Published: April 17, 2008 12:56 pm         

Hope

Every step of the way, they’ve been together. Everything they’ve done were stepping stones to where they are today. Every day they get up, they look for new opportunities to give other people hope.

Jerry Speight, director of the Hope Center of Greenville, and his wife, Brenda, have been married for 47 years. What makes their marriage so strong are their shared beliefs in church activities, mentoring families and children, and spending every ounce of energy to help anyone in need, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual.

“The strength of our marriage is that we made it a priority to be involved in church activities and raising our two daughters,” Jerry said.

When Jerry was in the United States Air Force, his unit was deployed from San Antonio to Florida. One Sunday, he and his buddy went to church.

“I saw this pretty girl working with the children’s youth group, and I whispered to my friend, ‘I’m going to marry that girl,’” he said.

The next thing he knew, Brenda invited him out to her family’s house for dinner — their first date — and the couple had known each other less than a week.

“I asked her to marry me on our first date,” he said with a sly smile. “I just knew she was why I was supposed to be in Florida.”

Brenda said she didn’t have any other choice but to say, “Yes.” Eight months later they were married, and they’ve never been apart since.

Brenda, who works part-time as a receptionist for the Texas Oncologist at Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville and has worked in retail and banking. Jerry’s work throughout the years included going to college, pastoring, running for state representative, and they were both involved in helping start the Greenville Christian School.

Since Jerry’s hometown is Commerce, he and Brenda started coming to Greenville to help start a church plant, the former Berian Bible Church. They eventually owned and operated the former Ace Hardware Store, which was located on the Highway Interstate 30.

“I learned a lot of skills from dad on the farm,” he said. “Brenda’s dad is in construction, and I leaned from him. It’s interesting how it’s all dove tailed together.”

Now, the couple is working in a whole new ministry.

The Hope Center’s mission is to work with at risk-famlies and inner-city youth. With the help of volunteers, whether physical labor or financial gifts or grants, the center is able to teach computer classes and graphic and Web site designs in their new state-of-the-art computer lab; give a limited number of computers, books, literature and Bibles to families in need; provide tutoring and mentoring; and they have a game room that caters to teenagers with such things as a sitting lounge with a television, a pool table, foozball and video and arcade games.

When Jerry attended Dallas Bible College, part of his course work included spending a summer in Mexico doing mission work.

“Brenda and I saw a need that existed in that country,” he said. “We always worked in Christian ministry, mentoring and watching inner-city work. I’ve always been involved in someone’s life in a mentoring role, and that trip is what fostered my desire to work with inner-city kids.”

When Jerry campaigned for state representative in 1994, he had the opportunity of meeting President George Bush several times when as he was campaigning for governor. In 2001, the Speights were invited to Bush’s inauguration, and it was there that Jerry believed that his work with inner-city youth began.

“We met our shuttle driver, Michael Gambrell, who had just got of prison,” Jerry said. “Then we met his family including his wife, Faith. I believe that we were meant to be the inauguration to meet Michael.

“He keeps in touch with us for encouragement,” Jerry said. “We’ve stayed in contact with him, and we feel we made a difference in his life. We minister to him by encouraging him, providing him good materials and showing an interest in him.

“When I first met Michael, I recognized the music he was listening to on the radio, and I said that I knew that song. That statement opened up a lifetime friendship.

“There are always opportunities if we look for them. The key is accepting people for who they are, and we accepted him for who he was.”

So began the dream of inner-city program — a place where citizens could work with at-risk families and kids.

“In 2005, the ‘late’ Melvin Gilstrap took a bus load of us on a tour of north Greenville, and that’s when the concept of the Hope Center began,” he said. “In inner-city America, there is such hopelessness and despair, and we need to give them hope.”

Next came the prospect of looking for a home for the Hope Center, which is located in the family life center at First Baptist Church.

“We looked for months at every vacant building in town,” he said. “It’s irony now, because when we helped started the GCS in 1976, we had no facilities. This was the same building we used for some of GCS activities in 1977.”

In the near future, the Hope Center will be offering martial arts and a life skill classes for health, hygiene and food handling. There’s also several major projects on the horizon.

“Through the grant we received from the Hunt County Memorial Hospital District, we will implement a tobacco addiction intervention and education program,” he said. “We also received a grant for the new Hope equipment project, which is a life skills training program that will help people learn how to use heavy equipment. A soccer field project on Walnut Street is opening at the first of the summer.”

“We both would say we’re getting a great deal of fulfillment on responding to needs of this type of work. It takes a lengthy time to build trust and credibility within the inner city community, and our work alongside the Texas Workforce has helped a lot.”

The Speights are members at Aldersgate Church. Jerry teaches music, sings in choir, a Sunday school and small group leader, and Brenda works with children’s’ choir and young adults. The Speights said that the best part of their lives are being encourages to others.

“Sometimes that requires giving up a lot of personal time, but our hearts are serving — serving in every capacity.

“We try to give people hope, and help them develop skills to allow them to become productive citizens.”

Jerry said that the Hope Center is made possible through financial gifts from the community.

“Without volunteers such as Monty and DeVonne Schram, they are an encouragement to us, and they’ve been there from the beginning. The Hope Center has all been made possible by the help of all the volunteers, financial gifts and grants.”

“Brenda has always been an encouragement to me, and I couldn’t imagine doing any of this without her.”

Looking back, Brenda said that their still doing the same things as they did when they met.

“I tell people that retirement is not in our vocabulary, not as long as there are people in need, then there’s no place to stop. Everything you do can be a stepping stone or building block for what you do in the future, and we had no idea we’d be here today.”

The Hope Center’s programs and activities are free to the public. For information on how to become a volunteer of to offer financial gifts, visit www.hopecentergreenville.org or call 903-217-5346.