New Deaf Ministry Blogger

It is with great joy that I welcome to the blogosphere my comrade-in-faith, Steve Dye! And I didn’t even have to “shame” the guy into blogging.

I have worked with Steve either directly or indirectly for 4 years now. We initially met through my wife shortly after we began dating back in 2003. We ministered together in Deaf Teen Quest - Louisville and later through Deaf Cafe - Louisville before both of us resigned in order to focus more on our home churches. Last year Steve left his home church to take a position as Minster to the Deaf at Southeast Christian Church.

Steve and I are alike in many ways. We both like many of the same things (Star Wars, college football, Tennessee Titans football, etc.), we’re big kids most of the time (okay, Steve is usually the big kid “most of the time” ), we’re former baseball players, we golf, we both think our wives are the hottest women alive, and we are both stubborn mules when we want to be. Soon I’ll be able to add another similarity: we’ll both be dads.

We try to regularly meet up for fellowship and encouragement, though lately I must confess we haven’t done a good job of it. Ever since Steve resigned from Deaf Cafe we both have been on our own ministry paths, which brings about different schedules and busy-ness that we have regrettably allowed to dictate our relationship. We will certainly do better with that in the future!

I’m going to try and get Steve to start a blogging dialogue with me in the near future regarding Deaf ministry and possibly help re-start the Deaf ministry series I have been wanting to do. In the meantime, take a peek at his blog here and leave some encouragement for him to be a regular blogger!

Breaking News: Gallaudet Fires Jane Fernandes

Yesterday, the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees, after an all-day session, voted to rescind their appointment of Jane Fernandes as university president. Students are calling this a “great victory.” I’m calling it a “great loss for all concerned parties.” Reaction to follow.

More Gallaudet Stuff and a Blog Update

First, the blog update.

Some of you have been asking where my Romans sermons have been. Quite honestly, they haven’t been because Pastor Tim has preached, I’ve been out of town, and I was the boss at work (UPS) last week while my partners were on vacation, and we spent the previous week to that preparing me for bosshood last week. So, in a phrase, I’ve been busy. But I do have two sermons covering Romans 1:8-12 already preached and in the can. You can hopefully expect them to be blogged by the end of the week, with this Sunday’s sermon on Romans 1:13-15 up no later than Saturday.

But again, I make no promises. My wife’s great-aunt passed away this Friday, and we are having the funeral Monday (tomorrow), so Monday will be an insanely busy day until time to go to work. We’ve also had a couple of other deaths in our church family that will require me to make pastoral visits to said church members this week. So if I even get one of those three sermons up by Friday, I will consider myself accomplished.

Speaking of work, WHERE are you, Louisville Deaf people? Especially you young-uns who need jobs? UPS is hiring, and I’m telling you, you do not want to pass up employment with us. UPS is the greatest place in town for anyone to work. You could begin a career here, just like the current UPS CEO did! To apply, go to www.upsjobs.com and fill out an online application.

Second, the Gallaudet update.

Some of you have read my initial post on the Gallaudet protests (see here). Well, when I returned to my humble abode from the funeral home tonight (Sunday night), I found a rather lengthy comment on said post. And it was a comment of substance. A full 10-point presentation as to why Jane Fernandes should not be the next president of Gallaudet University. Sadly, it was also status-quo for the types of arguments being made for the protests. In the interest of being a “calmer head” in our Deaf community, and more importantly a peacemaker (in obedience to Scripture), I will interact with these points on this blog over the next week or two.

In case you’re wondering where the comment is, WordPress automatically quarantined it for moderation since it contained more than 2 links, and I don’t quite have the energy to click “permit comment” until I’ve investigated the links to make sure they’re kosher. So I will likely be doing that this week, with the aim of addressing the comment’s points as I get to them.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Where I Am Right Now.

The Gallaudet University Protests

As of yesterday morning, Gallaudet University was under protest by the students since last May over the incoming university president. Faculty and alumni have been encouraging and inciting the students to protest. Buildings have been taken over and vandalized by the protesters. Students (specifically the football team and other supporters of the protest) have blocked the gated entrances to the school. The entire campus - which includes a preschool, elementary school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate schools for the Deaf, as well as audiological facilities and other medical facilities for the Deaf - has been shut down. Classes have stopped. They have even postponed this weekend’s football game and may even cancel it.

I have yet to find any substance to the accusations being levied against the new president Jane Fernandes. I have found nothing but rumors, innuendo, and outright lies. I have even found threats of physical harm and death threats against Ms. Fernandes. Disgusting. I have spoken with a Gallaudet student who was once under my ministry here in Louisville, and he cannot give me a straight answer about this protest. In fact, once I asked him for the evidence behind the position of the protesters, he has not responded and has since refused to respond to me. The many Deaf blogs out there in the blogosphere are even worse. The majority of them remind me of the Caners. No one I have corresponded with can give me an answer of substance or plain fact.

As of 7 P.M. last night, the soon to be retired president of Gallaudet, I. King Jordan, asked Washington, D.C. police to begin arresting the protesters in an effort to reopen the school. This, of course, has led to a great backlash against the administration.

I will contribute two cents, and only $0.02, to this silliness. This protest has gone beyond the exercise of free speech and bringing the voice of the students to the administration. It has now descended into the realm of embarrassing. Much like the infamous protest at Southern Seminary when Al Mohler took office, this protest will cause Gallaudet to suffer.

However, there is one major difference between Southern and Gallaudet. Gallaudet quite possibly will not survive from this event. As such, I am ashamed of the behavior of this generation of young Deaf individuals at Gallaudet university. They have taken a symbol of our culture and defaced it. They have taken a place where the Deaf can be educated and dispensed with education. They have made the Deaf community look extremely bad.

Grow up, students. Welcome to the real world. The world which our Deaf community inhabits is not the kind of world in which one can whine and complain and be destructive like a small, spoiled child until one gets what one wants. For your refusal to work with your administration, you are reaping what you have sown.