“If you took all the people on our planet with disabilities and added them together, you would have the third largest country in the world, just behind India and China,” asserted Tom Stolle, executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.
“It is quite possible that individuals affected by disabilities are the largest lost people group on the planet,” he added. “We cannot leave them behind.”
On Wednesday, June 10, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Disability Ministry Task Force presented its report and recommendations to messengers at the annual meeting of the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando.
In response to a 2025 motion by Benjamin Hankin, a messenger from New Jersey, the SBC Executive Committee voted at its September meeting to form this task force to study the availability of special needs ministry resources for churches.
Tom Stolle, the father of an adult son with special needs, chaired the task force.
In his report, Stolle highlighted a 2020 study by Lifeway Research, which reported that 99% of evangelical pastors believe individuals with disabilities would feel welcome in their churches.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Shannon Baker and originally published by Baptist Press.
