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(woman) Billy, you got your shoes on yet?
(narrator) Sixty-six-year-old Billy George needs help from her
caregiver, Linda, as she gets ready for what she calls
"her church"...a service called Rejoicing Spirits.
(woman) You look forward to it don't you?
(Billy) Yeah.
(narrator) Like other adults with developmental delays,
Billy sometimes speaks out, or moves when others are still.
She didn't always feel comfortable attending church,
until now.
♪ (church members) Oh happy day... ♪
(narrator) Even the welcome is unique...
(greeter) How about a high five?
(narrator) ...as are tambourines for the service.
(Sue Miller) Having the noisemakers gives them
an open okay.
If they didn't have the noisemakers they wouldn't know
whether they should be as joyous.
(narrator) Sue Miller helped start the Rejoicing Spirits
Ministry at Central United Methodist Church in Lenoir City,
Tennessee almost two years ago.
Church members saw a chance to help families with
developmentally-delayed adults find acceptance.
(Sue Miller) They don't know what their loved one might say
or do, and of course they don't want them to be embarrassed,
so they just don't come.
(narrator) Rejoicing Spirits made a difference.
(narrator) William has Down syndrome.
Here his shyness disappears; dancing and even helping
Pastor Ron share a reading.
(Pastor Ron reads from Scripture)
(narrator) Each service ends with a familiar
song of celebration.
♪ (congregation) Happy Birthday to you... ♪
(narrator) The song underscores a message.
(Sue Miller) That they are loved.
They can be themselves. They are children of God.
(Group sings) ...peaceful easy feeling.