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Worshipping Blind, with Terry Heltsley. (291)

October 12, 2020

Our special guest who couldn't make the show from 2 weeks ago is on hand. We touch base on those 5 basic questions that Keith and Nathan discussed But the main topic today is on what the Sunday worship experience is like for the disabled. Namely, by blind people.

* Who or what is God?
* How did you arrive at that conclusion (How did you learn about God)?)
* What do you think God wants for us?
* What is the problem that keeps us away from him?
* How can we overcome sin and death?

Main Topic

Terry is the younger brother of Keith. Both went blind later in life, and after plenty of years attending and participating in church. We compare what has become different for us in the experience of Sunday School, and the worship services, both music, and the sermon.

In the churches we both attend, there are options to receive adaptive literature to study the weekly Sunday School lesson. Terry prefers the audiobook version, read by a reader, and recorded on CD, Keith prefers getting the material in digital format. The digital content can be easily streamlined for either personal use, or in leading the class time.

When it comes to worship in the song service, things get more difficult to adapt. Blind people can't see the big screen at the front of the auditorium. Accessible devices and technology can open doors to the environment around us, but it still has plenty of shortcomings. We offer a couple of tips to music leaders that could be helpful if you have blind people in the congregation.

For those interested, Keith has built an online hymnal. Based on converting his digital braille copy of the Baptist Hymnal, 2008, into text. Then slice it up into individual songs, and posting it on a web page that's easily and quickly searchable. The page is set to not be searched by search engines, but it can be found on a sub-domain of his blog.

As far as the sermon goes, blind people also have bible apps on smartphones. The most popular apps are accessible but can take a little extra time to locate the reference that the [pastor may be using. Not all bible apps are created equal, and some are easier to find a scripture reference at the moment than others. The best advice is to allow a little extra time for a verse to be looked up and repeat the reference often.

In the end, we hope this has been informative, and it was helpful in how you might help a blind person in your church or community.

Find out more about Terry and what he does through Madison County Association of the Blind.

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