Born deaf, Jeff grew up in an Adventist home in California. His education began early; at age 2 he was enrolled in a public school with special classes for deaf children, and later he attended a residential school for deaf students. When he was 13, Jeff fell in love with Jesus and was baptized along with his brother and three hearing friends.
He completed high school in 1986 and enrolled at California State University at Northridge, majoring in deaf studies, with an emphasis on teaching. While in college he was an active local church lay leader for deaf persons in the area.
Quite understandably Jeff's dream started to dim. He decided to complete his degree at Northridge in 1991 and then taught American Sign Language at two local community colleges. He loved his work and his students, and during this time he also fell in love. Melissa Johnson could hear, but she was training to be an interpreter for deaf people. The two shared a deep love for God and a desire to share Christ with the 2 million deaf people in the United States. They were married in 1993 and made their home in California.
"In the summer of 1994 we took a leap of faith and went to Andrews without conference sponsorship. We believed God was in control and would provide."
Part of their financial problem was solved when the university hired Melissa to help interpret Jeff's challenging seminary courses. She started a small business. Jeff developed and taught two Deaf Ministry courses at the seminary, assisted by his parents.
But when he graduated in December 1996, Jeff still had no prospects for employment.
"I was ready to give up at that point," Melissa says. "I really felt that God had brought us to Andrews and then left us! Well, the Lord is so good and patient. As I look back, I know God was testing our faith. He said, 'Jeff and Melissa, how much do you trust that I am in control?'"
"Even though we knew God had called us to the ministry," Jeff says, "at times it just seemed easier to move back to where family members were close by, get a job, and raise our own family quietly. But how can you run from the Lord? Our calling was sure, and we believed that God had special plans for us-we just had to hang on to Him. Proverbs 3:5, 6 ["Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (NIV)] became favorite verses for me."
Finally a request came to assist with a series of evangelistic meetings for deaf people in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Pastor John Blake and his wife, Alberta, were working with some prospective church members who needed extra attention. Jeff signed a short series of meetings, attended faithfully by a number of deaf persons. As both couples worked and prayed, they saw three deaf young people baptized. God was beginning to confirm Jeff's call to the ministry-but there was still no invitation to full-time work.
On His Own
"After hearing about a student planting a new church in a metropolitan area as a result of a private donation," Jeff remembers, "we thought this idea might work for us, too. With the expert guidance of a seminary professor, pledges were raised for a two-year church planting project for the deaf. Officials at the Georgia-Cumberland Conference became very interested and interviewed us. In May 1997 it happened-we were hired to plant a deaf church in Atlanta."
In metropolitan Atlanta Jeff and Melissa began work among a deaf population of nearly 16,000 persons. The couple found the work enormously challenging. "We started by making friends," Jeff says, "trying to approach the deaf through different avenues: sporting events, rubber-stamping parties, friends of friends, cooking classes, a Deaf Festival at DeKalb College, and later, conducting a marriage seminar."
Great believers in the small group concept, Jeff and Melissa formed a group to study the book of Mark. Then Jeff established monthly worship services for isolated deaf Adventists in the Southern Union. Every third Sabbath, deaf members now travel to Atlanta from Florida, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama to worship the Lord in their own language and culture. Understanding God's words through a deaf pastor is a privilege for them.
In 1999 Jeff conducted a full evangelistic series for deaf people, the first ever offered in the South. Pastor and Mrs. Blake came to videotape the whole series in digital format. It wasn't a large audience-the average evangelistic attendance was 11 persons. But at the end of the series two deaf people joined the local Adventist church. By the fall of 2001 the deaf membership had grown to 12.
After the two-year pilot project ended, Jeff no longer needed to depend on donors for support. In January 2001 the Georgia-Cumberland Conference included him in their regular budget as a salaried pastor. Six months later Jeff was ordained to the gospel ministry at the conference camp meeting.
Dreaming Far Beyond
Was it fair that the only deaf Master of Divinity graduate of Andrews University had to support himself in seminary and then for three years had to raise most of his own salary through private donations? Few can comprehend the tremendous challenges faced by deaf people as they try to fit into a hearing church. They need pastoral care from someone who fully understands.
But God knows each of the estimated 50 million deaf people around the world, within each difficult-to-reach ethnic group. He knows that the estimated 2,000-plus deaf Adventists worldwide (of whom about 650 are in the North American Division) face a humanly impossible task to reach these 50 million. Surely these deaf members need the help of the hearing church.
Jeff acknowledges that ministry to deaf people presents great challenges. "If a church does attract some deaf, who will sign for them?" he asks. "If the church agrees to pay an interpreter, who will befriend them? Church is much more than an interpreted sermon. Local deaf members need ties to the network of other Adventist deaf persons."
At special camp meetings North American deaf members band together for fellowship and study. "We must help deaf people gain training so they can reach out to their own culture," Jeff says. He suggests organizing better ministries for deaf people by including deaf Adventist leaders in outreach planning sessions. Hearing persons also need training to work together with Adventist deaf members.
Sharing the Dream
To reach all the unreached people groups of the world, Jeff's dream of reaching "his people" is being shared. Some Canadian Adventist "dreamers" sponsor half the salaries of two full-time deaf workers ministering to the estimated 19 million deaf people in India. P. Sathiyamoorthy serves in the South India Union, and Probhakar Rao is now in the Central India Union. After a recent baptism of 18 deaf people in Tanjure, India, a Canadian donor gave funds to build a new church-possibly the first church building just for deaf people in the world.
Deaf students are also being sponsored at two Seventh-day Adventist schools for the deaf, one in Ethiopia and one near Kamagere, India.
The call to discipleship invites us to each love Christ so much that we are willing to ask Him, "What is Your dream for me?" That dream can be His plan for our own personal ministry. Then we must be willing to be prepared and trained to carry out that dream effectively. Finally, like Jeff and Melissa, we must never give up-even if the church is hesitant or slow to support us in that ministry. We will learn to depend on Christ for inner strength to carry out the dream that He has given us.
The last work on earth will be led by dreamers who dare to risk much for their Lord, men and women who let no barrier or boundary prevent them from reaching out with the good news.
_________________________
Volunteer coordinator for deaf ministries at the Alberta Conference, John Blake also pastors a small hearing church in Bentley, Alberta, Canada. His wife, Alberta, is a retired teacher of deaf people, and two of their four children are deaf. The Blakes operate two deaf ministry Web sites. Together with deaf pastor David Trexler (ordained in 2001 by the Potomac Conference), they produced 26 TV programs in sign language.
EFF AND MELISSA JORDAN have tackled one of the most difficult evangelistic projects in the Adventist Church. But the road that finally led them to Atlanta, Georgia, took many twists and turns.
Sensing the call of God to full-time ministry for deaf people, Jeff investigated the possibilities of transferring to an Adventist college. The college he contacted agreed to accept him as a ministerial student. He was warned, however, that his chance of employment as a pastor would be slim: at that time the college knew of only three deaf Seventh-day Adventist pastors in the world.
