Tennessee
More than ‘the least of these’
OKLAHOMA CITY — “Uncle Tim’s gonna fight for you, buddy.…
A camp where everyone belongs
Tennessee church welcomes children and adults with disabilities.
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KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Autism. Down syndrome. Cerebral palsy. Spina bifida. Blindness.
These are some of the disabilities represented by about 40 children — and a few adults — who came to the Karns Church of Christ on a sunny September Saturday.
Kim Higginbotham greets campers as they arrive.
Kim Higginbotham warmly greeted each one as they entered the church building for the Forever His camp.
Twice a year, the 62-year-old former special education teacher directs the day camp for those with moderate and severe disabilities.
Alan Goins leads songs at the Forever His camp.
Attendees spent the day singing songs, learning Bible stories, scavenger hunting, playing games, crafting and participating in outdoor activities — including a petting zoo, bounce house and hayride.
But campers had the freedom to be themselves and experience the event on their own terms, aided by their “buddies” — volunteers who provided one-on-one attention and support for each camper.
The point wasn’t to adhere to a strict program but to deliver a “best-day-ever experience,” as Higginbotham described it, for precious souls who often feel like they don’t belong in public spaces.
‘Jesus … welcomed them’
Higginbotham launched the camp in 2015, five years after she and her husband, Steve, who preaches for Karns, moved to Knoxville.
“I wanted to figure out, how do I incorporate these children that I really love hanging out with and being with — the most perfect, pure souls you’ll ever meet — with my church family?” she told The Christian Chronicle.
That fall, 14 kids attended. Since then, the camp has grown and expanded to two events: one in the spring for children and adults 13 and over, and one in the fall for kids 12 and under — though the age range is flexible for those who can’t make a particular session. There were around 90 total attendees this year.
Higginbotham believes the camp fills a gap where few opportunities exist for those with more severe disabilities to engage in social activities — or a church environment.
Kim Higginbotham sits for an interview in her library office at the Karns Church of Christ.
She referenced research from 2013 by Melinda Jones Ault, professor emeritus of special education at the University of Kentucky. Ault surveyed parents of children with disabilities who had attended a church in the past.
Less than half (42.5 percent) described their congregations as supportive in including their child in church activities. Nearly a third reported changing their place of worship because their child was not included or welcomed. And less than 20 percent said their church offered special programs for people with disabilities.
Meanwhile, estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put about 1 in 6 children as having a developmental disability.
Higginbotham said she’s heard heartbreaking stories of children in wheelchairs being left in the corner in a Bible class, isolated with no engagement — or church members glaring at a child who is a “screamer” or “runner” without offering any help to parents.
A Forever His camper shows her stuffed animal to volunteers at the registration table.
But at Forever His, “we’re welcoming them — we’re excited to see their children,” the camp director said. “Their child’s not an inconvenience.”
“Jesus accepted these kids,” she added. “He loved them — people blind, maimed, lame, lepers — he welcomed them. He didn’t shun them. He didn’t act like they were something to be ignored or to be disregarded, like a lot of places these kids have been.”
‘We don’t have anything like this’
Higginbotham feels it’s just as important for the parents — many of whom are not Christian — to see the love of Jesus.
Parents often use the camp as a chance to get some much-needed recreation time of their own while the buddies communicate with them throughout the day, sending photos and updates.
Forever His campers and their buddies play outside with water toys.
“It gives us an opportunity, an evangelistic opportunity, with these families, to connect them, to get to know our church members,” Higginbotham said. “They’re handing over their most precious person in their life to us and trusting us for this day.”
Some of the families later return for social events at the Karns church, and some remain long-term visitors or become members. Most return to the camp, which has welcomed more than 166 families in its 10 years.
A few parents, like Ashley Collins, choose to stay at camp with their child. This was the first time her 6-year-old son, Liam, attended.
Ashley and Liam Collins pose for a photo at the Forever His camp.
He has Coffin-Siris syndrome, a rare genetic condition that can cause various developmental disabilities. Fewer than 1,000 Americans have it, according to the National Institutes of Health, and Liam’s specific mutation is even rarer.
He requires a gait trainer to walk, is nonverbal — though his mom is thankful he recently began saying a few small words — and has joint issues and other complications that require frequent therapies and specialist visits.
Related: More than ‘the least of these’
But Forever His offered the Collinses a respite from their day-to-day challenges.
They made the hour-and-a-half drive from Dayton — 40 miles northeast of Chattanooga, where they attend the Redemption to the Nations church — after hearing about the camp from Claire Higginbotham, Kim’s daughter-in-law and physician assistant at Dayton Internal Medicine.
Liam Collins grins as he walks into the Karns auditorium with his gait trainer.
Ashley and Liam both enjoyed the experience and plan to come back. Liam’s special education teacher also wants to hand out flyers at his school before the next session.
“It’s very well put together — especially catered to them,” Ashley said of the camp. “Because I’ve participated in a lot of VBSes … and this is just — it’s perfect, because where I’m from, we don’t have anything like this. So it was very interesting, and I love the fact that they have made it just for these children.”
‘They’re part of our culture’
For volunteers, the kids who attend are just as much a blessing to them.
And with each camper having at least one buddy, if not two, the event requires a major volunteer effort — there were more than a hundred this time, ranging from teens to older adults and including members of other nearby Churches of Christ. Some have medical training in case of emergencies or a specific child’s needs.
Lynlee Robinson, far right, and other Forever His camp volunteers pose for a group photo.
Lynlee Robinson, a longtime Karns church member, has helped coordinate much of the camp’s logistics since its inception.
“My favorite part is, I love to see how happy the kids are just doing whatever it is that they’re doing … watching them play games and being able to just be a kid,” the 41-year-old wife and mother told the Chronicle.
“The camp opened my eyes for awareness,” she added. “I’m aware of not only folks with special needs but … anybody who is different than me.”
Higginbotham, who also manages the church’s extensive library and teaches a Forever His Friends Bible class, emphasized that the campers are teachers, too.
A Forever His camper gets up close with a pony.
“If you haven’t had the experience with the kids, you don’t understand how much there is that we learn from them,” she said. “They teach us compassion and joy and purity and patience and all those kinds of qualities that you can’t see any better than … when you’re doing this.”
She and Robinson have both noticed the impact serving this underserved community has made on the Karns church as a whole — in becoming more welcoming and more willing to serve and growing closer to fellow Christians.
A camp attendee and volunteer play with toy arrows.
“When someone comes here to visit — or we have some members now with a child with a disability — it’s like this culture has changed (to) where it’s not scary, it’s not weird to see some kid get up and run,” Higginbotham observed. “They’re part of our culture, of our congregation now, and I think that’s just a beautiful thing.”
At the end of the camp, attendees took home tote bags that included a photo of them with their buddies, a hand-knit hat, a custom coloring book and a “How I Worship” book.
Forever His campers sing about the wise and foolish man from the Bible.
Higginbotham personally follows up with parents — and encourages the buddies to as well — thanking them and inviting them back for other church events.
“The church can be known for a lot of things, but I think one of the main things (is) … we’re known by our love,” she said. “And that’s what this congregation in this community has become known for: ‘Oh, you’re the ones that have that camp.’ And it’s been a real positive thing with the community.”
CALVIN COCKRELL is Managing Editor for The Christian Chronicle and serves as the young adult minister for the North Tuscaloosa Church of Christ in Alabama. Reach him at [email protected].
