We’re looking forward to introducing you to Steven Jones. Check out our conversation below.
Steven, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
My wife and I recently adopted, and our little boy is SO MUCH FUN. He has a couple of books absolutely locked into his core memory right now, and he starts cackling as soon as you open one he recognizes. His laughter is infectious, and we are loving every minute of it.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Like many Communications professionals, I wear multiple hats throughout the week and swap aggressively between them. By day, I work in the Economic Development Department at the City of Grapevine. But my off time is split evenly between family, a novel I started writing during the pandemic, and a soccer league I run for students in my old school district. I want to focus on that last one today because 2026 will be a special year for us.
Liga HEB serves “at-risk” students in all five Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District middle schools, impacting around 180-200 individuals each year. We use the beautiful game as a teacher and motivator, connecting with kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Thanks to our coaches and supporters, our players go from being disadvantaged or in danger of dropping out to performing on-level or higher… and we keep them in class an average of 3-5 days more than their “at-risk” peers.
Our 10th anniversary coincides with the World Cup, so we’re planning a big party to celebrate!
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 breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
It may sound simple, but I think the most significant barrier to healthy relationships is a lack of context. We are formed by our experiences, and the vast majority of people have deep-seated reasons for everything they think, say, and do. Even our impulses come from habits and ideals ingrained in us by experience and the people around us. But that doesn’t mean our point of view will make sense to everyone else.
Lately, we’ve made a nasty habit of assuming the worst in others whenever their perspectives conflict with our own. That’s a fairly natural predisposition, but it’s been compounded by social retraction, the paradoxically public-but-anonymous nature of our digital lives, and a fairly tense cultural atmosphere. We expect everyone to be perfect because we’re all constantly working to project our perfect selves, but none of us knows our digital neighbors enough to give them grace for their failings… or to ask for grace when it comes to ours.
That’s what I love about soccer: it’s a great equalizer. Nearly every culture understands it, and even students who don’t share a language can bond when there’s a ball at their feet. It’s a game of creativity, flexibility, and imperfection that requires players to trust each other even as they struggle to track thousands of variables on the pitch. It teaches us to overcome mistakes, forgive our team mates, and respect our opponents.
Will soccer alone solve all our social ills? Of course not. But it’s a good model for what can happen when we step out of our bubbles and touch grass.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
No experience is wasted on the disciplined soul. A good deal of life – from disappointments to the daily grind – is unpleasant, but those low moments teach us so much! Failure forces us to innovate while keeping us humble and helping us empathize with others who are struggling, so we must learn to embrace challenges and risk heartbreak.
I had a fairly protected childhood, and I spent most of my life avoiding any possibility of failure because losing always felt personal to me. But my awkward teenage years helped me see just how important it was to have passion and a sense of community, so I call on those memories any time we’re planning something for middle schoolers in Liga HEB.
My goal is to give the next generation something I wish I had. Without knowing what it’s like to feel out of place, I would never have had the drive I needed to build the program we have now.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
In theological language, we call it the ‘Imago Dei:’ the idea that all people are inherently valuable because they’re made in the image of God. Even if you disagree with someone or dislike the choices they’re making, you should approach them with the same respect you reserve for everyone else. In fact, orthodox Christian thought pushes the point even further: every person we meet was not only created with dignity but also adopted into one big family at a great price… and the one paying that price ransomed enemies out of death and despair, not just friends and allies.
I don’t believe in solving problems by brute force. I think patience, kindness, and love are more effective in the long run.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
The former, mostly. But I try to focus more on the “how” than the “what,” because that’s where individuals shine.
My skillset is narrative-driven: I like telling stories that inspire action, whether I’m at the office or on the pitch. That’s what I was born to do; economic development and the logistics of an intramural soccer league are just the tasks I’ve turned that skillset toward. Honestly, that would be my encouragement to anyone reading this:
Plenty of people could do what you do, but only you can do it the way you’re doing it. The key to flourishing is to find the place where your unique skills and approach yield the best results for everyone and put down roots.
