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Uh so um Lisa Jordan, um some of the population calls me Lisa Pizza, um, and then others just call me Lisa Jordan.
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Um I am an artist here in town.
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I've been uh owning my own business since 1993.
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I have two children, um and I teach for the city part-time, teaching a day program for the adult special needs.
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I uh teach summer camps for typical and special needs uh population.
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I run my my business, Lisa Jordan Foe and more.
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I run Beyond Capernaum, the special needs ministry, and I sit on several boards uh for the special needs, so uh pretty active, and it depends on which avenue I met you in as to the one that you probably know me best as.
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And then sometimes when I sit in board meetings, some people are just like, I'm not sure what that lady does.
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Um it just depends on uh how you met me under under which of those hats.
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Well, how did you even get involved with special needs?
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So um I have a special needs, severe and profound child who is 27.
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Um, I also have um another child who um was born in '93, whatever that math is.
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Um and so between the two, um, I lost three pregnancies.
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Um it was very apparent uh with little Todd, who's also Todd Jr., um, who was my three-pound four-ounce child, that God was already at work in my life.
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And so um with handing me such a tiny baby and then taking three pregnancies away was truly the platform of him paving the road of what was to come.
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And so um I had uh Spencer um in 1999, and by the fall, uh he was already diagnosed, and um also uh one of my many testimonies was um just uh feeling like God was maybe gonna take Spencer away from me.
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I don't I can't explain the feeling other than it was just one of my testimonies.
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Um but I remember crying, um just pouring my heart out one night, really, really late.
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Everybody's asleep in the house.
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I'm downstairs trying to comfort Spencer.
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It's in the middle of the night, and I just had that feeling that God was gonna take them away.
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And so I just started crying and crying and crying, going, please, um, you know, don't don't take this one away.
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You um scared me with uh little Todd being three pounds, four ounces, and them telling me that he may not even survive the birth, and then taking three pregnancies away and then giving me Spencer.
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So I promised God at that very minute, that very moment, um, if you would let me keep him here on this earth, I promise please use me.
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Um it was my plea to the Lord to just say, you know what, whatever the avenues are, let people be a witness to us.
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Um use us in whatever way you will, and and I will be there.
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And so that's um kind of how all that began.
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And so from there it was life's journey.
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Um, every moment you could see God being reflected in every single thing.
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Um the special needs community opened my eyes to I think all the challenges, um, it makes you aware of your community, the surrounding, the church, the school, your family, your friends.
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And and then you start to see that you have two sets of friends.
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Um, you have friends that are your um neurotypical friends where uh life is about where are we eating, um, how does your how is your home decorated, what are the latest trends, and then you have your special needs families, and then that is the most wholesome group.
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I'm not saying that the neurotypical uh friends are not wholesome and and friendly and loving and all that, they are, but it's a whole nother kind of love.
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It's a non-judgment um platform of love where we can confide in each other because we're all on the same journey, walking the same path.
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We may have a different diagnosis, a different age child.
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Um, but we're all on the same journey and we can relate and we feed into each other and we inspire each other.
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Um, so uh I don't know.
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It's it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey um already, and I meet people all the time.
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I just met a lady the other day at Sharon Williams of all places because I'm there as an artist, I was getting paint, and um I look over and it was an old friend, and I went over and I thought, you know, I I could go to the counter, I could check out and and just throw up my hand, say hello, and be on my way.
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I don't know, something told me to go over there and talk to her.
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So I did, and um come to find out her grandchild had just been born just well, had been born two years ago, um, and been diagnosed recently with autism, and they were kind of devastated and just in a a cloud of like, I'm we're not sure where to go from here.
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And so I spent the next hour um counseling her and just showing her that this was gonna be a wonderful, wonderful journey.
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You you have to see it as more than just the diagnosis.
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You have to see that you know your daughter was chosen by God.
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Um, he could have chosen the neighbor beside of you uh or beside of her.
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Um he could have chosen someone else down the street, but he chose your daughter.
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How fortunate this is.
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Um, and so sometimes I tell parents, you know, uh this could be a voicemail from God.
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He's he's sending you a text and a voicemail, and he goes, you know what, I I need you to call me.
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And some of us are so quick to ignore the voicemails because we get too many or um shun off the text, you know, open it up, don't put it back as unread because we're not ready to answer it, and then we forget about it, gets lost in all the other texts that come in through the day.
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And you know, God is sitting there going, if you'll just call me back, I got some instructions for you.
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You know, I'm gonna help you, I'm gonna tell you what it is I need, I'm gonna tell you how I'm gonna provide for that.
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I just need you to call me back.
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Um, and so sometimes it's answering that call.
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Yeah, that's a good reminder for us to be more attentive to you know that kind of urging that we get.
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Well, you talked about on your journey.
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When did your journey begin with um with the Lord?
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I believe that night, you know.
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Um well I was always raised um to go to church every Sunday, um, and then go see grandma.
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Um, and then we get married, and you know, you come um to college, and I think sometimes that gets set aside for a moment because you get lost.
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You don't have your parents going, nope, we're going to church today.
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Um my grandfather served as a deacon in the church, um, very Christian, family brought up, went to private Christian school um through the elementary, and then from there uh became a city girl with the city um schools.
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Um and I don't know, I think the walk has been there the entire time.
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It's a it's a matter of um answering the call.
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Um and then reinforcing that when you have something trouble in your life.
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You know, a lot of people only seek the Lord when they're in trouble, but then they forget whenever they're good.
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They're like, Oh, I got I I I got this, I don't really need him right now.
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I'll call them back when I need them.
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You know, and that's he's not a a coin slot God.
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He's not like put the coin in when you need me, you know.
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Uh otherwise I'll I'll see you on the other side.
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Um so I think, you know, the whole time um realizing the Lord is working in my life, and of course we all sin, we all go astray, and then we all come back, and then we go, why did I go down that path?
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You know.
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Um and it also comes with the company that you keep.
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Um friends that um or co-workers that aren't really for the Lord can trick trick or trick you, you know.
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They can, I don't know, uh maybe forget for a minute.
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Um, and so sometimes it's just staying true to yourself and um having reminders in your life, whether it's um raising um children in general or raising a child with um special needs can always be that constant reminder.
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And I can remember along those similar lines um when our son, what when Terry was pregnant with our son, you know, we got the blood work back, and they said, Oh, there's a one in two hundred chance that he'll be born with Down syndrome.
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And so in my head, I'm thinking, I'm look I hear the doctor, he's sitting there, and I hear the word Down syndrome.
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I just graduated n with my special ed degree not too many years before that, and so I'm going through the filing camp, Down syndrome, down syndrome, what is that, what is that, and I kind of hit the folder, and I can remember the professor saying, When you tell a parent their child has uh a cognitive disability, you might as well stop talking because they're not listening.
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I thought, he's right, I'm not listening.
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I don't even know what this doctor's telling me right now.
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I am so down this other rabbit trail.
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And um so your mind just automatically goes into a fog.
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You know, I remember when we got diagnosed with Spencer, um, he he wasn't diagnosed at birth.
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Um he he was fine, everything.
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Um of course the pregnancy was always a a problem and had been from the very first one, and Spencer being the fifth pregnancy.
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Um and so we were already used to, you know, like, oh, this is you know, this the the fluid is low, you know, and then all of a sudden we're in the birthing stages of Spencer and the cord is wrapped around his head um a couple of times.
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Um, and so uh anyway, you fast forward, we have Spencer, and then um it's about seven months, he's about seven months old, and he starts having grandma seizures.
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Um so that was our first you know inclination that something is wrong.
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Otherwise, all the other months leading up to seven months was oh, he's just a little delayed.
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He's fine, you know, he he'll catch up.
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Just stop comparing him.
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Of course, I had a best friend who had had a child um a week before Spencer was born.
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And of course, what did I do?
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I called her.
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Hey, Sharon, what what's Grant doing?
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You know, oh he's crawling.
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Well, Spencer's not crawling.
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Okay, well, what's he doing this week?
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Oh, he's starting to talk.
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Yeah, Spencer's not talking yet.
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And so you compare, you know, and the doctors say, Don't do, don't do that.
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Well, by um seven months old he had a grandma's seizures, and we were like, okay, so he he had seizures, that's it.
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I would go every day into the neurologist, not every day, I would go when we were scheduled into the neurologist to try to figure it out.
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And um quickly we were sent over to the DEC, which was the developmental evaluation clinic.
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Um, I think it was Dr.
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Holcomb.
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And so we went there to be evaluated by all the specialists.
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You have uh sight, hearing, you have all the therapies, OTPT speech, um, you have the doctors, you have uh everyone's opinion, right?
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And so it was a long day we're being evaluated.
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And then at the end of the day, we sit at this long uh banquet table, uh office banquet table.
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And it's me and Spencer on one side and all the professionals on the other side who had just evaluated.
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And so we're sitting there and they're rambling off all this stuff, and I'm just thinking, okay, when do I when do I like stop the meeting and say, I think you got the wrong folder?
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Like this is Spencer Jordan.
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Can we can we check the the date of birth again?
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Because you're reading off the wrong folder.
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And they stopped and they looked at me and they kind of sat back in their chair and they said, Miss Jordan, it this is your child, Spencer, right?
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And I said, Yeah, I'm here to learn what you guys have figured out.
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And they said, We're reading from your folder.
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And I'm like, You're saying diagnoses that I've never heard about.
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And so that was my, you know, here's here's your sign.
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And I each one of them had their own little diagnosis to contribute.
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And I thought, what in the world?
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I came in here and he was a little slow and gonna be fine, quote unquote.
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And now you're telling me he's got microscephaly, how do you spell that again?
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And he's got um cerebral palsy, and he's uh visually impaired, and he's um mentally retarded, and he's um all these things.
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We get five diagnoses sitting there at a table, and I'm thinking, gee, what?
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What who was gonna like bring this to me softly?
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Uh these and and so you leave there uh just thinking, you know, is was that really our folder?
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You know, was that really us?
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Is that our is that my story now?
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Is this the one I I go and I call my friend up and say, oh, you know, he's not walking because X my Z.
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So Yeah, I mean, and we had that same experience.
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And I remember the doctors right after they made that, you know, one in two hundred when I kind of came back to what he was saying, it was, you know, your X amount of weeks along or whatever, you know, do you want to have an abortion?
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You know, Terry and I didn't have a chance to talk, but we both said no.
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We no, that's not an option.
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Like we knew that wasn't an option.
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So we left, we went out to the fountain by the hospital, and we were just kind of sitting there in a daze.
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And I remember we came home, we called Jimmy Garris, because he was our Sunday school teacher, and uh he came over and prayed with us.
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And I mean that's all we could do because we weren't gonna, because we thought, oh, there's a we could do this other test that would give us for sure, but then there was a one in 75 chance something would go wrong.
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We're like, oh that's worse odds.
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Like, no, we're just gonna have to ride it out.
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And um Jimmy prayed with us, and I remember waking up the next morning with such a peace, like it's all gonna, it's gonna be fine.
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You know, it is gonna be what it's gonna be, but it's gonna be fine.
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Yeah.
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And just I mean, that's one of the best feelings I've ever had from a like a roller coaster ride of being in a haze to the next morning.
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It's all good.
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Like total peace.
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And to your point of, you know, we don't want to throw prayer off to the side as a last resort.
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Like that should be front line.
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Yeah.
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Give me the strength and show me the way.
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And if this is how you choose to use me, make the most of it, you know.
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Uh but you know, there I I do have another friend in town who does not believe in God and and she's not shy about that at all.
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Um, but she told uh one of my staff, I'm I'm glad God but I'm glad Lisa has that God thing working out for her.
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Because we weren't supposed to get one of these children.
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You know, and that just makes you gasp for a minute.
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Like, really?
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Maybe you know, you ought to check your voicemail.
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He's probably left you a voicemail.
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You know, God is probably wanting to get a hold of you and He sends you someone uh that is so special, you know.
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A a lot of us, I tell a lot of people that a lot of us neurotypical people are the ones in therapy all the time.
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We we're all trying to wander around the earth trying to figure it out, you know, how to do life.
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And here these people are sent to us, these special, special angels are sent to us to care for that show us grace, they show us patience, they show us to stop using these big words that we can't even spell just to show off, you know, um, just to slow it down a little.
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And that is one of those hidden secrets.
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When I was teaching in the special ed classroom, just you know, yet there are challenges.
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I'm not gonna undermine the challenges that are there.
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But the joys kind of counterbalance that.
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And, you know, just seeing those kids smile.
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And I one of my students, she played on the, you know, the basketball team or whatever, and you know, it's her skill level was not where the other kids were.
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But um it I w went to one of the games and she scored a basket, and just seeing her face like, wow, that is she doesn't care about anything else.
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She is just so excited about what just happened, and it was just warms my heart right now, just thinking about I can see her right now, just with her hands.
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Well, if the audience knew anything about her, did you also witness that the audience cheered the smallest reward?
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You know, the just the smallest things that but yet we don't do that for the neurotypical people.
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We're just like, uh, so what?
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You you got a fancy car, I mean, you got a promotion at work, um whatever, you know.
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And we we we're envy, we're jealous, but then you turn it and it's the special needs that does it, and we're all clapping, we're all cheering.
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It's unbelievable to see the energy in the room.
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Um, why can't we be like that for everybody?
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You know?
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That's that's a good point.
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So they I think they bring out the best in us.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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So let's talk about.
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I mean, that's all good stuff right there.
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We could just we could just stop right there, and it would be a good podcast.
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But let's get into um beyond Capernaum.
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Okay.
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And how did all that get started?
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So we're sitting in the car, uh, headed to a community outing, and I have one of my staff with me, and she uh her name is Katie, and she is in Young Life.
00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.119
And my son also, uh little Todd, was also in Young Life, and you know, at the time I didn't even know where he was going.
00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.279
He would be like, Mom, bye, I'm going to Young Life.
00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:48.160
We're like, okay.
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:50.720
And we're letting our child go to a stranger's house.
00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.319
We never ask questions.
00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:57.599
But yep, growing up, my parents were always like, Now, if you're gonna have a sleepover, I'm gonna need to talk to the mom and dad.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.559
And here I am raising a child, and I'm like, okay, bye.
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.559
Hope you come back safely.
00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:08.880
Um, and so then fast forward a little bit more, and we have one of the staff helping me, and she's in the car.
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:20.079
We're at a stoplight, and she's going on and on and on about all these things that Young Life is doing, and these trips, and I pause for a second and I said, You know, I wish we had that for the special needs.
00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:25.839
I wish the community could say that we had the same thing, whatever it is you're over there jabbering about.
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.200
I wish we had the same thing.
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:34.160
And she goes, Well, you know, I think there's a chapter that's never been open for Pitt County, and it's called Capernaum.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.720
Not beyond Capernaum, but hasn't been born yet.
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.160
Uh Copernum.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.599
And I said, Do what?
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:44.079
And so basically turn the car around, you know, go up to the door, Young Life.
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.720
They're in the midst of getting a new uh Pit County leader, so we have to wait.
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.119
Waiting seems like forever.
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:58.240
Uh it's I don't know, four months go by and finally we get a new guy uh in Pitt County for for Young Life Copernum.
00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.440
Oh, for Young Life.
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.319
So we go up to him and listen, my name is Lisa Jordan.
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.079
I I don't have time to explain because I'm like so excited about this.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.759
I just want you to say yes and and put me in a training immediately.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:17.519
And and so um within a couple of months, um I had opened up the the young life's version of Coperna.
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:29.279
Well, during my training with their headquarters people, uh, that train people, we found out quickly that there was gonna be this group was was age limited.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.680
Uh it was gonna be 14 to 21.
00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:36.480
And so I remember sitting there in the training going, Way, well, I have a question.
00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:43.279
Uh what happens to all my friends over 21 and they're like, Well, we encourage them to go find a new church.
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.400
And I said, Oh, see see, that's the problem.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.319
The problem is a lot of the churches they're not ready for us.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:59.119
They don't know, I mean, their hearts might be there, but they're not doing anything about it to change it, to find someone in the leadership role to run it.
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:02.079
Um I uh okay, I tell you what.
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:04.720
I I'm gonna we're we're gonna do this for about a year.
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:09.519
I'm gonna, you know, under study, I'm gonna I'm gonna figure all this out.
00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:11.680
But after about a year, I'm gonna break away.
00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:17.440
And I'm gonna go pick up the pieces because all those people, uh 14 to 21, guess what?
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:18.400
They're gonna age out.
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:19.519
And then what happens?
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:23.279
And I have more friends that are over 21 that are under 21.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.599
So I'm gonna go open up my own thing.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.759
I'm gonna I'm gonna call it beyond Capernaum.
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:34.799
And so a lot of people um they go, you know, that Capernaum, no, it's not Capernaum, it's Capernaum.
00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.759
And they go, yeah, I don't even know what that word means.
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:38.960
And I get that a lot.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:48.960
And so I love to pause and just remind people of the story in the uh New Testament when there was a paraplegic by the side of the road who couldn't reach Jesus.
00:22:49.039 --> 00:23:02.400
He desired, he wanted to just so badly go see him uh to to witness uh this miracle of a man that has been sent from God when four friends came along and said, Hey buddy, I gotcha.
00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.240
So they picked up the mat.
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.480
You know, did they know the guy?
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:07.279
Possibly.
00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:10.559
Small town, they probably have seen him on the side of the street.
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:11.920
Were they friends of his?
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:12.799
I don't know.
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.079
They were just friends enough to say, I gotcha.
00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:20.240
And so they pick up the guy on the mat and they start heading towards the line.
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:27.200
Yeah, and I'm imagining like some um Taylor Swift line, you know, and it's the line is like forever.
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.359
And they're thinking, Oh, this is not gonna work.
00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:30.400
Well, what's plan B?
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:34.880
And so they're kind of getting together, scratching the head, and like, hey, I one of them's like, I got an idea.
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:36.720
We're gonna go on top top of the roof.
00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.680
Top of the roof, dude, we can't even barely carry the guy.
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.519
No, no, no, this is what we're gonna do.
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.119
We're gonna go up in the top of the roof.
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:44.880
And they get up there and like, now what?
00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:46.160
This was a great idea.
00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:47.440
What's your next best idea?
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.720
And he's like, All right, hold on.
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:58.960
And so they dig a hole in the roof, and I can imagine Jesus sitting there in a circle and he's talking to everyone, and and um all of a sudden this dirt and dust starts flying from the ceiling.
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:05.599
Jesus is like, what it gets a little interrupted, and then happens again, and he's like, What, what, what is going on here?
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:11.359
And then all of a sudden, this man is lowered down, and the man is healed and tells him to pick up his mat.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:15.759
You know, the guy's like so excited he's about I I in my imagination.
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:21.920
The guy's so excited he's about to run out of the house, and Jesus is like, No, no, no, wait, wait, pick up your mat, pick up your mat, and then go.
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.359
You know, and the guy's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, that that mat I've been sitting on all my life.
00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:27.359
Um, and goes out and tells the story.
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.319
So that is the story of Capernaum.
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:31.680
That is us.
00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:36.640
This is where Jesus set up his um headquarters was in Capernaum.
00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:41.039
This is where he did his main most of his ministry based out of.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.200
So this is us.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:50.640
Beyond Capernaum, in my mind, when I made up the title, is what happens after Capernaum?
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.119
Do we take the guy to Jesus and then we all go back to our lives?
00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:56.799
Or do we stick with them?
00:24:57.119 --> 00:24:58.400
We walk beside of him.
00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.200
We always make sure that the path is is ready, is clear, and it's available.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.119
Where where are we gonna be beyond the story?
00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:09.599
Beyond the miracle.
00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:10.559
Then what?
00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.920
We need to stay with them for the rest of our lives.
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:18.319
We need to build a relationship that says, you know what, buddy, I'm here to the end.
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.079
And as a matter of fact, we're gonna be best buds forever.
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:28.720
That means all the world to them, to let them know that they belong, that they have a place, and that we see them.
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.839
Not just the one day of the miracle.
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.880
You know, I could I'm sure the uh Jerusalem Journal that day was like, oh, lame man gets healed, takes Matt, runs off.
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.000
End of story.
00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:43.519
What after that?
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.400
Is the journalist still writing about this man?
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:47.440
Is he following him?
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:48.799
Is he following his path?
00:25:48.880 --> 00:26:02.079
Is he is he encouraging him along the way every time a setback happens, whether he's sick or another diagnosis or uh whatever the obstacle is, where are we in that story?
00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:04.640
And so that's beyond Copernaum.
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:06.880
Okay, wow, that is that's good stuff.
00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:08.319
That's good stuff.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:13.759
So what what do you do um with Beyond Capernaum?
00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:16.480
What what is what's happening?
00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:25.680
So every special needs uh family, you know, they want a place to go.
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.000
They want a place where their child is seen, valued.
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:47.200
Uh Capernaum is not about the numbers, and a lot of times we'll talk about like, oh my gosh, we just broke record, it was 154 people, um, which uh is really 254 and now uh we started out with 13 people and we've grown to 254.
00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:58.480
Um, but it's not always about the number, it's about providing a place for them, showing them that they are seen, that the church is ready, this church is ready.
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.480
I can't say that for all the churches.
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:13.359
Um, Julie and I both with Accessible Disciples, Julie and I both were part of another church where um she was getting the accessible disciples started, and it's not being seen.
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:26.720
And so here, when they walk in, not only are they learning about God and that he loves you as much as he loves me, I've learned more from them than I've tried to even teach them.
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:38.880
Um you provide a place for them, show them that they are seen, that they're loved, that they're welcomed, and when they walk in, they see people that recognize them, that say their name.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:47.680
So many times in the special needs community, um, you know, you you don't really know their name, and you're like, oh yeah, that that child over there with the downs.
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:48.960
That's not his name.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:50.480
His name's not Downs.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:52.559
You know, he has a name.
00:27:52.799 --> 00:28:05.039
Um, and I I honestly think that parents of uh families that have a child that's nonverbal, such as mine, my job is to make sure that everybody knows Spencer's name.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:19.440
My job as a facilitator of Copernum is to make sure that you know Nathan's name, Hannah's name, uh, Montrez's name, um, JLil's name.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:27.839
My job is to make sure that their name is spoken and that they are real people that are being seen.
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:42.480
And as a parent for someone that is blind, we have some blind people that attend Capernaum, and the job of the staff or the family or the caretaker or the guardian is to paint the world for them in words.
00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:47.519
Tell me what is the room like, tell me in color, not black and white.
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:54.160
Don't just tell me there's a girl named Lisa, she's standing at the front, and now she's about to give a lesson on Jesus.
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:54.799
No.
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.960
Tell me in in colorful words what is happening.
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:04.240
You know, um Jennifer that I spoke about that is blind, she is deaf and blind.
00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:09.039
So then how do you how how do you teach someone that is deaf and blind?
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:15.359
There is um love, there's affection, there's touch, there's um feeling something.
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:23.359
Um a lot of the times, no matter what the diagnosis is, music is the one thing they all have in common.
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:30.000
And they may be deaf, but they can hear beats of sounds that that like bump bum bump bump bump.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:31.839
They can they can feel that.
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:36.240
Uh just because they are deaf and blind doesn't mean they don't have feelings, you know.
00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:51.680
Um, but our population ranges anywhere from someone that drives themselves to Capernaum to someone that um is in a wheelchair, nonverbal, non-mobile, and maybe assisting with some kind of oxygen therapy.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:53.920
So we have everything in between.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.400
So do they meet once a week, once a month?
00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.799
I think I strayed from your original question.
00:29:58.960 --> 00:29:59.279
Sorry.
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:03.359
Um, yes, they meet once a week, um, every Thursday from 6 to 7 30.
00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:13.920
And I tell you, Capernaum is not just to be seen as a special needs ministry, it's a ministry for people, not with people with disabilities.
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:20.559
It's for people because I want people to start seeing them as real people.
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:28.079
They may have needs that are different from yours and mine, but uh they still need to hear about Jesus.
00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:33.279
And they are here um to feel welcomed and remembered.
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:38.480
And when you walk by, I they just want you to simply say, Hey buddy, what's up?
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.000
and say their name.
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:46.880
They'll always remember how you made them feel, and you'll be the one having trouble remembering what their name is.
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.640
So does that meet here at Unity?
00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:54.160
At Unity, uh and you provide meals?
00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:01.599
Oh, I'm sure the meal is the carrot to get in here, but if you can get anyone into the Lord's house, uh you've already won, right?
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.920
But yes, we have uh dinner provided, and then we have a lesson.
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:11.680
Sometimes we'll have uh silly games or some music sing-along things.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:18.400
Uh we'll have a raffle, and then we end the night going, Well, see you next week, and we just break in the summer.
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:31.119
So it's um so it's every Thursday night, there's a meal, a lesson, games, and it's for all family members.
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:32.480
All family members.
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:35.759
Um, we have some that bring everyone in their family.
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:43.039
We have caretakers um and guardians that come, as well as you know, the parent and the siblings themselves.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:53.359
So anyone is welcome, and I tell you, some of the um stories that have come out of Capernaum have been that of volunteers or staff.
00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:10.559
Uh, we have ECU volunteers, we have just community volunteers, we have people from our own church family that come to volunteer, and a lot of them have had some incredible stories come out of just sitting in the audience and um either listening to the lesson.
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:13.279
We had one staff say, You know what?
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:19.519
I've been to church all my life, and I just learned more about the Bible tonight than I have all my life.
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:24.720
Maybe it was the season that he was in, maybe it was the lesson that drove home in his heart.
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:25.680
I'm not sure.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:33.119
So the lessons aren't always just for the special needs population, even though that's what we see the name of the ministry called.
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.039
It's for anyone that's in the room.
00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:43.839
And we've had people that you I guess some would discount in their mind as to eh, I don't even know if they're paying attention.
00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:49.359
I'm not even sure that they have ever even seen a Bible or much less can spell Bible.
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:59.839
All of a sudden, someone like Henry raises their hand one day, and when you're doing a QA, and um you're like, oh, okay, Henry, what you got?
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:02.240
He's repeating everything out of the Bible.
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:18.559
I'm like, oh my gosh, I did not know Henry knew that much about the Bible, and so it's giving them that safe place, and we're all of a sudden now we have a light bulb over Jacob, we have a light bulb over Henry, and they're spitting out facts that you can't even compete with.
00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:31.920
You know, I'm feeling like I mean, I always say that I'm a beginner with the Bible, but wow, all of a sudden you feel you're on day one when Henry and Jacob start talking because they're saying stuff that you've already forgot.
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:33.920
You know, that makes my heart happy.
00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:34.400
Yeah.
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:39.119
Um, so what are some of the challenges the families face?
00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:45.519
So I would say there are three um challenges.
00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.240
There is church, community, and just a personal level.
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:56.160
Uh the church, um, I would say most churches just aren't ready, like we talked about before.
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:07.680
Um maybe their stats don't show that they have a need for an entire ministry when the people in the congregation say we don't really have anyone's special needs.
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:10.000
Maybe they've never really asked.
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:12.719
Um, but it's just not in their heart.
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:19.920
I know some churches um just have tried, it just didn't work out, and they're like, uh, we'll give up on that.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.039
We we can check the box.
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:22.079
We say we tried.
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.440
Um but here it works.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:33.199
Um, I would say you know, we we want our church family to again recognize us in the hallway.
00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:35.280
It's no different than them going to school.
00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:41.760
Um, we want to be seen, noticed, um just feel like we belong.
00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:52.159
Uh in the community, I think we face uh challenges with um getting around our environments, uh, with changing stations.
00:34:52.480 --> 00:35:00.079
Um you know, no one ever thinks about a lot of the older people are still in incontinent supplies, such as my son.
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:08.000
Well, I can't put a hundred and twenty-five-pound son on a baby changing station in the community.
00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:10.400
It we're gonna break it off the wall.
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:16.159
Um, and unity has gone over and beyond to get something that is meant for adults.
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.360
That is meeting the needs of our population.
00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:25.519
That is hearing what is out there, what the wish lists are, and then making that happen.
00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:33.039
Um so navigating in our community is sometimes rough.
00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:43.440
Um they don't accommodate, the wheelchair's not gonna fit, um, the floor plan's not right, lots of different issues, right?
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:49.360
Um, some restaurants don't always have a low top table, which sounds weird, but we do have one downtown.
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:51.920
There's only one low top, and the rest of them are high top.
00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:54.239
Well, how does that make a wheelchair person feel?
00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:04.159
Whether they're cognitive or just in physically impaired, they're still got to roll up in that restaurant and make a decision, you know, maybe I'm just not that hungry and we should wait.
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:06.159
Because the setting's not right.
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:14.559
Um, and then personally I've seen, you know, the families, caretakers, guardians, we never get a a day off.
00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:16.000
There's never a break, right?
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:17.119
This is our life.
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:22.320
And sometimes there are challenges, you know, just coming here today.
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:30.239
He was already, Spencer was already having a choking spell, you know, and I was trying to navigate that with the staff so I could leave and come do the interview.
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:36.480
Some days before I get to work, he's already had three seizures, you know, before I can ever pack up the car and get to work.
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:42.639
And a lot of people don't realize the challenges, even just getting to church.
00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:56.320
You could have a defiant child who you're negotiating, you know, like some uh criminal case, you know, you're like, all right, so if you can just get in the car, we'll go get donuts after church, you know.
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:57.599
Can you get in the car?
00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:10.639
You know, or um or it's the medical side of it, you know, it's the seizures, it's um, I don't know, getting sick right before you walk out the door and you're already dressed, and you're like, oh, you know, I'm not gonna let the devil win.
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:16.559
We're gonna change the clothes as fast as I can and hope that our spot in the pew is still there when we get to church, you know.
00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:24.960
Um, so it's the it's the physical challenges, but I will tell you that the families are so um resilient.
00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:34.880
Um they are not asking for handouts, they're not asking for you to be like, oh, here she comes, everybody bow.
00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:53.840
No, we're just asking to be seen, to be recognized, and to make it feel like this is also our family, our church family, that we have a home here, that we belong, that accommodations have already been set in place so that we're not tripped up on, well, that's just not gonna work, you know.
00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:03.199
Um I I remember uh going to our old church and and uh Julie was there, and this is another one of my testimonies.
00:38:03.360 --> 00:38:13.280
Um I remember, you know, trying to find when Spencer was born, I remember trying to find excuses uh for why we were not gonna do X, Y, and Z.
00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:16.480
And one of those was church because we had tried it.
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:26.400
Uh we had taken him into the infant room because I'm not sure like where he should fit, and he's like three or four, and he's not really an infant, but in his mind he's infant, so what room is appropriate?
00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:30.559
They don't have any equipment, no teachers are ready for it, they're volunteers.
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.280
I don't know.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:32.960
So we're gonna put him in the nursery room.
00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:43.360
And I go back to pick them up, and the kids are like crawling over him like he's a speed bump because he can't defend himself, he can't move, so they laid him on the floor and very late, you know, for the whole church hour.
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:45.519
And I thought, okay, this is not working.
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:51.039
So you go back home and you allow the devil to say, Yeah, I told you that church mess ain't gonna work.
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:52.239
Just stay home.
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:56.800
And uh then one day I said, you know what, we're we're gonna try this again.
00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:02.400
And I had everything ready in my mind about why this wasn't gonna work.
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:03.679
Because I tried it before, right?
00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:04.800
I mean, why would it work now?
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:06.880
It's just a different day, a different year.
00:39:07.119 --> 00:39:12.719
So we go in there and I get there a little early, and of course I walk in and there's no teacher there.
00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:15.119
And I think, oh, see, it's not gonna work.
00:39:15.280 --> 00:39:17.840
Probably somebody didn't even show up to to do this.
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:22.239
And I was negative Nancy already, and uh just coming up with everything.
00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:23.440
I mean, the devil was working.
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:26.079
I mean, he was he was doing it good, he was laying it on thick.
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:31.440
And then before right before I decided to give up, I thought I'm gonna give them two more minutes.
00:39:31.679 --> 00:39:41.199
And right before we decided to walk out the room, the volunteer for that day was a couple, and so the guy had arrived first.
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:44.719
And I thought, oh, geez, he's really not gonna know what to do now.
00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:52.800
And so um, I'm trying to scare him to death with everything, you know, giving them all of Spencer's diagnosis, and I mean I'm laying it on thick.
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:55.760
And I'm like, oh, he's probably gonna have a seizure and you're gonna have to call me.
00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:57.119
Yep, you're just gonna have to call me.
00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:58.000
Write down my number.
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:00.639
You're writing it down, just thinking of everything.
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:06.320
And I'm thinking, you know, at some point he's gonna go, you know what, maybe you should just keep him with you today at church.
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:08.960
And I'm gonna I'm gonna be like, see, told you.
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:12.159
Oh, God is so funny in this moment.
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:18.960
So I'm I'm still trying to freak him out and I'm trying to head out and prove my point that we shouldn't be at church.
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:21.039
And in walks his wife.
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:26.639
And so, and she and he's like, Oh, you know what, you you can tell uh my wife everything you just told me.
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:28.960
I thought, ugh, like I gotta repeat it again.
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:30.719
So I try to scare her, right?
00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:32.000
Scare tactic.
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:39.679
You're not gonna want this child uh in your class because you're you're gonna you're gonna call me out, you know, and I'm never gonna be able to attend church.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:46.559
And after I get finished with my whole little dialogue, she leans in and she goes, It's gonna be okay.
00:40:46.719 --> 00:40:50.320
You know I'm a special ed teacher, and I teach severe and profound.
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:51.920
So I got this.
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:55.840
And I was like, Oh, well, I don't really have a comeback for that.
00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:07.039
I wasn't I wasn't thinking that God would actually put anyone in the room on the day that I'm testing him, that he would actually have the time to go, nope, let me rework this.
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:12.239
Um let me put some a couple in there that that is gonna shut her up, be the like the mic drop of the movie.
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:12.800
Right.
00:41:13.039 --> 00:41:14.880
Well, who do you think it was?
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:18.559
Julie and her husband were the ones in the room.
00:41:18.800 --> 00:41:27.280
Uh and so I, you know, I I I walked out and I probably had tears in my eyes because I so badly wanted to be right.
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:29.679
And God was like, not this time, Lisa.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:35.679
You know, this is uh I I told you, I had you, and you put me to the test.
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:36.960
Here you go.
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:37.920
Now what you gotta say?
00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:39.760
And I was like, Well, I guess I'm going to church now.
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:48.639
So anyway, uh I followed um Julie over here, and I tell you, it's been absolutely wonderful.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:57.119
Everything that Julie does, if I always tell people, um, if you ever wanted to duplicate or clone someone, the person you want to clone is Julie Brickhouse.
00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:04.079
And I will say to that point, for the people may think, well, Julie, what does she even do with Accessible Disciples?
00:42:04.400 --> 00:42:14.639
We've done that episode, so if you've not heard that podcast, just scroll on down and look for that one with Julie Brickhouse, and you can get caught up on that ministry as well.
00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:15.440
Yeah.
00:42:15.679 --> 00:42:17.039
So we work really good.
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:33.920
I I think um she, you know, obviously she was my test uh for the Lord to see if he would actually provide in my moment of desperation, and he might drop me, and so I had nothing else to say, and so uh we work very well together.
00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:35.599
We are each other's testimonies.
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:36.239
Okay.
00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:44.239
Well, you mentioned something about you know, Unity is um, you know, provided some of the needs like the changing table.
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:51.199
What are some other things that Unity has um done to support special needs students?
00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:56.159
Allowing Bianca Purnum to come in and take over Thursday nights.
00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:57.519
Um, that's huge.
00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:02.960
They have met the needs of our families by providing dinner at no cost to them.
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:06.480
Uh before Unity, we were stretched thin.
00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:14.960
Um, like I said, we had 13 people when we started and 24 when we left our old church, and our parents were worn out.
00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:16.880
I brought dinner last week.
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:18.639
I'm tired of bringing dinner.
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:20.880
Somebody else needs to step up to the plate.
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:23.039
And we thought 24 was stressful.
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:26.000
Try serving 254 now.
00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:35.119
You wouldn't have one parent that would raise their hand and say, you know what, I'll make spaghetti in my crop pot uh and and my neighbor's crop pot, their crop pot.
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:39.760
Um, so Unity has more than welcomed us.
00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:52.480
Um from the moment that I left the the other church uh and started shopping around about where could we go, it's actually a funny story because it's more than just about Capernaum.
00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:56.800
Uh it was COVID and COVID has shut down everything, of course.
00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:07.199
And um when I felt like our community was Was ready to get back together and needed to because they didn't comprehend the whole, you know, we're not getting together because of COVID.
00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:12.880
I had the special needs prom at one church and I had Bianca Purnum at another church.
00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:19.199
And so I called uh the church and was like, hey, we we should probably get ready for this next prom.
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:24.639
And they're like, Jeez, Lisa, um, I don't know how to break this to you, but it was a lot.
00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:28.239
Can can you maybe move the prom to another church?
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:31.360
And I'm like, Oh, okay.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:33.280
Okay, sure, yeah, sure.
00:44:34.159 --> 00:44:38.400
Same week I call the church that's hosting Bianca Pernam for us.
00:44:38.639 --> 00:44:41.199
And I say, uh, to that pastor.
00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:43.679
Pastor, um, so it's Lisa Jordan.
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:46.079
Uh, we ready to get this thing started again?
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:50.239
He goes, you know, let me talk to my people, to my congregation one more time.
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:52.719
And I'm like, well, that was a weird response, but whatever.
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:57.039
So he calls back and he goes, Yeah, I think it's about time to move Bianca Pernam.
00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:59.519
I I just don't think it fits with our church.
00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:08.400
And I thought, you know, and at that very moment I could have been in my car and hit the steering wheel and cried out and and then burst into tears.
00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:09.440
But I didn't.
00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:14.800
It was the same feeling I got the night that I was holding Spencer, and I begged the Lord to use me.
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:21.039
And I honestly 100% looked up to the sky and I started laughing and I said, What are you doing?
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:28.639
God, whatever you're doing, it kind of is not funny because where am I gonna move all these people for the prom?
00:45:28.800 --> 00:45:31.280
That's 800 people I've got to put somewhere in a prom.
00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:33.920
That's a whole lot of people for Capernaum.
00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:36.000
What what did you really have in mind?
00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:42.800
And so I found a new home for the uh prom, which actually in 2027 will be will be moved again.
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:45.679
So God is on the move, just like the song says.
00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:55.920
Um, but when we landed at Unity, you know, I I told the pastors, it's as if you know how on Sunday morning you have the greeters and they're holding the door open.
00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:57.039
Okay, you know that feeling.
00:45:57.199 --> 00:45:58.639
They've been they've okay.
00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:07.760
That's how they were when we moved Bianca Pernam here, as if the greeters were outside going, sure did take you long enough to get here.
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:10.639
Like they have been waiting for us the whole time.
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:22.480
And we grew from the 24 people to 75, and we were like, Wow, look at the number, and then it went to 150, and then it went to 178, and then it was 200.
00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:27.440
We're like, whoa, we just broke over 200, and now we're talking 250.
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:31.039
And I'm like, look at God on the move.
00:46:31.760 --> 00:46:43.760
But again, it I don't want to get caught up in the number um because it's easy to uh measure the ministry by its numbers, by by attendance.
00:46:44.079 --> 00:46:51.199
Um, but for me it's is the moments when someone walks in the door and they realize this is where I belong.
00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:52.960
This is me.
00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:54.960
This is my new family.
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:56.239
That is the moment.
00:46:56.800 --> 00:46:57.920
Yeah, that's good stuff.
00:46:58.159 --> 00:47:00.000
Well, what are the future plans?
00:47:00.159 --> 00:47:02.079
What do you see coming down the road?
00:47:03.039 --> 00:47:15.039
Well, um, you know, the impact that God has on everyone, um, sure, every you know, lots of people will be like, oh, we wanna we wanna now hit one uh two seventy-four.
00:47:15.119 --> 00:47:17.199
Uh or it's not about the number.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:22.480
Uh people will come and go, they'll float in and out um of their lives with Christ.
00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:28.400
I hope that they don't, but new ones will will step in and lives will be changed.
00:47:28.880 --> 00:47:34.239
Um I accept volunteers from ECU and it's planting those small seeds.
00:47:34.800 --> 00:47:37.760
You know, I was once in a class at ECU.
00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:47.039
I go there every semester uh to talk as a guest speaker and I happen to mention, you know, d uh when you go to college campuses, it's it could be tricky.
00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:54.320
I mean, even with a professor, if you bring up G-O-D, you know, like, you know, but you gotta stay your ground, right?
00:47:54.559 --> 00:48:03.920
And so I thought, okay, I'm gonna look left, look right, and I'm gonna I'm gonna throw in something about God real quick, uh, towards the end of my speech, because what is she gonna do now?
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:04.800
Kick me out?
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.599
Not all professors are anti-God.
00:48:07.760 --> 00:48:11.519
I'm just saying, you know, um, that maybe some are.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:18.000
And so at the last minute I said, hey, if you guys ever want to volunteer, you're welcome to come on Thursday nights.
00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:22.159
Uh it'll count towards your volunteer hours that are required for your class.
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:29.199
Um and it's a ministry and um for the special needs population and their caregivers and all that.
00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:32.880
And so the professor said, Okay, anyone got any questions?
00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:34.400
You get points if you ask a question.
00:48:34.559 --> 00:48:36.880
So everybody's raising their hand, asking me the normal stuff.
00:48:36.960 --> 00:48:40.480
And then this one guy towards the end raises his hand.
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:42.559
And I was like, Yeah, what's your question?
00:48:42.880 --> 00:48:45.119
And he goes, So I had a question.
00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:49.280
How do you teach the special needs about God?
00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:51.920
And I said, How about you come tonight?
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:52.719
Are you free tonight?
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:54.239
And he goes, Yeah.
00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:56.880
And I said, How about you show up tonight and I'll show you.
00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:02.880
I want you to know that from that moment he was all in.
00:49:03.119 --> 00:49:06.960
He has become one of our uh turn speakers.
00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:12.079
Um he couldn't decide between going into ministry and going to be a doctor.
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:19.360
He actually got a full ride to um medical school, so he's gonna be a doctor, but he wants to doctor with the gospel.
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:25.199
So he wants to deliver God's word through his hands of medicine, which is incredible.
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:33.840
And we wouldn't have known him had we not dropped the G O D conversation in ECU, you know, a hot larger.
00:49:34.480 --> 00:49:35.599
I love when God works like that.
00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:39.679
Yes, and so other people that have come to get their volunteer hours.
00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:43.519
Um, it's seed planting, you know, we're all gardening.
00:49:44.079 --> 00:50:08.239
Um you won't ever know the fulfillment of where it lands in that person's life, but you hope that it was a moment that makes a little impression and they might be in their thirties or their twenties or whatever, and and they reflect back to that one day where they went and they volunteered uh at Capernaum and their lives were well their eyes were opened, but their lives were changed.
00:50:08.639 --> 00:50:13.440
Um and a lot of them see that our population is humorous.
00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:15.840
I mean, they got some jokes, you know.
00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:19.679
Um they're hilarious, they they call it right out, you know.
00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:28.639
Um Jamie and Jackie, they'll write right up walk right up to you and they'll stare at you for a minute and then kind of go to the side of you and they'll go, I think you need to wash your hair today.
00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:32.079
You know, and you're just sitting there going, I did wash my hair.
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:36.559
So um they're your true friends, they're the ones that make you humble.
00:50:36.719 --> 00:50:39.920
Um, and and just see the humor in life.
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:42.559
I love it, I love it, I love it.
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:48.559
Um, well, this has been uh very eye-opening, exciting, encouraging.
00:50:48.719 --> 00:50:57.360
I a lot of positive adjectives I could throw out there, and um definitely a pleasant surprise to learn all of that.
00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:06.480
So I appreciate your I appreciate your time, your dedication, and uh just the service to that pop that special population.
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:23.039
And uh Well I tell you, if no one has come out to just witness the ministry, I beg you, you are missing out on watching God's plan, watching uh how wonderful God works through these people and how He affects everyone's lives.
00:51:23.199 --> 00:51:30.960
So if you have never come to volunteer for Capernaum, I I I promise, just come out.
00:51:31.119 --> 00:51:34.480
You'll forget about all your worries, your stresses during the week.
00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:36.559
It all vanishes and goes away.
00:51:36.719 --> 00:51:39.360
Just looking into their eyes and just listening to talk.
00:51:39.599 --> 00:51:43.519
And who do they need to talk to about coming on a Thursday?
00:51:43.840 --> 00:51:44.159
Me.
00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:44.800
Okay.
00:51:44.960 --> 00:51:46.000
Yeah, Lisa Jordan.
00:51:46.400 --> 00:51:48.400
Okay, they just come find you on Sunday.
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:49.760
Just come find me, yep.
00:51:49.920 --> 00:51:54.880
Like I said, we break during the summer, but we're active during the fall and spring, just like a school year.
00:51:55.440 --> 00:52:02.239
Um so and if you can't, you know, find me there, you can come see Julie for Accessible Disciples.
00:52:02.400 --> 00:52:11.840
Um her people are my people, and we're all the same people, and so we're always uh dreaming up of the next event.
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:17.920
And of course, I have to put in a plug for the Bethlehem event that we'll have uh the first of December.
00:52:18.159 --> 00:52:20.559
So uh please get involved with that.
00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:23.360
Um it is unbelievable.
00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:29.280
I I think our pastoral staff was shocked for those that were able to stop by right before the event happened.
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:31.679
They thought, you know, we heard you were having a little event.
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.679
We had no idea it was this big uh next time we need to call the media.
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:39.440
So um that's one way to get involved, you know.
00:52:39.599 --> 00:52:46.159
If you're too nervous to be one-on-one, because you're like, I just kind of want to feel it out, you know, we hear that.
00:52:46.320 --> 00:52:50.800
Uh come feel it out at one of our events, um, and then you'll be hooked for life.
00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:52.159
That's good stuff.
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:58.800
Well, before you go, I want to pray for you and um encourage you and um thank you for your time.
00:52:59.039 --> 00:52:59.760
Yes, thank you.
00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:10.800
All right, well, dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for your goodness and for your grace, and I thank you that you love all your children no matter what their abilities or talents are.
00:53:10.880 --> 00:53:18.639
And uh, we're just so thankful for Lisa and um for the ministry that she is providing and that you are guiding.
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:34.000
And I said you continue to work through her as you lead and director in serving um the special needs population and just beyond Capernaum and continue to do great things and uh go before her and guide and direct her past Lord.
00:53:34.079 --> 00:53:36.079
And we just thank you for all that you do.
00:53:36.159 --> 00:53:37.280
In that name I pray.
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:38.079
Amen.
00:53:38.639 --> 00:53:40.960
Well, thank you, Lisa, so much for joining us.
00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:42.079
Thank you for listening.
00:53:42.159 --> 00:53:45.599
And as God is writing the story in your life, go and tell.
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:50.480
Thanks so much for listening to the Unity Community Podcast.
00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:56.480
If today's conversation encouraged you, we'd love for you to take one or more next steps.
00:53:56.719 --> 00:53:59.760
Join us this Sunday morning for worship at 9 or 10 30.
00:53:59.920 --> 00:54:03.440
Get connected to a live group andor find a place to work.
00:54:04.079 --> 00:54:09.360
You can learn more about Unity and how to get plugged in by visiting the links in the show notes.
00:54:09.519 --> 00:54:15.519
So until next time, let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
