Forerunner Mentoring provides one-on-one mentoring, after-school clubs for K-8 in Lake Highlands, youth ministry

Nestled at the corner of Ferndale Road and McCree Road sits Forerunner Mentoring’s golden-brown brick haven. The makeshift basketball court, made out of cut pieces of wood placed in a large square on the asphalt, stretches across the front of the building, patiently waiting for the arrival of young boys who will soon play one-on-one against their mentors.

At Forerunner Mentoring, boys participate in a mix of activities designed to build confidence and character at a young age. The program offers one-on-one mentoring for young boys growing up without a father, after-school clubs for K-8 in Lake Highlands and Thrive, a youth ministry for Lake Highlands High School students.

After-school clubs get together at Lake Highlands schools, including Northlake Elementary, White Rock Elementary, Moss Haven Elementary, Skyview Elementary, Lake Highlands Middle School, Wallace Elementary, Merriman Park Elementary, Stults Road Elementary and Forest Meadow Middle School. The older students participate in Thrive and meet on Tuesday evenings at North Highlands Bible Church.

“What is beautiful about elementary boys having a mentor is that those are formative years, and to have someone affirm them is very important,” says Xavier Lewis, the nonprofit’s elementary mentor lead.

Becoming one of those mentors is a deliberate process overseen by Lewis.

“Most of our guys are in local churches within the Lake Highlands community or just the Dallas community,” he says. “They apply, I look at their application and bring them in for an interview.”

After this interview, Lewis runs a background check and conducts sexual abuse prevention training, and then applicants move forward with one-on-one mentor training. He matches each boy with a mentor and holds a meeting between the mentee’s mother and the person who will guide her son.

Forerunner’s mentors receive no financial compensation and, instead, volunteer their time.

“We’ve had plenty of boys open up and ask us, ‘Where is my dad?’” Lewis says.

Shanjula Harris, Forerunner Mentoring’s family ministry coordinator, knows the impact of the program — her son was its first mentee.

“TwQuan and his mentor still have a very good relationship,” she says. “It started in middle school, went through high school and has lasted into adulthood. He’s almost 30 now.”

Harris supports the mothers in the program by organizing retreats, Bible studies, meals and informal gatherings to help support the friendships made at Forerunner.

For Harris, mentoring boys is only part of the mission. Supporting mothers helps create the village that many single-parent households are missing.

“Moms need friends. Moms need to be more than just moms, and the family ministry is probably the newest thing we have to help that,” Executive Director Stephen Murray says.

To date, about 50 of Forerunner’s boys have graduated from high school through the program. Around 20% of  these high school graduates have returned to the program to work or as volunteers.

This year, the program has over 200 mentees and 100 active mentors eager to help reshape the life of a young boy.

“The guys get so much out of this, and they want to be a forerunner, and that is why we are called Forerunner Mentoring,” Murray says.

With each mentor-mentee relationship, each mother supported and each boy who graduates, Forerunner continues to build the village that so many in Lake Highlands rely on.