On behalf of Key Ministry’s Board of Directors and staff, our Program Committee and our Title Sponsor, the Tim Tebow Foundation, I’m delighted to invite pastors, ministry leaders and Christians everywhere who share our calling to join us in Orlando this coming May 1-3, for Disability and the Church 2024, North America’s largest and most comprehensive disability ministry conference.
For the first time, #DATC2024 is moving from the church in suburban Cleveland where Key Ministry was founded to our host church for 2024, Calvary Orlando.
Why Orlando? Three reasons—beyond our desire to guarantee a snow-free experience to our attendees and some pool & beach time for our ministry’s founder. All are reason for celebration.
We outgrew our previous home. The number of leaders applying to speak and the breadth and depth of ministry ideas and approaches to be shared necessitate more and larger breakout sessions than we were able to host in Cleveland. Speaker applications were up around 50% this year over 2023 after receiving over 80% more applications in 2023 than in 2022.
Getting to and staying in Orlando is easier and more affordable for more people than traveling to Cleveland. Most medium to large airports offer affordable, non-stop flights to Orlando, and far more flight options for getting home on Saturdays—a big concern for pastors and ministry leaders needing to serve in their home churches on Sunday.
The move to Orlando allows attendees to take part in Make ‘m Smile, America’s largest celebration of children, adults and families with disabilities, hosted annually at Lake Eola near Downtown Orlando by our friends and long-time ministry colleagues at Nathaniel’s Hope, best known for their Buddy Break, representing the largest church-based respite care network in the U.S.
MAKE ‘m SMILE is the Biggest Party that celebrates kids and adults with all types of disabilities…our VIPs! It is filled with family entertainment, games, characters, petting zoos, food, helpful resources from the community, a friendship stroll, and tons of SMILES!
Make ‘m Smile brings as many as 30,000 people to downtown Orlando on the first Saturday in May each year, including several thousand children and adults with disabilities. Churches with disability ministries throughout the U.S. are partnering with Nathaniel’s Hope to host Make ‘m Smile events in the communities they serve.
Make ‘m Smile is an optional fourth day experience included in #DATC2024. We’re working together with Nathaniel’s Hope to create some unique “backstage” opportunities for conference attendees, including a Friday night reception at the park surrounding Lake Eola as it shuts down and event preparation begins, plus opportunities to serve on the early morning set-up crew or to volunteer to be a buddy (host) for one of the event’s VIP guests. #DATC2024 participants also have the option to experience Make ‘m Smile with no responsibilities other than to experience an enjoyable Saturday with friends or family.
We’re going to have approximately 100 speakers at #DATC2024 representing the breadth and depth of innovation and experience that characterizes the disability ministry movement.
30 of our scheduled speakers for #DATC2024
Some highlights of this year’s conference will include:
Four ministry intensives (3 1/2 hour “deep dives” into topics of broad interest to leaders and volunteers serving in disability ministry) are being offered on the first day of this year’s conference.
Robert and Lori Crosby of the Reach Hurting Kids Institute are offering an intensive on Creating a Trauma-Informed Children’s or Youth Ministry.
Stephen “Doc” Hunsley of SOAR Special Needs will be presenting a “Disability Ministry 101” intensive, designed for leaders in the early stages of planning or implementing disability ministries in their churches.
Dr. Erik Carter of the Baylor University Center for Developmental Disabilities and Tory White of With Ministries are leading an intensive on Accessible Worship.
I’ll be joining Pastor Brad Hoefs from Fresh Hope and Catherine Boyle from our ministry team for an intensive on holistic approaches to mental health ministry, incorporating pastoral care, outreach and inclusion.
We have four all-conference gatherings scheduled to begin and end the second and third days of #DATC2024. On Thursday morning, leaders from Fresh Hope and Key Ministry will introduce a new, Biblically-based support group model for parents and caregivers of persons with disabilities jointly developed by the two organizations. Thursday’s afternoon session will feature Dr. Carter discussing the work being done through his center at Baylor University in improving outcomes research in disability ministry. The afternoon session will be followed by an optional, FREE evening reception featuring an engaging and interactive conversation about accessible worship sponsored by the Disability Ministry Network.
Friday morning’s gathering will be a sensory-friendly worship service presented in its’ entirety with music by Christian blogger and recording artist Lori Sealy, led by Pastor Ryan Wolfe of Ability Ministry. Our closing speaker for the conference’s education and training offerings on Friday afternoon by Pastor Lamar Hardwick, author of the book Disability and the Church.
Pastor Lamar Hardwick preaching at the sensory-friendly worship experience held during our 2022 conference.
Some changes previous attendees will notice when they come to #DATC2024 will include:
We built more time into the conference schedule for conversations with ministry teammates and colleagues, along with more time to visit and meet with conference exhibitors.
We’re providing lunch on Thursday and Friday to attendees, included in the cost of your conference registration. Outdoor dining will be available—an option not available to us in mid-Spring at our previous site.
For attendees who crave as much content as possible, we’ve scheduled “Community Conversations”—moderator-led panel discussions in the lunchtime blocks on Thursday and Friday. Thursday’s conversation will be a town meeting on the intersection of disability, gender and sexuality, while Friday’s conversation will focus on the unique experiences of leaders with disabilities serving in ministry.
The all-conference gatherings and “Quick Takes”—brief, Ted-talk type presentations—will be made available through a free conference livestream for persons unable to attend in-person in Orlando, but this year’s livestream will be hosted on Key Ministry’s YouTube page. The individual videos will be made available on Facebook shortly after the conclusion of the conference. We’re unable to provide live, online access to ministry intensives or breakout sessions to leaders unable to attend in person at this time.
Interested in joining us? Ticket info, schedule, speaking team, and breakout block content can be found HERE and early bird registration will open this week.
#DATC2024 won’t be complete without you or your church. I urge you to join us for North America’s largest disability conference beginning May 1st, and stay for America’s largest celebration of children and adults with disabilities and their families at Make ‘Em Smile at Lake Eola on Saturday, May 4th.
