Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast
Joni and Friends shares encouraging conversations about finding hope through your hardships, along with practical ways to include people with disabilities in your church and community.
Episodes
Don’t miss this installment of Joni Eareckson Tada’s “Heart of the Founder” series, as she shares about her experience serving on the National Council on Disability, contributing to the drafting and passage of the groundbreaking 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
Hear Joni’s reflection on the power of the law compared to the power of the Gospel: while the law can change discriminatory structures, the Gospel is the only thing th...
Joel Vander Molen is a disability awareness speaker, web developer, and substitute preacher living in Iowa. When Joel was involved in a motor vehicle accident as a small child, he received a high-level spinal cord injury and became unable to breathe without assistance, losing feeling and control over anything below his shoulders. With faith in God and steadfast help from loved ones, Joel completed school and went to college, even l...
Vicki Zoradi returns to the podcast to share more about her story of growing in faith following a battle with severe sepsis that led to the loss of her hands and legs. In this second conversation, Vicki talks about how her faith in God and her relationships—particularly her marriage—have carried her through grief and struggle.
Through a steadfast dependence on Jesus and with the support of her family and friends, Vicki has not onl...
Listen as Vicki Zoradi shares her striking story of faith tested by fire. On her 60th birthday, shortly after receiving a Teacher of the Year award, Vicki was diagnosed with a seemingly harmless kidney stone. But when the kidney stone became lodged between her bladder and kidney, Vicki’s health took a frightening turn.
After surviving a life-threatening bout with sepsis and the loss of her hands and legs, Vicki leaned on God to nav...
This episode of the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast packs a powerful dose of encouragement! Celeste Sharpe joins Stephanie Daniels to share about her experience living with cerebral palsy and finding deep, Christ-centered strength to become a person who can have gratitude through grief. Even when she needs encouragement herself, Celeste seeks to encourage others. Tune in for Celeste’s inspiring story about how she has been blesse...
Tune in for this powerful installment of Joni’s “Heart of the Founder” series. Addressing the topic of mobility, Joni Eareckson Tada draws on deep personal experience, having lived with quadriplegia for more than five decades. While a phrase like “wheelchair-bound” suggests that a wheelchair is confining, Joni can attest to the freedom that mobility equipment can bring—not only for a disabled individual but also for their family me...
Meet Dr. Benjamin Warf—a committed Christ-follower, special needs father, and pediatric neurosurgeon. Dr. Warf has followed God’s call on his life since childhood. Shaped by his experiences growing up in Appalachia with a preacher father who had physical disabilities, and his innate love for science, Ben became a doctor. Serving as a medical missionary in sub-Saharan Africa, he has pioneered new ways to treat young children with hy...
When Peter Coleman set out to follow God’s call to serve as a missionary in Nicaragua, he couldn’t imagine the journey ahead. But as he faced danger, uncertainty, and life-threatening illness, Peter learned to lean on the Lord in new ways. Tune in for this episode of the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast to hear Peter Coleman talk about living out God’s call and trusting Jesus through hardship.
About Peter...
Peter Coleman studied S...
For more than five decades Joni Eareckson Tada has lived with quadriplegia and chronic pain. With the support of Christian community, she has found contentment in Jesus and trusted him to work in and through her life, reaching millions of suffering people with the hope of the Gospel.
KEY QUESTIONS:
- What does the Bible say about disability?
- When have you seen God work through a difficulty in your life?
RESOURCES:
Tune in to hear Joni and Stephanie interview one another and introduce Joni’s “Heart of the Founder” series that will kick off this season. In our Heart of the Founder episodes, you will hear straight from Joni’s heart as she shares her experience and wisdom on a host of essential topics like disability, depression, suffering, and healing.
Meet Stephanie...
Stephanie serves at Joni and Friends in the role of community engagement. She...
In our final episode of season 5, we hear from Joni and Friends team member Wilame Leal Silva. He and his wife Erica Leal were overjoyed to hear they were pregnant with their second child. Then doctors gave a diagnosis that sent them reeling. Their son, they were told, had trisomy 13, a condition likely to end the baby’s life soon after birth. Even if Daniel survived, doctors said, he would be severely disabled and not live long. G...
Across the United States nearly 53 million people serve as caregivers to family members, friends, and others in need of care. On call around the clock, often without pay, caregivers can experience discouragement and burnout. Rebekah Dowhy knows the rigors of caregiving. After years of caring for her mother with multiple sclerosis (MS) Rebekah founded the Caregiving Support Network to provide caregivers with Christ-centered respite,...
Cami Lundt didn’t expect any surprises with her fourth pregnancy… until the doctor broke the shocking news. Baby Grace was diagnosed with trisomy 13 and a Dandy-Walker brain malformation—conditions that doctors considered “incompatible with life.” The baby, they said, had a 99.9% chance of dying just minutes after her birth. But God had a different plan. For almost five years, Cami and her family got to love and care for Grace, wal...
“When disability ministry starts to take hold in the heart of a church, it’s like hitting the refresh button on the Gospel in that church.”
Have you considered how including people with disabilities might positively impact your church’s culture? Stephanie Hubach is on the podcast to share the importance and value of including everyone in ministry.
Stephanie is a research fellow in disability ministries at Covenant Theological Seminar...
Jeb Beauchamp joins the podcast to talk about expanding the reach of the Gospel to people living with disability in the North Carolina area. As an Area Director with Joni and Friends and an ordained pastor, Jeb talks about shifting culture and overcoming barriers in churches to help people with disabilities experience true belonging. Jeb also shares about biblical counseling, and how the Word of God can speak to every person, regar...
J.D. Kim’s life changed forever when he broke his neck in a snowboarding accident and became paralyzed. At first J.D. wanted to die. Then Jesus reached into his life, gave him hope, and sent him on a purposeful journey. Tune in to hear J.D.’s story of finding hope through hardship.
J.D. is an ordained teaching elder from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and holds a PhD in systematic theology from the University of Aberdeen. He se...
Laura and her husband have three children, one of whom has a rare genetic condition that causes global developmental delays. She is the cofounder and Executive Director for Risen Motherhood, a nonprofit that brings Gospel hope to moms. She is also the coauthor of Risen Motherhood: Gospel Hope for Everyday Moments, and a fellow author in the T5 series with Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer.
Key Questions:
- Ho...
Darby Strickland is a Christian Counselor who works with individuals, families, and couples, facing a variety of issues. She was trained at Westminster Theological Seminary where she obtained a Masters of Divinity specialized in Counseling. As a specialist in counseling people in abusive marriages, Darby provides a biblical response to domestic abuse and other forms of oppression. In her own counseling practice, and through speakin...
Darby Strickland is a Christian Counselor who works with individuals, families, and couples, facing a variety of issues. She was trained at Westminster Theological Seminary where she obtained a Masters of Divinity specialized in Counseling.
Learn more about Darby and her work.
Books and resources by Darby:
Kay Toombs is associate professor emerita of philosophy at Baylor University in Texas. In her work she explores the ways in which contemporary values and the context in which we live our lives impact our efforts to develop a sustainable culture and to form caring communities. In her work related to illness, disability and healthcare, she combines her training in philosophy with her experience of living with neurological disease to ...
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