Willman teaches sign language for the High Pointe Church of Christ. The class is part of the church's deaf ministry, which includes interpretation during Bible classes, Sunday services and a monthly social. During the social, the church's deaf congregants and sign language instructors meet for dinner, sports and board games.

The church hopes to one day expand the ministry to include an exclusively-deaf Bible class.

Because it is difficult for the deaf to understand the sermons, 98 percent of the deaf do not attend church services, said Willman.

"What we're trying to do is reach out to the deaf community," she said. "Deaf people who grew up in the church are very rare."

Willman said that it was not coincidence but guidance that brought four members of the church that could hear and sign together to help get the deaf ministry off the ground.

Willman, Sherrie Beeson, Tara Norris and Ray Morrow all help with the ministry.

Willman had taken sign language classes at her church in Albuquerque before she moved to McKinney. She had been a member of High Pointe Church of Christ for two weeks when the church discovered that she knew sign language and asked her to start a deaf ministry and interpret for one of the congregants.

"Seeing us sign to each other, two other members came forward who knew sign language years ago and decided to brush up on it," she said. "The way I see it, God led us to the church because he saw a need for the deaf ministry."

Through weekly sign language classes, Willman is teaching others to sign. The class also reviews deaf culture.

When signing, the deaf repeat important details, like the subject of a sentence and time, to avoid confusion. They avoid centerpieces and low-lighted rooms because those situations can obstruct their ability to sign to each other.

Also, "when they get into a group of people who can sign, they love to talk," Willman said during class. "They're not in a lot of social situations when they can do that so they take advantage of it.

"As far as deaf culture, the deaf are very direct, very patient, love the Internet, won't leave a room without saying why and crack jokes about interpreters," Willman said.

The deaf also want to be included in conversations. It's seen as rude when a hearing person who can sign does not interpret when another hearing person who cannot sign is in a room with them, Willman said.

Stacy Davis and her daughter have been taking the class for nearly a year. Davis decided to take the class because she worked for Durham School Service as an assistant on a bus that carried the hearing impaired to and from school.

"I couldn't communicate, so I got connected with DeAnna through one of the other bus drivers who went to church here," she said.

Though she no longer works for Durham, she continues to take the class and hopes to one day volunteer for the deaf ministry.

Willman said that she hopes that more deaf people realize that the church can serve both the deaf and the hearing and that in time, the class will grow.

"I feel it's extremely important, because God has His message for everybody," she said. "Some people just can't hear it because it's in a different language."

By Krystal De Los Santos