Mr. Bobby Maddex: Welcome to Ancient Faith Presents…. I’m Bobby Maddex, station manager of Ancient Faith Radio, and today I will be talking with Fr. Jason and Savannah Foster of the Orthodox Christian Deaf Association, or OCDA. Welcome to the program, Fr. Jason and Savannah!

Fr. Jason Foster: Thank you for having us, Bobby. It’s an honor to be here. And thank you for your greater ministry to the Orthodox Church and beyond.

Mr. Maddex: Why don’t you begin by telling me a little bit about you two and your background? Where are you located, what parish do you attend? things like that.

Fr. Jason: Sure. We’re located in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is the northwest corner of the state. I’m the priest in charge at Holy Nativity of the Lord Orthodox Mission. It’s a mission of the OCA Diocese of the South, and Savannah is my daughter, so let’s just say she’s been with me for quite some time now.

Mr. Maddex: [Laughter] Awesome. So what exactly is the Orthodox Christian Deaf Association? Could one of you describe it for me?

Fr. Jason: Sure. The Orthodox Christian Deaf Association is an association that was formed basically to connect Orthodox Deaf Christians across the country and those that are hard of hearing. It was also established to develop educational liturgical resources. Then lastly it was developed to reach out into the Deaf community which we have found out is really an unreached people group here in the United States. So that’s the three major functions of the organization itself.

Mr. Maddex: What prompted your involvement with it?

Fr. Jason: I’m going to let Savannah answer this question.

Mr. Maddex: Okay!

Ms. Savannah Foster: Hey, Mr. Bobby! Okay, so how it started was I was actually at Barnes and Noble, and I watched these two Deaf people signing, and I knew I would have to cross them to leave the building, so I looked up how to say, “Excuse me,” “Thank you,” and “Have a good day,” and as I was passing by them, I signed it, and we tried to have a conversation. Once I went back home and I told my mom and dad about it, I was super excited. Then I was like: What if somebody came into our church and didn’t understand the services?

So after that I was determined to learn sign language, and I did. I taught myself for six months off of YouTube, and then once I had built up enough courage, I went to our local Deaf Action Center, and that’s where I met my Deaf friends who have been teaching me for over three years now. And then, about five to six months ago, I asked my dad what the Orthodox Church had for Orthodox Deaf Christians, and he said, “Well, I don’t know. Let’s look it up.” So we did, and after a few hours of looking on the internet and all these other things, we couldn’t find anything, so then he said, “There isn’t anything, so we should start our own.” That’s basically how it all started. That’s where we are now.

Mr. Maddex: Savannah, that’s amazing. How old are you, Savannah?

Ms. Foster: I’m 19.

Mr. Maddex: Yeah, that’s such a heart-warming, encouraging story. I really appreciate your taking the time to help form this organization.

Ms. Foster: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for taking your time to interview us.

Mr. Maddex: So can one of you tell me what the specific goals of the organization are?

Fr. Jason: Really, what we’ve found is that there is a great need for the Orthodox Deaf to be connected to each other. Ever since we launched the ministry or the association about five weeks ago, we’ve had feedback from all over the country from people from different ages, and many of them felt isolated and alone because they may be the only person in that community that’s deaf or hard-of-hearing, and we already feel isolated sometimes as Orthodox Christians. Imagine being Orthodox and Deaf or hard-of-hearing!

So we’ve realized that a great need right now is to simply have a centralized location website that brings all these people together so they can interact with each other, and then from that we’re learning, after interacting with them, what really they feel like they need within the community themselves. So instead of us trying to come up with resources, liturgical material, these various things, we’re letting them tell us what they need.

Then, lastly, again, we’ve done research and we’ve found out that even though there seems like in other traditions there are a lot of active Deaf ministries, really overall in the United States there is somewhat of an unreached people group. For us also we’ve learned that sometimes Orthodox Deaf or hard-of-hearing will visit a local mission or parish but become very frustrated over time because there’s nobody there that’s able to sign, they don’t understand the services, so they end up going to a different tradition or a different church.

So our goals are really being formed as we go along, but we’ve seen these things manifest themselves: the need for community, the need for resources, and the need to reach out to the Deaf and the hard-of-hearing in general.

Mr. Maddex: Are you partnering with any other organizations or are you doing this all on your own?

Fr. Jason: Well, that’s a really good question. We’ve actually had good interaction of course with the OCA which we’re a part of, but also we’ve heard from the Antiochian Archdiocese, and within the Antiochian Orthodox Church, various missions and parishes. We’ve also been interacting with Greek Orthodox Christians. We’ve just gotten emails from a Bulgarian Orthodox family. So really it’s been across the board, but it’s been more grassroots driven than anything.

I think the website in the last three weeks has had around 2,200 visits. We’ve had close to 60 people sign up to be what we call ambassadors or OCDA ASL consultants. So we’re kind of seeing it take shape and form before our very eyes, and that itself is helping us gain the attention of some of these organizations that we do hope to partner with.

Mr. Maddex: So you mention this ambassador program as one of the ways that some of our listeners might be able to assist you. What are some of the other ways?

Fr. Jason: Really right now there’s three major ways. Not to sound cliché, but we all know that this is true: we need the prayers of the people, to be remembered, remember the OCDA in their prayers, ask for God to give us guidance and wisdom. We really need people to go onto the OrthodoxDeaf.org website and become members of the OCDA. By doing that, there’s no charge. The information we gather is limited, but it helps us see where people are in the United States that can act as ambassadors for us; in other words, be our voice in that local mission or parish or in that area.

The other way, though, is, those that are learning ASL or know ASL, they become OCDA ASL consultants, and those are people we are seeing that can really help us form and develop a consistent liturgical and educational materials across the board for all of us. Because we had a meeting last week, and we’ve come to realize, talking to the various ASL consultants that we already have in different areas of the country, when you’re trying to sign the word “Theotokos,” that in and of itself becomes very difficult theologically. So we’re trying to work together to set somewhat of a standard by which these things will be signed, both according to ASL guidelines, but also according to Orthodox theology.

So as someone that doesn’t know much about ASL and the Deaf community myself, I’ve learned how complicated this can really be. That’s kind of what we’re working on right now, and people can help us the most by praying for us, joining the OCDA, and then volunteering to be either an ambassador for us or an ASL consultant.

Mr. Maddex: So I assume that the website is also the best way to get in contact with you and Savannah.

Fr. Jason: Yes, it is. OrthodoxDeaf.org is the website, and we also have a Facebook page under OrthodoxDeaf, an Instagram page. But then you can also email us at orthodoxdeaf@gmail.com or call one of us; our information’s on the website. People have been contacting us in all these various ways, which is wonderful.

Mr. Maddex: Fr. Jason and Savannah, I’m so impressed by what you’re doing and what you’ve accomplished so far, and I really appreciate your coming on here today to talk about it. Is there anything else that either of you would like to add before we conclude here?

Fr. Jason: No, we’re just very thankful for Ancient Faith Radio, and you say partnering people? Well, Bobby, you’re one of the main groups we love to partner with, your organization itself. And please keep us in your prayers and spread the news. We would ask people, if you know anybody that’s Deaf or hard-of-hearing at a local mission or parish, please let them know about the ministry itself and help us get this community connected to each other so we can really minister to them and beyond.

Mr. Maddex: Thank you so much for joining me today, Fr. Jason and Savannah.

Fr. Jason: Thank you, Bobby, for having us, and may God continue to bless Ancient Faith Radio. And thank you again for your service to the greater Church.

Mr. Maddex: And goodbye, Savannah!

Ms. Foster: Bye! Thank you so much!

Mr. Maddex: All right. You guys have a good day, okay?

Fr. Jason: You, too, Bobby. God bless. Take care.

Mr. Maddex: Okay. Once again I have been speaking with Fr. Jason and Savannah Foster of the Orthodox Christian Deaf Association. I’m Bobby Maddex, and this has been a listener-supported presentation of Ancient Faith Radio.