LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–The Southern Baptist Conference for the Blind will meet Saturday evening, June 20, prior to the SBC annual meeting in Louisville, Ky.
The gathering will feature a discussion about Southern Baptist ministries with the blind, led by Charles Couey, a Mission Service Corps missionary with the North American Mission Board, and times of worship and dialogue, led by Paul Ferrara, the conference’s president and a doctoral student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
“We want to make it clear that the Southern Baptist Conference for the Blind desires to have sighted persons in our membership,” Couey told Baptist Press. “We need church staff persons, parents, spouses and others who work with blind persons in your local church. Your knowledge of the literature you use in the various ministries of your local church can assist us in helping you provide these materials in a format the blind member can access.”
The meeting will provide an opportunity for sighted persons and blind people to dialogue about issues and concerns related to ministry with the blind, Couey added. Those discussions will help him as he seeks to expand Southern Baptist ministries among the blind and visually impaired.
This year’s meeting will be held from 5:30-9:30 p.m. in the Wilkinson Room of the Galt House Hotel in Louisville. The group also will make plans for their meeting prior to the 2010 SBC annual meeting, scheduled for June 15-16 in Orlando, Fla.
Ferrara is a member of Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, which has had a ministry with the blind for many years, Couey said. The church is within walking distance of the American Printing House for the Blind, the Kentucky School for the Blind and a shop that hires blind employees.
“We pray that many churches across the SBC will send someone to be a part of this meeting,” Couey said. “If you have blind members or would like to become involved in ministering to the spiritual needs of the blind in your area, we would be honored to assist you in sharing the message of Christ with them.”
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Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.
