December 21, 2025 • 41 mins
Provides scholastic, spiritual and social support to families in and around the South Boulevard corridor.
In Studio - Brent Morris , executive director shares stories and todays real need!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O
seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. Welcome to
the show. In case you don't know, this is a
faith and values program that I've been doing now for
almost twenty six years here at WBT. It's been a
pleasure doing it, and thank you for listeners for joining
me on a weekly basis, and now with the call
(01:02):
letters of one O seven point nine FM, our footprint
has been enlarge. We understand all the way to the
North Carolina Virginia line, perhaps even as far as Wilmington.
Some say it is being picked up in Asheville, North Carolina,
and also as far south as Columbia, South Carolina. So
for all of you listening, thank you for listening, and
know that this faith in values program is something that
(01:23):
WBT values. I value it and I hope it helps
a lot of people grow in their faith and have
less fear and more security in the Lord. I appreciate
all of you who've been a part of the City
of HOOPECLT dot org campaign. For those of you who
are new to us, know it's an area of ministry
here in this city that we're trying to address hungry kids,
(01:47):
kids who have food in security, who need help. So
the church I pastor, Moments of Hope Church has offered
one hundred thousand dollars matching gift that you, the listeners
have been responding to to help feed these hungry care
and we're hoping to raise two hundred thousand dollars to
divide up between all of our different partners in these
six vulnerable communities here in Charlotte. And it's been a
(02:10):
pleasure raising this money and also more so to hear
about the smiling faces of the kids and the families
that we are able to help. So during this time period,
during Christmas time period that we have been raising gifts
to give to these kids, we still can do so
until the end of the year before tax season has ended.
With our gifts, and we'd love for you to still participate.
(02:31):
Go to cityohopeclt dot org and your five dollars becomes ten,
your one hundred dollars becomes two hundred dollars. Please help
us reach this goal in order to help these kids well.
One of the communities that we reach is Learning Help
Centers of Charlotte. The executive director of that ministry is
Brent Morris. He is with me today in studio, and
(02:51):
you just need to know listeners. He's one of my
favorite people in the world, and I love his ministry,
I love what he does. I'm just so honored to
call him my friend and to see what he does
in this community. Brent Morris, Welcome to the show again.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
David.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's always a pleasure to be here with you today.
Thank you so much for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, obviously the accent gives you a way as one
who came from South Africa, that is your background. When
did you come to Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I've been in Charlotte for eighteen years, we've been in
the USA for twenty seven years, and as an immigrant,
I've become certainly very familiar with the plot of a
lot of the families that we serve, and I'm very
grateful to have been given the honor to serve Our
Lord in this capacity.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Learning Help Centers of Charlotte. Tell me about what caused
you to be called to the ministry and then tell
us where it is, and then we'll get more into
in the program. What exactly you do, David.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
This actually goes back to you at some point I
was attending the church that you were pastoring, and as
part of that outreach, we were addressing South Boulevard community.
I started to volunteer in that space, and at the
same time, the Lord was calling me to something more
what I was doing. I'd spent the first fifteen years
of my career here in business consulting, and I just
(04:06):
felt the need to do something more to honor him.
So I got exposed to the community. I started getting
involved as a volunteer at Learning Health Centers of Charlotte,
and within six months I quit my job and decided
this is what I need to be doing.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They have another friend I'm not mentioned in my name,
but he's a lawyer in the community. He's been serving
in a very vulnerable area too, and he came to
me the other day and said, you know what, I'm
just not sure my life is making the impact that
I wanted to make by doing lawyering, even though it's
important and I enjoyed, he said, but serving these kids
that's made my life feel whole. Is that kind of
what happened to you as well?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Very much? So.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I saw the need, and I know that the needs
are always going to be there, but I felt like
this is my opportunity to make an impact for the kingdom,
so that I could rally other volunteers to just come
and visit, to see, to get engaged, and to truly
change the trajectory of children's lives and their family lives
for that matter.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Are mostly them immigrants who are coming to your particular ministry.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yes, we were in various parts of the city when
we first started immigrant and refugee families. Of recent years,
we've decided to centralize our focus and attention on the
immigrant community in the southwest portion of the city.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And so well discovered as we've looked at Charlotte in
this desire to help hurting kids, that Charlotte is this new,
shiny South city that is growing. Some say it's growing
faster than any other city in the country except maybe Austin,
Texas or Phoenix, Arizona. And a lot of people are
pouring in here. And the reasons because our climate's fairly tepid.
(05:43):
It's because there are job opportunities, because the city is growing,
A lot of immigrants can do construction, et cetera. So
their core coming here and they are in our.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Midst Yes, it's also called a sanctuary city, David, So
it has found favor with people that want to come here.
The climate is wonderful, the opportunities for work stally around construction.
This is a fast growing city and hence construction and
building is definitely a core to a lot of what
finds people here.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So it draws them here, and many of them get
here and find out it's not quite as easy to
find a job and find security and have their families
have hope as they previously thought. So all of a sudden,
they're here, and they're still hungry, and they're still needy,
and the needs are there for.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Sure, and that's very much part of what our ministry
has become. We're incarnational, which means we live and serve
amongst the people, and we also are holistic, which means
we're serving the whole family, not just the children, because
we feel like if we can impact the lives both
spiritually and socially for the parents, all boats rise and
all the children have a better chance of success, including
(06:48):
upward mobility. Of course, because eleven years ago we were
ranked fifty out of fifty for upward mobility, meaning that
children growing up in Charlotte have the least chance of
moving out of poverty than any other city in the country.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And we're trying to address that as well in a
lot of different ways. So my guest is Brent Morris.
He is the executive director of Learning Help Center Charlotte,
and we're going to talk when we come back, Brent
about these people who are coming here. You know some
of the recent Ice conversation, what that's meant for you,
But you still got to help hurting people.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm David Chadwick. This is News Talk at one oh
seven point nine FMWBT. Will be right back.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
H If you Walt Yid's sick, you're gonna walk ow you.
(08:41):
If you want Tim Bow, You're gonna walt cow free.
Because at the mention of his day, at the mention
of his day, but at the mention of his.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Day, everything will change.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Everything can change, whether just something about that name Jesus
that causes the demons to flee and causes all authority
in heaven to be released. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick
and this is one oh seven point nine FM WBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk, and you know we're celebrating the
(09:19):
name of Jesus this Thursday, on Christmas Day, and God
came to be one of us, and he named himself Jesus,
meaning Savior of the world. The greatest gift God could
give us is our greatest need, which is the forgiveness
of our sins. So God comes to us in Jesus
and begins the journey to the cross where he dies
to forgive us forever of our sins. What a great gift.
(09:41):
And folks, may I encourage all of you because God
is the greatest giver of all. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only son for you
to give. During this Christmas season, we're trying to raise
one hundred thousand dollars through cityohopeclt dot org Moments of
Hope Church. The church I pastor has given one hundred
thousand dollars matching gift. It's being matched by you, the listeners,
by going to CITYFOPECLT dot org. There you can give.
(10:04):
Your five dollars becomes ten, your one hundred dollars becomes
two hundred dollars. Let's raise this money to help vulnerable
kids in our community simply have a chance to eat,
a chance to live, and also a chance for upward
mobility to become whom God wants them to be. There
are several different communities that we have identified in Charlotte
that are vulnerable. One of those is on the southwest
(10:27):
side of town, in that quarter where there are a
lot of Latino and other immigrants, and a ministry that
is helping them is called Learning Help Centers of Charlotte.
Brent Morris is the executive director of that ministry. He
is in studio with me today if you miss the
first segment. He is a South African immigrant who's come
here but now doing a wonderful ministry, one I really
(10:48):
admire and I call Brent Morris my friend proudly. So
Brent talked to us about the kind of person that
you are ministering to more specifically, and I'd love for
you to address the whole ice situation that just recently
happened and what that did to your ministry, the trauma
that it caused among people. I know there's a huge
debate in our culture today about you've got to be legal,
(11:10):
and I get that and understand that a country has
to have immigration laws, but also Jesus wants us to
care for people in need. So you don't necessarily demand
a green card when somebody's hungry in your midst. So
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That, David.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
When I decided to get involved in ministry and give
up my corporate job, the thing that the Lord shared
with me is that you are to love your neighbor
as yourself and as an immigrant myself, I was able
to very clearly see the needs of struggling immigrants that
have come to this country. Their parents have brought them
here for a better future, and they I think a
(11:47):
lot of your listeners may not understand that they are
fearing something from where they came and that is why
they bring their children.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, they are fleeing something from their former country, perhaps persecution,
or perhaps are being put down or not having opportunity.
And also they've come here for that better opportunity, especially
for their kids.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Especially for their kids, and that really is their future.
And so we have taken it upon ourselves to both
provide the holistic service for the family. But we started
with all these pillars that we talk about at a
City of Hope. First of all, the reading, then the feeding,
which is what we're doing at a to a great
extent right now because we're providing support for families that
(12:29):
have been impacted by these enforcement actions. So it has
actually been a really challenging few weeks and it's not over. Unfortunately,
there is always going to be the fear that Border
Patrol and US may return to Charlotte, and so we're
preparing our families right now for that possibility. We know
(12:50):
that the sheriff, the Metal Burk County Sheriff, Gary McFadden,
has expressed that there is a possibility then coming back.
Everybody they would hope for good communication and clarity, but
we certainly don't want to have to repeat what we've
just been through. And I think, David, for a lot
of your listeners, the realization is you may have your
(13:13):
opinions on emigration, but just remember the children. No child
should live in fear of being separated from those that
they love. I'll say that again. No child should live
in fear that they will be separated from those that
they love, and unfortunately that has been the case for
(13:34):
many weeks now, and we're really trying to support the families.
A lot of children have separation anxiety, so they come
to our program. They don't want to be in a
different room from their parents. That is one of the
beautiful things about our ministry is that when we do
programs with families, both parents and children are Their children
are reading being tutored by wonderful volunteers, and the parents
(13:57):
are in their own class doing fellowship Bible study, getting
some contential perspective from a mental health provider from CMS
from CMPD. We have a wonderful partnership with CMPD because
we want to foster that collaboration across law enforcement and
the people that we serve.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, you want to teach your people that you have
to have laws in a nation. A nation without laws
that becomes law less is not going to be a
nation that lasts for very long. And so this balance
between you want an immigration process that has laws, but
you also want to be compassionate toward people and not
separate children from their families. Like you mentioned, that is
(14:38):
so important for the basic nature of a human heart.
So how you are advancing that and allowing that to
be a part of your ministry, I'm sure is very challenging.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yes, it is, David. I'd love to just share with
you something that was sent to me by one of
the parents during these enforcement actions and it's from one
of our parents has been in our program for a
eight years. She said, it's all very sad. It's very
sad to know or imagine that maybe at any moment,
the normal life I have with my family could end.
(15:11):
I don't know when we will see each other again
as a family, and the whole LEDCC family. So many
things are going through my mind, and honestly, I'm very scared.
I hope and pray to God that this passes soon.
We value these people who are always there to support us.
Thank you mister Brent and the led CC team who
(15:33):
have always been angels to me and my family. And
then it progressed a little bit further and says it
seems things aren't going to improve for the rest of
the year, but many people say that the persecution activity
is decreasing, so I think we should continue to take
many precautions. But our children are still fear for that
(15:56):
we will be separated. So that is the reality for everyone.
You know, targeted enforcement action is for very few people,
but it impacts everyone, especially the children well.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
And especially those of you like yourself who are involved
in the ministry and who have a compassionate heart and
remember Jesus' own words, who said, let the little children
come to me, and you want the children to be protected,
And indeed, God is the one who designed family with
a mom and dad to be able to protect their
children as the first line of defense. And if you
separate that, then what happens to the kids is what
(16:32):
is the most basic question of all, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
And so a lot of our support has been wrapped around.
We've done town hall meetings, We've done very clear communications.
We have a partnership with Charlotte East, which is a
nonprofit serving communities on the east side of town. They
did a survey David recently of just less than one
hundred small businesses. The loss of income was substantial for
(16:56):
those two weeks or so, an average of two thousand
and five hundred dollars per day, per day, per day.
So that is going to take a while to recover from.
For sure. It feels like COVID all over again. So
my appeal to listeners would be support the small business
go and support the emigrant community because they really need
our help and support and compassion.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And could you please support CITYFOHOPECLT dot org because again,
a matching gift from Moments of Hope Church. Any gift
that our listeners would give is immediately matched, and we're
hoping to give tens of thousands of dollars to these
six vulnerable communities, of which you're apart, Brent, And again,
what will allow that to occur is the generosity of
(17:39):
our listeners. And I want in the next segment for
you to talk specifically about how that money is used
to help the kids. But the bottom line is right now,
people can give, they can support, and they can make
a real difference in people's lives today.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
If Definity David, the needs are great and we're very
grateful for City of Hope and be a part of
this coalition collaboration of nonprofits to serve all the city's children.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, what we believe as followers of Jesus, and for
those of you who are you'll know what I'm talking about.
For those of you who aren't, that's okay. You'll understand
as a person of compassion that when Jesus invades your heart,
you have his heart, and as he looks at the
needs of the world, you look at the needs of
the world through his lenses, and then you have his
heart for the compassionate needs that are before you. And
(18:24):
the bottom line is, in Charlotte, North Carolina, there are
vulnerable people all over, and there are children who are hurting,
and there are children that need food, and there are
children that need educational hope. And what we're trying to
do is to identify organizations in those communities that help
serve those kids. One of those is Learning Help Centers
of Charlotte. We've had other guests on over the last
several weeks. We'll have another couple in the next couple
(18:46):
of weeks and again go to cityofhopeclt dot org. Your
five dollars becomes ten, You're one hundred dollars becomes two
hundred dollars, a desire to go into this world and
help kids be able to be made whole. I'm David Chandwick.
This is one O seven point nine f m WBT
Charlotte's News Talk. We'll be back in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Christ In Me rise and despell the darkness. Christ in Me,
rise with your power and your strength. Christ in Me
porrow your blessing and healing. Christ In Me arise and
(20:44):
I show rise.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
So what happens when you become a follower of Jesus.
He truly invades your heart. He lives inside of you,
and he takes over your eyes and your mouth and
your actions, and you live as He would want you
to live.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one oh seven
point nine WBTFM, Charlotte's FM news talk station. And it's
a pleasure being a part of this station and especially
our new FM outreach. And all of you who are
listening for the first time because you live all over
the state, Welcome to the show. And I centralize on
Charlotte during this time of year because in this very
(21:23):
growing city there are real needs of poverty and hurt
and hopelessness. We've identified six vulnerable communities in Charlotte, one
of them on the southwest side of town, and a
ministry that helps them is Learning Help Centers Charlotte. Its
executive director is Brent Morris. He's with me in studio,
but let me again plug what we're trying to do
over the Christmas holidays. We're trying to raise one hundred
(21:45):
thousand dollars in order to help communities like the ones
Prints serves and especially the vulnerable children who live there.
And if you'll go to cityfofopeclt dot org. You can
give five dollars. It becomes ten, Ten becomes twenty one
hundred becomes two one hundred. We want to raise two
hundred thousand dollars to give to these vulnerable communities for
the purpose of helping them do what they do so
(22:07):
well again. Brent Morris is one of those who leads
a ministry in the southwest corridor of Charlotte and Brett.
It's called Learning Help Centers of Charlotte. Would you please
give us an idea of what that looks like in
caring for vulnerable people throughout a week. Give us a
picture of that, David.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
When we started our ministry, we were working within apartment
communities and we were serving just the children. We were
providing tutoring services, which meant we would get a team
of volunteers to come into a low income apartment complex
and help them with reading. Since then, we've moved to
a church environment where we can serve multiple communities, and
(22:50):
at the moment we're serving between twelve and fifteen low
income schools. But now it's not just elementary school children,
it's also middle in high school. On a weekly basis,
we're providing after school help for children who are learning
to read, and that's typically an hour long session where
they're doing not just reading, but also homework. One of
(23:13):
the tools that the City of Her partners has been
using is called eye Ready, and that has been a
tremendous opportunity for us to be able to truly measure
progress before reading a proficiency. As you've mentioned before, David,
in twenty fourteen, during that Berkeley and Harvard study, children
(23:33):
in nor Metliburg County, we're reading at about thirty nine
percent proficiency in third grade. And I also recall that unfortunately,
if children cannot read after third grade, there's the high
risk or correlation that they will be building penitentiaries close
to those whether children live.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's exactly right, Brent. I heard that statistic and it's
motivated my heart so much to help kids just be
able to read. Because again, listen, Lyrics, please hear this.
The greatest predictor of people going to prison is whether
they can read on grade level at the end of
the third grade. If they can't, again, that's the greatest
predictor that they'll probably one day go to prison. And
(24:14):
that's why we've put a lot of emphasis in our
City of Hope partnerships upon reading proficiency and capability, and to.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Put a positive spin on that if you can read
it third grade, there is a much higher chance that
you're going to be able to make it to graduate
high school. And then we have fortunately got another Seeds
of Hope partner within our City of Hope and they
are providing a tremendous service to not just the community
(24:43):
six nonprofits, but also to learning help centers of Charlotte
because we have children that have actually been able to
graduate and go onto college.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Well, let me give a shameless plug for Seeds of Hope,
which is a part of City of Hope. As you
can tell, we like hope and we like giving hope
to people. My wife helps at art that ministry some
years ago and it's been able to raise hundreds of
thousands of dollars for the purpose of giving money to
kids who wouldn't be able to go to college otherwise.
And right now we have sixty three Seeds of Hope
(25:14):
scholars in college and they are now earning their college degrees.
So you talk about not only just being able to
read at third grade level, then the Seeds of Hope
Scholarship comes alongside these kids later on gives them the
necessary needed scholarship money and that will allow them to
succeed in life and not to be dependent upon government
or anything else. That's why the City of Hope and
(25:35):
Seeds of Hope are all interconnected for the purpose of
helping these children not only graduate from third grade, but
graduate from college and have jobs that will allow them
to sustain themselves and their families for years to come.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
David, I've got a wonderful story to share with you whenever.
The families that we've had at LCC for close on
a decade has three daughters. Two of those daughters have
come through our program. One graduated from high school two
years ago. They went off to UNC Greensboro, and has
recently graduated in two years. She was a recipient of
(26:08):
the Seeds of her scholarship. She has been volunteering with
LEDCC for many, many years and is now in a
position to give back, and frankly, I'm so excited to
tell you that she has agreed to be a part
of our board as a student liaison. So it really
doesn't get better than that. We've got some family that's
totally engaged in our ministry, understands the needs, and she
(26:32):
has been a tremendous example to middle and high schoolers
of what is possible.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Brent twenty fourteen. Charlotte is at the bottom of the
list of upper mobility of cities in Charlotte. I understand
that it's now crept up to like forty first, and
that's really wonderful. That's because people like yourself have given
yourselves to try to help these kids. And the story
you just told is success. That is upward mobility. That's
(26:57):
allowing people to be all that God needed them to be.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Amen. And the fact that reading proficiency is crept up,
obviously there was a big setback during the COVID years.
We're now in the mid forties, so let's say that
less than half of third graders right now are reading
at grade level. There's therefore a tremendous opportunity to come
alongside these children, not just for reading, but for mentorship
(27:24):
and tutoring. And we rarely try and promote a kinship
relationship between the volunteer, not just with the student but
also with the parents.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But they can't read nor study if they're hungry, and
not only are they now being fed by you. They're
being fed good food which allows brain capacity to operate
at fullness.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's correct, David. We have cooking classes during the summer
for our students. We have cooking classes for our parents
every month by a qualified chef that is sharing recipes
and how to prepare food that is healthy fruit and vegetables.
The other thing I would mention in that context is
hungry children is one aspect, but fearful children is another,
(28:06):
and that's the new reality. Children that are in fear
of being separated from their parents also cannot read and
also cannot concentrate, and that, unfortunately, is one of the
other consequences of these enforcement actions. Sure there's going to
be an economic impact, but school disruption is another. And
children that are fearful going to school, especially with that
(28:29):
possibility of being separated from their parents, is a really
real need that we need to address.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Well, listeners, just think about chronic stress in your own life,
when you have something that is just always there burdening you,
creating fear, and then now think about that being in
the life of a kid and how they can handle
it they can't, and what happens then is their whole
student ability and capability is then negated, it is thwarted,
(28:57):
it's paralyzed. So Brent, what you're doing with Learning Help
Center Charlotte is trying to help give them that security,
that food, ingestion, that health that they need brain wise
in order to be the fullness, the wholeness person.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
They need to be lord ins by the aggressive God
that we've been able to do this for the last
fourteen years. We've had wonderful partnerships with churches, but also
there's a community of volunteers that step up month then
and month out. In fact, they were helping us last
month with the distribution of food to a lot of
these families who are fearful of coming out or sending
(29:31):
their kids to school. So they have been tremendous as well.
So it really does take a village to support a
community of vulnerable families.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
If someone would like to volunteer in your ministry, how
in the world do they go about that?
Speaker 3 (29:43):
They would go to our website www dot lhcclt dot
org and go to they get Involved link and we'll
be able to sign up and come visit us.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Well.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I know several volunteers from almost a Hope church who
go there and they tell me it's life changing, that
it's so helpful for them as they give their lives away.
And I would just encourage all listeners if you can
give a couple of hours a week to this ministry,
it's one that you will appreciate and feel like I
thank God for being a part of it.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I think, David, consistency is key and even one hour
a week would be more than adequate to build that relationship,
to build that triplet and show empathy towards families because
best way progress starts is with empathy.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Empathy is so key, folks. And if you can't go yourself,
you can send yourself with your dollars and your money
is representative of you going there as well. So again,
go to CITYOHOPECLT dot org. Your money will immediately be
doubled because the church I passedor Moments of Hope Church
has offered a matching gift and we can send them
a couple one hundred thousand dollars into these vulnerable communities
(30:47):
that help the children be all that they can be.
And after all, it wasn't Jesus correct when he said,
let the little children come to me as we look
toward Christmas. Let's be generous. I'm David Shadwick and I'll
be right back.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You call your full close with you surround me. You
give me.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
What good news is that we've been made new because
God loves us and he came to us. What we're
celebrating this week at Christmas time. Hi everyone, I'm David
Chadwick and this is one O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's been great being with you
during this Christmas season. And if you'd like to hear
(32:38):
this program with Brent Morris in its entirety, please go
to WBT dot com, scroll down to the weekend shows,
look for the David Chadwick Show and you can hear
it from beginning to end in its entirety. Also, many
thanks to Perry's Fine Jewelry. You have re upped your
sponsorship of this show. I could not thank you more.
Without you, I could not do this on a weekly basis. Again,
(33:00):
in to all of my friends there, Hadley Perry, all
of those who were there, thank you so much for
your sponsorship of this show. In studio with me is
Brent Morris. He is the executive director of LHCC Learning
Help Centers of Charlotte and it's ministry on the southwest
side of the city in a corridor that's very vulnerable,
with a lot of immigrants, a lot of poverty. Is
(33:21):
just outstanding. If you'd like to give to this year's
City of Hope campaign, go to cityofhopeclt dot org. Your
five dollars becomes ten dollars. Year twenty becomes forty to
help ministries like Brent help kids who are in need
in our area. And last year, remember, folks, we raised
money to help rebuild a community in western North Carolina
(33:43):
devastated by the hurricane in Barnardsville, North Carolina, and man,
one of the pride points of my life is the
fact that city has been rebuilt by the efforts of you,
the listeners and moments of Hope Church and others as
well and Brent. What's really cool if people go to
CITYHOPECLT dot org, they can see a ten minute video
of the before in Barnersville, the flood caused by the hurricane,
(34:05):
and now the rebuilding of that community again. Cityfhope selt
dot org will give you a video that you can
watch ten minutes it's just wonderful. But interestingly, in our
partnership with you on the southwest side of time in LHCC,
you also went to Barnersville. Talked to us about that.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, David, I was very fortunate during the summer to
go with a group of Hopsters from Moments of Hope Church.
They were looking for skilled resources, and I said, well,
I'm up for adventure, I'm teachable, I'll go, and I
took my chainsaw along. We went up to Baarnersville for
a few days and we got to build homes and
(34:42):
fix fences and various projects. I've got to learn some
new skills in the process. But it was a beautiful
place to just meet beautiful people and they have so
much to be grateful for for the hope that has
been provided by just people from all over the countryankly
visiting there. And in the previous year, Learning Help Centers
(35:05):
of Charlotte went to Atlanta with a Better World Pastor
Ken and our team collaborated. This year, I decided it's
probably not going to be a good use of our money,
so we decided not to go. The Lord provided another
opportunity within three weeks. D John, Who's worth the City
of Hope came to me and said we would love
(35:25):
to have groups go out to Barnards food and help volunteer.
And I thought, this is the opportunity to send families
away just to enjoy some time together, but most importantly
to give back. So we took sixteen of our families,
which means children and their parents, along as with some
of our staff. We spent three days there. We stayed
(35:46):
at the church in Barnetsville, which was a wonderful blessing.
We prepared our meals together and we fellowshiped. We helped
to fix houses, we got to build fences, we got
to paint play and at the end of that process,
we invited the people that we had worked with to
come to the church and break bread with us and fellowship. David,
(36:10):
that was a while just to see the gratitude of
the folks that have been impacted, but just the joy
for our families to experience an opportunity to give back
to others that they would probably not have that opportunity
to do in their lifetime.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, if people don't know d John oversees the City
of Hope. What is the City of Hope? It is
six partners working together in different vulnerable communities all throughout
the metrolineas Charlotte area. You're trying to work collaboratively together,
sharing reading resources. For example. I know Ken Gillier is
the one that brought the already reading program that you
(36:45):
now have adopted. And communities are not experiencing redundancy but
collaboration working together. And we have really enjoyed watching all
of that happen. And now you've been able to take
it to Barnersville and to see that amazing work there
and all of us continuing to work together. We are
stronger together, aren't we.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Yeah, we are, David, And I think we are blessed
to be peacemakers and we are blessed because we will
be called sons of God.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, blessed to be a blessing. That's a wonderful teaching
of the scripture.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
And for children to see the coming together of an
LEDCC family, to go to a place and see what
work looks like together, it transformed Live's David in two
three days.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Well, the truth is it's a broken world in which
we live. Genesis three in the Bible talks about how
sin has entered this world and the curse of sin
has broken this world apart in so many different ways,
not the least of which in the ways you deal
with people on a weekly basis, Brent. But in hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes,
those things were never a part of God's original intent.
They're a part of the broken world in which we live.
(37:48):
But we're called to enter that broken space as followers
of Jesus and try to bring healing and hope to
it until He comes back and removes the curse of
sin forever and ever. And you've done that, not only locally,
but now in Barne. And it is true. It is
more blessed to give than to receive. And there's something
that even studies, secular studies show that when we serve
other people, there is a spiritual serotonin, a spiritual endorphin
(38:12):
that's released in our bodies that makes us feel better
about ourselves, that releases us from depression and other things
like that.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I think, David, as Christians, we're called to a higher standard.
We are to be Jesus' hands and feet, and I
feel like with the heart to serve the community. And
that really is a part of what we do. Is
if we have the right attitude to serving, We're able
to really make an impact for God's glory. And I
know that during these tough times and also during challenging
(38:41):
times for children, especially in school and that disruption, just
having their power to be able to share the word
of God and disciple, these children and their families has
been a true blessing that I'm just so privileged to
be a part of.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, Christmas is coming up. It's hard to believe it'll
be this Thursday, and may all of us just pause
and remember the true meaning of Christmas. It's not really
about presence p r E s E n ts. It's
about God's presence p R E s E. And ce
that he was incarnational the term you used earlier, Brent,
(39:17):
That he loved us so much he came to dwell
among us and to pursue us, and eventually to go
from a cradle to a cross, to die on that cross,
to forgive us of our sins and give us a
personal relationship with him, his living inside of us, so
that we can be his hands and feet here on
this earth.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
This city, David needs unity, This city needs empathy, em
pull everybody to cast aside any hatred, to love our
neighbors because that's what we cool to do.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
And when they're different than we are, that's when love
really makes sense. We can love easily those who are
like us or who are affirming of us, but when
we have people who are really different than us, yet
we choose to still love them, we're never more like
Jesus because he came to die for his enemies, those
who were hostile against him. He came and died for
them to show us his eternal love again. City of
(40:08):
Hope clt dot org. City Hope, clt dot org Moments
of Church has given a matching gift to Your five
dollars becomes ten, Your ten dollars becomes twenty one hundred
dollars becomes two hundred to help feed hungry kids locally
to allow them to experience the joy of the Christmas season. Everyone.
Merry Christmas to you all this Thursday. I hope you
have a blessed holiday season, and remember it is indeed
(40:31):
blessed to give than to receive.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Unto sign God pouch
Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O
seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. Welcome to
the show. In case you don't know, this is a
faith and values program that I've been doing now for
almost twenty six years here at WBT. It's been a
pleasure doing it, and thank you for listeners for joining
me on a weekly basis, and now with the call
(01:02):
letters of one O seven point nine FM, our footprint
has been enlarge. We understand all the way to the
North Carolina Virginia line, perhaps even as far as Wilmington.
Some say it is being picked up in Asheville, North Carolina,
and also as far south as Columbia, South Carolina. So
for all of you listening, thank you for listening, and
know that this faith in values program is something that
(01:23):
WBT values. I value it and I hope it helps
a lot of people grow in their faith and have
less fear and more security in the Lord. I appreciate
all of you who've been a part of the City
of HOOPECLT dot org campaign. For those of you who
are new to us, know it's an area of ministry
here in this city that we're trying to address hungry kids,
(01:47):
kids who have food in security, who need help. So
the church I pastor, Moments of Hope Church has offered
one hundred thousand dollars matching gift that you, the listeners
have been responding to to help feed these hungry care
and we're hoping to raise two hundred thousand dollars to
divide up between all of our different partners in these
six vulnerable communities here in Charlotte. And it's been a
(02:10):
pleasure raising this money and also more so to hear
about the smiling faces of the kids and the families
that we are able to help. So during this time period,
during Christmas time period that we have been raising gifts
to give to these kids, we still can do so
until the end of the year before tax season has ended.
With our gifts, and we'd love for you to still participate.
(02:31):
Go to cityohopeclt dot org and your five dollars becomes ten,
your one hundred dollars becomes two hundred dollars. Please help
us reach this goal in order to help these kids well.
One of the communities that we reach is Learning Help
Centers of Charlotte. The executive director of that ministry is
Brent Morris. He is with me today in studio, and
(02:51):
you just need to know listeners. He's one of my
favorite people in the world, and I love his ministry,
I love what he does. I'm just so honored to
call him my friend and to see what he does
in this community. Brent Morris, Welcome to the show again.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
David.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's always a pleasure to be here with you today.
Thank you so much for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, obviously the accent gives you a way as one
who came from South Africa, that is your background. When
did you come to Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I've been in Charlotte for eighteen years, we've been in
the USA for twenty seven years, and as an immigrant,
I've become certainly very familiar with the plot of a
lot of the families that we serve, and I'm very
grateful to have been given the honor to serve Our
Lord in this capacity.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Learning Help Centers of Charlotte. Tell me about what caused
you to be called to the ministry and then tell
us where it is, and then we'll get more into
in the program. What exactly you do, David.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
This actually goes back to you at some point I
was attending the church that you were pastoring, and as
part of that outreach, we were addressing South Boulevard community.
I started to volunteer in that space, and at the
same time, the Lord was calling me to something more
what I was doing. I'd spent the first fifteen years
of my career here in business consulting, and I just
(04:06):
felt the need to do something more to honor him.
So I got exposed to the community. I started getting
involved as a volunteer at Learning Health Centers of Charlotte,
and within six months I quit my job and decided
this is what I need to be doing.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
They have another friend I'm not mentioned in my name,
but he's a lawyer in the community. He's been serving
in a very vulnerable area too, and he came to
me the other day and said, you know what, I'm
just not sure my life is making the impact that
I wanted to make by doing lawyering, even though it's
important and I enjoyed, he said, but serving these kids
that's made my life feel whole. Is that kind of
what happened to you as well?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Very much? So.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I saw the need, and I know that the needs
are always going to be there, but I felt like
this is my opportunity to make an impact for the kingdom,
so that I could rally other volunteers to just come
and visit, to see, to get engaged, and to truly
change the trajectory of children's lives and their family lives
for that matter.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Are mostly them immigrants who are coming to your particular ministry.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yes, we were in various parts of the city when
we first started immigrant and refugee families. Of recent years,
we've decided to centralize our focus and attention on the
immigrant community in the southwest portion of the city.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And so well discovered as we've looked at Charlotte in
this desire to help hurting kids, that Charlotte is this new,
shiny South city that is growing. Some say it's growing
faster than any other city in the country except maybe Austin,
Texas or Phoenix, Arizona. And a lot of people are
pouring in here. And the reasons because our climate's fairly tepid.
(05:43):
It's because there are job opportunities, because the city is growing,
A lot of immigrants can do construction, et cetera. So
their core coming here and they are in our.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Midst Yes, it's also called a sanctuary city, David, So
it has found favor with people that want to come here.
The climate is wonderful, the opportunities for work stally around construction.
This is a fast growing city and hence construction and
building is definitely a core to a lot of what
finds people here.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So it draws them here, and many of them get
here and find out it's not quite as easy to
find a job and find security and have their families
have hope as they previously thought. So all of a sudden,
they're here, and they're still hungry, and they're still needy,
and the needs are there for.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Sure, and that's very much part of what our ministry
has become. We're incarnational, which means we live and serve
amongst the people, and we also are holistic, which means
we're serving the whole family, not just the children, because
we feel like if we can impact the lives both
spiritually and socially for the parents, all boats rise and
all the children have a better chance of success, including
(06:48):
upward mobility. Of course, because eleven years ago we were
ranked fifty out of fifty for upward mobility, meaning that
children growing up in Charlotte have the least chance of
moving out of poverty than any other city in the country.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
And we're trying to address that as well in a
lot of different ways. So my guest is Brent Morris.
He is the executive director of Learning Help Center Charlotte,
and we're going to talk when we come back, Brent
about these people who are coming here. You know some
of the recent Ice conversation, what that's meant for you,
But you still got to help hurting people.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm David Chadwick. This is News Talk at one oh
seven point nine FMWBT. Will be right back.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
H If you Walt Yid's sick, you're gonna walk ow you.
(08:41):
If you want Tim Bow, You're gonna walt cow free.
Because at the mention of his day, at the mention
of his day, but at the mention of his.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Day, everything will change.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Everything can change, whether just something about that name Jesus
that causes the demons to flee and causes all authority
in heaven to be released. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick
and this is one oh seven point nine FM WBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk, and you know we're celebrating the
(09:19):
name of Jesus this Thursday, on Christmas Day, and God
came to be one of us, and he named himself Jesus,
meaning Savior of the world. The greatest gift God could
give us is our greatest need, which is the forgiveness
of our sins. So God comes to us in Jesus
and begins the journey to the cross where he dies
to forgive us forever of our sins. What a great gift.
(09:41):
And folks, may I encourage all of you because God
is the greatest giver of all. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only son for you
to give. During this Christmas season, we're trying to raise
one hundred thousand dollars through cityohopeclt dot org Moments of
Hope Church. The church I pastor has given one hundred
thousand dollars matching gift. It's being matched by you, the listeners,
by going to CITYFOPECLT dot org. There you can give.
(10:04):
Your five dollars becomes ten, your one hundred dollars becomes
two hundred dollars. Let's raise this money to help vulnerable
kids in our community simply have a chance to eat,
a chance to live, and also a chance for upward
mobility to become whom God wants them to be. There
are several different communities that we have identified in Charlotte
that are vulnerable. One of those is on the southwest
(10:27):
side of town, in that quarter where there are a
lot of Latino and other immigrants, and a ministry that
is helping them is called Learning Help Centers of Charlotte.
Brent Morris is the executive director of that ministry. He
is in studio with me today if you miss the
first segment. He is a South African immigrant who's come
here but now doing a wonderful ministry, one I really
(10:48):
admire and I call Brent Morris my friend proudly. So
Brent talked to us about the kind of person that
you are ministering to more specifically, and I'd love for
you to address the whole ice situation that just recently
happened and what that did to your ministry, the trauma
that it caused among people. I know there's a huge
debate in our culture today about you've got to be legal,
(11:10):
and I get that and understand that a country has
to have immigration laws, but also Jesus wants us to
care for people in need. So you don't necessarily demand
a green card when somebody's hungry in your midst. So
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
That, David.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
When I decided to get involved in ministry and give
up my corporate job, the thing that the Lord shared
with me is that you are to love your neighbor
as yourself and as an immigrant myself, I was able
to very clearly see the needs of struggling immigrants that
have come to this country. Their parents have brought them
here for a better future, and they I think a
(11:47):
lot of your listeners may not understand that they are
fearing something from where they came and that is why
they bring their children.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Okay, they are fleeing something from their former country, perhaps persecution,
or perhaps are being put down or not having opportunity.
And also they've come here for that better opportunity, especially
for their kids.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Especially for their kids, and that really is their future.
And so we have taken it upon ourselves to both
provide the holistic service for the family. But we started
with all these pillars that we talk about at a
City of Hope. First of all, the reading, then the feeding,
which is what we're doing at a to a great
extent right now because we're providing support for families that
(12:29):
have been impacted by these enforcement actions. So it has
actually been a really challenging few weeks and it's not over. Unfortunately,
there is always going to be the fear that Border
Patrol and US may return to Charlotte, and so we're
preparing our families right now for that possibility. We know
(12:50):
that the sheriff, the Metal Burk County Sheriff, Gary McFadden,
has expressed that there is a possibility then coming back.
Everybody they would hope for good communication and clarity, but
we certainly don't want to have to repeat what we've
just been through. And I think, David, for a lot
of your listeners, the realization is you may have your
(13:13):
opinions on emigration, but just remember the children. No child
should live in fear of being separated from those that
they love. I'll say that again. No child should live
in fear that they will be separated from those that
they love, and unfortunately that has been the case for
(13:34):
many weeks now, and we're really trying to support the families.
A lot of children have separation anxiety, so they come
to our program. They don't want to be in a
different room from their parents. That is one of the
beautiful things about our ministry is that when we do
programs with families, both parents and children are Their children
are reading being tutored by wonderful volunteers, and the parents
(13:57):
are in their own class doing fellowship Bible study, getting
some contential perspective from a mental health provider from CMS
from CMPD. We have a wonderful partnership with CMPD because
we want to foster that collaboration across law enforcement and
the people that we serve.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, you want to teach your people that you have
to have laws in a nation. A nation without laws
that becomes law less is not going to be a
nation that lasts for very long. And so this balance
between you want an immigration process that has laws, but
you also want to be compassionate toward people and not
separate children from their families. Like you mentioned, that is
(14:38):
so important for the basic nature of a human heart.
So how you are advancing that and allowing that to
be a part of your ministry, I'm sure is very challenging.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Yes, it is, David. I'd love to just share with
you something that was sent to me by one of
the parents during these enforcement actions and it's from one
of our parents has been in our program for a
eight years. She said, it's all very sad. It's very
sad to know or imagine that maybe at any moment,
the normal life I have with my family could end.
(15:11):
I don't know when we will see each other again
as a family, and the whole LEDCC family. So many
things are going through my mind, and honestly, I'm very scared.
I hope and pray to God that this passes soon.
We value these people who are always there to support us.
Thank you mister Brent and the led CC team who
(15:33):
have always been angels to me and my family. And
then it progressed a little bit further and says it
seems things aren't going to improve for the rest of
the year, but many people say that the persecution activity
is decreasing, so I think we should continue to take
many precautions. But our children are still fear for that
(15:56):
we will be separated. So that is the reality for everyone.
You know, targeted enforcement action is for very few people,
but it impacts everyone, especially the children well.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
And especially those of you like yourself who are involved
in the ministry and who have a compassionate heart and
remember Jesus' own words, who said, let the little children
come to me, and you want the children to be protected,
And indeed, God is the one who designed family with
a mom and dad to be able to protect their
children as the first line of defense. And if you
separate that, then what happens to the kids is what
(16:32):
is the most basic question of all, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
And so a lot of our support has been wrapped around.
We've done town hall meetings, We've done very clear communications.
We have a partnership with Charlotte East, which is a
nonprofit serving communities on the east side of town. They
did a survey David recently of just less than one
hundred small businesses. The loss of income was substantial for
(16:56):
those two weeks or so, an average of two thousand
and five hundred dollars per day, per day, per day.
So that is going to take a while to recover from.
For sure. It feels like COVID all over again. So
my appeal to listeners would be support the small business
go and support the emigrant community because they really need
our help and support and compassion.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And could you please support CITYFOHOPECLT dot org because again,
a matching gift from Moments of Hope Church. Any gift
that our listeners would give is immediately matched, and we're
hoping to give tens of thousands of dollars to these
six vulnerable communities, of which you're apart, Brent, And again,
what will allow that to occur is the generosity of
(17:39):
our listeners. And I want in the next segment for
you to talk specifically about how that money is used
to help the kids. But the bottom line is right now,
people can give, they can support, and they can make
a real difference in people's lives today.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
If Definity David, the needs are great and we're very
grateful for City of Hope and be a part of
this coalition collaboration of nonprofits to serve all the city's children.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, what we believe as followers of Jesus, and for
those of you who are you'll know what I'm talking about.
For those of you who aren't, that's okay. You'll understand
as a person of compassion that when Jesus invades your heart,
you have his heart, and as he looks at the
needs of the world, you look at the needs of
the world through his lenses, and then you have his
heart for the compassionate needs that are before you. And
(18:24):
the bottom line is, in Charlotte, North Carolina, there are
vulnerable people all over, and there are children who are hurting,
and there are children that need food, and there are
children that need educational hope. And what we're trying to
do is to identify organizations in those communities that help
serve those kids. One of those is Learning Help Centers
of Charlotte. We've had other guests on over the last
several weeks. We'll have another couple in the next couple
(18:46):
of weeks and again go to cityofhopeclt dot org. Your
five dollars becomes ten, You're one hundred dollars becomes two
hundred dollars, a desire to go into this world and
help kids be able to be made whole. I'm David Chandwick.
This is one O seven point nine f m WBT
Charlotte's News Talk. We'll be back in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Christ In Me rise and despell the darkness. Christ in Me,
rise with your power and your strength. Christ in Me
porrow your blessing and healing. Christ In Me arise and
(20:44):
I show rise.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
So what happens when you become a follower of Jesus.
He truly invades your heart. He lives inside of you,
and he takes over your eyes and your mouth and
your actions, and you live as He would want you
to live.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one oh seven
point nine WBTFM, Charlotte's FM news talk station. And it's
a pleasure being a part of this station and especially
our new FM outreach. And all of you who are
listening for the first time because you live all over
the state, Welcome to the show. And I centralize on
Charlotte during this time of year because in this very
(21:23):
growing city there are real needs of poverty and hurt
and hopelessness. We've identified six vulnerable communities in Charlotte, one
of them on the southwest side of town, and a
ministry that helps them is Learning Help Centers Charlotte. Its
executive director is Brent Morris. He's with me in studio,
but let me again plug what we're trying to do
over the Christmas holidays. We're trying to raise one hundred
(21:45):
thousand dollars in order to help communities like the ones
Prints serves and especially the vulnerable children who live there.
And if you'll go to cityfofopeclt dot org. You can
give five dollars. It becomes ten, Ten becomes twenty one
hundred becomes two one hundred. We want to raise two
hundred thousand dollars to give to these vulnerable communities for
the purpose of helping them do what they do so
(22:07):
well again. Brent Morris is one of those who leads
a ministry in the southwest corridor of Charlotte and Brett.
It's called Learning Help Centers of Charlotte. Would you please
give us an idea of what that looks like in
caring for vulnerable people throughout a week. Give us a
picture of that, David.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
When we started our ministry, we were working within apartment
communities and we were serving just the children. We were
providing tutoring services, which meant we would get a team
of volunteers to come into a low income apartment complex
and help them with reading. Since then, we've moved to
a church environment where we can serve multiple communities, and
(22:50):
at the moment we're serving between twelve and fifteen low
income schools. But now it's not just elementary school children,
it's also middle in high school. On a weekly basis,
we're providing after school help for children who are learning
to read, and that's typically an hour long session where
they're doing not just reading, but also homework. One of
(23:13):
the tools that the City of Her partners has been
using is called eye Ready, and that has been a
tremendous opportunity for us to be able to truly measure
progress before reading a proficiency. As you've mentioned before, David,
in twenty fourteen, during that Berkeley and Harvard study, children
(23:33):
in nor Metliburg County, we're reading at about thirty nine
percent proficiency in third grade. And I also recall that unfortunately,
if children cannot read after third grade, there's the high
risk or correlation that they will be building penitentiaries close
to those whether children live.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's exactly right, Brent. I heard that statistic and it's
motivated my heart so much to help kids just be
able to read. Because again, listen, Lyrics, please hear this.
The greatest predictor of people going to prison is whether
they can read on grade level at the end of
the third grade. If they can't, again, that's the greatest
predictor that they'll probably one day go to prison. And
(24:14):
that's why we've put a lot of emphasis in our
City of Hope partnerships upon reading proficiency and capability, and to.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Put a positive spin on that if you can read
it third grade, there is a much higher chance that
you're going to be able to make it to graduate
high school. And then we have fortunately got another Seeds
of Hope partner within our City of Hope and they
are providing a tremendous service to not just the community
(24:43):
six nonprofits, but also to learning help centers of Charlotte
because we have children that have actually been able to
graduate and go onto college.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Well, let me give a shameless plug for Seeds of Hope,
which is a part of City of Hope. As you
can tell, we like hope and we like giving hope
to people. My wife helps at art that ministry some
years ago and it's been able to raise hundreds of
thousands of dollars for the purpose of giving money to
kids who wouldn't be able to go to college otherwise.
And right now we have sixty three Seeds of Hope
(25:14):
scholars in college and they are now earning their college degrees.
So you talk about not only just being able to
read at third grade level, then the Seeds of Hope
Scholarship comes alongside these kids later on gives them the
necessary needed scholarship money and that will allow them to
succeed in life and not to be dependent upon government
or anything else. That's why the City of Hope and
(25:35):
Seeds of Hope are all interconnected for the purpose of
helping these children not only graduate from third grade, but
graduate from college and have jobs that will allow them
to sustain themselves and their families for years to come.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
David, I've got a wonderful story to share with you whenever.
The families that we've had at LCC for close on
a decade has three daughters. Two of those daughters have
come through our program. One graduated from high school two
years ago. They went off to UNC Greensboro, and has
recently graduated in two years. She was a recipient of
(26:08):
the Seeds of her scholarship. She has been volunteering with
LEDCC for many, many years and is now in a
position to give back, and frankly, I'm so excited to
tell you that she has agreed to be a part
of our board as a student liaison. So it really
doesn't get better than that. We've got some family that's
totally engaged in our ministry, understands the needs, and she
(26:32):
has been a tremendous example to middle and high schoolers
of what is possible.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Brent twenty fourteen. Charlotte is at the bottom of the
list of upper mobility of cities in Charlotte. I understand
that it's now crept up to like forty first, and
that's really wonderful. That's because people like yourself have given
yourselves to try to help these kids. And the story
you just told is success. That is upward mobility. That's
(26:57):
allowing people to be all that God needed them to be.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Amen. And the fact that reading proficiency is crept up,
obviously there was a big setback during the COVID years.
We're now in the mid forties, so let's say that
less than half of third graders right now are reading
at grade level. There's therefore a tremendous opportunity to come
alongside these children, not just for reading, but for mentorship
(27:24):
and tutoring. And we rarely try and promote a kinship
relationship between the volunteer, not just with the student but
also with the parents.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
But they can't read nor study if they're hungry, and
not only are they now being fed by you. They're
being fed good food which allows brain capacity to operate
at fullness.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's correct, David. We have cooking classes during the summer
for our students. We have cooking classes for our parents
every month by a qualified chef that is sharing recipes
and how to prepare food that is healthy fruit and vegetables.
The other thing I would mention in that context is
hungry children is one aspect, but fearful children is another,
(28:06):
and that's the new reality. Children that are in fear
of being separated from their parents also cannot read and
also cannot concentrate, and that, unfortunately, is one of the
other consequences of these enforcement actions. Sure there's going to
be an economic impact, but school disruption is another. And
children that are fearful going to school, especially with that
(28:29):
possibility of being separated from their parents, is a really
real need that we need to address.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Well, listeners, just think about chronic stress in your own life,
when you have something that is just always there burdening you,
creating fear, and then now think about that being in
the life of a kid and how they can handle
it they can't, and what happens then is their whole
student ability and capability is then negated, it is thwarted,
(28:57):
it's paralyzed. So Brent, what you're doing with Learning Help
Center Charlotte is trying to help give them that security,
that food, ingestion, that health that they need brain wise
in order to be the fullness, the wholeness person.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
They need to be lord ins by the aggressive God
that we've been able to do this for the last
fourteen years. We've had wonderful partnerships with churches, but also
there's a community of volunteers that step up month then
and month out. In fact, they were helping us last
month with the distribution of food to a lot of
these families who are fearful of coming out or sending
(29:31):
their kids to school. So they have been tremendous as well.
So it really does take a village to support a
community of vulnerable families.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
If someone would like to volunteer in your ministry, how
in the world do they go about that?
Speaker 3 (29:43):
They would go to our website www dot lhcclt dot
org and go to they get Involved link and we'll
be able to sign up and come visit us.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Well.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
I know several volunteers from almost a Hope church who
go there and they tell me it's life changing, that
it's so helpful for them as they give their lives away.
And I would just encourage all listeners if you can
give a couple of hours a week to this ministry,
it's one that you will appreciate and feel like I
thank God for being a part of it.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I think, David, consistency is key and even one hour
a week would be more than adequate to build that relationship,
to build that triplet and show empathy towards families because
best way progress starts is with empathy.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Empathy is so key, folks. And if you can't go yourself,
you can send yourself with your dollars and your money
is representative of you going there as well. So again,
go to CITYOHOPECLT dot org. Your money will immediately be
doubled because the church I passedor Moments of Hope Church
has offered a matching gift and we can send them
a couple one hundred thousand dollars into these vulnerable communities
(30:47):
that help the children be all that they can be.
And after all, it wasn't Jesus correct when he said,
let the little children come to me as we look
toward Christmas. Let's be generous. I'm David Shadwick and I'll
be right back.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You call your full close with you surround me. You
give me.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
What good news is that we've been made new because
God loves us and he came to us. What we're
celebrating this week at Christmas time. Hi everyone, I'm David
Chadwick and this is one O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's been great being with you
during this Christmas season. And if you'd like to hear
(32:38):
this program with Brent Morris in its entirety, please go
to WBT dot com, scroll down to the weekend shows,
look for the David Chadwick Show and you can hear
it from beginning to end in its entirety. Also, many
thanks to Perry's Fine Jewelry. You have re upped your
sponsorship of this show. I could not thank you more.
Without you, I could not do this on a weekly basis. Again,
(33:00):
in to all of my friends there, Hadley Perry, all
of those who were there, thank you so much for
your sponsorship of this show. In studio with me is
Brent Morris. He is the executive director of LHCC Learning
Help Centers of Charlotte and it's ministry on the southwest
side of the city in a corridor that's very vulnerable,
with a lot of immigrants, a lot of poverty. Is
(33:21):
just outstanding. If you'd like to give to this year's
City of Hope campaign, go to cityofhopeclt dot org. Your
five dollars becomes ten dollars. Year twenty becomes forty to
help ministries like Brent help kids who are in need
in our area. And last year, remember, folks, we raised
money to help rebuild a community in western North Carolina
(33:43):
devastated by the hurricane in Barnardsville, North Carolina, and man,
one of the pride points of my life is the
fact that city has been rebuilt by the efforts of you,
the listeners and moments of Hope Church and others as
well and Brent. What's really cool if people go to
CITYHOPECLT dot org, they can see a ten minute video
of the before in Barnersville, the flood caused by the hurricane,
(34:05):
and now the rebuilding of that community again. Cityfhope selt
dot org will give you a video that you can
watch ten minutes it's just wonderful. But interestingly, in our
partnership with you on the southwest side of time in LHCC,
you also went to Barnersville. Talked to us about that.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, David, I was very fortunate during the summer to
go with a group of Hopsters from Moments of Hope Church.
They were looking for skilled resources, and I said, well,
I'm up for adventure, I'm teachable, I'll go, and I
took my chainsaw along. We went up to Baarnersville for
a few days and we got to build homes and
(34:42):
fix fences and various projects. I've got to learn some
new skills in the process. But it was a beautiful
place to just meet beautiful people and they have so
much to be grateful for for the hope that has
been provided by just people from all over the countryankly
visiting there. And in the previous year, Learning Help Centers
(35:05):
of Charlotte went to Atlanta with a Better World Pastor
Ken and our team collaborated. This year, I decided it's
probably not going to be a good use of our money,
so we decided not to go. The Lord provided another
opportunity within three weeks. D John, Who's worth the City
of Hope came to me and said we would love
(35:25):
to have groups go out to Barnards food and help volunteer.
And I thought, this is the opportunity to send families
away just to enjoy some time together, but most importantly
to give back. So we took sixteen of our families,
which means children and their parents, along as with some
of our staff. We spent three days there. We stayed
(35:46):
at the church in Barnetsville, which was a wonderful blessing.
We prepared our meals together and we fellowshiped. We helped
to fix houses, we got to build fences, we got
to paint play and at the end of that process,
we invited the people that we had worked with to
come to the church and break bread with us and fellowship. David,
(36:10):
that was a while just to see the gratitude of
the folks that have been impacted, but just the joy
for our families to experience an opportunity to give back
to others that they would probably not have that opportunity
to do in their lifetime.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, if people don't know d John oversees the City
of Hope. What is the City of Hope? It is
six partners working together in different vulnerable communities all throughout
the metrolineas Charlotte area. You're trying to work collaboratively together,
sharing reading resources. For example. I know Ken Gillier is
the one that brought the already reading program that you
(36:45):
now have adopted. And communities are not experiencing redundancy but
collaboration working together. And we have really enjoyed watching all
of that happen. And now you've been able to take
it to Barnersville and to see that amazing work there
and all of us continuing to work together. We are
stronger together, aren't we.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Yeah, we are, David, And I think we are blessed
to be peacemakers and we are blessed because we will
be called sons of God.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah, blessed to be a blessing. That's a wonderful teaching
of the scripture.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
And for children to see the coming together of an
LEDCC family, to go to a place and see what
work looks like together, it transformed Live's David in two
three days.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Well, the truth is it's a broken world in which
we live. Genesis three in the Bible talks about how
sin has entered this world and the curse of sin
has broken this world apart in so many different ways,
not the least of which in the ways you deal
with people on a weekly basis, Brent. But in hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes,
those things were never a part of God's original intent.
They're a part of the broken world in which we live.
(37:48):
But we're called to enter that broken space as followers
of Jesus and try to bring healing and hope to
it until He comes back and removes the curse of
sin forever and ever. And you've done that, not only locally,
but now in Barne. And it is true. It is
more blessed to give than to receive. And there's something
that even studies, secular studies show that when we serve
other people, there is a spiritual serotonin, a spiritual endorphin
(38:12):
that's released in our bodies that makes us feel better
about ourselves, that releases us from depression and other things
like that.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
I think, David, as Christians, we're called to a higher standard.
We are to be Jesus' hands and feet, and I
feel like with the heart to serve the community. And
that really is a part of what we do. Is
if we have the right attitude to serving, We're able
to really make an impact for God's glory. And I
know that during these tough times and also during challenging
(38:41):
times for children, especially in school and that disruption, just
having their power to be able to share the word
of God and disciple, these children and their families has
been a true blessing that I'm just so privileged to
be a part of.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, Christmas is coming up. It's hard to believe it'll
be this Thursday, and may all of us just pause
and remember the true meaning of Christmas. It's not really
about presence p r E s E n ts. It's
about God's presence p R E s E. And ce
that he was incarnational the term you used earlier, Brent,
(39:17):
That he loved us so much he came to dwell
among us and to pursue us, and eventually to go
from a cradle to a cross, to die on that cross,
to forgive us of our sins and give us a
personal relationship with him, his living inside of us, so
that we can be his hands and feet here on
this earth.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
This city, David needs unity, This city needs empathy, em
pull everybody to cast aside any hatred, to love our
neighbors because that's what we cool to do.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
And when they're different than we are, that's when love
really makes sense. We can love easily those who are
like us or who are affirming of us, but when
we have people who are really different than us, yet
we choose to still love them, we're never more like
Jesus because he came to die for his enemies, those
who were hostile against him. He came and died for
them to show us his eternal love again. City of
(40:08):
Hope clt dot org. City Hope, clt dot org Moments
of Church has given a matching gift to Your five
dollars becomes ten, Your ten dollars becomes twenty one hundred
dollars becomes two hundred to help feed hungry kids locally
to allow them to experience the joy of the Christmas season. Everyone.
Merry Christmas to you all this Thursday. I hope you
have a blessed holiday season, and remember it is indeed
(40:31):
blessed to give than to receive.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
Unto sign God pouch
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