Pastor Scott Stevens: Mission of North Way Christian Community

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender.

All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hi everyone and welcome to the show. To everyone in the United States, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. And here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I am on top of the world, and that's because it's snowing. And anyone that knows me knows my nickname is Frosty. I love snow. Love it. Not everyone does, but I do. So I was ready to run outside, stand there, and have a photo However, I had to come back for my superstar guest on my radio show. But first, I want to say thank you. You know, this was Thanksgiving. I hope everyone in the United States had a great Thanksgiving. Um, but I'm thankful for you. I am thankful. This is the 20th year, uh, I've been on Voice America with this show, and I couldn't do it without you great people that follow the show. That care about quality of life for people with disabilities, that care about being educated about what's going on, because you know we have that news break that no one else does this, just on disability issues with Perry Jude Radesik, CEO of Disability Rights Pennsylvania and just a national civil rights leader. But you have been so wonderful, so supportive, and then, To our listeners around the world, I say the same to you. Thank you, thank you. I mean, you have just been trying so hard to really move this up. So, for example, Canada, Poland, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Germany, China, Egypt, Brazil, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Ireland, Mexico— all listened to the show last week, people from those countries. And you know, there can be a country such as Taiwan where there was one, one listener, and you are not alone because there were only two in Egypt. So what I have to say is One Matters, because whoever you are, just spread the news. If you're English speaking, anyone you know English speaking, to listen to this show, because you're helping them believe in themselves and realize that disability is nothing to be ashamed of. You all know I'm living with epilepsy. And I am not ashamed I'm living with epilepsy, and I tell everyone about it. And no matter where you are, you should not be ashamed. Also, hey, Yoshiko Dart, special shout out to you, Yoshiko. You know I love you. My sponsor, HiMark, they're the lead sponsor, and I got to tell you, they are Awesome. But we have a new sponsor coming up that I'll be talking about. And, you know, I appreciate all of you and what you're doing, and thank you so much. But before we start, I do want to, uh, mention First Lady Rosalynn Carter. My, my sincere thoughts are with her family. I've met them and I met President Carter. He is just a wonderful man. I just want you to know, they were— she, wonderful woman. She had a big, big advocacy for people with mental health. So I just wanted to mention that. I'm looking out my window, the flag is half-staff. As they are throughout the United States. But, um, I just wanted to mention that they made a difference. They make a difference. So you know what? I am prejudiced when I tell you that I have a wonderful guest today. I love this guest, love him. I, I see him at church every Sunday and go hug him, and then he abuses me, but And yes, he's a pastor. How about that? But I love him so much, Pastor Scott. And I just want to tell you that I know he has no idea the impact he has had on me and my life. And I just could not think of a better role model for anyone. I have to be careful here because I don't want to start crying on the radio, but Pastor Scott was with me, uh, when the day Mary— that I found out Mary passed away, uh, and he left his own birthday party to come. But that's because he's the real deal. He is the real deal. If you are in Pittsburgh and you don't know him, get in that car Saturday night or Sunday and go to Northway Christian community in Wexford, uh, and you will meet a really great person. So Pastor Scott, I am so thrilled to have you on the show.

It's great to be here, Joyce. I am thankful for you this Thanksgiving, and I mean that. I know I like to tease you a lot, but, um, you have been an inspiration to me. I think we'll talk in a bit maybe about some of the ministry we're doing with kids on the spectrum, our autism ministry. But, you know, a lot of that was just because of your passion for folks. So, you're an inspiration to me, even though I love to tease you.

Yeah, he's being nice because he's on the air and he doesn't want the people in the Philippines or in Singapore to come after him.

You remember that time? Do you remember that time, Joyce, you fell down and hit your head on the curb and I asked how the curb was?

Guess what? I just told that story to someone yesterday when I was— what happened? And guess what, everyone? Guess where I was? Washington, D.C., to give out the prestigious Tony Coelho Award, as you all know, author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to none other Then the great Valerie Jarrett, you know, she's on MSNBC all the time. She was President Obama's top advisor. She became my friend. I mean, she is all about disability and employment. So there I am, so excited. I get out of the SUV and I trip and go flying and hit my head. And I'm bleeding and I have to get these stitches. But not until the program was over. To this day, Valerie does not know because my friend Paula had to wash part of my hair, wash the blood out. I had on a black dress, so it was not obvious. And I said to everyone trying to say, no, you have to go to the hospital now, I said, I promise I'll go after, which I did, and, and everything ended up fine. But see, the story is so horrifying. I said, Pastor Scott, this is what happened to me, and he looks at me and says, is the curb— was the curb okay? That's his answer. But I still—

you got a hard life.

Yes, I do. And we know that is a fact. But Pastor Scott, I— and he's been on before, folks. And if you're listening and you're saying, oh, I wish so-and-so would have heard this show, remember Spotify, Apple, VoiceAmerica.com. You can hear this show on demand. So anyone that you know that missed the show, let them know they can still hear it. But as you heard about all of the countries, Pastor Scott, that listen, What happened is I started— let me tell you, his full name is Scott Stevens. Pastor Scott. Pastor Scott Stevens. I'm not even telling them your last name. His name is Scott Stevens. Okay, so you heard about all the listeners around the world, and what started happening years ago is that people want to know, oh, this person was great, but like, I don't know a lot about them. Therefore, I started asking everyone, uh, to first tell our listening base, you know, a little bit more about them. Uh, like, we're in Pittsburgh, so I thought you could share, you know, a little history on where you grew up, uh, went to school, you know, your background and then how you ended up getting to Northway.

For sure. So, yeah, I grew up in a little town called Monhall. Might be familiar with Homestead if you are from the Pittsburgh area, but, you know, that sort of little Mon Valley area down there. Married my high school sweetheart. Got 2 grown daughters and 3 grandkids right now. But I think, you know, I come from a broken family. So, parents, separated. Dad was sort of in and out and then out. Never really attended church. And I goof around sometimes that like my wife Tina boxing and Jesus, you know, saved my life. Don't know where I would be without those aspects of my life. I was in the corporate sales world for a while and really successful, but just sensed that I was supposed to do something different. Started volunteering at a church and with their youth program. It was a church in Homestead, so sort of an urban under-resourced environment. And over a period of time, just the church offered this part-time job to me in youth ministry, and crazily I just said, "Yeah, I think I want to do this," and left the corporate world, took this little part-time job, started substitute teaching the Pittsburgh City Schools and building glass block windows in the middle of the night for my wife's cousin Eddie to make ends meet. And Worked at that church for 5 years, another church for a while, and then I've been at Northway up in the North Hills of Pittsburgh for 21 years now. Um, came as the family pastor, was the executive pastor for a while, the lead pastor for a while, and now I'm in this area of generosity and expansion. So I think that's the quick, boring Scott Stephens life right there, Joyce Bender.

Oh, it is not boring. And may I say, I have gone to Northway for 20 years, which is why I have known you for a long time. As a matter of fact, for a long time, I only knew Pastor Scott— I mean, for a long time— and, you know, a couple of the other lead pastors. But everything changed, you know, and now I am so blessed to know so many great people at Northway, even tonight having a Bible study, and so many, just so many awesome people. But Pastor Scott, when you were talking earlier, how— I know boxing is part of your life. I just wonder if you could talk a little bit about, like, you know, did you always like boxing? Did you start later on in your life? What is the story there?

So, yeah, I think I started when I was 9. And in the area where I grew up had a couple different boxing gyms and really just had no fatherly figure at home, and I think I just started drifting in the gyms because, um, I love the competition. I love the whole feel of the gym. I, I had some anger and rage issues, and I think boxing helped me with that. And, uh, so I've always been a fan. I, I did it all through sort of high school, college, into my young adulthood, and then stepped out of it for a little while when I had kids, and then met a guy that has become a super close friend of mine that was a city police officer that was volunteering at a gym downtown, and I went down there and started working out with him and getting involved again. Then over the last many years, you know, I've got my coach's license and all that, and I help with a youth program at a gym in the North Hills, and I've been doing that for years. So training kids, training adults a little bit, but mainly training kids. And it's just a great place to be where I don't have to be Pastor Scott. I'm just the just coach, one of the coaches. Get to meet a lot of people that maybe have a perspective of a pastor that isn't favorable. So it's always fun to be able to meet somebody and give them a different look and a different, maybe, different outlook on who Jesus is. So I love the gym. Love the kids that I coach. Take kids to tournaments locally, across the whole region. And yeah, it's just become a So it really gave me a lot of discipline, kept me off the streets as a kid, kept me out of trouble. And then I turned it into something that I just really love to now give back to the sport.

Well, there are some people also, uh, very spiritual that were in boxing, such as George Foreman. That movie about him is unbelievable. If you haven't seen it, you should go see it. It really is a good movie. But, uh, well, that's great. That I always wondered that. That is interesting. And as you said, I knew you, Pastor Scott. Now you have this really long title, really long: Executive Pastor of Generosity and Expansion at Northway. You used to have a little title. Now you have a huge title. So how about if you share with everyone what that is? And I am going to start right now since he is talking about generosity. You know, this is Giving Tuesday. So if you're listening to the show, please go to northway.org, make a donation, because as you'll hear in a little bit, Northway is not what you would probably think of, especially for people that hate church because of things that have happened. But, you know, it isn't just a church, it's It's also reaching out to the community in a civil rights fashion, you know, human trafficking, scarcity of food, working with people with disabilities, World Vision. I mean, there are so many things that, in addition, of course, to missionary work that Northway is, you know, involved in. So, You know, again, northway.org, any donation counts. $5, and of course we would love to see $10,000, but anything counts. So go ahead, Pastor Generosity and Expansion.

About 15 years ago, I became the lead pastor at Northway, so overseeing all of our locations. And when I was approaching Dick Stee about 4 years or so ago. I just really intentionally wanted to make sure that our church stayed young. I was— I've always been a fan of like giving opportunities to next generational leadership, and I thought at this age for me to stand in the way of someone maybe in their 30s or 40s that was ready would be almost hypocritical to what I stood for for so many years in ministry, always advocating for next gen. I don't What really saddens me is to walk into a church and see everybody over the age of 70. Nothing against 70-year-olds, but that just has always broke my heart. I want churches to be multi-generation, that grandkids and parents and grandparents can all be sitting in one row together. So, I transitioned out of that role and Dave D'Angelo took over who's done an unbelievable job. I wasn't ready to stop, so I moved into this role. Generosity, that just means stewardship. I work like in the benevolence area. I work with a lot of our large donations, raising resources to meet the vision of the church expansion. We are currently in 6 locations and hope to launch new locations in 2024, both south of Pittsburgh and east of Pittsburgh. So, I oversee that. Church mergers, things like that I get involved in. I sit on our exec team, and I still preach from time to time. So, yeah, I think I'm using my gifts. At a season in life that really are helpful for the church and, and good for me, but also allowing the opportunity for others to step in and lead. I didn't want to be that old guy that was just holding on, um, that was past his, his time. And the church has been great, um, love Northway. And, uh, yeah, I think that's the role, Joyce. I know the title is impressive though, the Executive Pastor of Generosity and Expansion.

Yeah, I figured that's why you liked it.

I do, because it's so impressive.

I know, I know you do. What, you know, when I was talking about, uh, church, I think about Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and I'm very proud to tell you that Northway always honors that and talks about it. But Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked so much about Jesus and being, you know, serving and being a Good Samaritan, as does my friend Reverend Dr. William Barber. And he was the head of the Poor People's Campaign. Now he's at Yale. Written many books. Once again, you know, the center of most of those books when he's talking about helping the homeless, the poor, talks about Jesus really as the cornerstone, as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did, of so much in civil rights. And I really feel that, uh, the people have such a bad feeling about church that it's good to know when a church works in so many areas, don't you think?

I agree. Yeah, I agree. I don't like when churches get pigeonholed into intolerant and hateful and all those things. I, I know of a lot of really tremendous churches just here locally, but friends that I've met from other parts of the country and and my mission travels across the world into India and Kashmir and China, I've just met some wonderful, um, you know, pastors, Christ followers, church leaders. And, uh, yeah, it's, it's sad when a certain, you know, whatever, some, a few churches can really taint, uh, the wider work of the church in the world.

Yes, because, you know, it's, it's about justice for everyone, because, you know, you're to love everyone. So of course that includes, uh, justice. And yes, I'm right, you work in many other areas, don't you? Work in like human trafficking. And, uh, I, I know we lost this greatest Pastor Freeman But I know he did a lot working with the poor. Do we still work in those areas, correct?

Yes. I mean, Pastor Freedom's wife has carried on his ministry, and we still support her. And Northway has a really nice mix of supporting— we have 6 locations, so one of the things when we go into a new area is to try to find locally, um, some organizations that align with us and, and that we want to support. We just want to We want to help resource. We are not going to come in and tell you how to do it. But so whether that is under resource in foods areas, or counseling area, or whatever, we will do a lot of local. We— some of our long-term partners in the city have been Light of Life, you know, working with homeless, and Urban Impact, which works with troubled youth. So a lot of local ministry, but then we have, you know, multiple global partners in many different countries doing unbelievable work. Some of the work is so— sensitive, um, you, you really can't even talk much about it because they could be persecuted. So a long history all the way back with our founding pastor, lead pastor Jay Pasiven, really was insistent that at least 10% of everything that comes into Northway is going to go right back out the door into local and global mission partners.

Yes, and as I said, so many areas— yes, I know, with that human trafficking, they can't talk about where they are, right, because of fear, well, of being killed. I mean, they really have to keep all of that quiet. But I, I know also you give away so much food, Northway. Yes, to the hungry, which is, uh, again, wonderful.

Yes, but I wanted to talk about a priority.

I'm going to go back, I'm going to go back to Pastor Jay, but first, would you mind sharing with our listeners, uh, how large is Northway? Like, how many services do you have, uh, and what services over the holidays?

Yeah, we're currently in 6 locations. And we also have a mission hub in the East Liberty part of Pittsburgh that's unique. It's new. We don't run a worship service there. We mainly just have a space in the community and partnering with other organizations in that area to help folks, but not necessarily coming in as a church saying, "Hey, let's see how we can help you." It's like, "Hey, what's going on here that's good and how can we—" come alongside and resource, whether again that is like in after-school programs, or counseling services, or food needs. So we are excited about what is happening over there. But 6 churches, like 6 campuses, locations, whatever you want to call them, where there is weekly services. Every location has at least a 9 o'clock and an 11 o'clock service. Some of them have additional ones. I think there is 20-some Christmas Eve services beginning like 2 or 3 days even before Christmas Eve for folks that might be out of town or traveling over the weekend. Yeah, we're in Wexford. We are in the city, in the Oakland area, Swickley Valley, Dormont, Beaver Valley, and Robinson are our current locations. I don't know how big we are. Like, we had 7,000 people last Easter, so that's maybe, you know, 4,000 or so regularly. Um, yeah, I guess that's probably how, how big something like that.

And you also can watch if you can't go out to church, which was so, so awesome during COVID for people. You can, uh, watch Northway live on YouTube— well, from the night before on YouTube, right?

And Facebook. Yeah, we stream it on Saturday night and then we stream it again on Sunday morning at 9:15. So, uh, I was thinking I was going to mention that later when you— like, really proud of our online ministry. We were able to pivot pretty quickly whenever COVID happened and the church was shut down for that season. We were able to really deliver a lot of resources, not just a sermon, but incredible worship experiences and counseling and different small groups and through Zoom to just really keep people connecting in what was such a desperate time. I remarked that during that time I did more funerals for suicide than I did funerals for folks from COVID Like it was a really challenging time. And us having the ability and technology to still be able to reach people, help people, get people support, support and resource, whether that be through our Samaritan's Fund for help with utilities. Maybe they were out of work or because their industry was affected or shut down. So, like, a really— actually, a time of growth for Northway even though we weren't gathering. And we're still seeing a lot of those folks now that, like, "Hey, this is my first time here. I've been watching you online for 3 years, and this is the first time I decided to come." So, an unbelievable impact.

Wow, that is really— that's terrible, that fact that you told that more people— funerals for more people from suicide. I know that for young people with mental health disabilities, this has been a very— that was a very, very difficult time. And we're going to be talking about it because right now we have to go to break., for the news with our fantastic Perry Jude Radesik. Hi, Perry! Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey, thank you, Joyce Bender. Same to you and, and, uh, and Pastor Scott. Um, thank you. So here, here's our news for today. Um, the University of Kansas Institute for Health and Disability Policy Studies They have issued a request to the disability community to participate in a national study. Now, their goal is to document our experiences with a variety of issues related to health and disability. These are some of the things that they're looking at: access to healthcare, housing, Long COVID, transportation, and employment. Now, this is not new for the University of Kansas. They started surveying health and disability back in 2018. They wanted to gain a comprehensive understanding of the health and well-being of people with disabilities across the country. They want to shed a light on the challenges we're facing and then identify areas where support and resources are needed. Now, this is what they found in some previous studies. One of the most significant findings, and I think anyone who has a disability will know about this, that individuals with disabilities often face barriers to access to healthcare services. Now, what does that look like? It is often defined by us as finding an accessible healthcare facility, finding accessible Examination equipment, the lack of transportation, and then when you go to look for a specialized healthcare provider who knows something about your disability, that can be a real barrier to healthcare services. The other thing that has emerged has been mental health. Mental health has emerged as a major concern with more people with disabilities reporting depression on these surveys. With the University of Kansas. Also, previous surveys found that 35% of Native Americans with disabilities aren't receiving any healthcare services. Also, the people with disabilities who are LGBTQ also experience worse health and poor access to healthcare services. Now, where does the University of Kansas get their funding to do this survey? It's from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We know it as also the Administration for Community Living. They have a division within the ACL that is the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. So that's where their funding comes from to survey the disability community. And we know advocacy matters. I think it's important that we all participate in the survey, add our experiences to the University of Kansas data so that it gets reported and then policy advocates can do something with that data. So how do you find that survey? Well, you go to disabilityrightspa.org, that's www.disabilityrightspa.org, disabilityrights.org. It's the home page of Disability Rights Pennsylvania. Scroll down about mid— midway, and you'll find today's Advocacy Matters segment. There you'll find a link to the survey, also data from the previous surveys from 2018 to 2022 if you want to read more about the results of their previous survey. So Joyce, I think today the request for Advocacy Matters is that we go to disabilityrightsPA.org, find our segment for today, and click on the survey, and we all participate and, and provide them our experiences with health access.

Oh, please everyone do this. Please do it because Perry is right on target. People with disabilities experience incredible healthcare disparity. Women, a lot of women with disabilities, significant disabilities, have higher breast cancer because of lack of access, you know, with the machine or really a lot of the equipment in different parts. Even tables are not accessible. Then, as she said, people from the LGBTQ community with a disability, boy, all you have to add to that is Black or brown and female, and it's like beyond, not triple charity, triple jeopardy, now we're at number 4. But, you know, Perry, when that happens, if they're in Pennsylvania and they know that directly happened to them, can they get in touch with— and by the way, everyone, I'm on the board of Disability Rights PA, very honored to be on this board. Uh, but Perry, can people get in touch with you, uh, or your organization so you could direct them on? Absolutely.

If you go to disabilityrightspa.org, you'll find our intake information. You can even fill out an online intake form, and we'll call you back within 24 hours if you don't reach us live between 9:00 and 3:00, Monday through Friday. We'd love to talk to you about any barriers that you face to healthcare and give you the information you need to do that, to file an Office of Civil Rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Happy to do that. Happy to talk to anybody about these issues.

Yeah, folks, you make sure you do this because there's a lot going on in this country, not all positive for people with disabilities. But if you want to have this healthcare equality and parity, you know, we need to do our part also. So disabilityrightspa.org. Advocacy matters. Perry, thank you so much.

Hey, thanks, Joyce. We'll talk to you next week.

Okay, bye-bye. Oh, you know what? It's so terrible, Pastor Scott, what people with significant disabilities or people in wheelchairs go through when the equipment is not accessible.

Yes. Yeah, I know. I mean, Joyce, you've been helping us in that area. Like, you, you sitting on on some of those meetings where we're trying to make sure that we are making things as accessible as possible, you see things that, you know, that we don't because you're such an advocate. So, I feel like we've still got a long way to go at Northway in these areas. But wow, like, you've been such a heartbeat of who we are. Well, and you listen.

So, that's a big part of it. But you know what? When I think about Northway, you know, I don't know how many people are in those morning and evening services, but it's large because Northway has a large auditorium and just a great following and congregation. But that's what's so amazing to me is how it started. I mean, you know, when you were talking about all of these, other Northway sites. It's just amazing. And I wondered, would you mind sharing that story? I've never shared that story before, uh, and I was thinking about that last week. I thought, you know, that is so unbelievable that I wanted you to tell the story of Pastor Jay Passavant and how Northway was started.

Yeah, um, unfortunately we, we lost Pastor Jay about 2 years ago. Um, he was still very active, um, up to then, but, uh, he was a— like, I just would say like that his spiritual gift, um, was faith. I don't think it was preaching or other different gifts that we get. His was just faith. Like, if you told him it couldn't be done You know, he would say like, "Well, of course not, but if God says it's going to be done, or if God wants it to happen, then it's going to happen." And he was just a man of faith. So 9 couples in a basement praying and dreaming of a new type of church, one that was maybe not bound by religion or traditions, but rooted in relationship and the Holy Spirit. A church with strong biblical teaching, a contemporary worship, uh, Spirit-filled, uh, setting, always focused on kids and students and family and next generation. And, uh, you know, he, he set out to do it. Now we, we practically have as many locations as we do couples that were in that basement when it started, 40-plus years later. And it's just a testimony, testimony to faith. You know, Jay would always say, "This is God doing this. It's not him doing it." But he was the one that had the faith to do it. And, you know, many years back, I guess 15 or so ago, he wanted to sort of step out of the day-to-day of ministry, and that's when I became the lead pastor. But he was still teaching and still very involved around here right up until he passed a few years back, way before his time. Yeah, Northway has a beautiful legacy. I always like to say that one thing we've never had, like, one of those nasty church splits, you know, where, like, half the people leave because they're upset over something, or somebody leaves and takes half the people with them. We're just a church that have always tried to, to make sure that we get along and that we respect each other, hear each other, and a lot of that was, was who Jay, um, Jay was.

Yeah, well, Northway— I mean, it's just— that's just such an amazing story. Yeah, that is faith, there's no doubt about it. And just as you said, Northway, uh, is non-denominational. And everyone asks me, well, what's that mean? And, you know, I try to explain, uh, not a specific doctrine, but you could probably explain it better than I can. What does that mean? Yeah, it is non-denominational.

It's Certainly widely more popular or normal than it was even 20 years ago, but non-denominational just basically means it's not bound by a denominational covering. Like denomination would be like a Presbyterian or Catholic or Methodist. That's a denominational covering. We do have a board at Northway. It's called a council. So there are bylaws and authority and structure and annual outside audits and all those things. But we, um, sort of come outside, um, of the covering of a denominational, um, or a denomination and really try to, try to kind of create the church more on the early church, uh, you know, in the book of Acts, like where people were just gathering and worshiping and praying. And we try to be careful and not get rooted in religion or rooted in or grounded to traditions like, "Well, we got to do it this way because it is the way we have been doing it for 50 years, and we do not even know why we are doing that, but that is what we do." And we want to just continually meet the next generation where they are at and continue to see families and young people come so that, I mean, I love the fact that at Northway you can walk in and and see a grandparent who, like, who's been around Northway for maybe 40 years, or like a 70-year-old, and they'll come up to me and they'll say, "You know, the worship is so loud." And I'll say, "Well, like 40 years ago, you were probably saying the same thing. You were probably the person saying you want it louder." But that's what happened. So, we don't get bent or tied into things. We just, yeah, we want to be relevant to today's, today's folks and, and provide Jesus in a way they can get their hands around.

Oh, let me say this, the worship, the music is fantastic at Northway. It is. Oh my goodness, it is fantastic. Um, so if you're not familiar with the type of music, I'm going to tell you something. Can one that most of you will know if you follow contemporary music, it's like a Lauren Daigle type setting, uh, or, or Casting Crowns. That, that is the genre of music. It's contemporary and it's fantastic. You would love it. And so, Pastor Scott, I don't want the show to end without me talking about autism. Uh, do you want to tell everyone about that?

Yeah, the autism. I think it was like 8 years ago, I visited a church that is similar to Northway, a little larger, and they had sensory rooms, which was new to me. I wasn't really even aware of what that was all about. And basically these spaces were developed and designed for kids on the spectrum, and the space was supervised by really skilled and trained folks. One of the core things was they wanted to provide a safe space so that the parents could go to church together, because we found that in a lot of these situations, parents were not able to go to church. The child couldn't be in church, or would scream out or act out in church. So they were almost shunned from churches. And/or one would go to church and the other would stay at home with their child, or maybe come and sit with them out in the lobby. It just broke my heart. And as I came back and started looking into it, like, I found out that there are sensory rooms, obviously, like in airports and shopping malls. There is, you know, our school systems now have incredible opportunities for children on the spectrum to engage at their own level. And I said, "We just, as a church, we need to do better." So we raised some resources, and we launched our first autism ministry at our Suwikli location. And that's been up and running now for several years, and it's a completely inclusive ministry where, you know, kids can find out sort of where they're at and what aspects of the children's and kids ministry they can be part of. And maybe they can be part of some of it, and other parts they just need to get into a sensory space or a room that's designed for them and their needs with trained folks there. And again, with the parents then being able to go to church together, we, we open up that space in the evening so that parents can maybe attend a marriage class together. Tragically, um, you know, children, uh, parents of children on the spectrum, their divorce rate is way higher, um, than, than the normal, like way, way higher. So we— that one's open. The Wexford one, um, will be piloted with a few families just so we can work through the logistics and get it worked out, and then hopefully by Easter, so that's going to be open. And then Dormont, that location is slated to be next. And, and we hope that as we, uh, continue to open up new locations, that these autism ministry spaces just become part of who we are, uh, going forward. And it's, it's been a beautiful thing. It's not come without its struggles. And, um, you know, uh, very, you know, obviously parents are are very sensitive if they have a child on the spectrum. They want to make sure that their child's going to be safe and it's going to be cared for. And, uh, and, uh, we've— yeah, we've, we've done it slowly, and I am so proud of that ministry. And Joyce, I'm telling you, like, you're a part of that. Like, you opened my eyes, uh, I mean, you've opened my eyes recently to just to the deaf community and the things that Northway can do to help. I have a really great friend who works out with me at the gym It's deaf, and he comes the North Way, and he struggles. And we're going to do better in the future, and a lot of that's, again, your passion for folks with disabilities.

Thank you so much. I wonder if you would do me a favor. Would you repeat what you told everyone about the divorce rate?

Yeah, we found— and I wish I had the statistic. I said it in a sermon once, but I don't want to guess it, but I just know that you know, whatever the divorce rate is in America, that parents that have a child on the spectrum, I believe they are like 25% more likely to have a divorce. And it's just the— it's the pressure of raising a child with special needs like that and just always advocating for him or her and always, you know, maybe not being able to go on vacations or do certain things or struggle In the school systems, I believe, like, man, they are really doing their best, and we have come such a long way. But some of these ancillary things like church have just lagged behind. And we can learn from what has been happening in that world over the last 20 years, and we can put that into church so that at minimal, parents can go to church, receive the Word, you know, hold hands during worship, regroup their marriage while their child is being attended to for 60 minutes or 70 minutes. And then, you know, at this weekly location, most of these children are completely involved in the ministry. Like, they go and hear the talk. There's some kind of noises and different stimulation that some of them need to move into a sensory space, but it is a beautiful thing to watch.

Well, why I had you mention that is that, you know, you have to understand, parents of children with autism or other disabilities can't go, cannot go, right? And, uh, to be, you know, to be able to have that respite and outing together. Yeah, so it's, it's, it's like a relief, uh, and you get to meet you're with good people and you're with supportive people, and, you know, you're hearing about, uh, Jesus. And there's so, so much that's great about that. So, uh, that's why I wanted you, uh, to mention that. So, Pastor Scott, how about you? Why did you become a pastor?

Hmm, I think for me, Joyce, it was slow. Like, it wasn't something— certainly that wasn't something I was thinking about when I was in high school or even going the school. I just, you know, I wanted to teach, I think, in a school, particularly maybe an urban setting, but there just were not any jobs when I was coming out of college. That is what I went to school for in that area. But I was really drawn to working with teenagers and middle schoolers, high schoolers, again, particularly more of the under-resourced urban setting. So You know, I think I mentioned earlier, I took that job in Homestead as a youth director, but even then I thought, "Well, I'm just going to do this for a while. I'll probably end up in teaching." But I was just drawn to the church. I love the local church. I really believe it's the hope of the world. I always talk about 3 things that drive me. It's the local church. It's Pittsburgh. I just love this city. I couldn't see myself anywhere else. And then this next generation. Just always pouring into the next generation. So I did that for years, and then coming to Northway, Pastor Jay really encouraged me to take on more adult responsibilities—teaching and preaching in front of the whole church rather than just to the students, leading different groups. I think I took on this whole developing emerging leaders ministry, an intern ministry, and, you know, just over a slow sort of turn. I went back to school, worked through getting my degree, and worked through picking up some of the theology courses maybe that I felt like I would need down the line, and discovered I've got like a gift in working in a large environment, developing leaders, leading large organizations. You know, I think I can preach a little bit. And yeah, so for me, pastoring has just been not something I set out to do. It just sort of became who, who I became over the years.

Well, I know your life was changed greatly from going to that— was it a summer camp? Where was that you went? Yeah, mm-hmm.

Yeah, a weekend retreat with a group. Yeah, years ago.

Well, Jesus made a difference in your life, that's for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. That's the first time you—

first time. Um, well, Pastor Scott, are there any other programs at Northway you want to share with our listeners or talk about?

I think I mentioned online, like, boy, anybody listening, whether you're out in the world, check out our online services. We've, we've invested a lot into that to try to take ministry to people. So it has more than just a sermon. Like I said, there's a lot of tools on there are a lot of ways that you can get connected. You can be in an online group. You can be in a group if you're in the Pittsburgh area. We put out worship experiences on there so people can just sit back and, you know, have maybe a worship experience in their car or at home. So that for sure. And then I just always like to mention our counseling centers. Like at each of our locations we have dedicated space for professional Christian counseling. We provide scholarships for folks that maybe couldn't afford that. Just, you know, in this world that we're in, like pray for our counselors because they are just booked up. Sometimes there's a waiting list like to get in because there's just folks dealing with anxiety and stress and depression and just past wounds that there maybe have been surfaced, isolation. And our counselors are on the front line. Like I literally say like saving lives. And so Counseling services at Northway is something I always like to lift up. It's a behind the scenes because they don't talk much about the folks they're working with because of confidentiality. And the folks that are in there aren't necessarily like, you know, running up and down the street saying, "Hey, I'm in counseling." So it's a ministry that's often tucked away, but boy, is it making a difference. That's wonderful.

That's wonderful. Yeah, Amanda Beggs. Joyce Bender is one of the leaders at our church, and she is in the rotation of the pastor speaking, and she also runs that online service. She is fantastic. Oh, she is fantastic. Love her.

She's one of the most gifted, most brilliant young— not gals, young people— person I've ever met in my life. She is just She is a— I knew Amanda. She was in my Emerging Leader Program as a college student 20 years ago or whenever that was, 18 years ago. I do not want to give away her age. But, yes, she is a regular teacher, regular preacher on the weekends. She is slotted in, you know, every 4, 5, 6 weeks. And then she runs all of our— I mean, she runs more than people realize. She oversees our whole creative department. That is all of our graphics and branding and all of our online services. She also oversees like a lot of the weekend experience, just, um, you know, putting in standards across all of our locations. She is, she is one of the most gifted, brilliant people, like I said, that I've ever met in my life.

Yes, she is. Hey, you know, we have, uh, Gerald on the line for what's happening at Bender, and I know we only have a couple minutes But Gerald, what's happening at Bender?

Hi Joyce, and hi pastors from Northway. Thank you for all that you're doing for our community here in the Pittsburgh region.

Oh, thank you.

And wow, we got some awesome stuff going on here at Bender. So if people think things slow down around the holidays, they don't slow down here at Bender around the holidays, just like I'm sure they don't slow down at Northway at all during the holidays whatsoever. Joyce Bender. We've got a ton of opportunities available right now for people with disabilities that are out there. If you go to benderconsult.com/jobs, and if you're a person with a disability looking for work, you can see all those great opportunities we're recruiting for right now. Here in the Pittsburgh region, like a help desk position, the service analyst role that we've got highlighted on our website out in Cranberry Township. We've got remote roles for customer service agents. We've got jobs in Washington, D.C. with federal contractors. We've got all kinds of great opportunities all over the U.S. for people with disabilities. And it seems like more and more just come in every day, Joyce Bender, this time of year. It's really a blessing to have this much opportunity for people with disabilities right now and to give the gift of roles to people with disabilities in this holiday season. I'm really excited. For it. So benderconsult.com/jobs to learn about those opportunities and apply today.

Benderconsult.com. And these are great opportunities, good compensation. Make sure you check it out. Uh, thank you so much, Gerald. And Gerald, guess what? This year on Christmas Eve, I am the 3 o'clock service, one of the ushers, greeters, or whatever they're going to have me do. So there you go. All right, um, thanks, Gerald. Thank you so much for calling in. Yeah, Pastor Scott, I'm gonna have to have my, uh, my lights, my Christmas light necklace on, everything.

Oh boy, can't wait. Don't just—

don't trip and fall. You know I'll be out there. Hey, welcome to Northway! Yeah, I have to watch it.

Stay away from people away. Yeah, stay away. Well, hey, before—

okay, well, do you have a message for our listeners before we go?

Oh, how about this Christmas, more listening, Joyce, and less conflict, right? Jesus was— oh, I mean, just such a great listener, such a great question asker. Like, you know, the people— the only people that Jesus had a conflict with were the self-righteous leaders of the day. Everybody else, he was able to create conversation, listen, and love. And I think we need more of that this Christmas season in such a complex time and culture that we live in.

Amen to that. Well, we're getting ready to go, so we end every show with a quote, and I know this quote. Is so often repeated, but I'll bet you don't know that it's in the Old Testament, the Torah. And that would be, "Love your neighbor as yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." And of course, Jesus said that in the New Testament, but to all my Jewish friends, I want everyone to know it is also in the Old Testament. And with that, thank you all so much. Have a safe and wonderful weekend. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. And remember, In the words of Mary Brooker, when you go out today, choose joy.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.