S9 E6 — In a season of parties and entertaining, it’s good to remember that hospitality means something very different—welcoming the stranger and caring for one another. In The Hospitality of Need, Kevan Chandler, born with a progressive disability, explores how dependence can expand life and deepen community. His story points us back to our shared human neediness, reflected in the baby lying in the manger. 

00:0 Reimagining the Good Life
06:12 Gift of Interdependence
12:52 Understanding Need and Hospitality
17:37 Proximity and Need
21:43 Peer to Peer Caregiving
26:39 A Journey to Skellig Michael
32:53 Spiritual Realities of Need
38:12 Invitation Into Need

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Amy Julia’s interview with Kevan on Take the Next Step
• The Hospitality of Need: How Depending on One Another Helps Us Heal and Grow Together by Kevan Chandler and Tommy Shelton
• We Carry Kevan 
• I John 1

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ABOUT OUR GUEST:

KEVAN CHANDLER is the founder of the nonprofit organization We Carry Kevan and speaks worldwide about friendship and disability. He and his wife, Katie, enjoy doing everything together, including growing vegetables and reading to each other.

Kevan was the second of his siblings to be diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, type 2, a rare neuromuscular disease. In 2016, he and his friends took a trip across Europe, leaving his wheelchair at home, and his friends carried him for three weeks in a backpack.

An avid storyteller, Kevan is an author and speaker worldwide about his friendships and unique life with a disability, being a featured speaker for Tedx and Google, as well as various conferences, pharmaceutical companies, and universities.

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