A ministry straddling the Midwest and Southern United States is working tirelessly to spread the gospel to the deaf. Three Angels Deaf Ministries (3ADM) is a small ministry based in Ava, Missouri, located about an hour’s drive southeast of Springfield, Missouri, and about 30 miles north of the Arkansas state line. Amanda Colgan is the executive director of 3ADM and her husband, Kevin, is the Deaf Bible School manager. 3ADM has very deep and personal meaning for the couple, as they are both deaf themselves.
“I really cherish Three Angels Deaf Ministries,” says Amanda. “There is a huge need, and it’s our life’s work. Many deaf people are hungry for God’s Word, but what is out there is not accessible to them. It leads many people to become frustrated and confused. Many traditional churches do not provide for their needs. Like, for me, growing up, going to church without an interpreter was not easy or even possible to understand. It was just like a fishbowl. I could see what was happening, but I did not understand everything. So many people feel the same way. I felt very isolated and felt like there was no hope. I often wondered, “What is the purpose of my life?” So 3ADM’s goal is to tell them that God loves them and we have materials to give them to understand His Word, in both easy reading and in American Sign Language.”
Building on the past, shaping the future
3ADM was founded in 1998 as Adventist Deaf Ministries by a group of deaf Adventist ministry leaders who desired to see all deaf people come to know and love Jesus. These ministry leaders came together after Christian Record Services made the difficult decision to shutter its deaf services department and after the North American Division and regional union presidents decided to discontinue deaf ministry under the formal church organization.
3ADM is an independent, donor-supported ministry that works cooperatively with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 3ADM representatives travel around to many Adventist churches across the United States, giving out resources and raising awareness for their ministry and those for whom they advocate.
“Recently, Kevin, our daughter and I went to Tennessee after we were invited to the Crossville Seventh-day Adventist Church for a Deaf Awareness Sabbath,” said Amanda. “We had a really nice afternoon workshop where we helped teach about Deaf awareness. We also had a Q&A panel of Deaf people where attendees asked questions related to deaf people’s lives, deaf ministries, and other things relating to the deaf. That was a really nice way to spread deaf awareness. Many people do not know what to do when they meet a deaf person. It is often very awkward so we’re there to give help, to provide for their needs, and to give a better understanding.”
3ADM is always looking for hearing people interested in helping advance the ministry, especially if they know any deaf people. Amanda says sometimes it’s not easy to find deaf people, but she and their team are always happy to train hearing people how to meet a deaf person’s needs by providing resources, videos in ASL, and Bible studies.
“And we really need people to help with our new programs, such as our health ministry,” Amanda adds. “It’s going to be a huge challenge for us. We have several people involved with the health ministries and we would like to ask for even more help. We always need someone for video production as well. It’s a really big challenge for us because we need to produce a lot of content, but we do not have the manpower. The same goes for graphic design. We have a big need for that because deaf people are very visual. So we need to keep up making the content and videos for those in the deaf community.”
If you are interested in helping 3ADM in any way, or would like a representative to come to your church, please visit 3ADM.org.
At the time of this writing, Evan Majors was a student intern with the Mid-America Union Communication Department.