Why June Jones Came to Dallas
Today I attended a luncheon encouraging churches to partner with their local public schools. If you regularly read this blog, you know that this is a favorite subject of mine. I believe God has prepared the way for Christians to play a significant role in transforming our public schools by serving them.
The luncheon, organized by my friend Rebecca Walls of Unite the Church, featured speakers from the Dallas Independent School District, churches, and community-based organizations. All the speakers implored churches to adopt their local schools and serve them by providing mentors. They told stories of kids' lives and school performance being dramatically improved when this happens.
But what June Jones, head football coach at Southern Methodist University, said stunned me: "God brought me to the city of Dallas to help the city schools find a way to help these kids." The football coach of a private university is using his influence to pull together all kinds of people, organizations, and resources to help public schools because God told him to do it.
Are your church's children and youth ministries growing with kids who attend public schools? According to Todd Williams of www.commit2dallas.org, 91% of school-age children in Dallas attend public schools. If we really want to reach families in our community with the love of Christ (and we certainly say that we do), we must respond to this invitation to serve in our neighborhood schools.
What is God telling you to do? Now is the time. I can connect you to several great organizations that can faciitate your church's school partnership.
There are lots of ways that we as the Body of Christ can serve the schools that are around us. The first step should be to go, show that we care, then ask how we can best help. Then, follow through, do what we say we will do, and give all the glory to God!
@pastorjerrybarker That’s right! Building trust by truly serving and keeping our word is crucial.