wfn.org | Definitely-Abled Young Lutherans 'Dance' at Leadership Event

[News News <news@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 30, 2000

DEFINITELY-ABLED YOUNG LUTHERANS 'DANCE' AT LEADERSHIP EVENT
00-YG01-FI

     EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (ELCA) -- "Get ready.  We're going to put on
our dancing shoes and dance," the Rev. Duane L. Steele, Gladesboro
Lutheran Church, Hillsville, Va., told 11 young members of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), who had come to
Southern Illinois University here for the 2000 Definitely Abled Youth
Leadership Event (DAYLE) June 25-28.  Each young Lutheran with a
disability was accompanied by a parent or other caregiver.
     With the theme "Here I am, Lord, with my dancin' shoes on,"
young people met with representatives of the Lutheran Youth
Organization (LYO), the youth organization of the ELCA, for worship,
Bible studies, leadership development workshops and time to get
acquainted.  The adult caregivers attended specialized workshops.
     "It just seems that all the participants were bonding a lot
faster," said Brenda Auterman, chair of the LYO's Definitely-abled
Advisory Committee, West Milwaukee, Wis.  This is the fifth DAYLE,
which is held every three years.
     "The group dynamics were just so wonderful," said Auterman.
She said a factor may have been that the adult workshops were
separate from those of the teens.  "It got the kids to bond with each
other and not rely totally on their caregivers."
     "For everyone who was here, it seemed like such an eye-opener,"
said Auterman.
     "During our days here at DAYLE, we will meet people who were
chosen to dance with God in the face of great challenges and trials -
- people like Paul, Jeremiah, Samuel and us," Steele said during the
event's opening worship service.  Steele, one of a few sightless
pastors in the ELCA, served as the event's chaplain.
     "We will rediscover that we are called to see God without eyes,
to hear God without ears and to dance with God even from our
wheelchairs," he said.
     "Today, we dance for God despite the parts of our bodies and
minds that don't work the way other people think they should.  We are
broken by sin, and, at the same time, we are whole because God's Holy
Spirit is ageless," said Steele.
     In each of the event's worship services, Steele referred to
biblical accounts of young people and people with disabilities whom
God used to speak a message.  "You are called on to speak for God,"
he said, encouraging them to overcome fears of not being taken
seriously and to trust God.  "All you need to do to answer God's call
is to say, 'Here I am, Lord.  What do you want me to do?'"
     Event participants elected the LYO's Definitely-abled Advisory
Committee (DAC):  Sarah Flatt, St. Claire Shore, Mich., chair; Joanna
Storm, Madison, Wis., liaison to the LYO board; and Michael Davidson,
New Orleans, secretary.
     "The DAC should be making not only the LYO but the whole ELCA
aware of disabled youth and their abilities with their disabilities,"
Flatt, a 15-year-old member of Bethel Lutheran Church, St. Claire
Shore, said in a short address before the vote.  "There is so much
that youth can do in their church, and the DAC is the best advocate
to the ELCA for that," she said.
     The elections followed a series of leadership workshops which
introduced participants to the LYO and its committee structures and
to the disability ministries of the ELCA.  Other sessions prepared
participants for the ELCA Youth Gathering, June 28-July 2 and July 5-
9, which will bring 40,000 high-school-aged Lutherans to St. Louis.
     Meredith Lovell, Ellicott City, Md.; Mandy Radel, Cardington,
Ohio; Heather Rose, Milton, Wash.; Megan Smith, Bluffton, Ohio; and
Jason Wegner, St. Peter, Minn., described "some helpful things we've
learned" during their three years as LYO board members.
     There are many different qualities in a good leader, said
Wegner.  Public speaking is a good leadership quality, but listening
is just as important, he said.
     The group listed several leadership qualities -- helping,
caring, learning, communication, writing, bridging gaps,
organization, giving, and openness to other ideas.  "I see good
leadership qualities in each of you," said Wegner.
     The Rev. Lisa T. Cleaver, director for disability ministries
and deaf ministry, ELCA Division for Church in Society, led a
workshop with Steele, ELCA braille and tape ministry consultant.
     Cleaver described her work as a "clearinghouse" to help meet
the needs of ELCA members.  She will host a consultation on
disability ministries and deaf ministries near the end of October
which will bring church representatives to Chicago from all across
the United States and Caribbean.
     Steele encouraged the young people to be assertive and active
church members.  "If you are a person with a disability, the church
does not come looking for you," he said.  "Churches are glad to have
us, but they do not reach out."
     "You are your own best advocate," said Cleaver.  "Let people
know these needs are here," she said.
     "I am impressed by each of you.  I encourage you to stay
involved.  We need you," said Cleaver.
     In a general session for participants and caregivers, Cleaver
talked about her life -- growing up in Ohio in the '60s with a
disability.  She said she could either adapt to her environment or
ignore her disability and act "normal."
     Through her years as a student and as an English teacher,
Cleaver was "accepted in spite of my disabilities," she said.  When
she answered God's call into the ministry and attended Trinity
Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, she was accepted "not in spite of
my disabilities but because of the gifts I brought," she said.
     "I gradually came to see my disability as an asset, not a
liability," said Cleaver.
     "People with disabilities no longer have to settle for what the
world will allow them to have," she said.  Stereotypes and pity must
be overcome, said Cleaver.
     "We didn't invite you here just to have a good time ... but to
shape the future of the ELCA," Cleaver said.  "You do have a voice in
the Lutheran Youth Organization, in the ELCA, but it's up to you to
make your voice heard."
     Participants and caregivers toured the America's Center to
acquaint themselves with the facilities before tens of thousands of
other teenaged Lutherans arrived for the Youth Gathering.
     Larry Olson and Hans Peterson of Dakota Road, one of the
musical groups to perform during the Youth Gathering, provided music
throughout the DAYLE and prepared participants for much of the music
that was to be used at the Youth Gathering.  The group is based in
Sioux Falls, S.D.
     "Their music and their ministry through their music really
brought out a lot of wonderful things in the participants," said
Auterman.  "It made the participants want to become active, stay
active and want to interact with everybody," she said.
     "Dakota Road definitely made our entire experience so much
better because they were so willing to work with us on any aspect
when we needed them to," said Auterman.  She added that the group
filled in whenever there was a lull in the activities and brought an
inspiring message to the gathering.
     Ken Medema, San Francisco, of Brier Patch Music, Grandville,
Mich., performed for and spoke with DAYLE participants.  Medema is a
sightless keyboardist and composer, and is music director for the
Youth Gathering.
     Medema related a story of his first experience dancing at the
age of 33.  A 14-year-old girl refused to hear his excuses at a
church dance and dragged him out on the dance floor.  A small risk of
looking foolish resulted in one of Medema's favorite nights.  "Out of
the darkness into the light," he sang.  "I felt like a misfit.  I
felt like a blind boy.  And you came up beside me."
     Several participants shared stories from their lives when they
had a sense of "belonging."  Medema composed three songs from those
stories and performed them on the spot.
     Mandy Kent, Manchester, Md., managed the DAYLE and serves as
DAC advisor.  "She helped us firm up every single little detail that
we never thought about as a committee," said Auterman.  "We never put
together a gathering before.  She has."
     "Mandy allowed us to learn from her," said Auterman.  "She's
just a wonderful person, and without her I think our committee
probably would have flopped," she said.  "It was a lot of work, and
she definitely did what she had to do to get us where we had to be to
make this event such a success."
     Sen. Dennis M. Byars spoke with the adult caregivers about
advocating for people with disabilities among public-policy makers.
Byars is a member of the Nebraska Legislature from Beatrice, and vice
chair of the legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.  He
is a member of St. John's Lutheran Church, Beatrice, and director of
government relations, Martin Luther Home Society, Lincoln, Neb.
     Byars said the voters knew him and elected him as "an advocate
for people with disabilities."
     The best advocates learn all they can about their issues, said
Byars, and then they condense that information for their legislators
to learn as quickly and completely as possible.  They make themselves
available to testify or provide more information, without making
pests of themselves, he said.
     Issues related to disabilities are easy to take personally,
Byars said.  He cautioned the caregivers to be firm with legislators
but never to threaten or create an adversarial relationship.
     Karen Snitker, coordinator, Faith in Action Volunteer Program,
Martin Luther Homes of Iowa, Waukon, spoke with the adult caregivers
about the prejudices people with disabilities face.  Many people find
themselves at both ends of such prejudices, she said.
     "The less people are like me, the more obstacles I put between
us," said Snitker.
     Martin Luther Homes Society, Lincoln, sponsored the workshops
for adult caregivers and gave DAYLE 2000 t-shirts to all who
attended.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html