What happens when suffering becomes the doorway to calling?

In this powerful in-person episode of A Little Extra Love, Rachael Vermeulen sits down with disability ministry coordinator and advocate Abby Howard, whose life changed overnight after a rare spinal cord stroke left her paralyzed from the chest down.

What followed wasn’t just physical recovery — it was a radical redefinition of mission, obedience, and the Church’s responsibility to the disability community.

Abby shares how God used her story to reveal one of the most overlooked realities in modern Christianity: the disability community is one of the largest unreached people groups, often not by rejection of the gospel, but by inaccessibility to it.

Together, they explore suffering, dependence, advocacy, holy disruption, and what it means to “flip tables with love” so that no one is left outside the Body of Christ.

This conversation is a call to church leaders, families, and believers everywhere: the gospel was never meant to be inaccessible.

1. How disability reshaped Abby’s understanding of calling and mission
2. Why the disability community is an unreached people group
3. The difference between awareness and true belonging in churches
4. What biblical advocacy actually looks like
5. Why obedience often requires discomfort
6. How weakness becomes the starting place of God’s power
7. Practical encouragement for churches unsure where to begin

To connect with Abby and her resources through The Accessible Gospel you can find them here:

Resources: https://stan.store/theaccessiblegospel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theaccessiblegospel/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@abbynothannah

disability ministry podcast, accessible church, disability and the gospel, Christian disability advocacy, inclusive church leadership, disability theology, testimony, Great Commission disability ministry, church accessibility ministry