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One Leg Up on The Advent Season With Joni And Friends Ministry Relations Manager John Fela 12-5-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: It is the beginning of advent.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: And I always like to bring on voices from different ministries.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Who had Wayne vanderwall On about his prison ministries, if
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: you will, And now now something a little more closer
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: to my heart because we bear Joni and friends at
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: my day job, WMCA Radio for many years and I've
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: gotten to see Joni speak Johnny speak, I should say,
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: over the years as well when she was a guest
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: of the Christian Getty and Keith Getty Christmas Special. And
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: now I have someone from that ministry, John fella on.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: John. Thanks for joining me.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Thanks, Ale, It's great to be here.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: This hits home because, as we both know, Johnny is
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: someone who is disabled. Yet I believe let does not
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: let her disability stop her, and she her message always
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: is that her disability helped.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: You get her closer to God. Am I right on.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: That without without a doubt? Yeah, you know, really her
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: experience taught her you know how personal of a god
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: you know we have quite honestly, as she famously said,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: when she first got her disability, you know her prayer
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: early on, and she did. She speaks openly about being
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: suicidal but being a quadriplegic, a new quadriplegic, and not
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: having use of her arms and hands and legs, you know,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: she really couldn't you know, do anything in that way.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: So her prayer, her literal prayer, was God, if you
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: won't let me die, then teach me how to live.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: And so through that, you know, God really used the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: disability to and not only draw her closer to him,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: but also to really use her in terms of, you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of her own gifts and talents, and then
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: obviously also to bless a lot of others with her
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: story and all of the resources that Johnny and Friends
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: now has.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Now, it's interesting because we connected through pod Match. Thanks
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: to pod Match, are making this happen.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: But you are part of that ministry.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Tell us your role, John before we get into how
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Johnny Friends and how you personally are celebrating Advent this season.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, So. My role is called ministry relations Manager,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: which is basically a fancy weave. Were saying that I'm
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the guy that trains churches to do disability ministry. So
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: one of the interesting things about our ministry as a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: whole is we do a lot of great outreach, right
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: We have our wheels for the world, you know, Global
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Wheelchair Outreach, you know where we have deliver wheelchairs to
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: like thirty developing countries around the world. We do family
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: retreats locally for families of disability, domestically here in the country.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You know, we do marriage getaways, we do warrior getaways
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: for families of veterans. But church engagement is something that
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of people don't realize we do, or maybe
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: don't quite understand. And the idea is that most individuals
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: with disabilities, and sometimes that can be physical disability, sometimes
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: it's a cognitive, it's developmental disability. But there aren't always
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: churches that are On the one hand, they might be accessible,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: meaning yes you can physically get into the building, but
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: they're not always welcoming and they don't always have the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: right supports or resources for you know, whether it's kids
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: with a disability or adults, you know, the young adults
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: and in all of those different ages. So you know,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I come in and I basically bring awareness to that
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: community to say, you know, this is how you want
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to treat individuals with disability, this is how they want
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to be welcomed in. You know, maybe if it's a
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: matter of setting up maybe a physical you know space
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: type of the thing, you know, in terms of the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: classroom or sensory room, or sometimes you know, maybe helping
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: with you know, curriculum, survival studies, that that type of thing.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But ultimately it's the idea of.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: That also include adapting Sunday school as well.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: I feel like that taps into adapting Sunday schools for
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: people for kids or disabilities.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Also, yes, it very much does include that as one
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: aspect of it. And really that's that's also an area
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: where and because I am connected to many other disability
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: ministries around the country. You know, sometimes for example, a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: church may have someone who let's say, maybe has a
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: background in special ed or is a therapist, something that
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: might help with accommodating that. And that is certainly something
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: I can do as well as a former teacher myself.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: But there are ministries that actually do produce content, you know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: curriculum for Sunday schools for example. So in some cases,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: if a church prefers that, I can lead them in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: that direction. But otherwise, if it's something where they want
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: to accommodate what they currently have, we can do that too.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: So it looks differently for every church. It is absolutely
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: not ministry in a box. We don't sell a program
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: per se. And in that sense, you know, I really
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: come alongside the church in terms of more like a
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: consulting and development type of the world.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Well, the number one question is, then, how did you
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: get into this space of making sure the church is
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: accessible and adaptable for kids with disabilities and adults with disabilities.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I've actually been in this job about two
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and a half years. I am also a parent of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: a job with disability. My son, Chris, is sixteen with
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: autism and nonverbal. I know the experience of trying to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: find a church home for him. As I'd like to
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: say when I speak to churches, my son is been
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to five different churches in his life. If you averaged
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that out, that's about a new church every three years.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: That's not ideal. You know, It's great that he has somewhere,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: but it's still not you know, the best, you know
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: type of a scenario. You want to find a home
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and stay at a home. Right. So I actually got
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: into disability advocacy several years ago. I started working with
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: some other disability ministries around the country as a as
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a blogger, writer, and then also as a speaker at
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: some different conferences and events and things. And then eventually
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I you know, work with more organizations and you know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: started to do more kind of developed a little platform
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: for myself. And when the road became available at my
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: at our local office here in Chicago. That was back
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, and i'd actually met the at
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the time. Our director who hired me was actually in
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: another networking group that I was in for churches with disability,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and it just came up in a conversation one day
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and you know, then he said, why don't you try
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: to apply? And I did, and you know, and here
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I am so so now I've been doing this work
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: formally again for about the past two and a half years,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: but at something that I certainly have experience with in
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: a variety of other ways, and again I'd like to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: bring that experience to the churches I work with against
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: seeing things as a parent, as a former teacher, and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: also someone who has worked with with with other ministries,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: also doing some other good things, and again being able
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to bring a bunch of resources in to make sure
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: that the churches are as well equipped as possible.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: You know, it's fascinating whether it's conversation today because tomorrow
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: is giving today part of the advent season, right, and
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: so all the ministries you just mentioned, whether it was
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: the Wheelchair Drive Ministry, right, that you guys are doing
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: as well as Johnny and Friends. How can people support
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: you guys through this holiday season Christmas season? There should
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I say?
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, all you have to do is to
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: go onto Johnny and Friends dot org. Okay, and you
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: know you can give to you know, the nice thing
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: about the giving aspect is, you know, we have a
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: variety of different outreaches. So if you go on to
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the website, you know there are some different ways you
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: can give. If you prefer to give to specifically, for
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: like the Wheels for the World ministry, you could do that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: If you just prefer to do a a general donation,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: you can do that as well. Some folks even give
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: donations for our family retreats and almost like in a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: scholarship form for you know, families who want to go
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: because there is a there is a small cost of
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: going to our family retreats and there are some families
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: where maybe that's you know, prohibitive or it's just not
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: as easy for them, So you could certainly give to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: that aspect as well, and then you know, all of
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that money then gets doled out to particular offices for
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: for you know, however, many families they have the might
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: meet that assistant. So so that is, you know, one
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: way you can do that. And of course you can give,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you can give monthly, you can give a one time thing.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: You know, just however you know you want to do that.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: But you know, the one thing that I want to
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: emphasize too here is that you know, many times when
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I work with churches, they'll, you know, one of the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: first questions is, you know, well how much do you charge?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And of course I make a joke out of it,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and I say, well, you know the best thing about
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: working with me is that everything I do is free,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and everything I do is free, meaning that we're pure ministry.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: So we're not going to charge you to support you.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: But of course, you know, many church world sometimes then
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: offer some kind of a love gift, either in the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: moment or let's say, maybe you know, further down the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: road kind of thing. So so those are some great
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: waste to give. But also even if you're just interested
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: in volunteering, some wonderful opportunities to volunteer both either around
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the world with some of our ministries and retreats. We
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: actually also do a lot with Christian colleges and schools
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: around around the country. So sometimes if you're interested in
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: doing if you're let's say a college student, you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and maybe you're interested in doing one of those, you know,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: kind of a more of a regular mission style trip
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and not necessarily a wheelchair trip, you know, or you
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: could do both, you know, but then you can also
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: serve at our you know, a lot of our family
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: retreats as well, because we're always looking for volunteers for that,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you know, or in general, just connect with your local office.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: If you go on the main website, you can get
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: connected with the local office in your area and just
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: see what volunteering opportunities they have, because there's probably always
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a way for you to get plugged in somehow.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I want to ask you this because it's
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Christmas time, and this time of year can be both
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: exciting and sad, and for someone as a parent's disability,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: were the Christmas times tough in the beginning, and how
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: you always celebrated with your son through the last sixteen years.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Christmas can be kind of a real
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: bittersweet thing for a couple of reasons. And it's funny,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I actually wrote I've written a couple of Christmas Christmas
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: theme blogs over the years, reflecting on you know, first
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: of all, the experience of Okay, we have a church home.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: That's great, we have somewhere to go on Christmas Eve.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: But you know, then when my son was very little,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and you know, every church does their little Christmas pageant
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: or play, or you know, the kids are on state
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: singing a Christmas carol, whatever it is, my son most
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: of the time couldn't do that. You know, he couldn't
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: stand still, He couldn't stand up on stage. If he
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: had a buddy with him, you know, sometimes they can
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: get him to be up there for however long he
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: needed to be. But it wasn't like he was ever
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: going to really have like a speaking role or an
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: didn't rum or anything like that, and so there was
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: so much anxiety with just him being a part of
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: it at all. And even if he was, then the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: fear as a parent is is he going to go
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and grab the worship leader's guitar and throw it on
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the ground or you know, who knows what. So there's
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: that anxiety. And then, of course, you know in cases
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: where we've had to transition from a church where maybe
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: a church wasn't a fit anymore, and I know that
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I've written about it where I've had the experience of
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: him not having a church home on the holidays, where
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a church place for him, And so where
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: do you go? And if it's just a matter of
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: going somewhere for Christmas, you know, okay, well we can
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: go to any church and kind of make it work.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: But I know he's not going to sit through a
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: whole service and it's not really going to be enjoyable
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in the way it could be. So what about some
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of those unique challenges? But I will say that, you know,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: my son has also had some wonderful opportunities, you know,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to be a part of churches at the holidays in
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: his own minute in the disability ministries where you know,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: they were either doing let's say, maybe special product or
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: special celebrations. The last trips that he attended and he
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: actually currently is that a residential facility in Wichita, Kansas.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: So he's not living at home with me currently, But
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: in the years that he was. The last church we attended,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: their disability ministry was great about they did, you know,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: like a respite event every month and so on, especially
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: for the holidays. That was all holiday things. So it
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: was great for him to be a part of that
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: with all of his peers in that group as well,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: you know. And then also just to you know, know
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: that you know, he had support, you know from the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: disability ministry, so he could be in the service or
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: part of it, or if he couldn't sit, then that
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: buddy could take him on. And then at least, you know,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: myself could could sit through the rest of that service,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: you know. And wait, it's levin experience.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: So as you're talking about this, I almost feel like
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: you and Johnny and Friends are a perfect fit because
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: you both understand each other, right, I mean, there's this
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: mutual understanding. And has Jonny and Friends really brought in
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: the autism community?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, have you led that charge?
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I have absolutely not not led the charge. I mean
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I'm proba probably, as I like to say, a small
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: cog in a big wheel, you know. But you know,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: what what I will say is great about our ministry
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: is that you know, not only do we have individuals
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: with disabilities that work for us, but we also have
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: other parents of disability and specifically autism, and you know
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: there are some, you know, great examples of even you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: some of our vice presidents you know, with with kids
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in those areas as well. So you know what's nice
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: is that you know, we we do have people who
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: get it, who do kind of have that you know,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: have that perspective and have had that experience. And I
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: think that just makes your ability to do the work
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: even more powerful because again, you get why it matters, right,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: It's not just this is a nice thing for a family.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: You know, many times these are families who you know
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: don't have a lifeline to a church at all, and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: then when they do, you want to try to maintain
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: that but also make it as good as possible. So
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: so I think it's something that a lot of people
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: in the ministry just get wherever they're coming from, you know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: whether their parents or not. But you know, obviously that
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that just makes me want to get up and do
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: it because it's it's not just a job, it's it's
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: who I am, and it's what I would do if
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: if I won the lottery. Tomorrow and had millions in
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the bank, I would still probably be doing this work
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: because it's just what I believe in.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I love that. Now, John, for you personally, though, what's
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: your message this ADMIN season? Because I just love that
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: you're kicking off abbot when me here on the one
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Leg Up Network we've talked about the positive negative, but
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: let's make a little brighter for people. What's your prayer
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: for people? That's ADMIN season?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: You know, And I just I just did a different
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: interview this morning, and you know, one of the things
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: that I mentioned because sometimes people will ask, so what
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: is your child taught you? You know, what is your
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: what is raising your child, your child's disability taught you?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: And I like to say, it's made me a kinder person, right,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: It's made me someone who is way more empathetic to people,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: someone who is way more way more tolerant, patient, and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and you know, I mean certainly with every but especially
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: with families of disability and parents weren't kind of experiencing
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the same thing. So you know, my my prayer is
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: really for a kinder world. But the deeper motivation behind
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: that prayer is that, you know, my child is an
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: only child and his parents are only children. And so
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: what that means is that one day when mom and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: dad are gone, and yeah, there's some extended family and things,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: but there will come a day when my child will
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: just be alone. And I just think to myself, you know,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: God will well, you know, he will be the one
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: who dictates when I go home or not. But you know,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: there is that part of me that says, I can't
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: go home until I know the world is a better
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: place for him. And is that all up to me? No?
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: And will it ever be that? You know, I can't
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: answer that either. But what I what I do know
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: is that you know, if I were to have any prayer,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: it's for a kinder world, for a gentler world, one
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that could show true compassion to my son, even if
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not here anymore. Right And that, man, I think,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: is really something that a lot of parents' hearts ache for,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, regardless of where you are on
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: your on your spiritual journey or your belief, you know,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: this is something that parents legitimately carry all the time
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: in terms of an emotion and a fear is that
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you know, is my child's going to be loved? And
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: especially when I'm gone who will do that and will
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that even be happy? So I pray for a kind
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: of world so that that might actually be the case.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Tell me about your relationship with your wife. You don't
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: mind because I find that special needs kids. I don't
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: want to say we're the reason families break up, but
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: it's difficult sometimes. How do you guys stay strong and
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: keep together through all the childs and tribulations with your son?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm actually a divorced dad and I am
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: now remarried. So I and I actually married one of
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: our Johnny and Friends volunteers. Go figure. But you know
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: what's what's fascinating is that, you know, I can definitely
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: speak to how difficult it is to raise a child
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: with a disability. And there is a reason why the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: divorce rates are as high as they are. And I'm
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: not going to quote a number because it's always changing,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: but they are exponentially higher than even the average, which
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: is already high. So what I learned first of all
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: in my previous marriage was that for parents of disability one,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: there is no amount of fireproofing. We like to use
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: that word based on the movie, but there's no amount
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: of fire proofing that is enough for your marriage. You
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: always want to be working on your marriage, and you
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: always want to be leaning into it and praying into
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: it and all of that. And then also to make
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: sure that you're finding the space is not just for
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: yourselves to connect, but also for self care. And this
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: is something that really goes out the window when disability
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: is involved. People just stop worrying about themselves because all
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the focus is on the child. Even the typical siblings
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: may suffer as well in that. So you know, you
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: have to look at are you spending time with your
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: spouse that has nothing to do with your child with
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a disability? Are you taking that time for yourself to
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: replenish and restock kind of a thing, And then you know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: taking the time for say, if there are other siblings,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you know, and just as a family as a whole.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: You know, in my new marriage, you know, I find
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: that again these are things that I've brought over and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I really have to emphasize to my new wife because
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: sometimes when I tell her about, hey, listen, we need
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to make sure we're scheduling these things, and she'll look
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: at me and say, so, are you saying that that's
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the only time you want to see me? I'm like, No,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying is is that if life is crazy
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: and we have a crazy week, you know, then obviously
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: that's on the calendar, and that's, without a question, we're
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: going to be together. Right. So, so those are the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: things that I really emphasize to parents is you've got
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: to work on your marriage, but you've also got to
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: work on yourself and make sure that you've got gas
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: in the tank, because then you can't give it to
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: your spouse. You certainly can't give it to your child,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and we get exhausted very quickly. So you just want
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: to make sure that you're always on top and good
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: I know that homeschooling has been a trend right especially
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: within the Christian community. How is the schooling situation for
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: your son? Just while I have you, I'm kind of
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: curious what that experience is like.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that and that's a great question. You know.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: In my son's case, he actually had a very good
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: experience with the public school district that we lived in.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Now here's the catch though, when he was born, we
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: lived in a different town and we had tried some
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: different things, you know, like some some private schools and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: traditional preschools, and you know, one of the things that
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I always emphasized to parents is when you're talking about schooling,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: especially when a disability is involved, anyone can make stuff
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: look good on a website or in promotional material, you know.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: And I think we kind of fell in the trap
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: with one school that we actually had sent him to,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: where you know, we thought it was going to be
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: perfect and was a private school setting, and it was
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: beautiful and idyllic and everything looked great, and then as
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: it turned out, it was the worst place for him. Now,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: we couldn't have known that until he was actually there.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: But again, we can't make assumptions about those things. So
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I know some families will say, well, we'd much rather
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: homeschoolers said to a private school, and I would say,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: that's fine, that has its benefits. But again, what you
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: also want to remember is that at and in our case,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: we literally moved to a better town for that school district.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Because public school districts, while there are some things that
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: you know, might be lacking, they still have a fair
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: amount of resources specifically geared for you know, children, you know,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and you know, whatever the age is in that program
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: or those kids who need those supports. If you're at
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: a private school, it's privately funded. It's essentially a business.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: It's a business of education, but it's a business. So
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: are they necessarily going to have all the things the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: public school has? You know, I mean maybe maybe not.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: You know, is that something that they can even afford?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Is that something where they're going to ask you to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: fill in some gaps? And is their staff even trained
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to work in some of those areas or do they
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: have extra staff that's trained or therapist on site and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that type of thing, And the same monument could be
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: said with a home homeschooling family, where Okay, you know,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: we're kind of doing this on our own. Yet it's
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: probably a lot easier because you can manage certain things,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you know, in your own environment. But at the same time,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: are there things maybe you just don't have because you
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: don't have it that might be available in that other setting.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: So so that's why I always caution parents, you want
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: to do your research, you know, you want to check
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: things out for yourself. Don't make assumptions and say this
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: is just automatically bad. It might not be, you know, so,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and you know, whatever that choice is, make the best
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: one for your family, But do your homework, do your research,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and don't make an assumption based on what you think
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: might look you know, or fields good or not.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Man, I could talk all day about this because I
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: went to the school for Henry Viscardi School, which was
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: a school for introd disabilities K through twelve sometimes pre
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: K through twelve. And we are both you know, we
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: have state funding but also donors, so it's a mix
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: of both. We mix it well. But I just love
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: that environment because I felt like they cater to those
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: disabilities needs way more. And I'm praying that your son
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: gets that as well. Socialisms right, and I feel like
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: around the holidays, everybody wants to get together family gatherings
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: at Christmas and Thanksgiving. Have they become easier over time
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: as he's getting.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Older, Yes, and no. I would tell you that we've
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: always kind of needed to have a little bit of
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: a buffer with okay, especially if we're going to someone's
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: home for something. It usually would be a situation where
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: one parent would eat or hang out and then the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: other one would go take my son for a walk
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: or watch him as he played or whatever he was
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: doing kind of thing, and then you kind of switch off.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: He just you know, he may sit for a meal
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: for ten to fifteen minutes and then okay, I'm going
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to get up and I'm going to go do something else. Okay.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: So that has really been a challenge over the years
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: where we've had to be very selective about the environments
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: that we take him, you know. And now, really it's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a situation and I think I mentioned earlier he's currently
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: at a residential facility in Kansas. That is the one
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: thing about his school experience because he did have a
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: great school experience for many years and then last year
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it wasn't as good of an experience and we decided
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: we need another placement for him. But nonetheless it's a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: great placement now. But you know, now it's a situation
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: where you know, we'll pick him up, we'll have him
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: for the holidays, he'll be at home with myself and
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: stepmom for a week, and then he'll go to his mom,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and that may be something where you know, we have
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: him around you know, small groups of people, you know,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: or let's say some kind of a church function kind
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: of thing. We actually have a very small church now,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: so it very is very community based. So and a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: lot of folks are aware of him and his needs.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: So it could be something where maybe he visits somebody's
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: house for a few and then in fifteen minutes, you
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: know what, he might just be ready to leave, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: so you just you always have to be ready for Okay,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: what's our escape plan? Because this is not where mom
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and dad can go visit and he's going to go
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: hang out or play somewhere else. This is what somebody's
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: always got to be with him kind of thing. Has
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: that gotten easier over the years, probably, you know, I
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: mean his tolerance has gotten more with that. But at
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the same time, we always need to have an exit strategy.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: I gotta say some in the Christian community don't maybe
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: not rely on medicine as much as they could. Let
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: me ask you about his diagnosis. Were you afraid to
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: get that diagnosis? Because I know parents wait for a
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: while before they find out if their kid as autism
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: or not. When did you say, Okay, we're going to
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: do this. And what's your message to parents that say, hey,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: we're not sure if we want to get the check docers,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: we're afraid. Is there a fear breaking here that you
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: can give parents don't be afraid of the diagnosis. I
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: guess is what I'm trying to ask here.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and really information is really key and information is
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: power in fact, so you know, I, first of all,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I would definitely encourage parents to get a diagnosed. If
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: you have any concerns, don't be because you know, we
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: made an assumption early on too well, maybe he'll grow
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: out of it. Well, maybe it's just a phase, maybe
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it's this. And you know, we got his formal diagnosis
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: about three, which is when you get that, and at
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the time he was actually diagnosed with something called pervasive
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: developmental disorder, which doesn't even exist anymore. Now it's just
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: blanket autism, you know, but you know where it was
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: a help was one. It absolutely opens up more possibility
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: he's again to getting the support that he needs because
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: if you push back on the testing and the label,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and I know a lot of parents hate labels, I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: get it. But at the same time, if your child
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: is not going to get the support that they need
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: in that environment, if they're not going to get the
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: resources that are available to you, you know, then they're
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: going to probably struggle academically and then also just emotionally
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and socially and all of those things. And now of
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: course I do no parents who let's say, yes we
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: have a diagnosis, and yes they're in this program, but
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: we rarely want them to be around the mainstream environment
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: as much as possible with the regular kids. And that's fine,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: you know, because that is a good thing. But at
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the same time, you want to be thinking, you know,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: if this is just my fear of saying my kid's
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: going to be labeled, well, yes, I understand that fear.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: But you know, there's a whole world of support that
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: you may also be saying no to in that process
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: as well. So you want to at least have the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: courage to say, Okay, let's at least see what it is,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: and in some cases maybe there's something we can do
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: about and in some cases maybe not. You know. But
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, if you've got availability
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to resources, and again even for our families that our
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: private school families or homeschool families, you can still access
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: those public school resources. You are still entitled to them
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: based on where you live. So even if it's something
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: where you say public school isn't for us, you know,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: you at least then can be getting some of the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: things to fill in the gaps or maybe the other environment.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Isn't something you said earlier about helping churches get more
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: accessible really stuck a chord because my childhood church, I
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: love them, but they are not able to accommodate my
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: fiance was in a power wheelchair. So how do you
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: help thee hundred year plus old buildings get accessible? I
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: feel like that is a challenge in today's world, isn't it?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: It absolutely is? And yeah, so you know, and what's
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: kind of the irony is that many churches think that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: accessibility just means well, we can get a wheelchair into
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: the front door. And I'm like, well, it's actually all
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: about how people are just welcomed in near community period,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: because anybody can build a ramp, right, you know. But
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: but to your point, you know, that is one thing
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the churches will ask me to do. Also in my
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: role is that kind of an evaluation. And what I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: usually do is and this is a great partner tool
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that I have. There's someone who actually volunteers with us
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: who actually he's retired, but his ministry you know that
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: he does now is as an accessibility consultant. So he
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: will go to churches for free, he will walk around
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the church, he will do a whole consultation. If let's
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: say there are things that church is looking to do,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: like maybe add a bathroom that that's accessible, for example,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: he will draw up plans, he will he will do
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: all of the work as far as this is what
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: you need and this is what it should look like.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: He can't do the work, but he can at least
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: guide you kind of thing. So that's usually a resource
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: that I bring in because I know even at the
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: church of my son and I had attended previously when
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: he was still here, you know, I I did exactly
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: that with them, and they were a newer building, I
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: mean within let's say the last thirty years, and they
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: were technically up to code with all of these things.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: But again there were other some concerns like, for example,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: we have an accessible entrance, but if I use the
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: accessible entrance, the elevator just happens to be all the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: way on the other side of the building. Well, gee,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: wouldn't it be great if the elevator was right where
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I walk in. So those are the kind of conversations
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: that you need to have and what's really a good
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: option and what's not or something's feasible, can we afford them?
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: And what does that look like? So that's where I
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: lead into him. But that's a great tool when the
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: church is looking, hey we've got an old building, we're
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: looking to do something great. Let me bring him in
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and then we've didn't have those conversations.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: I might talk with you Alvir about that, possibly because
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: I'm curious to see how what could be done. Let
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: me ask you this. I see on pod match you
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: want to be the Swiss Army Knife. I've disabled advocacy.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: And when you say the word tools, you know I
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: just said you've got different tools in that toolbox. So
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: how's that process going to trademark that? And how do
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: you find yourself to be the Swiss Army knife deservability advocacy.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I still have to file the paperwork for that,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but yeah that hopefully we're going to get that one
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: of these days. But you know, I see myself as
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: someone who's more of a connector type person meeting because
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: when some people say advocacy, so I'm not a guy
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: who will, let's say, go to an IEP meeting for example,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: and argue for your child. But I will connect you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: with people that you need. So you know, in terms
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: of what I do. It's really more motivational in terms
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: of the speaking I do and the interviews and the writing.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: But when people come to me with a question, and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: specifically in my day job. But even if not, you know,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: this is what I'm looking for, this is what I need. Great,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I can find someone for you. I know, someone I
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: can connect you with someone because luckily, because of the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: work that I've done now in the last several years,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I have connections to a lot of resources. So it
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: might not be something that I do, it might not
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: be something Johnny in Friends does, but it's something that
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I can still find for you. And again, the other
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: thing too is you know, there are so many resources
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: that we have that a lot of people, first of all,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: and I'm still kind of blown away by this. You know,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: there are people around the country who still haven't heard
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: of Jobbing Friends, or there are people who maybe have
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: heard of us, but don't really know who we are
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: or what we do or all the things we do. Likewise,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: there are a ton of other ministries. Like when I
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: first met my new wife, she had been voluntarering with
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Johnny Friends for many years, but she had never heard
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: of any of these other ministries. I worked with or
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: any of these other people that are doing disability right.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: And so it's this idea of hey, you know, there's
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of great stuff out there, let me connect you.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: So whatever your need is, I'm needing this, let me
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: see what I can do for you. And in that sense,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I feel like I've got a little bit of everything
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: under the tool belt. Again, if it's not something I
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: can do, I can probably pint you in the right run.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: You've got one leg up.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Then, dare I say on disability advocacy is what we're
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: talking about here? There you go, all right, we don't
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: about how people can support Jooni and Friends this Christmas season,
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: but how can what's the outreach that Johnny and Friends
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: doing for the communities you know, across America season?
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I would say that that is ongoing, and
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: that is something that probably looks different for every office.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I know. For example, in our office, you know, we're
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: doing events. You know, we do open house events for example,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: where we invite all of our families and we try
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: to bless them with just having a like a year
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: end celebration cut kind of a thing, you know. But again,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: we a lot some of our ministries that continue to
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: be ongoing, like some of our wheelchair ministries and things
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: like that, and some of our our missions trips are
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: on going throughout the month. And then certainly you know
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Johnny's message. You know, Johnny has a lot of wonderful
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: messages that, as you very well know, continue to be
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: put out during during the Christmas season. And we also
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: intentionally as a staff make sure that we're reaching out
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: to families and churches and letting them know how much
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we've appreciated working with them, but again, is there anything
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: we can do for them? And you know, the one
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: cool thing that I love about working for this ministry
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: is that when we reach out to these families, we're
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: not asking for money, We're not asking for donations. We're
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: asking how can we pray for you? You know what,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: what can we be praying for for you this particular season?
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: And I think that really is you know what what
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the season is, right, It's about, you know, how can
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I be of service to you? And in that sense
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: as a ministry, I think that really speaks volumes in
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: terms of let's make sure that we, as we like
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: to say, we have a lead like Jesus culture, right,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: and so you know, I think that's really great and
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: when we put that at the at the forefront.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: All right, I'm telling you a podcast as well. So
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: are you talking about this side of the thing on
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: your own podcast or is it a Johnny in Friends podcast.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: I do not have my own podcast. I am just
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a frequent podcast guest. But you know what what is
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: cool though, is you know, this is something that you know,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I like to use these different platforms again to promote
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: about this aspect of my work with Johnny and Friends
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, working with churches and it's
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: acquiring them to be more accessible and aware kind of
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: a thing. So so wherever I go, I'm always promoting
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: that message, and likewise with a lot of the folks
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: that I get interviewed with, you know, they they may
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: be other disability histories themselves that have a podcast I
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: get interviewed on, and so they may likewise also have
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: other resources that are helpful in this area as well.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So that's what I also love to going back to
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: that Swiss Army and that kind of thing is many
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: times if I get interviewed by an organization that is
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: doing similar things to Johnny Friends, maybe not on the
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: same scale. You know, then that's a great way to
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: get you know, some of those resources.
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: Sol I love this collaboration already. John it's been I've
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: known you for about forty five minutes, and I feel
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: like I've known you forever because we can relate on
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: a lot of stuff and you're You're very talkative and friendly,
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: which I like. So people can contact you where if
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: they have any churches in the New York area specifically
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: that needs some adaptations to be done.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So we have Johnny and France as regional offices
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: around the country. I believe the office that covers New York,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, is out of Boston. I think
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: it's the New England office. So don't if you got
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: a Red Sox Yankee thing going on, I can't help
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: you there. But I mean, you know, we do have
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: an office in that area. And likewise, depending on a
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: world you might be if you're in the you know,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Tri state area or whatever out there, we have offices
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, so you know, we have other offices that
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: cover that region. But you know, just go to Johnny
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and Friends dot org type punch your zip code in
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: you can get connected with the local office. Find out
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: about what they have going on, what they're doing in
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: your area with the person like in my world specifically,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: that can help you there. And then likewise, if you
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: want to find out about the stuff I'm doing, you know,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I have a website, Johnfella dot com. It's just my
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: name dot com. One thing I will let you know
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: is that, And again, I'm also on all the social
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: media channels on Facebook, excuse me, Instagram, LinkedIn and all
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of that. A lot of my content, though, is actually
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: under my previous last name, so I actually had a
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: different last name in my previous marriage, so it's actually
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Fella Geller, so it's Fella but with a Geller at
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: the end f e l A g e l l
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: e R. So you can see most of my content
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: on my website, but if you also want to look
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: under my old name, you'll find a lot of other
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: stuff that might might not have made it onto the
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: website just because there's so much at this point, and
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: I drive my friend who does my website crazy, so
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: so look under either. But you know you can find
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: it in a course. Feel free to reach out to
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: me on any of those platforms.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: All right, For anybody who's listened to Johnny Erickson Toada
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: on these messages. She sounds very friendly, and I gotta
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: ask you this, she's as friendly in person as you
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: can hear on air. I like she's that friendly off
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: air as well.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: I've had the honor of meeting her at least a
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: couple of times now, and I will say that she
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: absolutely she wears her faith on her sleeve. She is
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: exactly how how you see her on TV or radio
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: or whatever. That is who she is. That's that's not
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: a joke or a facade or anything. She she lives
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: it every day. And I think that's the other amazing
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: thing about working for this ministry is is having that
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: example to look at.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I love how upbeat and how excited and
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: cheery she is really every message, and knowing her backstory,
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: it's like, Wow, she overcame all that to be as
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: excited and as we said before as we started the podcast,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: to grow closer to God. So John, thank you so
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: much and we'll be in touch for other interview opportunities
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: down the road.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely sounds great.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: I'm Alex Garrett. That was John Fella on the One
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: li Up Network on behalf of the Johnny Erickson Tatta
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: Ministries on the One Up Network. Thanks again, John, thank you,