Blindness, No Handicap to Training Others

By |Published On: September 15, 2020|Categories: Disability in Mission|

“As a carpenter needs tools to build a structure, the disabled missionary needs tools he can use to build Christ’s body.”

My life didn’t begin with too much promise. A part of that had to do with the circumstances surrounding my birth. I was born three months prematurely. The pure oxygen administered in the incubator caused fibers to form in the retinas of both eyes. That left me with no sight in the right eye and very limited sight in the left eye. Just past my 27th birthday the fibrous material in the left eye moved the retina so that I lost the sight in my left eye.

Upon learning I would be blind all my life, a relative suggested I be put into an asylum and left there.

After graduating from high school I attended a ten-week college preparatory class at a state rehabilitation center. Their evaluation stated they doubted I would ever graduate from college.

But God had a totally different plan, a totally different journey. What is shared in this article is some of the story of God’s leading of over 70 years, almost 50 of those years in local church and international mission ministry.

My Ministry Journey

My ministry journey began before I was formed in my mother’s womb, at least, that’s what Jeremiah 1:5 teaches. It says that before I was formed in my mother’s womb I was set apart and ordained to be a minister of the gospel.

Salvation

For one to be a minister of the gospel he must first be a Christian. How could God bring the gospel to a blind boy from a non-christian home? God had some unusual ways of accomplishing that too. First, he exposed me to the gospel by some Christian radio broadcasters. Then he led me to a braille bible storybook and braille bible I found at the school for the Blind where I was a student. Next, I found bible stories in two braille children’s magazines from two cults. These means and the witness of a Christian girlfriend were the means God used to bring me to faith in Christ following a Sunday morning church service shortly before my 16th birthday.

My Calling to Ministry

As a senior in high school, I began to sense that God was calling me into ministry. I thought this meant serving as an evangelist with Youth For Christ. God, however, had a different idea. While a student in Bible college, I  discovered that my spiritual gift was teaching and teaching is what I have done ever since.

Following my graduation from bible college, I taught the Scriptures. I taught as an assistant pastor, solo pastor, Sunday School teacher, home bible study  and small group leader, guest speaker in churches throughout North America, Asia and Africa, publisher of bible courses in braille, large print and audio with Source of Light Ministries International and now as an online and in-person professor with iTEE University.

Factors That Have Allowed Me To Teach God’s Word Despite Being Blind

How is it that a blind boy from a non-christian home would have the opportunity to be involved in teaching God’s Word? I have identified three factors that have repeatedly happened throughout my life.

  • Advocates – people who believed in me.

As Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles in the Jerusalem church and declared how God had saved Saul, (Acts 9:26-27) I have had people who believed in me and advocated for me. My mother spent hours on the telephone talking with people about how to rear her blind child to be a self-reliant, self-confident, independent individual who could make a positive contribution to society. Two colleges accepted me as a student, two pastors invited me to serve as their assistant, a church called me to be its pastor because a denominational leader believed I could pastor. A senior pastor recommended I become the teacher of a senior adult Sunday School class and two mission agencies have allowed me to spend the past 20 plus years serving in international missions.

  • Tools.

As a carpenter needs tools to build a structure, the disabled missionary needs tools he can use to build Christ’s body. For me, that tool has been the personal computer and more specifically, the screen reader. The screen reader is an application that reads text, images and other items on the screen. If, for example, a web site has been optimized to work with a screen reader I can hear the text and elements of a web page as they are read to me. If I am writing a document, the screen reader will read every character or every word I type so I know immediately if I have typed what I intended to type. This one application has made it possible to receive, read and respond to email, interact with people on social media, study the Scriptures and prepare lessons, devotionals, articles and sermons. It has allowed me to interact with students and fellow facilitators in an online class.

  • Training.

How does a totally blind person train for ministry? How does he receive biblical, ministry, leadership and technical training? My ministerial training took place in the traditional classroom. To complete work in those days I had to take notes in braille or record lectures and take notes later. I relied extensively on fellow students to read assignments and to type papers.

My technical training happened in one-on-one sessions, webinars and in more recent years through podcasts, where I have learned both how to use applications and operate new devices.

How God Has Used Me

  • To Encourage Unimpaired Pastors and Church Leaders.

Since 2002 I have been privileged to travel to countries in Africa and Asia. On two occasions, once by a young West African pastor and once by four pastors from Asia who told me that they were encouraged to further serve Christ because I came to them despite being blind.

  • I began a ministry to provide biblically-based materials in braille to reach blind Christians.

In 1997 I was accepted by Source of Light Ministries International to publish their bible correspondence courses in braille. For 11 years this ministry languished as other responsibilities called for most of my time. Then in 2009 Source of Light acquired Helping Hands Braille Ministries of Grand Rapids, Michigan. This ministry already published the devotional guides, “Our Daily Bread” and “Keys for Kids”, braille hymnals, and Sunday School lesson books. Now the Source of Light braille ministry, led by Jim Tilson, publishes the aforementioned materials and has added a number of basic courses and a complete three-year bible institute curriculum. These are sent to blind persons across America and around the world. In addition, the Source of Light braille ministry works with other ministries to the blind in other countries by providing computer files so they can publish to people in their own countries.

  • I have been privileged to train leaders in majority world countries who in turn teach others.

Currently, I serve with iTEE University, the teaching arm of iTEE Global. The name iTEE stands for Internet Theological Education by extension. The mission of iTEE University is to make disciples who will multiply disciple-makers after the example of 2 Timothy 2:2. The goal is to teach others, who will teach others, who will teach still others the truths of God’s Word. A story of one of my former students will illustrate how the process works.

The first course I facilitated for iTEE University was a course in the book of Galatians. One of my students was Cynthia, a wife, mother and software engineer. Cynthia completed the course determined not to teach the course to anyone else. God however spoke to her about her attitude and so she taught the course to a church friend and fellow worker in her church’s youth ministry. After teaching the course to Sunil, Sunil got a group of young men together and taught the course to them and Cynthia got a group of young women together and taught Galatians to them. After Galatians they studied Romans, a course in disciple-making, and a course on how to study the bible. While they were studying these courses they were teaching courses they had already studied to others. One young lady, who thought she was a Christian became a Christian while studying Galatians. At this writing, six generations of disciple-makers are continuing to make additional disciples as Cynthia and Sunil and other members of their team teach others, who will teach others and those will teach still others.

Can a disabled person actually minister to impaired and unimpaired people?

Since God’s Word doesn’t say He only calls and equips the able-bodied, I submit that if a disabled person has advocates, tools and training he can successfully minister to impaired and unimpaired people alike.

If you are in a position to advocate for a disabled person who is gifted and qualified to minister, do it. Explain to church or mission leaders how it is possible for that person to minister. If you are in a position to provide necessary tools, whether technical or practical, do it. If you are in a position to provide help with training, do it. The Body of Christ needs every member functioning in its place, including those considered disabled.

If you know or are a disabled person who would like to receive biblical, theological and leadership training, contact me for more information about the training offered by iTEE University. My email address is [email protected]

Written By—Ben Watson

Ben currently serves as an online and in person professor of Bible and leadership with iTEE University. The goal of iTEE University is to make disciples who will multiply disciple makers.

Edited by David C. Deuel & Nathan G. John

Disability in Mission

Disability in Mission: The Church’s Hidden Treasure outlines a radical change in approaches to missiology, missions, and praxis for the twenty-first-century global cultural context. It explores a pattern whereby God works powerfully in missions through disability and not in spite of it.

Order Your Copy!

Pray with Us

Heavenly Father, we come before you requesting a miracle. Lord of disability, please change our hearts. We confess that we doubt or dismiss people with disabilities. But worse, we pridefully make them objects of pity when instead we should see your calling and giftedness in their lives.

Please use this book’s testimonies of your sufficient grace. May the many missionary lives lived faithfully with disability remind us that called and gifted people with disabilities are platforms for your enablement, showcases for your glory. Remind us that disability is your stage for shocking a watchful world.

We believe that you can and will heal all disabilities. But on your disability stage, display your power by changing our hearts.

Recent Posts