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We cannot wait for you to listen to this week’s episode of the podcast. It is both powerful and practical! Mark and Andy get the privilege of talking with Wayne Cordova. Wayne lives in Spring Hill, Florida, where he serves as the CEO of Ability Tree Florida. He is the former Executive and Teaching Pastor of Crosspoint Church and has over two decades of ministry experience serving in the local church. As you hear of Wayne’s personal story of student ministry, church planting, and his family’s journey in dealing with special needs and disabilities, you will be both challenged and encouraged. We hope that this episode will encourage, equip, and help you see the world in a whole new way when it comes to serving families with special needs.
If you want to know more about Ability Tree, or how you and your church can better minister to special needs families, you can contact Wayne here: waynecordova@abilitytree.org. You can follow Wayne on Instagram @WayneJCordova. You can also follow Ability Tree Florida on Instagram @abilitytreeflorida.
Quotes from our conversation with Wayne…
“A few years into being this church planter, we finally decide to start a family… and they say, ‘We don’t know what, but we think Emmalee is going to have some kind of special needs.’”
“One of the things we have learned over the years with Emmalee, is that she has become our hero in a lot of the stories that we tell.”
“I’m a pastor at a church, and my wife is heavily involved in our worship ministry and our kids ministry, but now all of a sudden, we find ourselves with a child with special needs… We were like, ‘God, we don’t know what we are supposed to be doing now.’”
“I wear glasses, but God changed my prescription the day Emmalee was born, because I see the world in a completely different way now.”
“I would never have been in this mindset if I wasn’t the parent of a child with special needs, but I’m so glad that I am. Not just for the sake of my own child, but for the sake of the face that now we have families that can all experience the same thing: the welcomeness and openness of a church that’s truly inclusive.”
“What I ended up facing as a parent of a child with special needs was a lot of loneliness and isolation.”
“He said, we run a ministry called Ability Tree, and we are a ministry that comes alongside families impacted by disability to provide R.E.S.T. – Recreation, Education, Support, and Training.”
“It’s this inclusive ministry where families can come and receive respite. They can also come and receive inclusive activities that everybody can participate in.”
“So, this wasn’t just about ‘Is there a room that kids with special needs can go to?’ but, ‘How can you be more inclusive in the rest of your services at church to make sure that you’re inviting everybody?’”
“You know, I think one of the biggest mistakes that we make is taking a look at our current congregation and what it looks like, and basing whether or not we need to have a ministry for families with children with special needs as a priority.”
“This is the most untapped people group in our country.”
“Just take a look at your special needs community that’s just around you, and before you worry about being prepared for them to come in, maybe step out and say, ‘What can we do to help and serve?’”
“There’s probably a lot of people that are experiencing what they are experiencing, but you aren’t paying attention to it.”