Texas ministry serves families of children with special needs

Keenon Doss reads Scripture during an adult special needs Bible study. (Photo by Roberto Rodriguez, courtesy of Amarillo Globe-News)

The Amarillo Globe-News in Texas reports:

Having a child with a disorder is usually unexpected and always unplanned.
“It started us on a path that we really never imagined being on,” said Brad Thompson, father of 21-year-old Hali Thompson, who was diagnosed with autism as a child.
” … We keep finding ourselves in places that we didn’t picture ourselves being.”
Thompson, young families minister at Southwest Church of Christ, and his wife Karen are founders of The Hali Project, designed to serve families of children with special needs in the Texas Panhandle.
In 2000 Brad Thompson integrated The Hali Project into Southwest Church of Christ, creating a Bible class for adults with needs ranging from autism to Down syndrome.

Read the full story.
See The Christian Chronicle’s Page 1 feature and related editorial from December 2009 on a ministry for children with special needs by the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh, N.C.

• Feedback
  In 2006 I wrote a piece about the <a href=”https://christianchronicle.org/article419~Churches_teach,_reach_and_baptize_youths_with_special_needs” rel=”nofollow”>special needs ministry of the Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ</a> in Austin, Texas. There are a few paragraphs in the piece about the Hali Project.
  I have stayed in contact with the mother of Alex, the autistic young man in the story who communicates by pointing at letters on a page. A few months ago I got Alex’s high school graduation announcement. Praise God!

  Erik Tryggestad

  October, 5 2010

  In 2000, the Religion and Disability Program of the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.) established a program to make 2,000 church facilities accessible to folks with disabilities. (Google it). Hartford Institute estimates there are roughly 335,000 religious congregations in the United States. W E H A V E A L O N G W A Y T O G O if we hope to have churches model the compassion of the Christ they claim to serve.

  Ed Dodds

  October, 6 2010

  I enjoyed this article particularly because I have been wondering how to implement an adult program into our established Special Needs Children’s and Teen’s program at Brooks Ave Church of Christ in Raleigh, NC. Thanks to the Chronicle for the contact information and the inspiration!!

  Melinda Oldham

  October, 10 2010