Equipping Churches To Serve Families Affected By Disability.
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
Our mission is to help churches become better equipped to serve families impacted by disability.
Wonderful Works Ministry is a 501c3 organization which believes that everyone deserves a place to belong and find hope, including kids who have disabilities and their families. We believe that churches want this too, but sometimes churches are not prepared to serve kids who have different social, emotional, and behavioral needs. This means that families affected by disability often stay home, alone. We believe this can change.
Our mission is to help equip churches to create accessible children's and youth ministry environments for all kids, including those who have disabilities or other challenges. We do this by providing online special needs ministry training that is designed with volunteers in mind. All of our resources are complimentary because we believe that a little training is the difference between families coming to church or staying home. Let's get families to church!
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To see the story that inspired the ministry or to learn how disability ministry training is changing lives today, please check out our videos below.
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Barb Stanley
Founder and President
Growing up with a brother who has Autism, Barb understands what life as part of a family affected by disability feels like. She is an advocate who wants to see disability ministry become an expected part of every church. She started her career in graphic design and illustration before moving into ministry as part of a church staff. During this time, she specialized in ministry mobilization and church administration. In 2014, she founded 139 Kids Special Needs Ministry at Lifepoint Church of the Nazarene. In 2020, Barb completed her Master's Degree in Social Work from The Ohio State University and founded Wonderful Works Ministry, an online disability ministry training resource center that helps equip churches to serve families affected by disability. She lives in Ohio with her husband, Brandon, and two sons.
Leah Whicker
Special Education Consultant
Leah has had a passion for working with children for as long as she can remember. After studying Early Childhood Education at The Ohio State University, she moved to Northern Virginia, where she started her career in education as a preschool teacher. Leah and her family moved back to Ohio in 2012, and in 2014, she began serving in her church’s Special Needs Ministry, 139 Kids. Here, Leah became the co-leader, specializing in creating positive support plans for children in the ministry. Leah attended Ashland University, where she earned an Intervention Specialist teacher’s licensure. She is passionate about equipping churches to have their own Disability Ministries. Leah is married, and she and her husband, Chris, have two school-aged children.