More Updates

Last Saturday The Able Church had a workday up at Camp Daniel

Here Marceaux and Jen's Dad are trying to fix Karol's golf cart.

On the second nice day of spring, May 4th, Jen took her sewing work outside on the deck of our cabin. How's that for working conditions? She finished curtains for two rooms in the girls' dorm. (Thanks Mom for helping, too!)

What's been going on??

In an attempt to keep you informed...

The Able Church held its first winter retreat at the new Camp Daniel grounds in February.

We played a wild game of Animal Ball - that's broomball without the sticks!

The Able Church Special Olympics basketball team ended their season April 5th with a scrimmage with the Living Hope Church youth group.

Jen's brother Mark and his family visited GB with us and Jen's parents. Above is our newphew Aklilu and niece Eva.

We went to Madison to visit Jen's other brother, Craig and his family. Here we are taking a tour of Craig's work. (below)
We went to visit with one of Marceaux's campers from last summer.

On April 9th -one of our few nice days of spring, we did part of the waterfall tour in our neighborhood. Here is Jen at Pier's Gorge in Norway, MI. We also saw Long Slide & Smalley in Pembine.

The Able Church has it members participate in its services. Justin teaches on forgiveness.

Chuck plays the piano for our song service.

We celebrated our first Easter as a married couple with Jen's family.

Our Aunt Rose made her traditional lamb cake (a tradition from her mom). We shared it with the Camp Daniel family at our Easter taco dinner. Georgie ate all the Peeps!

Many workdays at Camp Daniel. Jen has spent many hours putting poly on boards for trim and tongue and groove for the dorms. We have had several college groups, youth groups and other groups come volunteer. Jen has been working on sewing curtians for the dorms now, too. Marceaux has been helping cut tile and grouting for the bathrooms, as well as other construction and mechanical work around the grounds.

We have been visiting colleges and churches to speak about Camp Daniel and disability ministry. Below, Jen is pictured speaking to Occupational Therapy students at Concordia University WI, where she gratuated from.

What a Love

This week Able church hosted its St. Valentines day service. It was well attended and almost flawless. I got to do many different assignments during the celebration. Jen lead the worship and Pastor Tim did the message. There were many volunteers serving the meal. We really seemed like a team. Justin handled the video and Nick the sound. I just observed in the sound booth with Nick and enjoyed the sight that I saw. What I saw was a group that was worshiping our Lord with the best that they had. It was beautiful. I got to try to balance out all the different voices and not to contaminate its purity. What a privilege it is to be a part of this fellowship and to serve our members. Behold, love was the sight, love that was natural and pure, love that was well received by all who were there, love that will stay imprinted on me until we will all assemble in the beauty of heaven. I thank all who made the event a sight to behold and worked diligently so we could all take in its beauty. My hope is that all the events put on by our fellowship will grow and that many more who are low in their "love tank" will come and observe and be filled and proclaim the beauty of what they experienced to others. My dream is to see hundreds of our fellowship assembled and reaching out to Jesus with the worship that comes from deep within their hearts. This is when I will see my Lord crack a smile as tears of joy flow from my eyes. Please come and experience the power and love that comes from Able church jump in and become a part of our growing experience as we all serve our Lord Jesus.

Center of The Angel's Songs

Last Friday at The Able Church, we had special musical guests Daniel & Catherine Lovett of Reflect Worship. It was a wonderful evening of listening and joining in songs.

Catherine's mother, Cindie, came to watch their the concert and their 6 month old little girl. The night impressed upon her greatly and inspired her to write the following piece. I read it and tears began to roll down my cheek. It was beautifully written and it captures the essence of who we are and what do at The Able Church. I asked if I could post this and share it with others. So, please enjoy the following piece.......

The Best Christmas Party Ever!

Last night we found ourselves taking part in a Christmas celebration for Able Church in Green Bay where we were caring for Baby Ellie as Reflect led the congregation, first in worship, then in concert of some of their new songs, and ending in a time of Christmas Carols.

This church was unlike any other we have ever known. No one was a stranger, all were welcome. There was total freedom to be yourself. If the leader asked people to stand, you could stay sitting and no one noticed. If you were inspired to stand, raise your hands, turn in a circle, worship in sign language, or any other language it was as natural as breathing.
You could feel the love and joy in this place, but the most inspiring feeling was the freedom to be yourself.

There were no fancy tables, just a few platters of cookies and drink set out, no festive decorations, folding chairs made up the seating and off to the left of the stage was a curtained space where a 'mangy' puppet would pop out occasionally challenging Daniel to let him sing a duet, which they finally did, and their rendition of Jingle Bells brought the house down, or rather up as they all rose to their feet and clapped.

As the final songs began, the most amazing thing took place. A young child, a little boy with Down's Syndrome made his way up the platform and wiggled his way onto the keyboard bench where Catherine was playing!
As he took his place right next to her, he beamed at the audience and with his hands in his lap, took part in the final Christmas songs. I couldn't help but think of that first Christmas night in a plain stable where the shepherds came with no fancy clothes, perhaps a small child snuggled up next to Mary to take part in the miracle that was happening.

As this young boy's mother came to stand where I was she wondered if she should try to retrieve him. Shaking my head "no" and with tears running down my face, I knew that he was drawn there by the Spirit, and as they sang "Center of The Angel's Songs", God had indeed placed an angel among us to demonstrate that very thing.

When Silent Night was being introduced, he turned to Catherine and said, "I know this one", and sang along with a beaming face, while all of heaven watched. Truly God was in that place, and even little Ellie knew as she smiled and loved everyone who came to touch and see her. For you see, this was no ordinary church, indeed it was extraordinary, for these people were those the world has called "Developmentally Disabled". I would say they were the "Able Ones". Hence the name: Able Church!

Merry Christmas everyone, may we all be able to receive His grace and love with great joy this amazing season!
Cindie & Ted


Please go to http://www.reflectworship.com/ to check out their music and support thier ministry!
Jen:-)

Seasons of Change

If their was something that I deal with every day, something that is the carrier of that newness that I long for, that would be change. Most of the changes that take place usually represent other forces that are outside my control. It’s this point of control that I sometimes embrace and sometimes it drives me near insanity. The experiences that come when helping my friends face the issues of life at Able Church are usually ones that are hard to predict and sometimes hard to manage. The freshness of spirit is also the byproduct of our fellowship. It is this freshness that I long for and experience every morning. The beauty of it all is that somehow my sacrifice and service have brought me to the place where I reap this benefit every day. I rub elbows with those with disabilities every day and the outcome is change and the byproduct of this change is a newness that is fresh and invigorating to my spirit. To all I owe my brothers and sisters in Christ and to that end do I serve them because truly they are the beautiful ones who impart to me that change that recharges my soul.

Here are some of those events that have been points of change and growth for Jen and I. This week we were taken through the life changing experience of death. One of our member’s grandmother passed away. The Able Church stuck close to each other through the process. It was an amazing sight to see our fellowship intersect with the community around us and how they spread their love in a time of grief.

Mega for Kids is a consistent display of creativity for Jesus. I had encouraged the Professor commenting about the great job that he does and that he is the right man in the right place and a valuable tool for the kids at Mega. I observed the new puppet master and shared with Jen how he has really grown into that roll and his ability keeps improving every week. She told me I needed to tell him that. Their is even hope for the Mega bus. It keeps stretching me to the point of insanity and growth. I think that "MAX" will very soon be a frequent sight on the roads of Green Bay.

Camp Daniel is ever coming closer to its maturity. Some of the machinery comes and goes. We just sold some of our equipment. I will miss our ex. I started it up from a long rest and kept her running only to see her leave. Tony and I are grieved because we both know the great story of "Mike Mulligan" and how this story from this little book was alive in our excavator. The great thing is that I don't think that Senior minds a bit.

The bowling squad is at best full of great pizza. My wishes are that Tina would become that champion on the bowling lanes that she is at the Able church. I hope that the boys of Camp Daniel could repeat their last year's performance. We will feel the power of the Weids, as John will join us on the bowling lanes in competition this year.

There has been chatter that Milo is trying to use the computer. We did see them show up at Able with his new wife Mabel. They were both trying to protect the newly found love during their honeymoon. Jen and I wished them well but commented that they kind of needed some new cloths.

Wedding Pics!!!

The reality of the presence of GOD is shocking to me especially when I just settle in the realization of the work that He has accomplished and is doing in my life. What a wonderful year it has been. A few weeks ago Jen and I celebrated the one year anniversary of my moving from Montana to Camp Daniel. It has been the best year of my life and it just keeps getting better. The labor at Camp has been exhausting. I remember thinking before I left Montana a year ago, "How much work is there really to do at a summer bible camp in the off season?" My experience is that the labor in the ministry for the disabled is huge and like most effective ministries the laborers are few. I think that my social life has been given a complete overhaul. Those deep personal relationships with people with disabilities are the best. They are deep, difficult, fulfilling, loving, colorful, and even strange. The greatest is that they are not predictable and they take me places that sometimes I am not willing to go. The greatest of all is the true heart filled praise and worship that I get to take part in every Friday at Able Church. It really is a piece of Camp Daniel every week. I look ahead and pray that the Lord would help Able Church grow and that the relationships that were formed at camp would not be lost. That our staff could have the time and resources to foster and grow those relationships and create new ones with the surrounding group homes. That the Lord would raise up laborers in Able church so the ministry could stay fresh and vibrant. THANK YOU CAMP DANIEL AND ABLE CHURCH for a wonderful opportunity to invest in things above.

Marceaux