Jeff Dawsey shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Jeff, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
So, I’m currently building a network that I honestly believe has the potential to change my region, and eventually the world. I regularly gain access into and visit middle and high schools.
While there, I connect with students and faculty, and offer hope in the form of counseling, encouragement, different perspectives, prayer and an invitation for students to visit my church’s student ministry where my team and I weekly feed them dinner meals, offer them a few hours of a safe space to simply be kids, and develop mentor relationships that help them deal with some of the harsh realities of their lives.
But my goal is to partner with other churches who will also go into schools and do the same things and more. There are thousands of students in Savannah, Georgia, alone who don’t have adults speak life into them, and are living hopeless lives. They need help. They need love. They need God.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a pastor in Savannah, Georgia, who oversees both Kids and a Students ministries. The majority of my work focuses on the students side, because my ministry is nearly 100% outreach. Although I work at a mainstream church, almost all of the 115 students we weekly average don’t attend our Sunday morning services.
I go into many public schools and promote our student ministry to them. This has led to NeighborsHood, the network I spoke about earlier. NeighborsHood partners churches with schools in their proximity for the sake of sending volunteers into the schools to support teachers and faculty and to support students.
I believe this create wins for the churches in that they will find themselves on mission to reach and impact their communities, and they will eventually grow in attendance, as my student ministry and church has. For the schools, they will gain dozens more volunteers to help with their activities. And for the students, they will find many more mentors who will be there for them not just on weekends but throughout the week as well.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Great question! Growing up, having suffered sexual abuse, abandonment by my dad, and living in poverty in a ghetto with low reading comprehension, I believed that in order for me to succeed, I had to become a drug dealer, which I became at 16 years old.
By age 18, I dropped out of school. But I began to read the Bible, and it forever changed my life. And, as God has grown me, He has changed my perspective, and has given me great purpose and impact.
People often talk down toward those who live in “hoods” and struggle to make better decisions, but they really don’t understand that the people they’re talking about don’t see life the way they do, because they simply don’t experience the same things. As a student pastor who lives in a world where I know thousands of students in the hood and thousands of students who live the total opposite, I know they’d both be incredible surprised at the many differences they experience in just a regular day.
But this is why I do what I do today; I want those young girls and guys to change the way they see themselves, and I want them to walk in their God-given purposes.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes! In 2022, before all the doors of the schools opened and 750 students visited our ministry, I suffered the worst depression and anxiety in my life. I remember praying and telling God that if I died in my sleep or died in a car crash, I wouldn’t be mad.
I struggled with many things from 2021 to May 2022. I no longer wanted to be a pastor, which was shocking, because I felt the urge to become a pastor at 19 years old (I was 35 when I wanted to give up).
What changed is God greatly humbled me, and I confessed to Him all the secrets that were in my heart. From there, He gave me peace, and I have been completely honest in prayer ever since. And I haven’t lived in a day of anxiety since May 2022.
I have, though, encountered many students and adults who struggle with these and with giving up. And I am honored to be able to share my experiences in order to help them overcome and live anxiety-free lives.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Inner-city Savannah. Most people find this interesting, since I didn’t grow in Savannah. I grew up in an inner city in Crestview, Florida.
But, in 2019, a young man shot and killed one of my childhood friends, Tywon Tatum in broad daylight. It affected me so much that I prayed and asked God to either send me back to Crestview (I lived in Palm Coast, Florida, at the time) or send me to another “hood” to help change people. The following year, I believe God sent me here to Savannah.
I didn’t know Savannah had a lot of inner cities, but they so many, and they’re all a lot worse than the place I grew up. And, after thinking about all the access and impact God has already given me here, I prayed and asked Him to keep me here and at this work for the rest of my life.
My hope is that these neighborhoods would change, but the NeighborsHood would expand across the country and around the world.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
This an incredible question! I wish more people had to answer this. Right now, I believe I’m doing what I was born to do, fulfilling my God-given purpose. I believe so, because all that I suffered and struggled with in my life is now fueling my motivation to help those who have or are suffering and struggling with the same things.
Most people hate what they’ve gone through or are experiencing. And, while I do understand the frustration, I’ve also learned the ways of God. In the Bible, one of my favorite verses say, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28 NLT).”
Many others and I are living proof of this. Everything that I once hated in my past I now use every single day to help others overcome failures, fears, doubts and struggles. It’s almost as if someone (God) allowed me to experience those things, so He could heal me and then send me to those who are going through the same things but don’t know how to overcome.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeff_dawsey/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.dawsey
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLEtdRcLWUQ
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