Why Silent Blessings?
Silent Blessings – not the first words one might type in a search engine to find resources for/about deaf children, but we’re working on that. If you enter deaf, child, and faith together, our name comes up. We’re part of the three-ministry team that built Dr. Wonder’s Workshop, still the only show of its kind. It is specifically designed to entertain and teach deaf children about Jesus in sign language with Deaf role models.
But with ministries such as Deaf Missions, Deaf Teen Quest, Deaf Harbor, Deaf Outreach (now DOOR), Deaf Institute, and Deaf Bible Society, how does a ministry to deaf people get a name that doesn’t have the word deaf in it?? Because we want to put the focus more on the children than on the lack of hearing. That little person in your household who communicates differently from everyone else in the family (in most cases) is still a blessing – a gift from God tied with an uncommon ribbon.
True, they’re not exactly silent…they don’t regulate the volume of their cries or squeals and it’ll take them a while to learn why mom jumps when the door slams shut or the dishes hit the table with a bit too much energy. But, when it comes to communicating, they only get what they see, and they have a much easier time showing what they want than making clear sounds come out of their mouths.
Our founder, Marshall Lawrence, was as far into the world of sound as one can get — a radio DJ, award-winning musical composer, traveling song minister… his wife a college professor of communications and literature. They brought their second baby girl home, noted how her development differed from her elder sister and textbooks they’d both studied, and one day realized she wasn’t hearing the world around her. A new strategy was needed if they were to teach all they wanted her to know.
The hunt for resources began, especially resources for building a foundation of faith in Jesus. In those days, such things simply didn’t exist, so Marshall and Terry founded a ministry to create them. This budding ministry partnered with two others, Deaf Missions & Deaf Video Communications (acquired by Deaf Bible Society), and built two imaginary places loved all over the world – the Finger Food Café and Dr. Wonder’s Workshop. Volunteers from the Deaf Community, including educators, pastors, and artists, committed five summers and many more hours to assemble a cast of characters who teach by example how we’re to interact with one another, and more importantly, how we can connect with the God who loves us all unconditionally.
We’ve reached the end of that initial journey – somewhat more than 5 years later – but we’re not done yet. We’re moving forward with the same goal we had in the beginning. We want to introduce scripture and the love of Jesus to deaf children and their families in ways they can clearly understand — visual, engaging, and explained at a child’s level. We want to reframe the sentiment of “a deaf child, such limits” to “a silent blessing, such an adventure!”
Help us share the message: Jesus loves everyone, knows every language, and wants a relationship with His silent blessings.