Biography
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Born
15 October 1949 (age 75)
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Born In
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
JONI EARECKSON TADA
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joni and Friends
Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder of Joni and Friends, an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community.
A diving accident in 1967 left Mrs. Tada a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, unable to use her hands. After two years of rehabilitation, Joni re-entered the community with new skills and a fresh determination to help others in similar situations. “My church made a huge difference in my family’s life as they demonstrated the love of God in practical ways,” says Joni.
Mrs. Tada wrote of her experiences in her international best-selling biography, Joni. Her name is now recognized in countries around the world following the distribution in many languages of her biography and the full-length feature film JONI. She has personally visited over 41 countries.
Having been catapulted onto a national stage, Mrs. Tada founded Joni and Friends (JAF) in 1979 to accelerate Christian ministry in the disability community throughout the world. The organization grew into the establishment in 2006 of the Joni and Friends International Disability Center (IDC) which is affecting the lives of thousands of families affected by disability around the globe.
Led by Founder and visionary Joni Eareckson Tada and President and COO, Mr. Doug Mazza, the Joni and Friends International Disability Center has four flagship programs:
With over a million listeners a week "Joni and Friends," a daily five minute radio program, is heard over 1000 broadcast outlets. In 2002 it received the “Radio Program of the Year” award from National Religious Broadcasters.
In 2007 Joni and Friends will serve over 800 special need families through 16 Family Retreats across the nation.
Through Wheels for the World, over 34,000 wheelchairs have been collected nationwide, refurbished by inmates in 17 correctional facilities, and then shipped and donated to developing nations where, whenever possible, physical therapists fit each chair to a needy disabled child or adult.
Through Joni and Friends’ Field Services, staff and volunteers provide church training along with educational and inspirational resources to promote ministry to those affected by disability and those who can help.
The IDC will not only accommodate the extraordinary growth of existing programs but provide a new communications center and training facility for our international partnerships. The Center will also include the Christian Institute on Disability which will speak to sensitive disability-related issues such as euthanasia and stem cell research.
Joni’s work has mainly focused on influencing the church on disability-related issues. However, her impact is felt beyond the Christian community. Mrs. Tada's role as a disability advocate led to a presidential appointment to the National Council on Disability for three and a half years, during which time the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. In 2005, Joni Eareckson Tada was appointed to the Disability Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department.
Mrs. Tada is a highly sought-after conference speaker both in the U.S. and overseas. She has written numerous articles, which have been published in Christianity Today, Today’s Christian Woman, The War Cry (Salvation Army), and newspapers around the world. Joni has appeared four times on Larry King Live, sharing not only her Christian testimony, but a biblical perspective on right-to-life issues which affect our nation’s disabled population.
During her two years of rehabilitation, Joni spent long months learning how to paint with a brush between her teeth. Her high detail fine art paintings and prints are sought after and collected.
Mrs. Tada is Senior Associate for Disability Concerns for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and serves in an advisory capacity to the American Leprosy Mission, the National Institute on Learning Disabilities, Love and Action, and Christian Blind Mission International, as well as on the Board of Reference for the Christian Writers Guild, New Europe Communications and the Christian Medical and Dental Society. She is currently Honorary Co-Chair of the Presidential Prayer Team
Joni Eareckson Tada has received The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award; The Courage Award from the Courage Rehabilitation Center; The Award of Excellence from the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center; The Victory Award from the National Rehabilitation Hospital; The Golden Word Award from the International Bible Society. She is inducted into the Christian Booksellers’ Association’s Hall of Honor. In 2002, Joni received the William Ward Ayer Award for excellence from the National Religious Broadcasters’ Association. In 2003 she was given the Gold Medallion Award for her book When God Weeps. In 2004 she was awarded the Gold Medallion Award for co-authoring Hymns for a Kid’s Heart, Volume 1.
Mrs. Tada was given the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. She was also named "Churchwoman of the Year" in 1993 by the Religious Heritage Foundation and was the first woman to be honored by the National Association of Evangelicals as their "Layperson of the Year." She also holds:
An honorary Bachelor of Letters from Western Maryland College.
An honorary Doctor of Humanities from Gordon College.
An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Columbia International University, the first honorary doctorate bestowed in its 75-year history.
An honorary Doctor of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary.
An honorary Doctor of Divinity from Lancaster Bible College.
Joni Eareckson Tada is the author of over 35 books. Her best-selling and award-winning works cover topics ranging from disability outreach to reaching out to God and include: A Christmas Longing depicting her best-loved Christmas paintings; Life and Death Dilemma addressing the tough issues of physician-assisted suicide. She explores the nature of heaven in Heaven …Your Real Home. The mystery of suffering is systematically examined in When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty, co-authored by Steve Estes. Joni and Steve also wrote A Step Further to speak to the subject of healing. In 2003 Joni authored her memoirs, The God I Love, chronicling a lifetime walking with Jesus.
Mrs. Tada has also written several children's books, including Tell Me The Promises, which received the Evangelical Publishers’ Association’s Gold Medallion and Silver Medal in the 1997 C.S. Lewis Awards, and Tell Me The Truth which received the EPCA Gold Medallion in 1998.
Mrs. Tada and her husband Ken have been married since 1982. Mr. Tada retired from 32 years of teaching in 2004 and ministers alongside Joni as they travel across the country and around the world. Ken Tada, along with Joni, are permanent members of the International Board of Directors of Joni and Friends. In 2001, Mr. Tada received Family Life Ministries’ Robertson McQuilken Award honoring “The Courageous Love of a Marriage Covenant Keeper.”
Revised December 7, 2006
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