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Church mission for deaf youths bridges communication gap | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Local News
As the director of deaf ministries at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, Tom Hudspeth realized that there were few service opportunities in the church for members like him with hearing disabilities.
The situation, he said, was even more acute for the church's younger members.
"So often, hearing teenagers have opportunities to go and serve in other countries," said Dr. Hudspeth, the associate pastor at the church.
He said he queried the deaf church members about whether they had gone on mission trips as teenagers, and they all said no.
Dr. Hudspeth, who was born with 60 percent of normal hearing in one ear and 10 percent in the other, discovered a place where deaf youngsters from the church could serve as well as learn – the Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf near the border town of Rio Bravo.
Last summer, Dr. Hudspeth organized a team of eight volunteers – including three deaf teenagers and one deaf adult – who spent a week at the school painting a dormitory, pouring concrete and cleaning up.
Last month, he returned with a group of 15 – most of them deaf – to continue the work from the previous year. The team spent a week preparing a house for the school's director by cleaning floors, installing ceiling fans and cleaning the kitchen.
They also conducted a vacation Bible school for the Mexican youngsters.
"Our primary focus was the VBS," Dr. Hudspeth said. "We taught about 20 students ranging from age 4 to 28."
Unlike many groups that help at the school, everyone on Dr. Hudspeth's team knew some sign language. That helped them minister to the Mexican students, leading them in song, Bible studies and games.
"Although many teams volunteer there every year, they've never had a team where everyone has been able to communicate with the children," Dr. Hudspeth said. "And we're the only team who has ever gone to Rio Bravo and done a vacation Bible school."
The Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf was started in 1997 by Ernest Clark, a Jamaican missionary, in a pair of classrooms borrowed from a school in Rio Bravo. It has since moved onto 27 acres just outside the town, where it has five teachers and an enrollment of nearly 30. It is being converted into a residential campus and when completed will house 150 students.
"Now that we've started the residential program, we can reach out further," said Mr. Clark. "We're now being able to reach out to some of the churches in the larger cities such as Reynoso and Matamoros. Our primary goal is to share our faith with the deaf and at the same time help them physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and academically."
Tom Turner, a mission coordinator with the International Christian Centers for the Deaf, which oversees the Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf and another like it in Cuba, said some of the work done by Dr. Hudspeth's group last month had been severely damaged by storms that tore through the Rio Bravo area Tuesday.
The school's director, Efraín Escorza, could not be reached for comment because the storms apparently knocked out telephone service to the area.
Nevertheless, Mr. Turner said, damage can't take away from the efforts of people like Dr. Hudspeth and his team to help the youngsters in Rio Bravo.
Without those missionaries, he said, some of the youngsters might get overlooked.
"The deaf throughout the world are an invisible group because their handicap is invisible," Mr. Turner said.
For Dr. Hudspeth, being able to lead a team of deaf youths to assist others who have the same limitations is a dream come true, despite some difficult conditions. The group stayed on campus in the "Volunteer Dorm," which he described as just a step above outdoor camping.
"We put up with all kinds of insects, and we didn't have air-conditioning," he said. "We even had to brush our teeth with bottled water."
Despite the conditions, Dr. Hudspeth says their time was well-spent.
And the church even picked up the $655 per-person cost of the trip so that finances wouldn't be a hindrance.
"Our going to Rio Bravo is a way of empowering deaf teens to be in service to other people," he said. "It gives them an opportunity to experience being a servant, and since they're working with deaf children and teens, they're not hampered by a communication barrier because although the children down there have a slightly different sign language, they are still able to communicate fluently with each other."
As the director of deaf ministries at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, Tom Hudspeth realized that there were few service opportunities in the church for members like him with hearing disabilities.
The situation, he said, was even more acute for the church's younger members.
"So often, hearing teenagers have opportunities to go and serve in other countries," said Dr. Hudspeth, the associate pastor at the church.
He said he queried the deaf church members about whether they had gone on mission trips as teenagers, and they all said no.
Dr. Hudspeth, who was born with 60 percent of normal hearing in one ear and 10 percent in the other, discovered a place where deaf youngsters from the church could serve as well as learn – the Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf near the border town of Rio Bravo.
Last summer, Dr. Hudspeth organized a team of eight volunteers – including three deaf teenagers and one deaf adult – who spent a week at the school painting a dormitory, pouring concrete and cleaning up.
Last month, he returned with a group of 15 – most of them deaf – to continue the work from the previous year. The team spent a week preparing a house for the school's director by cleaning floors, installing ceiling fans and cleaning the kitchen.
They also conducted a vacation Bible school for the Mexican youngsters.
"Our primary focus was the VBS," Dr. Hudspeth said. "We taught about 20 students ranging from age 4 to 28."
Unlike many groups that help at the school, everyone on Dr. Hudspeth's team knew some sign language. That helped them minister to the Mexican students, leading them in song, Bible studies and games.
"Although many teams volunteer there every year, they've never had a team where everyone has been able to communicate with the children," Dr. Hudspeth said. "And we're the only team who has ever gone to Rio Bravo and done a vacation Bible school."
The Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf was started in 1997 by Ernest Clark, a Jamaican missionary, in a pair of classrooms borrowed from a school in Rio Bravo. It has since moved onto 27 acres just outside the town, where it has five teachers and an enrollment of nearly 30. It is being converted into a residential campus and when completed will house 150 students.
"Now that we've started the residential program, we can reach out further," said Mr. Clark. "We're now being able to reach out to some of the churches in the larger cities such as Reynoso and Matamoros. Our primary goal is to share our faith with the deaf and at the same time help them physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and academically."
Tom Turner, a mission coordinator with the International Christian Centers for the Deaf, which oversees the Mexican Christian Center for the Deaf and another like it in Cuba, said some of the work done by Dr. Hudspeth's group last month had been severely damaged by storms that tore through the Rio Bravo area Tuesday.
The school's director, Efraín Escorza, could not be reached for comment because the storms apparently knocked out telephone service to the area.
Nevertheless, Mr. Turner said, damage can't take away from the efforts of people like Dr. Hudspeth and his team to help the youngsters in Rio Bravo.
Without those missionaries, he said, some of the youngsters might get overlooked.
"The deaf throughout the world are an invisible group because their handicap is invisible," Mr. Turner said.
For Dr. Hudspeth, being able to lead a team of deaf youths to assist others who have the same limitations is a dream come true, despite some difficult conditions. The group stayed on campus in the "Volunteer Dorm," which he described as just a step above outdoor camping.
"We put up with all kinds of insects, and we didn't have air-conditioning," he said. "We even had to brush our teeth with bottled water."
Despite the conditions, Dr. Hudspeth says their time was well-spent.
And the church even picked up the $655 per-person cost of the trip so that finances wouldn't be a hindrance.
"Our going to Rio Bravo is a way of empowering deaf teens to be in service to other people," he said. "It gives them an opportunity to experience being a servant, and since they're working with deaf children and teens, they're not hampered by a communication barrier because although the children down there have a slightly different sign language, they are still able to communicate fluently with each other."