Joni: Hey, this ministry is going where no one has gone before… and it better had! Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’m all about extending the reach of Joni and Friends far beyond what you might hear us doing here on the daily program: Family Retreats, Wheels for the World. Because when I think of a disability I like to think of it as, well for lack of a better term, “a splashover of hell”. Warning us Christians what Christ has rescued us from. In other words, disabilities are little spoonfuls of hell come early to kind of warn us, remind us what our savior has delivered us from and oh how grateful to God I am that I know Jesus. But I am thinking of the millions of people with disabilities out there who don’t know Jesus. Who, for them, is a splashover of hell is nothing more than a sneak preview of the horrible coming attractions of a life separated from God for all of eternity in hell. I want to see them rescued; I want to see them delivered. And so at Joni and Friends we are doing something a little unique, a little different, a little unusual and I have my friend Bev Singleton here in the studio to help tell us all about it.
Bev: I am delighted to be here and I am excited about what we are doing together and what that is, is public service announcements (PSAs) for the general market stations.
Joni: Public Service Announcements for let’s see: disability etiquette, what do you say about disabilities…
Bev: Stories of your friends that they have shared with you that can be of help to the public that listens to those stations…
Joni: Absolutely! And they are one minute public service announcements called disabilitycampaign.org. I record them on a regular basis and you, Bev, you market these little PSA’s to secular stations. When I say secular I had someone stop me in the Thousand Oaks Mall the other day and she looked at me and said, “Are you the lady I listen to on my hip hop station?”
Bev: We want to reach anybody who listens to those stations because it’s not only to get to know Joni Eareckson Tada, but to just reach out to their friends who have handicaps that need to be made more aware of how to be comfortable around their disabled friends.
Joni: Well, give us a taste of what we talk about on those public service announcements…
Bev: That’s fun. Just this morning, Joni you did this one about Wheelchair Etiquette. We don’t just talk about wheelchairs but we talk about all sorts of disabilities and disabling conditions, but you mentioned here the first thing is: Don’t run over people's toes.
Joni: That’s important…
Bev: That’s terribly important! There could be accidents.
Joni: And if you go into somebody’s house be careful…
Bev: Don’t gouge paint off their walls. That’s an important thing when going around those corners.
Joni: Right. Don’t back up against people's walls leaving tire tracks on their walls.
Bev: And this one… Don’t you paraplegics go around showing off by popping wheelies because she doesn’t want to be shown up.
Joni: Well, it’s kind of a fun list, this wheelchair etiquette list, but it gives you friends listening an idea of what we are doing to entice people, to beckon people to go to disabilitycampaign.org. There is a link to our Joni and Friends website; they find out about Family Retreats and what do you know, some of these folks who don’t know Christ will end up coming to one of our Family Retreats and hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bev: And don’t forget, it all started with these stations that so faithfully air you.
Joni: Absolutely! And I am so grateful to the station management here for airing Joni and Friends and also to a lot of those hip hop and RB, and rhythm and blues stations that probably air those other spots. God bless you, Bev, and thank you for being my partner.
Bev: Thank you.
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JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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