Lamar Hardwick's Blog, page 10
October 3, 2020
Disability and the Church – InterVarsity Press
Check out the great reviews on my new book! Disability and The Church releases on February 9th but you can pre-order it today. (Link at the bottom.)
In a time when first-person disability narratives remain hard to come by, Disability and the Church presents a marvelous example of the power of disabled voices in the church. Rev. Dr. Hardwick provides his readers with a powerful message about not only accepting people with disabilities but including them as church leaders. Masterfully interweaving his personal narrative with Scripture and the history of the Christian church, Hardwick offers an insightful look into the what it means to pastor a church while on the autism spectrum, as well as practical tips for developing inclusive churches that take the wisdom of disability experience seriously. Disability and the Church is essential reading for church leaders and seminarians who desire to make their places of worship inclusive, diverse, and faithful to God’s call by placing disability at the heart of the conversation.”
Devan Stahl, Baylor University
“A disability is not a sickness or even necessarily a weakness. It is just a limitation, a uniqueness, that enables a person to make a vitally important and distinctive contribution to life and to the Christian community. At the same time, to some in the church a person with a disability could appear to seem ‘the weakest and least important’ member of the Jesus community, but instead they are to be viewed as ‘the most necessary’ and to be embraced ‘with the greatest care’ (1 Corinthians 12:22-23). Pastor Lamar has provided a bridge into Christ’s church for those who are ‘disabled’ or ‘other-abled,’ a bridge that seems essential to the nature and mission of the church. Lamar has provided that bridge with this excellent work and with his own life, pastoral leadership, and scholarship.”
Larry K. Asplund, Regent University School of Divinity
“Lamar Hardwick was designed by God to write this resource for the church. Lamar perfectly weaves together his personal experience, the history of the church, and today’s much-needed conversation on diversity to lay a blueprint for inclusion in the local church.”
Ryan Wolfe, president and executive director of Ability Ministry
“The largest minority group in the church is the disabled. This makes inclusion of people with disabilities an important part of the mission and vision of the church. When I finished seminary as a young minister with autism, I often felt excluded due to my lack of social skills and sensory issues. Disability and the Church is a perfect fit to help churches understand neurodiversity and learn ways to equip individuals like me for ministry. The strength of Dr. Lamar’s book is his ability to teach pastors and leaders practical steps to empower people with disabilities for leadership and use their gifts to advance the kingdom of God. I love his concept of ministry with people with disabilities—a partnership. This book will inspire your church to be an advocate in the disability community. I highly recommend Disability and the Church to every leader, pastor, and educator who has a passion for inclusion and a desire to equip the whole body of Christ for the work of ministry.”
Ron Sandison, author of Parent’s Guide to Autism and founder of Spectrum Inclusion
“In Disability and the Church, Lamar Hardwick combines his professional and personal experience to create a unique and necessary resource for pastors and church leaders. After being diagnosed with autism several years into his pastoral career, he became an advocate for including individuals with disabilities in the church. What he has to say about ministering with—rather than to or for—people and families affected by disability has the potential to transform the body of Christ. I am grateful to Lamar for his transparent, honest voice in Disability and the Church. I not only recommend the book wholeheartedly, I also plan to gift copies to leaders at my church.”
Jolene Philo, disability advocate and coauthor of Sharing Love Abundantly in Special Needs Families
“Writing is most beautiful, most authentic, and most life-transforming when authors embody the story they are telling. Dr. Lamar Hardwick inhabits the story he is writing. He writes from a unique vantage point: he has Asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. His autism doesn’t define him. Jesus does. Jesus has graced and used his life to teach the church how to love and live more inclusively and generously. God invites us all to his banquet feast of grace. His table is big enough for us all.”
Derwin L. Gray, cofounder and lead pastor of Transformation Church, south of Charlotte, North Carolina, and author of The Good Life: What Jesus Teaches About Finding True Happiness
“Lamar Hardwick brilliantly captures kingdom vision for diversity, inclusion, and gospel-reflecting community. He draws a powerful parallel between his own long journey from difficulties to diagnosis and the church’s battle to be a place of welcome and belonging where everyone gets an equal stake in the promises of God. This book carries a message that is ripe for today with a plan lifted straight from the Scriptures. Lamar helps us understand historical problems in the church and wakes us up to a bright future of possibilities.”
Lisa Jamieson, cofounder of Walk Right In Ministries and author of Finding Glory in the Thorns
“Reflecting the wisdom and heart of a seasoned church pastor, this book by Rev. Dr. Lamar Hardwick sparkles with the best parts of being a scholar and a preacher—a biblical exploration of God’s desire for the full welcome of the diverse people God has created (particularly people with disabilities) combined with personal stories, reflections, and very detailed ideas for living into that reality. His many years serving as an autistic pastor give him the insight and credibility to name the kinds of barriers to leadership and participation that neurodiverse and disabled folks experience in churches, and the practical and theological tools needed to remove these barriers. At its heart, this truly helpful book calls our communities to be accessible to the presence, gifts, and leadership of people with disabilities, and thereby into faithful resonance with the way of Jesus and the very heart of God.”
Bethany McKinney Fox, author of Disability and the Way of Jesus and founding pastor of Beloved Everybody Church
“Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwick is a must-read for every pastor and church leader! Lamar does a wonderful job of explaining why every church needs to become inclusive and welcome families and individuals with disabilities with open arms. I especially appreciate how Lamar is vulnerable and explains how he and other individuals with disabilities have been treated by the church. It is time for the church to finally welcome these amazing families and change the way it thinks. Every ministry must see through the eyes of a family with disabilities and plan accordingly. Thank you once again, Lamar, for leading the way in calling all of us to step up and welcome families with disabilities with open arms! Churches need to receive the full blessing that God wants to bestow on them!”
Stephen “Doc” Hunsley, executive director and founder, SOAR Special Needs
“With unassailable grace, Disability and the Church compels the church to claim her birthright as the cultural leader, by articulating the whys and hows of biblical inclusion and diversity. Dr. Hardwick weaves together an exquisite triple-threat of scholarly insight and practical, ministerial wisdom, validated by a rare, first-person account as a pastor diagnosed with autism. I know no other voice as uniquely qualified to address the church’s long-standing hidden disability regarding diversity and inclusion as Dr. Lamar Hardwick: a prophetic voice for such a time as this.”
Diane Dokko Kim, disability ministry consultant and author of Unbroken Faith: Spiritual Recovery for the Special-Needs Parent
“If you are a church member, a volunteer, or in vocational ministry, this book is a must-read! Dr. Hardwick has taken the vision that God laid out for the church in his Scripture for intertwining the faith and disabilities communities and eloquently communicated the whole vision in one succinct book. This book offers powerful and compelling words to the modern church, challenging it to take a look at its systems and culture that were designed to separate, and to bring them into alignment with the Word of God. Pastor Lamar offers biblical evidence and practical steps on achieving unity in the body of Christ without having to strive for uniformity. As the church as whole continues to marginalize and ostracize the disability community, I believe this book will become a catalyst for understanding the perspective of the voices of the disabled that often that go unheard in faith communities. It is a beautiful reminder of how we should value and celebrate people because we are better together. Every pastor that I know will be receiving a copy of this book!”
Jillian Palmiotto, disability and special needs pastor at Mount Paran Church, Atlanta
Disability and the Church – InterVarsity Press
— Read on www.ivpress.com/disability-and-the-church
August 7, 2020
Pre-Order My New Book Now!
Pre-Order your copy of my new book![image error]
My new book Disability and the Church is now available for pre-order! Check out some of the great reviews that the book is already receiving!
“In a time when first-person disability narratives remain hard to come by, Disability and the Church presents a marvelous example of the power of disabled voices in the church. Rev. Dr. Hardwick provides his readers with a powerful message about not only accepting people with disabilities but including them as church leaders. Masterfully interweaving his personal narrative with Scripture and the history of the Christian church, Hardwick offers an insightful look into the what it means to pastor a church while on the autism spectrum, as well as practical tips for developing inclusive churches that take the wisdom of disability experience seriously. Disability and the Church is essential reading for church leaders and seminarians who desire to make their places of worship inclusive, diverse, and faithful to God’s call by placing disability at the heart of the conversation.” (Devan Stahl, Baylor University)
“A disability is not a sickness or even necessarily a weakness. It is just a limitation, a uniqueness, that enables a person to make a vitally important and distinctive contribution to life and to the Christian community. At the same time, to some in the church a person with a disability could appear to seem ‘the weakest and least important’ member of the Jesus community, but instead they are to be viewed as ‘the most necessary’ and to be embraced ‘with the greatest care’ (1 Corinthians 12:22-23). Pastor Lamar has provided a bridge into Christ’s church for those who are ‘disabled’ or ‘other-abled,’ a bridge that seems essential to the nature and mission of the church. Lamar has provided that bridge with this excellent work and with his own life, pastoral leadership, and scholarship.” (Larry K. Asplund, Regent University School of Divinity)
Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830841601/...
You can pre-order on Amazon or directly from my publisher IVP
www.amazon.com/dp/0830841601/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_i_E5tlFbB4N3FD8
June 8, 2020
June 3, 2020
The Autism Pastor Podcast is here!
Check out episode one of my new podcast now available on Anchor and Spotify and soon on Apple Podcast. (click image for link)
[image error] https://open.spotify.com/episode/2f9F...
May 10, 2020
Evidence That God Is Still At Work — Key Ministry
Serving in ministry can be tough. Wondering whether you’re making a
difference or not is natural. Having questions for God about His active
role in a world that seems to be retreating from the church and religion
means your faith is healthy, and that you care about people. The key to
staying encouraged is to know where to look for evidence that Christ
working.
— Read on www.keyministry.org/church4everychild/2020/3/5/evidence-that-god-is-still-at-work
Three Simple Steps for Spiritual Self-Care During Quarantine — Key Ministry
What has the potential to crush you? In what area of life do you need
“space” for spiritual health in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis? Here are
three simple steps from Jesus’ life to protect your spiritual, mental and
emotional health.
— Read on www.keyministry.org/church4everychild/2020/5/7/three-simple-steps-for-spiritual-self-care-during-quarantine
February 29, 2020
What Happens When I Can’t?
Most people who know me well, know that I am an eternal optimist. In fact, I often describe myself as being “annoyingly optimistic.” I think I am just hard wired to be a positive person. It takes a lot to get me discouraged. Simply put, I am “can do” type of person.
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I suppose some of my positive perspective on life comes from a place of necessity. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Psalm 27. “ I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13 NKJV)
Like King David, I realize that the only way that I have a shot at maintaining some semblance of hope is to believe that God is in the business of blessing each day. Let’s face it I don’t need to be hopeful about the life to come. I know heaven is great and I do plan on going there, I’m just not in a rush.
So that means that I need hope here, in this life, in this world, in my current reality. I choose to believe that I can see God’s goodness if I look hard enough by paying attention to God’s involvement and activity in the ordinary everyday parts of my life. I am a “can do” person because I’ve learned that not having hope actually does damage to my heart.
I was recently asked by someone if I had ever written on the subject of what should or could be done by a person with a disability who is just in a season of not being able to attend church. They understood the value of community. They had the desire to belong to a local church. It wasn’t even necessarily an issue of not being accepted and welcomed into the church because of their disability. The issue was simply that their disability was contributing to reasons why they just couldn’t do church in this season.
Honestly, I know the feeling. Maybe not in the same way, but even with my “can do” annoyingly optimistic perspective, I too find myself struggling with times when my disability limits me from doing things that my faith says that I should do. Sometimes social anxiety, sensory processing, executive functioning challenges, and depression slow down the consistent practice of important parts of my faith life like attending church, small groups, Bible study, and even prayer.
So, what happens when there is a collision between practicing my faith and the reality of life with a disability? What do I do when I can’t? Maybe we can find an answer in this story:
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“Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” (John 5:1-7)
Jesus shows up on the scene at the pool of Bethesda, which John records, was a gathering place for people with varying disabilities. According to legend, an angel would stir the water and the first person with the ability to jump into the pool would be healed. If you’ve ever wondered why some versions of the text don’t include verse four, which explains the angelic activity at the pool, it’s because the earliest manuscripts don’t offer an explanation as to why the disability community gathered at this pool. Chances are, an explanation was added to make sense of this entire scene, especially if you’re not from around those parts.
Historical criticism aside, what’s most interesting is that Jesus shows up in a place where disabled people gathered because (1)They believed in the place. (2) The believed in the purpose (3) They believed in God’s power. I think it’s safe to say that their belief system wasn’t the challenge. So why then did Jesus ask the man, who apparently had been living with his condition for thirty-eight years, if he wanted to get well?
Truth is I don’t know. I don’t think Jesus was being insensitive. I mean the man wouldn’t be there if he didn’t believe that it could benefit him. He had hope and yet his answer to Jesus is still a measure of the sobering reality of life with a disability.
“I can’t sir..”
He believes being there is important. He believes being there has a purpose. He even believes that being there can help him experience God’s power, yet when it came to actually getting into the pool he simply couldn’t do it.
Sometimes life with a disability means wrestling with the belief that church is important, community is important, prayer is important, reading my Bible is important, only to arrive at the reality that sometimes I simply can’t.
And that’s ok because Jesus never condemns the disabled man for what he couldn’t do. Sure, when we preach about him we condemn him for not finding a way to get into the pool, but Jesus NEVER condemns him for what he was unable to do. He just gives the man what he needs.
Let’s face it, the gospel was never about our ability to do anything. Jesus doesn’t die on the cross because of what we won’t do, he dies because of what we CAN’T do.
The cross was for those who CAN’T because our ability to practice our faith perfectly isn’t what holds us in the palm of God’s hands. It is the Christ who bore the cross for our CAN’T so that we can be a part of his Kingdom.
To all my brothers and sisters living with a disability who believe but sometimes just can’t, know that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross covers our CAN’TS. We may not be healed, but we are still his, and that my friends is a hope worth holding on to.
-Pastor L
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February 15, 2020
Pastor with autism shares his journey
Pastor with autism shares his journey
— Read on bcmd.org/2020/02/pastor-with-autism-shares-his-journey/
January 28, 2020
Autism and Anxiety
Anxiety (panic) attacks have been a part of my life for years even when I didn’t realize it. It was only a few years ago that a friend told me that some symptoms that I described to her were in fact a panic attack. For years I would often get a certain surge of heat over my body followed rapidly by an overwhelming itching feeling all over my skin. To describe it accurately would be to say it feels like my flesh is being eaten by mutant fire ants that haven’t eaten in over a year. The pain and itching is awful and my first instinct is to shed all of my clothes and to run and get to a cold place. Except that would be embarrassing and socially unacceptable so of course I try to deal with it without drawing attention to myself. Years ago, prior to my autism diagnosis, I would try to explain these episodes to my doctor. We first thought I had hives, an allergic reaction to something, or something was physically causing this. I even begun to take steroids (pills) to stop the reactions that we couldn’t explain. (Which led to fluctuations in my weight) I can remember times when I would excuse myself from a work meeting just to walk as fast as I could to the nearest exit with no coat busting out of the door into 30 degree weather because that would be only thing that may help. If I am home I jump in the shower and let the cold water hit my skin. Then there are times where I have to let the water get as hot as possible and stick my head under it and scrub it rapidly with exfoliating gloves because the sensation makes it feel like the heat on my skin is leaving my body. It’s an awful feeling. And it’s more awful having to live with the fear that this anxiety attack may happen anywhere at anytime without warning and for no apparent reason. Well last night it happened while I was in the middle of Kroger. I grabbed my things, paid for them, sped home, and tried to ride out the panic attack. It was both frightening and embarrassing and truthfully it happens a lot and I try to hide it. Why I am sharing this? Anxiety is a huge part of living with autism, at least for me. I know what my life looks like from the outside looking in, but there are real challenges that I face that are sometimes embarrassing to talk about. I guess I’m sharing this because anxiety attacks don’t always look like shortness of breath and chest pains, so if you’re a parent to an awesome kid/adult on the spectrum be aware that some behaviors that appear out of the ordinary may be a manifestation of a panic attack. Until about three years ago I didn’t know that was what was happening to me.
P.S. I’m fine really. All is well now.
January 14, 2020
Having The Hard Conversation About Healing — Key Ministry
Since being diagnosed with autism I have had a large number of people ask
me questions about God’s role in the life of the disabled particularly as
it relates to divine healing.
— Read on www.keyministry.org/church4everychild/2019/2/7/having-the-hard-conversation-about-healing
