Ministry to those with Disabilities

This is part two of a two-part series with Chris Maxwell.How has your near death experience and now your life with epilepsy helped you to learn to live what you are writing and speaking about—learning to pause?Seeing my healthy body become so ill and almost dying from encephalitis, I finally began to appreciate what I too often ignored. I had to learn to do things again—things that had been simple for me before the illness. For a speaker and writer to struggle to read and write and speak and remember names was humbling. Embarrassing. Frustrating. But it was also healing, as I began to value things that mattered less before.I need self-time. I need rest. I need to deal properly with stress. I need to drink water and eat right. I need naps. I need to say no. But, that isn’t just for those of us with epilepsy. That is good practice for everyone.How can people, businesses, and churches help people with epilepsy and other health issues?We want our churches to look good and sound good while not realizing what some of those lights and sounds might do for people in need. We shouldn’t ask only, “Will applying this new trend help our church grow?” We should ask, “How would this have an impact on a family who has a child with special needs?” And, “How will the use of this technology affect a person with epilepsy?”Find a ministry that focuses on special-need families and invite them to help you make decisions in your business, your school, your church. How would your church respond if someone had a seizure during a service? Do your staff, board, and parishioners know how to help and care for people who are facing major depression, who are suicidal, who need a ride to see the doctor, who have no insurance, who are facing addictions, who are blind? Do you have trustworthy referrals?Each local church can’t do everything. Each person can’t do everything. But each can obtain a better awareness of needs, and become willing to cohort with groups who do know what to offer. Learn from them. Partner with them. Each of us can do something.Those of us who are patients with epilepsy need to know we are accepted. Be patient with our process of learning. Understand our emotions and mood swings. Know what to do in case we have a seizure. Offer to drive those who are not allowed to drive. Understand our issues, but treat us just like you would anyone else.Churches could also help caregivers of those who have epilepsy and the caregivers of patients who have any health issues. Many family members are exhausted. Give them time off. Care for us for them. The meals, the conversations, the nights away. The laughter together, the tears together, the prayers together. Refuse to let the patients or their caregivers experience life alone.Support a ministry that trains workers to support families with special needs. Ministries are bringing wonderful change in our churches to help care for those with disabilities.You can visit Chris’s page on Amazon, his website, www.chrismaxwell.me, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @CMaxMan. They can also email him at CMaxMan at aol dot com.

Hit Pause: An author interview

Recently Chris Maxwell answered some questions for my readers. Chris is the director of Spiritual Life and Campus Pastor at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. He served as a lead pastor in Orlando, Florida, for twenty years, is an epilepsy advocate, and has authored six books. His most recent work is Pause for Pastors: Finding Still Waters in the Storm of Ministry. This is part one of two:Your schedule looks crazy—working with college students, writing and editing books, speaking around the world. How do you do all that?I work hard to balance my own busy schedule as I seek to encourage others to find balance. Many of us can easily become obsessed with outcomes. I try to emphasize to myself what I say to others: seek to enjoy the moment. I do not want to miss the reality of the now. Keeping that mindset helps me “pause” in the middle of the hurry.It can’t be easy to live out your theme of “pause.” How can we learn to pause in our rapidly racing world?Most of us choose to embrace the pace of our times. We multi-task in our hi-tech world. We set our goals. We establish our plans. We hurry our way there to achieve such plans with perfection. Those aren’t all wrong but they can become damaging as we dash from one accomplishment to another. We must learn to hit “pause.” Doing so is a choice we must make. Rather than letting our schedules, our insecurities, our need to prove worth, and our culture’s drive control us, we should reject that pressure. How? Slow the pace. By choice, slow the pace.I tell people to notice all the beauty beside us—the stillness of God, the wonder of his world and his people. We can marvel at words and faces, clouds and stars, songs and stories, Scripture and conversations. We can rest more and be controlled less by stress. We can sit and eat—slowly. We can read—slowly. We can pray—slowly. A word, a sentence, a face, a life—these can all be more important experientially instead of just in theory if we choose to breath in the moment. Maybe we can grow in this as we learn to see value in stillness, silence, nothingness. Letting Psalm 23 be a poetic prayer of life. Finding our own still waters even amid our hurried tempo and crammed schedules.The first book in your “pause” series is geared toward all of us. The second, for busy moms. And your latest, for busy pastors. Speak to mothers and pastors and all leaders who seem to feel guilty if they rest and pursue times of solitude.There are so many times I have let what I do for God take the place of being with God.When I first started serving as a lead pastor, I set aside time for personal spiritual formation. But over the years, things changed. I needed to do more and accomplish more. People needed me—or, maybe I needed to be needed. We live in a driven, obsessed world, even in church business. Fortunately, I learned the importance of returning to “pause.” These three books aren’t just a series. They offer an invitation to open eyes and see that beauty nearby, to open ears and hear the sounds.I had a few advantages in my nineteen years of pastoring. Our congregation allowed me space. My family was a priority. But I also had a team of accountability partners who didn’t care about my sermons or books or attendance. They focused on soul care, on my priorities, on my health, on my motives. They asked me difficult questions. So many pastors live without that.It is important for pastors to choose to be intentional. Plan unplanned time. Schedule unhurried Sabbath moments. Eat a meal and refuse to discuss church talk. Self-care comes from remembering our importance to God and people. Prayer time, study time, walks, music, artwork, healthy conversations, and service projects are not to impress God or improve our status. They are steps in a walk with our Father. They engage in healthy relational dialogue with our Lover. We choose to just sit with Him. We read his words not just to prepare a sermon but to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2).Each book in the Pause series is intended to guide readers toward an awareness that the opportunities are there. We just miss them too often.(Part 2 tomorrow.)

Interview with Tom Neven: On the Frontline

One of my journalism students, a retired military officer, wrote a glowing review of the book, On the Frontline by Tom Neven. A month later at a luncheon in Colorado Springs, I ended up sitting next to the author. So I asked if I could interview him about his work, which is, as its subtitle says, “a guidebook for the physical, emotional and spiritual challenges of military life.”

What drove you to write On the Frontline?

I served seven years in the Marine Corps at the end of the Vietnam era, and I’ve had a special place in my heart for the military ever since. I understand the pressures our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen face. I wanted to be able to give a bit of perspective to people immersed in this culture from someone who was once there, too.

What is your main message?

If only one message emerges from this book, I want it to be Semper Fidelis. Yes, this is the Marine Corps’ motto, but its meaning—Always Faithful—describes God perfectly. He is true to His word and his promises as found in Scripture. Lean on this aspect of God; it helps a lot when the pressure’s on.

What are some of the problems those returning from war face? Why?

The great hidden problem, the one many don’t want to admit or talk about, is depression. I’m not talking about PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which is a big problem in itself. I’m talking about the day-in, day-out, low-grade depression that feels like a bag of wet cement weighing down your very being. Its causes are many: stress, long hours, anger, grief and fear. Did I mention stress? The problem is compounded by a military culture in which some are not willing to admit to hurting from something that can’t be “seen” or “touched.” There’s no shame in admitting to suffering depression and seeking help from a chaplain or medical officer.

Second is the strain on marriages. The divorce rate has skyrocketed among the military, this from an already high rate before Iraq and Afghanistan. Long deployments are tough on marriages, and the strains of combat, fatigue, and depression add to the stress.

How can the average person help?

First and foremost, pray. Even if you don’t personally know someone serving in uniform, pray. Soldiers and Marines have told me they take great comfort from knowing that people they might never know or meet are still interceding for them.

Next: send care packages! Hard candy, toothpaste, reading material, Bibles, music CDs, DVDs, shaving cream, baby wipes (it’s sometimes a long time between showers!), razors—all these are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Tom.

For info on care packages, click here. And consider including a copy of Tom's book.