Today we’d like to introduce you to Jo Hooper.
Jo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In short, I am the creative director and founder of Reach North Texas, a non-profit organization based in Frisco that strives to restore hope and humanity to our friends and neighbors.
My life is best described without my job titles, though. I’m somewhat young and incredibly free. Most know me as the one who is always responsible and stable. I live as simply as possible in the hustle of suburbia. Friends, family, and strangers need constant attention. Everyday life pulls at the strings of my sanity, unapologetically asking me to be more than I feel I am. Like most people, I’m strapped for time, space, and money. I love Jesus like I breathe air-naturally, wholly, happily. My love language consists of cupcakes, road trips, and live music. Lastly, I’ve known since I was a toddler that the Lord has something He would like for me to accomplish. He has spent more than four generations investing in me, preparing me for whatever comes next.
Almost 100 years ago, God set a plan in motion a plan that bears fruit and spreads its roots even today. My family has been in the Frisco area for as long as any of my living relatives can remember. When my dad forsook farming ministry in 1980, we were still called to stay here. With all the growth and changes, we ask why every day, but the call of the Lord remains, and so do we.
Our ministry and family have navigated many seasons in the last thirty-eight years. Sometimes, we had a hundred people and three services each week. In those moments, we were constantly counseling, conferencing, and creating. We have sent many people out, starting and supporting church plants and missionaries throughout the US. At other times, church attendance dwindled, and we would work with families one-on-one. Through it all, we have always loved where and what we were called to, but life was definitely different from what we had imagined.
In the summer of 2005, I was in my senior year of college. At only twenty years old, I was finally blazing my own trail and ready to do life my way. My plan always included Jesus, but I didn’t know at the time just how much of Him I would need. One Thursday morning changed my future forever. My dad had not been feeling well, so he went to see his primary care physician. After a quick visit and drive to the hospital, tests showed that my dad had suffered a heat stroke, and he’d developed a golf-ball-sized brain bleed. His kidneys shut down, his lungs began to fail, and his heart was under an extreme amount of stress. When he slipped into a twenty-eight-day coma, there was nothing to do but wait. Not known for my patience, I opted not to sit by the hospital bedside; I did what I knew best. Three days after my dad was hospitalized, I opened the church for our first Sunday morning service without him.
It’s truly a long tale, so for now, I’ll just summarize by saying we experienced a miracle that summer. Forty days after my dad fell into a coma, he was back home and completing daily therapy. Jesus was beyond gracious during that first year. It was a long journey through recovery, marked with other health scares and many unforeseen setbacks. For me though, finding the perfect job or pursuing all my personal goals no longer mattered. When I was finally able to revisit my plans, I realized I had already found my vocation. I was living in a place where I had both a career and a calling.
My story cannot be told without sharing a few of those details. I would be living in another town, pursuing another dream, and becoming an entirely different person if not for the struggles that summer brought. I honor my story-the past, the heritage, the promises-by staying put. Jill Briscoe said it best: “Go where you’re sent. Stay where you’re out. Give what you’ve got till you’re done.” I’ve had a thousand opportunities to reset my life now that everyone is feeling better. But I know that God’s work in my life, including the painful and scary things that have led me here, is undeniable. Some of it’s been good, some has been bad, most of it’s been messy-but it’s all been beautiful. Today, I spend a lot of time looking forward, knowing anything is possible and believing that the best is yet to come.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not meeting my own expectations have been almost debilitating. I made tough decisions for very good reasons. I wouldn’t change who or where I am today, but this new path looks nothing like what I prepared for. I don’t have a husband. I pay for my own health insurance. Working for God is good, but He doesn’t offer employer matching 401(k). I have lost many friends because serving the Lord at such a deep level was not what they were anticipating. I’ve been lied to and lied about. My days are long and stressful because I support my ministry and my calling with a full-time job. In some ways, I wake up every day feeling like a failure. My heart didn’t send the memo to my brain when I decided to do everything for Jesus. Following the Lord’s plan is my best option, and He has only good for me, but I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into when I said, “Yes.”
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Reach North Texas – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Reach North Texas has been serving the local community for 10 years now. For the first 9 years, we were called Frisco Reach Out. Only recently have we dreamt big enough to embrace some change.
People who are struggling in the suburbs need to be served differently than those who live on the streets or those experiencing the deeper poverty of third world countries. Here in Frisco, my most vulnerable neighbors share stores, schools, and streets with residents of million dollar homes. Kids from both sides are expected to excel in school while balancing activities, fashion, and friends. It’s impossible to keep up. Being employed isn’t enough to be happy. Owning the right things will come up short too. With addiction and suicide rates on the rise, the so-called “perfect life” isn’t even attainable here. The American dream is a great goal, but it’s one that feels so out of reach for the majority.
When the local ministry leaders asked if I was aware of the people in need, I said yes and began to quote some of the perspectives I just shared with you. At the time, I didn’t know more than that. Our church didn’t have a history of reaching the community. We always had our doors open and we had regular mission offerings, but this was going to be something new. My grandmother reminded me several years after this meeting that it really didn’t surprise her. She said that my dad had been trying to help the needy since he was a kid, even trying to give his shoes away to a little boy that didn’t even wear his size. My elders had all prayed that I would be tender-hearted, full of grace and usable by God. No one could deny or complain about this new venture; God was obviously at work.
This new rag-tag team began to dream about meeting this local school supply need. Some of my evangelist friends knew how to make pancakes by the hundreds, so on a random Saturday in August 2009, we met at our church (because of location) and served breakfast to anyone who wanted to come. That year, we put out over 400 fliers and served almost 300 people pancakes. We had no clue what we were doing when we started collecting supplies and we ran out long before everyone was seen. If anyone wanted to come back the next Thursday, we would collect more items and we would be able to provide more at that time. Surprisingly, many came back to finish their shopping and we felt as if we had accomplished that which we set out to do.
The next month, our leadership team met for coffee with a few people that had volunteered at the giveaway. What I believed to be a one-time thing quickly turned into a vision for more. If local families needed help with school supplies, what in the world were they going to do about all the extra expenditures for Christmas? I don’t even recall anyone saying an answer out loud. It was almost unstated yet understood. We would collect toys and do another event in December 2009 to meet our neighbor’s needs again.
As we were prepping for that event, we needed to open a checking account in order to more easily receive donations. In the middle of a work time, our volunteers started brainstorming what we should call ourselves. We are from Frisco and we strive to reach out to our local community and serve them with the Gospel and love of Christ. Our idea was that simple, so why shouldn’t our name work that way too? One lady said to call ourselves Frisco Reach Out. No one had a better idea and it was frankly too late to change my mind, so I went the next day to fill out all the appropriate paperwork. Had I known this would be my thing – the one calling I would fight for, the reason I believe I was born – I might’ve put more effort into this step of the process.
Our first Christmas event was successful. Our recap meeting was great. Year 2, year 3, year 4… even into year 5, leaders, volunteers and families came and went. Every single event proved that our very existence was meeting a need that had been previously overlooked. I was (and still am) honored and humbled to be called here. Some family members worry about my lack of 401(k). Without a salary and with everyone being volunteers, I provide our only stability and it can feel new every day. But there’s something beautiful about relying on God to figure it out and inform me when it’s necessary.
It would be a waste of time for me to detail everything we have done for the last 9 years. Let’s just say that we still do school supply events every August and Christmas events every December. We serve approximately 400 kids in less than 5 hours with 100 or so volunteers. By building relationships with the people we serve, we hope to break the bonds of poverty in their lives and to help them see that something better exists. They are worth so much more than they have been told. The contacts we make at our open events turn into relationships we build over time. We host Easter egg hunts and fall festivals just to spend more time with the families that need us most. In 2015, we partnered with another local church to provide a free Vacation Bible Camp to the whole community. A few times each year, we gather as leaders and volunteers to collect Build-a-Bears, to make Black Friday Blessing bags and to talk through what we would like to plan for the upcoming months. However, I purposely keep the bureaucracy low; our whole organization is quite simple and transparent.
Our qualification system and marketing plan are both very much word of mouth. When someone in need receives the help they’ve been missing, you can’t keep it quiet. We exist to minister hope and dignity to families that see so little of either. We look people in the eye. We help carry their bags. We call them by name. Small gestures will change the world when they are shared in love.
After ten years, I’ve seen and heard a lot of crazy things. Every relationship I’ve built and every friendship I’ve lost has helped me see myself and my calling better. When we’ve run out of supplies or when we’ve had crowd control issues, all of those experiences have led me to better understand and appreciate those I serve and those I serve with.
In January 2017, I asked a dozen people I trust to gather for a meeting. When they arrived, I gave each a stack of 3×5 index cards. Their task while others were arriving would be to write the top 3 things Reach North Texas does best. I was too short-sighted to see where God had brought me and where He needed to take me, but the trusting and loving people God had placed around me saw it clearly.
After a few minutes, it was easy to see that I had done a pitiful job of communicating our mission. I had more than 70 cards surrounding me and no one said the same thing. With great wisdom, one of the newest team members said that she believed all the cards actually pointed to one thing. So while I had failed at being concise, I had actually led well. Our new defining characteristic would be teaching people how to serve like Jesus.
We exist to show people how to live and love like the Lord. We do this in a few special ways, but this idea alone is what I will measure all future success by. I may plan events, but that’s just the way I’ve been called to create opportunities for ministry. I have just as much of an obligation to my volunteers and partners as I do to the families and community we serve. Even if the particulars change, I know that leading people closer to Christ and being an example they desire to follow will always be my goal.
We promise to:
1) Show Grace to Ourselves and Others
Needing a safe place to land is not something I alone am entitled to. We are happy to err on the side of grace in every interaction, hoping that those watching are willing to show grace to us too. When people are hurting, it’s easy to hurt others. We believe the world operates by a system of lies and manipulation. When we encounter such attitudes in the ministry, we seek out the deeper reasonings are hope to bring deeper healing to the circumstance.
2) Acknowledge Everyone with Dignity and Respect
Being seen or appreciated is not too much to ask. This offer requires vulnerability on our part, but where it is given, we believe it will be found. Sharing our names and stories with strangers is key to drawing close to them in their time of need. If we believe that Jesus loved us in our most miserable state, then we too can show His love to those whom others have said are too far gone.
3) Meet Needs In Ways Big and Small
We are 100% ministry. To us, that means “being what someone needs, when and where they need it.” We’ve become much less concerned about all of the answers but were consumed by the why. When we extend an offer of assistance, it’s no secret that we are meeting the need because of the grace and glory of God. No need is too large, and we know for sure that God cares about the tiniest detail. We can show up, no matter the circumstance, and be used by Him.
4) Exceed Expectations
Reach North Texas will over-deliver at every turn! We love to redefine the standards and bend the rules of culture. For those that are too accustomed to being forgotten, we want to see and serve them well. When they are used to lies and limitations, we want to overwhelm them with love and truth. Our donated items are great quality. We don’t mind picking up or delivering if it would be best. Knowing we serve the exceedingly abundant God, we’re willing to go above and beyond too.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The best thing is that it’s home and so many people feel free, safe and secure enough to call it that. I love how open-minded my circles are. It’s challenging to grow from a quiet farm community into the busiest bustling suburb… but if everyone can find their fit and be proud to call it home, then we’ve done something right in the community. Challenges are the growing pains… infrastructure, parking, politics. I think you can choose which side to dwell on and I make a point to see the brighter side of most stories.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6th & Oak
Frisco, TX 75033 - Website: reachnorthtexas.com
- Phone: 469-563-6880
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: facebook.com/reachnorthtexas
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
