Discovery Church

John Glenn

Great church. Everyone should visit.

Phillip Kerley

On Sunday, July 17, 2022, a young male member of your church approached my family and me directly after the latest sermon on relationships. And asked, "why we could not put our daughter in a classroom." He did not introduce himself to us; he did not ask our names or her name. We told him, "she has special needs," and asked if he could leave us alone. In full view, many members in the sanctuary were setting up for the kids' event we had registered to attend. No one spoke out in her or our defense, "Why can't she go somewhere else?" So I pulled out my phone and hit record to protect my family and to document what was being said. He would not stop asking this question. I had to get someone from the front desk to inform him to discontinue this line of questioning about my family. He even told the lady at the front desk that when she asked him to go away from us, he replied, "I don't have to go anywhere" she then told him he had to leave, and he finally complied. After the kids' event started, one of the church leadership team members assured me this matter was being handled, "this is not how members acted." He asked me to help the church create a policy for special-needs kids. But I was given a call by the integrations officer of your church, who stated that they could not control or manage those types of interactions and that they would happen, and if I could help to figure out what to do about these children who have special needs in the church again asking me to help them fix their problem. So to answer the young man's question about why my daughter can not go into another room. She loves worship music; she loves to dance with her dad and feel the energy of music. That time is when she smiles the most during the week. All smiles ear to ear. She likes to get her worship on. She is non-verbal autistic. We take our roles as her caretakers and guardians seriously. She has echolalia and her vocalizations are out of her control, commonly caused by seizure activity. She is ten now, and that is age appropriate in our family to begin worship with her parents. She has high needs and high anxiety about strangers. She has seizures that could one day end her life. I love being with my children; her best support is her mom and dad.My advice on correcting your issue with "Church Integration" is the simplest but also the hardest.It is your culture; people with special needs are vital in communities; they provide essential viewpoints.This is my point the young man who harassed my family failed to see my daughter as a person with personhood; she was a thing that could be hidden away, and I was at fault as a parent for not seeing this. But he was convicted in that viewpoint because he would not back down.This is because the church culture allows for this; he saw my family as something he could bully because your culture allows for this viewpoint.To spell it out for you more clearly.Teach your members to respect everyone, love everyone, to appreciate the differences in others.Teach your members that children have personhood and belong with their parents during the sermon; I love being with my children. Find a way to include everyone in the church, everyone! It's inappropriate to ask a guest who had only visited your church twice before and was harassed by a member about their child's special needs. Asking them to solve the culture problem in your church because that starts with leadership. These are the same tactics used during the civil rights movement; separate is not equal.The idea that the church's leadership can not control or mitigate their members' actions and poor choices is incorrect and does not have a coherent and consistent message. It is a part of the culture issue and is just a cognitive distortion of the facts and allows for and creates the ability for the interaction that happened this past Sunday. God Bless.

bryant swayne

Was there for the Men's Annual Cookout...always enjoy the fellowship

Kym Armstrong

House of the Lord