April 2023 "Month-in-Review"
We can’t believe we only have one month left of programming for our 2022-2023 Fiscal Year. April was jam-packed with events, after-school programming, and mentor matches. We are so grateful to be entering a new month! We have seen forerunners grow in manhood, lead out in responsibility, and take the next step to have a relationship with Jesus — one of the biggest decisions we believe these young men will make to fulfill their potential and all God has for their lives.
Thank you so much for every way you’ve celebrated us and encouraged us to continue being a guide to boys in Lake Highlands in need of mentors to show them the way to be a Man of God. We couldn’t do what we get to do without you.
We hope these glimpses and stories from April stir your faith and give you hope.
Relationships change lives.
THE 2023 FORERUNNER FUNDRAISING DINNER
On April 11th, 2023 nearly 450+ people gathered around tables in a room at The Renaissance Dallas Hotel for our 2023 Forerunner Fundraising Dinner - a night set apart to hear stories of life change and transformation from young men within our programs that have been impacted by the power of mentoring in Lake Highlands.
Every year, we make room to honor the #stories of young men who fulfill their potential in relationships, education, and identity through programs, #mentoring, and family support. Stories of men that answered the call when young men needed someone to show them the way and affirm them that they have what it takes to be a Man of God.
We heard from our Executive Director, Stephen Murray about answering the call to be a mentor and showing up when absent-fathered boys need a male role model to speak into their life; watched short story documentaries produced by Oscar Ortiz; heard from Rob Sayles, Partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP who served as our incredible and visionary emcee for the evening; and from Zachary Garza, founder of Forerunner and You Can Mentor who started this thing over 10 years ago as a football coach, with a heart to see young men be whom God created them to be, and fill the gaps of untapped potential in their lives by matching them with godly mentors in our community.
One of those young men fulfilling his potential today, who has been in our programs for nearly 6 years since he was a 4th grader walking under Zach's wing, is Gregory Henderson - whom we were so honored to represent the 2023 Forerunner Phoenix Award.
The Forerunner Phoenix Award gets presented to a young man within our organization who has transitioned through all our developmental programs, has consistently embodied the five traits of a godly man (responsibility, humility, integrity, leadership, respect), and is currently fulfilling his potential. Gregory is not only an incredible young man, but an exceptional artist, student, and mentee to his mentor Jeffrey Loaring-Clark. Gregory is currently a junior attending Lake Highlands High School who is set to graduate in May 2024.
Gregory, like many other young men in our programs, needed someone to step into his life to show him what it looks like to be a man.
Forerunner Mentoring exists to fulfill the potential of every young man in Lake Highlands growing up without a father figure at home. This has been our vision from the very beginning, and it's an honor to uphold it for every boy and their mother who walks through our doors for years to come.
Thank you to our event sponsors—Jeremy Sain & Will Mogk with JLL, Jeff Giddens & Linde Giddens with NextAfter, Rocky Cherry & Katy Cherry with Cherry Coatings—for helping us host this incredible event, to all our table hosts, and to every guest who attended.
We couldn't do what we do without you.
#RelationshipsChangeLives
FORERUNNER MENTORING X CAMP FIREWALKER
SPRING CAMPOUT
There's nothing like experiencing the outdoors and getting away with your brothers.
This past weekend we pitched our tents and camped out, getting away from all the noise and making room for our boys to grow in relationship with one another and be poured into by other men.
Our boys learned how to catch a fish, canoe on the water, tie knots, cook, do archery, build a fire, and so much more. All thanks to our amazing friends @campfirewalker who have created spaces for our boys to experience mentoring through outdoor experiences.
A lesson we learned around the campfire is this: It takes other people speaking into our lives to help us be the people we were created to be. Our boys will be those who make mentoring moments happen because of the men investing in their lives today.
#RelationshipsChangeLives
LAKE HIGHLANDS REC CENTER NORTH CAREER MONTH
In April, our High School Program @thrivelakehighlands had the opportunity to engage in Career Month — a 4-week event of envisioning and equipping students as they plan and prepare to step into the next chapter of their lives post high school. To guide them and give them tools to navigate the four pathways of college, trade school, military branch, and workforce.
“We saw students harness their fears concerning life post high school. These weeks have been very informing, transparent, and honestly tiring but worth it. This generation is more open to trades, military, and entrepreneurship while holding college loosely. One student asked, ” What if your passion doesn’t make you money?” The Barna group talked about how the recession, inflation, and covid-19 has influenced teens to be youtubers / social media influencers. These uncertain times have sparked fear in them. The economy has put a bad taste in their mouths. During week 1, one of our panelist talked about the importance of mentorship. Whatever you desire to do it’s important to not do it alone. I’m super grateful for our partnership with Dallas Parks & Rec. We have earned tons of trust with them. I’m super excited for events to come.”
“SO…WHAT’S DIESEL?”
Last month, our junior high men got the crash course on how to use a gas pump and fill up a tank using our Forerunner vans! We’ve all had the experience of pumping gas in our cars for the first time, so we wanted to make sure our men learned this life skill and are ready for that day comes.
A DIVINE DELAY
On Monday, we had a new student join our Junior High program. There ended up being a miscommunication with his mom on travel arrangements and the student and I had to hang out for about 10 minutes waiting for his mom while one of our coaches, JT, did the van route to bring the young men in our program back to Forerunner.
After JT left, he and I started to talk. He was pretty open and pretty soon I learned about his home life, where his dad was, and that he had a stepdad. I also learned that he refers to both his stepdad and his dad by their first names, and that he has the same name as his dad, but that he didn’t understand why.
I was able to tell him that I could understand that decision because I have the same middle name as my uncle, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather. It had become a tradition in my family to give the first boy of the next generation the middle name “Thomas”, and that I had every intention of continuing it if I ever had a son.
We then got to talking about names and what I would name my future children. I told him that I didn’t have a first name picked out for a son, but that I was confident it would be something from the Bible. Then I told him, at the moment I liked “Paul”, and he asked why.
That whole conversation led to a much deeper conversation about who Paul was and his history. It also went into a deeper dive into Paul’s conversion in Acts. At one point, the student was like, “Wait, this all really happened?!?” And without any doubt or missing a beat, my response was “Absolutely”.
After the student was picked up and I was walking back to the church, I realized that it was a God-orchestrated moment. He allowed there to be a miscommunication to delay this students pick up so that he could be exposed to the Gospel; possibly for the first time in his life. In that moment, I wasn’t talking about Jesus, but I feel like the story of Paul is almost as important. It’s the story of somebody who was radically pursued by God, redeemed, and used for a greater purpose. It’s the story of God using a broken person that people hated for so much good. And I know that that 10-minute conversation was God using to me to radically pursue this student, and I’m grateful to get to be a part of His plans in Lake Highlands.
-Josh Manning, 7th-8th Program Coach
DISC GOLF & LIFE LESSONS
Our Junior High coaches, Josh and JT, led our JH students on a disc golf field trip last month!
JT was able to get some intentional time in with one of our students, and he gave him a mini disc golf sermon analogy on how we all have missed the mark because of our sins. It’s tough to throw the disc into the basket on the first try. It actually may take more than a few attempts.
Though we keep missing the mark, Jesus forgives us and nailed the attempt for us.
A FORERUNNER IN THE FAITH
A mom told me today that her son comes home and teaches his family everything he has learned at Forerunner. She calls him their family pastor because it’s something he does consistently. He has even taught he younger brothers worship songs. He is living out the hope we have for each man of God that comes to program. He is being a Forerunner in the faith to his family, empowered by the Holy Spirit. God is all over our boys, moving in and through them to build the Kingdom inch by inch.
-Caitlyn Moudy, K-6th Teaching Coach
A COMMUNITY ENDEAVOR
A mom told me one day last month that a boy named Jeremiah has been coming over to see her son at their apartment. His family is new to the area.
This mom told Jeremiah that she wants to meet his mom.
While she was leaving to come to a Forerunner gathering one night last month, she saw him walking with his mom. She stopped and introduced herself and the mom was excited to meet her because she’s had a few interactions with her son.
She told her all about Forerunner and blessed her, “Trust me, soon you will be coming with me to the program that is forming my son into the man of the house. We will go together, and you will be most welcome.”
-Stephen Murray, Executive Director
This is what it looks like to be a community endeavor. Moms bringing other moms into the fold, believing for the same impact they’ve seen in their son to ring true in others. God is forming relationships beyond how we can even think or imagine.
Relationships truly change lives.
GOD SAVES
One of the end goals of our programs is to see young men fulfill their potential in relationships.
This is not only relationships with peers and mentors but, more importantly, a relationship with Jesus.
This young man was only enrolled in our 7th-8th grade program for three days before opening up to a coach about someone who had recently passed in his life.
Our coach started to encourage him that he would see her again in heaven and then asked, “You do believe, right?”
From there, this young man and his coach started to talk about what it meant to ask Jesus into your life, and our coach shared Romans 10:9 with him.
At first, he needed to think about it, but shortly after we got to the gym and free time had started, he told his coach he wanted to do it right then and there, and his coach led him in the prayer of salvation. This young man GAVE HIS LIFE TO JESUS! 🎉
We called a timeout on the basketball game, shared with the entire group the decision this young man had made, and celebrated with him. It was so cool to see that happen and even more helpful for the other students to witness it.
Our hope for every young man who walks through our doors is to see them fulfill their potential and know they have a group of witnesses, mentors, and coaches cheering them on from the sidelines.
#RelationshipsChangeLives
THE BEST DECISION ONE COULD EVER MAKE
At the end of every year, our Manhood lesson is the Gospel message. We present the Gospel and a dedicated time for the students to receive Christ and make the decision to be baptized.
This year, because of some things going on in the JH program, Darius, our 7th-12th Program Coordinator, sensed that we needed to switch up the schedule and move that lesson to earlier, so Coach JT presented it this past month (and crushed it by the way).
At the very end of the lesson, he talked about baptisms coming up and invited two of our forerunners to come up to talk about their experiences being baptized. Another forerunner also came up to sell the End-of-Year Celebration and why the students should attend. Coach JT then asked if any students were thinking about getting baptized.
6 students raised their hands, and another one told his mom that he wanted to get baptized that evening! Which means as many as 7 students in our JH Program want to get baptized!
-Josh Manning, 7th-8th Program Coach
We’re so excited for this decision they are making to recognize Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and celebrate them at our End-of-Year Celebration of Programming in the next couple of weeks!