[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fdanny":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fdanny-surround":76},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":58,"date":59,"description":5,"extension":60,"image":61,"meta":62,"minRead":63,"navigation":64,"path":65,"postType":66,"publication":67,"publicationUrl":61,"seo":68,"stem":69,"topics":70,"__hash__":75},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fdanny.md","Danny",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":55},"minimark",[13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52],[14,15,5],"p",{},[14,17,18],{},"Publication: The Lookout",[14,20,21],{},"Date: September 22, 2002",[14,23,24],{},"Column: First Look",[14,26,27],{},"Category: Church; Down’s Syndrome; Special Needs",[14,29,30],{},"Daniel Kuhn served as the ring-bearer at my nephew's wedding last summer. Standing on stage with the rest of the wedding party, he looked proud and handsome in his rented tuxedo. The wedding took place in a small town in rural southern Ohio, at the Pricetown Church of Christ where his dad, Leo, has served as minister for the last 27 years. Since he's lived his whole life in Pricetown, everyone in the community knows Danny. One long-time resident says, \"If he were gone, there's no one in this whole area who'd be more missed than Danny Kuhn.\"",[14,32,33],{},"Danny was born with Downs Syndrome and a complication called Hirschsprung's Disease, which meant he had a colostomy until he was 18 months old. When he was two years old, the doctors diagnosed Danny with leukemia. This led to chemotherapy and total body radiation, followed by a bone marrow transplant with his older sister, Kristeen, serving as the donor. Within five years he was pronounced cured of leukemia.",[14,35,36],{},"At home, and at a school for children with special needs, Danny received regular mental and physical stimulation along with heavy doses of love and encouragement. In time, he learned to read. \"Dan's had to work hard to do things most of us take for granted,\" says his dad. Now 20 years old, today Danny holds down a part-time job with a local laundry business where he cleans washers and dryers—but not on Sunday. Every Lord's Day, Danny goes to church.",[14,38,39],{},"It's good that many congregations today are developing a wide range of programs for people like Danny. But it's also good that in congregations that do not have a separate ministry for those with mental retardation or physical disabilities, God's people simply employ another time-honored program called \"Christian love.” Healthy churches include and embrace those with special needs and their families. Brothers and sisters in Christ learn to cope and hope along with them, walking through life's challenges beside them. After all, the Bible calls the church \"the household of God,\" and that's just what families do.",[14,41,42],{},"\"Ever since Danny was born, he's been a community child,\" Leo points out. \"People in our church have accepted him and surrounded our family with love. One couple, Joe and Rhonda, take him out to lunch after church once in awhile on Sunday afternoon. Others greet him with different kinds of handshakes. When it's Danny's turn to help collect the offering during the Sunday worship service, he insists on wearing a tie.\"",[14,44,45],{},"Proudly Leo continues, \"His spiritual maturity is amazing. He loves to watch Bible videotapes, especially ones about the life of Jesus. He listens to gospel songs on CDs. He was scheduled to work at the laundry on the last day of Vacation Bible School, and he was so despondent, we let him take the day off so he could go to VBS!\"",[14,47,48],{},"Rare is the neighborhood that doesn't contain a family or two like Danny's. Blessed is the neighborhood where Christians surround these families with practical expressions of God's love.",[14,50,51],{},"As the day approached for my nephew's wedding, Danny insisted on renting his own tux with money he had earned at the laundry. His parents took him shopping so he could buy the bride and groom a gift he picked out himself: a cut-glass pitcher. At the Pricetown church, Danny's not just a receiver; he's also a giver.",[14,53,54],{},"After all, that's just what families do.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":56,"depth":56,"links":57},2,[],"First Look","2002-09-22","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fdanny","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":5},"articles\u002Fdanny",[71,72,73,74],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Intergenerational Ministry","Spiritual Formation","GOybB4YfAdYvxcHccYzI2gTpC_4eycmiM1ptq8DiMV4",[77,82],{"title":78,"path":79,"stem":80,"description":81,"children":-1},"Dangerous Territory","\u002Farticles\u002Fdangerous-territory","articles\u002Fdangerous-territory","Eugene Peterson, famous for translating *The Message* version of the Bible, served as a minister for many years. He was at a Red Cross bloodmobile to donate a pint of blood, but before inserting the needle the nurse asked a series of questions to see if there was any reason to disqualify him as a blood donor.",{"title":83,"path":84,"stem":85,"description":86,"children":-1},"Be Yourself","\u002Farticles\u002Fdavid-faust-be-yourself","articles\u002Fdavid-faust-be-yourself","Remember all the excitement a few years ago when scientists cloned a sheep? They named her Dolly. Her birth was big news—a scientific breakthrough. But Dolly died in February 2003. She only lived to be six years old, about half as long as most sheep live."]