What God Writes on Our Hearts

     Occasionally, I greet my mentee, Jeroy, with a very solemn question: “What is the chief end of man?”  He responds with varying degrees of correctness, but usually recalls most of it: “To glorify God and enjoy him.” I always press Jeroy at this point. “For how long,” I ask. “A couple of hours? A day?” He looks askance, culling his memory. “Forever,” he says with satisfaction.

     That might sound like a brag, that I can casually elicit pithy theological statements from my mentee. The truth is Jeroy knows that answer because it is the first question of the Westminster Catechism and not the second or third or any question after that. I had planned to teach him more, as a way to bond and a good reason to meet regularly. But I was never consistent about it, so Jeroy retained only this one answer. I have mentored Jeroy for nearly three years now and am still trying to find that consistency. And Jeroy, now in seventh grade, is still showing me that he is a patient, forgiving young man in spite of my inconsistency.

     Jeroy is oldest of five. He has a passion for basketball and thinks my hook shot is one of the funniest things he has ever seen. Jeroy’s vocational aims shift a little every year, but they always target something artistic, whether shoe design or illustration. Today he wants to get into car customization, but only after attending college at A&M, UT or Tech. He currently attends middle school at Thomas A. Edison.

     Like a lot of kids in West Dallas, Jeroy is smarter than even he realizes. The problems of West Dallas do not escape his attention. The apartments, he says, need fixing and the poor need help. He is bothered by the amount of litter and thinks the banks of the Old Trinity River that snake through his neighborhood are a safety hazard. He sees the gangs too and, no doubt, the violence.  In short, he sees what the Apostle Paul says creation sees: the Fall. And Jeroy groans with all of creation.

     Mercy Street’s main charge is to raise up future leaders in West Dallas as an act of obedience to God. I ask Jeroy for his definition of that kind of leader. “Someone who helps the community,” he says. “And encourages other kids to complete their goals.” Jeroy mentions the litter again too. I think it is so apt that he does this. If a kid not completing his or her goals is a principled effect of the Fall, then litter is a tangible one. Litter is ugly. It gets blown everywhere. It invades. It speaks to a world in disorder. By his logic, a future leader is someone who sets everything in order, which includes the discarded plastic bottles and greasy fast food bags shoved into the curb.

If I wrote my own definition of a future West Dallas leader, I would say he or she is someone who works actively to combat the effects of the Fall in the community of West Dallas. Really, Jeroy’s and my definition are different parts of the same job description. Mine is the objective; his is the list of responsibilities.

     I am Jeroy’s mentor and so I have signed on to help Mercy Street realize their mandate of restoring West Dallas through godly West Dallas leaders. But I am also a contract-breaker. In November of 2011, I agreed to contact Jeroy weekly and spend time with him biweekly.

     I have not done that. And

Jeroy knows this, but he has not called in a lawyer to justifiably terminate our association. Rather, through patience and forgiveness, he greets me every time with warmth, a reminder that he’s not about to wield some Sword of Damocles in judgment. When I point out that he does this, Jeroy just shrugs, a lot like the baffled, righteous sheep of Matthew 25.

     I often fall back into the mistaken belief that I and mentors like me are here to mold the future leaders of West Dallas. But my relationship with Jeroy is a consoling reminder that God is the one accomplishing this, even through chronic transgressors like me. And Jeroy, by practicing virtues like patience and forgiveness, is already engaging in combat with the disorder that plagues West Dallas, as well as ministering to me. It would be a lie to say he always chooses the righteous kind of fight, just as it would be a lie for any one of us. But he is letting me see what quiet combat looks like often enough.
    

     We may never get around to covering the other 106 Westminster questions. Even if we did, I know that it is not what I impress on Jeroy’s brain, but what God writes on his heart, that will lead him in the paths of righteousness. The same is true of any mentee. The same is true for me.

Trey as Head Cheerleader

I love the fall. It marks the start of school and a regular routine for the family, it promises (often emptily) cooler weather, and most importantly a new football season kicks off. I watch far less football now than I used to, but I am a still football junkie. To me, it is the ultimate team sport. Though you have superstars that are big difference makers, no one player can succeed without the others doing their jobs well too. There are no “clear-out” plays in football. As good as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are, I have never seen them come to the line tell the linemen, “Step aside I’ve got this.” To succeed at football you have to play as a team.

I also love seeing great team chemistry. There is something kind of mysterious about it, but there is no doubt that good teams have it. They are unified around a common goal, they buy into the system, and they don’t let ego get in the way.

Why all the football talk? Because I am really excited about the team that we have assembled at Mercy Street. Like a good football team that requires everyone to play their role well, our Mercy Street staff is a group of really capable folks who are committed to their respective roles and the common goal of God’s glory and the mission of Mercy Street.

We have also made some leadership changes that I am really excited about. Here are some of the changes we have made to the team for this coming year.

Replacing a guy like Carlton Oby is tough, but what a blessing to have Garrett Smith, already a seasoned director from the staff, ready to slide over and fill the important role of Director of Leadership Development. Garrett served as Director of Mentoring for the last three years, but willingly and eagerly moved over to keep working with the students he had built relationships with over the last seven years on staff. His desire is to help them grow in their faith, learn how to succeed in life after school, and instill in them the desire to give back to their community.

Filling Garrett’s old role as Director of Mentoring is Jill Harmeyer. Jill has served as a mentor coordinator for three years and excelled in the role. As she says, “I feel like was born to be a mentor coordinator.” In her new role she will hopefully instill the same passion and processes that he used to help foster thriving relationships between the mentor and mentee. She will oversee the efforts of the other coordinators and she will continue to walk with a group of her current matches through graduation. Jill is a natural encourager who is very thoughtful in her approach.

Emily Walker will be assuming a new title this year too. She will be the Director of Operations. Emily has proven to be a valuable asset to the entire team and has served everyone exceedingly well in her role of Events and Communications Manager for the last four years. Emily is just one of those people who seems to have more hours in her days with all that she gets accomplished. She is really efficient and very friendly. In her new role she will ensure that we are improving our overall processes in order to do our work with excellence in all areas of the ministry.

Nicole Livingston is taking Emily’s place as Events and Communications Manager. Nicole has been with the team for four years as a mentor coordinator. Anyone who has been to one of our Annual Fundraising banquets or Eggstravagaza events has seen Nicole’s fingerprints. She has been instrumental in making those events happen the last few years. It will now be part of her main responsibility as well as the communications functions. She is a very creative person who is also incredibly detail oriented.

Lastly, Bill Farrell and Sam Flores are exchanging titles. Sam will assume the title of Director of Development and Bill will take the title of Associate Director of Development. Bill has been instrumental in the success and growth of Mercy Street from the beginning. As a development director from another organization once told me, “It is not fair that you have Bill raising money for you. When I go see folks, I go as a development director. Bill goes as a friend.” In his new role, Bill will be working part-time as he says, “for another year or two.” I’m pretty certain Bill is going to outlive me. Sam has faithfully served for the last five years in an assistant then associate’s role. He has used his natural gift of relationship building and networking well in his time here recruiting new mentors and fostering new donor relationships. In his new role he will oversee all of Mercy Street’s fundraising efforts.

At the risk of sounding a little like Jerry Jones (which no wants to do right now for untold many reasons), I really believe that we are positioned well for success in the near and far-term. We have a really solid leadership group and a very seasoned team. Everyone practices servant leadership. There is a real sense of unity of purpose and a desire to make Jesus name great here in West Dallas.

I have been trying to figure out exactly what is my role in all of this, and I have determined that I am taking the only role I’m qualified for--Head Cheerleader.