Lee Lowe and other Special Friends brought the house down on Sunday night at Eden Westside Baptist Church with the annual Special Friends Celebration.  Lee Lowe performed the song Break Every Chain in addition to individuals who recited a Bible verse, sang a song or just blew a kiss, based on their abilities.

Pat Shipp, Special Friends Ministry Leader, and ministry volunteers work with these fabulous individuals each week to teach them about the Bible and God’s love for them.  While others may discount the abilities of special needs individuals, Eden Westside Baptist Church takes the job of teaching them about the Bible very seriously and encourages them to give their best while providing love, acceptance and a place to flourish.  It’s common knowledge around the church that these Special Friends can beat any other class in the game of Bible Trivia and they definitely do.

This department worked for approximately eight weeks this year to prepare for this presentation while each of them learned their Bible verses or song lyrics.  Many of these class members are picked up on the church bus each week so they may attend Life Discovery (Sunday School) at 9:35 a.m. and Worship at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays at the Eden Campus.  Eden Westside would like to invite any family with a special needs child or adult to connect with this ministry.

In addition to this Special Needs Ministry, Eden Westside offers a number of important local, national, and international missions, including a food pantry, outreach programs to the area’s veterans, ministries for the area’s first responders, classes for new parents, grief support groups, numerous children’s and youth programs, Families Count which is a ministry designed to reconcile families torn apart by addiction, among others and is known by many as a church of restoration.

Eden Westside has two campuses with their Eden campus in Pell City on Wolf Creek Road North and their River campus in Leeds on Hwy 78.  For more information about the church or any of their ministries, please visit www.EdenWestside.org or call the church office at 205-338-7711.