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IF
YOU AID THEM, THEY WILL COME
Nourishing
neighbors helps social agency feed souls, grow.
DAVID WATERS
Faith Matters
A young woman once was sent into a poor Memphis neighborhood to reopen a church that had closed for lack of interest.
She was 19, fresh out of Bible College and full of energy. She cut down weeds, put up a sign and knocked on doors to invite all her new neighbors to worship.
No one came.
The young woman was discouraged. She thought about quitting and going home. She prayed for help.
One day while she was walking, the young woman saw two signs. One said “Goodwill” and the other said “Salvation.” That gave her an idea.
That was more than 35 years ago.
Today, JoeAnn Ballard is executive director of Neighborhood Christian Centers, the state’s largest Christian social agency.
Ballard’s tiny office is in Binghampton, but her reach extends into every pocket and corner of the city.
“I don’t know who has done more than JoeAnn Ballard for the poorest of the poor in this city,” said Larry Lloyd, president of Hope Christian Community Foundation, who hired JoeAnn.
"She is a deeply faithful woman sustained by her faith her Christ.”
Lloyd and a couple of other people founded Neighborhood Christian Centers in 1978. They started with $15,000 in seed money from Second Presbyterian Church and a staff of one: JoeAnn Ballard.
Now, NCC has a staff of 40 operating five centers in Memphis and another in Decatur, Ala.
NCC also has planted five small churches and place more than 50 “missionaries” in inner-city neighborhoods.
“Our missionaries are our eyes and ears and hands and feet in the neighborhoods,” Ballard said.
“They know the people and what they need. We meet those needs.”
Last year, the Memphis-based ministry served more than 150,000 people through its food, clothing, tutoring, housing, youth, parenting, emergency assistance, foster care, job training, church planting and Bible study programs.
That included distributing millions of pounds of food, 14,000 Christmas baskets, and truckloads of clothing, furniture and other donated goods.
NCC’s college program is assisting more than 200 students. The summer work program employs dozens of teenagers and includes an arts camp.
Ballard tries to make sure that everyone who comes in contact with the ministry is served one at a time.
“We try to feel a person’s pain and meet that person’s need,” she said.
“Try to be Christ for that person.”
Ballard’s ministry is 24/7/365.
In addition to her ministry at NCC, Ballard and her husband, Monroe Ballard, a retired city school teacher, have been foster parents to more than 75 children over the past 30 years. They’ve also raised three of their own children.
Ballard, who grew up in a foster home in Lucedale, Miss., doesn’t just ask herself what Jesus would do. She tries to do it.
“We aren’t here to just talk about Jesus. We’re here to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” she said.
Ballard has been trying to do that ever since the mid-1960’s, when the Church of the Nazarene sent her to Memphis to reopen an inner-city church.
After spending a few fruitless weeks trying to get folks to come to Sunday school, she nearly quit. That’s when she saw those two signs that said “Goodwill” and “Salvation.”
She went back and knocked again on her neighbors’ doors. Instead of inviting them to church, she asked them if there was anything they needed.
There was. Some needed food, others shoes or clothes for their kids, and others help on paying a bill. Ballard was making $80 a week, but she did what she could to meet her neighbors’ needs.
Within weeks, the reopened church was full.
That’s when the young woman realized she had misunderstood her assignment.
She wasn’t sent to reopen a church. She was sent to be the church.
To reach reporter David Waters, call 529-2399 or E-mail him at waters@gomemphis.com
Copyright, 2001, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN.
Used here with
permission. No additional reproduction or distribution of this article in
any form is permitted without the written approval of The Commercial
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