Texas Motor Speedway & Math

Through Mercy Street and the teachers at Carr Elementary, I had learned that Kevin was proficient in reading, but was struggling in math and science.  This is something I had been encouraging him to get excited about, but was unsure of how much progress was being made.

Recently, I offered him “the deal”.  If he would give me 3 strong weeks in these classes, I would take him to a NASCAR race.  He had never been to NASCAR, and had not followed it, but he appeared to be very excited about entering “the deal”.

After a week into “the deal”, I called him and asked how his part of the bargain was coming.  He was excited to tell me he had made a 100 on his math test the day before.  I called him the following week, which was race week and asked how the week had been going.  He reported he had made an 81 on his science test.  Needless to say, I was very excited about this.  Kevin demonstrated the capacity to make strides in subjects that are not his natural strength, thus we BOTH got to go to the NASCAR race!  I asked about how he pulled it off and he said he had studied for the test.  Yea!

             

Kevin & His New Buddy

I told him I would keep my end of the deal and would pick him up after school on Friday and we would head out to the race.  He seemed genuinely excited.  We stopped along the way and got some cokes and snacks.  When we got to Texas Motor Speedway, we toured through the vendor area.  Kevin met an interesting character along the way (see pic).    He also locked in on the Juan Pablo Montoya merchandise trailer.  He saw a t-shirt he really liked so we made another deal.  I told him I would give him so many bills and he had to tell me the change he would receive based on the price of the t-shirt.  After careful thought, he figured it out by thinking it out, no paper.  He got the shirt!

            

We went inside the track, where he learned to program a race scanner.  We were able to dial into race teams and hear their radio transmissions throughout the race.  When the cars came around to take the first green flag of the race, Kevin learned what “NASCAR Thunder” means.  The noise was deafening, as our chests vibrated from the horsepower.  I looked down and saw the biggest smile and the widest eyes I have seen on Kevin’s face.  It reminded me of my excitement, when I heard of his improved grades.

             

A NASCAR fan may have been born that night; and maybe even an engineer one day!

Uncle Bill is a Good Find

 A recent young lady, LaKeisha James, an SMU Sports Management major, spent some time down at Mercy Street and here were her findings...

            Broddrion Hatcher was, by his own admission, a troubled and angry child.  His mother was in and out of jail and his father left when he was very young. He was taken in by a friend of the family.

            For Hatcher, the oldest of five children, a hard life became even harder. 

 “When I was ten, the lady neglected me and I would go weeks without eating or a change of clothes,” said Hatcher.

            Hatcher searched for help and guidance and found it at a program called Vision Kids, which is run by the West Dallas-based non-profit community organization Mercy Street.  The program pairs a child in need with a loving mentor.

            It was there that he met Bill Farrell, known to all as Uncle Bill.

            The two were from very different backgrounds.  Hatcher was poor and from a troubled family.  Farrell grew up in Highland Park and was a successful businessman.  The teenager is black. The mentor is white.

            “I was kind of scared and uncomfortable because I didn’t know what to expect” said Broddrion Hatcher.   

             Hatcher described Bill Farrell as a cool person who he saw as a father figure.  In the beginning Hatcher didn’t want Farrell to get too close.  He had a hard time trusting people, in part because of his troubled past.

            “I would run the streets and rob people,” Hatcher said.

            Over time Farrell has had the biggest impact on his life, the teenager said.

            “It was him who told me life is to short for foolishness. Violence is not key when you have a family to take care for,” said Hatcher. 

             Farrell said that Hatcher didn’t see color and his mother was excited to have someone from the outside who cared for her son. 

            Farrell, was born in raised in Highland Park, where he has live his whole life in Texas.  His father was a lawyer and his mother was a homemaker.  He attended Southern Methodist University, where he majored in business.

            In his senior year, he was the student body president and co-captain of SMU’s swimming  team, which won the Southwest Conference Championships.  He graduated in 1953. 

            Following college, Farrell spent 52 years in the life insurance business as an agent for Provident Mutual Life.  He started out as a supervisor and then became a manager of a start up agency in Dallas.

            Uncle Bill worked with the STEP Foundation (Strategies to Elevate People) in Dallas.  He was later responsible for bringing the “I have a Dream” Foundation to Dallas.  The foundation was created to offer a college education to those who graduated high school and qualified but wasn’t finically able to pay for college.

            Uncle Bill along continued to keep his focus on the inner city and helped direct the founding of Mercy Street with the help of his church Park Cities Presbyterian Church.

            Mercy Street , is a social service agency in West Dallas. One of the goals of the Christian based mentoring program is to allow the students to learn the value of education, to graduate from high school and continue their studies. The program also encourages students to give back to their community.

            Farrell said he was drawn to Mercy Street because of its mission.

            “My conviction that the children were the best entrée into the people of the inner city,  and the best intervention into their lives was by a person who cared for them,” said Uncle Bill.  This is what urged him to be apart of Mercy Street. 

            By mentoring Hatcher and another young man name Larry, Uncle Bill has learned much.

            “It has meant that I have two young high school graduates who are pursuing a career and are two of my best friends,” Farrell said.  He described his relationship with them as mutually transforming. 

            He said he is as close to the two boys as he is to his own three sons.  

             “ I don’t think I would be where I am in my life it weren’t for them, and I pray that they are far ahead of where they would have been had I not been a part of it, said Farrell. 

            Hatcher now 19, is working at Wal-Mart.  He plans to go to a community college and then transfer to a larger  university in Texas. Giving back to his own community in West Dallas and reaching out and helping South Dallas is important to him. And every chance he gets he attends Bible study for the young men at Mercy Street.

            “I believe that change happens only through relationships and mentoring involves responsibility on the part of each party which is the healthiest, most successful agent of change, “said Uncle Bill.

           

            

God Don't Give No Junk

by Jacob Mann Jones

How excited you must be that God has given you the perfect mentee!

You’re probably thinking I’m crazy right now. Yup, probably have to be a little loony to invest in lives in West Dallas. Well they thought Jesus was a little out there as well in His day, so at least I’m not alone in that department.

Being a mentor can be a struggle. It’s tough building into the lives of your own kids, much less a kid from a radically different background. It takes away your time and energy; it tests your patience and resolve; it can drain you mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. Yet it is all worth it. I often wondered early on if I was making a difference, or if this was a mistake. Will touching one kid really make an impact in West Dallas? Then I’m reminded how Jesus rejoiced over one lost sheep in Matthew 18:13. Yup, it’s worth every last bit of all I’ve got, of all you’ve got!

Recently I’ve been challenged to see my mentee not through my own eyes, but through God’s eyes. After all your mentee has been presented holy and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:14; Colossians 1:22). Markeist has been a gift from God to me, and God don’t give no junk! When God looks at Markeist He sees the finished product and rejoices! What do you see when you cast your eyes upon your mentee? Jack Taylor once said, “When there is receiving there is liberty and light.” Have you received your mentee as the great gift from God that they are?

I’ve been blessed the last couple of years to share life with Markeist. He has taught me that LOVE is spelled T-I-M-E. He has taught me how to truly listen. I’m more excited about the many years to come. I get to watch this kid with buckets of energy grow into the man that God has called him to be, to watch him live out Psalm 101. I leave you with a picture of Markeist, modeled after 1 Corinthians 16:13-14…

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”

Tough Conversations...

I recently had a very rich experience with my mentee, Algie, who is now a junior in high school, and wanted to encourage you that while we may not always get to see it, God is definitely at work in our mentees' lives!

Prior to having lunch with my mentee last week, I prayed that God would give me strength to discuss the difficult, and potentially uncomfortable topic, of sex.  As Algie and I were talking about his girlfriend and the recent bible study he attended at Mercy Street where sex was discussed, God opened the door for me to discuss with Algie God's design for sex.  Not knowing where it would lead, I asked him directly whether he and his girlfriend had had sex.  By God's grace, what ensued was a very fruitful discussion and a series of questions from Algie that gave me the opportunity to share with him God's design for sex between a man and a woman in the context of marriage.

The good news is that Algie has not had sex with his girlfriend, but he admitted to me how difficult it is when all of his friends around him are having sex and questioning why he would not.  I believe that it is God's work through Mercy Street and Algie's exposure to biblical truths that he has made this decision.  However, his admission of the peer pressure he faces was a reminder that the challenge for our mentees to be salt and light is great and the need for us to continue to pray for them and encourage them with the truth of the Word of God is paramount.  While at times I have felt as though the words I speak to Algie have fallen on deaf ears, this is a clear testimony to me that God's word does not return empty (Isaiah 55:11).

So, I write this as an encouragement (and a reminder to myself!) that the Kingdom work we are doing as mentors is not in vain and even as much of our time as mentors is spent one-on-one with our mentees we are not working alone.  As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3, we are all co-workers in God's service and while Mercy Street and we as mentors are planting and watering seeds of righteousness in our mentees hearts it is ultimately God who makes these seeds grow.

They Are Listening...

I was teaching Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the Spirit lead me to speak something I wasn’t even planning to say...

I read the verse out loud Daniel 6:24  “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den (at this several of the girl’s snickered and laughed as to say… that’s what you get), (I proceeded to read) along with their wives and children”. (Immediately it was silent and then a few girls groaned, uhhhhh.)  I went on to share with them that it is VERY important who you choose as your husband.  He will be the head of your house because that is how God designed it and he will be the leader of your family.  He will be making decisions for you and your children, you’ll follow, and then have to face the consequences or joys of those decisions he makes etc.  

Colleen, who often has an attitude, challenged me and said, “Nuh uh, Miss Jill…. The man is NOT the head of the family.. I will be the head…. He will not tell me what to do.”  I left bible study that night with my heart heavy that she didn’t want to believe the truth… but then quickly remembered she had never seen that truth modeled in her home or any of her friend’s homes…  SO THEN…. a couple nights into my time of vacation I got a call from a phone number I didn’t recognize… I answered it… it was extremely loud in the background with people talking… “Miss Jill, uh Miss Jill, Miss Jill where does it say in the Bible that the men are the head of the family?”   “Colleen, is that you?” (she had never called me before)  “Yeah, they don’t believe me (grown men voices were in the background)… get me a Bible, get me a Bible… where does it say it Miss Jill?”  I shared. Delight.  

The VERY girl that questioned and bucked… was now teaching OTHERS!  God is faithful to draw ALL men to Himself.  

be encouraged... they ARE listening to truth... plant seeds, plant 'em

Outstanding Partnership in Education - Won Again!

Last year, Mercy Street won Outstanding Partnership in Education for our work with Edison Middle School.  This year, the Lord saw fit, to award us again, but this time, at Carver Elementary.  Please read below the note from Carver... 

October 28, 2011

This award for Outstanding Partnership in Education is being presented to Mercy Street for their continued devotion to serve the students at George Washington Carver Creative Arts Center.  Year after year Mercy Street has proven to be a reliable partner in education and has always been thoughtful and concerned enough to consider the needs of our school as well as our community. Mercy Street continues to provide mentors, volunteers, and incentives to the students at George W. Carver in an effort to promote higher student achievement and better student citizenship. Overall Mercy Street and its mentors encourage students to display excellent behavior in and out of school time. Carver’s staff considers Mercy Street to be a tremendous asset towards the success that our students continue to exemplify each year. Our utmost gratitude goes out to Mercy Street for their outstanding efforts. Mercy Street is most deserving of this award.

Michael A. Hicks,

Community Liaison

Making History

by Garrett Smith

Oscar & Bobo are two from the Westside who have decided to surrender.  Jesus uses the word "repent" which in modern language means to stop and to turn in a new direction.  Or in the words of Christian rapper Flame, to "throw out your white flag." To give up on trying to control life and have things your way and do as you wish.  In other words, to walk away from always caring about yourself and turning towards something bigger than you.  

These boys were in Northern Ireland for 17 days this summer (9 of which I was able to join them) and they came back walking in a different direction.  God used dozens of His Irish followers to powerfully impact them and convict them of their sin, leaving an eternal mark on them.

We had an amazing time on the other side of the world! We sat and watched breathtaking sunsets with Irish cliff's falling off into the ocean on the horizon.  We spent 5 days with the craziest Christian summer camp imagineable.  We wore soccer and rugby jerseys and ate french fries smothered in vinegar.  We laughed and cried and struggled to understand the slang.

But what I want you to hear is how two boys came home changed; two boys who know of no one in their family who has ever submitted their life to Jesus Christ; two boys who have chosen to go against the entire flow of everything they have ever known.  

They have made history.

A type of history that has the potential to impact their family and their neighborhood and beyond for all of eternity.

This trip made history in so many ways.  But, just one more must be mentioned.  In the weeks that have followed Oscar has been a different man.  He has been sharing the gospel with people who come into our home and studying the scriptures with a sense of urgency.  This has drawn the attention of his mother, who Oscar has not been fond of in the past.  He has watched her make poor decisions but not really felt for her tough circumstances.  Well, Oscar started to love her and his mother questioned what had happened in Oscar's life.  She wants what she sees in her son.