History

In October of 1997, Sarah Wilke and Dr. Leighton Farrell came together to create a program to address two main needs: the creation of programming for college students interested in pursuing various aspects of ministry, and a revitalization of urban United Methodist churches.

Project Transformation was created to meet these two needs by working with children in the inner-city communities surrounding the churches. Urban churches were utilized as sites for summer day-camp programs designed and implemented by college interns. The three main components of Project Transformation were brought together: children, churches, and communities.

In February of 1998, Shawn (Jucht) Bakker began as the director of the program for its first year. That summer, 22 interns, several sponsoring partner churches, the Texas Methodist Foundation, and Southern Methodist University came together to make the vision materialize. The interns were divided into teams and placed in five inner-city Methodist churches in south, west, and east Dallas. They created programming for the 250 (K-6th) children they were serving which included singing, games, Bible lessons, and individual reading time with each child. These young adults worked closely with their site churches to develop a volunteer base to work with the children. In this way, bridges between church and community began to form. Living together in SMU's Service House, the interns formed a community of friendship and ministry.

With a solid foundation of successful summer programs, the after-school program started informally in the fall of 1999. Interns living in the Dallas area initiated the after-school program at two site churches by voluntarily meeting with the children every Friday afternoon. These interns wanted to continue both the relationships that they had formed with the children at their summer sites and the relationships that had started between the site churches and their surrounding communities. As a result of these interns’ desire and commitment to serve these urban communities, Project Transformation began the formal after-school program in the fall of 2000, offering four-day per week programming incorporating one-on-one homework assistance, Bible lessons, computer skills, crafts, and other activities.

Again in 2003, Project Transformation interns saw the need for our programs to serve youth (grades 7 through 9) and prompted us to expand our vision to meet this need. Youth, who had participated in our programs as children, and their families also told us of their need for a continued program.

Today Project Transformation is directed by Eric Lindh and is working in nine summer sites and five after-school sites, serving approximately 800 children and youth each year. Over 70 churches in the greater Dallas area support the programs of Project Transformation either through volunteer hours, meals for our interns, financial support, or afternoon programming with our kids. The success of Project Transformation in connecting children, churches, and communities has become the model for three additional out-of-state programs located in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and Charlottesville, Virginia. Once again, our former interns took the initiative to export our successful model to start programs in other states. We invite you to come and be a part of our programs and history as we continue to work to transform the lives of children, churches, and communities.