Transform Dallas: A real chance to show real love to your city

Many are abandoning hope that what they care about will be addressed by anyone and their frustration is escalating. I believe God-adoring, people-loving, people-serving, proactive churches offer a remedy for the disillusionment people feel.

Wil McCall, Dallas Leadership Foundation President

Churches can help preempt troubled community networks in Dallas from becoming impassable schisms and prevent complicated problems from hardening into intractable issues. In other words, the work of faithful churches can affect generation after generation.

The Transform Dallas citywide community service workday on April 16, 2016 will demonstrate how local churches are willing to serve Dallas residents with humility and compassion in big and small ways. More than 5,000 volunteers are being recruited to work on over 100 day-long projects. Volunteers will serve meals to the homeless, make improvements to elementary school buildings, assemble and deliver care packages to hospitals, host carnivals and block parties for children, assist formerly incarcerated women, and paint houses for seniors and low-income families.

TransformDallas will represent the first time that Concord Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Friendship-West Baptist Church, Highland Park Presbyterian Church and Park Cities Baptist Church together with Dallas Leadership Foundation have teamed up to launch a community service event. Over 100 churches, corporations and community organizations also back this campaign. Our hope is that Transform Dallas will be the springboard to serving Dallas year-round and that it will become an annual event.

Churches are ready to tackle unyielding problems, such as the staggering murder rate in Dallas, which jumped 71 percent this year compared to 2015. This crisis provides an opportune moment for churches to serve as neighborhood partners with community leaders and law enforcement.

During Dallas Leadership Foundation’s 21-year history, we’ve learned that crime drops when committed partners work alongside neighborhood leaders. We’ve witnessed how building one-on-one relationships with love from doorstep to doorstep carry the power of transformation. For instance, in a three-year study we learned that from 2011 to 2014, the crime rate dropped by 41 percent in neighborhoods where DLF had been serving.

Transform Dallas will be an opportunity for churches to reach across racial, class and doctrinal lines with fresh diligence. When churches intentionally seek to eradicate, once and for all, false and wicked boundaries like race and class, the church operates as the solution source – the light – it’s called to be.

My hope is that the extensive workday opportunities on April 16 will encourage congregations to use their gifts creatively for the good of their neighbors. My prayer is that churches grasp the mind-blowing truth that they’re commissioned and empowered to do so.

If churches hammer away at the silos in communities, strongholds of hopelessness will shatter. Long-term, diverse community service efforts could transform our city for decades to come. With every breakthrough, the problems Dallas faces won’t appear as impossible to defeat, and churches will fulfill their sacred job description to express irresistible love from the inexhaustible heart of Jesus.

Wil McCall is the president of Dallas Leadership Foundation. To learn more about Transform Dallas, visit transformdallas.org.

WANTED: Transformed leaders who are ready to change their city

From any place in the world, we can affect the world. Funny how that works. God can use any setting on earth to display His glory through His sons and daughters.

Transformation happens when people represent the eternal compassion, wisdom, and purpose of God. For example, this week, thousands of volunteers are being recruited to help residents by doing hundreds of projects during a citywide workday on Saturday, April 16, 2016.  Our prayer is that each project will be viewed as an act of love.

Transform Dallas is the name of the workday, and it's led by Concord Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Friendship West Baptist Church, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, and Park Cities Baptist Church, along with Dallas Leadership Foundation. These churches and DLF are teaming up for the first time to demonstrate the transforming power of God to impact Dallas neighborhoods.

Bible characters can inspire anyone who wants to make a difference in their city or in the world.
Nehemiah changed a city from his position as cupbearer to the king. He stood out as a transformed leader who sought God's help in prayer:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.  We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses..." (Nehemiah 1:1-7) 

 In the Book of Judges, Deborah led the defining battle against Sisera, an oppressive archenemy of Israel who had 900 iron chariots. She was a transformed leader because of her ability to hear the Lord's voice and her willingness to face battle. Her actions were among those God used to free Israel from Sisera's grip:

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramahand Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoamfrom Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor.  I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him. (Judges 4:1-10)

If God is calling you to help us during Transform Dallas, don't hesitate. Someone needs to experience the love of Christ through your unique expression of service. And because we're talking extensively about transformation, let us know how God has used you (or someone you know) to transform your surroundings? Tell us how in the comments section below.

This is one of a series of articles Dallas Leadership Foundation will post as we prepare for Transform Dallas. To participate or donate to Transform Dallas, please visit http://www.dlftx.org/transform-dallas.

Time to shine followers of Jesus

Jesus didn't believe in hiding. He intentionally sought out devotional time to be with the Father, and He didn't let the people distract Him from God's timing, but Jesus did allow the eternal light within Him to illuminate every setting. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus urged His followers to live as lights no one could miss: 

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Transform Dallas, a citywide workday, is a perfect opportunity to display the light of Jesus. Dallas Leadership Foundation, along with Concord Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Friendship West Baptist Church, Highland  Park Presbyterian Church, and Park Cities Baptist Church have teamed up for the first time to demonstrate the light and love of heaven by providing pro bono services throughout the city on Saturday, April 16, 2016.

Volunteer teams will serve meals to the homeless, renovate elementary schools, assemble and deliver care packages to hospitals, host carnivals and block parties for children, assist formerly incarcerated women, and paint houses for seniors and low-income families.

We're recruiting more than thousands of volunteers to help us touch the city of Dallas. Our hope is that theTransform Dallas workday will be the springboard to serve Dallas year-round and become an annual event. 

Are you in? Are you ready to shine? It's time!

This is one of a series of articles Dallas Leadership Foundation will post as we prepare for Transform Dallas. To participate or donate to Transform Dallas, please visit http://www.dlftx.org/transform-dallas.