Ministry and public life
She founded Joni and Friends in 1979, an organization to "accelerate Christian ministry in the disability community" [6] throughout the world. In 2007 the Joni and Friends International Disability Center in Agoura Hills, California, was established. [7] Led by Tada (founder and CEO) and John Nugent (president and COO), the Joni and Friends International Disability Center runs a multi-faceted non-profit covering a number of program outlets. The longest-running program is "Joni and Friends Radio", a five-minute radio program begun in 1982. It now runs four minutes in length and can be heard each weekday on over 1,000 broadcast outlets. [8] Tada also records a one-minute radio feature, "Diamonds in the Dust", that airs daily. [8] Both programs have received awards: "Joni and Friends Radio" received the "Radio Program of the Year" [9] award from National Religious Broadcasters in 2002, and "Diamonds in the Dust" won the same award in 2011 in the short program. [10]
Other Joni and Friends programs include Family Retreats (a camp/retreat experience for families affected by disability), [9] Wounded Warrior Getaways (which offer a similar experience for families of Wounded Warriors), [11] and Wheels for the World (which collects manual wheelchairs and other mobility devices to be refurbished by volunteers in prison restoration shops, then shipped overseas, where the wheelchairs are fitted by physical therapists to people in developing nations). [9] Joni and Friends also has produced 51 episodes of Joni and Friends TV, [12] and overseen the formation of the Christian Institute on Disability (a training and advocacy arm of Joni and Friends), among other ventures. [13] While the main office of Joni and Friends remains in Agoura Hills, California, smaller offices can be found across the United States. [14]
In 2005, Tada was appointed to the Disability Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department. [15] Tada served on the National Council on Disability under presidents Reagan and Bush in 1988.[ how? ] The first draft of the Americans with Disabilities Act was authored by this council. [16]
Tada is a conference speaker. Her articles have been published in Christianity Today , [17] Today's Christian Woman, [18] The War Cry (Salvation Army), [19] and newspapers around the world. Tada has appeared several times on Larry King Live . [20] In 1989, Tada was a plenary speaker at the Second International Congress on World Evangelization in Manila. She served until 2013 in her appointment as the Lausanne Senior Associate for Disability Concerns. As of 2017 [update] , Tada is still a board member of the Lausanne Movement. [21]
As of 2017 [update] , Tada is an adviser on many organizations, such as the Board of Reference for the Christian Medical and Dental Society, Young Life Capernaum Board, CBM International, National Institute for Learning Disabilities, and the American Leprosy Mission. [8] She also served on Love and Action, the Institute on Learning Disabilities, the Disability Advisory Committee, New Europe Communications, and the Christian Writers Guild, and as honorary co-chair of the Presidential Prayer Team. [22] She has been interviewed by the Chicago Tribune , [23] Ligonier Ministries, [24] and the Los Angeles Times . [25]
In November 2009, Tada signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians to work towards changing laws which permit abortion, and other matters that go against their religious consciences. [26] [27]
