Zach Lind Story
It’s Tuesday night in Dallas.
The Mavericks are playing at the AAC, there’s a concert in Deep Ellum, Uptown is hopping, and lives are being transformed at the corner of Holly Hill and Pineland in Vickery Meadow.
About forty people have gathered together in the same room, but nothing could be more different about this group. We’re from different hemispheres, we speak different languages, but we all look forward to Reading Circle.
Reading Circle is a program that serves refugee students through developing literacy skills and cultivating mentor relationships in order to share the love of Jesus. It provides skills for students to excel in America and builds a foundation for students to flourish for a lifetime.
Meet Muhammad
Muhammad is an energetic and caring first-grader from Myanmar. His family is a part of the Rohingya people group that is currently being murdered and driven out of their country by the government because of their religious beliefs. Muhammad’s family fled to Malaysia for a few years before being accepted into America as refugees, but he still has extended family that are in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Muhammad lives with his little sister, mother, and father. They are so hospitable, kind, and considerate. His parents do everything they can to see their children flourish despite being forced out of their home country by persecution, speaking broken English (it’s their fourth language!), and therefore limited job opportunities.
However, those obstacles don’t phase Muhammad one bit. He’s a top performer at his school and wants to go to college to become an engineer. He’s full of integrity, always honest, and he loves magic tricks and playing soccer. In the year that I’ve worked with him, I’ve seen him grow from being shy and timid to fearless and unashamed.
Just like you and me, Muhammad needs sometime to come alongside him to challenge him to grow into the man God has created him to be. He needs someone to push him beyond the limits that he has set for himself. He needs to hear and experience the love of Jesus. He needs you and me.
It’s Tuesday night in Dallas.
Lives are being transformed on the corner of Holly Hill and Pineland in Vickery Meadow.
Would you join us?