The year in review is turning out to be a bit long, so click on the highlights when you want more details.
The biggest news of this year is the loss of our long time office manager and friend, Judy.
In the spring, concerns began pulling her away from the office to assist with her husband’s health. She began teaching me what I’d need to know to cover essential workload. Her own health concerns revealed cancer, forcing her to retire without the training/weaning process we had planned for. We braced ourselves for her final days on several occasions, and celebrated the few times of surprising renewal. During the last of these periods, she was blessed with the strength (just enough) to visit family and old stomps in Pennsylvania, her adoring husband at her side every moment. She spent Thanksgiving in Indiana and Christmas in Heaven.
Through the summer, we scrambled to make sure that the administrative matters continued to be handled.
Two volunteers stepped in so that the rest of us would be able to continue focusing on the VBS. We hired a part-time office manager and contracted with a bookkeeper. Even so, the work that Judy has been doing for the ministry since its founding in 1996 is not so easily passed to others. There have been things to learn, teach, juggle, and sometimes back-up-and-punt. Case in point, a regular volunteer who was instrumental in keeping the filing under control fell and broke her right arm severely. She’s recovering well, and expects to return in the new year.
We observed the revised and upgraded VBS curriculum in action at four locations this summer.
The changes and upgrades we made were a lot of work and well worth it. This spring, when I didn’t get a newsletter (or blog post) out, we were working around the clock to have the new videos ready with voices and captions for the Cafe, Worship, and Culture modules. We were very thankful to have the help of two interns, one of whom joined me to observe the VBS in South Carolina and Virginia. The other joined our Executive Director and our Director of Curriculum to observe the VBS in Arizona and Oregon. The Oregon event ended up being a single day and the South Carolina event included daily trips to the YMCA pool as has been their tradition. These showed us that the curriculum does have the flexibility to fit a variety of schedules. The mom in charge of snacks in Virginia was overjoyed with the health and creativity of the revised menu. This was the second round of testing in Arizona, and showed that the material did not get stale with a repeat presentation. For them, two days were brand new and the other three days were just as good as last year.
The summer of 2014 taught us a lot, and the summer of 2015 taught us even more.
For example, the questions we had about the necessity of training videos were decisively answered. We have someone scheduled to come in for recording those the first week of January 2016. (Then comes the voice and captions.) We will also be making some changes to the layout of the documentation, making essential information easier to find at a glance. We also intend to include more images than originally planned, which will mean a return to my duties as props mistress.
Because this round of testing held a different mix of churches and children, we identified where we’ll need to offer more customization for the VBS directors. Specifically, we completed the videos for worship times and the culture module, being careful to explain signs and ideas for hearing/non-signing audiences. This was a key element that would have made things much better for our test sites in 2014, since the majority of the kids were getting their first introduction to ASL and the deaf world. (Remember, 90% of deaf children are born to hearing households. So if this doesn’t appeal to hearing kids, most deaf children won’t see it.) In 2015, we had more children with deaf parents, so the long explanations were less inspiring.
The core content will remain the same, but we’ll give primarily signing groups a way to skip over the language instruction and do something more engaging for them. This means a little more work in the video and documented instruction for leaders, but the video materials prepared for the kids will just need fairly simple cut-edits at stopping points. This is good news, because we won’t be recreating anything, just tweaking what we have, including the plans for what we’ll be recording next week. So far, the only thing we’ve “thrown away” in this whole process is the first snack menu and the test version of worship videos that we knew were disposable. (Our 2015 worship leader really is an improvement, which is no surprise, because she’s really deaf.)
These adventures meant that our window to complete and publish the VBS within the 2015 calendar year closed on us.
In the marketplace, VBS curriculum needs to be published in or before December so that churches can begin their shopping in January. As you know, December 2015 is two days from over. We’re working to have it ready for publication within the next few months, and it can then be marketed for the 2017 VBS season. Later shoppers and friends who have been anxiously awaiting the final product may pick it up for VBS 2016.
One ministry and significant investor in the VBS is already making plans for its formal debut this summer. As far as we know, we’ll be taking a team to observe the fruits of our labors and gather images and testimonies for marketing. We’re sure to find more areas to adjust and perhaps improve, but those will be applied to the next project.
Nor did we complete Season 5 of Dr. Wonder’s Workshop, but we will.
We have additional segment videos translated, and a few more videos coming from Deaf Missions, our partners in this project. Those will need to be translated to prepare for voice over actors. Captioning in English and Spanish will be done by contracted resources as final steps in the process. We have videos recorded for half of the songs, and will be working on plans and choreography for the rest of them after the VBS is finalized. We have about half of the voices laid in for the primary characters, and will need to record voices for at least a dozen more people. At least five episodes will use skits for the Object Lesson segment, which increases the number of voices needed. (The skits are great and get the message across wonderfully!) These are the things that require coordination and put us at the mercy of our volunteers and their schedules, and technology.
We’ve run into some tech and timing issues this year, but the biggest hindrance to finishing DWW-5 is the fact that a very small team is juggling two major projects plus a major setback in administration. We are getting our admin feet back under us, and I am once again available to focus on projects. If all goes well in the next 6-9 months, I’ll be able to report in the fall that we’ve got DWW-5 broadcast ready. The first four seasons are continuing to be broadcast on christian networks, reaching a worldwide audience.
We still get letters from children and adults.
Whether paper or email, I’m still answering questions that range from “why is Lisa’s hair pink?” to “how can we know the Bible is true?” There was a “can you visit us?”, a few “can I be on the show?”, and a “how do I deal with a bully?”. A few are repeat writers, so we know about the beloved dog and the new girlfriend.
The most agonizing for me this year was the request for someone to take over the duties of a prison chaplain who retired at 87. He served the deaf prisoners, and there’s no one to step in behind him. We’re doing what we can, but this is one of the things we can’t do. We checked with our ministry partners and I found a lead online, but all of these were dead ends for this particular request. Pray for these folks, for those trying to reach them, and for those seeking to know how God would use their skills and resources.
We have moved forward on the next project.
This is a full 3-year weekly curriculum for grades K-8, adaptable for sign languages used around the world, and available online. If you think it sounds God-sized-big, you’d be right. The partnership is forming, with each ministry contributing their unique aspects to bring the whole thing together. DOOR has a worldwide footprint and is training people to reach the deaf in their communities while they get the scriptures recorded in the sign languages of their countries. Deaf Missions is also training deaf people to minister while they continue translating and recording ASL versions of the scriptures (Job currently) and working on video materials for completing DWW-5. Deaf Bible Society, an offshoot of the Faith Comes by Hearing ministry, has the technology and delivery system to put the recordings of scriptures and teachings on any device that plays videos, including dedicated solar units. You may have heard about FCBH and the solar audio bibles being delivered to remote places around the world – same group, same idea, different sensory needs.
What Silent Blessings brings to this partnership of deaf ministries is our focus on children and a demonstrated ability to develop curriculum for those ages. We can’t simply sit back and wait until deaf kids grow up in today’s society nibbling on negative soundbytes about Jesus and many false faces of christianity. We need to build resources that will reach them, that their parents can access, from wherever they are. Otherwise, by the time they’re adults, they see no point in pursuing Jesus, so all the resources available to deaf adults will be lost on them. More to the point, they will be lost. Unacceptable.
It started with a TV show on Christian networks. The second step is the VBS developed for use in any church. The next step is this curriculum project that will bring scriptural engagement to deaf children in the homes, churches, and communities where they live.
But first, we need to finish what we started.
Isn’t that always the way? Big dreams around the corner, but first put the finishing touches on what you’ve been working on. It can be the hardest phase of the whole thing, the most discouraging, the longest…. and if you’d like to know how you can pray for us, or for me specifically, it’s at this point. For so many very good reasons, we want the VBS and DWW show finished.
The running joke around the office is that I want my checkmark – and I do. We’re planning for me to be the project manager for the next thing, and I’m ready to take on that job. I have skills and experience in my background that can be put to good use. We’ll add deaf team members and discussions in sign language that involve understanding more than a word-by-word or thought-by-thought translation of scriptures. I’m anxious for those discussions, I have training and experience that will be valuable there. Yet we have those two words that I find most bothersome: “But first…”
As for me,
Last year’s report included a startup deaf ministry effort in another community. One of the two couples moved to Montana (can’t blame them for not making the commute). The retired missionary got very busy with transitions of leadership in the Botswana mission. I got a little busy impersonating Judy. In short, the whole thing withered. I did meet another couple of ladies in Muncie, one deaf and one an interpreter. They let me know that the deaf community around here tends to stay in their own individual realms, not getting together for regular activities. We’ll likely give it another try, perhaps in a different way, and hopefully sometime this year.
The Hoosier Outdoor Club of the Deaf will be having their scheduling meeting in January, and I intend to get their activities on my calendar and be more deliberate about showing up. The biannual National Association of the Deaf conference is in Arizona in July, and I plan to be there for that as well. I will also get more deliberate about seeing my friends in South Bend – two or three times in a year just isn’t enough.
I have fifteen children’s stories to get typed up in hopes of selling them to parents and grandparents that want to teach a variety of lessons in a fun way. Imagine an octopus growing up in a clam bed, or a frog that enjoys food from every table in town, or the unusual ability to see the creatures that live on doorknobs. These I hope to sell, along with nearly 100 statements that I have yet to put in the print-on-demand store. Then, there’s the novel, or perhaps several novels as it’s turning out. I participated in NaNoWriMo again, this time writing 21,000 words and joining an almost-local group of writers. We will be gathering once a month through the year to encourage one another to get words on the page. I also plan to renew my “Fear Not” study, as well as a couple others I have in mind.
I’m still making plans to build a tiny house on wheels. Permanent cupboards in a variety of communities. I’ve decided to start with a truck or RV, get my key furniture out of storage, build the modules I’ve designed for various items, and upgrade to the house when budget and zoning rules are more favorable. There are others in the Indianapolis area participating in the Tiny House movement, and I intend to get to know them.
The writers and the “tiny housers” are fun & interesting people, some of whom, like deaf folks, have little or no use for the Jesus they see portrayed in soundbytes and unfriendly faces. I sincerely want to write, and have a tiny house to write in, but beyond that, I’d like to represent Jesus well as I develop relationships in these new communities. We can’t share the gospel if we keep hiding in safe bubbles of people who already know it.
My health remains what it has been since 2003…sometimes not so good, but generally ok if I don’t push too much. This is a big hurdle to getting a second job, because it would make me unavailable or perhaps physically unable to support the mission of Silent Blessings.
God is keeping me afloat, and I need financial support.
For details, the information in last year’s post is mostly valid. I still have a home with my host, a 70 mile (or 1.5 hour) daily commute (35mi/45min each way), a car that runs (complete with new battery, alternator, and rear catalytic converter this year, currently at 167,000), a school note that is no longer in deferment ($400 due monthly), and two retirement accounts (one was cashed to clear the credit debt). Once again, friends and family helped out by feeding me and the car, covering a couple of car expenses, and hosting me for overnight stays out of town.
Silent Blessings pays a salary for 20 hours a week. This year, that equated to $9,615 gross, $8,105 net. This is more than the receipts dedicated to my support, and less than would be required if my room and board were not generously donated.
It is entirely possible that once we begin working on the curriculum project, our partners will help us generate funding to pay for full time resources and a form of health coverage. Can’t count those eggs ’til they hatch, but it’s a possibility.
It is still valid to say that I’m not giving in, giving up, backing out, or backing down. God has sustained me for another year, and His promise to never leave or forsake me will not be broken.
May the year ahead be full and may we be faithful.
Yes, I will try to post reports more often. It would help, though, if I knew someone was interested in reading them… See that comment button at the bottom? Click that & share your thoughts!