Never wait to see how you feel before you decide what you're going to
do.
-Joyce Meyer
Several years ago, I was riding one of those giant tour
buses with big cushy blue-striped seats.
We were headed back to our hotel after touring the St. Louis Dream Center, spearheaded by Joyce Meyer. My
husband's grandmother was sitting next to me and as we were pulling away from
the complex, she asked me, "So, would you want to do something like this
someday?" I stared out the window as our driver waited his turn to enter
into the long line of buses carrying hundreds of women to the conference. I watched the neighborhood kids pick up their
sack from the "lunch cart" stationed on the sidewalk and a game of
basketball was going on between some young men in the parking lot. An old towering stone church stood there,
clustered amongst the box-like education buildings and meek housing units. I replied, "I don't think the work God
gave me will look just like this, but He gave Joyce a dream to help others
fulfill theirs and I've got one too. We all have one."
I would like to share with you the dream of a little girl
from Harrisonville, Mo. At 11 years old,
she told her mom that she wanted to grow up to be the "Mother Theresa of
the United States." By the age of
16, Jody Glazner (pronounced like the glaze on your donut; I've included this
because I feel I owe it to all 'people whose name is never pronounced
correctly' proper clarification, as my struggle with my maiden name was very
real) began inner-city missions and started an outreach for high-schoolers at
her church. "It was a place they
could come to with others their age in a positive, welcoming environment."
Jody went on to study Public Relations at Missouri State
University with an emphasis in Non-Profits.
She was ecstatic to have acquired an interview with Teach For America
upon graduation. She knew she aced it,
and the job was as good as gold, until the very last question. It was at that moment, God spoke to her heart. "I'm so sorry," she answered.
"I won't be able to finish the interview.
I think I'm supposed to be somewhere else." That place was right here in Springfield, as
the Student Ministry director for Northpoint Church. She spent four years with the students before
moving into her current position heading up the Give Back program where she's
been for the last three years. The Give
Back program organizes events that offer numerous ways for citizens to give
back to the community through projects, donations, and volunteer
opportunities. Jody's passion for
interacting and helping the community has always been rooted in her solid
belief of truly investing in the neighborhood.
This past January, Jody arranged a meeting with the director
of the Chicago Dream Center and came away from that meeting knowing that was
the reason she had walked away from that interview three and a half years
earlier. The idea of a dream center was
her "somewhere else."
She received a letter from Hamlin Baptist in March. It was an invitation to write a proposal for
their church building in Zone 1 on Atlantic St.
Hamlin would be moving to their newly built location on the northwest
side of town and wanted to see their current space put to good use by offering
it as a gift to an organization that would utilize that space for a worthwhile
cause. And so it happened that Jody and
her team applied and presented to the Hamlin Baptist board with the idea of
bringing a dream center to Springfield.
She knew she was up against some tough competition, but ironically as it
worked out, the proposal of a Springfield Dream Center was the only one left in
the interview process, as all of the other candidates had suddenly dropped
out. This was the interview that was
destined to be!
The Springfield Dream Center was chosen by Hamlin Baptist in
August and then received ownership of and began work in the building in
December. The 501c3 will fully launch
during spring break, March 13th, with community dinners, free counseling,
tutoring, and after- school care. They
will be working hand in hand with nationally recognized programs such as
Circles and Northwest Project. Their goals over the next 5 years are to
increase the after-school program from 50 to 200+ spots, create scholarships
for volunteering high-school students, provide job and life skills classes, and
host telemedicine care.
If you're ready to build relationships with the community,
offer your expertise and talents, and invest in your neighborhood, there's no
better place than the Springfield Dream Center.
Big dreams are taking shape and volunteers are needed! There are opportunities available for all
ages and abilities at www.springfielddreamcenter.com.
