381 Rick Bolle of Naperville, IL – Founding Pastor of Front Porch Church Serving Those With Disabilities & Their Families

Transcript:

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Rick Bolle: You know, there might be a shout out or dancing in the aisleways, but at Front Porch Church there’s no distractions. There’s only interactions within our community. I think that sort of lays the groundwork for, okay, you know, it’s not going to be, a, you know, hey, you got to sit here and you have to be quiet. You know, we get one young boy who comes up and he plays with Lydia, our worship director, up on stage, you know, and he’ll bring his guitar and so we just don’t say no. We want to include everybody. We just don’t say no.

Tom Couch: That’s our guest this week, Rick Bolle, pastor and founder of the newly formed Front Porch Church in Naperville, Illinois. The Front Porch Church is designed for anyone with any disability. Their mission helping people of all abilities find their way back to God. It’s an illuminating conversation and we’ll hear it on this Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Now say hello to the founder of the Special Fathers Network and host of the Dad to Dad Podcast, David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: Hi, I’m David Hirsch, host of the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. One brief message. The Special Fathers Network Mastermind group experiences the most comprehensive program the 21st Century Dads foundation offers. Dads raising children with special needs. Meet virtually on a weekly basis and form meaningful relationships while sharing weekly wins, discussing books and sharing heartfelt challenges. One of the highlights of the year is attending the in-person weekend retreat scheduled this year from September 5th through the 7th. As you think about the year ahead, I invite you to join one of the existing or soon to be formed SFN Mastermind groups and join a group of like-minded dads to become the best version of yourself. It might just transform your life as it has done for so many others. For more information, please see the show notes or simply go to 21stCenturyDads.org.

Tom Couch: Now let’s listen into this week’s conversation between Rick Bolle and David Hirsch.

David Hirsch: I’m thrilled to be talking today with Rick Bolle of Naperville, Illinois, the father of two adult children, a retired senior safety specialist with Thermo Fisher Scientific and founder of Front Porch Church, helping people of all ability find their way back to God. Rick, thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview. For the Special Fathers Network.

Rick Bolle: Thanks, David. I’m glad to be here and certainly, enjoying, the opportunity to talk to you.

David Hirsch: You and your wife Alinda have been married for 32 years and the proud parents of two adult children. While you do not have a child with special needs, you’ve become an outspoken advocate for the disability community. Let’s start with some background. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family.

Rick Bolle: Yeah, I grew up here in Naperville, Illinois. My dad worked downtown Chicago, and he would take the train, each and every day downtown. So grew up here in this area, went to elementary school, junior high, and then also one year high school, and moved away, over to Ohio, and, ended up going to high school and college over there in Ohio, and then ended, up coming back to the Naperville area once, I had graduated and took my first job and moved back to the area. Great.

David Hirsch: My recollection was your dad is still alive.

Rick Bolle: He is 95 years old. Wow.

David Hirsch: And did I remember correctly that your parents were married for 72 years before your mom passed away last year?

Rick Bolle: You’re correct, yeah. She just passed away just before Thanksgiving. And, she passed away in her sleep, in her own pajamas, laying next to my dad. it was a very peaceful way. That’s the way that I want to go when it’s my time. But, 72 years, they were married. You’re correct.

David Hirsch: That’s remarkable. And, the fact that both your parents made it into their 90s is, you know, not something that anybody should take for granted. Very sorry to hear that your mom did pass away. But, you know, it sounds like they had a good run together.

Rick Bolle: Very much so. They enjoyed life, and, it was a joy to watch them, you know, grow old. You know, you sort of grow old on the front porch together. And so, yeah, they were a, loving mom, and dad that nurtured both me and my sister when we were younger. So very thankful. And, you know, just got done visiting my dad last week. And one of my highlights of that trip, David, was we went to the haircut barbershop, and we had our haircut together. And so there’s a picture of me and my dad getting our haircut. And so that was truly the highlight of my trip.

David Hirsch: I love it. Thanks for sharing. Out of curiosity, what did your dad do for a living?

Rick Bolle: He was a president of a company, downtown Chicago. There was three divisions. he was the overall president of the sandpaper division, and the sandpaper division was manufactured out In Ohio.

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Rick Bolle: And so he moved everybody out to Ohio when that division was sold. But he was involved with sales and then production, and then, got promoted up to president.

David Hirsch: Gotcha. And how would you describe your relationship with your dad?

Rick Bolle: A1. I mean, I can remember early on that he did travel quite a bit. You know, when we lived in Naperville, he would travel to Ohio. I kept the record. You know, I had a little paper calendar, and every night that he was gone, I would circle it. You know, at the end of the year, you know, I’d be, hey, dad. You know, you’re gone 150, 200 nights. I don’t remember the exact number, but, you know, he was there at baseball games, and I was in a little junior bowling group. And I remember him being there, you know, watching and very active with my youth and, the sports that I was in.

David Hirsch: Yeah. What I hear you saying is, even though he traveled a lot, that, his presence was known.

Rick Bolle: Very much so. Yep.

David Hirsch: Any important takeaways that you learned from your dad that you’ve tried to incorporate into your own fathering?

Rick Bolle: Oh, gosh, yeah. I mean, a lot, you know, and having two boys myself, you know, I’ve learned from him. And then I’m also wanting to pass along those traits and what he had taught me to both of my boys. So just, you know, real good in the business world. Both, my mom and dad helped start a church in Naperville a long time ago, which now here, all of a sudden, I’m starting a church, so. But just a lot of good qualities. You know, my mom was very social. My dad was, you know, just very supportive. I can remember, you know, he would play golf on Saturday mornings with his buddies, and, he would also go on some golf outings. But, for the most part, he was always around and helped with my driving lessons and, you know, our first cars and, a joy to be around, for sure.

David Hirsch: I love it. well, it’s always reassuring when I hear somebody speak so lovingly about their dad, and, what a blessing it’s been that, you know, you’ve had him around for as many years as you have. You know, age 95. That’s remarkable.

Rick Bolle: Very much so. Yeah. He. He’ll still, text me and, you know, give me a call and, you know, there’s a lot of repeat stories. but, I enjoy his presence and, he’s very present. You know, I think the older in life that he is getting, you know, maybe. Maybe distant future or distant past, doesn’t come to mind, but he’s very present and, I really learned from him just to, to slow down and enjoy the things that are around me. And that’s been a blessing that still he, is teaching me at age 95.

David Hirsch: That’s great. So I’m thinking about other father influencers. I’m wondering what your grandfathers did and what influence they might have had.

Rick Bolle: My mom’s dad, he was a farmer in Indiana. And so, I mean, there were summers that I would go spend with them and, just work out on the farm, you know, drive the vehicles before. I was actually 16, so just enjoyed the work mentality and the work atmosphere. My dad’s dad, I didn’t really know a whole lot. They were divorced and so I got to know my step grandfather more. So they lived out in California and so we would take the airplane out there and see them and they lived in a trailer park. And just, a lot of good memories with him. And he liked to dance. Yeah. Just another loving gentleman for sure.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. any other individuals that played a influential role in your life? Maybe a father figure, mentor type of role?

Rick Bolle: You know, my next door neighbor, his mom and dad were like my second mom and dad, and so it was a joy to be around them. You know, they had five boys in their family, so there was a lot of, you know, wrestling going on and playing football and, you know, his dad would, would come home from work and, you know, say a few words and boy, the entire family would straighten up pretty quick. So, you know, living next door to him, I couldn’t venture too far without, you know, Mr. Bray. He could call me and I’d come running if, if need be.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, it sounded like he had already lost control. If you had five boys, you know, a sixth was like just another dimension of playing zone defense.

Rick Bolle: It was, it was great. family.

David Hirsch: My recollection was you went to the Ohio State University and you took a BS in biology. Where did your career take you after that?

Rick Bolle: You know, I, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I just, I couldn’t pull the grades, so ended up with a BS in biology and genetics. But right after that, I graduated from college and found a sales job at a local chemical sales manufacturing company there in Alliance, Ohio, and started, to work for them in the sales field. And I really enjoy, you know, relationships and, you know, getting to know people and anywhere from a cold call

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Rick Bolle: to, you know, an established relationship. So always enjoyed the sales field. So right after College, it seemed like I went into sales. And, you know, it’s funny, I. I recently retired, and, you know, I’m approaching 61, and, you know, I tell people I. I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. And so I’m just this big kid. And, I’m. I’m very thankful for what, you know, the Lord’s blessed me with. And, yeah, the sales and relationship are big for me.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. It’s really hard to connect the dots as a young person trying to look forward. You can only connect the dots looking backwards and, you know, see where life is taking you. You know, I’m sort of glad to hear that. You know, maybe there’s still a search for, like, what the purpose is. You still have that curiosity that’s really important.

Rick Bolle: Yes, very much so.

David Hirsch: So, most of our, listeners are families that are touched directly or indirectly by special needs. And I’m, sort of curious to know, on a personal level, when you were growing up, did you have any direct or indirect connection to the disability community?

Rick Bolle: Not really that I was aware of. My oldest son, Tom. There’s another young boy who is my son’s age, and, both his mom and dad and my wife and I went to the same church. And so, you know, when we had Tom, our friends had their son, and, there was just always some developmental, you know, delay. I’ve got to, you know, just look back and think that the Lord was, you know, putting our two families together and just allowing me to see this from a distance. And so I can remember in school when any of our other, you know, special need classmates, were not around, they were in different rooms, but nothing immediate to my family that I was aware of. But through my, one of my best friends and his son really began to open my eyes for this community. And, I think that’s where it all started, to be honest with you.

David Hirsch: Well, thanks for sharing. I’d like to switch gears and talk about Front Porch Church, which, started in 2023, just a couple years back now. And my understanding is that the mission is helping people of all abilities find their way back to God. And it’s specifically designed to welcome individuals with special needs and their families. You have weekly services that offer worship experience and embrace all expressions of movement so that everybody feels like they’re included and valued and safe and loved. So I’m wondering, where did the idea. What experiences influenced you to make this transition from the corporate career that you have to founding Front Porch Church.

Rick Bolle: You know, there’s really three things, you know, that birthed the Front Porch Church and it was my Young Life Capernaum experience. So Young Life is a global organization, it’s an outreach, it’s not denominational, but I was involved with our Young Life organization. And then they also have Capernaum program which Young Life is for high school aged kids and our Capernaum is for high school aged kids as well. And so the special needs community ages out of school, the public school system, you know, at different ages in different states. But a big part of it came from my Young Life Capernaum experience. The second part would be, you know, Benjamin’s Hope, where Krista has built her program on four pillars. Live, learn, play and worship. And you know, the biggest pillar for her is the live pillar for her son Benjamin, which, which I totally understand. And with me not having any special needs children, the largest pillar for me is the worship pillar. And then the third is Community Christian Church. The church that I go to, they have a program for starting microchurches. And so it’s all biblically based. And and so I went through our microchurch planting class and our very first service, we opened up the doors and 112 people came into that service. So to me it was telling me that you know, something like this is needed. But it was really out of those three entities, Young Life Capernaum, Benjamin’s Hope and then Community Christian Church, they really birthed this Front Porch vision. And when I was at camp with our Young Life Capernaum kids and I would look out over camp and see all different ages, all different colors, all different abilities, all different disabilities. To me that’s what the kingdom of heaven looks like. And so how can we bring this visual back to the Naperville Aurora area and create a worship experience where nobody’s on the margins, where everybody’s

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Rick Bolle: included. So out of those three things really birthed the Front Porch Church.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well thanks for sharing and thank you also for the introduction to Christa Mason with Benjamin to there in Michigan who obviously had a influence on you and you know, was very grateful that she did an interview, you know, a couple years back now for the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. I do remember you telling me a story and I don’t know where it fits into the origin from Ports Church, but I think you were to exponential event. James Meeks, this, you know, iconic, pastor in the city, had an influence. What was that all about?

Rick Bolle: That was amazing. David, it really was. I went to the Exponential Conference, and it was at our church here in Naperville, and, and he was the closing speaker. And there was probably 8, 900 of us in the, in the audience. And I felt like I was the only one. Only one. And, and that he was speaking directly to me. And, you know, his closing comment was, again, all these church leaders, potential church planters. You know, you don’t need the right board of directors, you don’t need the right funding, you don’t need the right buildings. You know, God just needs you to be available. And I mean, that hit me right between my eyes on my forehead. And I quickly came home from that conference and I told my wife, I said, I feel like I’m being called to plant a church. I’m available for this community. And so it was a God moment for sure. And, very appreciative of, you know, James Meeks and his just question and his challenge to all of us.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, thanks for sharing. he has had such a big impact, in so many different ways. I think of James Meeks and people like that of being the angels in our lives. Right. You know, sometimes, you know, right then and there, and other times you don’t know until you can look back and, what a blessing that has been.

Rick Bolle: Very much so. Again, I. I came home from that service, you know, told my wife, I met her in the kitchen. I’m like, I think I’m being called to plan the church. And, you know, it’s probably 10 years prior to that, David, when I came back from one of our young Life Capernaum camp trips, that particular camp trip, I thought I was going to be able to share so much about Jesus with, you know, our community and, and to tell them how much Jesus loves them. I mean, during that camp trip, you know, what I got back was tenfold. And they not only told me how much Jesus loves me, they showed me themselves how much Jesus loved me. And I came home from that camp trip, same kitchen, and I told my wife, I said, this is where I’m calling. I’m pushing all my chips. And that was 10, 12 years ago.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. So Front Porch Church emphasizes inclusivity for individuals of all abilities. what specific strategies or practices have you implemented to ensure that everyone feels welcome and valued in your congregation?

Rick Bolle: Gosh, great question. You know, it looks a little bit like a Young Life club. It looks a little bit like church. there’s a lot of participation and there’s a Bible message and so trying to wrap all of that into, you know, a worship experience. It’s, it’s not just a drop off event and, but it’s for families to come and worship together. And I don’t know how to describe it, David, other than it’s, it is where people are seen and valued and heard and loved, you know, and I’ll host the service. I’ve got seven different people that will come in and teach the message. And then I also have alternatives that come in and teach. But, you know, we talked about there might be a high five or a shout out or, you know, there’s one young boy who comes and he’ll see somebody he hasn’t seen for a while and he’ll just shout their name out and go over and give them a big hug, you know, right during our service. And so I mentioned that, you know, there might be, you know, a shout out or dancing in the aisleways, but at Front Porch Church, there’s, there’s no distractions. There’s only interactions within our community. I think that sort of lays the groundwork for. Okay, you know, it’s not going to be a, you know, hey, you got to sit here and you have to be quiet. You know, we get one young boy who comes up and he plays with Lydia, our worship director, up on stage, you know, and he’ll bring his guitar and so we just don’t say no. We want to include everybody. We just don’t say no.

David Hirsch: Yeah, I love it. Can you share a memorable story or two, A, moment that encapsulates the impact that Front Porch Church has had on its members or the broader community?

Rick Bolle: You know, at the very end, we sing a song. It’s a very simple song. And we keep a lot of the things the same. From week to week, we invite people to come up front and if they feel comfortable and if they’re able to. And we sing our last song and it’s two verses. And so the first verse, we’re holding our hands down, but we’re all, you know, gathered, holding hands. And then

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Rick Bolle: the second verse, we all raise our hands. And so the very first service, there was four of us up at the very front. And now our entire church gathers in a great big circle and, you know, we’ll average, you know, 60-65 people on a Sunday night. And everybody circles up and we sing that last song together. And so to me, it’s showing me that nobody’s left out, but everybody is, is on the inside. And that’s the beautiful thing. So that’s just one of many when you come to the Front Porch Church. But that ending song and the way that people have circled up and it was really Lydia, our worship director, we used to just hold hands in the, in the rows and she’s like, yeah, let’s just circle up. And so we started that and now it, it’s become almost a tradition. You know, at the very end we all gather in a great big circle and sing our last song.

David Hirsch: I love it. Thank you.

Tom Couch: We’ll be back with more of the conversation on the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast in just a few moments. But first, this quick message. Please help 21st Century Dads gather research on families raising children with special needs by having them complete the Special Fathers Network Early Intervention Parents survey. A link to the survey can be found in the show notes. As a token of our appreciation, each person, mom or dad, who completes the survey will receive a great dad coin. Thank you. Now back to the conversation.

David Hirsch: How do you envision the future growth of Front Porch Church? And are there any upcoming initiatives or programs you are particularly excited about?

Rick Bolle: You know, we, we’re looking to build a church and a greenhouse and a barn very similar to Benjamin’s Hope over in Holland, Michigan. We’re looking to build this, down in Oswego, Illinois there’s a property owner. Both, her and her husband have heard my story. We’ve come together and they’ve told me that, you know, they want to see my vision on their property. And so we are looking to build the church and greenhouse in the barn out there in Oswego here in the coming years. But you know, it’ll obviously be a place of worship. But then throughout the week there will be day programs within the church. We’re looking to, to put a one bedroom apartment where nobody will live, but yet we’ll teach independent skill classes. You know, how do you make your bed or how do you change the, you know, the sheets on your bed and how do you clean your, your bathroom? And so there’ll be independent skill classes throughout the week along with activities at our barn and greenhouse. But that will help sustain us, again, very similar to Benjamin’s hope, that they do, you know, currently. So.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, from your lips to God’s ears. I hope that within a reasonable period of time that whether it’s with this Oswego couple and their property that you’ll realize the vision or the dream that you have of having a church, a greenhouse and a barn and you know, that’s just the beginning. Right. That’s not like, oh, that’s the destination. Right. That just creates the framework. Right. The, foundation for. I think.

Rick Bolle: Yeah, very much so. Very much so. One, it was actually at another exponential conference. I heard, another gentleman talking about, you know, how we all have a scorecard and we want it to be bigger, bolder, better, you know, and how can we continue to build that scorecard? Bigger, bolder, better. And, you know, you look at a cruise line and, you know, of course the cruise ships are bigger, bolder, better. But he said that, you know, he wanted to be an aircraft carrier. You know, he wanted the, people to come in and land, get refueled, get refreshed, and then he wants to send them off. And I’m a very visual guy. And so I love that concept about how we could become a training organization to launch other all ability worship services. Will they all look like Front Porch Church? Absolutely not. You know, will they meet maybe once a month? They could, but I love when and I share the Front Porch Church with just about everybody I see. And when I share it, people are looking at the church, but from the outside looking in. And when people come and experience the Front Porch Church and they are now on the inside looking out, game changer. And so again, with the, with the training piece and wanting to build other all ability services again, come see us, talk to us, bring your team, and, you know, I’m more than happy to pass down my playbook, say this is what we do, and then you take it and you make it your own in your own community. And I think big, big reason why the Front Porch Church has

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been, you know, just in a little over two short years where we’re at today is because of the relationships that I had. My circle is pretty big. But then all of a sudden, this team that God put together, this team has other circles and those circles are bigger than mine. And so now these relationships have started and they’re getting deeper and they’re also spreading roots at the same time.

David Hirsch: Yeah, I love that visual of aircraft, carrier planes coming in, refueling, taking off.

Rick Bolle: Yes.

David Hirsch: And touching base and then going on to the. Their destiny. And, as opposed to just a destination. Right. Everybody’s sort of coming there as a destination. Right. What advice would you offer to other faith leaders looking to create more inclusive and acceptable worship environments, in their own communities?

Rick Bolle: A lot of people have reached out to me over the past, primarily the last year, you know, and they’ve heard about Front Porch Church or people have talked about the Front Porch Church, then they’ve given my name out. But I would have to say, you know, our church has been so supportive of Rick Bolle and the Front Porch Church. They have provided everything that I’ve ever needed and desired for our church. There’s been no headwinds against us. So the support that I’ve received from community has helped us so, so much. And so I would say, you know, for folks that are wanting to start, obviously, again, I wanted it to be a family worship. So you know, please tie yourself into a church and you know, provide that team with what your vision is. And there’s a lot of barriers to starting an all ability service. But you know, God puts the right people in, in place and he puts the right teams together. And our mission, helping people of all abilities find their way back to God, I mean, that is in the center of every meeting, of every conversation and in every service. And you know, through God all things are possible. And so it’s been a blessing to have the support of community and then this team that God’s put together for us to continue on. So have we had roadblocks? Absolutely, we’ve had roadblocks. But you know, sometimes our church, the entire building will be rented out. So now we have to take our church to another church. But you know, it gives us an opportunity to share with that new church what we’re doing and so that they can share with their community. And so I love how, you know, we have a home base, but yet we still travel, I guess is the word to other churches. And one, of the messages or series that we were going through was why church? And it wasn’t about the four, you know, walls around us that we were worshiping in. But the definition that community came up with and that we were able to teach to our church was a church is a community of people on mission together where Jesus is king. And so it fit us perfect because it wasn’t about the building that we were in, it was truly about the community of people where we were on mission together, where Jesus was king. And so it’s fun to look back and like you said, connect the dots to see what, what the Lord’s been doing with it. Front Porch Church.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, for a very unusual reason, your message is resonating with me today. Our, fraternity at the University of Illinois sold our chapter house. Not because of a hazing incident or drugs or alcohol or anything nefarious, but it was a financial decision. Right. We had the largest house on Campus, we couldn’t get enough members to live in the house. So we made the decision for the right reason, financially. And you know, sadly, the 2,300 plus members who have been initiated, maybe 1,500 of them are still living. You know, they’re not happy. Right. Because they associate the fraternity with the physical structure. Right. The experiences they had while they were undergrads. Right. For the year or two or three or maybe four years that they lived in the house.

David Hirsch: You know, I’m trying to, as a leader, the new leader subsequent to the sale of the house. I’m trying to emphasize that, you know, the brotherhood is not the house. Right. Even though most of us associate our experiences, those initial experiences with the physical house. And you know, there’s an education period I think, that we’re going through. Right. A reflection period that we’re going through and realizing that the brotherhood had something to do with the physical location. I’m not trying to discount

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David Hirsch: that or, you know, candy coat, that, that was, that was important. But you know, the relationships that we have, the community that we built, you know, is much more important than the physical structure. So we’re making this transition period competing with the other 30 plus fraternities, most of which who have houses. And we’re trying to like, get back to our core values and it’ll, be interesting to see how things transpire. So I can relate to what you were just talking about. About the church is a community of people, not necessarily the building that you get together in once a week or periodically. So.

Rick Bolle: Right. I enjoy when we go back to community and we’re back in the gymnasium again. That was our very first service. You know, I set up 80 chairs in the gymnasium. And that very first service, the Lord opened up the doors for 112 people to show up. It was a longer than normal service. We started late. It was totally off the rails. But it was beautiful. It really, really was. And you know, when we go back to the gymnasium there, you know, and I’ll tell people, I said, man, this just feels like home. But at the same time, this past Sunday we were at Presbyterian, church. And that felt like home too, you know, and, and again, it’s this community of people. So, yeah, I hear you loud and clear.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, you want to be able to bottle that because I think that’s what’s missing. Not in every situation, but, people have, you know, their own way of doing things. Right. And you get into a habit. I don’t want to call It a rut. But you know, that familiarity with this is the way we’ve always done things, you know, in the same place. You know, you need to sort of like get outside your comfort zone sometimes. That’s what I heard you saying. And the physical plant, it’s important to have a home. I’m not again, dismissing that. But you know, you want to get back to the roots of what’s important. And I think what I heard you saying is that it’s those relationships, right? The fact that we’re sharing in this together and you know, if it looks a little chaotic or it’s a little bit messy or, you know, it’s not coming together as, you know, seamlessly, as we would have hoped or expected, that’s not a bad thing. Right? It just means that we have a, a unique experience that we’ll be able to reflect on and maybe there’s some growth and some understanding that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.

Rick Bolle: So, yeah, we we just finished a series. It was our very first homegrown series. We called it features a Front Porch Church. again, it wasn’t a manuscript. I asked all of our teachers that were giving the message two questions. You know, what unique features do you have? And how does God see you? And David, they came up with five different themes for this four week series because we had two individuals give the message together and their themes were kindness, prayer, peace, honesty and belonging. And I didn’t put that together. I mean it was the Lord putting this together. And so, you know, this features a Front Porch Church series that we just got done having was amazing. And again wasn’t about the building, but it was about the individuals in the church. And so we’re going to continue with features ah of Front Porch Church throughout the next, you know, couple years and, and we’ll get stories from different families that we’ll be able to show at church. But I mean it really again, it opened up, reopened up my eyes to this community. And I knew we have one young gentleman who actually I first met before our very first service. And he has special needs and he wants to be a pastor. And so he’s in our teaching rotation. And I mean when he gives a message, you can hear a pin drop in the whole congregation. But I knew that this community, you know, could do this. Not everybody is cut out, to be a pastor, you know, up on the front stage. But they are their own pastor in their own community, whether it’s at work or you know, in their neighborhood. But what I saw, what I felt, what I experienced in features of Front Porch Church series was above and beyond my wildest expectations. And so it was just, it was amazing to see and to hear and experience it. I took a picture of. We had eight different teachers give the message, but it was, it was amazing.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing. Very impactful. So I’m thinking about advice now and I’m wondering what advice you can offer parents, specifically dads who, are raising a child or children with disability.

Rick Bolle: Get involved, get in the game. I, I’ve heard these messages time and time again in our young life organization

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Rick Bolle: by getting involved and being part of the game, you know, you’re a team player and so not everybody’s going to be a pitcher, not everybody’s going to be a first baseman, but everybody has unique, unique gifts and talents and so get in the game. I’ve seen a lot of, you know, dad gatherings in our special needs community. And again, one of the young gentlemen who’s my age, you know, he’s like, Rick, he says, I have always felt called to start a small group, you know, of dads. And I’m like, well, go for it, you know. And so he’s now in the game. And so my advice is to get in the game and get involved.

David Hirsch: I love it. Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like to share before we wrap up other than.

Rick Bolle: My dog is still barking? I mean, I love when people come and see the Front Porch Church and see it from the inside looking out. I love the phone calls. I love the relationships. I love our all ability team. There’s nobody higher in the team. We’re just, we’re all locking arms together. And so it is our all ability team that God has put together and that we continue to just lean in and say yes and be part of. So I’m sort of at a loss for words. I, I want people to come see Front Porch Church and experience it.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, that’s an open invitation. That’s an open invitation.

Rick Bolle: Yes.

David Hirsch: So let’s give a special shout out to special, Fathers Network mentor Father John Fella of, Johnny and Friends and our mutual friend Alan Kruszewski for helping connect us.

Rick Bolle: Yeah, both of those two individuals are great guys and so partner and lock arms with those guys has, helped me tremendously.

David Hirsch: If somebody wants to learn more about Front Porch Church or contact you, what’s the best way to do so really.

Rick Bolle: Best way is go to our Front Porch Church Facebook page. They’ll see just a bio of who we are, when we meet and then we always post what our service, we take pictures and we take videos and again we follow the same series that our community church follows. And so you’ll see, you know, series runs and then you’ll see weekly, messages. But through Facebook is probably the best way to get in touch with us. And obviously my, my name and my phone number are certainly available in this as well.

David Hirsch: I’ll be sure to include that information in the show notes. It’ll make it as easy as possible for somebody to follow up. Rick, thank you for your time and many insights. As a reminder, Rick is just one of the individuals who’s part of the Special Fathers Network mentoring program for fathers raising a child with special needs. If you’d like to be a mentor father or are seeking advice from a mentor father with a similar situation to your own, Please go to 21stCenturyDads.org. Thank you for listening to the latest episode of the Special Fathers Network Data Dad Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. As you probably know, the 21st Century Dads foundation is a 501c3 not for profit organization, which means we need your help to keep our content free to all concerned. Would you please consider making a tax actable contribution? I would really appreciate your support. Rick, thanks again.

Rick Bolle: Thank you David.

Tom Couch: And thank you for listening to the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. The Special Fathers Network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Through our personalized matching process, new fathers with special needs children match up with mentor fathers in a similar situation. It’s a great way for dads to support other dads. To find out more, go to 21stCenturydads.org.

David Hirsch: And if you’re a dad looking for help or would like to offer help, we would be honored to have you join our closed Facebook group. Please go to facebook.com groups and search dad to dad. Lastly, we’re always looking to share interesting stories. If you’d like to share your story or know of a compelling story, please send an email to david@21stCenturyDads.org.

Tom Couch: The Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast was produced by me, Tom Couch. Thanks again to Amgen. Committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing, and delivering innovative human therapeutics. Discover more about Amgen’s mission at Amgen.com.

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