May 7, 2001
Houston ministry employs pets as ambassadors of love
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HOUSTON--Hands, wrinkled by time, reach out to stroke a dog's fur. The woman's eyes grow brighter, her smile bigger.
___Faithful Friends, an "animal-assisted therapy ministry" of University Baptist Church in Houston, is using pets to show God's love to nursing home residents and hospital patients.
RESIDENTS of a Houston nursing home greet some of the pets brought into the facility by Faithful Friends, a ministry that seeks to bring hope and compassion to those in need of encouragement.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas honored Faithful Friends recently with its annual Genesis Award for an "innovative community ministry." It was presented at the Servanthood Ministries Awards Reception in Corpus Christi.
___"Pet ministry," said Sally Hinzie, "doesn't fit any of our patterns of church ministry." Hinzie is a church consultant for Union Baptist Association. She described Faithful Friends as a form of "touch therapy."
___Touch made a big difference for one child who remained in a coma after an auto accident that killed her parents. The volunteers prayed for the girl, and a dog brushed against her while she lay in a hospital bed. The girl said "doggy;" it was the first sign she was coming out of the coma, said Shari Ferguson.
___Ferguson, a member of University Baptist in the Clear Lake area of southeastern Houston, gave birth to the ministry in 1993 after going through a process of discovering her spiritual gifts. Ferguson realized she had the gifts of compassion and service coupled with a passion for animals, children and senior adults.
___She connected with a ministry at Second Baptist Church of Houston for a couple of years then launched Faithful Friends. Three people went with her on the first visit. Now she leads 150 volunteers who make 15 visits each month to 10 facilities.
___As for the animals, they're a varied group, but dogs dominate. About 90 percent of the animals are dogs, Ferguson said. There are nine cats, two rabbits and a ferret as well.
___Not just any pet will do. They have to take a "temperament test" to see how they will respond in different situations. They're touched, held, surprised and introduced to wheelchairs and walkers. Testers look for any signs of aggression. Most do well, Ferguson said, but a few have failed. "I had a dog try to take my nose off," she said.
___The animals that pass the test get the chance to bring joy to people in need of hope. "Animals have that unconditional love that people sometimes have a hard time giving," Ferguson said.
___They give that love to people who often are struggling with loneliness and isolation,said Rick Carpenter, associate pastor at University Baptist. The volunteers "use the animals as a bridge to establish relationships."
ONE OF THE MINISTRY'S DOGS give a nursing home resident some "touch therapy."
___"Bear," a black chow that had been abused by a previous owner, accompanied Ferguson to a psychiatric hospital. Bear stayed back from the group, but a boy went and sat beside the dog, petting and hugging him. Hospital workers said that was the first response they had gotten out of the boy, who had been abused himself, Ferguson said.
___The ministry to nursing home residents and hospital patients is not the only ministry of Faithful Friends. There is a "ministry within a ministry," she said. Most of the volunteers are not members of University Baptist. Some are members of other churches; some do not attend anywhere. At least four volunteers have been brought into the church through the ministry.
___"She's reached out to a lot of folks," University Pastor Robert Creech said of Ferguson.
___Union Association's Hinzie said Faithful Friends is an example of what can happen when laypeople are empowered to minister. "University Baptist is very lay-ministry aware, probably the farthest down the road in understanding lay mobilization."
___The church had a structure that allowed Ferguson to discover her gifts and passion, research the ministry, put a team together and launch it.
___"I love animals, and I love the people here," Ferguson said as she sat in a nursing home foyer.
___God has taken both of those loves and made them a means for touching lives--physically and spiritually.
___
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